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The Artifact in the Foreground: Aesthetic Absorption in Narrative Literature

Moniek M. [email protected] University14-03-2013

mailto:[email protected]

Today’s presentationIntroduction to my PhD Project

- Aims of the project- What have I done so far?

Introduction to the present experiment- Aims- Hypotheses

Methods- Participants- Procedure- Materials

(Preliminary) Results

Discussion

Introduction to the PhD project:Aims

• Identify textual determinants of two different types of narrative absorption- Narrative absorption in a story > Transportation- Narrative absorption in an artifact > Aesthetic absorption

• Explore the after effects these two experiences elicit in terms of evaluative responses- Enjoyment- Appreciation

Introduction to the PhD project:Experimental studies so far

• Developing a new measuring instrument: Narrative Absorption Scale– Interview study– Experiment 1: EFA– Experiment 2: CFA

• Discourse structures, transportation and enjoyment- Experiment 3: suspense & curiosity- Experiment 4: suspense, curiosity and emotional engagement

• Deviation, foregrounding and appreciation- Experiment 5: developing foregrounding scale- Experiment 6 (current experiment)

Results so far: development of the Narrative Absorption Scale

• Conceptualization of Narrative Absorption (α: .92)• Attention (5 items; α: .90)• Transportation (5 items; α: .90)• Emotional engagement (5 items; α: .91)• Mental imagery (3 items; α: 79)

• Enjoyment (5 items; α: .90) and Appreciation (3 items; α: .70)are outcomes

• Narrative absorption is a good predictor of Enjoyment (75 %), and for Appreciation to a lesser extent (49 %)

• Emotional engagement is strongest predictor in both cases, and transportation makes the difference between the two

Results so far: discourse structures and their effect on transportation

• Transportation higher in suspense or curiosity stories, but not significantly higher

• The one significant effect on transportation, not through suspense or curiosity but emotional engagement

Results so far: discourse structures and emotional engagement

• Replication: positive significant effects of curiosity on transportation (p < .048)

• People who have had low print exposure feel more easily transported (p <.006)

• Online measurement of transportation: higher scores in general and highest right before the climax

Shift of focus

•From narrative absorption in the story to narrative absorption in the artifact

•From typical discourse structures to deviation

•From Transportation to Foregrounding

•From enjoyment to appreciation?

Introduction to the current experiment

• Deviation and foregrounding (text and experience)

QUESTIONS:• Can foregrounding and absorption co-occur?

• Can foregrounding be a form of absorption? Or an aspect of absorption?

• What would an absorption experience inspired by deviation look like?

Development of new foregrounding sub scales

• Why?– Capture different absorption experiences (with literary

texts) (or different possible aspects)– Not happy with appreciation sub scale of the original

Narrative Absorption Scale– Not even sure whether enjoyment and appreciation are

part of the experience or whether they are outcomes

• Foregrounding originally conceptualized as: defamiliarization, reflection, appreciation


•Items from Oliver & Bartsch (2010); Kuiken, Sopcak & Campbell (2013); and new items developed by Kuijpers & Hakemulder or Kuijpers, Campbell & Deckner

•Foregrounding: α: .870• Appreciation/Interest: α: .862 (5 items)• Reflection/Insight: α: .838 (4 items)• Impact/Wonder: α: .602 (3 items)


Foregrounding

Dimension:

Appreciation

-I thought this story was interesting artistically (Hakemulder & Kuijpers) -I thought it was very rewarding to read this story, because the story was complex at times (Kuijpers)

Dimension:

Reflection

-While reading this story, the images that came to mind seemed pregnant with meaning (Kuiken, Sopcak & Campbell) -I thought this story was meaningful (Oliver & Bartsch)

Dimension:

Impact

-I thought the style of the story was striking (Deckner, Campbell & Kuijpers) -I thought it was an emotional story (Kuijpers)


• Focus on deviation in the text

• Take the readers’ print exposure into account

• Explore the evaluative outcome responses- also upon rereading (Dixon, Bortolussi et al. 1993)


First reading Second reading

With deviation T: - / +

F: + / -

T: - / -

F: + / +

Without deviation T: + / +

F: - / -

T: + / -

F: - / +


• Hypotheses:

1.) Deviation in a text influences the narrative absorption experience (low transportation/high foregrounding)

2.) When the reader has had low print exposure, deviation will hinder transportation and when the reader has had high print exposure deviation will help transportation

3.) High print exposure readers will appreciate deviation in a text more than low print exposure readers. However, every

type of reader will appreciate deviation more on second reading

Methods

• Participants: N=37 (book club members)- 1 male, 36 female- Mean age: 49,51 (SD: 15,24), range from 21 to 67

• Procedure: - In ‘book club environment’- read either one of two versions of the same story (randomly distributed)- Fill out the Narrative Absorption Scale and the newly developed Foregrounding Scale (40 items/7 point Likert Scale/no-reverse-scored items)- Repeat the process and then fill out a Dutch version of the ART

Methods• Materials:

- Two versions of the first four pages of Salman Rushdie’s ‘Midnights Children’.

• Example of manipulation: first sentence

Original Manipulated

I was born in the city of Bombay…once upon a time. No, that won’t do, there’s no getting away from the date: I was born in Doctor Narlikar’s Nursing Home on August 15th, 1947. And the time? The time matters, too. Well then: at night. No, it’s important to be more… On the stroke of midnight, as a matter of fact.

I was born on August 15th 1947 in Bombay in Doctor Narlikar’s Nursing Home. Precisely at midnight I was born (…)

Results: distribution of means

Results: ANOVA’s

•A positive significant effect was found of the deviation text on foregrounding in the first reading (this effect was larger in the high print exposure group, but not significantly so)

– F (1,34)= 5,41, p < .026

•A similar effect was found in the second reading (there was no difference between low and high print exposure)

– F (1,34)= 3,75, p < .061

Results: ANOVA’s on aspects of foregrounding

•Positive significant effects were found of the deviation text on appreciation, p <.033 in the first reading and p <.016

•No effects (positive or negative) were found of print exposure

•There seems to be a problem with the impact sub scale of foregrounding (first reading: α: .303/second reading: α: .555)

Discussion: foregrounding scale

•Foregrounding scale seems to be able to capture a difference between deviation texts and non-deviation texts

•Appreciation and Reflection are reliable and seem to be working

•‘Impact’ subscale is problematic: delete or rephrase?

Discussion: effect of deviation on narrative absorption

• Use of deviation has an influence on the type of narrative absorption experience (less transportation, more foregrounding) – I will include an analysis of the other aspects of NA in

the final study

• No significant effects on transportation – was it to be expected? (since working with a literary

original and manipulating it to non-literary)

• Repeat this experiment the other way around (manipulate a popular text to make it more deviating)

Discussion: role of the reader

• No effects found of low vs. high print exposure, why?

Perhaps, because:• Sample was too homogenous (difference between low and

high print exposure was too small)• Perhaps there are better ways to measure print exposure

(How much do you read? How many hours per week do you read?)

Discussion: suggestions for further research

• Broader (and larger) sample

• Include different stories (literary to non-literary and non-literary to literary)

• Leave out Impact items and add new ‘foregrounding’ items

• And…..

Thank you!

Bibliography:

- Dixon, Bortolussi, Twilley & Leung (1993)

- Kuiken, Sopcak & Campbell (2013)

- Oliver & Bartsch (2010)

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