It is easy enough to theorize about the impact of literary reading on empathic reactions, but to ... more It is easy enough to theorize about the impact of literary reading on empathic reactions, but to empirically prove such effects is more difficult. This article provides a concise overview of the theoretical and empirical evidence that literary reading has an effect on empathy (in its multiple forms), distinguishing between the effects of literariness, narrativity and fictionality. Subsequently, it discusses the results of two recently conducted studies into reading and empathic understanding. As will become clear, we are still quite a long way from knowing when and how (literary) reading has an effect on empathy for others. Suggestions are offered how future studies can tackle this issue.
This study investigated the effects of foregrounding on affective responses (i.e., emotions) duri... more This study investigated the effects of foregrounding on affective responses (i.e., emotions) during reading, and on empathy and reflection after reading, using both quantitative and qualitative measures. In addition, the influence of personal factors (trait empathy, personal experience, exposure to literature) on empathy and reflection was explored. Participants (N = 142) were randomly assigned to read 1 of 3 versions of an excerpt from a literary novel about the loss of a child. Versions differed in the level of foregrounded textual features: the “original” version possessed a high level of semantic, phonetic, and grammatical foregrounding; semantic foregrounding was removed in the manipulated version “without imagery”; and semantic, phonetic and grammatical foregrounding were removed in the manipulated version “without foregrounding.” Results showed that readers who had read the “original” version scored higher on empathy after reading than those who had read the version “without foregrounding.” A quantitative analysis of qualitative data showed that participants reading the original version experienced significantly more ambivalent emotions than those in the version without foregrounding. Reflection did not seem to be influenced by foregrounding. Results suggest that personal factors may be more important in evoking reflection.
While it is commonsensical that we read stories to generate pleasant emotions (enjoyment), the fa... more While it is commonsensical that we read stories to generate pleasant emotions (enjoyment), the fact that we also read stories which generate sadness had been deemed more puzzling. Recent studies have stressed the potential role of “eudaimonic” (meaning-making) motives in preferences for sad media, particularly sad films. The current survey study (N = 343) explored the role meaning-making motives (insight and personal growth) play in a preference for sad books relative to other motives, like catharsis beliefs and wanting to experience emotions (meta-emotions). The study also took into account gender and age. Results indicate that both meaning-making motives and meta-emotions predict a preference for sad books. This pattern was compared to preferences for specific book genres. A preference for thrillers was associated with meta-emotions, while a preference for poetry was associated with a need for insight. However, no specific genre was associated with both meta-emotions and insight. As sad books appear to address both needs for feeling and meaning-making, they serve a unique function for readers.
This study investigated the effects of text genre (expository, life narrative, literary narrative... more This study investigated the effects of text genre (expository, life narrative, literary narrative) on reflection (direct thoughts on various subjects and thinking back after one week), using both quantitative and qualitative measures. In addition, the interactive effect of personal factors (personal experience, trait empathy, exposure to literature) and affective responses during reading (narrative feelings, aesthetic feelings, empathic distress) on direct thoughts when reading stories was explored using AMOS. Respondents (N = 210) read two texts within the same genre, one about grief and one about depression, with one week between texts. Each week, they completed a questionnaire. In the short run, the expository texts evoked most “personal” thoughts, but after a week, respondents had thought back to the narrative texts more frequently than to the expository. A small percentage of participants showed a tendency to deeper reflection, predominantly in the literary condition. Direct thoughts were predicted by personal experience with the subject matter, empathic distress, sympathy/empathy with the character, and perceived foregrounding. These results suggest a confirmation of earlier evidence: for narrative texts, emotional reading experiences may be more likely to lead to reflection.
This study investigated the effects of text genre (expository, life narrative, literary narrative... more This study investigated the effects of text genre (expository, life narrative, literary narrative), personal factors (trait empathy, personal experience, exposure to literature), and affective responses during reading (most relevantly: sympathy/empathy with the character) on two types of empathy: empathic understanding and pro-social behavior (donating). Participants (N = 210) read two texts within the same genre, about depression and grief, with one week between sessions. A genre effect was observed for pro-social behavior in the case of depression, with more people donating in the life narrative condition. Personal experience predicted empathic understanding and prosocial behavior for depression, but not for grief. Empathic understanding was further predicted by trait empathy, exposure to literature, and sympathy/empathy with the character. These results demonstrate the relevance of looking at readers’ personal characteristics and suggest a repeated exposure effect of literature on empathic understanding.
A survey study was conducted to explore why people read about suffering, giving particular attent... more A survey study was conducted to explore why people read about suffering, giving particular attention to the role that catharsis may play. Through an online questionnaire, respondents (N= 67) commented on a popular autobiographical Dutch novel about grief. The questionnaire
This study explored reader responses to different literary depictions of rape. Four literary exce... more This study explored reader responses to different literary depictions of rape. Four literary excerpts were used and divided as aesthetic versus nonaesthetic (style) and allusive versus explicit (detail). The general question was how would readers react to literary fragments depicting rape and whether the level of aesthetics and the level of explicitness influenced readers' thoughts and feelings. An open-ended question asked readers to report how the style had influenced their thoughts and feelings, whereas 7-point scales addressed the following variables: experienced distance, perceptions of realism and of beauty, emotional versus intellectual reaction, empathy, tension, and arousal. In a 2 (detail: explicit vs. allusive) ϫ 2 (style: aesthetic vs. nonaesthetic) within-participant design (N ϭ 34), gender functioned as a betweenparticipants variable. Results indicate that the personal tendency to feel engaged with fiction overrides effects of aesthetics and explicitness. Principal-components factor analysis suggests that readers who are easily engaged with the characters feel unsettled when reading rape scenes they find brutal and intellectualize to handle these feelings. These "high empathizers" are not likely to be detached or to appreciate the fragment negatively: Once absorbed, they will try to take something positive even from an unsettling experience.
The confrontation with another person's suffering at the hands of someone else is the ultimate et... more The confrontation with another person's suffering at the hands of someone else is the ultimate ethical situation, asking us to respond to both the one person's vulnerability and the other person's cruelty. When we are reading about a fictional character in a literary work being beaten, tortured, raped, or humiliated, however, the ethical question becomes troubled. This literary fictional ›situation‹ differs from the actual confrontation with the suffering other in two crucial aspects: 1. being a representation, the fictional situation does not call for action, 2. being a work of art, the fictional situation is aestheticized. 1 These elements can increase our ›actual‹ distance to the fictional suffering other. On the other hand, it could be argued that the emotional distance to the fictional literary other is smaller than to actual suffering. The combination of our actual distance and the aestheticized vividness of the representation may make it easier for us to feel for others made of ink and paper than for others made of flesh and bone (cf. Keen 2007). Moreover, we chose to be confronted with the fictional situation by starting and continuing to read.
Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye (1970) and Shani Mootoo's Cereus Blooms at Night (1996) both apply... more Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye (1970) and Shani Mootoo's Cereus Blooms at Night (1996) both apply a strategy of connecting rape to other forms of oppression, suggesting that incest is at least partly the result of the dynamics of being colonized and “othered”. This article brings out the problematics of closely associating colonization and (incestuous) rape by exploring the associations made in these two novels. It uses Kelly Oliver's concept of “the colonization of psychic space” to argue that the novels demonstrate that without a positive space of meaning, victims of racial oppression and of sexual violence find themselves among the abjected. The close association made between colonization and incest is criticized for ignoring the specificity of the processes by which incest and rape function to make one feel abjected.
This study examined the use of literature as a coping strategy among people who had experienced l... more This study examined the use of literature as a coping strategy among people who had experienced loss, comparing it to the use of music. Theory suggested that literature and music might facilitate insight, recognition, support, relaxation, new emotions, and/or distraction.
The current study aimed to explore the mechanisms of 'therapeutic' functions of literature for no... more The current study aimed to explore the mechanisms of 'therapeutic' functions of literature for non-clinical subjects who use reading as a coping mechanism. It was hypothesized that narrative feelings (identification with the character and feeling absorbed in the narrative world) and aesthetic feelings (attention to and appreciation of stylistic features) correlate positively with feelings of catharsis and insight. An online survey was conducted, asking nonclinical respondents (N=55) of two different age groups (18-35 and 55-80) to report on a literary work that helped them to get through a difficult time in their lives. For age group, no relevant significant differences were found. The rest of the results mostly confirmed hypotheses derived from theory on bibliotherapy regarding the importance of recognition, identification, insight and catharsis. Narrative feelings correlated positively with catharsis and insight. Aesthetic feelings did not. Aesthetic feelings, however, correlated with absorption and with experiencing more thoughts during reading, while Narrative feelings seemed to go together with a more emotional response. The most important predictor for catharsis turned out to be 'distraction', except for poetry readers, for whom 'identification' was the most important predictor for catharsis. The most important predictor of insight was 'recognition'.
impression of combining direct discourse with indirect discourse« (Rimmon-Kenan 1983, 112). As op... more impression of combining direct discourse with indirect discourse« (Rimmon-Kenan 1983, 112). As opposed to direct discourse, FID does not use quotation marks, and as opposed to regular indirect discourse, FID does not use a reporting clause (»s/he said…«). Moreover, a verb that would be present tense in direct discourse becomes past tense in FID. To take an example from the literary text we used for the studies reported below, in the sentence ›I don't know‹, the young officer answered, the first clause is direct discourse, while He did not know! is FID. While the use of the third person indicates that a narrator is ›reporting‹, the thoughts and feelings that are expressed seem to originate in the character's consciousness, which is emphasized by the use of the exclamation point (cf. Rimmon-Kenan 1983, 115). Thus, linguistic markers for FID are typically the presence of third person pronouns and past tense, and the absence of a reporting verb or quotation marks.
In this dissertation, I provide preliminary answers to four research questions concerning our rel... more In this dissertation, I provide preliminary answers to four research questions concerning our relation to (literary) narratives about suffering:
(I) What are readers’ motives to read about suffering? (II) To what extent do literary narrative texts about suffering evoke affective responses during reading, reflection, empathy towards others and prosocial behavior in comparison to non-literary texts? (III) To what extent do personal characteristics of readers influence those affective responses, reflection, empathy towards others and prosocial behavior? (IV) To what extent and how do affective responses during reading influence reflection, empathy towards others and prosocial behavior?
It is easy enough to theorize about the impact of literary reading on empathic reactions, but to ... more It is easy enough to theorize about the impact of literary reading on empathic reactions, but to empirically prove such effects is more difficult. This article provides a concise overview of the theoretical and empirical evidence that literary reading has an effect on empathy (in its multiple forms), distinguishing between the effects of literariness, narrativity and fictionality. Subsequently, it discusses the results of two recently conducted studies into reading and empathic understanding. As will become clear, we are still quite a long way from knowing when and how (literary) reading has an effect on empathy for others. Suggestions are offered how future studies can tackle this issue.
This study investigated the effects of foregrounding on affective responses (i.e., emotions) duri... more This study investigated the effects of foregrounding on affective responses (i.e., emotions) during reading, and on empathy and reflection after reading, using both quantitative and qualitative measures. In addition, the influence of personal factors (trait empathy, personal experience, exposure to literature) on empathy and reflection was explored. Participants (N = 142) were randomly assigned to read 1 of 3 versions of an excerpt from a literary novel about the loss of a child. Versions differed in the level of foregrounded textual features: the “original” version possessed a high level of semantic, phonetic, and grammatical foregrounding; semantic foregrounding was removed in the manipulated version “without imagery”; and semantic, phonetic and grammatical foregrounding were removed in the manipulated version “without foregrounding.” Results showed that readers who had read the “original” version scored higher on empathy after reading than those who had read the version “without foregrounding.” A quantitative analysis of qualitative data showed that participants reading the original version experienced significantly more ambivalent emotions than those in the version without foregrounding. Reflection did not seem to be influenced by foregrounding. Results suggest that personal factors may be more important in evoking reflection.
While it is commonsensical that we read stories to generate pleasant emotions (enjoyment), the fa... more While it is commonsensical that we read stories to generate pleasant emotions (enjoyment), the fact that we also read stories which generate sadness had been deemed more puzzling. Recent studies have stressed the potential role of “eudaimonic” (meaning-making) motives in preferences for sad media, particularly sad films. The current survey study (N = 343) explored the role meaning-making motives (insight and personal growth) play in a preference for sad books relative to other motives, like catharsis beliefs and wanting to experience emotions (meta-emotions). The study also took into account gender and age. Results indicate that both meaning-making motives and meta-emotions predict a preference for sad books. This pattern was compared to preferences for specific book genres. A preference for thrillers was associated with meta-emotions, while a preference for poetry was associated with a need for insight. However, no specific genre was associated with both meta-emotions and insight. As sad books appear to address both needs for feeling and meaning-making, they serve a unique function for readers.
This study investigated the effects of text genre (expository, life narrative, literary narrative... more This study investigated the effects of text genre (expository, life narrative, literary narrative) on reflection (direct thoughts on various subjects and thinking back after one week), using both quantitative and qualitative measures. In addition, the interactive effect of personal factors (personal experience, trait empathy, exposure to literature) and affective responses during reading (narrative feelings, aesthetic feelings, empathic distress) on direct thoughts when reading stories was explored using AMOS. Respondents (N = 210) read two texts within the same genre, one about grief and one about depression, with one week between texts. Each week, they completed a questionnaire. In the short run, the expository texts evoked most “personal” thoughts, but after a week, respondents had thought back to the narrative texts more frequently than to the expository. A small percentage of participants showed a tendency to deeper reflection, predominantly in the literary condition. Direct thoughts were predicted by personal experience with the subject matter, empathic distress, sympathy/empathy with the character, and perceived foregrounding. These results suggest a confirmation of earlier evidence: for narrative texts, emotional reading experiences may be more likely to lead to reflection.
This study investigated the effects of text genre (expository, life narrative, literary narrative... more This study investigated the effects of text genre (expository, life narrative, literary narrative), personal factors (trait empathy, personal experience, exposure to literature), and affective responses during reading (most relevantly: sympathy/empathy with the character) on two types of empathy: empathic understanding and pro-social behavior (donating). Participants (N = 210) read two texts within the same genre, about depression and grief, with one week between sessions. A genre effect was observed for pro-social behavior in the case of depression, with more people donating in the life narrative condition. Personal experience predicted empathic understanding and prosocial behavior for depression, but not for grief. Empathic understanding was further predicted by trait empathy, exposure to literature, and sympathy/empathy with the character. These results demonstrate the relevance of looking at readers’ personal characteristics and suggest a repeated exposure effect of literature on empathic understanding.
A survey study was conducted to explore why people read about suffering, giving particular attent... more A survey study was conducted to explore why people read about suffering, giving particular attention to the role that catharsis may play. Through an online questionnaire, respondents (N= 67) commented on a popular autobiographical Dutch novel about grief. The questionnaire
This study explored reader responses to different literary depictions of rape. Four literary exce... more This study explored reader responses to different literary depictions of rape. Four literary excerpts were used and divided as aesthetic versus nonaesthetic (style) and allusive versus explicit (detail). The general question was how would readers react to literary fragments depicting rape and whether the level of aesthetics and the level of explicitness influenced readers' thoughts and feelings. An open-ended question asked readers to report how the style had influenced their thoughts and feelings, whereas 7-point scales addressed the following variables: experienced distance, perceptions of realism and of beauty, emotional versus intellectual reaction, empathy, tension, and arousal. In a 2 (detail: explicit vs. allusive) ϫ 2 (style: aesthetic vs. nonaesthetic) within-participant design (N ϭ 34), gender functioned as a betweenparticipants variable. Results indicate that the personal tendency to feel engaged with fiction overrides effects of aesthetics and explicitness. Principal-components factor analysis suggests that readers who are easily engaged with the characters feel unsettled when reading rape scenes they find brutal and intellectualize to handle these feelings. These "high empathizers" are not likely to be detached or to appreciate the fragment negatively: Once absorbed, they will try to take something positive even from an unsettling experience.
The confrontation with another person's suffering at the hands of someone else is the ultimate et... more The confrontation with another person's suffering at the hands of someone else is the ultimate ethical situation, asking us to respond to both the one person's vulnerability and the other person's cruelty. When we are reading about a fictional character in a literary work being beaten, tortured, raped, or humiliated, however, the ethical question becomes troubled. This literary fictional ›situation‹ differs from the actual confrontation with the suffering other in two crucial aspects: 1. being a representation, the fictional situation does not call for action, 2. being a work of art, the fictional situation is aestheticized. 1 These elements can increase our ›actual‹ distance to the fictional suffering other. On the other hand, it could be argued that the emotional distance to the fictional literary other is smaller than to actual suffering. The combination of our actual distance and the aestheticized vividness of the representation may make it easier for us to feel for others made of ink and paper than for others made of flesh and bone (cf. Keen 2007). Moreover, we chose to be confronted with the fictional situation by starting and continuing to read.
Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye (1970) and Shani Mootoo's Cereus Blooms at Night (1996) both apply... more Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye (1970) and Shani Mootoo's Cereus Blooms at Night (1996) both apply a strategy of connecting rape to other forms of oppression, suggesting that incest is at least partly the result of the dynamics of being colonized and “othered”. This article brings out the problematics of closely associating colonization and (incestuous) rape by exploring the associations made in these two novels. It uses Kelly Oliver's concept of “the colonization of psychic space” to argue that the novels demonstrate that without a positive space of meaning, victims of racial oppression and of sexual violence find themselves among the abjected. The close association made between colonization and incest is criticized for ignoring the specificity of the processes by which incest and rape function to make one feel abjected.
This study examined the use of literature as a coping strategy among people who had experienced l... more This study examined the use of literature as a coping strategy among people who had experienced loss, comparing it to the use of music. Theory suggested that literature and music might facilitate insight, recognition, support, relaxation, new emotions, and/or distraction.
The current study aimed to explore the mechanisms of 'therapeutic' functions of literature for no... more The current study aimed to explore the mechanisms of 'therapeutic' functions of literature for non-clinical subjects who use reading as a coping mechanism. It was hypothesized that narrative feelings (identification with the character and feeling absorbed in the narrative world) and aesthetic feelings (attention to and appreciation of stylistic features) correlate positively with feelings of catharsis and insight. An online survey was conducted, asking nonclinical respondents (N=55) of two different age groups (18-35 and 55-80) to report on a literary work that helped them to get through a difficult time in their lives. For age group, no relevant significant differences were found. The rest of the results mostly confirmed hypotheses derived from theory on bibliotherapy regarding the importance of recognition, identification, insight and catharsis. Narrative feelings correlated positively with catharsis and insight. Aesthetic feelings did not. Aesthetic feelings, however, correlated with absorption and with experiencing more thoughts during reading, while Narrative feelings seemed to go together with a more emotional response. The most important predictor for catharsis turned out to be 'distraction', except for poetry readers, for whom 'identification' was the most important predictor for catharsis. The most important predictor of insight was 'recognition'.
impression of combining direct discourse with indirect discourse« (Rimmon-Kenan 1983, 112). As op... more impression of combining direct discourse with indirect discourse« (Rimmon-Kenan 1983, 112). As opposed to direct discourse, FID does not use quotation marks, and as opposed to regular indirect discourse, FID does not use a reporting clause (»s/he said…«). Moreover, a verb that would be present tense in direct discourse becomes past tense in FID. To take an example from the literary text we used for the studies reported below, in the sentence ›I don't know‹, the young officer answered, the first clause is direct discourse, while He did not know! is FID. While the use of the third person indicates that a narrator is ›reporting‹, the thoughts and feelings that are expressed seem to originate in the character's consciousness, which is emphasized by the use of the exclamation point (cf. Rimmon-Kenan 1983, 115). Thus, linguistic markers for FID are typically the presence of third person pronouns and past tense, and the absence of a reporting verb or quotation marks.
In this dissertation, I provide preliminary answers to four research questions concerning our rel... more In this dissertation, I provide preliminary answers to four research questions concerning our relation to (literary) narratives about suffering:
(I) What are readers’ motives to read about suffering? (II) To what extent do literary narrative texts about suffering evoke affective responses during reading, reflection, empathy towards others and prosocial behavior in comparison to non-literary texts? (III) To what extent do personal characteristics of readers influence those affective responses, reflection, empathy towards others and prosocial behavior? (IV) To what extent and how do affective responses during reading influence reflection, empathy towards others and prosocial behavior?
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(I) What are readers’ motives to read about suffering?
(II) To what extent do literary narrative texts about suffering evoke affective responses during reading, reflection, empathy towards others and prosocial behavior in comparison to non-literary texts?
(III) To what extent do personal characteristics of readers influence those affective responses, reflection, empathy towards others and prosocial behavior?
(IV) To what extent and how do affective responses during reading influence reflection, empathy towards others and prosocial behavior?
(I) What are readers’ motives to read about suffering?
(II) To what extent do literary narrative texts about suffering evoke affective responses during reading, reflection, empathy towards others and prosocial behavior in comparison to non-literary texts?
(III) To what extent do personal characteristics of readers influence those affective responses, reflection, empathy towards others and prosocial behavior?
(IV) To what extent and how do affective responses during reading influence reflection, empathy towards others and prosocial behavior?