The representation of characters' emotional responses: Do readers infer specific emotions?

• Published in: Cognition and emotion 2003-05, Vol.17 (3), p.413-428
• Main Authors: Gygax, Pascal, Oakhill, Jane, Garnham, Alan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; Emotional responses; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Inferences; Language; Production and perception of written language; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Reading; Stories
• ISSN: 0269-9931; 1464-0600
• DOI: 10.1080/02699930244000048

This paper argues that emotional inferences about characters in a text are not as specific as previously assumed (DeVega, Diaz, & Leon, 1997; DeVega, Leon, & Diaz 1996; Gernsbacher, Goldsmith, & Robertson, 1992; Gernsbacher, Hollada, & Robertson, 1998; Gernsbacher & Robertson, 1992). The emotional information inferred by readers does not differentiate between emotions that are similar, though not identical. In both Experiments 1 and 2, participants read the stories used by Gernsbacher et al. (1992). Results from Experiment 1 (off-line) show that participants judged several emotions consistent with the same story. In Experiment 2 (on-line), participants took longer to read target sentences containing emotions mismatching the stories, but there was no difference between target sentences containing different matching emotions as determined by Experiment 1. Results from Experiments 1 and 2 suggest that the emotional information readers infer from the stories is too broad to determine a specific emotion. The results are consistent with the idea that a general emotional response is evoked, which is compatible with one or more specific emotions.