How Cognitive Absorption Influences Responses to Immersive Narratives of Environmental Threats

Daniel Pimentel

14 citations0/0 files storedCyberpsychology Behavior and Social Networking

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Media Influence and Health Virtual Reality Applications and Impacts Climate Change Communication and Perception

Abstract

Nongovernment organizations are increasingly leveraging the metaverse and its suite of extended reality technologies, such as 360° video and virtual reality, to immerse audiences in situations depicting environmental threats. The promise of immersive storytelling as a conservation tool is predicated on the verisimilitude of the mediated experience, with exposure to environmental threats in immersive video akin to in vivo exposure. However, the psychological mechanisms explaining users' environmental responses to immersive stories remain ambiguous. In three controlled laboratory experiments, we examined unique properties (e.g., interactivity and modality) of immersive technologies vis-à-vis environmental stories and their influence on proenvironmental outcomes. Study 1 ( N = 48) implemented a two-condition (interactivity: high vs. low) between-subjects experiment, showing that interactive 360° video significantly influenced attitudes through the mechanism of cognitive absorption. A 2 (interactivity: high/low) × 2 (distance: proximal/distant) between-subjects experiment (study 2; N = 76) further supported this mediation model by showing the mediating effects of cognitive absorption on attitudes and threat perceptions toward both distant and proximal threats. Lastly, study 3 ( N = 68) replicated the mediating effects of cognitive absorption across 360° video modalities, though head-mounted display-based, rather than screen-based, 360° videos only significantly increased attitudes and absorption when threats were proximal. We discuss the results' practical and theoretical implications and propose avenues for future research. Moreover, we outline important considerations for environmental organizations seeking to leverage metaverse platforms for communicating environmental threats.

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2001Risk as feelings.2000The role of transportation in the persuasiveness of public narratives.2000Time Flies When You’re Having Fun: Cognitive Absorption and Beliefs About Information Technology Usage1 2007Construal Levels and Psychological Distance: Effects on Representation, Prediction, Evaluation, and Behavior 2011An integrative review of sensory marketing: Engaging the senses to affect perception, judgment and behavior 2008The Psychology of Transcending the Here and Now 2005Attitudes and Persuasion 2011Identification as a Mechanism of Narrative Persuasion

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