Fiction increases trust in Democracy: Indirect effect of security institutions effectiveness’ audiovisual representation in their perceived performance through just-world belief

Abstract

This study focuses on the impact of audiovisual fiction on trust in institutions, drawing on cultivation theory and narrative persuasion research. We test the effects of audiovisual representation of security institutions’ effectiveness in fighting crime on perceived performance of security institutions, trust in democracy, political interest, and political optimism, mediated by just-world beliefs and narrative transportation. 130 students from Universidad de Salamanca (Spain) and Escuela Superior de Economía y Negocios (El Salvador) participated in the online experiment and were randomly assigned to two experimental conditions and exposed to one of two sequences from the series La Casa de Papel that differed in the degree of effectiveness (high versus low) with which security institutions acted to solve a criminal event. The results of the proposed parallel mediation model showed that there is a significant and positive indirect effect of this representation on trust in democracy only through the just-world belief. The main contribution of our study is the confirmation that cultivation and narrative persuasion work together to explain how audiovisual fiction shapes attitudes toward public institutions in two different countries. Finally, we found that further research is needed to test alternative models that include other variables to establish and better understand this psychological process.