IAEA - International Association of Empirical Aesthetics

Home

Organisation

Congresses

Awards

Membership

Benefits

Scholarly
Contributions

Abstracts

Proceedings

Interview

Contact

Links

Home > Scholarly Contributions > Abstracts > Volume 19 Issue 1
Volume 19 Issue 1
Introduction to Special Issue
Gerald C. Cupchik, 2001, 19:1, 1-4.
Abstract: This special issue of Empirical Studies of the Arts comprises six papers based on presentations at IGEL2000, the 7th International Congress of the International Society for the Empirical Study of Literature held at the University of Toronto (IGEL), July 31-August 4, 2000. Three of the papers (Averill, Oatley, and Stein/ Trabasso/Ambro) were originally grouped together in a symposium on emotion, though they are presented in a different order here for reasons of thematic coherence in the unfolding of the six contributions.

Buy the whole article at baywood.com - online shop now. To let you know: As member of the IAEA you receive the Empirical Studies of the Arts twice a year *for free* and are able to purchase all back issues since 1983 at discounted rates. See more benefits!
The Rhetoric of Emotion, with a Note on What Makes Great Literature Great
James R. Averill, 2001, 19:1, 5-26.
Abstract: Art and literature appeal to the emotions as well as to the intellect. The nature of that appeal, is not well understood; this is due, in part, to the fact that the emotions themselves are not well understood. Great literature, it is sometimes suggested, appeals to emotions that are basic to human nature. An alternative suggestion is that great literature refines, stretches, and ultimately transforms the emotions. These suggestions reflect two very different views of emotion: according to the first view, emotions at least the so-called basic emotions are innate responses that in essence remain invariant across time and culture; according to the second view, emotions are subject to creative change fundamentally, not just in their outward expression. In this article, I present arguments in favor of the second view, and I propose that great literature challenges us to be creative in the emotional as in the intellectual domain indeed, that these two domains of creativity are not distinct. Several sources of data attest to the ability of people to be emotionally creative; the present analysis focuses on the on-line construction (microgenesis) of emotional episodes, drawing on insights from the study of rhetoric.

Buy the whole article at baywood.com - online shop now. To let you know: As member of the IAEA you receive the Empirical Studies of the Arts twice a year *for free* and are able to purchase all back issues since 1983 at discounted rates. See more benefits!
Shakespeare's Invention of Theater as Simulation that Runs on Minds
Keith Oatley, 2001, 19:1, 27-45.
Abstract: Shakespeare's great innovation was the idea that theater could be a model of the world. The author supplies the words, the audience members their meaning as they construct a simulated model, based on emotions, in the course of the play. One can say that fiction is to understanding social interaction as computer simulation is to understanding complex processes in physics. Shakespeare designed plays as simulations of human actions in relation to predicaments, so that the deep structure of selfhood and of the interaction of people who have distinct personalities becomes clearer, when they run on the audience s minds. I explore this idea by analyses of Henry IV Part 1, As You Like It, and Hamlet. As we run such simulations on our minds, we not only construct and experience the emotions of the vicissitudes that have caused them, but we are enabled to reflect on them to create deeper mental models of individuals (including ourselves) and of interactions among us.

Buy the whole article at baywood.com - online shop now. To let you know: As member of the IAEA you receive the Empirical Studies of the Arts twice a year *for free* and are able to purchase all back issues since 1983 at discounted rates. See more benefits!
Literary Expertise and Analogical Reasoning: Building Global Themes
Barbara Graves, 2001, 19:1, 47-63.
Abstract: This paper investigates the analogical reasoning of literary academics and writers in order to understand what role analogy plays in literary interpretation. Readers verbal protocol data were analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively to examine reasoning operations (claims, hypotheses, analogies, expectations, questions, evaluations, and meta-statements), the relational links between operations (condition, elaboration, and reiteration), and the levels of the text at which those operations occur (fact, local, and global). The results of the quantitative analysis reveal that expert readers generated relatively few analogies. The qualitative analyses suggest that, in spite of the low frequencies, analogies serve an important function in expert readers literary text descriptions. Analogies may be signaled explicitly by the text or may be generated from the domain-specific expertise of the readers. Analogical comparisons may be constructed at any of the multiple levels of the text descriptions and are also generated in relation to the communicative context. These intertextual references appear to facilitate the elaboration of knowledge schemas and global themes, and permit readers to work with multiple interpretive possibilities. In this way, analogies served as a form of data generation and management for expert readers.

Buy the whole article at baywood.com - online shop now. To let you know: As member of the IAEA you receive the Empirical Studies of the Arts twice a year *for free* and are able to purchase all back issues since 1983 at discounted rates. See more benefits!
Reading Holocaust Literature: An Interview Study
Elrud Ibsch and Margrit Schreier, 2001, 19:1, 65-84.
Abstract: An exploratory interview study was conducted on the reception of experimental Holocaust literature by German students of Literature and of Psychology up to age 35. The study focused on which variables hinder and support the acceptance of such literature, our hypothesis being that a high degree of literary socialization is especially important for facilitating acceptance of experimental Holocaust literature. Two semi-structured interviews were carried out: the first concentrating on students knowledge and attitudes toward the Holocaust and its literary representation, and the second focusing on the students experience in reading and evaluating three texts. Data analysis involved the following steps: content analysis for both interviews, frequency analyses, multiple correspondence analysis (MCA), and MANOVA with gender and subject of study as independent variables and individual scores on the MCA dimensions as dependent variables. Results for the most experimental of the three texts, Hilsenrath s The Nazi and the Barber, show that a high degree of literary socialization did not foster acceptance of experimental Holocaust literature. Instead, it led to an increased perception of taboo violations and to a rejection of Hilsenrath s novel.

Buy the whole article at baywood.com - online shop now. To let you know: As member of the IAEA you receive the Empirical Studies of the Arts twice a year *for free* and are able to purchase all back issues since 1983 at discounted rates. See more benefits!
Phenomenological and Quantitative Analyses of Absorption in Literary Passages
Ingrid K. Braun and Gerald C. Cupchik, 2001, 19:1, 85-109.
Abstract: The phenomenology of reader absorption was investigated using quantitative and qualitative measures. The 12 male and 12 female participants ranged in age between 19 and 53. There were two parts to the study that were counterbalanced across participants. In one part, they read two excerpted literary passages contrasting emotional and descriptive styles of writing and rated them on an 11-item questionnaire. In another part, they were interviewed regarding the general experience of being absorbed in a book and about a specific absorbing text of their choice. Phenomenological analysis of interview data revealed experiential properties (corporeality, sensory perceptions, spatiality, temporality, and agency) and underlying processes (e.g., reader s perspective, attention, familiarity with situation) that shaped the reading activity. Factor analyses of the verbal rating scales and of the frequency tables for properties and processes both contrasted empathetic and sympathetic reading modes. These were also revealed in close (i.e., spontaneous and experiential) and far (i.e., purposeful and inferential) reader orientations which appear to have reflected individual differences in reading styles. The pedagogical implications of the findings are also discussed.

Buy the whole article at baywood.com - online shop now. To let you know: As member of the IAEA you receive the Empirical Studies of the Arts twice a year *for free* and are able to purchase all back issues since 1983 at discounted rates. See more benefits!
Understanding and Organizing Emotional Experience: Autobiographical Accounts of Traumatic Events
Nancy L. Stein, Tom Trabasso, and Elizabeth R. Albro, 2001, 19:1, 111-130.
Abstract: Autobiographical accounts of traumatic and stressful emotional events reveal how we understand and organize personally meaningful experiences. Our analysis of traumatic and emotional narratives focuses on the ways in which the person s event memory predicts the impact of trauma and emotional experiences on psychological well-being (e.g., depression or positive morale) of both children and adults. Four primary factors account for the relationship between memory and psychological well-being: 1) beliefs (evaluations) about the experience of trauma or stress; 2) specific emotions expressed in reaction to the events; 3) beliefs about one s competence at coping with and overcoming adversity; and 4) the generation of new goals formulated to replace those lost irrevocably. The organization and narration of emotional understanding, while diverse and complex in content, is highly constrained as to the number and kind of emotions expressed. The relationships among specific emotions, antecedents, beliefs, and plans of action are also constrained. The presence of these constraints, as well as the use of a causal theory of emotion and goal-directed action, allow us to make predictions about psychological well-being and memory for emotional events.

Buy the whole article at baywood.com - online shop now. To let you know: As member of the IAEA you receive the Empirical Studies of the Arts twice a year *for free* and are able to purchase all back issues since 1983 at discounted rates. See more benefits!
back to abstracts