How character goal pursuit “moves” audiences to share meaningful stories
ABSTRACT Recent research has examined the theme-level determinants of how stories move readers. Our research examined what moves readers in more nuance. Specifically, we examined how readers’ perception of a character’s goal pursuit (i.e., their motivation to complete a goal, goal desire intensity, and goal pursuit struggle) leads to narrative engagement, which we posit is an antecedent to being moved. The degree to which readers are moved should then influence their intention to share the story. Across two studies, character motivation consistently influenced narrative engagement, particularly emotional engagement, which evokes the experience of being moved. Being moved by the story – but not enjoyment – increased readers’ intentions to share it with others. We argue that media psychology researchers should incorporate being moved into their broader models of narrative engagement for both basic and applied research.