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You Are What You Read: The Relationship between Experience-Taking and Performance

Smith, Stephanie M.
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1398699608

Abstract Details

2014, Master of Science (MS), Ohio University, Experimental Psychology (Arts and Sciences).
The process by which readers engage with characters in a narrative is referred to as experience-taking. Through this process, purportedly, readers lose self-awareness as they adopt a character's perspective. In Study 1, participants read a narrative about a character that performed successfully on an achievement task - anagram solving - and then they solved anagrams themselves. According to the results, higher reported levels of experience-taking were associated with enhanced anagram performance. In Study 2, participants read a narrative written in either a first- or third-person perspective in which a character either performed successfully or unsuccessfully on a test of verbal ability. Although neither perspective type nor character outcome exerted differential effects on performance, regression analyses indicated that self-reported levels of experience taking, perceived similarity to the character and feelings of inspiration derived from the character's performance predicted enhanced anagram performance, and similarity was found to mediate the relationship between experience-taking and performance. Discussion focuses on both the theoretical and practical implications of the association between experience taking and performance.
Keith Markman, PhD (Advisor)
Mark Alicke, PhD (Committee Member)
Kim Rios, PhD (Committee Member)
91 p.
Social Psychology
Experience-taking; Narratives; Transportation; Behavior; Performance; Character identification; Reading

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Smith, S. M. (2014). You Are What You Read: The Relationship between Experience-Taking and Performance [Master's thesis, Ohio University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1398699608

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Smith, Stephanie. You Are What You Read: The Relationship between Experience-Taking and Performance. 2014. Ohio University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1398699608.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Smith, Stephanie. "You Are What You Read: The Relationship between Experience-Taking and Performance." Master's thesis, Ohio University, 2014. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1398699608

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

ohiou1398699608
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© 2014, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Ohio University and OhioLINK.