The Moral Laboratory
Experiments examining the effects of reading literature on social perception and moral self-concept
Author
The idea that reading literature changes the reader seems as old as literature itself. Through the ages philosophers, writers, and literary scholars have suggested it affects norms, empathic ability, self-concept, beliefs, etc. This book examines what we actually know about these effects. And it finds strong evidence for the old claims. However, it remains unclear what aspects of the reading experience are responsible for these effects. Applying methods of the social sciences to this particular problem of literary theory, this book presents a psychological explanation based upon the conception of literature as a moral laboratory. A series of experiments examines whether imagining oneself in the shoes of characters affects beliefs about what it must be like to be someone else, and whether it affects beliefs about consequences of behavior. The results have implications for the role literature could play in society, for instance, in an alternative for traditional moral education.
[Utrecht Publications in General and Comparative Literature, 34] 2000. x, 205 pp.
Publishing status: Available
© John Benjamins Publishing Company
Table of Contents
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1. Apologies | p. 1
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2. Changing Readers | p. 29
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3. A Blueprint for Moral Laboratories | p. 61
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4. Understanding Others | p. 97
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5. Moral Self-knowledge | p. 117
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6. Summary and Conclusion | p. 147
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Appendix | p. 169
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Index of names | p. 197
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Index of terms | p. 203
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Subjects
Consciousness Research
Literature & Literary Studies
Philosophy
Main BIC Subject
JMT: States of consciousness
Main BISAC Subject
PSY020000: PSYCHOLOGY / Neuropsychology