Fictional Narratives as a Laboratory for the Social Cognition of Behavioral Change: My Ajussi

Lorenza Lucchi Basili,Pier Luigi Sacco

doi:10.3390/h10040120

Abstract

Fictional narratives cannot be considered as mere escapist entertainment, and have a significant social cognition potential. Their study is also important in understanding the mechanisms of behavioral change, as many fictions focus on processes of personal transformation of the main characters. Romantic fictions are of special interest in this regard, as the formation of a new couple entails negotiation and mutual adaptation between partners, with possible transformation of personal attitudes, value orientations, and behaviors: ‘marrying’ a new idea or cause is, tellingly, the strongest possible metaphorical statement of adoption. Korean TV series (K-dramas) are a particularly interesting source of case studies in this regard due to the specific characteristics of their production system. We analyze a K-drama, My Ajussi, where the lead characters go through a complex process of personal change, through the lens of the so-called Tie-Up Theory, which has proven useful in the analysis and interpretation of fictional representations of human mating processes, and show how the context provided by the potential formation of the couple between the two main characters provides us with valuable insights about human behavioral change and for policy design strategies to tackle societal challenges.

Highlights

IntroductionFictional Narratives and Behavioral Change Related to Major Societal Challenges
We focus on the analysis of an example of romantic narrative which significantly touches upon issues of behavioral change
We have analyzed My Ajussi, a Korean drama that cannot be typically classified as a romantic story, as its narrative development rather focuses upon the difficult relationship between the two main characters which, in the story’s open finale, might lead to the birth of a new couple

Summary

Introduction

Fictional Narratives and Behavioral Change Related to Major Societal Challenges. Special attention has been paid to approaches based upon choice architecture or goal-setting such as nudging or boosting (Hertwig and Grüne-Yanoff 2017), which have, for instance, found many applications in the environmental sphere (Moseley and Stoker 2013; Byerly et al 2018; Staples et al 2020). Such approaches raise several concerns (Halpern and Sanders 2016; Ewert 2020), among which the actual persistence of the interventions’ effects. The most critical aspect of behavioral change is not adoption, but durability (Frey and Rogers 2014)

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