Speaker: Lynn Eekhof
Affiliation: Radboud University
Title: Engagement with Narrative Characters as a Function of Social-Cognitive Abilities and Linguistic Viewpoint
Abstract (long version below): IEmotional and cognitive engagement with characters is at the core of narrative reading. We collected data from 352 participants who read two short Dutch literary narratives that were manipulated for the presence of perceptual, cognitive, and emotional viewpoint markers. Our analyses revealed that character engagement is multi-faceted, and influenced by an intricate interplay of readers’ social-cognitive abilities and linguistic viewpoint. These findings suggest that the relationship between character engagement, reader characteristics, and text characteristics is more nuanced than previously thought and warrants more study.
Long abstract
Introduction
Engaging with character’s inner worlds is at the core of narrative reading, and this process has been described in the literature under various headings such as identification (e.g., Cohen, 2001), experience-taking (Kaufman & Libby, 2012), and narrative empathy (e.g., Coplan, 2004; Keen, 2006). Previous research suggests that both perspectivization techniques (e.g., Habermas & Diel, 2010; Hoeken et al., 2016), as well as readers’ social-cognitive abilities (e.g., Koopman, 2015, 2016; van Lissa et al., 2018) influence the emergence of character engagement experiences. Not a lot of attention has been paid, however, to the interplay between these textual and reader characteristics.
We studied how various facets of character engagement are a function of (1) individual differences in social-cognitive abilities, (2) linguistic viewpoint, i.e., the relative degree to which narratives provide access to the inner worlds of characters, and (3) their interaction.
Methods
We collected data online (Prolific) from 352 (187 F) native speakers of Dutch (18-69 years old, M = 29.07, SD = 10.66). Participants completed a study that consisted of two parts, the order of which was randomized. In one part, the participants completed a batch of social-cognitive measures: two self-report scales of trait empathy (Interpersonal Reactivity Index, IRI, Davis, 1983; Basic Empathy Scale, BES, Jolliffe & Farrington, 2006), a measure of spontaneous mentalizing (Spontaneous Theory of Mind Protocol, STOMP, Rice & Redcay, 2015), and a task-based measure of trait affective empathy (Multifaceted Empathy Test, MET, Dziobek et al., 2008), as well as questions related to their reading habits (Author Recognition Test, Brysbaert et al., 2020; adapted version of the Reading Habits Questionnaire, Kuijpers et al., 2020).
In the other part of the study, participants read two existing short Dutch literary narratives that were manipulated for the presence of perceptual, cognitive, and emotional viewpoint markers using the Viewpoint Identification Procedure as a guide (VPIP; Eekhof et al., 2020). Each participant read both stories, each in a different condition. In the enriched conditions, the number of perceptual, cognitive, and emotional viewpoint markers present in the original version of the narrative was doubled, by adding extra markers that referred to the inner world of the main character. In the impoverished versions, all viewpoint markers that were present in the original version and were not embedded in speech reports were removed. Participants filled in various established questionnaires of character engagement (EDI scale, Igartua, 2010; State Empathy Scale, Levett-Jones et al., 2017; Empathy and Cognitive Perspective-Taking subscale, Busselle & Bilandzic, 2009) for both narratives.
Results
We entered the items of all character engagement questionnaires in a Principle Component Analysis with oblique rotation and extracted 6 components: Cognitive Perspective-Taking with Character, Empathic Imagination towards Character, Story-Induced Personal Distress, Character Identification, Sympathy towards Character, and Motivation to Help Character. These components were then used as dependent variables in 6 linear mixed models that had the following model structure:
Character Engagement Component ~ Condition * Social-Cognitive Abilities [2 BES subscales , STOMP, MET, 4 IRI subscales] + Reading Habits [adult fiction habits, childhood fiction habits] + ART Score + Readability Score + (1|Subject)
As expected, our preliminary analyses showed that, in general, social-cognitive abilities positively affected character engagement. For example, MET Score (measuring trait affective empathy) had a positive, significant effect on all components except Motivation to Help Character. However, there were also more mixed patterns: the Sympathy towards Character component, for example, was positively affected by MET Score, but negatively affected by Cognitive Empathy Score (BES) and Personal Distress Score (IRI), suggesting that a more cognitive approach or self-oriented emotional response to a character’s inner worlds hinders sympathy towards that character.
With regard to viewpoint condition we found effects in the expected direction on the Cognitive Perspective-Taking with Character and Empathic Imagination towards Character components: the enriched condition elicited more cognitive perspective-taking and empathic imagination towards the main character than the impoverished condition.
Finally, we found interactions between social-cognitive abilities and viewpoint condition for Sympathy towards Character and Motivation to Help Character. In the enriched viewpoint condition Perspective Taking Score (IRI) had a more positive effect on Sympathy towards Character than in the impoverished viewpoint condition. Similarly, Cognitive Empathy Score (BES) had a more positive effect in the enriched viewpoint condition for Motivation to Help Character than in the impoverished viewpoint condition. These interactions suggest that readers with higher social-cognitive abilities are more sensitive to the presence of viewpoint markers. However, conversely, Perspective Taking Score (IRI) had a more negative effect in the enriched viewpoint condition for Motivation to Help Character compared to the impoverished condition.
Conclusion
All in all, our study reveals an intricate pattern of relationships between various aspects of character engagement, social-cognitive abilities, and viewpoint techniques, underlining the importance of studying these concepts and their interplay in a more nuanced way.
References
Brysbaert, M., Sui, L., Dirix, N., & Hintz, F. (2020). Dutch Author Recognition Test. Journal of Cognition, 3(1). https://doi.org/10.5334/joc.95
Busselle, R., & Bilandzic, H. (2009). Measuring Narrative Engagement. Media Psychology, 12(4), 321–347. https://doi.org/10.1080/15213260903287259
Cohen, J. (2001). Defining Identification: A Theoretical Look at the Identification of Audiences With Media Characters. Mass Communication and Society, 4(3), 245–264. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15327825MCS0403_01
Coplan, A. (2004). Empathic Engagement with Narrative Fictions. The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 62(2), 141–152. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-594X.2004.00147.x
Davis, M. H. (1983). Measuring individual differences in empathy: Evidence for a multidimensional approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 44(1), 113–126. APA PsycNet
Dziobek, I., Rogers, K., Fleck, S., Bahnemann, M., Heekeren, H. R., Wolf, O. T., & Convit, A. (2008). Dissociation of Cognitive and Emotional Empathy in Adults with Asperger Syndrome Using the Multifaceted Empathy Test (MET). Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 38(3), 464–473. Dissociation of Cognitive and Emotional Empathy in Adults with Asperger Syndrome Using the Multifaceted Empathy Test (MET) | SpringerLink
Eekhof, L. S., Van Krieken, K., & Sanders, J. (2020). VPIP: A Lexical Identification Procedure for Perceptual, Cognitive, and Emotional Viewpoint in Narrative Discourse. Open Library of Humanities, 6(1), 18. Eekhof | VPIP: A Lexical Identification Procedure for Perceptual, Cognitive, and Emotional Viewpoint in Narrative Discourse | Open Library of Humanities
Habermas, T., & Diel, V. (2010). The emotional impact of loss narratives: Event severity and narrative perspectives. Emotion, 10(3), 312–323. APA PsycNet
Hoeken, H., Kolthoff, M., & Sanders, J. (2016). Story Perspective and Character Similarity as Drivers of Identification and Narrative Persuasion: Perspective, Similarity, and Identification. Human Communication Research, 42(2), 292–311. https://doi.org/10.1111/hcre.12076
Igartua, J.-J. (2010). Identification with characters and narrative persuasion through fictional feature films. Communications, 35(4). Identification with characters and narrative persuasion through fictional feature films
Jolliffe, D., & Farrington, D. P. (2006). Development and validation of the Basic Empathy Scale. Journal of Adolescence, 29(4), 589–611. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2005.08.010
Kaufman, G. F., & Libby, L. K. (2012). Changing beliefs and behavior through experience-taking. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 103(1), 1–19. APA PsycNet
Keen, S. (2006). A Theory of Narrative Empathy. Narrative, 14(3), 207–236. https://doi.org/10.1353/nar.2006.0015
Koopman, E. M. (2015). Empathic reactions after reading: The role of genre, personal factors and affective responses. Poetics, 50, 62–79. Redirecting
Koopman, E. M. (2016). Effects of “literariness” on emotions and on empathy and reflection after reading. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 10(1), 82–98. APA PsycNet
Kuijpers, M. M., Douglas, S., & Kuiken, D. (2020). Capturing the Ways We Read. Anglistik, 31(1), 53–69. https://doi.org/10.33675/ANGL/2020/1/6
Levett-Jones, T., Lapkin, S., Govind, N., Pich, J., Hoffman, K., Jeong, S. Y.-S., Norton, C. A., Noble, D., Maclellan, L., Robinson-Reilly, M., & Everson, N. (2017). Measuring the impact of a ‘point of view’ disability simulation on nursing students’ empathy using the Comprehensive State Empathy Scale. Nurse Education Today, 59, 75–81. Redirecting
Rice, K., & Redcay, E. (2015). Spontaneous mentalizing captures variability in the cortical thickness of social brain regions. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 10(3), 327–334. https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsu081
van Lissa, C. J., Caracciolo, M., van Duuren, T., & van Leuveren, B. (2018). Difficult Empathy—The Effect of Narrative Perspective on Readers’ Engagement with a First-Person Narrator. DIEGESIS, 5(1), 43–63.
