Are Narratives More Rewarding in Times of Decreased State Self-Esteem?

This bachelor thesis explores the impact of decreased state self-esteem on enjoyment, audience response, narrative transportation, and identification during narrative exposure. It draws upon assumptions of the temporarily expanding the boundaries of the self theory (Slater, Johnson, Cohen, Comello, & Ewoldsen, 2014), which postulates that self-expansion through narrative engagement is greater in times of threatened self-concept. In addition to that, search for meaning in life was examined as a potential moderator. This study partially replicates an experiment conducted by Johnson, Ewoldsen, and Slater (2015) to increase the comparability and explanatory power of the research results. Using an experimental design, participants (N = 165) were randomly assigned to two experimental and one control condition. Participants in the experimental groups received negative or positive bogus appraisals of themselves while participants in the control group were not treated. After state self-esteem manipulation, participants were required to read a short story and rate their narrative engagement using self-report scales. Results suggest that decreased state self-esteem did not predict greater narrative engagement: Mean differences between the groups were not significant for enjoyment, audience response, narrative transportation, or identification. Furthermore, moderation analysis ruled out search for meaning in life as a moderator. These results are discussed in terms of the temporarily expanding the boundaries of the self theory.