IAEA - International Association of Empirical Aesthetics

Home

Organisation

Congresses

Awards

Membership

Benefits

Scholarly
Contributions

Abstracts

Proceedings

Interview

Contact

Links

Home > Scholarly Contributions > Abstracts > Volume 23 Issue 1
Volume 23 Issue 1
INTRODUCTION: EMPIRICAL STUDIES OF LITERATURE--WIDENING HORIZONS
DAVID S. MIALL, 2005, 23:1, 1-2.
Abstract:

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!
APPROACH AND SELECTION OF POPULAR NARRATIVE GENRE
PETER DIXON and MARISA BORTOLUSSI, 2005, 23:1, 3-17.
Abstract: In the present article, we propose a framework for understanding a variety of genre-reception phenomena that we term a "search-for-features" model. The essence of this approach is that many characteristics of genre and genre structure are determined by readers' expectations concerning whether they will enjoy a work. The model provides a framework for accounting for the rich structure of genre categories, the variable consistency of that structure, the existence of an authorial "star" system, and aspects of the historical dynamics of genre. As an initial evaluation of the model, we provide some evidence on how readily readers can identify genre from a book's cover. The results demonstrate that readers are reasonably accurate in making such judgments about most genres, but they perform relatively poorly with science fiction book covers.

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!
READERS' RESPONSES WHILE READING A NARRATIVE TEXT
M. CHIARA LEVORATO and ALDO NEMESIO, 2005, 23:1, 19-31.
Abstract: This article examines cognitive and emotional responses produced while reading a short story. The text was presented in the original and in two modified versions, which differed in the presence or absence of anticipations. Readers were presented with a questionnaire concerning their responses. Effects of text version, gender, and type of academic studies were examined. A factorial analysis explored the underlying dimensions of the 15 variables. Three factors emerged, concerning readers' participation in the story, responses to the violation of their expectations, and cognitive evaluation of the textual features that make the story comprehensible. Women scored significantly higher on the first factor and the presence or absence of anticipations significantly influenced the second factor.

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 RECEPTIVITY OF CANADIAN READERS TO CHINESE LITERATURE: LIN YUTANG'S WRITINGS IN ENGLISH
GAO WEI, DAVID S. MIALL, DON KUIKEN, TRACY ENG, 2005, 23:1, 33-45.
Abstract: The study explores how readers from an ethnic minority or from an ethnic majority negotiate their cultural identities within a multicultural context. It examines to what extent readers who were either Chinese-Canadian or Euro-Canadian become personally implicated in their reading experiences. Readers were asked to comment on passages that they found striking in two texts, a philosophical and a narrative text written in English by the Chinese author Lin Yutang. It was found that differences between the two ethnic groups of readers occurred only in response to the narrative text. Here a style of reading indicating familiarity with Chinese culture, comparison between the reader's life world and the world of the text, and explicit reference to cultural contrasts, was more frequent among Chinese-Canadian readers; in contrast, a style of commentary that combined evocative elaboration with a form of identification that situated the reader within the implicit "we" of the text, was more frequent among Euro-Canadian readers. These styles of reading suggest different forms of self-implication during reading that can be described respectively as similes or metaphors of personal identification.

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, HEARING, AND SEEING POETRY PERFORMED
MICHELLE C. HILSCHER and GERALD C. CUPCHIK , 2005, 23:1, 47-64.
Abstract: The study investigated the differences between reading a poem, listening to a poem, and watching a live poetic performance. Stimulus materials included three poems with positive and three with negative themes written by Michelle Hilscher. The 32 participants, including an equal number of males and females in psychology and literature, completed a General Poetry Questionnaire (GPQ) to indicate their experiences and impressions of poetry coming into the study. Following the presentation of each poem, participants answered 14 5-point scale questions in a Poetry Reception Questionnaire (PRQ) which captured cognitive and emotional nuances of poetry reception, and one open-ended question where the participants wrote freely about the poem's meaning. A factor analysis of the GPQ distinguished primarily between participants' responsiveness to the stylistic features and subject matter of poetry. A factor analysis of the PRQ identified global absorption, interpretive engagement, and narrative representation as the primary activities involved in responses to the six poems. A factor analysis of qualitatively derived meaning categories (MC) contrasted an elaboration of style and metaphor as opposed to subject matter and story line. Analyses of variance showed that respondents preferred to read poetry as compared to hearing, or seeing it performed live. By reading poetry themselves, participants were able to explore and interpret the literary devices in poetry in an independent and creative manner, whereas participants who experienced a live performance seemed constrained in their ability to be actively involved in their experience of poetry and therefore found the poetry less engaging.

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!
EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS, GENDER ASSUMPTIONS, AND THE LANGUAGE OF NARRATION IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY BRITISH FICTION
LARRY STEWART, 2005, 23:1, 65-77.
Abstract: This study attempts first to determine whether quantitative and empirical methods can indicate differences in the language of male and female narrators in eighteenth-century British fiction and second to suggest some preliminary conclusions about gender assumptions arising from this investigation. A principal components analysis using word frequencies as variables (the Burrows technique) demonstrates that male and female narrators in Daniel Defoe's major novels can be differentiated according to the language that they use. Preliminary analyses of a sample of other eighteenth-century novels suggest that the differences of vocabulary frequencies in Defoe's fiction may hold true in the language of narrators created by other eighteenth-century writers as well: female narrators created by male writers use certain items of vocabulary at a rate significantly different than those items are used by male narrators created by male writers or by any narrators created by female writers. More specifically, female narrators use the language of contingency (as evidenced by the word if) more frequently than other narrators; they are more self-referential than other narrators, using I, me, and my at a significantly greater rate than other narrators; and they use a language of social engagement with he, she, her, and him appearing much more frequently than in the language of other narrators. If these results are substantiated by further analyses, there would seem to be empirical evidence for the claim that eighteenth-century male writers held certain assumptions about the language used by women or, at least, that these male writers believed that readers would more readily accept as female narrators who used language in a certain way. Such evidence could give an empirical base to our understanding of some gender assumptions in eighteenth-century England.

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