Reader reactions to psychological perspective
Effects of narratorial stance
In this study, we used latent variable analysis to distinguish two components of reader reactions to narrative
fiction: Evaluative reaction is the extent to which a character is seen as reasonable and rational, and experiential reaction is
the extent to which the reader feels similar to and identifies with the character. We found that evaluative reaction was more
negative when mental access to the character was provided, while experiential reaction was decreased by the use of a first-person
(as opposed to third-person) narrator. These results were explained in terms of the additional cognitive processing engendered by
the these narrative techniques. In particular, we hypothesized that a paucity of mental access leads readers to make their own
inferences about the character’s mental state, while the use of third-person narration leads readers to draw on their personal
experience in order to appreciate the circumstances of the character.
Article outline
- Method
- Results
- Discussion
- Note
-
References
References (39)
References
Akaike, H. (1973). Information theory and an extension of the maximum likelihood principle. In B. N. Petrov & F. Csaki (pp. 267–281). Budapest, Hungary: Akademia Kiado.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Brunyé, T. T., Ditman, T., Mahoney, C. R., Augustyn, J. S., & Taylor, H. A. (2009). When you and I share perspectives pronouns modulate perspective taking during narrative comprehension. Psychological Science, 20(1), 27–32. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Busselle, R., & Bilandzic, H. (2009). Measuring narrative engagement. Media Psychology, 12(4), 321–347. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Caracciolo, M. (2014). The experientiality of narrative: An enactivist approach. Berlin, Germany: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Child, S., Oakhill, J., & Garnham, A. (2018). You’re the emotional one: The role of perspective for emotion processing in reading comprehension. Language, Cognition and Neuroscience, 33(7), 1–12. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cohn, D. (1978). Transparent minds: Narrative modes for presenting consciousness in fiction. New Jersey: Princeton University Press. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Creer, S. D., Cook, A. E., & O’Brien, E. J. (2019). Can readers fully adopt the perspective of the protagonist? Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 73(5), 1–12.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
De Graaf, A., Hoeken, H., Sanders, J., & Beentjes, J. W. J. (2012). Identification as a mechanism of narrative persuasion. Communication Research, 39(6), 802–823. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
de Vega, M. (1994). Characters and their perspectives in narratives describing spatial environments. Psychological Research, 56(2), 116–126. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Dixon, P., & Bortolussi, M. (2019). Readers’ processing of perceptual perspective and stance. Discourse Processes, 56(7), 513–529. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Fletcher, A., & Monterosso, J. (2016). The science of free-indirect discourse: An alternate cognitive effect. Narrative, 24(1), 82–103. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Franklin, N., & Tversky, B. (1990). Searching imagined environments. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 119(1), 63–76. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Franklin, N., Tversky, B., & Coon, V. (1992). Switching points-of-view in spatial mental models. Memory & Cognition, 20(5), 507–518. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Gerrig, R. J. (1993). Experiencing narrative worlds. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Glover, S., & Dixon, P. (2004). Likelihood ratios: A simple and flexible statistic for empirical psychologists. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 111, 791–806. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Graesser, A. C., Singer, M., & Trabasso, T. (1994). Constructing inferences during narrative text comprehension. Psychological Review, 101(3), 371–395. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Green, M. C., & Brock, T. C. (2000). The role of transportation in the persuasiveness of public narratives. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79(5), 701–721. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hakala, C. M. (1999). Accessibility of spatial information in a situation model. Discourse Processes, 27(3), 261–279. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hartung, F., Burke, M., Hagoort, P., & Willems, R. M. (2016). Taking perspective: Personal pronouns affect experiential aspects of literary reading. PLoS One, 11(5), e0154732. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hoeken, H., Kolthoff, M., & Sanders, J. (2016). Story perspective and character similarity as drivers of identification and narrative persuasion. Human Communication Research, 42(2), 292–311. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Horton, W. S., & Rapp, D. N. (2003). Out of sight, out of mind: Occlusion and the accessibility of information in narrative comprehension. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 10(1), 104–110. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Kaufman, G. F., & Libby, L. K. (2012). Changing beliefs and behavior through experience-taking. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 103(1), 1–19. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Kuzmičová, A., & Bálint, K. (2019). Personal relevance in story reading: A research review. Poetics Today, 40(3), 429–451. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Lanser, S. (1981). The narrative act. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Leech, G. N., & Short, M. (2007). Style in fiction: A linguistic introduction to english fictional prose. Harlow, UK: Pearson Education.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Matute, A. M. (1989). Sin of omission (M. S. Doyle, Trans.). In The Heliotrope Wall and Other Stories (pp. 68–71). New York: Columbia University Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Morrow, D. G., Greenspan, S. L., & Bower, G. H. (1987). Accessibility and situation models in narrative comprehension. Journal of Memory and Language, 26(2), 165–187. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Oatley, K. (1999). Meeting of minds: Dialogue, sympathy, and identification in reading fiction. Poetics, 261, 439–454. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Peskin, J., & Astington, J. W. (2004). The effects of adding metacognitive language to story texts. Cognitive Development, 19(2), 253–273. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Prince, G. (1987). Dictionary of narratology. Lincoln, NE and London, UK: University of Nebraska Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Raney, A. A. (2004). Expanding disposition theory: Reconsidering character likeing, moral evaluations, and enjoyment. Communication Theory, 14(4), 348–369. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Rimmon-Kenan, S. (1983). Narrative fiction: Contemporary poetics. London, UK: Methuen. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Salem, S., Weskott, T., & Holler, A. (2017). Does narrative perspective influence readers’ perspective-taking? An empirical study on free indirect discourse, psycho-narration and first-person narration. Glossa: A Journal of General Linguistics, 2(1), 61. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Stanzel, F. K. (1984). A theory of narrative (C. Goedsche, Trans.). Bloomington: Cambridge University Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Tal-Or, N., & Cohen, J. (2010). Understanding audience involvement: Conceptualizing and manipulating identification and transportation. Poetics, 38(4), 402–418. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
van Krieken, K., Hoeken, H., & Sanders, J. (2017). Evoking and measuring identification with narrative characters – a linguistic cues framework. Frontiers in Psychology, 81, 1190. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Van Lissa, C. J., & Duuren, T. V. (2016). Difficult empathy: The effect of narrative perspective on readers’ engagement with a first-person narrator. Diegesis, 5(1), 42–63.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
van Peer, W., & Vander Maat, H. (1996). Perspectivation and sympathy: Effects of narrative point of view. In R. J. Kreuz & M. S. MacNealy (Eds.), Empirical Approaches to Literature and Aesthetics (pp. 143–154). Norwood, NJ: Ablex.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cited by (1)
Cited by one other publication
Kosch, Lukas, Annika Schwabe, Hajo Boomgaarden & Günther Stocker
2024.
Experiencing Literary Audiobooks: A Framework for Theoretical and Empirical Investigations of the Auditory Reception of Literature.
Journal of Literary Theory 18:1
► pp. 67 ff.
![DOI logo](//benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 5 july 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.