Related Experiment Videos
Listeners as co-narrators
J B Bavelas1, L Coates, T Johnson
1Department of Psychology, University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. jbb@uvic.ca
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
|January 4, 2001
Summary
Listeners actively co-create stories through their responses, influencing the narrator's performance. Distracted listeners led to poorer storytelling, highlighting the importance of collaborative dialogue in narrative.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Social Psychology
- Communication Studies
Background:
- Narrative storytelling is a fundamental human interaction.
- The role of listener engagement in shaping narrative delivery is not fully understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the collaborative nature of face-to-face storytelling.
- To examine how listener responses influence narrative quality and narrator performance.
Main Methods:
- Two experiments were conducted with 63 unacquainted dyads.
- Participants engaged in storytelling, with listener responses categorized as generic or specific.
- Listener distraction was manipulated to assess its impact on narrative and listener behavior.
Main Results:
- Specific listener responses were tightly linked to narrative content, serving an illustrative function.
- Listener distraction significantly reduced listener responses, particularly specific ones.
- Narrators performed significantly worse when listeners were distracted, especially during climactic story moments.
Conclusions:
- Listeners are active co-narrators, contributing to story illustration and narrator performance.
- Moment-by-moment collaboration is crucial for effective face-to-face dialogue and narrative delivery.
- Listener engagement directly impacts the quality and success of storytelling.