1

Eva Maria Koopmann / Frank Hakemulder

Effects of Literature on Empathy and Self-Reflection: A Theoretical-Empirical Framework

(Abstract)

Full-length article in: JLT 9/1 (2015), 79–111.

Various scholars have made claims about literature’s potential to evoke empathy and self-reflection, which would eventually lead to more pro-social behavior. But is it indeed the case that a seemingly idle pass-time activity like literary reading can do all that? And if so, how can we explain such an influence? Would the effects be particular to unique literary text qualities or to other aspects that literary texts share with other genres (e. g., narrativity)? Empirical research is necessary to answer these questions. This article presents an overview of empirical studies investigating the relationship between reading and empathy, and reading and self-reflection. We reveal those questions in the research that are not addressed as of yet, and synthesize the available approaches to literary effects. Based on theory as well as empirical work, a multi-factor model of literary reading is constructed.

With regard to reading and empathy, the metaphor of the moral laboratory (cf. Hakemulder 2000) comes close to a concise summary of the research and theory. Being absorbed in a narrative can stimulate empathic imagination. Readers go along with the author/narrator in a (fictional) thought-experiment, imagining how it would be to be in the shoes of a particular character, with certain motives, under certain circumstances, meeting with certain events. That would explain why narrativity can result in a broadening of readers’ consciousness, in particular so that it encompasses fellow human beings. Fictionality might stimulate readers to consider the narrative they read as a thought experiment, creating distance between them and the events, allowing them to experiment more freely with taking the position of a character different from themselves, also in moral respects. Literary features, like gaps and ambiguous characterization, may stimulate readers to make more mental inferences, thus training their theory of mind. However, apart from literature possibly being able to train basic cognitive ability, we have little indication for the importance of literary imagination over narrative or fictional imagination.

Regarding self-reflection, while there is no convincing evidence that literary texts are generally more thought-provoking than non-literary texts (either narrative or expository), there is tentative indication for a relation between reading literary texts and self-reflection. However, as was the case for the studies on empathy, there is a lack of systematic comparisons between literary narratives and non-literary narratives. There are some suggestions regarding the processes that can lead to self-reflection. Empirical and theoretical work indicates that the combination of experiencing narrative and aesthetic emotions tends to trigger self-reflection. Personal and reading experience may influence narrative and aesthetic emotions.

By proposing a multi-factor model of literary reading, we hope to give an impulse to current reader response research, which too often conflates narrativity, fictionality and literariness. The multi-factor model of literary reading contains (our simplified versions of) two theoretical positions within the field of reader response studies on underlying processes that lead to empathy and reflection: the idea of reading literature as a form of role-taking proposed by Oatley (e. g., 1994; 1999) and the idea of defamiliarization through deviating textual and narrative features proposed by Miall and Kuiken (1994; 1999). We argue that these positions are in fact complementary. While the role-taking concept seems most adequate to explain empathic responses, the defamiliarization concept seems most adequate in explaining reflective responses. The discussion of these two theoretical explanations leads to the construction of a theoretical framework (and model) that offers useful suggestions which texts could be considered to have which effects on empathy and reflection.

In our multi-factor model of literary reading, an important addition to the previously mentioned theories is the concept »stillness«. We borrow this term from the Canadian author Yann Martel (2009), who suggests reading certain literary texts will help to stimulate self-contemplation (and appreciation for art), moments that are especially valuable in times that life seems to be racing by, and we are enveloped by work and a multitude of other activities. Other literary authors have proposed similar ideas. Stillness is related to, or overlaps with the more commonly used term »aesthetic distance«, an attitude of detachment, allowing for contemplation to take place (cf. Cupchik 2001). Stillness, we propose, allows a space in which slow thinking (Kahneman 2011) can take place. Stillness is not reflection itself, but a precondition for reflection. In our model, stillness is an empty space or time that is created as a result of reading processes: the slowing down of readers’ perceptions of the fictional world, caused by defamiliarization. Our multi-factor model suggests that while role-taking can take place for all types of narratives, literary and fictional narratives may evoke the type of aesthetic distance (stillness) that leads to a suspension of judgment, adding to a stronger experience of role-taking and narrative empathy.

References

Aarts, Henk/Peter Max Gollwitzer/Ran Hassin, Goal Contagion: Perceiving is for Pursuing, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 87 (2004), 23–37.

Adler, Emily/Paula Foster, A Literature-Based Approach to Teaching Values to Adolescents: Does it Work?,Adolescence 32 (1997), 275–286.

Althusser, Louis, Drie Opstellen over Kunst en Ideologie, Nijmegen 1983.

Altmann, Ulrike/Isabel Bohrn/Oliver Lubrich/Winfried Menninghaus/Arthur Jacobs, Fact vs Fiction: How Paratextual Information Shapes Our Reading Processes, Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience 9 (2012), 22–29, doi:10.1093/scan/nss098. [CrossRef]

Andringa, Els, Effects of ›Narrative Distance‹ on Readers’ Emotional Involvement and Response, Poetics 23 (1996), 431–452. [CrossRef]

Appel, Markus/Tobias Richter, Persuasive Effects of Fictional Narratives Increase over Time, Media Psychology 10 (2007), 113–134.

Aristotle, Poetics, Cambridge, MA 1987.

Bakhtin, Michail, Problems of Dostoevsky’s Poetics, Minneapolis 1984.

Bal, Matthijs/Martijn Veltkamp, How Does Fiction Reading Influence Empathy? An Experimental Investigation on the Role of Emotional Transportation, Plos One 8 (2013), e55341, doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0055341.

Baron-Cohen, Simon/Sally Wheelwright/Jacqueline Hill/Yogini Raste/Ian Plumb, The »Reading the Mind in the Eyes« Test Revised Version: A Study With Normal Adults, and Adults with Asperger Syndrome or High-Functioning Autism, Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 42 (2001), 241–251. [CrossRef]

Beach, Richard/Susan Hynds, Research on Response to Literature, in: Rebecca Barr/Michael Kamil/Peter Mosenthal/David Pearson (eds.), Handbook of reading research, New York 1991, 453 – 489.

Beardsley, Donna, The Effects of Using Fiction in Bibliotherapy to Alter the Attitudes of Regular Third Grade Students Toward Their Handicapped Peers, Columbia 1979.

Beran, Michael, Lincoln, Macbeth, and the Moral Imagination, http://www.nhinet.org/beran.htm, (12.09.2014) 1998.

Bilsky, Wolfgang, Angewandte Altruismusforschung: Analyse und Rezeption von Texten über Hilfeleistung, Bern 1989.

Bird, Jan, Effects of Fifth Graders’ Attitudes and Critical Thinking/Reading Skills Resulting from a Junior Great Books Program, New Brunswick 1984.

Block, Cathy, Strategy Instruction in a Literature-Based Reading Program, The Elementary School Journal 94 (1993), 139–151.

Booth, Wayne C., The Company We Keep: An Ethics of Fiction, Berkeley 1988.

Bourdieu, Pierre, The Rules of Art: Genesis and Structure of the Literary Field, Cambridge 1996.

Boyd, Brian, On the Origin of StoriesEvolution, Cognition, and Fiction, London 2009.

Brisbin, Charles, An Experimental Application of the Galvanic Skin Response to the Measurement of Effects of Literature on Attitudes of Fifth Grade Students toward Blacks, Detroit 1971.

Bronzwaer, Wim, De Vrije Ruimte, Baarn 1986.

Bruner, Jerome, Actual Minds, Possible Worlds, Cambridge 1986.

Busselle, Rick/Helena Bilandzic, Measuring Narrative Engagement, Media Psychology 12 (2009), 321–347.

Cohen, Jonathan, Defining Identification: A Theoretical Look at the Identification of Audiences with Media Characters, Mass Communication and Society 4 (2001), 245–264.

Cooper, Robert/Ayman Sawaf, Emotional Intelligence in Leadership, Istanbul 2003.

Coplan, Amy, Empathic Engagement with Narrative Fictions, The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 62 (2004), 141–152.

Corse, Sarah/Saundra Westervelt, Gender and Literary Valorization: »The Awakening« of a Canonical Novel,Sociological Perspectives 45 (2002), 139–161. [CrossRef]

Culp, Mary, Case Studies of the Influence of Literature on the Attitudes, Values, and Behavior, 1975 and 1984,English Journal 74 (1985), 31–35.

Cupchik, Gerald, The Evolution of Psychical Distance as an Aesthetic Concept, Culture & Psychology 8 (2001), 155–187.

Cupchik, Gerald/Janos László, The Landscape of Time in Literary Reception: Character Experience and Narrative Action, Cognition and Emotion 8 (1994), 297–312. [CrossRef]

Cupchik, Gerald/Garry Leonard/Elise Axelrad/Judith Kalin, The Landscape of Emotion in Literary Encounters,Cognition & Emotion 12 (1998), 825–847. [CrossRef]

Culpeper, Jonathan, Inferring Character From Texts; Attribution Theory and Foregrounding Theory, Poetics 23 (1996), 335–361. [CrossRef]

Davis, Mark, A multidimensional approach to individual differences in empathy, JSAS Catalogue of Selected Documents in Psychology 10 (1980), 85.

Davis, Mark, Measuring Individual Differences in Empathy: Evidence for a Multidimensional Approach, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 44 (1983), 113–126.

De Botton, Alain, How Proust Can Change Your Life, New York 1997.

De Waal, Frans, Putting the Altruism Back into Altruism: The Evolution of Empathy, Annual Review of Psychology59 (2007), 1–22.

Decety, Jean/Philip Jackson, A Social Neuroscience Perspective on Empathy, Current Directions in Psychological Science 15 (2006), 54–58.

Djikic, Maja/Keith Oatley/Mihnea Moldoveanu, Reading Other Minds: Effects of Literature on Empathy, Scientific Study of Literature 3 (2013), 28–47.

Fish, Stanley (1980), Is There a Text in This Class? The Authority of Interpretive Communities, Cambridge, MA 1980.

Geiger, Klaus, Jugendliche lesen ›Landser‹-Hefte. Hinweise auf Lektürefunktionen und -wirkungen, in: Gunter Grimm (ed.), Literatur und Leser. Theorien und Modelle zur Rezeption literarische Werke, Stuttgart 1975, 324–266.

Goldstein, Thalia, The Pleasure of Unadulterated Sadness: Experiencing Sorrow in Fiction, Nonfiction, and ›in Person‹, Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts 3 (2009), 232–237.

Goleman, Daniel, Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ, New York 1995.

Green, Melanie, Transportation into Narrative Worlds: The Role of Prior Knowledge and Perceived Realism,Discourse Processes 38 (2004), 247–266.

Green, Melanie/Timothy Brock, The Role of Transportation in the Persuasiveness of Public Narratives, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 79 (2000), 701–721.

Guroian, Vigen, Awakening the Moral Imagination: Teaching Virtues Through Fairy Tales, http://catholiceducation.org/articles/arts/al0134.html (10.11.2014), 1996.

Habermas, Jürgen, Moralbewusstsein und kommunikatives Handeln, Frankfurt a. M. 1983.

Hakemulder, Jèmeljan, The Moral Laboratory. Experiments Examining the Effects of Reading Literature on Social Perception and Moral Self-Concept, Amsterdam 2000.

Hakemulder, Jèmeljan, Foregrounding and Its Effect on Readers, Discourse Processes 38 (2004), 193–218.

Hakemulder, Jèmeljan, Imagining What Could Happen: Effects of Taking the Role of a Character on Social Cognition, in: Sonia Zyngier/Marisa Bortolussi/Anna Chesnokova/Jan Auracher (eds.), Directions in Empirical Literary Studies, Amsterdam 2008, 139–160.

Hakemulder, Frank/Willie van Peer, Empirical Stylistics, in: Violeta Sotirova (ed.), Companion to Stylistics, Oxford in press.

Halász, László, Emotional Effect and Reminding in Literary Processing, Poetics 20 (1991), 247–272. [CrossRef]

Hatfield, Elaine/John Cacioppo/Richard Rapson, Emotional Contagion, New York 1994.

Heldsworth, Janet, Vicarious Experience of Reading a Book in Changing Nursing Students’ Attitudes, Nursing Research 17 (1968), 135–139.

Hunt, Lynn, Inventing Human Rights: A History, New York 2007.

Hunt, Russell/Douglas Vipond, Crash-Testing a Transactional Model of Literary Reading. Reader: Essays in Reader-Oriented Theory, Criticism, and Pedagogy 14 (1985), 23–39.

Hutchison, Fred, The Moral Imagination, Politics, and Wisdom, http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/hutchison/120726 (10.09.2014), 2004.

Ibarra, Herminia/Roxana Barbulescu, Identity as Narrative: Prevalence, Effectiveness, and Consequences of Narrative Identity Work in Macro Work Role Transitions, Academy of Management Review 35 (2010), 135–154.[CrossRef]

Igartua, Juan-Jose, Identification with Characters and Narrative Persuasion through Fictional Feature Films,Communications – The European Journal of Communication Research 35 (2010), 347–373.

Iser, Wolfgang, The Reading Process: A Phenomenological Approach, in: David Lodge (ed.), Modern Criticism and Thought: A Reader, London 1988.

Jackson, Evalene, Effects of Reading Upon Attitudes Toward the Negro Race, The Library Quarterly 14 (1944), 47–54.

Jakobson, Roman, Linguistics and Poetics, in: Thomas Sebeok (ed.), Style in Language, New York 1960, 350–377.

Janssen, Susanne, Reviewing as Social Practice: Institutional Constraints on Critics’ Attention for Contemporary Fiction, Poetics 24 (1997), 275–297. [CrossRef]

Johnson, Dan, Transportation into a Story Increases Empathy, Prosocial Behavior, and Perceptual Bias toward Fearful Expressions, Personality and Individual Differences 52 (2012), 150–155.

Johnson, Dan, Transportation into Literary Fiction Reduces Prejudice Against and Increases Empathy for Arab-Muslims, Scientific Study of Literature 3 (2013), 77–92.

Johnson, Mark, Moral Imagination; Implications of Cognitive Science for Ethics, Chicago 1993.

Kahneman, Daniel, Thinking, Fast and Slow, London 2011.

Keen, Susan, A Theory of Narrative Empathy, Narrative 14 (2006), 207–237. [CrossRef]

Keen, Susan, Empathy and the Novel, New York 2007.

Kidd, David/Emanuele Castano, Reading Literary Fiction Improves Theory of Mind, Science 342 (2013), 377–380.[CrossRef] [PubMed]

Kimmel, Eric, Can Children’s Books Change Children’s Values?, Educational Leadership 38 (1970), 209–214.

Klemenz-Belgardt, Edith, American Research on Response to Literature: The Empirical Studies, Poetics 10 (1981), 357–380. [CrossRef]

Kneepkens, Leonore/Rolf Zwaan, Emotions and Text Comprehension, Poetics 23 (1994), 125–138.

Kogut, Tehila/Ilana Ritov, The »Identified Victim« Effect: An Identified Group, Or Just a Single Individual?, Journal of Behavioural Decision-Making 18 (2005), 157–167.

Koopman, Eva Maria (Emy), Predictors of Insight and Catharsis Among Readers Who Use Literature as a Coping Strategy, Scientific Study of Literature 1 (2011), 241–259.

Koopman, Eva Maria (Emy)/Michelle Hilscher/Gerald Cupchik, Reader Responses to Literary Depictions of Rape,Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts 6 (2012), 66–73.

Kotovych, Maria/Peter Dixon/Marisa Bortolussi/Mark Holden, Textual Determinants of a Component of Literary Identification, Scientific Study of Literature 1 (2011), 260–291.

Krijnen, Tonny, There is More(s) in Television, Amsterdam 2007.

Kuiken, Don/David Miall/Shelley Sikora, Forms of Self-Implication in Literary Reading, Poetics Today 25 (2004), 171–203. [CrossRef]

Kundera, Milan, Testaments Betrayed, London 1995.

László, János/Steen Larsen, Cultural and Text Variables in Processing Personal Experiences While Reading Literature, Empirical Studies of the Arts 9 (1991), 23–34.

Leverage, Paula/Howard Mancing/Richard Schweickert/Jennifer Marston William (eds.), Theory of Mind and Literature, West Lafayette 2011.

Levitt, Heidi/Woraporn Rattanasampan/Suwichit Chaidaroon/Caroline Stanley/Tamara Robinson, The Process of Personal Change Through Reading Fictional Narratives: Implications for Psychotherapy Practice and Theory, The Humanistic Psychologist 37 (2009), 326–352.

Litcher, John/David Johnson, Changes in Attitudes Toward Negroes of White Elementary School Students After Use of Multiethnic Readers, Journal of Educational Psychology 60 (1969), 148–152. [CrossRef]

Loewenstein, George/Deborah Small, The Scarecrow and the Tin Man: The Vicissitudes of Human Sympathy and Caring, Review of General Psychology 11 (2007), 112–126.

Mar, Raymond/Keith Oatley, The Function of Fiction is the Abstraction and Simulation of Social Experience,Perspectives on Psychological Science 3 (2008), 173–192.

Mar, Raymond/Keith Oatley/Jordan Peterson, Exploring the Link Between Reading Fiction and Empathy: Ruling Out Individual Differences and Examining Outcomes, Communications: The European Journal of Communication 34 (2009), 407–428.

Mar, Raymond/Keith Oatley/Maja Djikic/Justin Mullin, Emotion and Narrative Fiction: Interactive Influences Before, During, and After Reading, Cognition & Emotion 25 (2011), 818–833. [CrossRef]

Mar, Raymond/Keith Oatley/Jacob Hirsh/Jennifer dela Paz/Jordan Peterson, Bookworms versus Nerds: The Social Abilities of Fiction and Non-Fiction Readers, Journal of Research in Personality 40 (2006), 694–712. [CrossRef]

Marlowe, Michael/George Maycock, Using Literary Texts in Teacher Education to Promote Positive Attitudes toward Children with Disabilities, Teacher Education and Special Education 24 (2001), 75–83.

Martel, Yann, What Is Stephen Harper Reading? Yann Martel’s Recommended Reading for a Prime Minister and Book Lovers of All Stripes, Toronto 2009.

McManus, Chris/Adrian Furnham, Aesthetic Activities and Aesthetic Attitudes: Influence of Education, Background and Personality on Interest and Involvement in the Arts, British Journal of Psychology 97 (2006), 555–587.[CrossRef]

Miall, David/Don Kuiken, Foregrounding, Defamiliarization, and Affect: Response to Literary Stories, Poetics 22 (1994), 389–407. [CrossRef]

Miall, David/Don Kuiken, What is Literariness? Three Components of Literary Reading, Discourse Processes 28 (1999), 121–138.

Miall, David/Don Kuiken, Shifting Perspectives: Readers’ Feelings and Literary Response, in: Willie van Peer/Seymour Chatman (eds.), New Perspectives on Narrative Perspective, Albany, NY 2001, 289–301.

Miall, David/Don Kuiken, A Feeling for Fiction: Becoming What We Behold, Poetics 30 (2002), 221–241. [CrossRef]

Mukařovský, Jan, On Poetic Language, ed. John Burbank/Peter Steiner, Lisse 1976.

Nathanson, A. I., Rethinking Empathy, in: J. Bryant/D. Roskos-Ewoldsen/J. Cantor (eds.), Communication and Emotion – Essays in Honor of Dolf Zillmann, Mahwah, NJ 2003, 107–130.

Nussbaum, Martha, Poetic Justice: The Literary Imagination and Public Life, Boston 1995.

Nussbaum, Martha, Cultivating Humanity: A Classical Defense of Reform in Liberal Education, Cambridge 1997.

Nussbaum, Martha, Upheavals of Thought. The Intelligence of Emotions, Cambridge 2001.

Nussbaum, Martha, Not for Profit. Why Democracy Needs the Humanities, Princeton, NJ 2010.

Oatley, Keith, A Taxonomy of the Emotions of Literary Response and a Theory of Identification in Fictional Narrative, Poetics 23 (1994), 53–74.

Oatley, Keith, Meetings of Minds: Dialogue, Sympathy, and Identification in Reading Fiction, Poetics 26 (1999), 439–454. [CrossRef]

Oatley, Keith, Emotions and the Story Worlds of Fiction, in: Melanie Green/Jeffrey Strange/Timothy Brock (eds.),Narrative Impact: Social and Cognitive Foundations, Mahwah, NJ 2002, 39–69.

Oatley, Keith, The Science of Fiction, The New Scientist 198 (2008), 42–43. [CrossRef]

Pinker, Steven, The Better Angels of Our Nature. The Decline of Violence in History and Its Causes, New York 2011.

Rushdie, Salman, Imaginary Homelands: Essays and Criticism 1981–1991, London 1991.

Scholes, Robert, Protocols of Reading, New Haven 1989.

Schwartz, Caroll, The Effect of Selected Black Poetry on Expressed Attitudes towards Blacks of Fifth and Sixth Grade White Suburban Children, Detroit 1972.

Seilman, Uffe/Steen Larsen, Personal Resonance to Literature: A Study of Remindings While Reading, Poetics 18 (1989), 165–177. [CrossRef]

Shamay-Tsoory, Simone/Judith Aharon-Peretz, Dissociable Prefrontal Networks for Cognitive and Affective Theory of Mind: A Lesion Study, Neuropsychologia, 45 (2007), 3054–3067. [CrossRef]

Shamay-Tsoory, Simone/Judith Aharon-Peretz/Daniella Perry, Two Systems for Empathy: A Double Dissociation between Emotional and Cognitive Empathy in Inferior Frontal Gyrus Versus Ventromedial Prefrontal Lesions, Brain132 (2009), 617–627. [CrossRef]

Shapiro, Johanna/Elisabeth Morrison/John Boker, Teaching Empathy to First Year Medical Students: Evaluation of an Elective Literature and Medicine Course, Education for Health: Change in Learning & Practice 17 (2004), 73–84.

Shirley, Fehl, The Influence of Reading on Concepts, Attitudes, and Behavior, Journal of Reading 12 (1969), 369–372, 407–413.

Shklovsky, Viktor, Art as Technique, in: L.T. Lemon/M.J. Reis (eds.), Russian Formalist Criticism: Four Essays, Lincoln, NE 1965.

Sikora, Shelley/Don Kuiken/David Miall, An Uncommon Resonance: The Influence of Loss on Expressive Reading,Empirical Studies of the Arts 28 (2010), 135–153.

Sikora, Shelley/Don Kuiken/David Miall, Expressive Reading: A Phenomenological Study of Readers’ Experience of Coleridge’s »Rime of the Ancient Mariner«, Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts 5 (2011), 258–268.

Sontag, Susan, Literature is Freedom, in: S.S., At the Same Time: Essays and Speeches, ed. Paulo Dilonardo/Anne Jump, New York, 2007 192–209.

Sorensen, Nathalie, Making Sense for Our Lives: Women’s Collaborative Reading of Fiction, Toronto 1999.

Tan, Ed, Emotion and the Structure of Narrative Film. Film as an Emotion Machine, Mahwah, NJ 1996.

Tauran, Rouland, The Influences of Reading on the Attitudes of Third Graders toward Eskimos, Baltimore, MD 1967.

Thury, Eva/Alexander Friedlander, The Impact of Expertise: The Role of Experience in Reading Literary Texts, in: Gebhard Rusch (ed.), Empirical Approaches to Literature: Proceedings of the Fourth Conference of the International Society for the Empirical Study of Literature, Siegen 1995, 61–71.

Titchener, Edward, Experimental Psychology of the Thought Processes, London 1909.

Van Peer, Willie, Stylistics and Psychology: Investigations of Foregrounding, London 1986 (Van Peer 1986a).

Van Peer, Willie, Pulp and purpose: Stylistic Analysis as an Aid to a Theory of Texts, in: Theo D’Haen (ed.),Linguistics and the Study of Literature, Amsterdam 1986, 268–286 (Van Peer 1986b).

Van Peer, Willie, Literature, Imagination, and Human Rights, Philosophy and Literature 19 (1995), 276–291.

Van Peer, Willie/Jèmeljan Hakemulder/Sonia Zyngier, Lines on Feeling: Foregrounding, Aesthetics and Meaning,Language and Literature 16 (2007), 197–213.

Van Rees, Kees, The Institutional Foundation of a Critic’s Connoisseurship, Poetics 18 (1989), 179–198. [CrossRef]

Vlad, Alexandra, Brüche im Hierarchischen Verarbeitungsprozess von Literatur und Film: Eine Kognitionspsychologische Untersuchung, Erlangen-Nürnberg 2009.

Vorderer, Peter, Audience Involvement and Program Loyalty, Poetics 22 (1993), 89–98. [CrossRef]

Waxler, Robert, Changing Lives Through Literature, PMLA 123 (2008), 678–682. [CrossRef]

Zillmann, Dolf, Empathy: Affect From Bearing Witness to the Emotions of Others, in: Jennings Bryant/Dolf Zillmann (eds.), Responding to the Screen: Reception and Reaction Processes, Hillsdale 1994, 135–167.

Zucaro, Blase, The Use of Bibliotherapy Among Sixth Graders to Affect Attitude Change Toward American Negroes, Philadelphia 1972.

Zwaan, Rolf, Aspects of Literary Comprehension, Amsterdam 1993.

2015-08-29

JLTonline ISSN 1862-8990

Copyright © by the author. All rights reserved.
This work may be copied for non-profit educational use if proper credit is given to the author and JLTonline.
For other permission, please contact JLTonline.

How to cite this item:

Abstract of: Eva Maria Koopmann / Frank Hakemulder, Effects of Literature on Empathy and Self-Reflection: A Theoretical-Empirical Framework.

In: JLTonline (29.08.2015)

URL: http://www.jltonline.de/index.php/articles/editor/proofGalley/759/1779

A Persistent Identifier can be found in the PDF-Version of this article.