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A literary criticism is presented on the 19th century novel "The Doctor's Wife" by Mary Elizabeth Braddon, focusing on the book's references to the death of English poet Lord Byron. The influence of Byron's death on English Victorian literature, British Romantic poetry, and Byron's poem "Don Juan" are mentioned, as well as the character Isabel's attitude toward death and the psychological aspects of fiction.

Three studies investigate the influence of empathy and the level of fictionality of short stories on consumers' evaluations of emotional melodramatic entertainment. We find that high empathizers' evaluations are more favorable when the story is low in fictionality (i.e., real) versus high. In contrast, low empathizers' evaluations do not differ, regardless of the level of fictionality, except when these individuals (i.e., males) are provided with an excuse to become involved in the story; in this case a story that is high (i.e., make-believe) as opposed to low in fictionality is evaluated more favorably. Finally, transportation (i.e., absorption into a narrative) with the story is found to both moderate and mediate the effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the impact of writing stories on the evaluation of consumption objects. Generating a story creates greater liking for a painting than generating a dialogue about it. The positive impact of stories does not derive from generating more positive thoughts. Instead, stories generate fewer affective thoughts than do dialogues. The importance of generated stories derives from deeper elaboration, providing enhanced recollection of the coherent narrative, ease of generation, and more favorable attitudes toward the task. This work extends prior research on narratives and self referencing by making the consumer an active participant in the generation process, setting a rich agenda for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Álabe is the property of Alabe and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In a within-participant design, 41 children (mean age = 64 months, range = 50–81) listened to brief stories in four conditions. Written text was present on the screen in all conditions (similar to the typical storybook experience) but combined with other sources of information: (a) only oral narration, (b) oral narration and a picture that was congruent with the narration, (c) oral narration and an incongruent picture, and (d) only a picture but no oral narration. Children’s eye movements while looking at the screen were recorded with an eye-tracker. An important finding was that a congruent picture contributed substantially to children’s story retellings, more so than a picture that was incongruent with the narration. The eye-tracking data showed that children explored pictures in a way that they could maximally integrate the narration and the picture. Consequences for interactive reading and picture storybook format are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author explores the psychological shift in one's identity that individuals may experience when reading detective novels particularly Ellery Queen's "The Egyptian Cross Mystery." Topics discussed include the similarity in the name of the author and protagonist of the novel, the use of Ellery Queen as pseudonym by authors Frederic Dannay and Manfred Bennington Lee, and the theory offered by psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud about the doubling phenomenon and the concept of the uncanny.

Delusion is usually considered in DSM 5 as a false belief based on incorrect inference about external reality, but the issue of delusion raises crucial concerns, especially that of a possible (or absent) continuity between delusional and normal experiences, and the understanding of delusional experience. In the present study, we first aim to consider delusion from a perspectivist angle, according to the Multiple Reality Theory (MRT). In this model inherited from Alfred Schütz and recently addressed by Gallagher, we are not confronting one reality only, but several (such as the reality of everyday life, of imaginary life, of work, of delusion, etc.). In other terms, the MRT states that our own experience is not drawing its meaning from one reality identified as the outer reality but rather from a multiplicity of realities, each with their own logic and style. Two clinical cases illustrate how the Multiple Realities Theory (MRT) may help address the reality of delusion. Everyday reality and the reality of delusion may be articulated under a few conditions, such as compossibility [i.e., Double Book-Keeping (DBK), in Bleulerian terms] or flexibility. There are indeed possible bridges between them. Possible links with neuroscience or psychoanalysis are evoked. As the subject is confronting different realities, so do the objects among and toward which a subject is evolving. We call such objects Hybrid Objects (HO) due to their multiple belonging. They can operate as shifters, i.e., as some functional operators letting one switch from one reality to another. In the final section, we will emphasize how delusion flexibility, as a dynamic interaction between Multiple Realities, may offer psychotherapeutic possibilities within some reality shared with others, entailing relocation of the present subjects in regained access to some flexibility via Multiple Realities and perspectivism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prior experiments indicated that reading literary fiction improves mentalising performance relative to reading popular fiction, non-fiction, or not reading. However, the experiments had relatively small sample sizes and hence low statistical power. To address this limitation, the present authors conducted four high-powered replication experiments (combinedN = 1006) testing the causal impact of reading literary fiction on mentalising. Relative to the original research, the present experiments used the same literary texts in the reading manipulation; the same mentalising task; and the same kind of participant samples. Moreover, one experiment was pre-registered as a direct replication. In none of the experiments did reading literary fiction have any effect on mentalising relative to control conditions. The results replicate earlier findings that familiarity with fiction is positively correlated with mentalising. Taken together, the present findings call into question whether a single session of reading fiction leads to immediate improvements in mentalising. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This essay offers a psychoanalytic reading of Patrick Ness's A Monster Calls, an award-winning novel (which recently has been made into a film) about a 13-year-old boy whose mother is dying of cancer. I use Sigmund Freud's 'On Dreams' to interpret several scenes from the novel, interspersed with lessons from the life of Jesus. I argue that such a reading can help persons of all ages take the emotional lives of teenagers more seriously, specifically by witnessing the depth and complexity of ambivalence as represented in the novel. Also, an important feature in the novel (and a vital congruence between psychoanalysis and the teachings of Jesus) is the transformation of emotional ambivalence into paradoxical truth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children with limited language expression and comprehension abilities are at risk for academic failure, particularly in literacy acquisition. In addition, these children often have poor social outcomes, including difficulty forming friendships, social exclusion, withdrawal, and victimization. The academic and social difficulties that these children experience are associated with their poor language processing skills, limited conversational ability, and weak social and emotional knowledge. A social communication approach utilizing children's literature is suggested as one approach to address these three areas simultaneously. This approach involves sharing books with a strong story structure, rich social and emotional content, and engaging illustrations. Flexible scripts are created to guide interventionists to elicit the production of complex sentence structures, highlight conversational cooperation, and facilitate emotion understanding. To provide continuity of instruction, these bibliotherapeutic procedures can be implemented by special service providers in intervention sessions as well as by teachers in general classroom activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses philosopher and linguist Emar Maier's defense of a psychological account of fiction. Topics covered include the paradox of fictional names, the use of the idea of cognitive acts of imagination, construing the mental attitude of imagination in a very wide sense, and distinguishing between the attitude of the reader and the author to the content of a piece of fiction. Accounting for cross-fictional contradiction is also mentioned.

The article discusses the characteristics of the best-loved story that focus on overcoming obstacles and being reunited which evoke the emotion of kama muta or the feeling of being moved, tourched or stirred by a story. Topics include the prototypical and basic narrative identified by authors Patrick Hogan and Christopher Booker, the enhancement of the communal sharing (CS) relationships o the protagonists, and the sharing of kama muta that brings listeners together.

A survey of 11 novels featuring a character identified as a clinical psychologist, suggests that fictional psychologists are largely indistinguishable from other psy-professionals and are often unboundaried in their practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I argue that judgments of what is ‘true in a fiction’ presuppose the Reality Assumption: the assumption that everything that is (really) true is fictionally the case, unless excluded by the work. By contrast with the more familiar Reality Principle, the Reality Assumption is not a rule for inferring implied content from what is explicit. Instead, it provides an array of real-world truths that can be used in such inferences. I claim that the Reality Assumption is essential to our ability to understand stories, drawing on a range of empirical evidence that demonstrates our reliance on it in narrative comprehension. However, the Reality Assumption has several unintuitive consequences, not least that what is fictionally the case includes countless facts that neither authors nor readers could (or should) ever consider. I argue that such consequences provide no reason to reject the Reality Assumption. I conclude that we should take fictions, like non-fictions, to be about the real world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Philip Roth, throughout his career--from "Goodbye, Columbus" (1959) to his final novel Nemesis (2010)--has been preoccupied with selfhood and identity in ways that lend themselves to analysis with fundamental psychoanalytic concepts and issues, particularly as they relate to uncontrolled impulses, unconscious drives and desires, and sublimation and repression. This essay engages with the ways in which Roth's fiction stages the impulsive dialectics of flight and return and fantasy and sublimation in his first and final works. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay seeks to outline a way of understanding literature as philosophy as a justification for using fictive narrative to teach ethics. Some brief theoretical points are set out as well as two classroom examples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fiction can help make students better thinkers about some philosophical issues, but this does not mean it will make them morally better people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Literary fiction has been credited with considerable power to improve attitudes toward outgroups. It was even argued that it has been an important factor behind the global decline of violence against various minorities in the last centuries. Could it also help to reduce the human-inflicted suffering of animals? To test this, we studied the attitude toward animal welfare of n = 921 (experimental group) people of both sexes who read a short fragment of an unpublished novel with a motif of the physical abuse of an animal. The control group (n = 912) read a fragment of a similar length but not related to animals. After reading the text all subjects filled out an on-line questionnaire with seven items (camouflaged among many others items) measuring attitudes toward animal welfare. The questionnaire included also demographical questions, such as whether the subject keeps pets. We found that in comparison with the control group, the experimental group was significantly more concerned about animal welfare. This result indicates that literary fiction can influence attitudes toward other species. It is also worth noting that our study is characterized by a high level of ecological validity, i.e. a relatively high extent to which its results can be generalized (or extended) to real-world settings. Due to its specific design, which involved the cooperation of a bestselling author and his publisher, the study approximated the typical conditions in which people read fiction in a remarkably accurate way. Finally, our research has potential practical implications for promoting animal welfare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I set out to answer two foundational questions concerning our psychological engagements with fictions. The firstis the question of fictional transformation: How we can see fictional media while also ‘seeing’ those objects as fictional ones? The second isthe question of fictional response: How and why we take the objects of fiction to be the types of things that we can respond to and judge? Standard responses to these questions rely on distinct cognitive attitudes like pretense, imagination, and make-believe. I call this position thedistinct attitude view(DAV). I argue against the DAV, arguing instead that a psychological framework of fiction can answer the two questions without appealing to distinct mental attitudes. Hence, I call my position thestandard attitude view(SAV). The challenge for the SAV is to explain the two questions in terms of everyday mental states and the intentional content of those states. I do so by appealing to the concept oftaking the fictional stance. We take the fictional stance when we recognize that the object of our engagement is fictional. I bolster the fictional stance with a commonsense ontology of fiction, a notion of representational seeing, and an analogy with Arthur Danto’s ‘is’ of artistic identification. I conclude by showing how the fictional stance helps to solvethe paradox of fiction: a puzzle concerning the nature of our emotional responses towards fictions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

If feeling a genuine emotion requires believing that its object actually exists, and if this is a belief we are unlikely to have about fictional entities, then how could we feel genuine emotions towards these entities? This question lies at the core of the paradox of fiction. Since its original formulation, this paradox has generated a substantial literature. Until recently, the dominant strategy had consisted in trying to solve it. Yet, it is more and more common for scholars to try to dismiss it using data and theories from psychology. In opposition to this trend, the present paper argues that the paradox of fiction cannot be dissolved in the ways recommended by the recent literature. We start by showing how contemporary attempts at dissolving the paradox assume that it emerges from theoretical commitments regarding the nature of emotions. Next, we argue that the paradox of fiction rather emerges from everyday observations, the validity of which is independent of any such commitment. This is why we then go on to claim that a mere appeal to psychology in order to discredit these theoretical commitments cannot dissolve the paradox. We bring our discussion to a close on a more positive note by exploring how the paradox could in fact be solved by an adequate theory of the emotions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author focuses on the concepts of the unseen and unheard in order to provide an explanation to distinguish between fiction and memoir from a psychoanalytical perspective.

Thinking of models in science as fictions is said to be helpful, not merely because models are known or assumed to be false, but because work on the nature of fiction helps us understand what models are and how they work. I am unpersuaded. For example, instead of trying to assimilate truth-in-a model to truth-in-fiction we do better to see both as special and separate cases of the more general notion truth-according-to-a-corpus. Does enlightenment go the other way? Do we better understand fiction’s capacity to generate knowledge by thinking of it as a kind of modelling? If we see, as we should, fictions and models are parts of larger patterns of cognitive activity that include institutional frameworks, the best answer is no. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Upholders of fictionalism about scientific models have not yet successfully explained how scientists can learn about the real world by making comparisons between models and the real phenomena they stand for. In this paper I develop an account of model-world comparisons in terms of what I take to be the best antirealist analyses of comparative claims that emerge from the current debate on fiction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the aspects of the application of gore in young adult fiction analyzing the key scene in the novel "The Marbury Lens," by Andrew Smith, in which the author examines the emotional presentation of the characters.

Fiction has often been viewed as requiring imaginative input on the part of the audience, but relatively little empirical work has examined the role that fictional characters and worlds play in the imaginings of adolescents and adults, outside of the text itself. Here, I provide an overview of existing research on fanfiction, or extratextual stories written for pleasure by fans, based on an existing media property. I suggest that fanfiction is a form of imaginary play that reflects both emotional engagement with and resistance to the source material. I draw comparisons between writing fanfiction, daydreaming, and childhood pretend play and argue that there is a need for research that explores this phenomenon using more rigorous psychological methods. Such research may shed light on a range of issues in the psychology of fiction and why we read for pleasure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Savoring Disgust, Carolyn Korsmeyer argues that disgust is peculiar amongst emotions, for it does not need any of the standard solutions to the so-called paradox of fiction. I argue that Korsmeyer's arguments in support of the peculiarity of disgust with respect to the paradox of fiction are not successful. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a response to the 38th Foulkes Lecture by Elisabeth Rohr. Topics discussed in the response include the author's admiration for the humanitarian work carried out by Rohr, the power a story has to communicate experiences of humans, and the work of clinicians with oppressed individuals where the clinicians duty is to write about them and also for them.

Recent studies have shown that reading literary fiction can prompt personality changes that include improvements in abilities in empathy and theory-of-mind. We review these studies and propose a psychological conception of artistic literature as having 3 aspects that contribute to such changes. These are that literary fiction is simulation of selves with others in the social world; that taking part in this type of simulation can produce fluctuations that are precursors to personality changes; and that the changes occur in readers' own ways, being based not on persuasion but on indirect communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An essay is presented on the psychoanalytic understanding of the novel "Sons and Lovers" by D. H. Lawrence. Topics discussed include the unresolved relation between the characters of Baxter Dawes and Paul Morel, friendship, and the argument that not all destructive energies in human relationships oppose to positive impulses.

An essay is presented on the psychological dimension of the novel "Sons and Lovers" by D. H. Lawrence and its concerns along with the ideas of the novel "Civilization and Its Discontents" by Sigmund Freud. Topics discussed include the analogy of Lawrence's God to Freud's quasi-religious concept of oceanic feeling and the psychoanalytic insights of the novel.

What kind of existence do fictional beings have? What are non-existent objects? Neither logic nor cognitive science gives complete answers, but theology might help. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hypotheses were derived from downward comparison and attachment theory to address the tragedy paradox: more sadness produces greater tragedy enjoyment. Participants (n = 361) watched a tragedy and reported affect, enjoyment, life happiness, and spontaneous thoughts (categorized into self- vs. socio-focused). Greater sadness led to greater enjoyment, mediated by life reflection; specifically, both self- and socio-focused thoughts mediated this sadness impact on tragedy enjoyment. Furthermore, more sadness led to greater life happiness increase during exposure, mediated by socio-focused thoughts only. No parallel effects emerged for positive affect. The present findings suggest that tragedy-induced sadness instigates (a) life reflection that increases tragedy enjoyment as well as (b) specifically thoughts about close relationships that, in turn, raise life happiness, which (c) subsequently increases tragedy enjoyment further. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Bion's basic theory of transformations includes the concept of invariances: those aspects that are kept unchanged in the transformation. Translations are considered transformations that include invariances that allow for the recognition of the transformation. Psychoanalytic interpretations are seen by the author of this paper as a special case of such transformations. From Borges's radically open perspective on translation, psychoanalytic interpretations can be characterized as pertaining to one of three categories: (1) interpretations that change the unfamiliar to the familiar, (2) rigid motion transformations, or (3) interpretations that are transformations towards O. These ideas are dramatized in the reading of two of Borges's fictional stories that present two different approaches to translation, Averroes' search and Pierre Menard, author of the Quixote. These stories exemplify transformations in -K and + K. Finally, Cervantes' intuition of a hybrid language that approaches O and allows for a peaceful and multilayered interpretation of reality (transformation towards O) is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Theory of mind is the capacity to understand the behaviour of others by attributing to them mental and emotional processes. When we read works of fiction this cognitive ability comes into play because we form mental representations of the characters, attributing them with feelings, thoughts, motivations, and fears. The construction of these mental models is an inductive process by which the reader 'fills in the blank spaces' according to his/her subjectivity. In performing this interpretive work we decode symbols that gain meaning only in the context of the mental model that the reader builds around the character. In fantasy, symbols encourage a more interpretative reading, erase the illusion of the uniqueness of reality, and can promote a critical vision of human and social multiplicity. This article analyses two fantasy novels (Michelle Paver's Wolf Brother and Cristina Brambilla's Al primo sangue) which, through a symbolic approach, deal with two of the most frightening fears connected to growing up. The aim is to demonstrate how, under the veil of metaphorical language, these novels represent the complexity of the human mind and show the interior dynamics of characters when they face fears deeply connected with adolescence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses spectatorship in fictional worlds as a vicarious experience, with a focus on psychoanalytic theories of the creative process. The concept of imagination is explained and the relationship between fictional worlds and imagistic thoughts is discussed. Topics addressed include symbolism in children's games, the psychological aspects of daydreaming, and the notion of identification.

Copyright of Revista de Psicología (1669-2438) is the property of Pontificia Universidad Catolica Argentina and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In two studies, indirect out-group contact via narrative fiction was shown to foster empathic growth and reduce prejudice. Participants read an excerpt from a fictional novel about a counterstereotypical Arab-Muslim woman. Individuals who were more transported into the story rated Arab-Muslims significantly lower in stereotypical negative traits (Study 1, N = 67) and exhibited significantly lower negative attitudes toward Arab-Muslims (Study 2, N = 102) postreading than individuals who were less transported into the story. These effects persisted after controlling for baseline Arab-Muslim prejudice, reading-induced mood change, and demand characteristics. Affective empathy for Arab-Muslims and intrinsic motivation to reduce prejudice were also significantly increased by the story and each provided independent explanatory mechanisms for transportation's association with prejudice reduction. Narrative fiction offers a safe and rich context in which exposure and understanding of an out-group can occur and can easily be incorporated in educational and applied settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author replies to comments made by Christopher Ricks, Susan James, Kendall Walton, Jonathan Gilmore and James Russel regarding her article "Grief and the Poet," which discusses how literary works induce negative emotions, such as grief, in readers. She notes that all of the commentators address the two main problems explored in her article: the emotions caused by the the fictional states and actions of fictional characters; and the disproportionate place occupied by depictions of sorrow and grief in the arts, particularly in poetry.

The article offers the author's insights on exploring the issues on the relevant responses on "F-emotions" for fiction-directed emotions which he referred to as the Knowledge Problem (KP). The author suggests learning the role played by imagination in a person's engagement with fiction as equivalent to the role of acceptance in practical reasoning. He mentions a person's ability to engage with fiction emotionally is a fundamental part of his cognitive architecture.

The use of fiction and autobiography in social science course work has been shown to enhance students' learning experience. Using the novel PUSH, by Sapphire, we designed a curriculum supplement for the social work course, human behavior and the social environment (HBSE) that encourages students to integrate course content in an innovative way and enables them to apply the material to life-like situations. The HBSE supplement allows students to explore poignant and problematic issues that push them past intrapersonal and interpersonal limits. Classes are infused with energy and the critical consciousness of the students. Final projects are a systematic case study of a chosen character (or characters) in the book and are a testament to student critical thinking and creativity. Methods, assignments, and student experiences in an introductory BSW course are described. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: Storybooks are the most frequently chosen genre for read alouds in preschool classrooms. However, growing evidence suggests that genre may influence the quantity and quality of talk produced outside of the text. The current study compared twenty preschool teachers’ extratextual talk across read-aloud sessions with a storybook and an information book. Results revealed that teachers used significantly greater numbers of extratextual utterances during the information book read-aloud compared to the storybook read-aloud after accounting for differences in duration. Teachers’ extratextual utterances also were coded for content, including behavior management, feedback, print and book conventions, and four levels of cognitive demand (with Levels 1 and 2 being concrete and Levels 3 and 4 being cognitively demanding). Rates did not differ across genre in the categories of behavior management, feedback, print, and Level 4; however, rates did differ significantly in the content categories of Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3 on the continuum of cognitive demand, with the rates always being significantly higher in the information book read-aloud compared to the storybook. Teachers also reported less favorable perceptions toward reading information books aloud compared to reading storybooks aloud. This may be attributable to differences in how teachers read information books compared to storybooks. Teachers’ level of education and the age of the children in the classroom in some cases were related to the teachers’ talk during the read aloud. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Research suggests that exposure to graphic violence commonly causes unpleasant emotional reactions. Further, research shows that fictional violence may be more palatable than real violence. We explored whether/why fictional content might lead to weaker aversive reactions than real content. In this experiment (N = 200), we manipulated the perceived reality of violence to determine whether a fictional context leads to reduced aversion, and we examined if gender and empathy could moderate this effect. We found that negative reactions were significantly lower when participants perceived the scenes as fictional. Males in particular experienced lessened aversive states in fictional conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]