Frank Hakemulder

The idea that reading literature changes the reader seems as old as literature itself. Through the ages philosophers, writers, and literary scholars have suggested it affects norms, empathic ability, self-concept, beliefs, etc. This book examines what we actually know about these effects. And it finds strong evidence for the old claims. However, it remains unclear what aspects of the reading experience are responsible for these effects. Applying methods of the social sciences to this particular problem of literary theory, this book presents a psychological explanation based upon the conception of literature as a moral laboratory. A series of experiments examines whether imagining oneself in the shoes of characters affects beliefs about what it must be like to be someone else, and whether it affects beliefs about consequences of behavior. The results have implications for the role literature could play in society, for instance, in an alternative for traditional moral education.

Experiments examining the effects of reading literature on social perception and moral self-concept

The Moral Laboratory

Ed S. Tan

Moniek M. Kuijpers

Miruna M. Doicaru

Katalin Bálint

Narrative Absorption brings together research from the social sciences and Humanities to solve a number of mysteries: Most of us will have had those moments, of being totally absorbed in a book, a movie, or computer game. Typically we do not have any idea about how we ended up in such a state. Nor do we fully realize how we might have changed as we return for the fictional worlds we have visited. The feeling of being absorbed is one of the most illusive and transient feelings, but also one that motivates audiences to spend considerable amounts of time in narrative worlds, and one that is central to our understanding of the effects of narratives on beliefs and behavior. Key specialists inform the reader of this book about the nature of the peculiar state of consciousness during episodes of absorption, the perception of absorption in history, the role of absorption in meaningful experiences with narratives, the relation with related phenomena such as suspense and identification, issues of measurement, and the practical implications, for instance in education-entertainment. Various fields have worked separately on topics of absorption, albeit using different terminology and methods, but having reached a high level of development and complexity in understanding absorption. Now is the time to bring them together. This volume will be a point of reference for years to come.

Narrative Absorption

Conceptualization of narrative absorption. Beyond metaphors and traditions: Exploring the conceptual boundaries of narrative engagement / Helena Bilandzic and Rick Busselle -- Towards a new understanding of absorbing reading experiences / Moniek M. Kuijpers, Frank Hakemulder, Katalin Balint, Miruna Doicaru and Ed Tan -- Narrative persuasion: Effects of transporting stories on attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors / Kaitlin S. Fitzgerald and Melanie C. Green -- Immersion into narrative and poetic worlds: A neurocognitive poetics perspective / Arthur M. Jacobs and Jana Lüdtke -- Into film: Does absorption in a movie's story world pose a paradox? / Ed Tan, Miruna M. Doicaru, Frank Hakemulder, Katalin Balint and Moniek M. Kuijpers -- Spellbound in darkness: Narrative absorption discussed by film theory / Frank Kessler -- Antecedents of identification: Character, text, and audiences / Jonathan Cohen and Nurit Tal-Or -- Empirical studies on narrative absorption. Identifying with in-game characters: Exploring player articulations of identification and presence / Jasper van Vught and Gareth Schott -- The effect of suspense structure on felt suspense and narrative absorption in literature and film / Katalin Bálint, Moniek M. Kuijpers and Miruna M. Doicaru -- Elaboration, emotion, and transportation: Implications for conceptual analysis and textual features / Peter Dixon and Marisa Bortolussi -- Forms of absorption that facilitate the aesthetic and explanatory effects of literary reading / Don Kuiken and Shawn Douglas -- Outcomes of narrative absorption. Absorption and meaningfulness: Examining the relationship between eudaimonic media use and engagement / Mary Beth Oliver, Arienne Ferchaud, Chun Yang, Yan Huang and Erica Bailey -- The role of absorption processes in narrative health communication / Anneke de Graaf and Lonneke van Leeuwen -- Absorption in narrative fiction and its possible impact on social abilities / Navona Calarco, Katrina Fong, Marina Rain and Raymond A. Mar

Willie van Peer

Sonia Zyngier

This is a textbook that has been needed for decades. It should be required reading for every student (and professor) in literary studies and, for that matter, in any humanistic discipline. Humanistic methods of inquiry certainly have their place, but all too often humanistic scholars present entire theories and have no idea how to test them or even realize that they should be tested in a scientific manner. Such scholars can only try to convince readers that they are right. It is absurd to use rhetoric when there are perfectly good empirical methods of testing such theories. If they are not so tested, they are quite likely to lead us astray. In a very engaging way, the authors almost seduce readers into wanting to learn about empirical methods and statistics. The book is full of suggested projects for students. Students are led through how to search sources such as PsycInfo in order to get ideas and then gradually introduced to basic statistics and shown in detail how to analyze data that they themselves may have gathered. By focusing on practical matters and not bothering much with formulas that will soon be forgotten, readers are given a good intuitive grasp of not just simple statistics but also statistics at an intermediate level.

Frank Hakemulder

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