THE LANDSCAPE OF EMOTION IN LITERARY ENCOUNTERS

This study examined the effects of emotional subject matter and descri ptive style in short story excerpts on text (e.g. rich in meaning) and reader response-oriented (e.g. liking) ratings. Forty-eight subjects, including equal numbers of trained and novice male and female student s, read two examples of each text twice and either generated or receiv ed interpretations between readings in a within-subjects design. In ge neral, intellectual challenge slowed the pace of reading, whereas susp ense-based arousal increased it. Emotional subject matter had a more p owerful effect than descriptive style on both cognitive (challenging, rich in meaning) and affective (expressive, personally relevant) scale s and were read more quickly. Generating interpretations fostered subj ective reactions to the Emotional excerpts (images), whereas Descripti ve texts were less amenable to subjective responses. Consistent effect s were also found for background and gender. As in everyday life, subj ect matter had a dominant effect in engaging a person's involvement.