Effect of Similarity with the Protagonist of Narratives Against Racism in Attitudes Toward Immigration. The Mediating Role of Identification with the Protagonist

The main goal of this research was to generate new knowledge about the processes of narrative persuasion and its application to reduce the prejudice towards highly stigmatized immigrants. We analyzed the effect of similarity between the protagonist of a narrative designed to reduce the prejudice and the audience of the message, in the identification with the protagonist and in the attitudes towards the immigration. For this, an experimental research was conducted in which 90 university students participated. As experimental stimuli, short stories written in first person that recounted the migratory experience of a stigmatized immigrant were used. Participants were randomly assigned to two experimental conditions, designed according to how the protagonist of the narration appeared. The results showed that the similarity positively influenced the identification with the protagonist which, in turn, was associated with more favorable attitudes toward immigration. This research opens a line of study on the factors related to the construction of characters and narrative messages, and their incidence in reception processes (identification, narrative engagement), and indirectly, in variables related to social change and the promotion of tolerance.