- Oxford Library of Psychology
- Oxford Library of Psychology
- About the Editors
- Acknowledgments
- Contributors
- Introduction: Why Science Communication?
- The Need for a Science of Science Communication: Communicating Science’s Values and Norms
- Overview of the Science of Science Communication
- On the Sources of Ordinary Science Knowledge and Extraordinary Science Ignorance
- How Changing Media Structures Are Affecting Science News Coverage
- What the Public Thinks and Knows About Science—and Why It Matters
- Science Controversies: Can the Science of Science Communication Provide Management Guidance or Only Analysis?
- A Recap: The Science of Communicating Science
- Science as “Broken” Versus Science as “Self-Correcting”: How Retractions and Peer-Review Problems Are Exploited to Attack Science
- Publication Bias in Science: What Is It, Why Is It Problematic, and How Can It Be Addressed?
- Statistical Biases in Science Communication: What We Know About Them and How They Can Be Addressed
- Is There a Hype Problem in Science? If So, How Is It Addressed?
- Is There a Retraction Problem? And, If So, What Can We Do About It?
- A Recap: Identifying and Overcoming Challenges to Science Featured in Attacks on Science
- A Comparative Study of Communication About Food Safety Before, During, and After the “Mad Cow” Crisis
- Cross-National Comparative Communication and Deliberation About the Risks of Nanotechnologies
- Communications About Biotechnologies and GMOs Across Europe
- A Tale of Two Vaccines—and Their Science Communication Environments
- A Recap: Science Communication in Action
- Science Communication at Scientific Institutions
- The Role of Scholarly Presses and Journals
- The Role of Governmental Organizations in Communicating About Regulating Science
- Science Communication and Museums’ Changing Roles
- The Role of Funding Organizations: Foundations
- Promoting Popular Understanding of Science and Health Through Social Networks
- Designing Public Deliberation at the Intersection of Science and Public Policy
- Translating Science into Policy and Legislation: Evidence-Informed Policymaking
- A Recap—The Role of Intermediaries in Communicating Science: A Synthesis
- The (Changing) Nature of Scientist–Media Interactions: A Cross-National Analysis
- New Models of Knowledge-Based Journalism
- Citizens Making Sense of Science Issues: Supply and Demand Factors for Science News and Information in the Digital Age
- The Changing Popular Images of Science
- What Do We Know About the Entertainment Industry’s Portrayal of Science? How Does It Affect Public Attitudes Toward Science?
- How Narrative Functions in Entertainment to Communicate Science
- Assumptions About Science in Satirical News and Late-Night Comedy
- A Recap: The Role, Power, and Peril of Media for the Communication of Science
- Countering False Beliefs: An Analysis of the Evidence and Recommendations of Best Practices for the Retraction and Correction of Scientific Misinformation
- Using Frames to Make Scientific Communication More Effective
- Philosophical Impediments to Citizens’ Use of Science
- Overcoming Confirmation and Blind Spot Biases When Communicating Science
- Understanding and Overcoming Selective Exposure and Judgment When Communicating About Science
- Overcoming Innumeracy and the Use of Heuristics When Communicating Science
- Overcoming Biases in Processing of Time Series Data About Climate
- Understanding and Overcoming Fear of the Unnatural in Discussion of GMOs
- Protecting or Polluting the Science Communication Environment?: The Case of Childhood Vaccines
- Overcoming False Causal Attribution: Debunking the MMR–Autism Association
- Overcoming the Challenges of Communicating Uncertainties Across National Contexts
- A Recap: Heuristics, Biases, Values, and Other Challenges to Communicating Science
- Conclusion—On the Horizon: The Changing Science Communication Environment
- Index
Abstract and Keywords
Entertainment media can use storytelling—narrative tools like drama, characterization, and conflict—to draw audiences deeper into scientific content. Without careful scrutiny of the content being conveyed, entertainment has the potential to distort scientific knowledge and warp beliefs, but entertainment also has the useful power to capture attention, increase engagement, and promote the understanding and enjoyment of science. Narratives are the underlying structure of entertainment media and represent a unique communication tool for portraying science in ways that intersect with human experience. This chapter provides an overview of the psychological, social, professional, and ethical ways that narrative formats of communication function within entertainment media to communicate science to public audiences. Three short narratives within the chapter embody the risks and potentials of communicating science with storytelling.
Keywords: communication, entertainment, narrative, story, storytelling, attention, scientific content
Martin Kaplan holds the Norman Lear chair in entertainment, media, and society at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, where he also directs the Norman Lear Center. At the Walt Disney Studios, he was vice president for motion picture production, as well as a screenwriter and producer of live-action features. He graduated summa cum laude in molecular biology from Harvard College, where he was president of the Harvard Lampoon, and he holds a PhD from Stanford in modern thought and literature.
Michael Dahlstrom, PhD, is the associate director of the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication at Iowa State University and a previous head of the Communicating Science, Health, Environment and Risk division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. His research focuses on the effects of narratives on perceptions of science, and his research has been published in journals such as Science Communication, Communication Research, and Media Psychology. Dahlstrom received a joint PhD in Journalism and Mass Communications and Environmental Resources from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Access to the complete content on Oxford Handbooks Online requires a subscription or purchase. Public users are able to search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter without a subscription.
Please subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you have purchased a print title that contains an access token, please see the token for information about how to register your code.
For questions on access or troubleshooting, please check our FAQs, and if you can''t find the answer there, please contact us.
- Oxford Library of Psychology
- Oxford Library of Psychology
- About the Editors
- Acknowledgments
- Contributors
- Introduction: Why Science Communication?
- The Need for a Science of Science Communication: Communicating Science’s Values and Norms
- Overview of the Science of Science Communication
- On the Sources of Ordinary Science Knowledge and Extraordinary Science Ignorance
- How Changing Media Structures Are Affecting Science News Coverage
- What the Public Thinks and Knows About Science—and Why It Matters
- Science Controversies: Can the Science of Science Communication Provide Management Guidance or Only Analysis?
- A Recap: The Science of Communicating Science
- Science as “Broken” Versus Science as “Self-Correcting”: How Retractions and Peer-Review Problems Are Exploited to Attack Science
- Publication Bias in Science: What Is It, Why Is It Problematic, and How Can It Be Addressed?
- Statistical Biases in Science Communication: What We Know About Them and How They Can Be Addressed
- Is There a Hype Problem in Science? If So, How Is It Addressed?
- Is There a Retraction Problem? And, If So, What Can We Do About It?
- A Recap: Identifying and Overcoming Challenges to Science Featured in Attacks on Science
- A Comparative Study of Communication About Food Safety Before, During, and After the “Mad Cow” Crisis
- Cross-National Comparative Communication and Deliberation About the Risks of Nanotechnologies
- Communications About Biotechnologies and GMOs Across Europe
- A Tale of Two Vaccines—and Their Science Communication Environments
- A Recap: Science Communication in Action
- Science Communication at Scientific Institutions
- The Role of Scholarly Presses and Journals
- The Role of Governmental Organizations in Communicating About Regulating Science
- Science Communication and Museums’ Changing Roles
- The Role of Funding Organizations: Foundations
- Promoting Popular Understanding of Science and Health Through Social Networks
- Designing Public Deliberation at the Intersection of Science and Public Policy
- Translating Science into Policy and Legislation: Evidence-Informed Policymaking
- A Recap—The Role of Intermediaries in Communicating Science: A Synthesis
- The (Changing) Nature of Scientist–Media Interactions: A Cross-National Analysis
- New Models of Knowledge-Based Journalism
- Citizens Making Sense of Science Issues: Supply and Demand Factors for Science News and Information in the Digital Age
- The Changing Popular Images of Science
- What Do We Know About the Entertainment Industry’s Portrayal of Science? How Does It Affect Public Attitudes Toward Science?
- How Narrative Functions in Entertainment to Communicate Science
- Assumptions About Science in Satirical News and Late-Night Comedy
- A Recap: The Role, Power, and Peril of Media for the Communication of Science
- Countering False Beliefs: An Analysis of the Evidence and Recommendations of Best Practices for the Retraction and Correction of Scientific Misinformation
- Using Frames to Make Scientific Communication More Effective
- Philosophical Impediments to Citizens’ Use of Science
- Overcoming Confirmation and Blind Spot Biases When Communicating Science
- Understanding and Overcoming Selective Exposure and Judgment When Communicating About Science
- Overcoming Innumeracy and the Use of Heuristics When Communicating Science
- Overcoming Biases in Processing of Time Series Data About Climate
- Understanding and Overcoming Fear of the Unnatural in Discussion of GMOs
- Protecting or Polluting the Science Communication Environment?: The Case of Childhood Vaccines
- Overcoming False Causal Attribution: Debunking the MMR–Autism Association
- Overcoming the Challenges of Communicating Uncertainties Across National Contexts
- A Recap: Heuristics, Biases, Values, and Other Challenges to Communicating Science
- Conclusion—On the Horizon: The Changing Science Communication Environment
- Index
