Narrative as a Catalyst for Learning in Entertainment-Education

Entertainment-Education, or E-E, is “entertainment designed to educate as well as to amuse” (Wikipedia, 2008, para. 1). Entertainment-Education interventions have been used successfully in many countries to teach educational, health and social issues. These programs use a compelling plot and interesting characters to persuade viewers on themes such as gender and racial equality and women’s rights.  Research into these interventions has shown that the quality of the narrative itself has a profound impact on how the persuasive message is received. It is important for creators of E-E to keep this in mind as they develop interventions for countries with high media saturation such as the U.S., where increased media choices create more competition. For E-E interventions to compete and succeed in this environment, the persuasive message must be matched by the quality of the narrative.

            Many factors determine the effectiveness of E-E programs. Unfortunately, many of these factors have not been thoroughly studied by theorists. Arvind Singhal and Everett Rogers (2002) argue that investigations into the effectiveness of E-E often “do not acknowledge the substantial variability among E-E interventions” (p. 121). Some programs, such as South Africa’s Soul City radio soap-opera campaign, reach 80% percent of their target audience, while others may be seen by a few dozen at a time (Singhal and Rogers, 2002, p. 120). Many programs are entirely focused on the intervention, while others may incorporate it sporadically, as in the common American television trope of the “very special episode”. Soul City spends 18 months before its new season conducting formative research and pretesting messages, while other interventions rely “primarily on the intuition and creativity of the production staff” (pg. 120-121).

            Investigations into E-E also fail to recognize the different contexts represented by the many different countries in which interventions take place. John L Sherry (2002) states that, while E-E has been very successful in exposing large populations to messages in the past, “most E-E interventions have taken place in countries where there are few media outlets and therefore little competition for audience attention” (p. 206). The opposite is the case in the United States, where an E-E program faces very different problems than those of India and South Africa. In order for E-E interventions in the U.S. to be as successful as Soul City, producers must follow Singhal and Rogers’ (2002) lead and move past “what effects E-E programs have” to “how and why [E-E] has these effects” (p. 120).

E-E interventions in the United States face an effectively endless parade of competing media messages.  According to the MPAA (2007), Americans spent $9.63 billion at movie theaters in 2007 (p. 3). 97% of households owned televisions in 2007, with 87% also owning DVD players (p. 17).  The use of new media has also increased rapidly. 79% of households with a computer have high-speed broadband Internet access, which is 53 percent of all U.S. households (p. 22). The average American spent almost 2000 hours watching television or movies in 2007, with major increases in Internet and video gaming usage (p. 24). We are entering what Michael Wolf calls the “entertainmentization” of the world, where the constant desire for entertainment is being met by an industry willing to support it (Singhal, 2002, p. 119).

Entertainmentization has become so pervasive that there are few activities that aren’t touched by it in some way. Restaurants have televisions in every corner. Internet-capable cell phones allow users to surf the Web from nearly anywhere. Educators have implemented many of these technologies for everyday classroom use, from use of the Internet for research to videos that teach scientific principles. Many educators view these technologies as a way to motivate students to a greater understanding of many different disciplines. E-E’s ability to embed educational or behavioral lessons into familiar forms of entertainment holds great potential for educators who desire to gain the attention of media-saturated youth. However, educators must also remember that the level of saturation in the U.S. can limit E-E’s effectiveness.

 

The question becomes how E-E can be successful in a media-saturated environment. In countries with thriving E-E interventions, the programs are often the only media choice or one of a few choices. As stated earlier, E-E soap operas in India have often claimed up to 80% of the audience (Slater, 2002, p. 206). This percentage is simply not possible in the U.S. In 2001 only 4 programs reached more than 20% of households, and they were all special one-time programs such as the Super Bowl (p. 206). With so many sources of media in the U.S., any E-E intervention will meet competition from many different channels, including radio, the Internet, and print media. In this type of environment, “audience members become more adept at seeking out media that provides the desired benefits” (p. 208).

Entertainment-Education isn’t merely competing for mindshare with other educational sources, but with other sources of entertainment. In fact, E-E starts at a disadvantage because many viewers don’t want to be bombarded with messages. The “very special episode”, when a sitcom or drama devotes a single episode to deal with a serious social issue, has become a cliché in American television and is often viewed derogatorily. In the U.S., successful E-E interventions have generally been limited to children’s programming, limiting its potential. Commercial broadcasters, facing a dwindling audience moving to new media, are “fearful of and resistant to charting ‘unknown’ territories” in their programming (Singhal, 2002, p. 123). This resistance is so institutionalized that this prejudice against E-E exists even though seven episodes of Roots, a miniseries that dealt with slavery, racism, and other social issues, are ranked in the top 10 all-time television ratings and was viewed by 130 million people (p. 123).

 

Regardless of how saturated the U.S. media market is, Entertainment-Education can still be effective because it is designed to influence an individual’s beliefs in different ways than the standard persuasive method. Slater and Rouner (2002) argue that most persuasive messages are received with a self-evident goal in mind (p. 175). A student will complete math homework with the hope that this action will improve his or her math grade. An individual may study the stock market in order to increase their ability to buy and sell stocks. These extrinsic motivations give the audience a reason to listen to, and be persuaded by, a message. This message is carefully considered for possible personal gains and losses, and is internalized only if the benefits outweigh the costs. If the same message is given in another context, where there is little direct impact to the listener’s life, it will not receive as much attention (p. 175). This is especially true of school students, who often struggle to understand the necessity of the skills they are learning at this point in their lives. The motivation for a standard persuasive message must be extrinsic, and the standard motivation, good grades, is not a powerful motivator for many students.

Entertainment-Education is an effective tool of persuasion because it serves as its own goal. Slater and Rouner (2002) argue that E-E is “intended to stand on its own in terms of narrative quality” (p. 175). An E-E intervention is designed to be entertaining even if its message is completely ignored. Its popularity and ability to endure will come from compelling drama rather than the power of its message. In fact, if the audience perceives the message becoming more significant than the narrative itself, then the audience will reject both (p. 176). The narrative must be “compelling enough to cause [awareness of the persuasive content] to fade into the background while reading or viewing the story” (p. 176).

 

Understanding what makes narratives work will improve the effectiveness of E-E interventions. A narrative is described as a “sequence of fictional or non-fictional events” (Wikipedia, 2008, para. 1). A narrative consists of a plot, the events of a story that move toward “some artistic or emotional effect” (para. 1). Characters act within a narrative as agents of the plot. Slater and Rouner (2002) characterized narrative as an “unfolding relationship of characters, situations, and events” (p. 176). Why this pattern appeals to us may be explained by Walter Fisher’s Narrative Paradigm, which states that “all meaningful communication is a form of storytelling…and so human beings experience and comprehend life as a series of ongoing narratives, each with their own conflicts, characters, beginnings, middles, and ends” (Wikipedia, 2008, para. 1). 

According to Fisher, humans understand all life experiences within the context of narrative. Information is interpreted as part of an ongoing story, and if some data doesn’t seem to fit chronologically and coherently within that story, it is rejected. This happens because humans are “social information processors before they are processors of facts, figures, and logical arguments” (Slater, 2002, p. 179). People will often overlook the particulars of the information they receive to get to the narrative of how it happened. This doesn’t mean they ignore that information. Rather, it reaches them, but subconsciously, bypassing many of the negative reactions people have to new information. 

In order to survive, producers of E-E must develop a greater understanding of this principle.  E-E’s effectiveness appears to be directly linked to its success as a narrative. The characteristics of a powerful narrative: strong characterization, tight plotting, and a thoughtful theme, help the audience to become more self-reflective and circumvents counterarguing, which Slater and Rouner (2002) define as “the generation of thoughts that dispute or are inconsistent with the persuasive argument” (p. 180). In short, as Suruchi Sood (2002) believes that “audience involvement is a key factor in the effectiveness of entertainment-education interventions (p. 154).

Sood’s research was based around a 104 episode radio drama called Tinka Tinka Sukh, broadcast in North India from February 1996 to February 1997. Estimates put the listenership in the tens of millions, and promoted “themes of gender equality, women’s empowerment, dowry-related issues, small family size” and so on (p. 154). TTS attempted to teach these themes through entertaining narratives. The goal of Sood’s research was to “assess what role audience involvement plays in influencing audience members’ knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors” (p. 154).

Sood argues that audience involvement is increased through the use of compelling narrative. One of the goals of narrative is parasocial interaction, a “perceived relationship or friendship or intimacy by an audience member with a media person” (p. 156). The audience is intended to associate with the characters they watch on television, to suspend their disbelief enough that they are capable of empathizing with a fictional character. The greater the audience’s involvement with the narrative, the more willing they are to agree with its themes and concepts. Sood states that there are two main elements to audience involvement: reflection and parasocial interaction (p. 156).

Reflection is viewed as “the degree to which audience members consider a media message and integrate it into their own life” (p. 157). This argument presumes that the viewing of media can be more than a passive pastime. This, however, is dependent on the effectiveness of the narrative. The potential for reflection increases as a media program more closely conforms to their personal experiences. Even critical reflection, where the audience finds inconsistencies and errors in the narrative, shows a level of involvement with the narrative through critical thinking (p. 157).

Parasocial interaction with the audience is achieved in several different way, and involves affective, cognitive, and behavioral dimensions. Affective interaction “is the degree to which audience members identify with characters” or other elements of a narrative (p. 158). Cognitive interaction is the degree to which the audience pays attention to a program and thinks about it after it is over. Behavioral interaction is how an audience will change their schedule to allow time to watch the program (p. 158). 

Sood created a four-question questionnaire to test the audience involvement among Tinka Tinka Sukh listeners. 600 questionnaires were sent to listeners, with 224 returned (p. 160). TTS was found to promote collective and self-efficacy among listeners. Audience members who identified with TTS characters were better able to relate the themes to their own lives (p. 165). The research also showed that an audience member who paid close attention to the messages also became involved critically by suggesting plot changes (p. 166).

In addition, over 90% of those surveyed discussed the program with someone (p. 165). Sood believes this improved the absorption of the message. She quotes a note from one of the listeners:

Kusum dies at childbirth and we discussed that incident. We work together in the fields, and when we took a break we discussed if we marry off our young daughters we might lose them. (p. 165)

 

TTS producers found that highly technical issues, such as with divorce and legal issues, led to greater discussion in social networks in order to increase understanding (p. 168). This social discourse of the issues presented in the program not only leads to an active involvement with the narrative, but also to an increased internalization of the message and a greater opportunity for the intervention to cause a behavioral change.

This agrees with Slater and Rouner’s (2002) hypothesis that an audience’s involvement with a narrative can be used to “predict the effectiveness of the persuasive subtext as well of a narrative” (p. 177). In addition, this absorption into the narrative will also increase identification with characters. This can be accomplished through a perceived similarity with a character, or even in its absence (p. 178). Both absorption and identification can be viewed, Slater and Rouner argue, as mediators in the receiving of a persuasive message (p. 178).

 

Both variables assist in the narrative trope of suspension of disbelief, or the “willingness of a person to accept as true the premises of a work of fiction, even if they are fantastic or impossible” (Wikipedia, 2008, para. ). Events that happen in the story, at least for the duration of the narrative, are real. The suspension of disbelief is a contract between the narrative and the audience, and a narrative is only successful to the degree that the audience is willing to believe the events that are transpiring before them. As long as a narrative is internally consistent, and follows its own created set of rules, the contract is maintained and the audience will follow. In fact, research by psychologist D.S. Gilbert suggests that all information is “processed as if it were factual” (Slater and Rouner, 2002, p. 179).

These principles of narratives combine to prevent the common cognitive condition of counterarguing.  Slater and Rouner (2002) state that narrative absorption and the potential for counterargument are “fundamentally incompatible” (p. 180). If the audience is questioning the validity of the information being presented to them, then suspension of disbelief has failed, and the audience will disengage from the narrative. If the audience disagrees with a character’s statement and is thinking of rebuttals, then character identification is not taking place, unless this questioning is intentional. An audience member that is transported by the narrative will accept the logic and ideas presented to them through suspension of disbelief, regardless of whether it aligns with their personal beliefs.

This ability to sidestep counterarguing means that E-E interventions can be very effective “to influence individuals who would ordinarily be resistant to persuasion” (Slater and Rouner, 2002, p. 180). In one experiment by Green and Brock, participants were asked to read a narrative in one of two ways: either superficially or by being immersed in it (p. 181). Participants were then asked to point out unbelievable parts of the story. The more immersed participants “marked fewer false notes” (p. 181). Another study that replicated this with participants told the story was based on a dream, in order to reinforce that this information was fictional. This produced the same results as the first (p. 181).

 

There is much evidence to support a compelling narrative as a powerful tool for sharing persuasive messages. This effectively doubles the workload of a producer of Entertainment-Education, as the quality of the narrative must be considered as thoughtfully as the quality of the message. This is worth doing, however, because the rewards are also two-fold: a compelling narrative will draw audiences in and keep them interested, as well as aid in delivering the message. In order for E-E to reach its true potential, producers of E-E must be as creative as they are knowledgeable in their content area. They must be both educators and storytellers.

 

 

MPAA. (2007). Entertainment Industry Market Statistics. Retrieved November 9, 2008 from www.mpaa.org/USEntertainmentIndustryMarketStats.pdf

 

Sherry, John L. (2002). Media Saturation and Entertainment-Education. Communication Theory, 12(2), 206-224.

 

Singhall, Arvind and Everett M. Rogers. (2002).  A Theoretical Agenda for Entertainment-Education. Communication Theory, 12(2), 117-135.

 

Slater, Michael D. and Donna Rouner. (2002). Entertainment-Education and Elaboration Likelihood: Understanding the Processing of Narrative Persusasion. Communication Theory, 12(2), 173-191. 

 

Sood, Suruchi. (2002). Audience Involvement and Entertainment-Education. Communication Theory, 12(2), 153-172.

 

Wikipedia. (2008, October 27). Edutainment. Retrieved November 9, 2008 from www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edutainment

 

Wikipedia. (2007, January 6) Narrative Paradigm. Retrieved November 12, 2008 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narrative_paradigm