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Article published In:
Scientific Study of Literature
Vol. 8:2 (2018) ► pp.211–238

Mind-reading motivation

Individual differences in desire to perspective-take influence narrative processing

| University of Pennsylvania
| University at Buffalo – The State University of New York
| University at Buffalo – The State University of New York

Previous research suggests a link between perspective-taking and the tendency to become immersed in narratives or literature. We extend that research by considering both individual differences and persuasion outcomes. Specifically, Mind-Reading Motivation (MRM) is an individual difference in the willingness to effortfully engage with other people’s perspectives and mental states. Stories may be most influential when readers put themselves in the place of another person, even a fictional other. In Study 1, higher MRM was correlated with more fiction reading but not more nonfiction reading. Studies 2a and 2b demonstrated that higher MRM was associated with greater transportation into a narrative. We replicated this effect in Study 3, showing that MRM was associated with both higher transportation and narrative persuasion. The effect of MRM on persuasion is mediated by connections to the characters. This research helps identify which individuals are most likely to be persuaded by narrative communications.

Keywords: narrative, transportation, perspective-taking, motivation, individual differences
Article outline
  • Mind-reading motivation
  • Mind-reading motivation and narratives
    • Character identification
    • Social skills
    • Transportation into narrative worlds
  • Mind-reading motivation and outgroup perspectives
  • Overview and hypotheses
  • Study 1
    • Methods
      • Ethics approval and statistical software
      • Participants
    • Materials
      • Motivation for Mind-Reading (MRM) scale
      • Reading preferences and tendencies
      • Dispositional transportation scale
    • Results
      • Reading tendencies and transportation
    • Discussion
  • Studies 2a and 2b
    • Methods
      • Participants and procedure
    • Materials
      • Narrative
      • MRM
      • Transportation
      • Recall check
    • Results
      • Recall check
      • MRM
    • Discussion
  • Study 3
    • Methods
      • Participants and procedure
    • Materials
      • Narrative
      • Attitude items
      • Prejudice
      • Connection to protagonist
      • Transportation
      • Empathy (IRI) and Mind-Reading Motivation scales
      • Political ideology
    • Results
      • Mind-Reading Motivation
      • Story outcomes
      • Mediation models
      • Political ideology
    • Discussion
  • General discussion
    • Limitations and future directions
    • Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 12 June 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ssol.18011.car
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