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Scientific Study of Literature
Vol. 6:2 (2016) ► pp.208–242

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The influence of language concreteness on suspense

| Konan University Kobe, Japan | Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Germany
| University of Munich, Germany
In the current study, we explored the hypothesis that the level of language concreteness influences readers’ emotional involvement and, thus, fosters the evocation of suspense. To this end, 141 suspenseful texts with comparable content were assessed altogether by 1226 participants on items referring to emotional involvement and suspense. A concreteness score per text was calculated from the ratio between concrete and abstract verbs. Additionally, participants were asked to provide personal data, such as sex, age, or reading habits, and to answer items referring to their ability to feel empathy (trait empathy). Applying a stepwise multiple regression analysis we found that language concreteness is one significant predictor for emotional involvement and suspense (next to affinity for suspense and trait empathy). These results are discussed with respect to their implications on the nature of suspense and on the so-called paradox of suspense.
Keywords: emotional involvement, absorption, suspense, concrete language, embodiment
Published online: 30 March 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ssol.6.2.03aur
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