Storytelling for Change: Narratives that Shape our Perception of Others and Ourselves — Symposium

About

The symposium brings together scholars from multiple disciplines, creators, and professionals to discuss the multifaceted role of narratives in fostering connection across diverse groups and understanding our own life experiences. In an increasingly polarized world, stories, delivered through various media—from literature to digital platforms and immersive experiences—possess unique properties of bringing (mediated) individuals in (vicarious) contact. Stories aid in (re)shaping our past experiences, identities, and making sense of them. The symposium presents contributions from those who work with stories and their effects on a daily basis (researchers, but also authors and professionals in reading organizations). The event offers a space for open discussion and contamination, critically examining the inherent challenges in utilizing storytelling for social change, for example, the potential for reinforcing rather than dismantling prejudices and stigma. Storytelling for Change aims to inspire innovative approaches and provoke thoughtful dialogue on how we can harness the transformative power of storytelling to build a more inclusive and equitable society.

Venue and date

• Date: 31 October 2025
• Venue: Agora 2, VU Main Building (De Boelelaan 1105, Amsterdam)
• Route inside the building: From the main entrance of the Main Building, turn left toward the 6-lift group. You can ask a VU host for directions. Please note that you will need to pick one of the lifts to your right to be able to exit on the third floor. When you exit there, you’ll see the Agora meeting room complex on your right. We will be there with a registration desk.

Registration

Registration is closed.

Program

Friday, 31 October

• 08:40–09:00 Registration
• 09:00–09:30 Opening by Katalin Bálint (VU, The Netherlands), Director of VU StoryLab, and Drs. Giulia Scapin (VU and University College Dublin)

Session 1 (Chair: Katalin Bálint)

• 09:30–10:00 Jonathan Cohen (University of Haifa, IL): Creating and Validating the Narrativization Scale
• 10:00–10:30 Melanie Kreitler (University of Groningen, NL; University of Giessen, DE): Structures of Experience: Mental Illness and Narrative Complexity
• 10:30–11:00 Coffee break

Session 2 (Chair: Giulia Scapin)

• 11:00–11:30 Federico Pianzola (University of Groningen, The Netherlands): The Lives of Wattpad Readers
• 11:30–12:00 Elise Talgorn (Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, The Netherlands): Storytelling for Collective Care in our Neighborhoods
• 12:00–12:30 Laurence Scherz (VU Amsterdam): The Machine as a Villain: Narrative Empathy and Characterisation of (Emotive) Robots in Speculative Fiction
• 12:30–13:30 Lunch break
• 13:30–14:20 Akke Visser (Culturele Apotheek, Shared Reading organization, Amsterdam, NL): Experiencing Shared Reading
• 14:20–14:30 Break

Session 3 (Chair: Federico Pianzola)

• 14:30–15:00 Tine Riis Andersen (Stavanger University, Norway): From Resistant to Interested: Can Shared Reading Change 5th Graders’ Attitudes on Reading for Pleasure?
• 15:00–15:30 Paul Sopcak (RWTH Aachen University, Germany): ‘Fictive Reality’ vs Simulation – Differentiating Forms and Models of Narrative Engagement
• 15:30–16:00 Coffee break

Session 4 (hybrid) (Chair: Frank Hakemulder)

• 16:00–16:30 Moniek Kuijpers & Pema Frick (University of Basel, Switzerland): The Changing Reading Habits of Young Adults in Online Spaces (online)
• 16:30–17:00 Raymond Mar (York University), Shihara C. Fernando (University of Western Ontario), & Enny Das (Radboud University): Confronting Death, and Appreciating Life, by Reading and Writing Obituaries (online)
• 17:00 Closing session and borrel

Times are Central European Time (CET, UTC+1). Schedule and speakers subject to change.

Abstracts

Jonathan Cohen: Creating and Validating the Narrativization Scale

The results of a series of studies attempting to create a measure for a new construct “The Narrativization of Life” will be reported. Based on prior theoretical and conceptual work, a definition of narrativization as the tendency to interpret one’s reality using narrative templates was initially established. Six dimensions were hypothesized, and 6 items were created for each dimension. Next, based on survey data, the original group of dimensions and items was reduced to measure three dimensions using 15 items (11 original + 4 new ones). The scale was shown to be reliable and empirically separate from four concepts that could be seen as overlapping. Finally, several studies attempted to demonstrate predictive validity but no evidence for predictive validity has yet been established. The difficulty in establishing predictive validity and its implications will be discussed.

Melanie Kreitler: Structures of Experience: Mental Illness and Narrative Complexity

The relationship between mainstream media and mental illness is fraught. Especially films are deemed to misrepresent and sensationalize non-normative mental states and thereby solidify harmful attitudes in their audiences. Since the mid-1990s, a heterogenous group of films has departed from such time-honored tropes, offering alternative ways of visualizing and narrating non-normative mental states. Subsumed under the headers of puzzle and impossible puzzle films, these productions strategically use their narrative structures to evoke in viewers an experience similar to that of the neuro-non-normative protagonist. Drawing from cognitive media studies, narrative theory, and cultural studies, this presentation explores what I term ‘structural audience address’: the narrative hurdles that complexity introduces to viewers’ meaning-making efforts pool their cognitive resources on modes of storytelling and immerse them into characters’ minds and world(view)s. This form of cognitive alignment sidelines culturally mediated ways of understanding characters and their mental states, disclosing alternative narratives of mental illness.

Federico Pianzola: The Lives of Wattpad Readers

In the 21st century, there is a wealth of data coming from digital platforms that offer an unprecedented insight into the lives of readers. In this presentation, by focusing on Wattpad, I show what online comments can tell us about how teenagers read and what impact fiction has on their lives. For this, I use computational methods, a survey with Wattpad users, and a focus group with graduate students.

Elise Talgorn: Storytelling for Collective Care in our Neighborhoods

Can neighborhood stories become tools for building collective care—a practice of shared responsibility for social and health challenges (Raap, 2022)—by strengthening connections and revealing interdependencies? In Amsterdam Nieuw-West’s Wildemanbuurt, residents face structural health inequalities, social fragmentation, and stigma, yet the neighborhood also hosts rich informal care practices, cultural knowledge, and resilience. Through Stadsreporters, residents—including seniors, unemployed youth, and others—are trained to document positive local health initiatives on film. Prior research shows this improves mental health, reduces loneliness, and fosters belonging among storytellers (Kapteins, 2023). Here, we examine how these films can also benefit the broader community by connecting residents, organizations, and public spaces through shared narratives. Four films are co-created with local partners and shared in neighborhood “health kamers,” forming repositories of collective narratives. Using interview and story analysis, systems theory, and the Louis Bolk Institute’s Framework for Positive Health, we trace how stories ripple outward—shifting perceptions, strengthening networks, and activating acts of collective care across the physical, mental, social, and (natural) environment dimensions of health. Our objectives are applied—building local networks, reducing stigma, improving access to resources—and methodological—showing storytelling as a powerful tool to create, measure, and communicate impact in collective care.

Laurence Scherz: The Machine as a Villain: Narrative Empathy and Characterisation of (Emotive) Robots in Speculative Fiction

What happens to our empathy towards machines upon seeing them portrayed as villains in speculative fiction? And how, exactly, does an author or storyteller use narrative tools to achieve narrative empathy? This presentation compares horrific characterisations of (AI-controlled) robots with more emotive examples found in the novels Little Eyes (Samanta Schweblin, 2018) and Klara and the Sun (Kazuo Ishiguro, 2021). To truly understand how narrative empathy works, the poetics of the text itself are studied, drawing on the expertise of creative writing practices. Keeping in mind that only well-crafted stories affect a reader’s cognition, we look at how authors employ various stylistic techniques (POV, voice, characterisation) to elicit empathy or disgust. Whose perspective do we take, and why? Do we perceive a big, bad machine, or something to cherish?

Akke Visser: Experiencing Shared Reading

Shared reading is a practice that has attracted the attention of researchers and practitioners in recent years. Akke Visser will host a shared reading session in which a number of people can participate, to experience firsthand what this practice entails. With the larger audience, we will reflect on this type of shared, reading-aloud experience and the effects it can have on participants.

Akke Visser is the founder and director of Stichting Culturele Apotheek (the Cultural Pharmacy Foundation). In 2018, the organization introduced shared reading in the Netherlands and now runs over 100 reading groups in community centers, libraries, healthcare institutions, and Odensehuizen (meeting places for people living with dementia) throughout the country, together with over 150 voluntary reader leaders. Reading groups are also held in Frisian.

Tine Riis Andersen: From Resistant to Interested: Can Shared Reading Change 5th Graders’ Attitudes on Reading for Pleasure?

This study explores whether Shared Reading can (re)ignite reading interest among 5th-grade pupils. PIRLS 2021 (Wagner & Støle, 2024) revealed a stark decline in Norwegian 10-year-olds’ interest in reading, frequency of leisure reading activity and overall reading enjoyment. Contributing factors may include increased digital media use and school practices focused on performance and assessment. While initiatives like silent reading (Lund, 2022) aim to promote engagement, they may fall short for pupils without prior positive reading experiences or low attention spans. Shared Reading (Davis, 2009) is an experience-based reading activity where people read and talk about stories and poems together. It may serve as a valuable supplement by offering a safe, pressure-free space that supports basic psychological needs (Andersen, 2022; Mortensen, 2022), needs that are foundational to motivation and learning processes (Ryan & Deci, 2017). The study follows an educational design research (EDR) approach (van den Akker, 2006) using the four-phase model of interest development (Hidi & Renninger, 2006) as a theoretical framework to explore the impact of an 8-week Shared Reading intervention on students’ reading interest, attitudes, and habits. In addition to assessing outcomes, the study seeks to identify what elements within the activity, such as the questions asked by the facilitator or the type of texts, may trigger and sustain interest, and whether additional motivational triggers may be needed.

Paul Sopcak: ‘Fictive Reality’ vs Simulation – Differentiating Forms and Models of Narrative Engagement

Research on the impact of narratives on identity and empathy, as well as social cognition and social understanding, abounds. The empirical evidence, almost exclusively interpreted through simulation-plus-projection models, remains somewhat inconclusive. This presentation theoretically explores – and provides empirical evidence for – a mode of narrative engagement that is distinct from simulation and arguably better suited to explain the more impactful narrative experiences and outcomes.

Moniek Kuijpers & Pema Frick: The Changing Reading Habits of Young Adults in Online Spaces

As young adults are increasingly more involved in digital social reading practices, it is important that we obtain an understanding of how online platforms are used, and through what mechanisms these types of reading activities affect readers’ reading habits and even their sense of well-being. In this presentation, we will present the results of a Q-methodology interview study with young adults (between 18 and 25 years of age), who are self-proclaimed avid users of online platforms to discuss their reading or partake in other activities surrounding the act of reading. We use a technique called Q sorting, whereby participants are asked to sort authentic statements about a particular aspect of subjectivity (in our case what it is like to participate in digital social reading practices) in a bell-shaped grid ranging from “not at all like my everyday experience” to “very much like my everyday experience”. The Q-sort will allow us to collect both rich descriptions of shared opinions on digital social reading, as well as issues within digital social reading that divide or bring together our participants. We hope to demonstrate the usefulness of Q-methodology as an approach to the study of young adults’ reading behavior, decreasing “the risk of adult perspectives overshadowing those of young adults in social research” (Kuzmicova et al., 2022).

Raymond A. Mar, Shihara C. Fernando & Enny Das: Confronting Death, and Appreciating Life, by Reading and Writing Obituaries

Our lives are made meaningful in part by their finite nature. It is our mortality that brings import to how we choose to spend our (limited) time in existence. However, confronting this mortality is also challenging, as our eventual deaths bring a host of uncertainty, anxiety, fear, and angst. Coming to terms with our own mortality should lead to a better appreciation of our lives, and one way to achieve this may be through stories. Obituaries—the life stories of those who have passed—are a unique form of story that contextualizes lives in terms of their finite nature, but also highlight what can make a life meaningful. Two studies examining the role of obituaries in producing meaning in life are discussed. The first asked undergraduate participants to write their own ideal obituary, imagining that they had lived a long and meaningful life. A second examined psychological constructs associated with an interest in reading obituaries, and possible outcomes.

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This symposium is supported by the Network Institute, the Department of Communication Science, and the Digital Media and Behavioral Lab. Organizers: Katalin Bálint, Giulia Scapin, Lotte Mastenbroek, Margriet Schager, Sylvia Gielink and Frank Hakemulder.

The Power of Stories: The Impact of Narrative Form, Structure and Complexity in Modern Society Symposium

About

This symposium unites scholars and experts from diverse disciplines, including psychology, film scholarship, media psychology, literary studies, and communication science, to foster a dynamic and multifaceted dialogue. This symposium aims to explore the determinants of narrative form and structure, the experiences they evoke, and the profound effects they have on individuals and societies. By adopting an interdisciplinary perspective, the event seeks to uncover how different academic approaches can illuminate the cognitive, emotional, and social dimensions of storytelling. Topics will include the complexity of narratives, their ability to generate empathy, their real-life implications, and their impact on audience understanding and engagement across various media. This collaborative endeavor aspires to deepen our appreciation of narratives as a fundamental force shaping modern society.

Venue and date

The symposium will take place at VU Amsterdam between 13–14 March 2025, at the following location:

Grand Café LIVING Amsterdam (De Boelelaan 1111G, 1081 HV Amsterdam)

Registration

The event is open to the public and free of charge. If you want to participate, please indicate your attendance via this form until 3 March.

Program

Thursday, 13 March

• 13:00–13:30 Opening by Katalin Bálint (VU, The Netherlands), Director of VU StoryLab
• Session 1 (Chair: Cynthia Cabañas)
• 13:30–14:00 Joe Magliano (Georgia State University, US): The Cognitive Affordances of Text and Images: Shaping Mental Models in Narratives.
• 14:00–14:30 Lene Heiselberg (University of Southern Denmark): Affective Storytelling for News Videos: Introducing and Testing Batman Affective Structure in the Age of Streaming.
• 14:30–15:00 Andras Balint Kovacs (ELTE, Hungary): Causality, Incoherence and Complexity in narratives.
• 15:00–15:30 Coffee break
• Session 2 (Chair: Tess Lankhuizen)
• 15:30–16:00 Frank Hakemulder (UU, The Netherlands): How Literariness Emerges: Finding an Antidote to Superficiality.
• 16:00–16:30 Gaya Yonah (VU, The Netherlands): The Complexity Effect: An Exploratory Study on How Complex Narrative Structures Relate to Audience Engagement.
• 16:30–17:00 Ed Tan (UvA, The Netherlands): A note on mise-en-scène for transportation
• 17:00 Borrel in the Living Restaurant

Friday, 14 March

• 09:30–10:00 Coffee
• Session 3 (Chair: Gaya Yonah)
• 10:00–10:30 Cynthia Cabañas (VU, The Netherlands): Viewer Engagement with Narrative Complexity: A Cognitive-Affective Framework.
• 10:30–11:00 Lucia Cores-Sarria (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain): The “Breathing” Camera: Psychological Effects Of Subtle Handheld Camera Movement In Audiovisual Narratives.
• 11:00–11:30 Koji Yoshimura (UvA, The Netherlands): Less certain, more meaningful: The role of individual differences in the reception of ambiguous film narratives.
• 11:30–12:00 Closing remarks
• 12:00–13:30 Break
• 13:45–15:00 PhD defense by Tess Lankhuizen: From Frames to Feelings: Visual Form, Empathy, and Narrative Engagement in Hollywood Cinema

Abstracts

Joe Magliano: The Cognitive Affordances of Text and Images: Shaping Mental Models in Narratives.

Co-authors: Heather Ness-Maddox, Shu Hu, Puren Öncel, Lingfei Luan, & Laura Allen

Narratives are conveyed in language (oral, text) and visually (film, sequential picture stories). How does the medium in which we experience a narrative affect our comprehension of it? There is a case to be made that there are common processes that operate across media. However, different media require distinct skills and may have unique affordances that have important implications for comprehension. As such, the question posed above is fundamental to cognitive science, but one that requires more attention than it has received thus far in the literature. In this presentation, I will present two studies that we conducted to explore the affordances of media in supporting different aspects of comprehension. Participants thought aloud while reading graphic or text-based versions of stories. Computational analyses of the think aloud responses showed differences across the media in terms of situational information that is mentioned in the responses and coherence building.

Lene Heiselberg: Affective Storytelling for News Videos: Introducing and Testing Batman Affective Structure in the Age of Streaming.

This study explores how the “Batman Affective Structure” (BAS), a novel narrative structure, can address the challenges television broadcasters face in retaining audiences amid the rise of streaming services and the decline of traditional linear television. BAS adapts news video narration by emphasizing emotional engagement at the beginning and end. The study tested BAS against traditional broadcast narrative structures, using electrodermal activity (EDA) and surveys to assess its impact. Results revealed that BAS outperformed broadcast TV narration in eliciting arousal and attention, particularly among streaming-oriented audiences with high media consumption. However, its effectiveness varied based on video content and audience type, with entertainment-focused users responding most favorably. These findings highlight the potential of emotion-driven news video narration to bridge the gap between broadcast and streaming formats, offering broadcasters a strategy to compete in an increasingly on-demand, high-choice media environment.

Andras Balint Kovacs: Causality, Incoherence and Complexity in narratives.

How to detect high level incoherence in narratives by machine learning (ML)? This is a report of the state of the research the final goal of which is to develop an algorithm that can detect EEG signatures of “events” as cognitive markers of high information processing load. Two linear narratives were reedited so that the shots that coherently followed each other were shuffled. Each cut in the original was annotated a) for its role in creating the coherence of the narrative; b) for the type of continuity; c) presence of human figures and/or faces. Different statistical procedures and ML methods were used to see which one discriminates the best between coherent and incoherent narratives and what role the annotations play in the discrimination process. Results show a maximum of 97.1% accuracy in discrimination consistently based on N2 and P3 components. Results also show that content annotation of shots improves discrimination performance, allowing for further investigating which type of content elicits which type of response. Results also contradict some earlier reports on what types of activations play a role in discriminating between coherent and incoherent video clips. Consequences of these results on theory of narrative causality and processing coherence/incoherence in narratives will be discussed.

Frank Hakemulder: How Literariness Emerges: Finding an Antidote to Superficiality.

This talk explores the interplay between text and reader in shaping literariness—the defining quality of literature. Rather than residing solely in the text or the reader’s perception, literariness emerges through engagement. Mere exposure is insufficient; it is the nature of interaction that brings this quality to life. Understanding this dynamic deepens our grasp of complexity in literature (and other arts) and its potential role in enriching our lives. Literariness exemplifies deep reading, requiring sustained attention, absorption of complex ideas, and openness to others’ inner worlds. It enhances connections between text and personal experience while revealing how stylistic choices shape meaning. In an era of digital distractions (by the way, where is your smartphone?), deep engagement with literature faces increasing challenges. Finding ways to make such experiences enriching and rewarding is essential to sustaining motivation for deep reading. I will propose strategies to help readers recognize literariness as a powerful mode of meaning-making. By highlighting its ability to generate empathy, build community, and provide a reflective space for navigating life’s complexities, literature can be framed as a transformative force—one that not only enhances individual engagement but also enriches collective understanding in an increasingly mediated world.

Gaya Yonah: The Complexity Effect: An Exploratory Study on How Complex Narrative Structures Relate to Audience Engagement.

This research explores how audiences engage with complex narratives in film and television, particularly those featuring nonlinear chronology and disrupted causality. While previous studies have primarily focused on comprehension ease in linear storytelling, this study shifts the focus to the cognitive and emotional dimensions of engaging with narrational complexity. Drawing from media psychology and cognitive film theory, the project developed theory-driven categories of complex narrative experiences. Through in-depth semi-structured interviews with fans of complex movies and TV shows, using open-ended questions, the study seeks to uncover the psychological and aesthetic processes involved in processing intricate story structures. These insights are intended to contribute to the development of a narrational complexity engagement scale, offering a potential framework for understanding how narrational complexity influences audience perception and emotional investment—advancing interdisciplinary discourse on the power of storytelling in modern society.

Ed Tan (UvA, The Netherlands): A note on mise-en-scène for transportation

In cognitive film theory, mise-en-scène (MeS) is a stylistic technique, just as cinematography, editing and sound are. MeS can be defined as a director’s staging of story events with a certain function in mind. Functions include controlling viewer attention and emotion, providing backgrounds and depth to events, for example in terms of cause and consequence, suggesting narrative parallels or contrasts. Elements of MeS include setting, costumes and make-up, lighting, and actor movement and expression. Perhaps the primus inter pares among techniques of film style, MeS has not received the attention it deserves in analyses of film style related to emotional or cognitive effects on viewers. An important reason is undoubtedly that mise-en-scène techniques are difficult to operationalize. No wonder that encompassing coding systems for mise-en-scène are not yet available. In this contribution I explore some challenges that a coding system for mise-en-scène poses. As an inspiring lead we follow filmmaker Mark Cousin’s fictional explanation of the way Alfred Hitchcock staged the act of a protagonist entering a house in his films, with the aim to transport the viewer. I will then analyse the roles played by separate elements of mise-en-scène and of other stylistic techniques in provoking transportation and other cognitive-affective states, and address what is missing in the analysis. Finally, I will consider the possibility of an alternative molar rather than molecular analysis of MeS and other stylistic techniques. It is action-semantically based, and explicitly led by the functions of MeS.

Cynthia Cabañas: Viewer Engagement with Narrative Complexity: A Cognitive-Affective Framework.

Previous narrative engagement theories have predominantly focused on viewers’ surface-level subjective experiences, such as immersion and transportation, mostly in the context of mainstream narratives with conventional linear structures. To advance our understanding and examine the differential effects of narrational complexity vs linear storytelling, we introduce a theoretical framework that maps the underlying cognitive and affective mechanisms involved in processing complex narratives, drawing on qualitative interview data and existing literature. We propose a mechanistic psychological approach that examines how executive functions—such as cognitive flexibility and goal-directed attention—foster flexible analytical dispositions essential for comprehension of fragmented and ambiguous story structures. We further propose that this disposition, along with metacognitive self-regulation, helps sustain the cognitive effort required to maintain engagement through narrational complexity, particularly when viewers experience frustration due to confusion. This framework provides a foundation for experimentally comparing varying degrees of narrative complexity, allowing us to (a) examine how individual traits, such as tolerance for ambiguity, shape engagement and (b) assess the potential of complex narratives as tools for fostering cognitive adaptability and psychological resilience in an increasingly complex world.

Lucia Cores-Sarria: The “Breathing” Camera: Psychological Effects of Subtle Handheld Camera Movement in Audiovisual Narratives.

Among camera movements, the handheld camera stands out as a cinematographic technique that enhances narrative immersion, as noted by scholars and cinematographers. However, some film scholars critique it as intrusive and distracting. This study investigates the psychological effects of the “breathing” camera, a subtle handheld technique mimicking a human observer’s quiet breathing. Based on visual perception research, two features of the breathing camera stand out: (1) it provides depth information and (2) specifies a human observer, unlike other more mechanical camera movements. I hypothesize that, by enacting the visual experience of a human observer, the breathing camera enhances emotional and attentional engagement with the narrative. Additionally, I predict that it will not be perceived as intrusive. These hypotheses were tested in an experiment combining psychophysiological and self-reported measures. The findings offer empirical evidence that cinematographic effects are not arbitrary but are deeply rooted in our natural perceptual experiences, which helps explain why cinema is such a universal and powerful medium for storytelling.

Koji Yoshimura: Less certain, more meaningful: The role of individual differences in the reception of ambiguous film narratives.

To better understand the experience of complex stories, my research has focused on the subjective evaluation of the extent to which a narrative can be interpreted in multiple ways, or perceived narrative ambiguity. In two experiments, perceived narrative ambiguity was shown to predict appreciation (but not enjoyment) of movies. To understand why some individuals seem to embrace ambiguity while others dislike it, several candidate moderators of this relationship were tested. Results suggest that most people can appreciate ambiguous narratives, but preferences play a larger role than tendencies/traits in explaining why some experience stronger effects. Additionally, exploratory analyses reveal other relationships that shed more light on the subjective experience of complex narratives. This presentation will review these recent findings regarding perceived narrative ambiguity and highlight opportunities for advancing future research on narrative experience.

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This symposium is supported by the Network Institute, the Department of Communication Science, and the Digital Media and Behavioral Lab.