Bal, P. Matthijs and Veltkamp, Martijn (2013) How does fiction reading influence empathy? An experimental investigation on the role of emotional transportation. PLoS ONE, 8 (1). e55341. ISSN 1932-6203
Full content URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0055341
Documents |
|
|
PDF
Bal_Veltkamp_2013_PlosOne.pdf - Whole Document Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. 232kB |
Item Type: | Article |
---|---|
Item Status: | Live Archive |
Abstract
The current study investigated whether fiction experiences change empathy of the reader. Based on transportation theory, it was predicted that when people read fiction, and they are emotionally transported into the story, they become more empathic. Two experiments showed that empathy was influenced over a period of one week for people who read a fictional story, but only when they were emotionally transported into the story. No transportation led to lower empathy in both studies, while study 1 showed that high transportation led to higher empathy among fiction readers. These effects were not found for people in the control condition where people read non-fiction. The study showed that fiction influences empathy of the reader, but only under the condition of low or high emotional transportation into the story.
Keywords: | Fiction Reading, Empathy, Transportation |
---|---|
Subjects: | N Business and Administrative studies > N200 Management studies |
Divisions: | Lincoln International Business School |
Related URLs: | |
ID Code: | 24787 |
Deposited On: | 28 Oct 2016 19:29 |
Repository Staff Only: item control page