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Article published In:
Scientific Study of Literature
Vol. 6:2 (2016) ► pp.278–297

Validating judgments of perspective embedding

Further explorations of a new tool for literary analysis

| City University of New York, USA | Haskins Laboratories, New Haven, CT USA | Yale University, USA
| University of Kentucky, USA
| Johns Hopkins University, USA
| Universität Passau, Germany
| Queens College, USA
| Vanderbilt University, USA
| University of Pennsylvania, USA
| Yale University, USA | Deceased

Previous work (Whalen, Zunshine, & Holquist, 2012) has shown that perspective embedding ("she thought I left" embedding her perspective on "I left") affects reading times for short vignettes. With increasing levels of embedment 1–5, reading times rose almost linearly. Level 0 was as slow as 3–4. Embedment level was determined by the authors, but validation by others is desirable. In Experiment 1, we trained 12 literature students to make embedment judgments. Their judgments correlated highly with ours (.94 on average) and agreed exactly in the majority of cases (74.5%); almost all were within one (94.2%). In Experiment 2, judgments of the first three paragraphs of "To Kill a Mockingbird" (Lee, 1960) yielded a lower level of agreement; literature uses subtle means for introducing perspective embedment, and individuals differ about including them. Assessment of perspective embedding, and exploration of sources of disagreements, provide new tools for analyzing literature.

Keywords: reading, fiction, embedment, perspective, Theory of Mind, nested mental states
Article outline
  • Experiment 1
    • Method
      • Participants
      • Stimuli
      • Procedure
    • Results
    • Discussion
  • Experiment 2
    • Method
      • Participants
      • Stimuli
      • Procedure
    • Results
    • Discussion
  • General discussion
  • Acknowledgements
  • References
Published online: 30 March 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ssol.6.2.05wha
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