Children Adopt the Traits of Characters in a Narrative
Table 4
Study and instructions differences in engagement, memory, and manipulation checks.
Study 1 mean (SD)
Study 2 overall mean (SD)
Study 2 objective instructions condition mean (SD)
Study 2 perspective-taking instructions condition mean (SD)
Become (direct identification)
2.5 (3.2)
3.6 (3.4)
3.7 (3.7)
3.6 (3.1)
Narrative transportation
49.5 (13.9)
41.5 (10.5)
40.9 (10.5)
42.5 (10.3)
Perceived similarity
2.4 (2.6)
2.9 (2.9)
2.7 (2.9)
3.0 (3.0)
Wishful identification
3.2 (3.2)
3.4 (3.3)
4.0 (3.7)
2.7 (2.5)
Free recall—total components
8.8 (4.6)
11.1 (4.5)
11.1 (4.5)
11.1 (5.1)
Memory questions
4.6 (1.8)
5.0+ (1.8)
5.1 (1.9)
4.9 (1.7)
Study 2 manipulation check items:
How much did you take the perspective of the person in the story?
—
6.2 (2.7)
6.5 (3.4)
7.4 (2.2)
How much did you imagine what it would be like to be the person in the story?
—
6.1 (3.3)
5.6 (3.6)
6.8 (2.8)
How much did you imagine what the person in the story was thinking and feeling?
—
6.5 (3.2)
5.7 (3.6)
7.4 (2.3)
Note that for comparison analyses, proportions were used to account for the fact that the narrative transportation measure used 8 items in Study 1 and 6 items in Study 2. Using this proportion, children reported higher narrative transportation in Study 2 than in Study 1, (186) = 3.9, , and d = .56. Data for 10-year-olds only because 7-year-olds did not understand the question. Note: differences between Study 1 and Study 2 and differences between objective and perspective-taking instructions are signified by and .
