Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Preliminary steps towards a cognitive theory of fiction and its effects

  • Review
  • Published:
Journal of Cultural Cognitive Science Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In the last few years there has been a real explosion of studies on fiction and its effects in social, cognitive, and media psychology, in communication science, in different subdisciplines of cognitive neuroscience, in experimental aesthetics, and in the numerically aided phenomenological approach to the study of fiction. This research is at an early stage and there is general consensus that it presents conspicuous shortcomings. In this paper I expressly address one of the most relevant limitations: the lack of an interdisciplinary integration among the different trends of research. I propose a theoretical-empirical review that integrates some of the most crucial findings concerning the fictional processing and its persuasive and learning effects across disciplines. The review is presented as a network of interconnected theoretical hypotheses, based on widely shared and well-researched conceptual constructs. Each hypothesis is supported by recent relevant findings and connects different lines of research. Taken together, the hypotheses represent a preliminary step towards a cognitive theory of fiction and its effect.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Acheson, D. J., Wells, J. B., & MacDonald, M. C. (2008). New and update tests of print exposure and reading abilities in college students. Behavior Research Methods, 40, 278–289.

    Article  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Altmann, U., Bohrn, I. C., Lubrich, O., Menninghaus, W., & Jacobs, A. M. (2012). Fact vs. fiction—how paratextual information shapes our reading process. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 9, 22–29.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Appel, M., & Mara, M. (2013). The persuasive influence of a fictional character’s trustworthiness. Journal of Communication, 63, 912–932.

    Google Scholar 

  • Appel, M., & Richter, T. (2007). Persuasive effects of fictional narratives increase over time. Media Psychology, 10, 113–134.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bal, P. M., & Veltkamp, M. (2013). How does fiction reading influence empathy? An experimental investigation on the role of emotional transportation. PLoS ONE, 8, e55341.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Bálint, K., Hakemulder, F., Kuijpers, M., Doicaru, M., & Tan, E. S. (2016). Reconceptualizing foregrounding. Identifying response strategies to deviation in absorbing narratives. Scientific Study of Literature, 6, 176–207.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bargh, J. A. (2006). What have we been priming all these years? On the development, mechanisms, and ecology of nonconscious social behavior. European Journal of Social Psychology, 36, 147–168.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Barnes, J. L. (2017). Imaginary engagement, real-world effects: Fiction, emotion, and social cognition. Review of Genera Psychology, 22, 125–134 (Advance online publication).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baron-Cohen, S., Wheelwright, S., Hill, J., Raste, Y., & Plumb, I. (2001). 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, 241–251.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Barsalou, L. W. (2008). Grounded cognition. The Annual Review of Psychology, 59, 617–645.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Black, J. E., & Barnes, J. L. (2015a). The effects of reading material on social and non-social cognition. Poetics, 52, 32–43.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Black, J. E., & Barnes, J. L. (2015b). Fiction and social cognition: The effect of viewing award-winning television dramas on theory of mind. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 9, 423–429.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boden, M. (2004). The creative mind: Myths and mechanism. London: Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Bormann, D., & Greitemeyer, T. (2015). Immersed in virtual worlds and minds: Effects of in-game storytelling in immersion, need satisfaction, and affective theory of mind. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 6, 646–652.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bruner, J. (1986). Actual minds, possible worlds. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burke, M., Kuzmicova, A., Mangen, A., & Schilhab, T. (2016). Empathy at the confluence of neuroscience and empirical literary studies. Scientific Study of Literature, 6, 6–41.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burkett, C., & Goldman, S. R. (2016). “Getting the point” of literature: Relations between processing and interpretation. Discourse Processes, 53, 457–487.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Busselle, R., & Bilandzic, H. (2008). Fictionality and perceived realism in experiencing stories: A model of narrative comprehension and engagement. Communication Theory, 18, 255–280.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Busselle, R., & Bilandzic, H. (2009). Measuring narrative engagement. Media Psychology, 12, 321–347.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, J. (2006). Audience identification with media characters. In J. Bryant & P. Vorderer (Eds.), Psychology of reading, Mahwah (pp. 183–198). Mahwah, N.Y: Lawrence Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Currie, G. (1990). The nature of fiction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Currie, G. (1995). Imagination as simulation: Aesthetics meets cognitive science. In M. Davies & T. Stone (Eds.), Folk psychology: The theory of mind debate (pp. 245–268). Oxford: Basil Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Currie, G. (2001). Imagination and make-believe. In B. Gaut & D. Lopes (Eds.), The Routledge companion to aesthetics (pp. 253–263). Abingdon: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Currie, G. (2016). Models as fictions, fictions as models. Monist, 99, 296–310.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Currie, G., & Ravenscroft, I. (2002). Recreative minds: Imagination in philosophy and psychology. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Dal Cin, S., Stoolmiller, M., & Sargent, J. D. (2012). When movies matter: exposure to smoking in movies and changes in smoking behavior. Journal Health Communication, 17, 76–89.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dal Cin, S., Zanna, M. P., & Fong, G. T. (2004). Narrative persuasion and overcoming resistance. In E. S. Knowles & J. A. Linn (Eds.), Resistance and persuasion (pp. 175–191). Mahwah, NJ, US: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • De Vignemont, F. (2009). Drawing the boundary between low-level and high-level mindreading. Philosophical Studies, 144, 457–466.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • De Vignemont, F., & Singer, T. (2006). The empathic brain: How, when and why”. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 10, 435–441.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Djikic, M., Oatley, K., & Carland, M. (2012). Genre or artistic merit: The effect of literature on personality. Scientific Study of Literature, 2, 25–36.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Djikic, M., Oatley, K., Zoeterman, S., & Peterson, J. B. (2009). On being moved by art: How reading fiction transforms the self. Creativity Research Journal, 21, 24–29.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fayn, K., MacCann, C., Tiliopoulos, N., & Silvia, P. J. (2015). Aesthetic emotions and aesthetic people: Openness predicts sensitivity to novelty in the experiences of interest and pleasure. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 1877.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Fazio, R., & Towles-Schwen, T. (1999). The mode model of attitude-behavior processes. In S. Chaiken & Y. Trope (Eds.), Dual-process theories in social psychology (pp. 97–116). New York: The Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fludernick, M. (2006). An introduction to narratology. New York, NY: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fong, K., Mullin, J. B., & Mar, R. A. (2013). What you read matters: The role of fiction genre in predictiong interpersonal sensitivity. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 7, 370–376.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Galgut, E. (2014). Harnessing the imagination: The asymmetry of belief and make-believe. Contemporary Aesthetics, 12, 21.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gendler, T. (2011). Imagination, The Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy.

  • Gernot, G., Pelowski, M., & Leder, H. (2017). Empathy, Einfühlung, and esthetic experience: The effect of emotion contagion on appreciation of representational and abstract art using fEMG and SCR. Cognitive Processing, 19, 147–165. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-017-0800-2. (Epub ahead of print).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gerrig, R. J. (1993). Experiencing narrative worlds: On the psychological activities of reading. New York: Haven UP.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gerrig, R. J., & Wenzel, W. G. (2015). The role of inferences in narrative experiences. In E. J. O’Brien, A. E. Cook, & R. F. Lorch (Eds.), Inferences during reading (pp. 362–385). New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Giles, D. (2002). Parasocial interaction: A review of the literature and a model for future research. Media Psychology, 4, 279–305.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Green, M. C. (2004). Transportation into narrative worlds: The role of prior knowledge and perceived realism. Discourse Processes, 38, 247–266.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Green, M. C., & Brock, T. C. (2000). The role of transportation in the persuasiveness of public narratives. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79, 701–721.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Green, M. C., & Brock, T. C. (2002). In the mind’s eye: Transportation-imagery model of narrative persuasion. In M. C. Green, J. J. Strange, & T. C. Brock (Eds.), Narrative impact: Social and cognitive foundations (pp. 315–341). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Green, M., & Clark, J. (2012). Transportation into narrative worlds: Implications for entertainment media influences on tobacco use. Addiction Review, 108, 477–484.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hakemulder, F. (2007). Tracing foregrounding in responses to film. Language and Literature, 16, 125–139.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hakemulder, F., & van Peer, W. (2015). Empirical stylistics. In V. Sotirova (Ed.), A companion to stylistics (pp. 251–274). London: Continuum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hall, M. P., O’Hare, A., Santavicca, N., & Jones, L. F. (2015). The power of deep reading and mindful literacy; An innovative approach in contemporary education. Innovación Educativa, 15, 49–60.

    Google Scholar 

  • Herman, D. (2002). Problems and possibilities of narrative. Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hynyard, C., & Kreuter, M. (2007). Using narrative communication as a tool for health behavior change: A conceptual, theoretical, and empirical overview. Health Education Behavior, 34, 777–792.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Iguarta, J. J. (2010). Identification with characters and narrative persuasion through fictional feature films. The European Journal of Communication Research, 35, 347–373.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, D. R. (2012). Transportation into a story increases empathy, prosocial behavior, and perceptual bias toward fearful expressions. Personality and Individual Differences, 53, 150–155.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kidd, D. C., & Castano, E. (2013). Reading literary fiction improves theory of mind. Science, 342, 377–380.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kidd, D. C., & Castano, E. (2016). Different stories: How levels of familiarity with literary and genre fiction relate to mentalizing. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts., 11, 1–13.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kidd, D. C., & Castano, E. (2018). Reading literary fiction and theory of mind: Three preregistered replications and extension of Kidd and Castano (2013). Social Psychological and Personality Science, 20, 1–10.

    Google Scholar 

  • Koopman, E. M. E. (2015a). Empathic reactions after reading. The role of genre, personal factors and affective responses. Poetics, 50, 62–79.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Koopman, E. M. E. (2015b). How texts about suffering trigger reflection: Genre, personal factors, and affective responses. Journal of Aesthetics, Creativity and the Arts, 9, 430–441.

    Google Scholar 

  • Koopman, E. M. E. (2016). Effects of ‘literariness’ on emotions and on empathy and reflection after reading. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 9, 430–441.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Koopman, E. M. E., & Hakemulder, F. (2015). Effects of literature on empathy and self-reflection: A theoretical-empirical framework. Journal of Literary Theory, 9, 79–111-.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kotovych, M., Dixon, P., Bortolussi, M., & Holden, M. (2011). Textual determinants of a component of literary identification. Scientific Study of Literature, 1, 260–291.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kreuter, M., Green, M., Cappella, J., Slater, M., Wise, M., Storey, D., et al. (2007). Narrative communication in cancer prevention and control: A framework to guide research and application. Annual Behavioral Medicine, 33, 221–235.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kuiken, D., Miall, D., & Sikora, S. (2004). Forms of self-implication in literary reading. Poetics Today, 25, 171–203.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leder, H., Gerger, G., Brieber, D., & Schwarz, N. (2014). What makes an art expert? Emotions and evaluation in art appreciation. Emotion and Cognition, 28, 1–11.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Locher, P., Overbeeke, K., & Wensveen, S. (2010). Aesthetic interaction: A framework. Des Issues, 26, 70–79.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mar, R. A. (2011). The neural basis of social cognition and story comprehension. Annual Review of Psychology, 62, 103–134.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mar, R. A. (2018). Stories and the promotion of social cognition. Current Direction in Psychological Science, 27, 257–262.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mar, R. A., & Oatley, K. (2008). The function of fiction is the abstraction and simulation of social experience. Perspective on Psychological Science, 3, 173–192.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mar, R. A., Oatley, K., Hirsh, J., dela Paz, J., & Peterson, J. B. (2006). Bookworms versus nerds: Exposure to fiction versus non-fiction, divergent associations, with social ability, and the simulation of fictional social worlds. Journal of Research in Personality, 40, 649–712.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mar, R. A., Oatley, K., & Person, J. B. (2009). Exploring the link between reading fiction and empathy: Ruling out individual differences and examining outcomes. Communications: The European Journal of Communication Research, 34, 407–428.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marsh, E. J., Meade, M. L., & Roediger, H. L. (2003). Learning facts from fiction. Journal of Memory and Language, 49, 519–536.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Menninghaus, W., Wagner, V., Hanich, J., Wassiliwizky, E., Jacobsen, T., & Koelsch, S. (2017). The distancing-embracing model of the enjoyment of negative emotions in art reception. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 40, E347. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X17000309.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Miall, D., & Kuiken, D. (1994). Foregrounding, defamiliarization, and affect: Response to literary stories. Poetics, 22, 389–407.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miall, D., & Kuiken, D. (1999). What is literariness? Three components of literary reading. Discourse Processes, 28, 121–128.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miall, D., & Kuiken, D. (2002). A feeling for fiction: Becoming what we behold. Poetics, 30, 221–241.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morgenstern, M., Poelen, E. A., Scholte, R., Karlsdottir, S., Johnsson, S. H., Mathis, E., et al. (2011). Smoking in movies and adolescent smoking: Cross-cultural study in six European countries. Thorax, 66, 875–883.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Moyer-Gusé, E. (2008). Toward a theory of entertainment persuasion: Explaining the persuasive effects of entertainment-education messages. Communication Theory, 18, 407–425.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mukařovský, J. (1976). On poetic language. Lisse: De Ridder Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mumper, M. L., & Gerrig, R. J. (2017). Liesure reading and social cognition. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 11, 109–120.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nichols, S. (2006). Just the imagination: Why imagining doesn’t behave like believing. Mind and Language, 21, 459–474.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oatley, K. (2016). Fiction: Simulation of social worlds. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 20, 618–628.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Oatley, K., & Djikic, M. (2017). The creativity of literary writing. In J. Kaufman, J. Baer, & V. Glaveanu (Eds.), Cambridge handbook of creativity across domains. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oatley, K., Dunbar, R., & Budelmann, F. (2018). Imagining possible worlds. Review of General Psychology, 22, 121–124.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Origgi, G. (2013). Epistemic injustice and epistemic trust. Social Epistemology: A Journal of Knowledge, Culture and Policy, 26, 221–235.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Panero, M. E., Weisberg, D. S., Black, J., Goldstein, T. R., Barnes, J. L., Brownell, H., et al. (2016). Does reading a single passage of literary fiction really improve theory of mind? An attempt at replication. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 111, 46–54.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pelowski, M. (2015). Tears and transformation: Feeling like crying as an indicator of insightful or ‘aesthetic’ experience in empirical study of art. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 1–23.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pelowski, M., Markey, P., Forster, M., Gernot, G., & Helmut, L. (2017). Move me, astonish me…delight my eyes and brain: The Vienna integrated model of top-down and bottom up processes in art perception and corresponding affective, evaluative, and neurophysiological correlates. Physics of Life Reviews, 21, 80–125.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Peretti, S. et al. (2018). The role of sleep in aesthetic perception and empathy: A mediation analysis. Journal of Sleep Research. https://doi.org/10.1111/jsr.12664

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Petty, R. E., & Wegener, D. T. (1999). The elaboration likelihood model: Current status and controversies. In S. Chaiken & Y. Trope (Eds.), Dual-process theories in social psychology (pp. 41–72). New York: The Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pino, M. C., & Mazza, M. (2016). The use of “literary fiction” to promote mentalizing ability. PLoS One, 11(8), e0160254. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0160254

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Richter, T., Appel, M., & Calio, F. (2014). Stories can influence the self-concept. Social Influence, 9, 172–188.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Samur, D., Tops, M., & Koole, S. L. (2017). Does a single session of reading literary fiction prime enhanced mentalizing performance? Four replication experiments of Kidd and Castano (2013). Cognition and Emotion, 32, 130–144.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Schaeffer, J. M. (1999). Pourquoi la fiction?. Paris: Seul.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shklovsky, V. (1965). Art as technique. In L. T. Lemon & M. J. Reis (Eds.), Russian formalist criticism: Four essays (pp. 3–24). University of Nebraska Press: Lincoln.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sikora, S., Kuiken, D., & Miall, D. (2010). An uncommon resonance: The influence of loss on expressive reading. Empirical Studies of the Arts, 28, 135–153.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Silvia, J. P. (2013). Interested experts, confused novices: Art expertise and the knowledge emotions. Empirical Studies of the Arts, 31, 107–115.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Slater, M. D., & Rouner, D. (2002). Entertaintment-education and elaboration likelihood: Understanding the processing of narrative persuasion. Communication Theory, 12, 173–191.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sperber, D., Clément, F., Heintz, C., Mascaro, O., Mercier, H., Origgi, G., et al. (2010). Epistemic vigilance. Mind and Language, 25, 359–393.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stanovich, K. E., & West, R. F. (2000). Individual differences in reasoning. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 2000(23), 701–726.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tamir, D. I., Bricker, A. B., Dodell-Feder, D., & Mitchell, J. P. (2016). Reading fiction and reading minds: the role of simulation in the default network. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 11, 215–224.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tomasello, M. (2015). The ultra-social animal. European Journal of Social Psychology, 44, 187–194.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van Peer, W., Hakemulder, J., & Zyngier, S. (2007). Lines on feeling: Foregrounding, aesthetics, and meaning. Language and Literature, 16, 197–213.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vezzali, L., Stathi, S., Giovannini, D., Capozza, D., & Trifiletti, E. (2015). The greatest magic of Harry Potter: Reducing prejudice. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 45, 105–121.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walton, K. (1990). Mimesis as make-believe. Harvard: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zwan, R. A. (2004). The immersed experience. Toward an embodied theory of language comprehension. In B. H. Ross (Ed.), The Psychology of Learning and Motivation (pp. 35–62). New York: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Social and Developmental Psychology, La Sapienza, University of Rome, Rome, Italy

    Gianluca Consoli

Authors
  1. Gianluca Consoli
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gianluca Consoli.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Consoli, G. Preliminary steps towards a cognitive theory of fiction and its effects. J Cult Cogn Sci 2, 85–100 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41809-018-0019-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41809-018-0019-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation