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- Volume 6, Issue, 2016
Scientific Study of Literature - Volume 6, Issue 1, 2016
Volume 6, Issue 1, 2016
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Empathy at the confluence of neuroscience and empirical literary studies
Author(s): Michael Burke, Anežka Kuzmičová, Anne Mangen and Theresa Schilhabpp.: 6–41 (36)More LessThe objective of this article is to review extant empirical studies of empathy in narrative reading in light of (a) contemporary literary theory, and (b) neuroscientific studies of empathy, and to discuss how a closer interplay between neuroscience and literary studies may enhance our understanding of empathy in narrative reading. An introduction to some of the philosophical roots of empathy is followed by tracing its application in contemporary literary theory, in which scholars have pursued empathy with varying degrees of conceptual precision, often within the context of embodied/enactive cognition. The presentation of empirical literary studies of empathy is subsequently contextualized by an overview of psychological and neuroscientific aspects of empathy. Highlighting points of convergence and divergence, the discussion illustrates how findings of empirical literary studies align with recent neuroscientific research. The article concludes with some prospects for future empirical research, suggesting that digitization may contribute to advancing the scientific knowledge of empathy in narrative reading.
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On literary fiction and its effects on theory of mind
Author(s): David Kidd, Martino Ongis and Emanuele Castanopp.: 42–58 (17)More LessStorytelling is a hallmark human activity. We use stories to make sense of the world, to explain it to our children, to create communities, and to learn about others. This article focuses on fictional stories and their impact on complex sociocognitive abilities. Correlational and experimental evidence shows that exposure to fiction recruits and hones our ability to represent others' mental states, or theory of mind (ToM). Experimental studies suggest this effect is specific to literary fiction. Using a unique set of texts, we replicate the finding that literary fiction improves ToM performance. Consistent with the expectation of greater focus on characters in literary fiction, linguistic analysis of the texts revealed that the literary texts contain more markers of reflective function, a sophisticated manifestation of ToM. Further analysis showed the prevalence of markers of reflective function partially mediated the effect of literary fiction on ToM performance.
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The role of empathy in the knowledge building of eighth grade girls as they reflect on their experiences with literature
Author(s): Julie Smitpp.: 59–86 (28)More LessThis study focused on the role that empathy played in the knowledge building of 7 eighth grade readers. Participants met for twenty sessions over the course of a school year to reflect on their experiences empathizing with characters in their favorite works of literature. These reflections led to the generation of social themes. The girls worked to advance these themes by extending, contesting, and evaluating ideas presented.
In this community, the girls' attempts to empathize with characters were foundational for analyzing actions and intentions of people. Empathy was also used as a tool in their talk as the girls imagined perspectives very different from their own. This resulted in new self knowledge because hearing different perspectives led them to expand their thinking. Results suggest a role for the sociocognitive benefits of engaging in literature and developing students' capacity for empathy in Language Arts instruction.
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Mood-empathic and aesthetic responses in poetry reception
Author(s): Arthur M. Jacobs, Jana Lüdtke, Arash Aryani, Burkhard Meyer-Sickendieck and Markus Conradpp.: 87–130 (44)More LessIn the present study we investigate factors shaping poetry reception at multiple levels of analysis. We use both qualitative and quantitative means for describing structural aspects of poems, scales for assessing subjective dimensions, as well as behavioral and peripheral-physiological measures. Applying such mixed analyses we tested three hypotheses derived from the Neurocognitive Poetics Model of literary reading ( Jacobs, 2011 , 2015a , 2015b ): (a) the multilevel hypothesis stating that textual features at four relevant levels of textual analysis (supralexical, interlexical, lexical and sublexical) affect empathic/immersive and aesthetic-liking processes of poetry reception at all three levels of measurement (experiential, peripheral-physiological, and behavioral); (b) the mood empathy hypothesis stating that poems expressing moods of persons, atmospheres, situations, or objects should engage readers to mentally simulate and affectively resonate with the depicted state of affairs (see also Lüdtke et al., 2014 ); and (c) the aesthetic trajectory hypothesis stating that poems with a high amount of foregrounding facilitate aesthetic liking responses. The results are in line with all three hypotheses and raise a number of questions for future research on poetry reception.
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Conveying moods and knowledge-what-it-is-like through lyric poetry
Author(s): Benjamin Gittel, Robert Deutschländer and Martin Hechtpp.: 131–163 (33)More LessA very influential idea in western aesthetics is that poems convey multifaceted affective states (moods). This interdisciplinary study compares the moods aroused by the poems with the moods the reader thinks the poem expresses. Further, aroused and expressed mood are compared to the mood the professional authors of the poems had intended. An experimental design with a total of 234 participants was employed. Main results are: (1) Readers’ expressed and aroused moods differ on average and between-person variation is somewhat higher in aroused mood. (2) Authors’ intended moods differ from readers’ expressed moods as well as from readers’ aroused moods. (3) Some readers acquire a special kind of experiential knowledge (knowledge-what-it-is-like to be in a specific mood) through the reception of a poem. In an exploratory fashion, the effects of literary education, classification as fiction, ascription of mood to a situation described in the poem, and reading time were investigated.
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