The impact of east-west cultural differences on disaster narrative patterns in climate fiction and reader identification mechanisms: A comparative analysis based on individualistic and collectivistic cultures

The "cultural discount" phenomenon exists in global climate communication, where the same climate narratives produce vastly different identification effects across different cultural backgrounds, yet there is a lack of systematic cross-cultural empirical research. This study is the first to construct a cross-cultural comparative framework for disaster narratives in climate fiction, employing mixed research methods to conduct in-depth analysis of 8 representative East-West climate fiction works (2,415 text segments) and 600 cross-cultural readers. Core findings: (1) Significant cultural narrative differentiation exists between East-West climate fiction: the West emphasizes individual heroism (85.3% vs 27.6%) and technological solutions (52.1% vs 27.8%), while the East focuses on collective cooperation (72.4% vs 14.7%) and institutional reform (56.2% vs 19.1%); (2) Narrative preference matching is the strongest predictor of reader identification (β=0.412, explaining 68.4% variance), with cultural background influencing identification through dual mediation pathways of values and environmental concern; (3) Cultural background significantly moderates narrative effects, with collective cooperation narratives showing 41.6% stronger behavioral mobilization effects in Eastern cultures than Western cultures, while individual heroism narratives have 135% greater influence in Western cultures than Eastern cultures. This study establishes a theoretical model for cross-cultural climate communication, quantifies for the first time the impact mechanisms of cultural differences on environmental narrative cognition, and provides empirical evidence and operational guidelines for culturally adaptive strategies in global climate communication.