Narrative empathy and inter-group relations
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János László✝
Abstract
In this study we assumed that the relation between readers’ and characters’ group identity would influence narrative empathy and thereby the impact of a short story. We used three social psychological models (infrahumanization, mentalization and linguistic inter-group bias) to test our assumptions. Methodologically, we used a narrative recall paradigm based on the assumption that narrative recall carries also the experiential aspects of the text processing and thereby enables a fine grained analysis of meaning construction. We also measured liking of the story as an impact variable and the strength of national identification as a moderator variable. Results only partly supported our assumptions. Whereas empathy and liking are strongly correlated, Hungarian subjects overall did not feel more empathy with the characters of the Hungarian story version, did not like more this story, did not assign more secondary emotions to the Hungarian characters, and did not describe positive behavior of the Hungarian characters more abstractly then happened in the case of the “Slovak story” version.
Abstract
In this study we assumed that the relation between readers’ and characters’ group identity would influence narrative empathy and thereby the impact of a short story. We used three social psychological models (infrahumanization, mentalization and linguistic inter-group bias) to test our assumptions. Methodologically, we used a narrative recall paradigm based on the assumption that narrative recall carries also the experiential aspects of the text processing and thereby enables a fine grained analysis of meaning construction. We also measured liking of the story as an impact variable and the strength of national identification as a moderator variable. Results only partly supported our assumptions. Whereas empathy and liking are strongly correlated, Hungarian subjects overall did not feel more empathy with the characters of the Hungarian story version, did not like more this story, did not assign more secondary emotions to the Hungarian characters, and did not describe positive behavior of the Hungarian characters more abstractly then happened in the case of the “Slovak story” version.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction ix
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Part I. Theoretical and philosophical perspectives
- Studying literature and being empirical: A multifaceted conjunction 7
- Empirical research into the processing of free indirect discourse and the imperative of ecological validity 21
- Notes toward a new philology 35
- A theory of expressive reading 49
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Part II. Psychology, foregrounding and literature
- Textual and extra-textual manipulations in the empirical study of literary response 75
- Foregrounding and feeling in response to narrative 89
- Two levels of foregrounding in literary narratives 103
- Narrative empathy and inter-group relations 113
- Effects of reading on knowledge, social abilities, and selfhood: Theory and empirical studies 127
- Imagining what could happen: Effects of taking the role of a character on social cognition 139
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Part III. Computers and the humanities
- An automated text analysis: Willie Van Peer's academic contributions 161
- Computationally Discriminating Literary from Non-Literary Texts 175
- Metaphors and software-assisted cognitive stylistics 193
- Searching for style in modern American poetry 211
- The laws governing the history of poetry 229
- Consolidating empirical method in data-assisted stylistics: Towards a corpus-attested glossary of literary terms. 243
-
Part IV. REDES Project: The new generation
- Empirical evaluation: Towards an automated index of lexical variety 271
- Language allergy: Myth or reality 283
- Proper names in the translation of The Lord of the Rings 297
- Threat and geographical distance: the case of North Korea 309
- The Apology of Popular Fiction: Everyday Uses of Literature in Poland 317
- Afterword. A Matter of versifying: Tradition, innovation and the sonnet form in English 329
- About the contributors 343
- Index of authors 351
- Index of keywords 355
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction ix
-
Part I. Theoretical and philosophical perspectives
- Studying literature and being empirical: A multifaceted conjunction 7
- Empirical research into the processing of free indirect discourse and the imperative of ecological validity 21
- Notes toward a new philology 35
- A theory of expressive reading 49
-
Part II. Psychology, foregrounding and literature
- Textual and extra-textual manipulations in the empirical study of literary response 75
- Foregrounding and feeling in response to narrative 89
- Two levels of foregrounding in literary narratives 103
- Narrative empathy and inter-group relations 113
- Effects of reading on knowledge, social abilities, and selfhood: Theory and empirical studies 127
- Imagining what could happen: Effects of taking the role of a character on social cognition 139
-
Part III. Computers and the humanities
- An automated text analysis: Willie Van Peer's academic contributions 161
- Computationally Discriminating Literary from Non-Literary Texts 175
- Metaphors and software-assisted cognitive stylistics 193
- Searching for style in modern American poetry 211
- The laws governing the history of poetry 229
- Consolidating empirical method in data-assisted stylistics: Towards a corpus-attested glossary of literary terms. 243
-
Part IV. REDES Project: The new generation
- Empirical evaluation: Towards an automated index of lexical variety 271
- Language allergy: Myth or reality 283
- Proper names in the translation of The Lord of the Rings 297
- Threat and geographical distance: the case of North Korea 309
- The Apology of Popular Fiction: Everyday Uses of Literature in Poland 317
- Afterword. A Matter of versifying: Tradition, innovation and the sonnet form in English 329
- About the contributors 343
- Index of authors 351
- Index of keywords 355
