Professional Documents
Culture Documents
UTRECHT PUBLICATIONS IN
GENERAL AND COMPARATIVE LITERATURE
Editorial Board
Hans Bertens (chair) Douwe Fokkema Harald Hendrix
Joost Kloek (secretary) Sophie Levie Ann Rigney
Volume 34
Jmeljan Hakemulder
The Moral Laboratory
Experiments examining the effects of reading literature
on social perception and moral self-concept
THE MORAL
LABORATORY
EXPERIMENTS EXAMINING THE EFFECTS
OF READING LITERATURE ON SOCIAL
PERCEPTION AND MORAL SELF-CONCEPT
JMELJAN HAKEMULDER
Utrecht University
TM
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences Permanence of Paper for
Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984.
For Roel
Contents
CHAPTER 1. APOLOGIES
1.1 Taking position
1.2 What effects are we talking about?
1.3 Narrativity
1.3.1 Models for imitation
1.3.2 Stories as teaching instruments
1.4 Truth and fiction
1.4.1 Powerful misrepresentations
1.4.2 Truth beyond facts
1.5 Emotional intelligence
1.5.1 A library of human psyche
1.5.2 Complexity of characterization
1.6 Appeal to emotions
1.6.1 Composed readers through catharsis
1.6.2 Experimenting with roles
1.6.3 Rhetoric and persuasion
1.7 A challenge to ethical reflection
1.7.1 Lifes problems and social criticism
1.7.2 Reconsider and look again
Notes
1
1
3
5
5
7
8
8
10
11
11
14
16
16
17
18
20
20
22
27
29
29
29
30
32
33
37
Table of contents
viii
2.3
Notes
38
39
41
43
45
45
46
48
48
49
50
53
54
56
59
61
61
62
62
65
68
76
76
78
84
84
84
88
94
95
2.4
2.5
97
97
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Table of contents
ix
108
112
114
117
117
121
122
124
125
129
129
131
140
142
144
147
147
149
158
158
161
163
Appendix
169
References
183
Index of names
197
Index of terms
203
Chapter 1
Apologies
should not have anything to do with ethics. It is not necessarily denied that
reading may affect our norms and values, but opening the door to ethics would
be harmful. First, it tarnishes the aesthetic quality of literature (cf. Bohrer
1978). On top of being distasteful, allowing ethics to enter the domain of
aesthetics poses the threat of censorship. Therefore, it seems much better to
keep literature aloof from the domain of ethics.
On the other hand, some maintain that ethics should be an integral part of
the way we deal with literature. In summing up his Protocols of Reading,
Scholes (1989) proposes that a response to literature remains incomplete until
the texts are absorbed and transformed in the thoughts and actions of the
reader. I believe that reading can, and should answer to social and ethical
concerns, Scholes writes (page x).
A position deviating from the previous ones is the view that reading
literature has no significant or lasting influence. Stolnitz (1991) and De Jongh
(1993) argue that the arts do not elevate human beings in a moral sense; nor
are they able to change their character. Otherwise, the world would have been
a better, more beautiful place, they argue.
Clearly there is some unresolved disagreement here. The aim of this book
is to clarify the discussion. To do this, we should note that there are two
distinct dimensions to the dispute. The first relates to claims about reality:
reading literature does, or does not have ethical effects. The second one
pertains to value judgment: a comprehensive understanding of literature
should, or should not include ethical aspects. These two topics require two
distinct approaches. Empirical research methods are appropriate for measuring the effects of reading texts, while conceptual analysis and logical critique
are better suited to clarify the question of norms. I shall primarily be concerned with the former. In my view, the empirical question precedes the
normative one. For example, discussions about whether we should consider
ethical effects in aesthetic judgment may become more informed when we
know what effects, if any, reading literature has.
Still, we should pause, and ponder whether an investigation of literatures
ethical effects is not a waste of time. I think, however, that we have good
reason to believe such an investigation to be worthwhile, namely the fact that
the claims contradict each other. In such cases it seems a good idea to look at
the evidence. However plausible some ideas about the effects of our reading
may be, we should always keep in mind that our intuitions may be wrong.
Consider also the potential advantages of finding out that literature has
Apologies
propose to reserve this term for the enhancement of ethical reflection. When we
read a philosophical essay on the quality of life this presumably stimulates our
reflections on the subject. Similarly, a narrative text dealing with some ethical
issue may enhance readers ethical deliberations. Of course, joining the author
of a text in his or her reflections does not necessarily include a conversion to the
perceived moral of the story. Therefore I will reserve the term moral effects for
the actual persuasion in favor of some moral position. Readers of Shakespeares
Othello may become convinced that jealousy is a vice, because the play
compellingly shows how it destroys trust, and thus the foundation of companionship. These readers, then, have been subject to moral effects.
As we shall see, moral and ethical effects do not cover the total range of
effects attributed to reading literature. Several claims pertain to the enhancement of abilities which are likely to help us in making ethical inquiries. These
I will call pre-ethical effects.4 Sometimes we are confronted with a moral
conflict between two or more parties. A choice forces itself upon us while we
are uncertain as to which norm is applicable. Such situations require particular
abilities, for instance, being able to understand the conflicting demands, being
able to determine our own norms and values, and predicting the consequences
of either option of the dilemma. Some theorists assume that reading literature
enhances such abilities. DePaul (1993), for example, points out that comprehension of a literary narrative compels readers to make inferences, so as to
understand the emotions and motivations of the characters. Frequently being
involved in making such psychological inferences, readers may develop a
capacity for making these deductions. This is neither a moral, nor an ethical
effect, although it seems plausible that it increases the likelihood of such
effects. Therefore, it is pre-ethical.
Talking about pre-ethical, ethical and moral effects of reading literature
also requires a specification of the term literature. This is important, because
it is not always clear what kind of texts the theories refer to. For instance,
hardly any contemporary theory is concerned with the effects of reading
poetry. Most of the assumptions refer to narratives (or stories); in some cases
their literary quality is emphasized, in others not. Literary narratives, as
understood in the present study, belong to the diffuse set of texts qualified as
literature in literary criticism and general usage. Later, in Chapters 2 and 3 I
will discuss empirical evidence for the alleged effects of reading literature. In
some parts of the research that I will refer to, it remains unclear precisely what
texts have been used. Often the texts that were used were not appended, and if
Apologies
1.3 Narrativity
1.3.1 Models for imitation
Novels and short stories that form the bulk of published literature today are
narratives. It is in particular the narrative nature of these texts that has been
associated with specific effects. Stories are an important instrument for socialization. Growing up in a community involves becoming familiar with its
behavioral norms. Narratives often embody such norms (e.g., Miller & Moore
1989; M.H. Brown 1985; Hafferty 1988). Children encountering a new and
confusing situation may find help in the stories their parents tell about the time
they themselves were young. Newcomers to a working environment may
quickly become aware of the cultural code of the company, simply by listening to the stories their colleagues tell. There are also less obvious ways in
which socialization through stories may take place. As Van Asperen (1994)
argues, the stories we tell each other in our daily conversations function as a
means to explore common ground. The way we narrate our experiences
reveals a lot about what we think is important. Such stories are implicitly
about who we are, or what we do not want to be. The tacit moral nature of the
stories we tell each other is also uncovered by the fact that some occurrences
are narrated, while others are not. We select which events are worth telling.
Some propose that the criterion for reportability is principally a moral one
(Rigney 1991). What we consider worth telling a story about are typically
events in which human values are at stake.
Often, however, people around us cannot tell the stories we need to hear.
They do not have the necessary experience, or they are less competent narrators.
In such cases fiction by professional narrators may take over. Consider, for
instance, the case of Emma Bovary. In his novel, Madame Bovary, Flaubert
describes how Emma was put into a convent when she was thirteen. Growing
up among nuns, she relied on popular romances for her information about the
outside world. Unfortunately, these proved to be not the most trustworthy
sources. High expectations were raised by fictional worlds filled by love,
lovers, loving, martyred maidens swooning in secluded lodges, postilions slain
every other mile, horses ridden to death on every page, dark forests, aching
hearts, promising, sobbing, kisses and tears, little boats by moonlight, nightingales in the grove, gentlemen brave as lions, tender as lambs, virtuous as a
dream, always well dressed, and weeping pints (28). After marrying Charles,
a provincial doctor, life turns out to be rather less thrilling. Frustrations and
depressions follow. However, Emma does not give in easily. The pursuit of her
fictionally inflicted desires eventually lead her into adultery. Having Rodolphe
for a lover, she thought she would finally enter something marvellous where
everything would be passion, ecstasy, () She summoned the heroines from the
books she had read, and the lyric host of these unchaste women began their
chorus in her memory, sister-voices, enticing her. She merged into her own
imaginings, playing a real part, realizing the long dream of her youth, seeing
herself as one of those great lovers she had so long envied (131). Again her
hopes are set too high. Disappointingly, Rodolphe is not prepared to take up his
pistols to duel with Charles Bovary. Neither is he prepared to carry Emma off.
The effect narrative fiction had on Emma illustrates how our experiences
are filtered through already seen images, as Eco (1986) suggests. Booth
(1988) adds that real life is lived in images derived in part from stories. As he
puts it, though usually our imitations are not highly dramatic, especially once
we pass adolescence, everyone who reads knows that whether or not we
should imitate narrative heroes and heroines, we in fact do (229).
Throughout this chapter I will try to capture such assumptions in explic-
Apologies
itly formulated hypotheses, each of which will be held against the light of
available empirical research in Chapter 2. At this point, we can ascertain our
first hypothesis.
Narratives affect readers beliefs or expectations about their lives. This
includes consequences for their behavioral norms, e.g., cultural or social
codes (Hypothesis M1).5
Concluding this section, it seems clear that narrativity gives rise to certain
expectations about the effects of reading. Narrative representations are sup-
posed to affect our norms, desires and expectations (as it did in Emmas case).
Also, narratives are thought to have stronger effects on our beliefs than nonnarratives. Considering the scope of the alleged effects I discussed, it will be
interesting to see whether they were ever put to the test.
Apologies
biases in, for example, childrens literature seem sufficient ground to scrutinize how sex roles are represented, or how cultural minorities are portrayed.
This may be an important matter, because of the supposed socializing influence of reading.
A similarly firm belief in the effects of narrative fiction can be detected in
what is known as the canon debate. Some suggest that the highly acclaimed
works of literature are used as an instrument of suppression (e.g., Herrnstein
Smith 1988). It is assumed that things which are not represented in the stories
we read do not become part of our beliefs about the world. Failing to put
intelligent, accomplished women on the stage, canonized authors make us
think these women do not exist, it is believed.
A related argument is the one against censorship. It may be that leaders of
totalitarian regimes worry little about the possibility that fiction does not
represent Platos World of Ideas properly. Steiner (1989) supposes their
uneasiness is caused by literatures power to stimulate readers fantasy. This
fantasy, he says, can be subversive. The aesthetic is inherently critical, for it
tells the reader that things could have been different from what they are.
Whether this is what actually vexes censors remains to be seen. Some cases
suggest the opposite, namely that a too close resemblance between fiction and
reality is considered utterly rebellious. A case in point is the staging of Henrik
Ibsens An Enemy of the People in China. In the play, Stockmann, a public
health inspector, discovers that the allegedly curative baths of his hometown
are contaminated. As Stockmann wants to make his findings known, the
mayor stops publication and prevents him from speaking at a public meeting.
Next, the business leader of the baths, fearing the discovery may daunt
tourists, leads a mob in denouncing the doctor as an enemy of the people.
Dealing with corruption, inhibition of freedom of speech, and the use of
demagogy against a dissident, the play has been perceived as having a
bearing on situations in China. For instance, the manipulation of the masses in
the persecution of Stockmann seems dangerously close to the suppression of
counter-revolutionaries during the Cultural Revolution.7 Such similarity
may well be among the reasons why the production of the play has frequently
been impeded by the Chinese authorities. Whether it is a resemblance to
reality or a divergence from it which actually breeds censorship, clearly some
strong effects are expected.
This does not mean, however, that the effects do occur. It may very well
be that censors are mistaken about what literature may do to us. One reason to
10
suppose so, is that, judging by some of the antics of censorship, it seems not to
attract an intelligent type of person. Rushdie (1991) recalls Pakistans censors
pestering him when he tried to stage Albees The Zoo Story. Using the word
pork, for example, was prohibited, irrespective of its context, which made
that part of the play, as Rushdie saw it, superb anti-pork propaganda (38).
Since we have not seen any conclusive arguments to accept that the
fictional content of narratives can go together with effects proposed in Hypotheses M1 and M2, we will examine in Chapter 2 whether there is any
empirical support for the following assertion.
The fictionality of narratives does not impair its effects on readers beliefs and
behavioral norms (Hypothesis M3; compare Hypothesis M1).
Apologies
11
12
While we may believe that Annas confession is not entirely in her own
interest, the text makes us understand what caused her to do so. It may enrich
our imagination about what moves a person in a situation like Annas. She was
anxious to relieve her mental dissonance, without having a carefully calculated plan. Instead of assuming clear-cut mechanical laws of human motivation, we may come to realize the complexity and unpredictability of life.
As we read on, we learn about the mental states Anna goes through. First
she tells herself that she is glad she has confessed. From now on she will be
free from lies and deceit. The inevitable pain she has caused Karenin was a
sacrifice well-worth. But the next morning she feels regret and is astonished
she could have acted the way she did. Moreover, she wonders why she did not
tell Vronsky she had confessed to her husband:
And in answer to this question a burning blush of shame spread over her face.
She knew what had kept her from it, she knew that she had been ashamed. Her
position, which had seemed to her clear the night before, suddenly struck her
now as not only not simple but as absolutely hopeless. She felt terrified at the
disgrace, of which she had never thought before. When she thought of what
her husband would do, the most terrible ideas came to her mind. She had a
vision of being turned out of the house, of her shame being proclaimed to the
whole world. She asked herself where she could go when she was turned out
of the house, and she could not find an answer. (305)
Annas initial clarification, and her readiness to meet the consequences have
changed to a fundamental uncertainty about her future. While she had imagined that her step would open the way to change her strained circumstances,
she had not really felt her way into all the possible scenarios her confession
could generate.
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13
Palmer (1992) elaborates on the idea that reading texts like Tolstoys
novel may enhance our understanding of fellow human beings. He suggests
that identification with a character results in a special form of knowledge,
which he calls knowledge by acquaintance what an experience is like. In the
case of Anna Karenina, most readers will be strongly involved with her fate,
and will therefore know, without having been in a similar situation themselves, what it must be like to be in her position. In acquainting ourselves with
Annas experience, we learn that one can be so eager to escape a situation that
one does not fully reflect on the possible consequences, consequences which
suddenly become threatening and destructive as soon as the options become
real. Along similar lines, Doeser (1990) argues that narratives are an ideal way
to communicate such insight into human character (what he calls practical
knowledge), because they combine situation, motivation, action, and its consequences. Reading Anna Karenina may sharpen our perception about why
someone comes to commit adultery, what emotions such a person may have,
and what the consequences may be. The proposed consequences of reading
narratives may be summarized as follows.
Reading narratives enhances the ability to make psychological inferences
about the emotions, thoughts, and motives others have in certain situations
(Hypothesis PE2).
How are we to understand the relation between this alleged effect and ethics or
morality? Some suggest that the enhancement of insight into human thoughts
and emotions may bridge individual as well as cultural differences. The Dutch
novelist and critic Otten argues that even though the norms and values of the
characters are not our own, we are able to feel the dos and donts just like
them. You may become afraid of things the character is afraid of, though you
know you yourself wouldnt care. In principle the same phenomenon makes it
possible to understand for example how difficult it must be for a fourteenyear-old Moroccan girl to wear a headscarf in school.9 Similarly, Richard
Rorty (1989) proposes that reading novels enriches our moral awareness,
because during the reading experience we find ourselves in the shoes of a wide
diversity of people. Thus, we get better and better at understanding moral
situations from different points of view. What good would that do? Some
books, Rorty argues, help us to become less cruel. These books come in two
categories: (1) those that help us to see the effects of social practices and
institutions on others (like Uncle Toms Cabin and Les Misrables); (2) those
14
that help us to see the effects of our private idiosyncrasies on others. These
works typically show:
the blindness of a certain kind of person to the pain of another kind of person.
By identification with Mr. Causaubon in Middlemarch or with Mrs. Jellyby in
Bleak House, for example, we may come to notice what we ourselves have
been doing. In particular, such books show how our attempts at autonomy,
our private obsessions with the achievement of a certain sort of perfection,
may make us oblivious to the pain and humiliation we are causing. They are
the books which dramatize the conflict between duties to self and duties to
others. (141)
It seems obvious that these effects yield important benefits to ethical reflection. Since they may enhance the quality of ethical reflection, but are not
ethical themselves, I call them pre-ethical. As Rorty makes clear, we need
these pre-ethical abilities to make morally reflected choices for ourselves.
Furthermore, we need them to form our judgment about the behavior of
others. Before passing judgment, we may want to know something about the
actors motives, as well as to take the consequences of their actions into
consideration. Indeed, as Swap (1991) shows, when we form our judgment
about someones behavior, we do in fact make attributions about both motivation and consequences. Furthermore, in several measures of moral development, scores largely depend on subjects ability to do so (Piaget 1932;
Kohlberg 1969). These tests typically consist of a story describing events
which lead to a moral dilemma. To understand that it is a dilemma subjects
have to make inferences about the protagonists emotions and intentions.
Furthermore, they have to be able to imagine the possible consequences of
choosing either the one or the other way out of the dilemma. If reading
narratives enhances insight into human character, this would indirectly improve the quality of our ethical inquiries, at least on measures used in the
social sciences. Considering the possible refinement of ethical reflection, it
seems we have found another strong argument to investigate whether literature actually increases knowledge of the human psyche.
1.5.2 Complexity of characterization
It could be countered that other (non-literary) discourse types may have
similar beneficial effects. Soap operas might equally contribute to insight into
human character. One property which distinguishes literary narratives from
other narrative discourses, however, is its complexity. What does this mean?
Apologies
15
16
Up until now, I have focused on aspects of contents. Next I will pay attention
to effects that are associated with literary reading processes. First I will
specify the effects expected from readers emotional involvement.
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17
may enhance our capacity of outgoing and affectionate relations, reduce the
amount of irrational emotional outbursts, lessen prejudices and lasting resentments, make us more tolerant and forgiving (560). The cathartic effect of
literature may even have implications exceeding the relevance for our personal lives. As Bertrand Russell said in his Nobel Prize speech, reading may
satisfy our love for excitement, and avoid that this yearning leads to social
unrest and war.11
Cathartic effects are an example of a pre-ethical effect. Relief of emotional tension is neither moral nor ethical in itself. But, as has been argued, it
may affect our behavior, and set our frame of mind to make more wellconsidered judgments and thus contribute to ethical reflection or moral action.
Participating in an imaginary role-play may produce an awareness of repressed emotions, thus enabling more reasonable judgment (Hypothesis PE5).
18
So, reading Ulysses helps readers to clarify whether and why they would value
intellect over other values, and their reflections on their reading of Middlemarch makes them realize they do not want to be an egoist like Fred Vincy.
The thought-experiment itself is a method of ethical inquiry. Its effects are
ethical effects of reading literature. But, as these examples already indicate,
readers ethical reflections can lead to a moral conclusion.
1.6.3 Rhetoric and persuasion
Until now I have discussed the enhancement of emotions through a perceived
resemblance between story events and a readers past (e.g., stories mirroring
traumatic experiences). Another element of literatures appeal to emotions is
assumed to come from rhetoric, the art of persuasion. Rhetorical devices,
Tuve (1947) says, move a readers affections, but also affect his judgment;
they move him to feel intensely, to will, to act, to understand, to believe, to
change his mind.12 Rhetorical schemes and tropes are often assumed to
Apologies
19
contribute to the persuasive power of Biblical texts, political essays, pamphlets, courtroom pleas, and advertisements. When this power results in
changing behavioral norms, this is a moral effect.
As Booth (1961, 1988) has pointed out, rhetoric is an almost omnipresent
phenomenon in fiction. In fact, handbooks on rhetoric frequently refer to literary
examples for illustration (from Aristotles The Art of Rhetoric to Corbett 1971;
see also Van Peer 1994). Most of the rhetorical devices can be found inside as
well as outside literature. Take irony, for instance. An example from an ad for
a telephone company: Sure you could live without the Yellow Pages (or
without newspapers or automobiles or clocks). If such rhetoric works in an ad,
may not the same persuasive effect occur while reading a literary text like this
one: For Brutus is an honorable man; So are they all, honorable men.
(Shakespeare, Julius Caesar III, ii, 9192)?13 Mark Antonys famous speech
does indeed stir the mob he addresses. While Brutus had been able to assure the
Plebeians that the assassination of Caesar was necessary to preserve the
Republic, Antony persuades them to a diametrically different opinion. With the
help of rhetorical devices, he creates a mood of hostility towards Brutus and the
other conspirators. This is a clear case of a moral effect. We see a change of
judgment, from Live, Brutus, live, live! (III. ii, 50) and Let him [Brutus] be
Caesar, (53) to Revenge! About! Seek! Burn! Fire! Kill! Slay! Let
not a traitor live (216).
Here we have a fictional audience being swayed by rhetoric. What
happens to Shakespeares readers? It seems unlikely they are also swept into
moral indignation and action. Most readers will realize Brutus and Antony are
fictional characters, and that no immediate action on their part is called for. In
addition, these characters are too ambiguous for such an overt response. They
are both good and evil. Brutus intentions are not all wicked. He seriously
means to save his country. Similarly, Antony is not without fault. He stirs an
angry mob and starts a devastating civil war, which results in many innocent
deaths. What does seem likely is that some readers will notice a moral
ambiguity at the heart of the play. The piece may work in such a way that
readers come to realize the moral importance of avoiding civil disorder and
violence. Julius Caesar seems to show that a political status quo is to be
preferred to the pursuit or control of power, even for apparently just or moral
purposes. Literature may come to function as, what Booth (1988) calls, a
macro-metaphor, in case of Shakespeares play, as a macro-metaphor for
certain problems of government. If it is true that, as Booth claims, these
20
A literary text and a political pamphlet are two different things. Unlike the
message of a pamphlet, literary meaning cannot be reduced to a blunt motto.
Simplifying Shakespeare to one moral message seems a gross impoverishment. Moreover, attempts to do so result in truisms most people will be well
aware of without the help of any literary text. Nevertheless, this does not
refute the claim that part of the reading experience may include a reduction to
a motto, as well as a renewed awareness of some principle. Remember that we
are not concerned with what readers should, but what they may learn from
literature.
In this section I have argued that if literature enhances emotions, it may
have effects besides pure aesthetic delight. Catharsis and its psychological
correlates warrant a serious investigation of their consequences. I have also
proposed that readers identification with characters may lead to an impact on
their self-concept. An examination of these assertions could have important
social applications and deepen our understanding of literary communication.
The effects of rhetoric may also be of interest. Rhetorical devices like metaphors, irony, and repetition may, or may not have the persuasive effect they
are supposed to have. If they do have such effects, people in the business of
persuasion may want to know. It may also be that the rhetorical devices work
anywhere except in literature. In that case, it may be interesting to know why.
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21
22
his A Defence of Poetry [1840] Shelley even claimed poets to be the unacknowledged legislators of this world. And many authors criticized what they
felt were undesirable developments in their society. Examples that spring to
mind are Swifts satires on the sciences of his day, Dickens critique on the
downside of industrialization, the criticism on bourgeois morality by Flaubert,
Kafkas view of bureaucracy, or Gogols Dead Souls, regarded as a bitter
attack on corruption in Czarist Russia. A more recent debate few have missed
is the discussion about freedom of expression and Islamic views following
Khomeinys fatwa pronounced over Salman Rushdie. His suffering has not
been in vain, Rushdie thinks: I really think that the publication of The Satanic
Verses and the following discussion, forced many people to reflect on some
very important issues, outside as well as inside the Islamic community. It is
interesting to see one novel may go a long way, and that the genre still has that
power.15
It could well be that the highly canonical texts and authors mentioned
here are subversively critical, rather than conserving some repressive establishment as suggested earlier in Section 1.3 (Herrnstein Smith 1988; see Van
Peer 1996). It seems likely that, as Fokkema (1986) argues, the canon is an
open system that represents a matrix of possible answers relevant for the times
we live in. Times change, and so do the questions we ask. History shows that
the canon changes along with them.
Reading literary narratives enhances reflections about ethical problems related to contemporary developments in society (Hypothesis E3).
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23
24
deepening of ones moral awareness.
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may help them to have a better understanding of ethics and its conceptual
study, which in turn may have implications for their moral, social and political
life. So, ethical reflection (an ethical effect of reading literature) trains readers
to make more discerning ethical inquiries (a pre-ethical side effect). This
brings us to a last hypothesis.
Reading literary narratives stimulates ethical reflection, which enhances the
understanding of ethical discourse (Hypothesis PE10).
Shelley wrote his Defence of Poetry to argue that writing poetry is not simply
a waste of time as Peacock bantered. Similarly, I think the arguments put forth
in this chapter suggest that it is worthwhile to examine whether certain
assumptions about the effects of literature are valid. We have seen that several
of our most central beliefs about literature imply effects on the reader. Some of
these effects are relevant to ethics, either directly or indirectly. Still, not
everyone seems convinced that these effects take place. And they have a point.
People who made these claims did little to find out whether their arguments
were valid. Novels may be quoted, cases may be brought forward, intimate
self-observations may be revealed, but this will not convince the true sceptic.
Now that some of the conceptual issues about what reading literature may
do to readers have been clarified, let us move on to a review of the available
evidence. The table below lists the hypotheses presented in this chapter. It will
function as a point of reference for the next chapter, where I will examine the
evidence.
26
Apologies
27
Notes
1.
Peacock [1820].
2.
3.
See philosophical dictionaries such as Sandkhler (1990) and Lacey (1976); see also De
Graaf (1980).
4.
5.
M1
6.
7.
See Steven Mufsons article Is Ibsen an Enemy of the Peoples Republic? International
Herald Tribune (4 September 1996) on the production of the play by Wu Xiaojiang.
8.
There may be exceptions to this rule, as recent attempts to write virtual history show
(Ferguson, 1997).
9.
Discussion about the ethical side of Racines Phdre by Willem Jan Otten in NRC
Handelsblad, 23 December 1994.
10.
See Aristotles Politica (1342a 1415), and On the Art of Poetry (6).
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
to distinguish it from hypotheses about pre-ethical (PE) and ethical effects (E).
Chapter 2
Changing Readers
2.1 Introduction
The first time you call at your friends or colleagues home, you often find
yourself secretly browsing through their bookshelves. While the hosts are
getting drinks from the kitchen, we guests seem to think the titles will reveal
some aspect of our hosts personality. How reliable are such inferences? This
chapter reviews a wide range of studies suggesting that bookcases may be
quite revealing. The main focus will be on studies of an experimental nature,
relating them wherever possible to the hypotheses outlined in Chapter 1.
I will start the exploration of the field by briefly looking at some results of
correlational and qualitative approaches.
2.1.1 Correlations
Our friends library may be quite telling. Instead of merely revealing hobbies
and aesthetic preferences, it may help us to predict some of their norms and
values, their standpoints in politics and social issues, and their personality
(Miall & Kuiken 1995; Hakemulder 1995; Van Assche 1981; Perine 1977;
Wilson 1956). Thus, Perine (1977) found correlations between orientations
toward literature and approaches to moral judgment. Van Assche (1981)
showed that aesthetic preferences and ranking of values are strongly associated. Subjects in his study were asked to choose one of six poems as their
favorite. Clear differences in preferences occurred between subjects who
endorsed intimate-oriented values such as happiness, and true friendship,
30
and those preferring more world-oriented values like world peace, and
equality. In another study, the degree of literary reading habits, or literary
participation, correlated significantly with adherence to particular opinions
(Hakemulder 1995). In a random sample in the city of Utrecht approximately
200 subjects participated in a telephone questionnaire. Analysis of the responses showed that adherence to liberal, progressive, and postmaterialist
opinions correlated strongly with literary participation. Conversely, no correlation was found between literary participation and opinions related to conservatism, restrictivism, and materialism. Wilson (1956) found that scope and
depth of literary experience was significantly correlated to construction (i.e.,
the desire to build ideas or objects, to execute projects and create new things)
and cognizance (the desire for knowledge of all varieties). Furthermore, a
negative relation was found with extroversion. In five separate studies Miall &
Kuiken (1995) found that subjects attitude to literature is a reliable predictor
of scores on several personality measures, such as: readiness to be captured by
imaginal events, and readiness to modify them; learning style; approaches to
morality; and tolerance for complexity.
In conclusion, knowing someones reading habits helps us to predict his or her opinions and personality. However, it is unclear whether we can
assume that there is a causal relation between literary participation and personality traits. Also, if there is, what is the direction of this causality? Does
reading affect readers personality and values, or is it the other way around?
2.1.2 Qualitative approaches
In several studies the question about the effect of reading was addressed
directly to the readers themselves, which resulted in testimonies that supposedly exemplify that reading does shape the reader (e.g., Culp 1985 & 1977;
Ebersole 1974; Lachenmann 1999; Shirley 1969; Wilson 1956). In Shirleys
study, a large group of high school students completed a questionnaire on how
literature had affected their beliefs, attitudes, or behavior. Subsequently, a
number of informants was selected for case studies. Some of their statements
suggest that reading literature stimulates ethical reflection on everyday problems and social issues. One reader reported that through his reading of
Goldings The Lord of the Flies he gained insight into how civilization is a
thin veneer and how people can change when away from it (Shirley
1969: 372). Millers Death of a Salesman brought another reader to the
Changing Readers
31
realization of how very easy it is to get lost in the shuffle of life and that once
you get behind, its nearly impossible to find your place again (372). The
response of the following reader of Dostoevskys Crime and Punishment
suggests the kind of moral self-evaluation discussed in Chapter 1: After
reading the book I discovered how self-centered I was and how quick I was to
form my opinions (410). One of the readers of Steinbecks Of Mice and Men
shows the kind of compassion literature supposedly arouses: to see the plight
of the poor common laborer and how he is taken advantage of by better
educated men. I felt sorry for them I felt depressed. I cried after reading Of
Mice and Men (406).
Several other qualitative studies pointed out that literature is a suitable
vehicle for tackling sensitive issues (Cheek 1992; Mullarkey 1987; Rhodes
1990; Sullivan 1987). Sullivan describes experiences with a bibliotherapeutic
program used in a fourth grade classroom. Listening to and discussing stories
proved to be helpful in getting problems out into the open, problems relating to
parental divorce, human relations and handicaps. Rhodes analyzed responses
of six students to a novel and concluded that her subjects concentrated on
issues with which they might be confronted in their own lives. In a similar
study, Mullarkey reports that reading enhanced subjects insights about their
personal lives. Her analysis of recorded responses to novels suggests that the
insights were prompted by identification with the fictional characters. Cheeks
observations of classroom discussions of literature showed that teachers frequently focused students attention on ethical aspects of the texts. It seems that
in literary education students are often stimulated to reflect on ethical issues.
All this may add to the plausibility of the hypotheses advanced before.
There are reasons, however, to subject them to further tests, preferably in
experimental settings. Subjects in self-report studies may be sincere in their
self-observations, but their personal reconstruction of their past experiences
and the formative effect of these on their character may not always be reliable
and is scarcely verifiable. In Chapter 1 we saw that many (Western) theories
of literature incorporate assumptions about the effects of reading. It may be
that reader reports reflect these beliefs rather than actual influence. As we saw
earlier, the results of correlation studies are not conclusive either. It remains
unclear whether there is a causal relation between literary participation and
personality variables. Determining whether reading literary texts has any
effects requires experimentation, allowing researchers to maximize control
over potential and relevant variables, so that it can be estimated whether
32
II
III
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IV
VI
VII
VIII
33
34
used are derived from Cook & Campbell (1979: 3794). They present a useful
guideline for estimating the validity of experimental research. In my evaluation I took into account that not all these criteria are equally important. For
example, in many studies treatment and testing were conducted by the same
person. As a result, the outcome of these experiments may be open to threats
of hypothesis-guessing. Subjects may have related one task (e.g., reading a
story) with another (completing the posttest). Having guessed the aim of the
experimenter, they may have responded accordingly, trying to help the researcher to find what he or she expected of them. Hypothesis-guessing need
not be a serious threat to validity. As Cook & Campbell stress themselves,
there is no widespread evidence that subjects tend to provide answers that will
please researchers (66). Hence, the results of such experiments do not have to
be dismissed immediately. A similarly mild problem is the lack of a randomization procedure. Not randomizing subjects over experimental and control
conditions means a potentially relevant variable may intervene. On the other
hand, when randomization is carried out other distorting effects may occur
due to the unnatural situation of breaking up intact groups such as classrooms.
Working with intact groups in field settings instead of individuals in laboratory settings may produce results which are more representative of reading in
real life (7). Some experimenters randomly assigned intact groups to treatments, and conducted pretest and posttest in all conditions. This seems a fair
solution for this dilemma.
Some studies suffer from more serious ailments. For instance, in one
experiment it could not be guaranteed that all subjects within one group were
subjected to the same treatment (Koeller 1977). Another problem I consider
critical enough to discard researchers claims, is the absence of a pretest
combined with either a lack of a randomization procedure or a control group.
Such procedures cast too much doubt on the claim that registered differences
between groups were due to treatment. I also rejected experiments with more
than two moderate threats to internal validity. A build-up of small uncertainties
seems a justifiable reason to question researchers claims. Finally, none of the
studies were given the benefit of the doubt. For example, when the report did
not mention that subjects were randomized, I assumed they werent. It should
be stressed that occasionally such assumptions may have been unwarranted,
since I sometimes had to rely on information from dissertation abstracts only.
Several authors responded to my request for more details about their procedures
and research design, but many others proved to be out of reach.
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This survey does not comprise a meta-analysis. Such an approach requires the availability of mean scores on pretest and posttest and weighted
average standard deviations. Because this information was often incomplete
or missing altogether, it was impossible to compute overall effect sizes.
Furthermore, too many different tests were used, and most categories contained too few studies to make a meta-analysis worthwhile. This means, for
instance, that we could not compute the size of the effects relative to subjects
age or sex.
Table 2.1 summarizes the results of my evaluation. The numbers in the
first column indicate the total amount of studies found in each category. The
second column represents the number of studies that were estimated to be
unreliable. The next two columns contain the number of reliable studies that
respectively rejected and confirmed the hypotheses.
Table 2.1 Results of the evaluation
Treatments aimed
at affecting .
I
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII
VIII
Total number
of studies
Unreliable
Studies1
8
8
4
16
6
7
3
5
5
2
1
8
1
5
2
2
Reliable studies2
No effects
Effects
1
1
1
2
2
5
2
6
5
2
1
3
II .
Norms and values research provides two reliable studies reporting significant effects of reading literature (Berg-Cross & Berg-Cross 1978;
Burt 1972). On the other hand, one experimenter concluded that values
expressed in narrative texts should not be assumed to have an effect on
readers values (Kigar 1978).2 We must conclude that reading may affect
norms and values, but that further research is needed to find out under
what conditions such effects occur.
Reviewing moral development research, I found five reliable studies with
positive results (Biskin & Hoskisson 1977, study two; Johnson 1990;
Justice 1989; Keefe 1975; Kinnard 1986).3 These results show that
36
III .
Results of sex-role research are unanimously positive. Five studies provide direct evidence for the assumption that reading may affect genderrelated behavioral norms, beliefs about natural differences between men
and women (like cognitive ability), and actual behavior.6
VI .
VII .
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by Bird (1984), demonstrated that literature programs can enhance critical thinking skills.8
VIII . Two
38
1977). Scheff & Scheele (1980) is the only study to demonstrate that exposure
to taped sketches without any discussion to follow produced anxiety reduction. In the remaining research categories (empathy, moral development,
critical thinking) none of the data show that the mere exposure to narratives
leads to significant changes.
Table 2.2 Effects of exposure to literature per se
Treatments aimed
at affecting .
I
Norms and values
II
Moral development
III Empathy
IV Outgroup attitudes
V
Sex-role perception
VI Self-esteem
VII Critical thinking
VIII Anxiety reduction
Reliable
Studies
3
6
3
8
5
2
1
3
Confounded
Studies1
2
6
3
2
1
1
2
Unconfounded studies2
No effects
Effects
2
4
1. Confounded: studies which do not allow conclusions about the effects of exposure to literature per
se, because all treatments combine reading/listening with other treatment tasks.
2. Unconfounded: studies that include at least one treatment that consists only of reading, or listening
to literature.
In the following discussion I will not exclude the confounded studies. Some of
their findings seem relevant to our hypotheses about the effects of narratives in
society, even though they combine exposure to narratives with other activities.
Admittedly, some of the experimental situations bear little resemblance to
situations in which people normally read literature. Some treatments, for
instance, involved tasks that are unlikely to occur frequently (e.g., having to
sing songs about the characters or participate in role-playing based on scenes
from the stories). Other tasks, though, are similar to practices that are much
more common, for instance in educational settings (e.g., having to write an
essay about a novel) or among friends (e.g., taking part in a discussion).
Changing Readers
39
than before? Will they think and behave differently? Or are their responses
merely indicative of their understanding of what responses the experimenters
expected of them? These questions will be addressed in the next two sections.
Furthermore, I will consider the generalizability of the findings. It may have
been shown, for instance, that five-year-olds were influenced by listening to
stories with strongly pronounced morals, but what does this mean for the
effects of reading literature on adult readers norms and values? What is
known about the circumstances under which the effects occur? These problems will be considered in Section 2.4.
2.3.1 Stability of the effects
Most posttests were conducted immediately after subjects finished reading
their texts, and it therefore could be argued that the results tell us something
about short term effects only. To suppose the effects were internalized requires evidence that the changes were sustained over a longer period. In her
evaluation of influence studies, Klemenz-Belgardt (1981) already noted that
one of the nagging methodological problems is the relative shortness of
duration allotted to the experiments. Little has changed since then. In the
present survey none of the studies investigate longitudinal effects, and only
five experimenters included a delayed posttest in their design. Time between
the posttests ranged from one to six weeks. The evidence about the durability
of the effects pertains to outgroup attitudes, sex-role concept, and moral
development.
As to the effects on outgroup attitude, two experimenters conducted a
delayed posttest (Jackson 1944; Alsbrook 1970), and none of their results
suggest that effects were still present. Investigating moral development, Justice (1989) was the only experimenter to include a delayed posttest in the
procedure. The initial effects were not retained after six weeks. Perhaps
Justices treatment was simply not long enough. It involved only eight sessions of reading and discussion. Biskin & Hoskisson (1977) found that their
seven-session moral development intervention had no effect, while an eighteen-session intervention did. Moreover, Schlaefli, Rest and Thomas (1985)
review of 55 moral development programs revealed that effectiveness of the
intervention to produce stable changes largely depends on its duration.
Two sex-role studies included a delayed posttest (Ashby and Wittmaier
1978; Flerx et al. 1976, study two). Both showed that some of the effects
40
which were found on first testing were still significant after a period of seven
days. However, they were not as strong, and they did not recur across all
posttests.
In this respect, it should be emphasized that in field experiments it is
almost impossible to isolate subjects in the period between first and second
posttest. Consider studies like the ones conducted by Flerx et al. (1976).
Treatment consisted of reading stories about women in nontraditional roles.
But in the week following the experiment subjects will have been exposed to
numerous instances of more traditional sex-role models, presumably obliterating the effects of reading the nontraditional stories. Reason enough, therefore,
to consider any effects on the second posttest a notable finding. In the
discussion of their results, Flerx et al. proposed that a prolonged exposure to
the fictional sex-roles may eventually cause an internalization of the norms of
the texts.
Some evidence informs us on the durability of the effect of reading stories
as compared to that of watching a film. Flerx et al. (1976; study two) compared the effects of watching egalitarian films with those of reading egalitarian stories. Subjects in the control group read stereotypical stories.
Egalitarianism
5,4
5,2
5
film
4,8
book
4,6
control
4,4
4,2
4
pretest
posttest 1
posttest 2
The effect in the film group was only marginally stronger than in the story
group. As to the durability of the effects, between posttest and delayed posttest
a clear drop was registered for both film and story treatment. Nevertheless,
analysis of the data showed that in both groups the effect was still significant.
As to the relative power of film versus stories to affect sex-role concept, we
Changing Readers
41
should conclude that reading is only marginally less influential than watching
films.11
In sum, then, claims about the stability of the effects are limited. Merely
five out of 54 studies included a delayed posttest. Results of one moral
development study and two outgroup studies do not yield support to the claim
that effects are of a permanent nature. On the other hand, two studies in the
field of sex-role research did show that the initial effects were sustained. On
the basis of the studies themselves it is not possible to explain the different
outcomes. For now, we can conclude that the stability of the effects varies per
research category. In addition, evidence of moral development research in
general shows that duration of treatment is related to duration of effect.
Presumably this holds for moral development programs based on reading
narratives as well. Future research should address the problem of durability.
2.3.2 Emotional and behavioral changes
Besides the stability of the effects, there are also other indications of internalization to consider, for example, emotional reorientation and changes in
conduct So far, I have dealt with verbalized changes only. Obviously, evidence for effect on behavior would contribute to the weight of our hypotheses
considerably. However, such evidence is circumstantial. Three studies (Wiley
1991; McArthur & Eisen 1976; McClaskey 1970) pertain to effects on behavior, of which the latter two showed a positive outcome.
McClaskey (1970) examined the effectiveness of bibliotherapy as an
adjunct to psychotherapy. He found that reading and discussing literature can
cause significant behavioral changes in chronic emotionally disturbed patients.
However, similar effects were found for a treatment based on didactic texts.
McArthur & Eisen (1976) show that the changes in attitude found in sexrole studies may extend to behavioral changes. They suggestively quote a
study by McClelland (1961) who found that the amount of achievement
imagery in childrens books during one period was highly correlated with
measures of economic growth in subsequent years when the children who had
been exposed to these books reached maturity. In their own study, McArthur
& Eisen established experimentally that stories can motivate achievementoriented behavior. Thirty-six five-year-olds were randomly assigned to three
groups. One group heard a stereotypical story, depicting achievement behavior by a male character and helpless and passive behavior by a female
42
character. In the second condition subjects read almost the same story, except
that the characters roles were switched. In the new version the female
character is perfectly capable of looking after her own interests. The male
character, in this version, waits for the girl to help him out of trouble (an
intimidating spider). Control-group subjects listened to a story depicting no
pronounced achievement behavior by any of the characters.
The procedure was as follows. One experimenter takes each subject
individually to a room and reads one of the three stories. Then a second
experimenter, who is unaware of the condition subjects are in, enters the room.
The first experimenter goes to an adjacent room and observes the subject
through a one-way mirror. Subjects are instructed in the rules of a game they
are invited to play while waiting for the first experimenter to return. It is made
clear to them that they can stop whenever they want. The game involves trying
to stand up some flowers that are lying on their side in a terrarium, a fairly
difficult task for five-year old children. The time they spend trying to stand up
the flowers serves as the measure of subjects achievement-oriented behavior.
6
Minutes
5
4
girls
boys
2
1
0
stereotype
control
reversal
The results show that boys persisted longer than girls did after hearing a story
depicting achievement behavior by a male character. They also persisted longer
than the boys in the control group, and considerably longer than the boys in the
reversed condition. In this condition, the pattern was inverted. Girls who had
listened to the story with the aspiring girl persisted longer in their task than the
boys in that condition. Although this last trend was not significant, the
experiment shows that story characters can function as models for behavior.
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44
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46
Maybe this inference is premature. Post-reading activities were an important element in all his treatments. After reading the texts, an arsenal of
techniques was put to work to enhance subjects moral reasoning. It seems
likely that his emphasis on post-reading activities explains why Keefe found it
hard to distinguish between the effects of story-treatments and case-account
treatments. Moreover, whether effects are generated by the texts subjects read,
or by postprocessing tasks can only be resolved by a design which includes at
least one
read-only condition. For the time being, however, one must conclude that
the question whether it is postprocessing or the reading that causes the effects
stands unanswered.
2.4.2 Effective texts
Intuitively one would perhaps expect that effects of narratives are based on a
unique combination of the right reader reading the right text at the right time in
his or her life. The mere fact that exposing randomly chosen groups of readers
to narratives led to perceptible, statistically significant effects, shows that
some changes may be more common. Of course the choice of stimulus
materials was never made randomly. Do the results of this survey reveal
what kind of texts may change people? In the studies surveyed here anything,
from Julius Caesar to What Can She Be? A Veterinarian, elicited effects. It
seems likely that the level of the texts was tuned to the age group under
examination. Julius Caesar was used for fifteen-year-olds, What Can She Be
for nine-year-olds. Reversed combinations would probably have been less
effective.
For most of the experiments it is unclear what stimulus material was used
(research reports refer to, for instance, a literature curriculum, or a Junior
Great Books program). In addition, we know very little about what it is in
these texts that caused the changes. Few studies examined hypotheses generated by a close analysis of the stimulus material. This should not surprise,
since most studies served practical, educational purposes. Researchers were
typically interested in testing the effectiveness of some curriculum for
instance in fighting racial prejudice and not in the workings of specific text
qualities per se. The selection of materials used is often based on intuitions
that the texts contain positive portrayals of some target group. Sometimes the
choice of texts is based on suggestions of advisory boards who compiled lists
Changing Readers
47
of, for instance, egalitarian childrens literature (e.g., Flerx et al. 1976), or lists
of books relevant to certain self-concept dimensions (e.g., subjects relations
with school, other students and teachers; Roach 1975). But criteria were
seldom specified. Expectations about effects on moral development are sometimes based on text analyses using Kohlbergs model for moral reasoning (cf.
Kohlberg 1969). Confronting subjects with higher levels of moral reasoning
than they use themselves is known to enhance moral development. Researchers therefore suppose similar effects of reading texts that represent higher
stages. They analyzed their materials with help of Kohlbergs model. Thus
they estimated which level of reasoning the moral of the stories were based
on. Detailed results of such text analyses were not reported, nor were they
integrated in the designs of the studies.
Geiger (1975) presents an example of a more thorough approach. He
found that reading popular World War II adventure booklets containing negative portrayals of Russian soldiers had a negative effect on readers attitude
toward Soviets. His hypotheses were based on a content analysis of the genre.
Nevertheless, Geigers approach still does not allow conclusions about what
aspect of the stories caused the effects. Summing up the results of his content
analyses, Geiger mentions several characteristics that may have contributed to
the negative changes in attitude. For instance, the texts are always written
from the perspective of the German Wehrmacht; there is always a potential
subject for identification: a virtuous and courageous German commander; and
images of Soviets are invariably negative. From the point of view of literary
studies it is important to know which feature, or combination of features, is
responsible for the effects Geiger found.
A suitable instrument for controlling text variables is text manipulation
(e.g., Litcher & Johnson 1969; McArthur & Eisen 1976). Litcher & Johnson
only changed names of the story characters and the pictures, thus making a
multi-ethnic reader out of a regular textbook. McArthur & Eisen reversed the
gender of the main story characters. These experimenters found that their
manipulation did not work entirely as they had expected. The reversed condition did not result in a significant reversal of the gender behavioral pattern.
McArthur & Eisen speculate that some actions of the boy and the girl in the
new version may have seemed strange to the readers. Text manipulation may
be a method to get at specific effects of text variables, but it is obviously an
instrument one has to handle with care.
48
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50
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want to do things that would hurt someone elses feelings. To interpret the
cases of the Moral Reasoning Test and make stage three judgments, subjects
need to put themselves in the protagonists shoes. Results suggest that the
treatments enabled them to do so; reading and discussing the stories enhanced
subjects understanding of, or sensitivity to other peoples feelings.
Outgroup studies may be indirectly related to the question whether reading leads to a better understanding of our fellow humans. Several researchers
used tests that measure social distance, that is, the degree to which subjects
reject the idea of outgroup members as neighbors, family, friends or partners.
Litcher & Johnson (1969) made a new version of a regular textbook. Pictures
of nonwhites replaced some of the original pictures that had only white
characters in them. Also the names used to represent these characters of racial
and ethnic groups were changed. For a period of four months this new
textbook was read in class by a group of white second graders. The experimenters used a randomized pretest-posttest-control-group design. The control
group read the original version of the textbook. One of the tests for social
distance they used was the Show Me Test. It consists of twelve portraits: three
white and three black boys, three white and three black girls. The subjects
were asked, for example: Please show me the one that you would like to sit
next to at school. Response to these and other questions showed that reading
stories about colored people caused a significant decrease of social distance.
Litcher & Johnson conclude that their findings support the counterconditioning hypothesis. The characters, they argued, were all middle class.
Qualities of the middle class presumably elicit positive responses. Repeated
pairing of the stimulus colored person with stimuli that elicit a positive
reaction would eventually lead to a positive response to colored persons (the
so-called Bill Cosby effect). I would like to propose an alternative interpretation of the results. Reduction of social distance could also suggest that subjects
consider outgroup members as more similar to themselves than before treatment. A post-hoc explanation without any empirical support could be
that the stories must have helped subjects to imagine what it would be like to
be a member of some outgroup, and found out it cannot be much different
from their own existence. Both the colored story characters and the white
subjects where middle class. The decrease in social distance seems indicative
of an increase in feelings of solidarity (cf. Rorty 1989; hypothesis PE2).
It was earlier suggested that reading literature causes catharsis (PE5).
Results of three studies suggest it does. Gross (1977) treatment led to higher
52
personal adjustment. This measure includes a reduction of withdrawing tendencies and nervous symptoms, which may be indicative of a cathartic effect.
Cutforths (1980) bibliotherapeutic program led to a reduction of anxiety, and
Scheff & Scheeles (1980) treatment caused a significant increase in relaxation. McClaskey (1970) found significant changes in the behavior of emotionally disturbed patients.
There are several ways in which these changes seem to come about. Scheff
& Scheele found evidence to suggest that the amount of laughter incited by the
materials correlated with relaxation. In Chapter 1 it was proposed that catharsis
is prompted by identification (e.g., Fuhriman et al. 1989). Gross suggested that
the effects she registered on personal adjustment were induced because subjects
must have recognized some of their personal problems in those of the story
characters, which, in turn, was followed by an emotional relief. The data do not
allow one to infer whether the effects were caused by an imaginary role play
followed by an awareness of repressed emotions as suggested in our hypotheses. Anyway, reduction of anxiety and an increase in personal adjustment
might enable more balanced ethical judgments, as M.C. Beardsley (1958) had
suggested, and is therefore a pre-ethical effect.
Finally, some evidence supports the view that reading enhances critical
thinking. Bird (1984) found that participation in a Great Books Program
enhanced subjects scores on the Worden Critical Thinking Test. This effect also
occurred when treatments did not include post-reading activities. Scoring high
on critical thinking indicates that subjects actively process written and spoken
information. They are more likely to be involved in questioning, activation of
background knowledge, divergent thinking, exploring the relations among
ideas, and grappling with real-life issues. It may be that these mental activities
train pre-ethical abilities, which could facilitate a better understanding of ethics
and its conceptual studies, as J. Hillis Miller argued (hypothesis PE10). Additional support comes from research showing that understanding literary texts
requires well developed problem solving strategies and asking questions (see
Beach & Hynds 1991: 461). The motivation to understand a text may stimulate
readers to consider their own questions, to bring their problem solving skills into
action, and thus to train their critical thinking.
For several claims there does not seem to be any evidence. Hypothesis
PE3 suggested that the complexity of literary characters would boost the
effects on readers empathic ability (PE2). In hypothesis PE4 it was assumed
that reading literature would enhance readers awareness of the complexity of
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54
cal position in literary texts and the reflective distance toward fictional events
(PE8 & PE9). It remains unclear whether the ambiguity of the ethical position in
a literary text stimulates reflection (PE8). Also, it was supposed that the typical
reflective distance toward fictional events would allow readers to make more
careful moral judgments (PE9). Although none of the experiments directly
address this issue, Schram & Geljons (1988) experiment may be of some
interest here. Their results indicate that an involved, affective approach toward World War II literature resulted in less conscientious judgments than a
curriculum emphasizing a cognitive approach. The texts present an image of
the war from which subjects were expected to conclude that it cannot always
be clear who was good and who was evil. In one classroom students were
encouraged to focus on empathic responses to the texts. They were instructed,
for example, to imagine what they would have done in the situation of the
story characters. In another classroom students were led to focus on information about the life and times of the authors. The affective approach led to
more radical moral judgments about the characters (collaborators) than the
cognitive approach. The affective group considered cruel vendettas of the
resistance as justifiable. Subjects in the cognitive group tended to regard such
actions as useless, or too much vengeance-oriented without actually serving
the aim of liberation. Further research is needed, however, to answer some
important questions. The experimental design did not include a control group
and therefore we do not know to which treatment we can attribute the
differences between the groups: did the cognitive approach make subjects
moral judgments more careful, did the affective approach group make them
more harsh, or did both changes occur?
In conclusion, although no direct evidence is available, it seems that
narratives (whether literary of popular) are a suitable instrument to enhance
ethical reflection. It has not been attempted yet to establish which aspect of the
stories may be responsible for this effect.
2.5.3 Moral effects
Finally, I will consider the evidence that reading narratives has moral effects.
It was proposed that reading narrative fiction can persuade readers of some
moral standpoint, and have consequences for their behavioral norms (hypothesis M1). What do we know about what happens when readers process a story
that expresses a particular value? In Berg-Cross & Berg-Cross (1978) experi-
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ment subjects (ages four to six) were randomly assigned to a control group or
one of four experimental groups. The treatments consisted of listening to a
story with a clear moral message. The control group listened to a story that did
not relate to the values under examination. The experimenters administered
different phases of the procedure in pairs. The first experimenter conducted
both the pretest and the posttest, and was unaware of the group subjects were
in. A second experimenter read the stories to each child individually. Comparing value ratings of the treatment groups with those of the control group, and
taking into account group differences assessed with the pretest, striking effects
emerged. For example, after listening to a story dealing with the value of
friendship, subjects considered friendship much more important than the
control group. One question asked was Do you think a friend should give you
any toy that you ask for? Control subjects tended to answer more in the
negative than subjects who had heard the story about friendship. The results
may be interpreted as evidence that reading stories triggers readers awareness
of the importance of certain values.
Moral, or socialization effects can also be detected in the results of sexrole studies. Flerx et al. (1976) used a doll choice test to measure sex-role
stereotypes in young children. Subjects were shown a boy and a girl doll, a
mother and a father doll. The experimenter asked, for example, which child
doll would be afraid of a bug and which parent doll, would comfort a child
who was hurt. Such questions tapped attitudes toward childrens and parents
affect-expressiveness: which emotions are appropriate for women and which
ones are proper for men? Another dimension was childrens and parents
work activities. For instance, the children were asked to point out the child
doll which would set the table, and which one would rake the leaves in the
garden. As to the parent dolls, subjects were to point out the one that did the
cooking and the one that worked in an office downtown. Choosing both dolls
was also presented as a possibility.
The researchers compared pretest and posttest responses for groups which
either listened to traditional stories or egalitarian stories during the childrens
regular story time at kindergarten. As expected, the egalitarian programs caused
significant changes in the extent to which subjects norms were egalitarian. This
finding seems to support hypothesis M3: fictional narratives affect norms about
appropriate behavior.
Barclay (1974) was not included in this survey because of a serious
problem in the study (see note 5). Nevertheless, the results of this study
56
Changing Readers
57
58
Outlook
In the following chapter I will propose a solution for two of the most outstanding deficiencies of the available research: first, the fact that it is unclear which
text features are responsible for which effects; second, the fact that few
experimenters have taken the trouble to pinpoint the psychological processes
which caused the changes they observed. I will attempt to integrate some of
the findings of the survey with theories and research of social psychology. The
main focus will be on processes that stimulate identification with characters
and the effects this may have on readers. One reason to concentrate on these
processes is that a common denominator in the explanations for the effects is
readers emotional or imaginary involvement in narrative events. In this sense,
effects on sex-role concept were assumed to be caused by a model function of
the story characters. Through identification with the character of their own
sex, readers familiarized themselves with nontraditional types of behavior.
Second, the decrease in social distance toward outgroups is associated with an
increase in perceived resemblance between readers and target-group members. I suggest that this effect may be caused by identification too; readers may
have imagined what it must be like to be an outgroup member and found out it
cannot be much different from their own existence. Third, moral development
partly depends on the ability to imagine oneself in the place of another person.
Research findings suggest that reading and discussing narrative texts enhances this ability. Fourth, effects of reading on cognitive empathic ability
belong to this family of effects as well. Fifth, anxiety reduction was associated
by researchers with catharsis, a process which is supposedly enhanced by
identification. Finally, the effects on critical thinking may be related to the
appeal to identify with characters (and implied authors) and temporarily take
their (moral) positions. Chapter 3 explores such possible effects of identification. This will lead to the development of a psychological model and a number
of hypotheses that will be put to the test in Chapter 4.
Changing Readers
59
Notes
1.
2.
The following studies are excluded because of three or more problems: Freimuth &
Jamieson (1977); Milgram (1967); Keener (1977); and Schram & Geljon (1988).
3.
Garrods (1982) and Gallaghers (1978) claims are impaired by more than two problems.
Therefore, their results are not considered in my conclusions. See for a general discussion
of the problems associated with the validity of Kohlbergs model Shweder et al. (1990).
4.
5.
Alsbrook (1970), Frankel (1972), Gimmestad & De Chiara (1982), Hayes (1969), Heintz
(1988), and Stone (1985) are not taken into consideration. For these studies the potential
threats to internal validity exceed my criterion of two only mild problems. In addition to
having three such problems, Fishers (1965) study seems unreliable because, as he
reports, the placebo treatment (control condition) had a significant effect on subjects
attitudes. Kimoto (1974) cannot garantee that treatments within one experimental condition were equal. Moreover, Kimoto registered an unexplainable change in attitudes
between posttest and delayed posttest.
6.
Of the six studies only Barclay (1974) was disqualified, because, as she reports, the
purpose of the study leaked out.
7.
Research procedures of Doering (1985), Trimble (1984), Garrod (1982), Koeller (1977),
and Woodyard (1970) were inadequate.
8.
Due to more than two potential problems, studies by Dukess (1985) and Schulhauser
(1990) are excluded.
9.
Quales (1979) study presented more than two problems. Smith (1979) was disqualified
due to a lack of control; the design included neither a randomization nor were subjects
pretested. Therefore, there is little certainty that differences between groups were caused
by treatment.
10.
In Tables I to VIII (Appendix 1) these studies can be recognized by the symbol (C)
under the column headed Problem.
11.
This would refute suggestions by for instance Metz (1974), who argues that the influence
of literature is much smaller than that of film. Film would enhance a much stronger
impression of reality and participation in the spectator, than a novel could in the reader.
Chapter 3
Only connect
E.M. Forster.1
3.1 Introduction
Reading a story involves several psychological processes. This chapter sets
out to investigate the effects these processes may have other than on the
understanding of the story. Like in Chapter 2, the argument will be based on
empirical studies, but the approach will be different. Researchers quoted in the
previous chapter were primarily interested in testing the effectiveness of some
literature-based curriculum, for instance, in wiping out racial prejudice or
boosting moral development. Here I will use the work of psychologists and
literary scholars to explain how such changes may come about. Instead of
assessing changes in the reader, these studies focus on one single aspect of
processing stories (e.g., how readers make sense of a narrative, or what makes
them respond to it emotionally). Connecting the pieces of this psychological
puzzle will produce a model which may help us to better understand the
effects reviewed in the previous chapter.
The proposed model is, like any model, a simplification of reality. However, I believe it covers a wide range of the hypothetical effects (Chapter 1), as
well as the empirically established effects (Chapter 2). For the sake of coherence I will focus on a family of these influences, namely those that are
associated with identification. The lion-share of the hypotheses about preethical, ethical, and moral effects concerns readers participation in narrative
experiments. Also, a common denominator in researchers explanations of
these effects is readers emotional or imaginary involvement in the roles of
characters. Therefore, readers involvement in the fictional world will form
the center of the model.
62
63
Real world
Laurie went to a restaurant. She ordered the one vegetarian dish on the menu.
She signaled for the waitress. She ate the food quickly and hurried back to her
office.
Schematic memory
structures for human
emotions, goals, etc.
Fictional world
3*
Mental representation:
a) causality;
b) character emotions,
goals, situation.
Ink on paper
Text
Figure 3.1
64
they are stored in what is called our semantic memory; that is where we keep
all our knowledge abstracted from personal experience.3
Earthmans (1992) study nicely illustrates how schemata are involved in
processing full-blown stories. Subjects read a story about a man called Gustav
who comes home in a fur coat he borrowed from his friend. Gustavs wife
greets him in a darkened hallway in an uncharacteristically warm way, whispering, Gustav isnt home yet, whereupon Gustav replies Yes, hes home.
The scene ends here. No further explanation is given. Almost all subjects
paused at this point to comment on the story. They drew on their schema or
scenario for extramarital affairs to fill the apparent gap in the information.
Such responses to stories may have two effects: a direct effect on perception and, in the long run, a developmental effect. Exposure to narratives makes
readers schemata more readily accessible in their memory. This is what is
known as a priming effect: a schema is more likely to be activated if it has
recently been presented or used (e.g., Bargh et al. 1996a; Bargh et al. 1996b;
Higgins et al. 1977). Schemata may be activated automatically, for instance,
upon the mere exposure to particular words, and exert their influence on
thought and behavior. Such effects occur without conscious intention or
awareness (i.e., preconsciously). Unwittingly primed schemas may affect the
dispositional attributions we make about other peoples behavior (Gilbert
1989; Gilbert et al. 1988). Thus, reading a story about adultery may prime
certain aspects of readers real-world knowledge, such as about relationships
that change from mere acquaintance or friendship to love. If we consider the
possibility of a priming effect here, exposure to a story may make certain
schemata more available than others and thus influence readers perception of
people outside the text.
A second possible effect of filling information gaps is that it offers
readers an opportunity to develop or refine their ideas of, for example, what
moves people to commit adultery. It may be argued that filling gaps is
especially important in processing literary stories (cf. Iser 1976; Andringa
1995). Understanding literary texts seems to involve more complex inferences
than understanding popular genres. The behavior of literary characters and the
sequence of events in a literary text are often more unpredictable and ambiguous. In contrast, characters and plots of popular fiction are often formulaic
(Cawelti 1976). Exposure to complex literary texts supposedly develops readers knowledge of schemata, so that reading literature is likely to generate
more sophisticated schemata than formulaic stories.
65
Both priming effect and the developmental effect are represented as step
3* in Figure 3.1. The asterisk indicates an assumption that is not supported by
empirical evidence. While there is no empirical evidence to suggest that
making inferences while reading stories primes schemata that have a subsequent effect on the way readers perceive others, I believe that such processes
deserve a (albeit hypothetical) place in the model.
3.2.2 Understanding a characters emotions
Readers first need some mental representation of the network of causal
connections before they can recognize potentially emotional situations and
understand characters emotions. Having identified characters goals, their
attempts to attain those goals, and the successful or unsuccessful outcomes,
readers make use of cues to activate schemata fitting characters emotions
(step 2). Again it may be argued that this activation will increase the accessibility of their schematic knowledge structures, in this case, knowledge of
human emotions (step 3*).
There is some evidence suggesting that readers do form explicit, lifelike
representations of characters emotions. A study by Gernsbacher et al. (1992)
showed that these representations are constructed as a normal part of the
comprehension process. Subjects read short, simple stories. This was one of
them:
Joe worked at the local 711, to get spending money while in school. One
night, his best friend, Tom, came in to buy a soda. Joe needed to go back to the
storage room for a second. While he was away, Tom noticed the cash register
was open. From the open drawer Tom quickly took a ten-dollar bill. Later that
week, Tom learned that Joe had been fired from the 711 because his cash had
been low one night.
Notice that this narrative implies certain emotions without mentioning them.
When manipulating an additional last sentence of the story, it was found that
sentences containing emotion words that did not match the emotion implied
by the story (e.g., It would be weeks before Toms shyness would subside)
were read significantly slower than sentences with matching emotion words
(It would be weeks before Toms guilt would subside). This indicates an
online representation of the characters emotions.4 These findings were replicated and extended by De Vega et al. (1997). They ran several experiments
showing that when readers know more than characters, they still make emo-
66
67
probably facilitated by knowledge of human emotions. With readers development of schemata for situation-related emotions, for behavioral motivations,
etc., they obviously become better equipped to understand characters in
fiction. And, as we shall discuss later, better equipped readers are more likely
to be involved in role-taking.
Intervening text variables
As to understanding characters emotions, certain text properties are probably
as important as readers psychological complexity. Research shows that the
text determines which character readers focus their attention on. Generally, it
may be assumed that narrative perspective plays a crucial role here: readers
seem more likely to represent the mental or emotional states of characters
through whom they perceive the fictional world. In an experiment by
Andringa (1986), subjects read a story about a conflict between a thief and a
judge. Reading a version with the thief as I-narrator caused subjects to have
more understanding for that character than subjects who had read the version
with the judge as I-narrator. Van Peer & Pander Maat (1996) found that
inserting focalizations (e.g., thoughts) of one of the characters of a story
enhanced subjects sympathy for, and favorable judgment of that character.
Wegner & Giuliano (1983) found that readers attention is tacitly focused on
characters when their actions are described in the initial paragraph of a story.
Bower (1978: 223227) and his associates found similar results. Their manipulation consisted of adding a lead-in to a story representing character As
thoughts and actions instead of character Bs (or vice versa). This led readers
to consider themselves as character A, getting inside his head, seeing and
feeling things as he does, interpreting events as he might.
We have seen how readers include characters emotions and goals in their
mental representation of stories. The quality of this representation depends on
readers knowledge of human emotions and motivation (step 2), which increases with age and may be gender specific. Which characters emotions are
represented is guided by the text through narrative perspective, focalization
and appearance in the first paragraph of a story (step 1). Now the question is:
how does an understanding of characters emotions alchemize into an imaginary participation in characters experiences?
68
3.2.3 Empathic response: role-taking
Real world
The next step in the model (step 4) concerns the transformation of a mental
representation of characters emotions into an engaged, empathic response
(role-taking; see Figure 3.2). Readers empathy forms the centerpiece of the
Moral Laboratory, because, as will be argued, it is essential to the effects of
reading narratives.
Schematic memory
structures for human
emotions, goals, etc.
Self-concept
6
2
3*
Ink on paper
Fictional world
Role-taking
5
4
Mental representation:
a) causality;
b) character emotions,
goals, situation.
Moral judgment:
a) character valence;
b) moral of the story
1
Text
Figure 3.2
Figure 3.2
69
comprised of. The response-guiding mechanism (1) causes short and immediate reactions to the text, which do not involve cognitive processing. Readers
responses may be prompted by, for instance, an understanding of characters
impending emotion, or characters expression of an emotion. These stimuli
were established in the previous phase of the model (step 1 and 2). To provide
an example of a response-guiding mechanism, let me quote the first sentences
of Ambrose Bierces How Leisure Came.6
A Man to Whom Time Was Money, and who was bolting his breakfast in
order to catch a train, had leaned his newspaper against the sugarbowl and
was reading as he ate. In his haste and abstraction he stuck a pickle-fork into
his right eye, and on removing the fork the eye came with it.
70
The components (B) and (C) are important because they connect the real world
with the experiments conducted inside the fictional world. They bring
readers moral judgment into play (which will be looked at in Section 3.3) as
well as readers self (as will be discussed in 3.4). It will be argued that readers
engagement in the fictional events is like a double-edged sword. Readers
response to the text is influenced by their self-concept and norms, and vice
versa: their self-concept and norms are affected by their response to the text.
Before elaborating on this, let me briefly highlight the evidence suggesting
that these processes are part of story processing.
In a study by Bourg et al. (1993) subjects received either of two reading
instructions: an empathy-building strategy in which subjects were asked to put
themselves in the characters positions, to imagine what it would be like and
how they would feel in that position; and a placebo instruction for which no
particular strategy was expected. Readers who had read empathetically
showed a better understanding of the causal relations in the story. Presumably,
placing themselves in the position of the characters motivated readers to pay
more attention to the consequences of being in that position, making them
actors in the story rather than observers (cf. Bower 1978 for similar results
with manipulation of narrative perspective). This finding illustrates that roletaking is a reading strategy distinct from others, and that it can be deliberately
applied.
Now let us look at what is known about the two factors that allegedly rule
empathic response. First, it is assumed to be corrected and redirected by moral
judgment. For example, a nasty persons (or characters) misfortune may
produce an initial empathic response. But this response is likely to be replaced
by counterempathy almost immediately, because one evaluates ones emotional response in terms of appropriateness. One study which clearly illustrates this involvement of moral judgment in response to stories was
conducted by Jose & Brewer (1984). They found that manipulation of characters moral valence strongly affected readers verbalized empathic response to
that character. Of each story used in this experiment one version recounted
good, and one bad character behavior. Subjects responses showed that
they identified more readily with good characters than with bad ones. This
indicates that readers do indeed check their empathic response for moral
appropriateness (step 5).7
A second factor which was assumed to come into play in readers
empathic response is readers self-concept (subcomponent C; step 6), more
71
specifically, their retrieval of past emotional experiences. The label selfconcept covers more than that; why this term is used here will be explained
later (Section 3.4). To understand the involvement of readers self-concept in
empathy for characters, let us look at such responses to other humans first.
Generally, the intensity of empathic response depends on the availability
of relevant personal experiences. Availability in memory is determined by
recency and frequency (Higgins & Bargh 1987; Higgins & King 1981). The
more recent one has had a relevant experience, or the more recent one thought
about that experience, the stronger the empathic response. In addition, the
more frequent one has had a relevant emotional experience, the stronger ones
empathic response. In a study by Stotland (1969) recency of an emotion was
manipulated: one group of subjects was instructed to imagine how they
themselves would feel, and what sensations they themselves would have in
their hands if exposed to the same painful heat treatment being applied to
another person. A second group was instructed to attend closely to the other
persons physical movements, while a third group was asked to imagine how
the other person felt when he or she was undergoing the treatment. It was
found that subjects in the first group, who had imagined themselves in the
others place, experienced more empathic distress than the other subjects. This
suggests that empathy reflects processes generated from within the observer
(cf. Hoffman 1977: 180).
We may assume that readers experience of empathy for characters is also
caused by connecting the situation of characters with ones own experiences.
Analogous to what we know about empathic responses to other human beings,
readers may respond emotionally to these personal memories and construe
their reaction as feeling for the characters. Indeed, there is some evidence
that suggests this involvement of readers self in empathic responses. In a
qualitative study of Poe (1986), responses of pregnant women and young
mothers were examined. One novel the subjects read concerned a personally
relevant theme (pregnancy). Another novel was about a problem subjects had
no experience with (alcoholism). Both texts enhanced high levels of involvement, although quite different in nature. Readers sympathized with the alcoholist-character and accepted the description of her situation as realistic. The
involvement with the pregnant character, however, was more intense. Moreover, readers made use of their personal experience to evaluate the storys
truth content and attended to the behavior of the character more closely.8 In a
study conducted by Bower and his colleagues (1978: 228229) subjects were
72
73
74
75
being involved in the story too, but because of the speed with which they are
read, they can hardly stimulate personal reflection.
An example
Let us now consider how my account of role-taking would work in an
example. I will use Chekhovs The Butterfly [1892] to illustrate how readers empathic response may be regulated by the three main factors discussed
until now: readers causal representation of the story, their moral judgment
about the characters (character valence), and readers emotional experiences.
In the following sections the story will serve as an example of the possible
consequences of role-taking.
To show the importance of a causal representation of a story let me quote
a passage from the end of the story (which in Chapter 5 will be used as
stimulus material in an experiment).
She rushed wailing out of the bedroom, darted past some stranger in the
dining-room and ran to her husbands study. He lay quite still on the sofa,
covered to the waist with a quilt. His face was terribly thin and sunken, with a
greyish-yellow hue never seen on living man. Only the forehead, black brows
and familiar smile showed that this was Dymov. Olga quickly felt his chest,
forehead, hands. His chest was still warm, but his forehead and hands were
disagreeably cold. And his half open eyes gazed at the quilt, not at Olga.
Not knowing what preceded or caused the situation may lead to a mere
rudimentary idea of Olgas emotion. Readers of this passage may presuppose
some melodrama, and infer the emotion anguish. Although there is undoubtedly a dramatic touch to the end of the story, readers who know more about the
causal antecedents will obviously have a more developed and complex mental
representation of Olgas emotions. Let me briefly summarize what these
causal antecedents are. The marriage of Olga and Osip Dymov is an odd
match. She has artistic ambitions and is portrayed by the narrator as someone
who is always on the lookout for the exceptional, the talented, and the
celebrated. Her husband is a hardworking physician. It soon becomes clear to
the reader that he does not really fit into the circle of exquisite acquaintances
Olga gathers around her. She is away from home frequently, taking her artists
to her cottage in the country to work on paintings. During one of her excursions Olga is courted by the painter Ryabovsky. She falls for his charms and
flattery. However, soon their relation deteriorates, and in a row she decides to
go home. She wants to confess to her husband, but cant. In the following
months she starts seeing her lover again. Dymov finds out about her infidelity
76
but pretends he knows nothing, even as she and Ryabovsky behave themselves most suspiciously in his presence. Their marriage is becoming increasingly chilly. Dymov loses his lust for life, and fully concentrates on his work.
Olga is preoccupied with her declining affair. At one point she discovers that
she herself is being betrayed by Ryabovsky. She feels terribly humiliated.
That same day Dymov is taken ill. He has been careless in treating a diphtheria
patient. Olga is tormented by remorse, and she decides to be faithful ever after.
She suddenly becomes aware that her husband is a very special person.
However, her repentance comes too late. He dies.
Readers who now find Olga at the side of Dymovs death bed know the
causal antecedents of the situation: Olgas failure to appreciate her husband, her
infidelity, but also Dymovs incapability to deal with this, and the unfortunate
combination of these two strongly contrasting personalities in one marriage.
This allows readers to include Olgas emotions in their mental representation of
the story. Knowing the causal antecedents, they infer that she feels guilt and
despair. Despite the narrators ironic attitude toward Olga, and although many
of the events are not seen through Olgas eyes, readers are likely to empathize
with her at this point in the story. On top of just understanding Olgas emotions,
they may feel remnants of experiences of regret or loss, feelings caused by
neglect of their loved ones in favor of glamorously tempting but ultimately
insignificant things in life. Their response to these relived emotions is construed
as an emotional response to the emotions of Olga. This is what is called roletaking.
77
values, and they may adjust and refine their moral opinions. In Section 3.4 we
will probe into the effects on readers self-concept, since readers imaginary
participation in the fictional events may have consequences for the way they
see themselves.
Before studying effects of fictional moral judgments on real-world
moral judgment, let us briefly consider what ingredients readers use to form
their verdicts. To determine character valence readers may rely on their mental
representation of the story, or more specifically on the inferences they make
about characters intentions. Swap (1991) made two versions of a simple
narrative:
Steve is driving back to his fraternity when he sees someone fall on the ice and
hears her cry out. When he goes to investigate, the [heavy-set] [beautiful]
young woman is obviously in pain. Steve helps her into his car and drives her
to the hospital.
Real world
With the beautiful woman we may infer a possible ulterior motive for Steves
helping behavior. Swap found that readers rated Steve as more altruistic in the
version of the heavy-set woman. This illustrates that inferred intentions play a
significant role in determining character valence (see Figure 3.3; step 7).
Schematic memory
structures for human
emotions, goals, etc.
Norms and
values
Self-concept
6
2
3*
9*
Fictional world
Role-taking
Mental representation:
a) causality;
b) character emotions,
goals, situation.
Ink on paper
Figure 3.3
Text
Moral judgment:
a) character valence;
b) moral of the story
78
To find the moral of a story, readers are required to estimate character valence,
but also to have a causal representation of the story. Results of Dorfman &
Brewer (1994) suggest that three components are necessary to understand the
moral of a story: the positive or negative valence of the central action (1); the
positive or negative valence of the story outcome (2); the consistency in
valence between action and outcome (3). Dorfman & Brewer used fables in
their experiments. Presumably similar mechanisms are at work in literary
reception generally. Information from the text is not all that readers use to
make up their minds about character valence and story moral. Readers will
also draw on their real-word norms and values (step 8). Although they know
fiction is not for real, the standards by which they measure fictional characters
and real-life human beings are not all that different (Schram 1985: 133178;
Beach & De Beaugrande 1987).
3.3.2 Three mechanisms
At this point the line of argumentation will turn around. No longer will we
look at how components of our model, like readers norms, form readers
response. Instead we will examine how this response may affect readers
themselves. We assume that the involvement of real-world norms in reading
narratives enhances ethical awareness: readers become aware of what norms
and values they endorse, or which ones they should endorse (step 9*). They
may suddenly realize that they have neglected a particular value, and that they
should change their priorities in life.
Chapter 2 quoted only two studies that provided direct evidence for
changes in norms and values, and one in which no effects were found.
Obviously, further research examining such processes is in order, especially
because there are several reasons not to expect that reading different kinds of
narratives equally affects readers norms and values. First, studies which did
show an effect used narratives with an overt moral. However, literary texts
typically do not express clear-cut norms. Second, some evidence suggests that
elements in literary texts that are assumed to challenge readers norms and
values are ignored or neutralized (Heuermann 1980). Berginz-Plank (1981),
for instance, showed that a potentially innovating narrative strategy in one
particular story was not even noticed by her subjects. Moreover, their ideas
about how the story would end revealed their desire to make the story fit their
own norms. This is in accordance with the cognitive dissonance theory, which
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80
stories are especially relevant to their own concerns. This may motivate them
to pay close attention to the opinions of the characters or to the implied
attitudes, values and beliefs of the narrator or author. Given the subjective
nature of many of lifes essential issues, social comparison is often the only
way to evaluate our beliefs. And narratives seem a suitable vehicle for this
purpose. Readers of The Butterfly may have had experiences with oppressive, failing relationships. The course and causes of Dymovs marriage going
on the rocks therefore produce a personal resonance. Readers may become
interested in what Chekhov has to say on the matter, and thus they may be
inviting, or risking, a persuasive appeal to change their attitudes (cf. Zimbardo
& Leippe 1991: 130). Readers who think that a relation does not require a
good match of wedded couples interests and lifestyles, may reevaluate their
opinion after the scenario Chekhov confronts them with (step 9*). But of
course, whether readers are really interested in evaluating or merely validating
their opinion varies with their commitment to that opinion (Kruglanski &
Mayseless 1987). Moreover, social comparison is a process we selectively
apply (e.g. Sweeney & Gruber 1984). We are inclined to compare our opinions with people who are like us in some respect. When given the opportunity
to compare our opinions with others, we tend to choose those who share our
values, or who are in a similar position as we are. Thus, readers who are
familiar with Chekhovs work may know with which questions they can turn
to him.
Social learning
A third mechanism which may be at work in this part of the Moral Laboratory
is social learning. It has been shown in many experiments that observing
others (models) enables us to acquaint ourselves with new modes of conduct
as well as the matching consequences (e.g., Bandura 1965; Bandura et al.
1961 and 1963). We may imitate or inhibit model behavior, depending, among
other factors, on our expectations of either reward or punishment. Thus, we
learn behavioral norms. Social learning does not require models to be physically present. It also occurs when the experiences of others are represented
(e.g., on video), in which case we speak of symbolic modeling. Identification
is supposed to be conditional for, or even synonymous with social learning
(Bandura 1971). In other words, the more we put ourselves in the shoes of
models while they experience benefits or drawbacks from their behavior, the
more we learn about the consequences of these actions.
81
Several social learning studies are concerned with the modeling of aggressive behavior. A typical example is Bandura (1965). Several groups of
kindergarten pupils saw a video featuring an aggressive adult model. The
behavioral repertoire of the model contained acts which were probably new
to the subjects. In one condition the model was rewarded for his behavior. In
the second condition subjects saw the model being punished for his conduct.
The third condition consisted of viewing the same video, except that the
models behavior was neither punished nor rewarded. Observation of the
subjects showed that rewarding of the models aggressive behavior led to
imitation. Social learning may also stimulate altruistic conduct (e.g., Bryan &
Test 1967; Rushton & Campbell 1977). As with aggressive modeling, imitative altruism also occurs when the model is not physically present but represented on video (Rushton & Owen 1975).
It is possible that social learning is at work in readers responses to
narratives too (cf. Mischel 1966; Flerx et al. 1976). Narratives consist of
linguistically represented sequences of actions. Readers find causal relations
between the events. From this they learn, for instance, which actions could
lead to which consequences. In The Butterfly they see how Olgas exuberant
attitude toward the famous and glamorous, her romantic whims, and her
misjudgment of Dymov causes the loss of what is (or should be) most precious
to her, namely her husband. Thus, Olgas downfall makes readers see what
values are insignificant, and which norms may be wrong, or remind them of
what really counts in life (step 9*). Presumably, if role-taking is involved,
these processes become more relevant to readers personally. Of primary
importance is, then, what they consider they would have done in certain
situations themselves, whether they would fall into these particular traps in life
(see Figure 3.4; step 10*).
If changes in norms and values occur in the reader, whether mediated by
changes in self-concept or not, these are likely to affect readers behavior
(step 11).12
What if Chekhovs experiment had had a different ending? Olga might
have found a lover to whom she could relate and who was reliable as a friend
at the same time. A Chekhov thought-experiment with such an outcome would
be unthinkable. But what would readers learn from the experiences presented
in a modern story like Ann Beatties Learning to Fall? The story describes
how the female protagonist doubts whether she should leave her husband for
her lover, Ray. At the end of the story she does go out with him and seems to
Measurable effects
82
Behavior, opinions,
beliefs, social
perception, empathic
ability
11
Real world
10*
Schematic memory
structures for human
emotions, goals, etc.
Norms and
values
Self-concept
6
8
3*
9*
Fictional world
Role-taking
5
4
Mental representation:
a) causality;
b) character emotions,
goals, situation.
Moral judgment:
a) character valence;
b) moral of the story
Ink on paper
Text
Figure 3.4
Figure 3.4
have made up her mind about divorcing her spouse. Readers are likely to
evaluate this as a happy ending. Throughout the story we get to know the
female character as someone who is trying to keep control over her life. But
what she really needs is to learn to fall, that is, she has to learn to give in to
her deepest felt emotions, come what may. Readers know her husband to be a
colorless and unfeeling business man she has become estranged from. They
get to know Ray as a friendly, easygoing person whom she becomes attached
to. Their walking off together on the last page of the story obviously makes a
happy ending. According to social learning theory, we would expect that this
story results in a social learning experience that is different from the one
resulting from reading The Butterfly. Significantly, the author of Learning
to Fall does not punish the adulteress, nor does she let her return cap-inhand to her husband. Instead it is made clear that she has better chances of
83
being happy with Ray, because she can relate to him. Thus, the story may
reshuffle readers personal values, and order them differently than The
Butterfly does.
In most literary narratives, however, it is not the case that mischievous
characters end badly, and that the virtuous live happily ever after. Often it is
even quite hard to tell these groups of characters apart. Conditioning (reinforcement) of the reader through character behavior, as described in literary
narratives may therefore be unlikely. One could therefore expect that the
relevance of the social learning hypothesis is restricted to didactic poetry,
fables, and classical Hollywood movies, rather than to literature.
However, apart from effects based on reinforcement, observing others
may have another interesting effect, one not represented by step 9*. Concluding Banduras (1965) experiment, all subjects were offered a reward by the
experimenter for each physical or verbal imitation of the model. This eliminated differences between the groups altogether. In all three groups a similar
amount of imitative learning was observed. So, the reinforcement (punishment or reward) of the model influenced subjects imitation but not the
acquisition of matching responses. When the situation demanded imitation
(an explicit request of the experimenter) subjects revealed they had learned
from what they had seen. Observational learning results in knowledge about
which action leads to which outcome under particular conditions. Consequently, the lesson represented by the experiences of characters need not be
a moralistic one. Literary texts offer a wide gamut of behavioral situations,
which few readers are familiar with. Having read widely may therefore be
associated with a broader knowledge of human behavior. Readers may become familiar with the conduct of people confronted with all sorts of events in
life. Readers observe what characters do when confronted with temptation,
suffering, depression, moral dilemmas, their own incapacities, and so forth.
Furthermore, readers learn what the possible consequences are of certain
actions in certain circumstances. This acquisition of insight into the human
psyche through observation (step 3*) is a pre-ethical effect. In other words,
it facilitates adequate ethical inquiries.
In sum, reading literary narratives makes ones norms more readily
accessible in memory. Second, it may encompass value clarification. And
third, reading these narratives may mould beliefs about which actions have
desirable or undesirable implications.
84
85
cludes not only present selves, but also past selves (asking subjects does
the item describe you in the past?) and possible selves (could the item
describe you in the future?). Past selves add an important dimension to the
description of someones personality. At one point certain self-concept items
may not apply anymore, but can still be important. Being the best in your
class may not apply to you right now, but you may remember a time when it
did. These past selves may be significant to how you see yourself today, for
example, as someone who is capable of being the best among your peers.
Selves like Being rich, Being an intellectual and Being a philanthropist
may not describe you at the present, but they still may represent some of your
most important goals and values in life, and thus affect behavioral choices.
These possible selves may include ideal selves, but also the selves you are
afraid of becoming. Finally, we may distinguish not-me selves, those selves
you are definitely not. Some selves are more important to us than others.
Through time they may move between center and periphery of our self-
Real world
Behavior, opinions,
beliefs, social
perception,
empathic ability
11
10*
Schematic memory
structures: human
emotions, goals, etc.
Norms and
values
Self-concept
12*
8
3*
9*
Fictional world
Role-taking
5
4
Mental representation:
a) causality;
b) character emotions,
goals, situation.
Moral judgment:
a) character valence;
b) moral of the story
Ink on paper
Figure 3.5
Text
Figure 3.5
86
concept. Also, which selves are active is determined by the situation we are
in. Being among your colleagues brings out other selves in you than being
among your family. Thus our self-concept is not a static unity but a dynamic
conglomerate of selves undergoing temporal and situational changes.
Reading stories, my model proposes, may be responsible for changes in
readers self-concept (see Figure 3.5; step 12*). We already saw that while
readers are involved in role-taking they retrieve past emotional experiences
(step 6). This may enhance the accessibility of certain past selves, depending
on the story they read. Besides activation or priming in memory, readers
selves may also undergo actual changes. Retrieving experiences in the context
of a story may shed new light on them. This process of self-concept clarification or transformation may take place on a preconscious level, as some
theorists have suggested (cf. Alcorn & Bracher 1985; Bleich 1980; Holland
1985; Oatley 1994; Scheff 1979). Reading narratives may produce a new
understanding of oneself, a genuinely new conception of ones values and
prejudices. Rather than merely reliving old emotions from the past, readers
bring them forward in the present and apply them to new contexts. This may
create new, refined self-schemata.
Having specified self-concept and self-concept change, let me now review some reasons to believe that reading stories may cause a change in selfconcept. First, readers sometimes report having experienced changes in the
way they perceive themselves (Miall & Kuiken 1995). Second, research on
empathy suggests that, generally, empathic responses to the emotional experiences of another person require the observer to integrate memories of related
personal experiences (Zillmann 1991). If the observer simply does not have
experiences directly resembling those of the observed, more remotely related
experiences are called on. Thus, if readers empathic response to characters is
anything like such responses to real humans, it may involve the integration to
past emotional experiences too. This integration opens the way to changes in
past selves. Third, there is some evidence that narratives may affect possible
selves. Gregory et al. (1982) showed that to imagine experiencing certain
scenarios may lead us to believe more strongly that the events could actually
happen to us. In several experiments subjects were asked to imagine experiencing certain events described to them in the second person, on tape or in a
script. For example, in one study subjects read a script about being arrested for
either petty theft or shop lifting. The control condition consisted of reading a
script about shopping or interviewing for a job. To keep the subjects unaware
87
of the purpose of the experiment, they were asked to rate the comprehensibility of the text. The same day subjects were called at home and asked by an
alleged associate of an institute for public inquiry to participate in a survey on
judicial reform. A list of nineteen crimes, among which shop lifting and petty
theft, was read to the subjects. Subsequently, they were asked what penalties
they considered appropriate, whether they knew anyone who had been arrested for that particular crime, and to rate the probability that they could
someday be arrested for that crime themselves (not how likely it was that they
could actually commit the crime). Each interview was closed with a suspicion
probe to test whether any link with the laboratory study was suspected.
Subjects in the experimental condition gave higher probability ratings for a
possible self being arrested for petty theft or shop lifting. No significant
difference was found in the sentences recommended for the various crimes.
So, imagining possible scenarios for the self may affect our estimate of their
likelihood. The studies by Gregory et al. show how this may occur for both
positive (e.g., winning a contest) and negative possible selves (e.g., being
arrested for a crime). Does this suggest that readers role-taking while reading
narrative fiction may also make them believe more strongly in certain possible
selves? It can be argued that Gregory et al.s findings cannot be generalized to
reading fiction. The scenarios subjects read were written in the second person,
a form we find in few literary texts. Moreover, the experimenters instructed
subjects either to judge the plausibility of the scenario, or to imagine it happen
to them. It remains unclear to what extent this instruction contributed to the
effects, and whether it would resemble normal reading strategies. However,
an indication that the effects on possible selves may occur in reading other types
of stories as well, and without any unusual reading instructions, can be found
in the results of Ashby & Wittmaier (1978; see also Chapter 2). In this
experiment one group of subjects read stories about girls in traditional, a second
about girls in nontraditional roles. Female subjects in the nontraditional group
expressed their preference for nontraditional roles more often than their
traditional counterparts in the other group. For instance, their expectation as to
what sort of jobs they could have in the future proved to be less restrained by
conventional norms. Perhaps it is not too far-fetched to conclude that subjects
acquired some new possible selves due to their reading.
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89
Measurable effects
playing the role of someone who is informed that (s)he will die of lung cancer
has a stronger and lasting impact on attitudes and behavior than simply being
aware of the health risks of smoking (Mann & Janis 1968).
Readers role-taking also involves mentally placing oneself in someone
elses position. We have seen that readers who identify with characters
perceive things through their eyes. They actively infer goals and thoughts of
the characters and evaluate events from their perspective, as actors rather than
observers. This is what happens when we play a role too. Therefore, analogous to the effects of role-playing, taking the role of a character may have
strong effects on how we see ourselves (step 12*), and thus on our norms and
values (10*).
Behavior, opinions,
beliefs, social
perception, empathic
ability
14
Real world
13*
11
10*
Schematic memory
structures: human
emotions, goals, etc.
Norms and
values
Self-concept
12*
8
3*
9*
Fictional world
Role-taking
5
4
Mental representation:
a) causality;
b) character emotions,
goals, situation.
Moral judgment:
a) character valence;
b) moral of the story
Ink on paper
Figure 3.6
Text
Figure 3.6
90
Also, knowing how we ourselves would feel and think in a certain position
affects what we believe others think and feel (step 13*), and thus changes our
social perception and behavior (see Figure 3.6; step 14). These effects involving role-taking and self-concept, I propose, are stronger than effects following
the mere comprehension of a story (step 3* plus 14), stronger also than the
effects of mere persuasion (9* plus 11).
What we think, feel, or believe about ourselves (that is, our self-concept)
is among the most powerful regulators of our behavior (Markus & Wurf
1987: 308). There is quite convincing evidence that, as the model suggests,
changes in self-concept lead to changes in norms and values. An example of
this relation between self-concept and norms is presented by studies of
prosocial behavior (see Bierhoff 1996 for the pertinent research). For instance,
in an experiment by Sarason et al. (1993) subjects were asked to complete a
questionnaire about themselves related to altruism. As a result of this manipulation subjects showed more willingness to donate blood. This suggests that a
changes in the accessibility of selves may affect behavior. Another example
can be found in what is known as terror management research. A substantial
body of studies has demonstrated that the priming of ones own mortality (a
future self) has a broad influence on norms and social behavior (see Greenberg
et al. 1997). It is assumed that these effects are sparked off by the desire to
perceive oneself as a valuable member of a meaningful universe in the service
of ameliorating the potential terror associated with the awareness of death
(80). Baldwin & Wesley (1996), for example, showed that reading a text
describing a persons thoughts regarding death polarized moral judgments
about others: a more positive view of a social hero and a more negative verdict
of a moral transgressor. For the present argument it is important to notice that
changes in readers self-concept may indeed strongly affect norms (step 10*),
and thus affect social perception (step 11).
There are also investigations showing how changes in self-concept do not
affect norms, however. Gregory et al. (1982) found that the impact of scenarios on self-relevant imagination does not necessarily change moral judgments. After exposure to a shop lifting scenario subjects did believe they could
be arrested for shop lifting, but they did not change their opinion about the
appropriate penalty. Analogously, reading The Butterfly may help readers
understand how an adulteress may view the world. It may also help them
understand how they might act similarly under comparable circumstances.
But it does not necessarily change their aversion to adultery. Clearly, the
91
92
93
easily enhance such a self-definition, either negatively (this is not like me)
or positively (this is just like me). In both cases, self-schemata become more
well-differentiated. This knowledge may become abstracted or extended to
people in general (step 13*). A sensitivity for introversion symptoms and
knowledge of its causes and consequences is necessary (though not sufficient)
to appreciate others susceptibilities (step 14). If we lack such perceptiveness,
we cannot even help being tactless.
A second reason to believe that reading narratives enhances a certain
sensibility for others emotions and goals, is that readers are repetitively
involved in role-taking. Feshbach (1978) showed that frequent engagement in
perspective taking may cause us to apply such considerations effortlessly and
habitually (compare Chapter 2: results of empathy and moral development
research).
Third, it seems that social perception largely depends on the scenarios
people have at their disposal. Empathy is mainly an emotional response to
simple perceptual cues. Interaction with other people refines our perception of
such cues in facial expressions, tone of voice, and body posture. To explain
why, for example, someones face shows signs of distress, we need to make
causal attributions. To make such attributions we need access to knowledge of
scenarios (Hoffman 1987; step 14). For example, adequately responding to a
victims distress signals requires that we understand who or what causes the
victims plight; we need to consider how the victim-culprit relation came
about, something that may put things in a perspective different from the one
perceived in the immediate situation (e.g., a victim may actually be the
culprit). To do this we construct scenarios, imagine little stories that constitute
a fundamental aspect of moral reasoning (cf. Vitz 1990). It can be argued that
literature is a rich source of possible scenarios with which we can imagine
causes of an ethical situation. There are stories in which adulterous women are
portrayed as vain and selfish creatures. Other stories make clear they can have
legitimate reasons to search for another partner. Readers who read broadly get
a varied imaginary diet (cf. Booth 1988). They not only become broadminded as to their self-concept, but also as to what moves others, how they
may try to attain their goals, and what may come of it.
If reading narratives has effects on social perception, this has important
consequences. Empathic arousal, at least in adults, consistently leads to
prosocial action (Batson et al. 1981; Eisenberg & Miller 1987; Hoffman
1977). Although there is no evidence that reading stories may enhance altruis-
94
tic behavior (Wiley 1991), reading stories containing prosocial dilemmas was
found to enhance motivation for prosocial behavior (Bilsky 1989).
95
Notes
1.
2.
Zillmann (1994) provides reasons why we should use identification sparingly, arguing
that the Freudian ego-confusion associated with identification cannot be an accurate
description of readers responses to stories. This becomes apparent in cases of a discrepancy between readers and characters knowledge. A character may, for instance, be
unaware of the danger (s)he is in; still, readers may respond empathetically to the
impending danger. This response seems more like that of an observer than the result of
entering the totality of the characters existence. So, readers do not confuse their self
with that of the character. However, it still may be the case that identification is a
96
transient, off-and-on phenomenon, with readers feeling like being the character, and then
withdrawing again. The matter will be dealt with later on in this chapter.
3.
Tulving (1983: 9) proposed, on the basis of extensive experimental evidence, two different kinds of human memory. Semantic memory contains our knowledge of the world and
is independent of our identity and past, while episodic memory involves all our knowledge that is associated with personal happenings and doings.
4.
Online inferences are made during the processing of the text. Offline inferences are
made when the reader has stopped reading.
5.
6.
7.
See Zillmann & Cantor (1977) and Zillmann & Bryant (1975) for similar patterns in
responses to filmed characters.
8.
A similar interplay between readers background and response can be found in response
to film (Sapolsky & Zillmann 1978). Their subjects were shown a medical film about
childbirth. Subjects with personal experience in this field showed more intense physiological responses and empathic involvement than the group who lacked the experience
of giving birth. All this leads up to the conclusion that availability (in memory) of
relevant emotional experiences facilitates responses readers (or observers) may construe
as an empathic response, that is feeling for or feeling with the character or other.
9.
One possible problem for the model is that generally perceived resemblance is sufficient
for empathy. Obviously this downgrades the importance of actually shared emotional
experiences. Krebs (1975) showed that subjects who were made to believe that another
person had similar results on a psychological test, had more physiological empathic
responses to that person than subjects who thought that this person had test results
different from their own. Similarly, Jose & Brewer (1984) found that perceived similarity
(sex, age, moral valence) contributed to readers experience of becoming the character.
10.
Notice, however, that it is difficult to nail down the responsible variable here: is it literary
socialization, age, or both? Earthmans (experiment does not allow a definite answer.
11.
See Tan (1995) for the distinction between artefact-emotions and fiction-emotions in
classical Hollywood movies.
12.
It is important to note that the correlation between norms, values and behavior may be
depending on certain conditions; see Stahlberg and Frey (1996: 224237) for a discussion.
Chapter 4
Understanding Others
4.1 Introduction
Sometimes, when reading a novel or short story, we find that the author makes
some profound observations about human character. Over the following days
we may notice that our reading has somehow tuned our attention to certain
psychological features of the people around us. In Chapter 1 I pointed out that
this may be one of the functions of narratives. Reading offers a unique
opportunity to study peoples motivations and emotions from within, thus
enhancing an understanding of our fellow human beings. Presumably, this
understanding has some beneficial effects. Several philosophers and literary
scholars have argued that identification with characters enriches our moral
awareness. While reading we find ourselves in the shoes of a wide diversity of
people. Thus, we get better and better at understanding moral situations from
different points of view. In addition, we may come to see that people belonging to some outgroup are actually not much different from us. This may be the
psychological basis for social solidarity.
These statements generate some interesting questions, especially when
one considers the importance and the extent of the alleged effects. First, does
reading narrative texts really affect the way we perceive others? Second, if
reading affects our social perception, what is the role of identification in this?
98
Understanding Others
99
How do we find out? The first mode (priming and acquisition of information about how others may feel and think) should work for stories, but also for
essays, that is, texts without characters. If an essay addresses human concerns,
readers may form a mental representation of the emotions people may have.
This requires them to activate their knowledge, just like reading narratives
would. Thus, essays and stories may have the same effect on readers social
perception, but reading stories also allows for role-taking. To examine the
influence of role-taking in changing beliefs about other people, three experiments were conducted. The first one compares the effects of a story and an
essay on social perception. Both texts concern the same issue, so that the same
schemata will be activated in readers memory. The crucial difference is that
one text has characters (the story), and the other does not (the essay). It is
predicted that the one with characters in it will cause stronger effects on
readers beliefs about what it must be like to be someone else.
100
Islamic law dictates equal rights and behavioral norms for both sexes.
Nonislamic practices, however, turn women into second-rate citizens. The
author stresses that there is a growing awareness of this injustice and that the
underlying norms are far from unanimously accepted. She mentions public
debates, attempts at innovations, and describes the rise of feminism and its
accomplishments, for instance, in the rising number of women in higher
education.
The subject of the two texts is (roughly) the same, the attitude of the
authors is the same, and also some of the indicated disparities between the
sexes are the same. However, while the essay makes general statements, the
story illustrates these in terms of Sultanas own experiences. Therefore, one
would expect readers of both texts to adopt similar beliefs concerning
womens position in fundamentalist cultures. But additionally, the story offers
readers an opportunity to enter a fictional world and experience for themselves
what that position would be like. The essay does not offer that opportunity, but
directly provides the information required.
The essay was shortened, first, to eliminate passages that did deal with
experiences of individual women (short narratives or case-studies), and
second, to make it approximately as long as the story (5500 words). Furthermore, the name of the author was changed into that of an Arabic woman
(Soraya Faisal), so as to make both texts appear to be utterances made by
women from Islamic countries.
Subjects
In the first experiment 56 college freshmen participated. They were enrolled
in a course at the Faculty of Arts at Utrecht University. They took part in the
experiment as an introduction to the empirical study of literature. To keep the
sample as homogeneous as possible, subjects over 26 years old were excluded.4 This brought the sample down to 55 subjects, with an average age of
20. The group consisted of 47 female and 8 male students.5
Measures
Beliefs about others It was expected that reading the texts would change
subjects beliefs about the emotions, thoughts and goals of women in Islamic
countries. To examine this, subjects were given a role-taking task. They were
asked to consider for a moment what it would be like to be a woman brought
up in Algeria. They then rated the possibility that, if they had been brought up
Understanding Others
101
All these possible selves are reflected in the character of the story and in
what the essay says about women in Islamic countries. The model predicts that
subjects of the story group would give ratings that reflect Sultanas emotions,
thoughts and circumstances. For instance, it is clear from the story that she
does not reconcile herself to the norms of her culture. The essay describes
rising feminist resistance, but because it does not provide an opportunity for
role-taking, it is less likely to color readers notions about women in Algeria.
Therefore it may be expected that the story readers will agree less with the first
statement than the essay readers will. To test whether any such difference
between the groups of readers are actually due to coincidence instead of
treatment, analyses of variance were run on subjects responses (Noruis
1993: 281290). Although the items are all inspired by the main character in
the story, each presents a distinct belief about women in Islamic countries. For
example, believing that these women are not likely to accept cultural norms
for man-woman relations is quite something else than believing they are likely
to want to emigrate. In the analysis, therefore, the four items are treated as
separate variables.
Solidarity If readers become more aware of the emotions and goals of
women in Islamic countries, this may increase feelings of solidarity for these
women. To test this, subjects were asked whether they favored giving such
women asylum, and whether developmental aid should be increased and
aimed at emancipation. Again, I think these two items present very different
aspects of solidarity and therefore they are treated separately in the analysis.
Beliefs about Islam Two questions were included to see whether the
treatments affected real-world beliefs: the position of women in an Islamic
country (Algeria) as compared to nonislamic countries (e.g., Nepal and Italy);
and the degree of Islamic diffusion in a number of nations around the world.
Egalitarism The involvement of readers moral judgment may cause a
priming of their norms. Since both texts concern the underprivileged position
of women, it may be expected that treatments result in a higher awareness of
102
norms relating to equality of men and women. For this and the following two
measures, responses to the items will be used to construct scales. For each
scale a coefficient alpha will be computed in order to estimate its reliability.
Social distance Although the story may enhance understanding of women
in Islamic countries, the negative representations of men in those countries
could have a negative impact on subjects attitudes toward Muslims. It seems
likely that the compassion readers may feel for women, co-occurs with an
increase of dislike for Muslim men. Therefore, four questions were included to
assess social distance (e.g., Would you object to having a Muslim family living
next door?). The questions were comparable to the ones often used in outgroup
studies.6
Cultural intolerance In addition, six questions were included to assess
cultural intolerance. Considering the negative image of Islamic societies in the
materials, it may be expected that the treatments lead to a decrease in acceptance of Islamic customs (e.g., girls to wear headscarves in class, or the
circumcision of boys and girls).
Procedure
The experiment was run in one group session. Participants were randomly
assigned to either the essay, the story or the control group. Each subject
received an envelope containing one of the two texts and a questionnaire.7 The
control group first completed the questions, and then read one of the texts. The
two experimental groups first read their text and then answered the questions.
As a cover-up of the purpose of the experiment a written instruction informed
subjects that the study concerned the relation between their personal opinions
and their appreciation of style. Therefore, the questionnaire also included
some filler questions about the stylistic quality of the text.
Results
Beliefs about others It was predicted that reading a story will have a stronger
effect on readers beliefs about being in someone elses shoes than reading the
essay. Two-sample t-tests were performed to examine this hypothesis.8 Responses to only one item revealed a significant effect of the story on subjects
beliefs about Algerian women. Imagining what it must be like to be an Algerian
woman, they considered it less likely that they themselves would accept the
culturally given norms for men-women relations (t(36)=2.24, p<.031, twotailed), however, only in comparison to the control group, not to the essay
Understanding Others
103
group.9 Also, the mean difference was rather small (on a five-point scale: mean
(M)=1.92, standard deviation (SD)=.515 for the story group, and M*=2.59,
SD*=1.37 for the control group).10 The essay had no such effect (p<.717).
Responses to the other three items did not reveal significant differences between
the groups.
Other measures Analyses of variance (ANOVAs) with sex and age as
covariates were ran on the other variables.11 This yielded no effects on
subjects social distance and cultural intolerance toward Muslims, nor on their
egalitarian views or beliefs about the diffusion of Islam.12
It was further expected that the story would increase subjects solidarity
with women in Third World countries. This was not confirmed by the data.
First, all groups were equally in favor of giving financial support to emancipation projects. Second, while the story group was not more likely to approve of
social asylum for women who feel repressed in their own country, responses
of the essay readers did show such an effect (Pearsons Chi2= 4.60, df=1,
p<.032).13 This is contrary to expectations.
Suspicion probe Influence studies require subjects to be unaware of the fact
that attempts are made to change their attitudes or beliefs. To test whether
subjects had been ignorant of the purpose of the study they were asked what they
thought the outcome of the study would be. Responses revealed that twelve
subjects guessed that the experimenter was interested in the effects of reading
on opinions. Many others did not respond to the probe, leaving it unclear how
many of them saw through the rationale that was offered. To test the implications for the conclusions, two more series of tests were run: the first to see
whether the effects would survive if these twelve subjects were excluded from
analysis; the second to examine whether knowing, or not knowing the purpose
of the study resulted in systematic differences in the responses. The effects
reported above disappear when the data of twelve subjects were deleted from
the analyses. The effect on subjects beliefs about what it must be like to be an
Algerian woman proved to be insignificant; also, the unexpected effect of the
essay on solidarity did not retain its significance level of .05. It seems, therefore,
that knowing what the researcher was trying to establish made subjects wary of
any influence on their opinions. On the other hand, it may also be that the effect
was lost due to a smaller sample. Moreover, comparing subjects who saw
through the design and those who did not, yielded no significant differences, not
on beliefs about others, nor on the scales for social distance and cultural
intolerance. These findings seem encouraging, because the latter two are
104
typically measures that are sensitive to social desirability. Since no effects were
found for subjects awareness of what the desired responses were, we may
conclude that this did not let their knowledge interfere with their opinions.
Discussion
Results initially suggest that reading the story may have had some impact on
subjects imagination about others, while the essay did not. However, an
effect was established for only one of the four items that were used to assess
beliefs about Algerian women. In addition, quite a number of subjects were
aware of the purpose of the study. Differences between story and essay
readers dissolve when these subjects are excluded from the analyses. It seems
easy to explain why this problem occurred. Although it was stressed that
subjects were not to look at each others work or consult each other during the
experiment, some of them did. Several participants noticed that their colleagues carried out the tasks (reading the text and completing the questionnaires) in a different order than they did. This may have raised their suspicion.
Moreover, the questionnaire contained too many questions about opinions and
too few about style to pass for a study of the relation between appreciation of
style and personal opinion.
4.2.2 Study two
The procedure of the second study was largely the same, but to remedy the
problems of the first one, more effort was put in concealing its purpose.
Subjects were led to believe that the experiment concerned the relation between the degree to which literary and nonliterary texts are organized and
readers appreciation for writing style. To add to the credibility of this rationale, subjects were given a bogus task: they were asked to mark with pen or
pencil where they thought the text showed transitions from one section, issue
or sub-issue to another. Subjects evaluation of style allows us to assess the
relative persuasiveness of the two texts. It may be that any difference in the
effects on beliefs is due to the fact that either the essay or the story is more
convincing. To account for this eventuality, the adjectives of the style evaluation test contained several items relevant to persuasive power.
Subjects
Thirty-eight college freshmen enrolled in a course at the Faculty of Arts at
Understanding Others
105
Utrecht University participated. Again, subjects over 26 years old were excluded, which brings the total sample to 30 female and 6 male.14
Measures
The questionnaire of study one consisted of too many opinion questions as
compared to filler questions. Moreover, it proved to be somewhat long to fit in
the 45 minutes assigned to the experiment. Therefore, a shorter version of the
earlier questionnaire was used.15 Measures that were included are: beliefs
about women in Algeria, solidarity, beliefs about Islam, social distance, and
cultural intolerance. The experimenter emphasized that to make the experiment successful, subjects should not look at each others work. Five-point
scales were changed into four-points, because in the previous study it was
noticed subjects were inclined to herd together at the middle.
Results
Suspicion probe First it was examined whether the more elaborate cover-up
had done its work. Like in the previous study, subjects were asked to formulate their expectations about what they considered a plausible outcome of the
experiment. To maximize response, it was emphasized that subjects own
views were an indispensable part of the research project. Almost all subjects
responded to the probe. Therefore, it may be assumed that the data give a
reliable impression of what subjects thought the purpose of the study was.
Only one subject made an on-target guess. Her form was eliminated from
further analyses.
Beliefs about others The main objective of the investigation was the
effect on subjects beliefs. Analyses of variance with sex and age as covariates
were conducted. Only one of the four items yielded a significant main effect
for condition.16 Considering what it would be like to be an Algerian woman,
and more specifically, whether one would accept Algerian norms pertaining to
men-women relations, yielded lower probability estimates for the story readers than both the essay readers and the control group subjects (F (2,35)=4.6;
p<.018; see Figure 4.1). A planned post-hoc analysis of these differences
(Tukeys b) was conducted. This multiple comparison procedure reveals
which means are significantly different from each other (Noruis 1993: 278).
Results of Tukeys b test show that the story group deviates from the other
groups at the .05 level of significance. The essay readers response was
approximately the same as that of readers in the control group.
106
3,5
3,5
Probability estimates
Porbability estimates
2,5
2,5
1,5
1,5
0,5
0,5
0
Control
Story
Condition
Essay
Control
Story
Condition
Essay
Figure 4.2
Figure 4.3
Figure 4.1
% of subjects
100
80
Worst place
60
40
20
0
Control
Figure 4.3
Story
Condition
Essay
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107
In addition, when asked whether they would resist inequality between men
and women in Algeria, story readers tended to give higher probability estimates than the control group subjects. This effect, however, did not attain the
.05 level of significance (F(2,35)=2.65, p<.087; Figure 4.2). The analysis of
subjects responses to the other two items yielded no significant differences
between the groups mean scores.
Other measures No effects were found on social distance, cultural intolerance, and beliefs about the expansion of Islam.17 However, when asked to
estimate the position of Algerian women in relation to women in other nations,
story readers unanimously considered this position to be the worst (Fishers
Exact test: p<.014, two-tailed).18 Essay readers did not distinguish themselves
from control group subjects (Figure 4.3). This finding confirms that the story
affected ideas about women in Algeria, while the essay did not.
Discussion
The results underline the suggestions of study one. First, reading a story
affects readers imagination about other peoples emotions. Second, a narrative presentation causes stronger effects on our beliefs about the emotions and
thoughts of others (social perception) than a non-narrative presentation with
approximately the same contents (compare hypothesis M2, 1.3.2). Both texts
probably primed the same memory schemata, namely, knowledge concerning
women in Islamic countries. But, it seems to take a text with a character
personifying the issue to change subjects beliefs.
Some of the subjects informal responses may shed some light on what
went through their minds as they carried out the role-taking task, that is,
imagining themselves in the position of an Algerian woman. In the control and
essay groups several subjects justified their answers by arguing that, as one
grows up in a fundamentalist culture, one is likely to become part of it; one
simply does not know any better. Interestingly, such comments were not made
in the story group. These readers presumably found such a line of reasoning to
be incorrect, while perhaps in reality it is. Generalizing the attitude of Sultana,
they considered it plausible that they themselves would not accept such
culturally given norms either. Although in theory similar inferences could
have been made on the basis of the essay, no such comments turned up in that
condition. The fact that the story had such an effect while the essay had none
suggests that forming a mental representation of the goals and emotions of
women in such a society clearly is not enough to change subjects beliefs. The
108
results thus suggest that it has been role-taking that caused the differences
between the groups.
Still, it may be countered that these conclusions are not completely
irrefutable. First, the effects may have depended on the quality of the individual
texts. A less compelling story and a more persuasive essay may lead to reverse
conclusions. However, subjects evaluation of the texts suggests otherwise. A
factor analysis of the adjectives on which they had rated the materials, yielded
a variable for persuasive force.19 Comparing scores for essay and story readers
on this variable, it was found that the essay was given higher ratings than the
story (on a scale of 0 to 10, for the essay: M=8.29, SD=.93; for the story:
M=6.27, SD=1.88; t(36)=3.34, df-16.13, p<.004). Given the high marks subjects gave to persuasiveness of the essay, it seems unlikely that the differences
in effect were actually due to some weakness in the argumentation of the essay.
Hence, the change in belief did not hinge on the texts persuasive character.
What other explanatory factor can have produced the observed difference but
the provision for role-taking offered by the text?
Another potential problem is the lack of control in this study. We assumed that if the text with characters had a stronger effect on beliefs than the
one without characters, this would be evidence of the effects of role-taking.
Characters obviously offer an opportunity for role-taking responses. But we
cannot be sure that readers did take the opportunity and that this indeed caused
the effects on their beliefs. In other words, we may have assumed too much
and ignored some essential intermediate steps. In addition, the texts may
concern the same topic, but the fact that one has characters in it and the other
doesnt, is not the only difference between the two. There were many other
differences that may have been responsible for the results, for instance differences associated with writing style. This problem seems inherent in using
existing materials instead of experimenter-generated texts.
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109
110
Measures
Approximately the same questionnaire was used as in the previous studies.
Two important adjustments were made, however. First, on some items a sixpoint scale replaced the four-point scales used in study two. Since it was
expected that the empathy-building strategy would add to the effects established in study two, the scale was extended to dodge a ceiling effect. Second,
to assess readers beliefs about the position of Algerian women as compared
to those in other countries, some other Islamic countries were added to the list.
It was expected that this would provide more information about the change in
readers beliefs.21
Results
Suspicion probe The suspicion probe showed that the cover-up had been
successful. Only two subjects made on-target guesses about the researchers
aim. Their data were excluded from further analyses. The response of the
other subjects suggests that the red herring worked exceptionally well this
time. Participants fully accepted that the experimenter was interested in the
relation between reading style and recall. Many of them were co-operatively
making suggestions about what the nature of this relation might be.
Beliefs about others Separate-variance t-tests showed that both reading
instructions affected subjects response to the first item: as compared to the
control group, subjects of the experimental groups more strongly espoused the
view that as an Algerian woman they would probably not accept men-women
relations as normal (see Figure 4.4).22 As expected, the empathy condition
shows a stronger effect on subjects beliefs (t(34)=5.50, df=21.54, p<.000) than
the placebo instruction (t(36)=2.44, df=34, p<.020). This was confirmed by a
t-test comparing means of the placebo and empathy group (t(34)=3.10
df=26.80, p<.005). So, both reading instructions led to a change in participants
beliefs, but the empathy-building instruction had a significantly stronger
influence than the placebo instruction. The results for the placebo condition
replicate the results of study two. There it was also found that reading a story
may affect readers beliefs about other peoples inner-world. In addition, results
of the present study confirm the proposed interpretation of the differences that
were found between the essay and story condition: role-taking may have been
responsible for the effects of reading stories on social perception.
This pattern was also found for beliefs about the alleged Algerian womens
willingness to emigrate. The results of t-tests suggest that the empathy instruc-
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111
Probability estimates
Probability estimates
0
Control
Empathy
Placebo
Figure 4.4
Control
Figure 4.5
Probability estimates
0
Control
Empathy
Placebo
Figure 4.6
Empathy
Placebo
112
4.4 Conclusion
The results of the three studies provide evidence that empathic responses to
characters causes some change in beliefs about what it must be like to be in the
position of someone else. Contrary to expectations, no evidence was found for
enhanced feelings of solidarity. Also, the data did not confirm the hypothesis
that negative representations of Islamic men and culture enhances social
distance.27 Story and essay enhanced cultural intolerance in study one, but this
finding was not replicated in the other studies.
The experiments tried to catch subjects as they make step 13* of the
model. It was found that manipulation of preceding steps affects the outcome
of this projection task. The model proposed that reading a story requires
readers to activate their schematic knowledge to understand causal relations in
the narrative, infer characters goals, and construct a mental representation of
characters emotions. Subsequently, the primed schemata may affect inferences readers make about people in the real world (3* and 14). Reading an
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113
essay on a similar subject probably causes a priming effect too. However, the
data show that the essay did not influence readers inferences. This means that
it is something particular in narratives that affects readers notions about other
peoples feelings and goals. It may be conjectured that one of the outstanding
differences between the mental activities of essay readers and story readers is
that the latter form a representation of characters goals and emotions. However, it seems plausible that essay readers would also make inferences about
Islamic womens feelings and thoughts, because that was the subject of the
text. According to the model, story readers went one step further than a mere
representation of goals and emotions. They participated in the fictional world
and were thus stimulated to reflect on what the implications would be for
themselves to be in a position similar to that of the protagonist (4, 12*, and
13*). As study three reveals, when this particular dimension of response was
given an extra boost, its effects stand out as compared to a more normal
reading style. Again, the results suggest that it had been readers role-taking
behavior that caused the differences between the groups.
This answers some of the questions formulated in Chapter 3. Do processes associated with story comprehension cause a priming effect on readers
insight into human character (step 1, 2 and then step 3*)? Or is it readers roletaking that cause the effects (in addition to step 1,2, 3*: step 4, 12* and then
13*)? On the basis of the observed effects (step 14), we can assert that priming
(3*) did not seem to matter at all. Role-taking, on the other hand, seems a
necessary condition for the effects of reading on beliefs (12* and 13*).
One point of discussion may be that the role-taking task (Imagine what it
would be like to be an Algerian woman) may have functioned as a manipulation check for the empathy-building strategy. Subjects may have considered
the task as a test of whether they had followed the instruction to empathize.
Consequently, these results could be interpreted as an indication that subjects
merely wanted to show that they had obeyed and empathized with the character. However, this cannot explain the differences between essay and story
readers in the first two experiments. Obviously, further research is called for to
make more generalizable statements about effects on social perception and the
role of empathy in this, for instance by using different texts. A final point is
that effects of an empathy-building instruction can hardly be considered to
resemble effects of reading under natural conditions. Neither can we simply
assume that the effects of a structural reading style (see the bogus task in
study two, and the placebo treatment in study three) resemble the effects of
114
normal reading. Some studies that were discussed in the previous chapter
suggest a solution for this problem (see Section 3.2.2). It was shown that
certain text qualities may focus readers attention on a character and enhance
role-taking. The next chapter will examine the effects of role-taking through
manipulation of narrative perspective.
Notes
1.
2.
Originally published in French, Linterdite: roman. Paris: Gasset & Fasquelle, 1993
3.
Originally published in English: Boston: Little, Brown, 1995. The title of the second
chapter is Muslims, the first feminists.
4.
5.
Women may find it easier to identify with the female character, but since the sample
contains only eight men the effect of subjects sex was not examined. Instead it was
introduced as a covariate in the analysis of variance. This allows us to consider the
differences between the experimental conditions while accounting for possible interference of subjects sex.
6.
The items that were used were adopted from the biannual surveys of the Social and
Cultural Planning Bureau of the Netherlands (e.g., Sociaal Cultureel Rapport 1990).
7.
Requests to obtain copies of all questionnaires used in this and the following experiments
should be addressed to the author (via the publisher).
8.
The planned analysis of variance could not be performed. On all items Levenes Test for
Homogeneity of Variances was run. This test examines whether variances in the two
groups are equal. For only one of the items, the first, Levene Test revealed that the
variances were unequal. This violates one of the assumptions of analysis of variance
(Noruis 1993: 270).Therefore a separate-variance t-test was conducted which does not
require equality of variance.
9.
The value of p indicates the probability of finding the observed difference between the
groups if the null hypothesis (that there is no difference between the groups) is actually
true (Noruis 1993: 281290). Results of other statistical tests used in this study can be
interpreted in the same way. Requests to obtain copies the reports on all statistical tests
should be addressed to the author (via the publisher).
10.
11.
The value of p indicates the probability of finding the observed difference between the
groups if the null hypothesis (that there is no difference between the groups) is actually
true (Noruis 1993: 281290). Results of other statistical tests used in this study can be
interpreted in the same way.
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115
12.
Coefficient alpha for social distance is .57, for cultural tolerance .66. It must be noted
that, taking .65 as our criterion, this means that our measure for social distance is not
entirely reliable. N for the ANOVAs is 55, df=2.
13.
Distribution was strongly skewed toward the left and right, which made it impossible to
conduct t-tests or ANOVAs. Therefore, two groups were formed: those who were generally in favor of social asylum, and those who were not. Thus, the ordinal measure changed
into a nominal one, which requires us to do a Chi2-test.
14.
Two subjects, aged 70 and 72, were excluded from the sample.
15.
See note 7.
16.
In contrast to the data of study 1, Levenes test showed the homogeneity of variance
hypothesis cannot be rejected (F=.048; P=828). This, with an approximately normal
distribution, fulfils the requirements for analysis of variance. For all ANOVAs of study
two, N=35, and df=2.
17.
For the present sample coefficient alpha for the social distance scale is .70, while the
scale for cultural intolerance attained an alpha of .40. So, it must be noted that only the
measure for social distance is reliable.
18.
Either considering Algeria as the worst country for women to live in, or some other country
is a nominal measure. Therefore a Fishers Exact test was conducted (Noruis 1993: 209).
19.
Coefficient alpha=.78. The items that yielded high loadings this factor were overtuigend (.62), realisitsch (.82), serieus (.86) and fantastisch (-.83), in English,
convincing, realistic, serious, and fantastic.
20.
The instruction is a slightly adjusted version from the one used by Bourg et al. (1993).
21.
See note 7.
22.
23.
Levene: F=5.128, p=.030. Therefore t-tests were conducted. The results of a t-test can be
interpreted as follows. The value of p stands for the probability that the observed
difference between group means may be due to chance. In this case, it is 3.1%, which
meets the commonly used criterion of 5%. In other words, the null hypothesis that there is
no difference between the groups can be rejected (Noruis 1993: 249265).
24.
25.
Coefficient alpha for social distance scale is .74, for cultural intolerance alpha = .60. So,
both measures are reliable.
26.
27.
It may be that a scale that distinguishes social distance toward male and female Muslims
would have resulted in significant effects.
Chapter 5
Moral Self-knowledge
5.1 Introduction
Fictional worlds are inhabited by heroes and miscreants, but foremost by
characters with some pardonable vice or ill-fated weakness. Keeping such
company may affect the way readers perceive themselves. Successful heroes
may inspire them to strive toward noble goals what I called ideal selves (I
wish I were like that). Miserable villains, on the other hand, may ascertain
which roles readers definitely dont want to play not-me selves (Am I
glad I am not like that!). But what about all those protagonists who are not
purely heroic, nor through and through rotten? In Madame Bovary, for instance, Emma does not present a recommendable model, but neither is she
likely to set a deterring example. So, what pre-ethical, ethical or moral effects
do we expect from reading narratives like Flauberts novel?
According to the model proposed in Chapter 3, taking the role of Emma
may help readers to clarify who they are, who they were, who they might
become, and who they would like to be. Thus, readers may become more
intensely aware of their personal norms and values. In Figure 3.6 this effect
was represented by two steps: Readers role-taking may involve changes in
self-concept (step 12*); subsequently, these changes may result in an awareness of norms and values (step 10*). It was argued that awareness propelled
by role-taking probably causes stronger responses than the mere priming of
norms resulting from readers moral judgments about the characters (step 9*).
Boosting readers role-taking will result in stronger effects on readers selfconcept. This is the main hypothesis that will be examined presently.
In the following, role-taking will not be boosted by instruction, like in the
third experiment of Chapter 4, but by narrative perspective. It is assumed that
118
readers consider events from the point of view of the character that perceives
the events and thus they will be inclined to take his or her role (see Section 3.2.2; e.g., Van Peer & Pander Maat 1996). If a story in which a character
like Emma Bovary focalizes the fictional world enhances a greater awareness
of self-concept than the same story described through the eyes of another
character, then this part of the model can be accepted.1
It remains unclear, however, which shape this moral self-knowledge will
take. A second purpose of the following experiment will be to examine which
of two possible forms of moral self-knowledge readers may attain. The first is
marked by compassion and solidarity: having experienced what it is like to be
in Emmas role, readers may understand that under circumstances similar to
those of the character they might fall into the same traps (feared, but nevertheless possible selves). Whether this is the kind of wisdom readers gain from
entering a Moral Laboratory remains to be seen. There is, however, research
that suggests that imagining oneself in a particular scenario does enhance
ones beliefs in the plausibility of the events involved (Gregory et al. 1982).
This effect occurred for scenarios with happy as well as sad endings.
The second possible form of moral self-knowledge is ruled by social
learning. Bandura and others (e.g., Bandura et al. 1961) have shown that
punishment or reward of model behavior causes either inhibition or imitation
of that behavior. Emmas weaknesses are punished, and this may make
readers realize that this model represents possible selves to be avoided.
Unlike in their aloof or even anti-empathic response to the doom of fictional
crooks, readers probably identify with her fate. They may feel that Emmas
misfortune could be theirs. However, their role-taking will only strengthen the
social learning effect of the unhappy events of the story. They will become
more aware that they do not want to be like her (not-me selves).
Obviously the possible selves and the social learning conception of moral
self-knowledge generate divergent predictions. Experimental research can
tease these two mechanisms apart, and discover which one is operative and
which one is not. In the first case, effects on self-concept depend on roletaking alone. Readers involvement with the vicissitudes of Emmas life
makes them believe that her faults could be theirs. Whether she dies at the end
of the novel or lives happily ever after will not intervene with this understanding. The expected response pattern is represented in Figure 5.1a. Scores on the
vertical axis show the average degree to which subjects would endorse selfconcept items that pertain to adultery. More in particular, it represents the
Moral Self-knowledge
119
Adulterous selves
5.1a Hypothesis 1
10
8
Happy
Sad
4
2
0
Focused
Diffuse
Control
Condition
5.1b Hypothesis 2
Adu;terous selves
10
8
Happy
Sad
4
2
0
Focused
Diffuse
Condition
Control
Estimated consequences
5.1c Hypothesis 3
10
8
6
4
2
0
-2
-4
-6
-8
-10
Happy
Sad
Focused
Diffuse
Condition
Control
120
Moral Self-knowledge
121
122
mentions that his mother is learning to fall at her dance class: the trick is to do
it gracefully, without getting hurt. Somehow, this metaphor sparks the Inarrators decision not to go home to her husband. Instead, the three of them
go to a ballet.
Testing the hypotheses requires four versions of these stories: one focalized by the female protagonist, one focalized by other characters (see 5.2.1),
and of each of these versions one with a happy ending and one with a sad
ending (5.2.2).
5.2.1 Focalization
It was expected that a version in which the fictional world is perceived
through the eyes of the main female character would focus readers on her, and
stimulate them to take her role. A version which describes events from the
perspective of other characters would diffuse readers empathic response,
alternatively taking the role of different characters, but never that of the
adulteress. To obtain these versions the originals were systematically rewritten.3
Chekhovs story is told by an omniscient narrator, but most events are
seen through Olgas eyes, with one exception, in which the reader perceives
the events through the eyes of her husband, Osip Dymov. In the two new
versions that were made, one is focalized by Olga but not by Osip, and one
exclusively focalized by other characters including Osip.4
In Beatties Learning to Fall everything we know about the fictional
world is filtered through the perception of the main female character. So, the
original story could serve as the focused version. In the diffuse version her
observations are recycled as thoughts of other characters in the story. A
small problem was that in the original, the main protagonists name is not
mentioned. Because the diffuse version frequently had to refer to her in the
third person, she was given a name, Joan. To further distract readers attention
away from Joan, the story does not start at the breakfast-table like in the
original. Instead, we first meet Ray, Joans lover, doing some insignificant
things, apart from longing for a phone call from Joan. Studies of Wegner &
Giuliano (1983) and Bower (1978) suggest that this text manipulation may be
effective in depriving Joan of readers attention.
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123
Table 1
FOCUSED VERSION
CHEKHOV
1.
On Wednesdays she was 'at home.' Hostess and guests
did not play cards or dance on these occasions, but
diverted themselves with various artistic activities. The
actor recited, the singer sang, the artist sketched in
albums (of which Olga had many), the cellist played and
the hostess herself also sketched, modelled, sang and
played accompaniments.
2.
At exactly half past eleven the dining-room door would
open and Dymov would appear, smiling his goodnatured, gentle smile.
Supper is served, gentlemen, he would say, rubbing
his hands.
Then all would go into the dining-room, where he had
set the table with a dish of oysters, a joint of ham or veal,
sardines, cheese, caviar, mushrooms, vodka and two
carafes of wine.
3.
The cheap clock on the wall ticked monotonously. Cold
flies crowded and buzzed in the corner by the icon, and
cockroaches were heard scuttling in the thick portfolios
under the benches.
DIFFUSE VERSION
CHEKHOV
[...]
BEATTIE
BEATTIE
4.
I stand beside him on the curving walkway. Don't throw
coins from up here, Andrew, I say. You might hurt
somebody.
Just a penny, he says. He holds it up to show me. A
penny: no tricks.
You're not allowed. It could hit somebody in the face.
You could hurt somebody, throwing it.
He pockets the penny.
5.
Andrew and I are both frowning at Ruth's table and she as always - is tolerating us. More coffee? Ruth asks me.
I nod yes, and let her pour it, although I could easily get
up and walk to the stove for the pot.
6.
I take off my coat and unzip Andrew's parka and lay it
across his legs. The arms stick out from the sides, no
hands coming through them. It could be worse; Andrew
could have been born without hands or arms.
Joan takes off her coat and unzips Andrew's parka and
lays it across his legs. The arms stick out from the sides,
no hands coming through them. It could be worse;
Andrew could have been born without hands or arms,
Bonnie thinks.
124
Table 1 presents some examples of the changes that were made. The parts
in bold indicate the changes or what was left out. In the first one the camera
through which we perceive the events is relocated. The perspective of the
original version seats readers among the guests Olga is entertaining, while the
manipulated, diffuse version sends them along with Dymov. Example two is
another illustration of how visual point of view was manipulated. The changes
position readers in the dining-room, behind Dymov, rather than among the
artists in the drawing room.5 The third example illustrates how manipulation
could not stop at changing physical point of view, but also had to cover
focalization (Rimmon-Kenan 1983: 7185). Narrative texts may conceal inconspicuous clues as to who sees. In this excerpt of the original story it is the
narrator who tells us how cheerless the cabin is, but there are reasons to
suspect it is Olga who focalizes here. At that particular point in the story she is
bored, she detests the place, and is desperately longing to go home, back to the
civilized world. The monotony of the clock and the sound of crawling vermin
are obviously things Olga would notice and have therefore been deleted in the
manipulated version. Something similar happens in the first quotation of
Beatties story (example 4). A penny: no tricks may be what Andrew thinks,
or what he wants Joan to believe. Because the whole text is an utterance of
Joan, there can be little doubt about it that this, too, is one of her observations. However, if maintained in the manipulated version, readers might still
feel this is an inference of Joan. It was therefore deleted. The following two
examples illustrate how the focalization may be related to readers sympathies. From example 5 readers may infer that Joan has a mild form of early
morning allergy. The focused version on the left side makes it an excusable
flaw in her behavior. The diffuse version on the right side seems to evoke
disapproval: why this vexation, readers may wonder, and why not get her
coffee herself? Example 6, finally, shows a recycling of focalizations that
potentially make Joan more sympathetic. The manipulated version dissolves
most of the implied tenderness in the original text, and what is left of it is
transferred to the other character present at that moment, namely Bonnie.
5.2.2 Story outcome
To see whether social learning was involved in reading the stories, the endings
were manipulated. Chekhovs story has an unmistakably unhappy ending.
Olgas husband dies, and her secret lover betrays her. This outcome was
Moral Self-knowledge
125
drastically altered in the manipulated version, in which Olga and her painter
make up and decide to live happily ever after. No more mention of the
husband is made, let alone his death he is conveniently forgotten. The
original version of Beatties story has a happy ending. The main character and
her lover meet at the station. She seems to realize she has to give in to her love
for Ray, and they walk off together to have an evening at the ballet. This
ending was changed as follows: when Joan meets Ray, they have a row. He
wants her to make up her mind and finally choose between him and her
husband. She is not quite ready to make this step. As they part, it is clear they
will never see each other again.
Would these manipulations make any difference to the effects of having
read these stories? It may be expected that the changes in focalization affect
the degree to which subjects mentally participate in the characters world,
with focused versions causing higher levels of involvement than diffuse ones;
this would suggest an effect of readers role-taking. Furthermore, what subjects learn from the stories may change due to the story outcome manipulations; this would indicate a social learning effect.
5.3 Method
Design
For the analysis of this study, a 2-by-2 between-subjects design was used, that
is, the effects of focalization (focused by diffuse) and story ending (happy by
sad) on readers self-concept in the domain of adultery and other dependent
variables were examined. Possible intervening effects of subjects gender were
accounted for by introducing it as a covariate. Post-hoc analyses (Tukeys b)
were used to reveal whether there are significant differences between the
experimental groups and a control group that read a text unrelated to adultery,
namely an essay on political economy.
Subjects
Subjects were 108 undergraduate psychology students at the University of
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. They participated in the experiment in fulfillment of a course requirement. The sample consisted of 68 female and 40 male
subjects. Average age was 19.
126
Procedure
Participants were invited to the laboratory in groups of maximally eight. To
avoid that subjects would notice the differences between the texts, they were
seated in cubicles. The study was introduced as a cross-cultural investigation
of the way people comprehend and react to things they read in magazines and
books. Participants were told the experimenter was interested in responses to
both fiction and nonfiction. As a pretext for including personality measures in
the procedure, they were told that results would be compared to those of
students in the Netherlands, and that some background information was
required to enable the comparison.
Subjects were given an envelope containing a questionnaire and a text:
either a version of Beatties Learning to Fall, or of Chekhovs The Butterfly, or a chapter from M.B. Browns Models in Political Economy (control
group). Subjects were randomly assigned to the treatments or control condition, and it was not revealed to them that there were different versions of the
stories in circulation.
Participants were asked to take the text out of the envelope and read it. To
reduce the potential distraction of the laboratory setting, it was emphasized
that they were to try to read the text leisurely, much as they would if they had
found it in a book or magazine and wanted to read it for their enjoyment.
Reading the texts took them about thirty minutes. After putting the story or
essay back into the envelope, they filled out their questionnaires. This took
another thirty minutes. The questionnaire consisted of a story evaluation task
and several personality measures.6
Dependent variables
Character morality As part of the evaluation task, subjects were asked to rate
the main (female) character on 14 adjectives using an 11-point scale (0 to 10).
Four adjectives referred to morality (moral, sincere, selfish, and promiscuous). The other ten were filler items (e.g., intelligent). It was expected that
versions focalized by the adulteress would stimulate participants to take her role
and consequently see things her way. If this were the case, the focused versions
would result in higher morality ratings than the diffuse versions (cf. Van Peer
& Pander Maat 1996). Higher morality ratings may be considered indicative of
a higher degree of role-taking (cf. Jose & Brewer 1984).
Self-concept Story evaluation questions were followed by a self-concept
measure. This test contained 25 items: items that were of particular relevance
Moral Self-knowledge
127
to the purpose of the study, and filler items that were derived from Maudley
Marital Questionnaire (MMQ), a measure for marital satisfaction. Research
suggests that role-taking responses involve personal experiences. It was therefore assumed that reading the stories would make certain past selves more
readily available in memory. Also, readers may experiment with roles enacted by the protagonists of the stories. Thus, they may acquire possible
selves, which are assumed to be sources of personality change (Markus &
Nurius 1986). Finally, readers may come to realize certain aspects about
themselves they usually ignore (present selves). The MMQ registers present
selves only. To assess shifts in self-concept that allegedly result from reading
stories, subjects were asked to rate for each item to what extent it described
them in the present, in the past, and whether it could describe them in the
future. According to the model, focused versions will stimulate role-taking.
Consequently, these versions should have more impact on readers selfconcept than the diffuse versions. Because Browns text on political economy
does not concern relationships between men and women, no effects were
expected from reading this text. Responses of its readers can therefore help us
determine whether reading the stories produced significant changes in subjects working self-concept.
Of primary importance are items related to adultery, more in particular:
(1) Being unfaithful to my partner;
(2) Running into misery in a secret affair;
(3) Being happy in a secret affair.
The first item indicates the degree to which one considers oneself unfaithful.
Subjects expectations about the consequences of committing adultery were
measured by adding up scores on items (2) and (3), with scores on item (2)
multiplied by 1. This results in a scale from 10 to 10.
It was expected that manipulation of story perspective and/or story outcome would affect the degree to which subjects admitted they are unfaithful to
their partner. The effect of story outcome will decide which of the two
hypotheses of moral self-knowledge can be rejected (compare Figures 5.1a
and 5.1b). The effects on subjects estimate of the consequences of a secret
affair would indicate the degree to which reading a narrative can affect realworld beliefs (see Figure 5.1c).
Empathy Test Reading stories may stimulate reflection on other peoples
inner world. Chekhov and Beatties stories, for instance, may facilitate read-
128
ers inferences about what could bring someone to commit adultery. It was
therefore expected that subjects who read one of these stories would be able to
think of more motives when interpreting real-world behavior than subjects
who read a text about political economy. Also, reading stories may bias social
perception: the motives story readers will think of first will be the ones the
character had for committing adultery.
To examine such alleged differences between treatment groups and the
control group, subjects were given an empathy test. The introduction to the
test read: In this part of the study, we would like you to imagine a hypothetical situation involving a married couple. Imagine that the woman commits
adultery. List as many emotions, goals and hopes that this person might have
that could explain why she deceived her husband. It was expected that story
readers were able to mention more possible motives than the control group
subjects, and that the first motives they would mention would be related to the
story they had read. The focused versions were predicted to enhance roletaking and would therefore reveal even stronger effects. The model does not
make any predictions about effects of story outcome, so these were not
considered in the analyses.
It seems conceivable that this empathy test may affect response to the
self-concept form, and vice versa. To eliminate the possibility of order effects,
the sequence of these two tasks was counterbalanced. Furthermore, it may be
that performance on the empathy test depends on abilities subjects already had
before the experiment. To control for this possibility, Fletcher et al.s (1986)
scale for attribution complexity was administered. This test consists of 28
attitude statements about attribution (e.g., I dont usually bother to analyze
and explain peoples behavior, and I have found that the causes for peoples
behavior are usually complex rather than simple). Subjects responses to
these items allow us to compute an overall score for attributional complexity
which will serve as a covariate in the analysis of the empathy test.
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5.4 Results
5.4.1 Character morality
It was assumed that focalization would affect readers moral judgment. To test
this, a two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed with subjects
gender as covariate. Manipulation of perspective in Beatties Learning to
Fall resulted in a significant main effect (F (1,32)= 5.86 p<.022; Figure 5.2a),
and no interactions.7 As predicted, the results show that the focused versions
made readers more lenient in their moral judgments of the adulteress than the
diffuse versions. This suggests that focalization is indeed a powerful instrument to control readers sympathies. However, this finding was not replicated
for the manipulation of the Chekhov story; the effect was in the predicted
direction, but it did not attain the .05 level of significance. This may be
because contrasts between Beatties original and the diffuse version are far
more radical than the ones between the Chekhov versions. Fictional events in
Beattie are exclusively focalized by the I-narrator. In the diffuse versions this
center of consciousness is consistently replaced by other characters. Focalization in the original Chekhov story is not solely in Olgas hands; it already is
somewhat diffuse. Moreover, the omniscient and rather ironic narrator in
Chekhovs story already entails some preliminary evaluations. Maybe readers
considered these to be reliable, so that there was little the manipulation of
narrative perspective could change about that. The results demonstrate that
manipulation of readers role-taking through text manipulation was effective
in the case of Beatties story, but not in Chekhovs.8 It may be expected,
therefore, that the effect of focalization on self-concept will be stronger in
Beattie than in Chekhov.
The results of the analyses revealed a significant main effect for story
ending in the Chekhov conditions (F(1,32)=4.65; p<.040). The happy ending
caused higher scores on the morality scale than the sad ending (see Figure 5.2b).
This effect was unexpected; it did not seem likely that whether certain behavior
is punished or not would affect perceived character morality. But on hindsight
it seems natural. In the unhappy outcome, a colleague of Osip extensively scolds
Olga for her lack of love and respect, implying that she is to blame for the loss
of this self-denying man and promising scientist. The happy outcome does not
include this tirade. In addition, the happy version does not relate Osips tragic
death. This reduction of negative consequences of Olgas behavior may have
been responsible for the differences in subjects verdict.
130
10
9
Perceived morality
8
7
6
Diffuse
5
Focused
4
3
2
1
0
Chekhov
Beattie
Perceived morality
8
7
6
Sad
5
Happy
4
3
2
1
0
Chekhov
Beattie
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131
132
5.3a Beattie
Adulterous selves
Past
4,5
4
3,5
3
2,5
2
1,5
1
0,5
0
Happy
Sad
Focused
Diffuse
Control
Adulterous selves
Present
4
3,5
3
2,5
2
1,5
1
0,5
0
Happy
Sad
Focused
Diffuse
Control
Adulterous selves
Future
4
3,5
3
2,5
2
1,5
1
0,5
0
Happy
Sad
Focused
Diffuse
Control
Moral Self-knowledge
133
5.3b Chekhov
Past
Adulterous selves
7
6
5
4
Happy
Sad
2
1
0
Focused
Diffuse
Control
Present
Adulterous selves
6
5
4
Happy
Sad
2
1
0
Fouced
Diffuse
Control
Future
Adulterous selves
6
5
4
Happy
Sad
2
1
0
Focused
Diffuse
Control
134
5.3a Virtuous effects of focalization
Adulterous selves
Beattie: Present
5
4
Focused
Diffuse
Control
1
0
Female
Male
Adulterous selves
Beattie: Future
5
4
Focused
Diffuse
Control
1
0
Female
Male
Adulterous selves
Chekhov: Present
5
4
Focused
Diffuse
Control
1
0
Female
Male
Adulterous selves
Chekhov: Future
4
3
Focused
Diffuse
Control
1
0
Female
Male
Moral Self-knowledge
135
of diffuse versions of the story) with the control group, scores on the vertical axis
indicate in which direction story treatments moved subjects moral awareness.
An average lower than that of the control group shows that the infidelity selfconcept item dominantly came to represent not-me selves to the story readers,
while an average higher than the control group score would suggest that story
readers became more inclined to consider these items as realistic possible
selves. None of the p-values are below .05. So, none of the hypotheses
concerning the effect on this scale could be accepted.
Subjects gender proved to be a significant source of covariation in one of
the analyses, namely for future selves in the Beattie conditions (F(1,48)=5.16,
p<.028). This indicates that male and female readers responded differently
here. To check for interactions between subjects gender and the manipulations of perspective and story ending a three-way analysis of variance was
conducted. It should be noticed that in interpreting these results one has to be
very cautious, because the control group consisted of only six male and six
female subjects.
The ANOVA revealed that a significant main effect for gender
(F91,48)=5.01; p<.031) is mediated by a significant two-way interaction
(gender by focalization; F(1,48)=8.92, p<.005). Figure 5.3c represents the
scores for male and female subjects separately. The scales for past adulterous
selves are not presented because the groups are far too small to allow a
meaningful interpretation.10 As can be seen, scores are generally very low,
especially the ratings of female subjects (maximum score is 10). All the graphs
show that the treatments mainly affected male subjects. Let us first look at the
two upper graphs for the responses of the Beattie readers. Comparing scores of
control group males with scores of the males in the experimental groups
(focused and diffuse), reading the story reduced male subjects willingness to
admit that the item presents a possible self. However, the focused version had
an even stronger effect than the diffuse version. As to future selves, focalization
even reduces scores to zero, making male subjects (seem) as virtuous as female
subjects. This interpretation is confirmed by the results of a post-hoc analysis
(Tukeys b). Male subjects who read the text focalized by the adulteress scored
significantly lower on future adulterous selves (p<.05) than male subjects who
read the text about political economy. Men who read the other version, in which
other characters perceived the fictional world, did not score significantly lower
than control group men.
Generally, men have a more lighthearted attitude toward adultery than
136
women (North & Toates 1977). As the graphs show, the Beattie treatment
reduced these differences between the sexes considerably; reading the Beattie
graphs from right to left we see that male scores more and more resemble
those of the female subjects. Tukeys b test reveals that men in the control
group scored significantly higher than female subjects in both the control
group and in the experimental group. In contrast, men who read the diffuse
version only scored higher than the experimental group females. Still, the
biggest changes are to be found in the group of male readers who read the
focused version; here, Tukeys b test did not reveal significant differences
between their scores and those of the females subjects.
From these comparisons we can conclude that it took a focalized version
to make male readers change their minds about the plausibility of being
adulterous in the future. This conclusion, together with the fact that story
ending had no effect, suggests that both hypothesis 1a and 1b (see Figure 5.1a
and b) have to be rejected. First, the possible selves hypothesis predicted that
focalized versions would lead subjects to understand that the character presents a possible self. This is not what happened. Male subjects became more
aware that the character presents a not-me self. Focalization helped them to
decide they definitely do not want to become like her, even though we also
found that focalization enhanced her moral valence (see Figure 5.2a). Second,
the social learning hypothesis predicted that sad endings would significantly
reduce scores on adulterous selves. The results show that it did not. Therefore
an alternative interpretation can be put forward: focalization stimulated (male)
readers to take the role of the adulterous character. This enhanced their
appreciation of her, but also clarified their self-concept in this domain, more in
particular, their future self. The ending of the story did not seem to interfere
with this process; whether the adulteress finds happiness in the arms of her
secret lover or returns home to her husband after a fight with her lover
apparently did not matter to the responses of male subjects. Considering the
low score of females in the control group it seems likely that all women in the
sample already had a clearly defined self-concept in this domain; in other
words, they did not need the treatment.
Finally, in the two Chekhov graphs we also see that the scores of
control group males are higher than those of all Chekhov readers. However,
Tukeys b test revealed no differences between any of the groups at the .05
level of significance.
Consequences of secret affairs A second variable relevant to the hypoth-
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137
eses is readers beliefs about the plausible consequences of secret affairs: what
do they recall about such consequences in their personal past; what are their
present experiences; and what do they expect in the future? It was assumed
that reading the stories would change subjects expectations about the repercussions of having an extramarital relationship: scenarios with unhappy
endings should enhance more negative beliefs about secret affairs than scenarios with happy endings. In addition, the model proposes that stories focalized by the adulterous woman would make this effect even more momentous:
focalization invites readers to participate in the fictional world and experience
for themselves the repercussions of committing adultery.11
Considering the responses of the Beattie readers first, we can see in
Figure 5.4a that, generally, focused versions with an unhappy ending result in
the most pessimistic expectations and beliefs about the consequences of secret
affairs. This is as was predicted by hypothesis 2 (see Figure 5.1c). Also, it was
expected that contrasts between the groups would be sharpest among the
focused conditions. Taking the role of the character would stimulate readers to
imagine themselves in the characters position, thus enhancing their belief in
the likelihood of the events that befell the character. Both Figure 5.4a and 5.4b
seem to suggest that, generally, contrasts between the readers of the focused
versions is stronger than between readers of the diffuse versions. In other
words, groups who read the diffuse versions of Beattie or Chekhov do not
seem to disagree as much about the consequences of secret affairs as the
groups who read the stories from the perspective of the adulteress. Finally, the
scores of the experimental groups are, on the whole, lower than those of the
control group. This holds for both Beattie and Chekhov readers. Reading the
stories apparently made subjects more aware of negative consequences of
adultery.
The analyses of present and future scales for the Beattie conditions resulted
in significant main effects for focalization. The ANOVA also yielded significant
interactions between focalization and story ending: a sad ending in the versions
focalized by the adulteress made subjects more pessimistic about the consequences of secret affairs, but in the diffuse versions it was the happy ending that
had this effect. However, post-hoc analyses (Tukeys b) revealed that only the
difference between the focused sad ending and diffuse sad ending (in present
and future) attains the .05 level of significance. This suggests that the manipulation of focalization affected subjects beliefs about the negative consequences
only. Importantly, Tukeys b also demonstrated a significant difference be-
138
5.4a Beattie
Past
1
0
-1
-2
Happy
-3
Sad
-4
-5
-6
-7
Focused
Diffuse
Control
Present
1
0
-1
-2
Happy
-3
Sad
-4
-5
-6
-7
Focused
Diffuse
Control
Future
1
0
-1
-2
Happy
-3
Sad
-4
-5
-6
-7
Focused
Diffuse
Control
Moral Self-knowledge
139
5.4b Chekhov
Past
1
0
-1
-2
Happy
-3
Sad
-4
-5
-6
Focused
Diffuse
Control
Present
1
0
-1
-2
Happy
-3
Sad
-4
-5
-6
Focused
Diffuse
Control
Future
1
0
-1
-2
Happy
-3
Sad
-4
-5
-6
Focused
Diffuse
Control
140
tween scores of one of the experimental groups and the control group, namely
on the scale for present selves: subjects who read the sad version from the
perspective of the adulteress believed significantly stronger in negative effects
of secret affairs than the subjects who read Browns text on political economy.
The analysis of the Chekhov conditions revealed one significant main
effect for story ending (past selves). Contrary to expectations, however, happy
story endings led to negative scores, while sad endings resulted in positive
scores. Comparing the scores with those of the control group it seems that the
happy endings affected subjects beliefs strongly. While Joans happy reunion
with her lover may have seemed right to the readers, in Olgas case it must
have been an unacceptable presentation of the consequences of secret affairs,
stimulating them to assert their own, opposing, ideas about how such a
scenario should end. It should be noticed, however, that the groups are
actually too small to allow an interpretation of these results.
Concluding this section, we have seen that stories can produce significant
changes in readers working self-concept. Reading narratives can enhance a
clarification of our moral self-concept, and affect beliefs that can have consequences for our moral decisions. First, Beatties story written from the perspective of the adulteress significantly reduced male subjects scores on adulterous
selves. Second, the sad version of Beatties story written from the perspective
of the female character caused a significant effect on subjects beliefs about the
consequences of secret affairs (present selves). As to the mechanisms involved
in attaining moral self-knowledge, both the possible selves and the sociallearning variant were rejected. Analyzing subjects response to the adulterous
self (future), we found that focalization enhanced not-me selves instead of
possible selves (cf. hypothesis 1a, Figure 5.1a). Also, story outcome did not
interfere with this effect, which suggests that we can reject the social learning
hypothesis 1b (Figure 5.1b). An alternative explanation was suggested: roletaking responses (stimulated by narrative perspective) enhanced moral appreciation of the fictional character, but also helped readers to understand that they
do not want to be like that character. Role-taking seems to have clarified a
negative definition of self-concept in relation to the character.
5.4.3 Empathic ability
In the experiments of Chapter 4 I found that reading stories can affect beliefs
about others. In the present study I tried to replicate and extend this finding.
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142
5.5 Discussion
Although several of the expected results were not found, notably with respect
to the Chekhov story, the experiment yet shows that reading stories can cause
significant shifts in readers working self-concept. Evidence suggests that
subjects reflected on what moral choices they would make for themselves in
circumstances similar to those of characters. Furthermore, focalization stimulated them to participate in such an ethical thought experiment. Such changes
in self-concept can have moral implications. While friendship is generally
socially approved of, one specific form of friendship opposite-sex friendship with a married person is typically discouraged and ignored, due
primarily to the fear that such friendships may lead to adulterous sexual
relationships. Lampe (1985) found that the consequent lack of social definition of this role may itself be a cause of adultery. The results of the present
study suggest that reading stories about adultery may stimulate reflection on
such matters, and subsequently, more sharply define readers moral selfconcept in the related domain.
Male subjects were particularly susceptible to the manipulations of the
stories. Generally, men are more likely to commit adultery than women (North
& Toates 1977). It is therefore not surprising that male subjects scores on
adulterous selves were higher than female subjects. With women already
scoring very low on adulterous selves it may be that treatments were wasted
on them. The finding that they were far less impressionable than the male
subjects may be explained by the fact that women reflect more on relationships than men (Fletcher et al. 1986). Probably having a more well-defined
self-concept in this domain previous to the treatment, it seems likely they were
more difficult to influence. An alternative explanation is that the issue of an
adulterous woman may have distressed men more than women. Evolutionary
psychology shows that men are typically more concerned to be represented in
the next generation. Therefore, they have more difficulty coping with the idea
of bringing up anothers child (cf. Buss et al. 1992). Since the scenario of an
adulterous woman primes such a possibility, male subjects were more aversive to items that referred to adultery. On the other hand, the measure used in
this experiment concerns the self-concept. The differences among male subjects responses do not reflect to what extent they condemn their partners
adultery. Instead, it reveals how they think about committing adultery themselves.
Moral Self-knowledge
143
The analyses showed that readers of one version of a story more strongly
endorsed particular self-concept items than readers of another version of the
same text. This in itself is an interesting finding. Every reader has a unique
biography. Each has his or her personal experience with the kind of relationships
the stories deal with. Nevertheless, the results of statistical analyses show that
the effects on self-concept can be generalized across individual readers.
It may be argued that such conclusions are restricted to short-term effects,
thus limiting the relevance of any pre-ethical functioning of reading narratives. I would conjecture, however, that the results of the present study suggest
that frequently reading one particular genre of stories, say, stories about manwoman relations, causes more permanent changes. Frequency and recency of
retrieval of knowledge determines accessibility of knowledge. This also pertains to self-knowledge. Extending the results of the present study, it may be
that men who frequently read about adultery attain better access to their moral
self-knowledge (not-me selves) than men who only read about economics.
No effects of reading were found on empathic ability. Story readers did
not think of more behavioral motives to commit adultery than the control
group subjects. Possibly, control group subjects profited from the fact that the
time subjects were allowed to use to fulfill their task was not limited. Control
group subjects may have used this time to mobilize their imagination, thus
diminishing any initial differences there may have been, say, in the first three
minutes. Also, treatment may have been too short to cause significant differences between the groups. However, as in the previous studies, evidence was
found suggesting that reading stories may bias social perception. Beatties
story (in the original version) affected the first thing that sprang to subjects
mind when they had to image what might have moved the protagonist to
commit adultery. Furthermore, it may be suggested that reading stories is a
training in role-taking. Results of the present study and the three experiments
of Chapter 4 suggest that reading stories involves role-taking. In Chapter 4 we
saw how beliefs about other peoples inner-world were changed by a text with
characters (a story), but not by a text without characters (an essay on the same
subject). Results of the present study suggest that narrative perspective stimulated readers to take the role of a character. The design of the two studies
makes it unlikely that the differences were not caused by role-taking. Since
role-taking is likely to be part of readers response to stories, it seems plausible
that the frequent reader will be better trained in role-taking and may be
involved in such responses to people more habitually (cf. Feshbach 1978).
144
The effects we found with Beatties text were not replicated with
Chekhovs. Several results are contingent on story, contrary to the expectation
that the effects of perspective and outcome would generalize over the two
stories. A plausible explanation is that the manipulation of story outcome and
focalization were not entirely comparable in the two stories. Furthermore,
some idiosyncratic differences between the stories that are not reflected in
perspective and outcome are important, too. For example, Chekhovs story
presents a far more obvious moral than Beatties. Maybe this made subjects
more aversive toward any change in their attitudes. Also, it may have been
more difficult for (American) readers to imagine themselves in the roles of
characters from nineteenth-century Russia, as compared to those of twentiethcentury New York.
To get a good grip on causal relations between text qualities and effects
on readers, future research may consider using texts that are easier to manipulate. Short experimenter-generated narratives enable more accurate manipulation and allow researchers to minimize the amount of text variables that are
potentially related to the effects under investigation. The question remains,
however, whether the results of such a procedure have a bearing on the effects
of reading more complex literary texts. The present study illustrates that
predictions based on available research cannot account for all the effects that
were found. Also, it seems more likely that longer, and perhaps therefore even
more complex narratives (e.g., novels) have a stronger effect on self-concept
than short, experimenter-generated ones.
Notes
1.
Although point of view in Madame Bovary is often ambiguous, the omniscient narrator
gives readers direct access to Emmas thoughts, feelings and senses.
2.
The choice for Beatties story was prompted by Nussbaums Loves Knowledge
(1990: 261285). She says it is one of the few short stories that can enhance self-knowledge
like the complexity, the many-sidedness, or the temporally evolving plurality of a
lenghty novel can.
3.
Thanks are due to Will van Peer (University of Munich), Peter Garrett (English Department, University of Illinois), and Bob Wyer (Psychology Department, University of
Illinois) for their help in preparing these versions. Copies of the manipulated texts can be
obtained through the author (via the publisher).
Moral Self-knowledge
145
4.
Given the conflict between husband and wife in this story, it would have been interesting
to compare an Olga-version with an Osip-version (cf. Van Peer and Pander Maat 1996).
However, the plot did not allow Osip to participate in all the events.
5.
Using sentences similar to the example from Chekhov, Black, Turner & Bower (1979)
found that readers online situation models are influenced by a narrators spatial point of
view.
6.
7.
Important to notice in the results of an analysis of variance is the level of significance (p);
values below .05 indicate that the null hypothesis (that there are no differences between
the groups) can be rejected. A reliability analysis of the scale for subjects moral
judgement yielded a coefficient alpha of .72. This suggests that we have here a reliable
scale. Due to practical reasons (available subjects, and time) the character evaluation task
was only given to the first 76 participants. Requests for copies of the complete reports on
all statistical results can addressed to the author (via the publisher).
8.
Another manipulation check failed, because the questions were misconstrued by too
many subjects and was therefore not considered.
9.
A MANOVA could not be performed, because the character evaluation task was completed
by the first 76 participants only. In hindsight, using perceived morality as a factor in a
MANOVA would have been a more appropriate method of analysis.
10.
Subjects who had indicated that they had never had a relationship were excluded from
analyses that involve past relationships.
11.
Notice that the two modes of moral awareness that were introduced earlier (the possible
selves and the social learning variant) lead to similar predictions on the present measure:
both conceptualizations suggest that sad endings lead to negative expectations about the
consequences of commiting adultery, and happy endings lead to positive expectations. In
both modes these effects are boosted by role-taking.
12.
I would like to thank Eva van Teeseling, Bernice Tjien A Fat, and Max Louwerse for their
help.
13.
Chapter 6
148
149
we think is important. In other words, we must clarify our norms and values
and be capable of relating them to acting. Thus, ethical adequacy comprises at
least of two elements: (1) insight into human character, that is, being able to
imagine other peoples emotions, thoughts, and goals; (2) moral self-knowledge, that is, knowing where one stands in moral matters.
The general suggestion of the present undertaking is that reading narratives (both literary and popular) may contribute to both. Empathic responses
play an important role in this. Readers place themselves mentally in the
position of fictional characters. This makes them realize what it must be like to
be in such a position. It also stimulates them to reflect on the consequences of
characters conduct and to clarify which moral decisions they would make in a
similar, hypothetical situation.
In this final chapter I will briefly summarize what led me to come to this
conclusion (Section 6.2). Then I will discuss what relevance the conclusions
may have for society (6.3) and where we need more research to further probe
the effects of reading literature (6.4).
6.2 Summary
What the past five chapters have argued each in its own way and following
its own line of argumentation is that reading literature enhances the
adequacy of our ethical reflection. In Chapter 1 we considered the views of
literary scholars and philosophers. Reading narratives is assumed to stimulate
us to reflect on ethical issues. This is what I called an ethical effect. It may also
affect our norms and behavior; these I called moral effects. Besides ethical and
moral effects narratives may be indirectly relevant to the quality of ethical
reasoning. Reading narratives is often assumed to involve certain mental and
emotional processes, some of which may train us and thus enhance certain
capacities that facilitate ethical inquiries. From there on, our response to
narratives may train our ability to interpret behavior in real-world situations.
These effects are not moral effects, because they do not necessarily change our
norms and values. Nor are they ethical effects, because they do not directly
involve reflections on ethical issues. But they do enhance the adequacy of our
ethical reflection. Therefore, I proposed to call them pre-ethical effects (after
Bronzwaer 1986). I will briefly review the alleged effects of reading literature.
A characteristic we do not only find in literature but also in many other
150
151
152
153
154
155
social perception, that is, readers beliefs about emotions and thoughts of other
people. We found indications that readers generalize what they learn about the
inner-world of a story character to humans in the real world. The design of the
experiments allowed us to conclude that it was readers role-taking that was
responsible for this effect.
Subjects were college freshmen who participated in the experiments as an
introduction to empirical studies of literature. In the first two experiments
subjects were randomly assigned to three conditions. The two experimental
groups read either an essay or a story and then completed a questionnaire. The
control group first completed the questionnaire and then read one of the two
texts. Both texts were on the same subject, namely the position of women in
fundamentalist cultures. And from both the subjects could infer that women
in those countries may not always resign themselves submissively to their
underprivileged position. However, it was hypothesized that the story would
be more effective in making readers believe that. The essay may provide all
the information subjects need to come to the conclusion that women may not
accept cultural norms for men-women relations, but the story allows them to
take the role of one of these women and feel for themselves what it would be
like to be one. Results showed that only the text with characters in it the
story caused the expected effects on beliefs about Algerian women. The
relevant information of the text being basically the same, it can be concluded
that the presence of a character in one of the two texts offered an opportunity
for readers role-taking behavior, and that it was therefore that this text had an
effect on beliefs.
To rule out the possibility that this finding was due to other differences
between the story and the essay an additional experiment was conducted. The
design and procedures were largely the same, except that, instead of comparing the effects of a story and an essay, two ways of reading the story were
compared, one with a higher degree of role-taking than the other. In one
condition subjects were asked to put themselves in the shoes of the main
female character (empathy-building instruction). In the other condition they
were asked to mark the structure of the story (a placebo instruction). It was
found that both treatments caused subjects to have different beliefs than the
control group, but that the group with the empathy-building instruction
changed their beliefs even more. This finding, in combination with the results
of the first two experiments suggests that readers role-taking caused the
effects on beliefs about Algerian women.
156
157
sponses through narrative perspective may have been successful in the case of
the Beattie story and not in Chekhovs. It was found that the version written
from the perspective of the main female character incited subjects to give her
higher ratings on a morality scale than the same story written from the
perspective of other characters. This was assumed to be indicative of the
degree to which the subjects were likely to take her role while reading. Indeed,
the effects that were found were caused by Beatties story and were not
replicated in Chekhovs.
Second, we examined the effects of reading one of the versions of the
stories on subjects adulterous selves. Contrary to the predictions of both the
possible selves hypothesis and the social learning hypothesis, narrative perspective did not enhance significant changes in subjects self-concept. The
manipulation of story ending did not seem to have had any influence either.
This means that neither of the two proposed mechanisms is at work here.
However, further analyses of the data revealed that the manipulation of
perspective had been effective for male participants. Comparing the male
subjects who read the versions in which the adulteress focalized the fictional
events with male subjects in the control group, it was found that the former
scored significantly lower on the scale for future adultery. They were significantly less likely to state that it could be possible they would commit adultery
in the future. It seems that male subjects discovered what may be called notme selves. They temporarily took the role of someone who commits adultery,
which enhanced a clarification of their self-concept in the domain of adultery.
This cannot have been caused by social learning, because the effect holds for
both sad and happy versions of the story.
Furthermore, it was examined what effects the stories had on subjects
expectations about the consequences of committing adultery. Results show
that the sad version of Beatties story, written from the perspective of the main
female character, caused subjects (male and female) to believe more strongly
in the negative effects of secret affairs than the control group. The fact that this
effect was not found for the sad version focalized by other characters again
presents an indication of the effects of role-taking (compare 4.3). Also, this
finding is in accordance with the conclusion of Chapter 4 that reading narrative fiction can affect real-world beliefs. Finally, it was examined what effects
reading the stories would have on subjects imagination about the thoughts,
emotions, and motives of an adulteress. Contrary to expectations, it was found
that the stories did not enable readers to mention more reasons for someone to
158
commit adultery than the control group subjects. However, one indication was
found that reading stories may bias social perception, more specifically, the
first thing that springs to our mind when we make attributions about the
behavioral motives of others. This effect was found for the version written
from the perspective of the main character and not for the story written from
the perspective of the other characters. Again, this suggests that role-taking
plays a significant part in the effects of story reading.
159
160
161
classes or booklets. We have found that reading narratives can change social
perception and self-concept, and that role-taking contributes to these effects.
Time spent reading may therefore be more effective than reading a self-help
booklet. While we read one novel we may encounter many situations we are
unfamiliar with. We may take the roles of many characters, and learn salient
details about these characters histories and inner-lives. Also, we may learn
about how one may act in a concrete situation, and what consequences that
may have.
6.3.2 Valuable reading
Many governments promote reading. Teachers stimulate their students to read.
Parents wish their children read more and watch less television. But what makes
reading so valuable? In this study we did not refer to just any reading matter but
predominantly we dealt with narratives (mostly fiction), a kind of writing that
can accommodate characters and plot development. We distinguished literary
from popular fiction and have focused on how reading fiction (in particular
literary fiction) may change us, how it may enhance our thinking about ethical
problems, and how it may sharpen awareness of norms and values. If the effects
on the readers that were examined are part of the reason why we think such
reading is valuable, I submit the following recommendations.
The first is an engaged approach to literary narratives. Instead of an
analytic historiographical approach, which focuses on the life of the author
and the social background of literary works, students should be stimulated to
link the fictional events with their own lives (cf. Hynds 1989). Several
researchers have noticed a need for self-exploration among adolescents. They
have proposed that literature may be of service in that respect (cf. Bloom
1987). More research is needed to underpin such claims, but presently we
have gathered some evidence to seriously take such a function into account. In
the experiments we tried to pinpoint the psychological processes responsible
for the effects of reading on the way we perceive others and ourselves. The
results indicate it may be in particular role-taking which causes the effects.
Finally, discussions that relate literature to readers lives may be helpful in
boosting moral development.
The second recommendation is not to drop the distinction between literary and popular reading. Literary reading can be defined in terms of the
quality of the reading matter, as well as in terms of reading style. Literature as
162
163
a requirement for learning other languages. And this, in turn, may have
practical implications.
164
165
Another field that needs attention and which will possibly pay off, is
educational research, especially on curriculum development. For example, the
empirical study of literature may contribute to the development of curricula
for the teaching of history. If stories can bridge geographic and cultural gaps
between women in fundamentalist cultures and Dutch college students (Chapter 4), then there is reason to believe that boundaries of time can be crossed as
well. For instance, stories may help students to understand the modern history
of the Balkans. A history textbook on the region is undoubtedly the best
source of systematic information. On the other hand, a novel such as Ivo
Andrics The Bridge over the Drina may give students a better feel of the
origins of the many conflicts in this region.
A promising area of educational research is the effects of narratives on
moral development. Standardized tests to gauge moral development of both
adolescents and adults are available, which, when enough single studies are
available, would allow us to carry out meta-analyses, thus significantly fostering our understanding of literatures ethical effects. Moreover, there is already
some groundwork that future researchers can build on. However, as noted
before, we do not know what exactly in literature curricula causes the effects
a problem that should be addressed in the future.
Besides studying the possible function of literature in education, researchers may want to look at other areas of training as well. Reading
narratives, one may hypothesize, contributes to training at management, law,
and nursing schools. This idea is not new (cf. Czarniawska-Joerges & De
Monthoux 1994; Weisberg 1992; Nussbaum 1991). At the office for Public
Management in London participants of workshops study problems and dilemmas of leadership through reading the plays of Shakespeare. Organizers and
course-members seem to agree on the usefulness of literature: the texts offer a
view of reality sharper than direct perception in daily life could. Participants
are confronted with aspects of themselves they usually overlook. They play
out parts of the plays that seem significant to them personally, and thus, they
feel they explore and improve their own style of leadership. They discover
their values and what motivates them a form of self-knowledge that is
generally recognized by management theorists as fundamental for leadership.
Moreover, the plays function as case studies, they report. Reading the texts
refines their political awareness, or their ability to read situations, to understand what people in ones environment think and feel.
Many other types of jobs require an adequate insight in people too. The
166
167
168
should learn to appreciate its benefits as well as its limitations. Writers may
help us conceptualize the world around us, they may sensitize us to our own
feelings and to the qualities of people around us, but in the end we must
distance ourselves from their perspective and see and feel for ourselves. And
this may hold for both writers and readers: in the end even the finest books
deserve to be thrown aside (De Botton 1997: 215).
Appendix
Design
Tests
Results
Berg-Cross and
X1 listen to story about
Berg-Cross (1978)
sex-roles
X2 about friendship
X3 about death
X4 about risk-taking
Authors
Treatments
120
46 year
RO
ROXO
Attitude test
(versions A & B)
Brandhorst (1973)
N=?
OXO
1516 year
No effects
Burt (1972)
59
inmates
RO
ROXO
Effect on attitude
V T
toward addiction and
stealing; Blacks
serving over 37
months scored higher*
Freimuth &
Jamieson (1977)
219
15 year
O
OXO
Milgram (1967)
OXO
No effects
Problems**
T
S? H?
T
S? H?
(C)
Treatments
Sample
Design
Tests
Results
Problems**
Keener (1977)
X1 course on poems
88
expressing anti-hunting
sentiments, perform
poems
X2 same, but observe
performance
O
OXO
Effect of X1
T
S? H?
(C)
Kigar (1978)
RO
ROXO
Personal Oriented
Inventory (Shostrom)
No effects on values*
T
(C)
Schram &
Geljon (1988)
X1 affective approach
to World War II
literature
X2 same with cognitive
approach
three sessions, three
weeks
OXO
Unexpected effect of
X1: more explicit
judgment, wholesale
condemnation of
collaborators
S T
H?
(C)
55
18 year
R=Randomization of subjects; O=Testing; X=Treatment; OO=Posttest followed by delayed posttest; *. Reliable claims. **. S=Selection; T=Testing
or learning effect; H=Hypothesis-guessing; I=Instrumentation; D=Diffusion; J=John-Henry; V=Volunteer sample; A=Absence of pretest and no
randomization; (C)=Confounded.
X1 listen to tape of
33
summaries of
13 year
adolescent novels, read
chapter, write response
X2 same plus group
discussions
Gallagher (1978)
Garrod (1982)
Johnson (1990)
N=?
OXO
ROXO
ROXO
Design
RO
ROXO
focussing on values
1718 year OXO
(fairness, identity,
friendship), literature,
film and activities
English curriculum
90
girls
X1 read 18 stories,
34
systematic discussions 10 year
X2 read-only, naturally
occurring discussions,
eighteen weeks
Biskin &
Hoskisson (1977)
Study 2
literature program,
plays, stories, poems,
a novel, and articles,
ten weeks
Biskin &
Hoskisson (1977)
Study 1
Sample
Treatments
Authors
(Kohlberg)
Ego Development
(Loevinger)
Moral Development
Moral Judgment
Interview (Kohlberg)
Moral Judgment
Interview (Kohlberg) (C?)
Tests
S? H?
(C)
VT
S? H?
(C)
T
(C?)
Problems**
Effect of X1 on P-index
T H?
(p<.015); effect of
(C)
X2 on D-index (p<.025)*
Development
Effect on Ego
Development
No effect on Moral
Significant effects, X1
greater gains than X2*
No effects*
Results
Kinnard (1986)
Tests
Kohlbergs Moral
Reasoning Test
Problems**
Effects (p<.05); no
differences between
groups*
TH
(C)
T H?
(C)
No differences between
TH
groups; below mean on
(C)
Cognitive Skills (p<.035)
below mean on Reading
Skills (p<.015); none
on second testing*
Results
R=Randomization of subjects; O=Testing; X=Treatment; OO=Posttest followed by delayed posttest; *. Reliable claims. **. S=Selection; T=Testing
or learning effect; H=Hypothesis-guessing; I=Instrumentation; D=Diffusion; J=John-Henry; V=Volunteer sample; A=Absence of pretest and no
randomization; (C)=Confounded.
RO
ROXO
RO
Defining Issues Test
ROXOO (Rest)
X1 listen to stories,
83
discussion
13 year
X2 case-accounts of same
stories, teacher argues
one stage higher than
subjects
X3 same as X2 with stories
X4 same as X2 with neutral
teacher
295
15 year
Keefe (1975)
literature program
based on Kohlberg,
discussion, additional
dilemmas
three weeks
Design
Justice (1989)
Sample
Treatments
Authors
X1 story curriculum
X2 problem solving
program, ten weeks
Bilsky (1989)
Healy (1980)
Milner (1982)
Wiley (1991)
400
4 year
56
35 year
N=?
10 year
328
14 year
Sample
O
OXO
O
OXO
O
OXO
RO
RXO
Interpersonal Awareness
Test
Awareness of
Consequences Scale;
Prosocial Motivation
Questionnaire
Design Tests
No effects*
No effect
on role-taking
abilities
Results
Problems**
S?
(C)
T
S?
(C)
TH
S?
(C)
H
(C)
*R=Randomization of subjects; O=Testing; X=Treatment; OO=Posttest followed by delayed posttest; *. Reliable claims. **. S=Selection; T=Testing
or learning effect; H=Hypothesis-guessing; I=Instrumentation; D=Diffusion; J=John-Henry; V=Volunteer sample; A=Absence of pretest and no
randomization; (C)=Confounded.
curriculum based
on fairy tales
eight weeks
Treatments
Authors
Table 3. Empathy
N=?
10 year
Indians
X2 same plus discussion
tree weeks
Brisbin (1971)
Fisher (1965)
Geiger (1975)
Gimmestad and
De Chiara (1982)
Frankel (1972)
Beardsley (1979)
OXO
OXO
RO
RXO
RO
ROXO
Semantic Differential,
Picture Projection Test
Attitude Scale
Paired-Comparison
Ranking; Galvanic Skin
Response
O
Adorno Ethnocentrism
OXO O Scale
Design Tests
249
RO
15 year RXO
boys
559
O
911 year OXO
52
14 year
24
10 year
220
8 year
52
18 year
Alsbrook (1970)
Sample
Treatments
Authors
Negative effect on
attitude toward Soviets,
(p<.05)*
Small but significant
X1 and X2 effect on
attitude, X1 more than
X2
Effect on Ranking
(p<.05), not on GSR*
No effects*
X1 and X2 caused
reduction; X1 was most
effective
Results
TS
H? I?
(C)
HT
S?
S? H? J?
(C)
T
H?
HVS
Problems**
Hayes (1969)
Heintz (1988)
Jackson (1944)
Kimoto (1974)
Litcher and
Johnson (1969)
Schwartz (1972)
read multi-ethnic
reader textbook,
four months
minority literature in
regular curriculum
three months
listen to story
(12 minutes)
Treatments
Authors
290
10 year
65
7 year
137
1011
year
N=?
201
6 year
54
16 year
Sample
RO
RXO
O
OXO
O
OXO
O
RO
ROXO
O
OXO
OXO
Semantic Differential;
opinion of blacks; Social
Situation Questionnaire
Attitude test
Design Tests
No effects; storyteller
had more effect than
teacher*
Effects (p<.000),
Categories test (p<.018)*
No effects
Results
H other
S?
(C)
T other
H? S?
T
H? S?
(C)
Problems**
X1 listen to 25 stories
with positive
representation of elderly
X2 same with negative
representation of elderly
Stone (1985)
Tauran (1967)
Zucaro (1972)
N=?
11 year
200
8 year
299
8 year
Sample
O
OXO
RO
ROXO
RO
ROXO
Attitude test
Design Tests
Effect, direction
dependent on
treatment*
Results
S
S? H?
T
H?
(C)
Problems**
R=Randomization of subjects; O=Testing; X=Treatment; OO=Posttest followed by delayed posttest; *. Reliable claims. **. S=Selection; T=Testing
or learning effect; H=Hypothesis-guessing; I=Instrumentation; D=Diffusion; J=John-Henry; V=Volunteer sample; A=Absence of pretest and no
randomization; (C)=Confounded.
H?
Treatments
Authors
Ashby and
Wittmaier (1978)
Barclay (1974)
X2 as in study 1
X3 egalitarian films
X1 listen to stereotyped
stories
X2 same stories, but
reversed roles
Study 2
McArthur and
Eisen (1976)
Sample
Design Tests
RO
ROXO
36
5 year
5 year
46
RO
RXO
Persistence on
difficult task
(minutes)
Doll-Choice Test
(A and B)
Picture Test
RO
Picture Choice Test;
RXO O Adjective Checklist;
Job Checklist
76
OXO
35 year
roles
79
5 year
128
9 year
Results
X1 enhance egalitarian
attitudes (p<.001);
more effect on girls and
5 year-olds*
Only effect of X1
Problems*
H S
T H D
(C)
HS
R=Randomization of subjects; O=Testing; X=Treatment; OO=Posttest followed by delayed posttest; *. Reliable claims. **. S=Selection; T=Testing
or learning effect; H=Hypothesis-guessing; I=Instrumentation; D=Diffusion; J=John-Henry; V=Volunteer sample; A=Absence of pretest and no
randomization; (C)=Confounded.
X1 as in study 1
Treatments
Authors
60
14 year
228
450
1011 year
220
11 year
O
OXO
O
XO
RO
ROXO
RO
RXO
ROXO
Results
X2 effect on gifted; X1
on non-gifted subjects
Tennessee Self-Concept
Scale
Loevinger Sentence
Completion Test
Self-Appraisal Inventory
Effect
No effect
Coopersmith Self-Concept
Positive effects on boys,
Inventory; Koeller Semantic but reversed for girls
Differential
(p<.05)
Personality
(AA and BB)
California Test of
Piers-Harris Childrens
Self-Concept Scale
Design Tests
O
OXO
Problems*
(C)
T
S? H?
(C)
S? H? A?
(C)
TH
H others
T
S? H?
R=Randomization of subjects; O=Testing; X=Treatment; OO=Posttest followed by delayed posttest; *. Reliable claims. **. S=Selection; T=Testing
or learning effect; H=Hypothesis-guessing; I=Instrumentation; D=Diffusion; J=John-Henry; V=Volunteer sample; A=Absence of pretest and no
randomization; (C)=Confounded.
Woodyard (1970) X
Trimble (1984)
instructional strategy
based on fairy tales
Roach (1975)
610 year
Koeller (1977)
115
Gross (1977)
Sample
Doering (1985)
N=?
1011 year
Treatments
Authors
Table 6. Self-esteem
Dukess (1985)
100
9 year
95
13 year
N=?
10 year
Sample
O
OXO
OXO
O
OXO
Design Tests
No effects
X1 and X2 effect
(p<.001); X1 more
than X2 (p<.02)
X1 and X2 enhanced
critical thinking*
Results
Problems*
TS
H?
(C)
T
H? S?
(C)
T S
(C)
R=Randomization of subjects; O=Testing; X=Treatment; OO=Posttest followed by delayed posttest; *. Reliable claims. **. S=Selection; T=Testing
or learning effect; H=Hypothesis-guessing; I=Instrumentation; D=Diffusion; J=John-Henry; V=Volunteer sample; A=Absence of pretest and no
randomization; (C)=Confounded.
literary discussion
group (1 book per 3
weeks, for 4 months)
Bird (1984)
Schulhauser (1990)X
Treatments
Authors
Cutforth (1980)
47
college
students
X1 anxiety management
(groups)
X2 Systematic
Desensitization (groups)
XO
ROXO
RO
Wittenborn Psychiatric
Rating Scale (behavior);
Attitude test
Significant decrease in
tension on both
measures*
Effect of X1
X1 and X2 caused
behavior and attitude
changes, independent of
sex, length of
institutionalization*
Results
(C)
S? A?
T V
H? S?
(C)
T
H?
T S
(C)
Problems*
R=Randomization of subjects; O=Testing; X=Treatment; OO=Posttest followed by delayed posttest; *. Reliable claims. **. S=Selection; T=Testing
or learning effect; H=Hypothesis-guessing; I=Instrumentation; D=Diffusion; J=John-Henry; V=Volunteer sample; A=Absence of pretest and no
randomization; (C)=Confounded.
60
undergrads
Smith (1979)
Scheff &
Scheele (1980)
OXO
48
testanxious
undergrads
X1 bibliotherapy
X2 audio-tape treatment
Quale (1979)
O
OXO
Design Tests
73
RO
chronic
ROXO
emotionally
disturbed
patients
295
68 year
Sample
Treatments
Authors
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References
Index of names
A
Adorno, Th. 23
Albee, E. 10
Alcorn, M. 86
Alsbrook, E.Y. 33, 39, 59
Althusser, L. 24
Andric, I. 165
Andringa, E. 64, 66, 67, 74
Aristotle. 10, 19, 27
Ashby, M.S. 33, 37, 39, 53, 87
Asperen, G.M. van. 5, 21
Assche, A. van. 29
B
Baldwin, M.W. 90
Ballantyne. 21
Balzac, H. de. 24
Bandura, A. 79, 80, 81, 83, 118, 120
Barclay, L.K. 33, 55, 56, 59
Bargh, J.A. 64, 71
Batson, C.D. 93, 98
Beach, R. 66, 78, 92
Beardsley, D.A. 33, 36, 37
Beardsley, M.C. 16, 52, 163
Beattie, A. 81, 121, 122, 124, 125, 126,
127, 129, 131, 135, 136, 137, 140,
141, 143, 144, 156, 157
Beaugrande, R. de. 78
Berg, W. van den. 7
Berg-Cross, G. 32, 33, 35, 37, 54
Berg-Cross, L. 32, 33, 35, 37, 54
Berginz-Plank, G. 78
Bierce, A. 69
Bierhoff, H.W. 90
Bilsky, W. 33, 36, 43, 50, 94
198
Chekhov, A. 75, 79, 80, 81, 121, 122,
124, 126, 127, 129, 131, 136, 137,
140, 142, 144, 145, 156, 157
Chiara, E. de. 33, 59
Coles, R. 7
Cook, T.D. 34
Corbett, E.P.J. 19, 27
Culp, M.B. 30
Cupchik, G. 74
Cutforth, N.B. 33, 37, 48, 52
Czarniawska-Joerges, B. 165
D
Darnton, R. 164
Dasberg, L. 7
DePaul, M.R. 4, 15, 24, 148, 158
Dickens, Ch. 22
Dickerson, Ch. A. 91
Doering, S.K. 33, 59
Doeser, M. 13
Dorfman, M.H. 78
Dostoevsky, F. 11
Downs, R.B. 8, 27
Dukess, S.L. 33, 59
E
Earthman, E.A. 64, 73, 96
Ebersole, P. 30
Eco, U. 6
Egan, K. 7
Eisen, S.V. 33, 37, 41, 42, 44, 45, 47,
91
Eisenberg, N. 93
Eliot, G. 18
Euben, J.P. 24
F
Ferguson, N. 27
Feshbach, N.D. 93, 143
Festinger, L. 79
Fisher, F.L. 33, 48, 59
Flaubert, G. 6, 8, 22, 117
Flerx, V.C. 33, 37, 39, 40, 44, 47, 48,
55, 81
Fletcher, G.J.O. 66, 128, 142
Index of names
Fokkema, D.W. 22
Forster, E.M. 61, 95, 148
Frankel, H.L. 33, 59
Freimuth, V.S. 32, 59
Freud, S. 16
Frey, D. 96
Fuhriman, A. 16, 52
G
Gadamer, H. 21
Gallagher, W.J. 32, 59
Gardner, J. 10, 11, 21
Garrod, A.C. 32, 33, 59
Geiger, K.F. 33, 36, 37, 47
Geljon, C. 32, 37, 54, 59
Gernsbacher, M.A. 65
Gerrig, R.J. 63
Gilbert, D.T. 64
Gimmestad, B.J. 33, 59
Giuliano, T. 67, 122
Gogol, N. 22
Golding, W. 21, 30
Goleman, D. 159, 160
Goodwin, J. 99
Graaf, J. de. 27
Greenberg, J.S. 90
Gregor, I. 21
Gregory, W.L. 86, 87, 90, 91, 109, 118,
120, 121
Gross, L.B. 33, 36, 37, 51, 52
Gruber, K.L. 80
Gruenich, R. 66
H
Habermas, J. 24
Hafferty, F.W. 5
Hakemulder, J. 29, 30
Hayes, M.T. 33, 48
Healy, G.W. 33
Heijne, B. 27
Heintz, B.A. 33, 59
Herrnstein Smith, B. 9, 22
Heuermann, H. 78
Higgins, E.T. 64, 71
Hoffman, M.L. 71, 93
Index of names
Holland, N. 86
Homer. 97
Horace. 7
Hoskisson, K. 32, 35, 39
Hunt, R.A. 76
Hynds, S. 52, 66, 161
I
Ibsen, H. 9, 27
Iser, W. 64
J
Jacklin, C.N. 66
Jackson, E.P. 33, 36, 37, 39
Jamieson, K. 32, 59
Janis, I.L. 89
Johnson, D.W. 33, 36, 37, 47, 51
Johnson, E.M.W. 32, 35, 44
Jongh, E. de. 2
Jose, P.E. 70, 96, 126
Joyce, J. 17
Justice, M.C. 32, 35, 39, 44
K
Kafka, F. 22
Keefe, D.R. 32, 35, 45, 46, 50, 53
Keener, C.D. 32, 59
Kemble. 8
Kigar, H.J. 32, 35
Kimmel, E.A. 32
Kimoto, C.K. 33, 59
King, G.A. 71
Kinnard, F.H. 32, 35, 44
Klemenz-Belgardt, E. 32, 39
Kneepkens, E. 74
Koeller, S. 33, 34, 59
Kohlberg, L. 14, 47, 59, 92
Kosinski, J. 92
Krebs, D. 96
Kruglanski, A.W. 80
Kuiken, D. 29, 30, 73, 74, 86, 91
Kunda, Z. 91
Kundera, M. 24
199
L
Lacey, A.R. 27
Lachenmann, J. 30
Lampe, Ph.E. 142
Larsen, S.F. 72
Lszl, J. 72, 74
Leippe, M.R. 80
Litcher, J.H. 33, 36, 37, 47, 51
M
Maccoby, E.E. 66
Magliano, J.P. 62, 79, 96
Maltz. 50
Mann, L. 89
Markus, H. 84, 90, 91, 92, 127
Mathews, K. 73
Mayseless, O. 80
McArthur, L.Z. 33, 37, 41, 42, 44, 45,
47, 91
McClaskey, H.C. 33, 37, 41, 52
McClelland, D. 41
McGuire, W.J. 88
Merime. 50
Metz, Ch. 59
Miall, D. 29, 30, 73, 74, 86, 91
Milgram, S.A. 32, 59
Miller, A. 30
Miller, J. Hillis. 24, 52
Miller, J.E. 23
Miller, P.A. 93
Miller, P.J. 5
Milner, S.C. 33, 36
Mischel, W. 81, 160
Mokkeddem, M. 99, 108
Monthoux, P.G. de. 165
Mooij, J.J.A. 21
Moore, B.B. 5
Moreland, R.L. 92
Mufson, S. 27
Mullarkey, S.F. 31
Mullins, P. 8
Musil, R. 3, 11
Index of names
200
N
Nicholas, B. 21
North, M. 136, 142
Noruis, M.J. 101, 105, 114, 115
Nurius, P. 84
Nussbaum, M. 15, 21, 144, 163, 165,
166, 167
O
Oatley, K. 86
Otten, W.J. 13, 27
Owen, D. 81
P
Palmer, F. 13, 148, 158, 166
Pander Maat, H. 67, 118, 126, 145
Peacock, Th. 1, 25, 27
Peer, W. van. 15, 19, 22, 67, 74, 118,
126, 144, 145, 160, 164
Peirce, K. 8
Perine, M.H. 29
Piaget, J. 14
Plato. 8, 9, 158
Poe, E.A. 71
Popper, K. 59
Porter, C. 84
Proust, M. 97, 167
Q
Quale, J.J. 33, 59
R
Racine, J. 27
Rajecki, D.W. 8
Reno, R.R. 79
Rest, J.R. 39, 44
Rhees, R. 1
Rhodes, C.S. 31
Rigney, A. 6
Rimmon-Kenan, S. 124
Roach, L.E. 33, 36, 47
Rorty, R. 13, 14, 21, 51, 166
Rousseau, J. 164
Rushdie, S. 10, 22, 24
Rushton, J.P. 81
Russell, B. 17
S
Sandkhler, H.J. 27
Sapolsky, B.S. 96
Sarason, I.G. 90
Scheele, S.C. 33, 37, 38, 52
Scheff, T.J. 33, 37, 52, 86
Schlaefli, A. 39, 44
Scholes, R.E. 2, 18
Schram, D. 32, 37, 54, 59, 78
Schulhauser, C.E. 33, 59
Schwartz, C.S.L. 33, 36, 37
Seifert, C.M. 66
Sentis, K. 92
Shakespeare, W. 4, 19, 20
Shaver, K.G. 73
Shelley, P.B. 22
Sherman, S. 73
Shirley, F.L. 30
Shklovsky, V. 3, 22, 23
Shweder, R.A. 59
Sidney, Ph. 3
Smith, D.R. 73
Smith, J. 92
Smith, W.H. 33, 59
Snell, W.E. 73
Solzhenitsyn, A. 24
Stahlberg, D. 96
Steinbeck, J. 31
Steiner, G. 9, 21
Stolnitz, J. 2, 147
Stone, J. 91
Stone, M.R.M. 33, 48, 59
Stotland, E. 71, 72, 73, 74
Stowe, H. Beecher. 8
Stryker, S. 84
Sullivan, J. 31
Swap, W.C. 14, 77
Sweeney, P.D. 80
Swift, J. 22
T
Tan, E. 96
Tauran, R.H. 33, 36
Index of names
Test, N.A. 81
Thoma, S.J. 39
Toates, F. 136, 142
Tolstoy, L. 11, 13, 22
Trabasso, T. 62, 66
Trimble, C. 33, 59
Turner, T.J. 145
Tuve, R. 18
V
Vega, M. de. 65
Vickers, B. 27
Vipond, D. 76
Vitz, P.C. 93, 158
Voltaire. 164
W
Wegner, D.M. 67, 122
201
Weiner, B. 62
Weisberg, R. 165
Wendler, L. 66, 92
Wesley, R. 90
Wiley, L.S. 33, 36, 41, 43, 45
Wilson, R.N. 29, 30
Winkler, J.J. 24
Wittmaier, B.C. 33, 37, 39, 53, 87
Woodyard, M.A. 33, 59
Wnsch, M. 73
Wurf, E. 84, 90, 91
Z
Zillmann, D. 62, 68, 69, 74, 86, 96
Zimbardo, Ph.G. 80
Zola, E. 3
Zucaro, B.J. 33, 36, 37, 45
Zwaan, R. 74
Index of terms
A
Aesthetic aspect 2, 3, 9, 20, 23, 29, 73
Age 32, 35, 46, 48, 66, 67, 103, 105
Anxiety 33, 37, 38, 49, 52, 57, 58, 151
Attitude 23, 30, 32, 33, 36, 37, 39, 41,
43, 102, 135, 144, 151, 152, 154, 159,
162, 167
Attribution 4, 13, 14, 32, 50, 64, 66, 77,
92, 93, 94, 107, 112, 113, 128, 141,
153, 158, 166
B
Behavior 1, 17, 30, 33, 36, 41, 42, 43,
45, 47, 52, 57, 64, 79, 80, 81, 85, 88,
89, 90, 91, 94, 95, 97, 118, 147, 149,
150, 152, 154, 167
Behavioral norm 100
Belief 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 30, 33, 36, 37, 48,
50, 56, 79, 83, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102,
103, 104, 105, 107, 108, 109, 110,
112, 113, 118, 120, 121, 127, 131,
137, 140, 143, 155, 157, 158, 162,
164, 167
Bibliotherapy 16, 31, 41, 52
C
Canon 9, 22
Catharsis 16, 20, 51, 52, 57, 58, 150
Censorship 1, 2, 3, 9, 10, 162
Character valence 70, 75, 77, 78, 126,
129, 136, 157
Childrens literature 7, 9, 41, 47, 162
Counter-conditioning 51
Counterempathy 70
204
I
Identification 13, 14, 16, 20, 31, 47, 49,
52, 53, 57, 58, 61, 62, 65, 70, 72, 80,
89, 95, 96, 97, 114, 118, 150, 159,
166
M
Media 23, 74, 166
Modeling 6, 80, 81, 83, 118, 154
Moral development 14, 50, 53, 56, 58,
61, 92, 93, 98, 151, 152, 161, 165
Moral effect 4, 5, 7, 19, 20, 54, 56, 57,
61, 117, 149, 152, 158
Moral judgment 14, 29, 32, 36, 50, 51,
52, 54, 57, 67, 69, 70, 72, 75, 76, 77,
84, 90, 94, 95, 101, 117, 129, 147,
150, 151, 153, 162
Moral laboratory 11, 21, 62, 68, 76, 80,
84, 91, 95, 118, 148, 150, 166
Moral reasoning 45, 46, 47, 51, 53, 56,
93, 158
Moral self-concept 31, 53, 95, 118, 127,
131, 140, 142, 143, 148, 149, 154,
156, 159, 167
N
Norm 8, 13, 19, 20, 21, 23, 24, 29, 32,
33, 35, 36, 37, 39, 40, 49, 55, 56, 57,
70, 76, 78, 79, 80, 81, 83, 84, 87, 88,
89, 90, 94, 95, 96, 100, 101, 102, 105,
107, 117, 131, 149, 153, 154, 155,
158, 159, 161, 164
O
Open-mindedness 23, 53
Outgroup perception 33, 36, 37, 39, 41,
43, 44, 49, 51, 56, 57, 58, 92, 95, 97,
98, 102, 120, 151, 152, 162, 166, 167
P
Personal adjustment 36, 52
Personality 3, 29, 30, 31, 73, 84, 85,
126, 127, 150, 159, 160
Persuasion 4, 18, 20, 90
Poetic justice 7
Index of terms
Poetry 4, 23, 29, 83, 160
Popular fiction 3, 6, 8, 15, 47, 54, 64,
74, 149, 150, 153, 161, 162, 166
Postprocessing 49
Pre-ethical effect 4, 5, 11, 14, 16, 17,
20, 23, 24, 25, 27, 50, 52, 56, 57, 61,
83, 84, 88, 94, 117, 143, 148, 149,
151, 152, 158, 159, 166
Prejudice 17, 23, 46
Priming 64, 65, 79, 86, 88, 90, 94, 95,
98, 99, 101, 113, 117, 141, 153, 154,
156
Projection 92, 112
Prosocial behavior 33, 43, 90, 93, 94
Psychotherapy 16, 41
R
Reflection 4, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 21, 22,
23, 24, 25, 30, 31, 43, 45, 50, 53, 54,
56, 74, 75, 113, 127, 142, 147, 148,
149, 151, 152, 158, 159, 160, 162
Reinforcement 83
Relaxation 52
Representation 3, 8, 9, 10, 22, 36, 37,
46, 47, 48, 75, 98, 102, 112, 150, 162
Rhetoric 18, 19, 20, 56
Role model 40, 42, 49, 56, 58, 80, 81,
83, 91, 117, 152, 153, 159
Role-playing 17, 38, 53, 84, 88, 89
Role-taking 62, 67, 68, 69, 70, 72, 73,
74, 75, 76, 81, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 93,
95, 98, 99, 100, 101, 107, 108, 109,
110, 112, 113, 114, 117, 118, 120,
121, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 140,
141, 143, 145, 153, 154, 155, 156,
157, 158, 159, 161, 166
S
Scenario 12, 64, 80, 86, 87, 90, 91, 93,
109, 118, 120, 137, 140, 142, 154
Self-concept 20, 37, 47, 49, 53, 57, 70,
71, 72, 77, 81, 84, 85, 86, 88, 90, 91,
92, 93, 94, 95, 117, 118, 120, 125,
126, 127, 128, 129, 131, 135, 136,
140, 141, 142, 143, 144, 149, 151,
Index of terms
154, 156, 157, 159, 160, 161, 165,
166
Self-discipline 159, 160
Self-esteem 36, 37, 49, 57, 95, 151, 160
Self-persuasion 88
Selves 2, 17, 18, 20, 86, 87, 117, 118,
120, 121, 127, 131, 135, 136, 140,
142, 143, 145, 150, 154, 156, 157,
159
Sex-role 9, 33, 36, 37, 39, 40, 41, 43,
44, 45, 48, 49, 53, 55, 56, 58, 95
Soap opera 14, 23, 151
Social comparison 79, 80, 94
Social desirability 44, 45, 104
Social distance 51, 57, 58, 92, 98, 102,
103, 105, 107, 112, 115, 152, 166
Social learning 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 94,
95, 118, 120, 121, 124, 125, 131, 136,
140, 145, 153, 154, 156, 157
Social perception 88, 90, 92, 93, 95, 97,
98, 99, 107, 110, 113, 128, 141, 143,
154, 155, 158, 161, 166
205
Socialization 5, 10, 55, 73, 96, 150,
152, 160
Story outcome 78, 82, 118, 120, 121,
122, 124, 125, 127, 128, 129, 131,
135, 136, 137, 140, 144, 145, 156,
157
T
Television 3, 8, 23, 151, 160, 161
Therapy 16
Thought-experiment 18, 53, 81, 88,
142, 150
Tolerance 102, 103, 105, 107, 112, 115
Truth 8, 10, 71, 150
V
Value 1, 2, 6, 13, 17, 18, 21, 29, 30, 32,
35, 37, 39, 49, 50, 54, 55, 57, 77, 78,
79, 80, 81, 83, 84, 85, 86, 88, 89, 90,
94, 95, 96, 117, 149, 151, 159, 161,
165
In the series UTRECHT PUBLICATIONS IN GENERAL AND COMPARATIVE LITERATURE (UPAL) the following titles have been published thus far or are scheduled for
publication:
16. DHAEN, Theo: Text to Reader. A Communicative Approach to Fowles, Barth, Cortazar,
and Boon. 1983.
17. de HODENC, Raoul: Le Roman des Eles, and the Anonymous: Ordene de Chevalerie.
Two Early Old French Didactic Poems. Critical Editions with Introduction, Notes, Glossary
and Translations, by Keith Busby. 1983.
18. VIJN, J. P.: Carlyle and Jean Paul: Their Spiritual Optics. 1982.
19. FOKKEMA, Douwe W.: Literary History, Modernism, and Postmodernism. (The Harvard
University Erasmus Lectures, Spring 1983). 1984.
20. ROOKMAAKER, H. R.: Towards a Romantic Conception of Nature: Coleridges Poetry up
to 1803. A study in the history of ideas. 1984.
21. FOKKEMA, Douwe and Hans BERTENS (eds): Approaching Postmodernism. Papers
presented at a Workshop on Postmodernism, 21-23 September 1984, University of Utrecht.
1986.
22. LEERSSEN, Joseph Theodoor: Mere Irish & For-Ghael. Studies in the idea of Irish
nationality, its literary expression and development. 1986.
23. CALINESCU, Matei and Douwe FOKKEMA (eds): Exploring Postmodernism. Selected
papers presented at a Workshop on Postmodernism at the XIth International Comparative
Literature Congress, Paris, 20-24 August 1985. 1988.
24. DHAEN, Theo, Rainer GRUEBEL and Helmuth LETHEN (eds): Convention and Innovation in Literature. 1989.
25. BUSBY, Keith and Erik KOOPER (eds): Courtly Literature: Culture and Context. Proceedings of the 5th triennial Congress of the International Courtly Literature Society,
Dalfsen, The Netherlands, 9-16 Aug. 1986. 1990.
26. WESSELING, Elisabeth: Writing History as a Prophet. Postmodernist innovations of the
historical novel. 1991.
27. THOMPSON, Ewa M. (ed.): The Search for Self-Definition in Russian Literature. Amsterdam, 1991.
28. SCHENKEVELD, Maria A.: Dutch Literature in the Age of Rembrandt. Themes and ideas.
1991.
29. ZWAAN, Rolf A.: Aspects of Literary Comprehension. A cognitive approach. 1993.
30. MOOIJ, J. J. A.: Fictional Realities. The uses of literary imagination. 1993.
31. RIGNEY, Ann and Douwe FOKKEMA (eds): Cultural Participation: Trends since the
Middle Ages. 1993.
32. LANGE, Margreet de: The Muzzled Muse. Literature and censorship in South Africa. 1997.
33. FOKKEMA, Douwe and Elrud IBSCH: Knowledge and Commitment. A problem-oriented
approach to literary studies. 2000.
34. HAKEMULDER, Jmeljan: The Moral Laboratory. Experiments examining the effects of
reading literature on social perception and moral self-concept. 2000.
35. SCHRAM, Dick and Gerard STEEN (eds.): The Psychology and Sociology of Literature. In
honor of Elrud Ibsch. n.y.p.