Stories are among the most important forms of human experience. We read novels and comics, watch films and television series, listen to podcasts, and play video games. These experiences can entertain us, but they can also shape our emotions, attitudes, beliefs, and behavior. My research investigates the psychological processes that make stories so powerful, focusing on phenomena such as narrative transportation, immersion, imagination, and empathy toward fictional characters.
Together with my collaborators, I have examined these processes across a wide range of cultural contexts. Our research suggests that people around the world understand the experience of becoming immersed in stories in remarkably similar ways. We have also found evidence that narrative immersion involves at least two distinct forms of imagination: one concerned with imagining story-related emotions and ideas, and another focused on imagining sensory experiences such as sights, sounds, and physical sensations. In addition, our work indicates that the influence of stories on attitudes often depends on whether readers or viewers empathize with the characters they encounter.
Selected Publications
Malecki, W. P., Green, M. C., Kowal, M., Misiak, M., Roberts, S. C., Sorokowska, A., & Sorokowski, P. (2026). The dimensionality and cross-cultural invariance of narrative transportability: Evidence from 50 countries and 21 languages. Global Perspectives in Communication, 1(1), wpaf002. https://doi.org/10.1093/gpcomm/wpaf002
Małecki, W. P., Weik von Mossner, A., & Dobrowolska, M. (2020). Stories versus speciesism: Strategic empathy and intersectionalism in Alice Walker’s “Am I Blue?”. ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment, 27(2), 365–384. https://doi.org/10.1093/isle/isaa026
Małecki, W., Pawłowski, B., Sorokowski, P., & Oleszkiewicz, A. (2019). Feeling for textual animals: Narrative empathy across species lines. Poetics, 74, 101334. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.poetic.2019.101334
Małecki, W., Pawłowski, B., Cieński, M., & Sorokowski, P. (2018). Can fiction make us kinder to other species? The impact of fiction on pro-animal attitudes and behavior. Poetics, 66, 54–63. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.poetic.2018.02.002