Storytelling is often presented as a solution to problems of trust in science communication. Yet stories can attract attention without making science credible, meaningful, or legitimate. This commentary proposes narrative trust as a theoretical perspective for explaining when stories support public trust. Narrative trust emerges when four conditions align: intelligibility, credibility, cultural resonance, and legitimacy of mediation. The framework shifts attention from whether stories “work” to the communicative conditions under which science becomes understandable, believable, socially meaningful, and publicly actionable.
Inti Josue Cachipuendo-Contero (Wed,) studied this question.