Thesis
The dark side of narrative empathy : a narrative persuasion perspective on whether fiction reading can lead to antisocial beliefs and attitudes.
- Creator
- Rights statement
- Awarding institution
- University of Strathclyde
- Date of award
- 2023
- Thesis identifier
- T16795
- Person Identifier (Local)
- 201969047
- Qualification Level
- Qualification Name
- Department, School or Faculty
- Abstract
- Studies about the narrative impact of fiction reading often focus on the benefits of this entertainment experience. These accounts of benefits often involve a mostly positive association of fiction reading with the ethical development of readers through the cultivation of their empathic skills (Nussbaum, 1990). However, the history of novel reading offers a contrary view that emphasises the ‘corrupting powers’ of narrative engagement. While the proposal of benefits has attracted empirical attention, the second is not as equally and systematically assessed. Thereby, the question of whether fiction reading can influence antisocial outcomes on readers remains weakly investigated (Igartua & Barrios, 2012). It is therefore the objective of this dissertation to identify the working mechanisms that may influence beliefs and attitudes such as prejudicial radicalisation and cynicism in readers. By drawing on recent evidence and theories from media psychology and narrative persuasion research, a qualitative analysis based on close reading of three novels was applied. This application offers a new method that is based on literary analysis, new because most studies assess narrative persuasion following quantitative measures. The approach involves applying theories of narrative transportation (Green & Brock, 2000), empathic identification (Keen, 2007; Cohen, 2001), and moral disengagement (Raney, 2004) to demonstrate how the selected novels can reduce readers’ critical and moral scrutiny to minimise resistance to their persuasiveness (Moyer-Gusé, 2008; Ratcliff & Sun, 2020). The main finding that may facilitate the occurrence of antisocial attitudes via these mechanism involves directing readers’ empathy towards immoral protagonists who internally focalize their narratives, obscuring their moral transgressions, and depersonalizing their victims. This also involves the manipulation of textual techniques such as point of view, imagery, and foregrounding style. With these findings, the thesis contributes to the scholarly literature on narrative impact by foregrounding the negative aspects of empathic identification and narrative transportation that are sometimes acknowledged, but not as extensively examined.
- Advisor / supervisor
- Jajdelska, Elspeth
- Fabb, Nigel
- Resource Type
- DOI
Relazioni
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PDF of thesis T16795 | 2023-12-20 | Pubblico | Scaricare |