Narrative intelligence to narrative change: Lantern partners with The 'MPOWER Project

NEW YORK — The ‘MPOWER Project (TMP) and Project Lantern have formed a research partnership integrating Project Lantern’s computational behavioral intelligence capabilities into TMP’s proprietary Narrative Signal System™, creating an expanded approach to understanding how narratives move through information environments, why they resonate with particular audiences, and how those insights can inform evidence-based interventions.

TMP’s Narrative Signal System™ is designed to understand where and why audiences become susceptible to polarizing, extreme, and harmful narratives online, and to translate those insights into evidence-based strategies that inform the design of intervention systems. The research system moves from early signal detection and influence mapping through psychographic audience research, first-party validation, narrative strategy, intervention, and measurement.

Project Lantern provides a supplemental computational intelligence layer to the Narrative Signal System™, analyzing large-scale information environments to identify influential actors and campaigns, emerging narratives, community response, message adoption, and likely behavioral trajectories.

Together, the partnership connects what is happening in the information environment with deeper analysis of what narratives take root, why particular narratives resonate, with whom, and what can be done about it.

How the systems work together

Detect — Project Lantern. Analyze defined information environments to surface emerging narratives, influence campaigns, actors, communities, emotional levers, and changes in narrative pressure.
Map — Project Lantern + Narrative Signal System™. Map influence pathways, narrative adoption, and community response alongside TMP’s analysis of trust networks, grievance, identity, information behavior, and psychographic vulnerability.
Understand — Narrative Signal System™. Move beyond observable discourse to investigate why narratives resonate. TMP applies its Identity Vulnerability Framework, academic constructs, audience segmentation, first-party surveys, and qualitative research to understand motivations, grievances, identity drivers, and narrative receptivity.
Design — Narrative Signal System™. Translate intelligence and audience insight into segment-specific narrative strategies, intervention points, trusted-messenger recommendations, engagement pathways, program design, and creative briefs.
Measure and learn — TMP + Project Lantern. Evaluate whether interventions are changing narrative adoption, trust, grievance, cohesion, attitudes, and behavioral trajectories, combining information-environment intelligence with first-party and qualitative measurement.

From signal to intervention

Lantern provides continuous computational intelligence across the information environment, strengthening the Narrative Signal System’s ability to detect emerging signals, understand influence dynamics, and assess change over time.

TMP’s research methodology adds the human layer: identifying the psychological, social, and contextual factors that shape narrative susceptibility, and translating those insights into strategies designed to build resilience and change trajectories.

Why it matters

Traditional social listening can tell organizations what people are saying. Behavioral intelligence can identify which narratives are gaining traction and where behavior may be heading. Effective narrative change requires another layer: understanding why those narratives resonate, and what might change the trajectory.

By combining Project Lantern’s ability to analyze contested information environments with TMP’s psychographic, mixed-methods research and narrative-change methodology, the partnership gives organizations better visibility into the information environment and a structured system for understanding — and ultimately changing — the human dynamics that give harmful narratives power.

Applications

The combined capability is issue- and ideology-agnostic and can be applied across complex information environments, including but not limited to:

Polarization
Misinformation
Misogyny and the manosphere
Extremism and radicalization
Identity-based harms
Civic trust
Intergroup conflict
Influence operations
Community resilience
Conspiracy theories
Election interference