tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5455277388900637928.post6719110816613033959..comments2024-03-19T02:14:31.704-04:00Comments on <center>OnFiction</center>: Negative EmotionsKeith Oatleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16419339550879570935noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5455277388900637928.post-5324996771143270932010-02-17T17:47:07.643-05:002010-02-17T17:47:07.643-05:00Thank you Barbara, very much. I knew about the &qu...Thank you Barbara, very much. I knew about the "need for cognition" scale, but not "need for affect." This certainly does sound interesting, particularly given—as you say—that it predicts responsiveness to certain kinds of fiction.Keith Oatleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16419339550879570935noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5455277388900637928.post-41809226641673941492010-02-17T10:10:56.971-05:002010-02-17T10:10:56.971-05:00Need for affect is the "general motivation of...Need for affect is the "general motivation of people to approach or avoid situation or activities that are emotion inducing for themselves and others (Maio & Esses, 2001)." As such it predicts to what extent being in an emotional state has enjoyable aspects to it, as you wrote. Need for affect is proving as a key trait moderator of involvement in fiction and its consequent persuasiveness. The authors below researched in particular its role in the involvement in horror and drama films as discussed in this blogpost.<br /><br />Bartsch, A., Appel, M. & Storch, D. (in press). Predicting emotions and meta-emotions at the movies. The role of the need for affect in audiences' experience of horror and drama. Communication Research.Barbara M.https://www.blogger.com/profile/01469225033399143756noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5455277388900637928.post-74182632661077956622010-02-16T15:10:00.703-05:002010-02-16T15:10:00.703-05:00Thank you Rebecca and Mathias, for your comments. ...Thank you Rebecca and Mathias, for your comments. I think this question remains somewhat mysterious. As someone who generally avoids horror films, it is hard for me to think myself into why they are enjoyable to many people. Although Kendall Walton says that emotions aren't real because if they were were we would leave the cinema, I don't find this explanation convincing either; I have left the cinema in movies that I found aversive.<br /><br />To me it seems that the best explanation of liking such emotions as fear and horror in fiction (and it has been put forward by many) is that we do look for closure and relief from negative emotions, and fiction generally does this more predictably than in everyday life.Keith Oatleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16419339550879570935noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5455277388900637928.post-65306967820093621182010-02-16T03:53:38.200-05:002010-02-16T03:53:38.200-05:00Very interesting post, and an important question. ...Very interesting post, and an important question. It certainly is curious that a fairly crude film like <i>Paranormal Activity</i>, which was produced for $15,000, has grossed close to <i>ten thousand times</i> that amount, worldwide. Films (and stories in general) about drooling monsters, malevolent spirits and voices from beyond the grave capture the attention and imagination of millions of people around the globe. Maybe this has something to do with the pan-mammalian instinct to engage in play and exploratory behavior, to test the limits of one's moxie and vicariously expand one's experiential horizons? Maybe the pleasure that fictions elicit (pleasurable and horrible ones alike) is similar to the pleasure that play behavior elicits. That, at least, is the suggestion offered by Steen and Owens in their 2001 paper <i>Evolution's Pedagogy</i> (http://cogweb.ucla.edu/crp/Papers/Steen_Owens_2001.html).Mathias Clasenhttp://person.au.dk/en/engmc@hum.au.dknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5455277388900637928.post-46082117062749049042010-02-15T23:29:54.437-05:002010-02-15T23:29:54.437-05:00I think it's very useful to think about the re...I think it's very useful to think about the relationship between these two factors: self- consciousness (or perhaps if not "self consciousness" then "self-imaginings" in Kendall Walton's terminology) and the reader's inability to act within the fictional world. I would think that the second is likely a very important contributor to the first. I have to admit that I'm not convinced that "non-acting in response to an emotional stimulus" would be inherently pleasurable, but in certain cases could be so. I do see how this "non-acting" could make the reader more aware of herself and her emotions.Rebecca Wells Joplinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09485890436841556217noreply@blogger.com