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Introduction This study investigates the psychological mechanisms underlying narrative persuasion in climate change communication, focusing on narrative voice (first- versus third-person), narrative transport, character identification, and individual predispositions. Methods In an online experiment with 143 Italian participants, readers were randomly assigned to one of two groups based on the narrative version they read: a first-person or a third-person narrative group, both with identical content and structure. Measures of transport, identification, affect, eco-anxiety, empathy, and post-exposure climate attitudes were collected. Results Regarding group differences, the results showed no overall differences in persuasion, transport, or identification between the first- and third-person narrative groups. However, participants in the first-person narrative group showed significantly higher agreement with statements about local climate impacts than those in the third-person narrative group. Correlation and regression analyses were also conducted. Identification with the protagonist emerged as the strongest predictor of pro-climate attitudes, while transport was only positively correlated with them. Persuasive effects were further modulated by individual levels of eco-anxiety and empathy, especially in the first-person condition. Discussion This study highlights identification with characters as a key mechanism of narrative persuasion, outweighing formal features such as narrative voice. It also shows that reductions in psychological distance are strongly moderated by individual differences, particularly empathy and eco-anxiety. Overall, these findings suggest that the effectiveness of climate narratives depends on the interaction between message characteristics and recipient predispositions.
Adornetti et al. (Thu,) studied this question.