Encounters with fictional characters offer the potential exposure “a diverse array of personalities, perspectives, events, outcomes, and realizations” remark Geoff Kaufman and Lisa Libby (2012: 1). Literature allows the imaginary transportation to other places; to other times; into characters with personality traits different from us; or the engagement in actions or the holding of ideas that are being aspired to. Biographies and fictional tales allow for the experiencing of life journeys of other people, which in turn may be an eye opener to the minds, struggles, achievements of individuals form diverse backgrounds. However, what is described here by no means happen automatically. On the contrary, it is required that the reader move beyond being a mere reader or spectator. It requires connecting to characters to such an extent that one step “into their proverbial shoes and experience the story from their perspective” (2012: 2), essentially to image becoming the characters while being in the world of the narrative. Kaufman and Libby (2012: 1) identify this as experience-taking and define the concept as “the imaginative process of spontaneously assuming the identity of a character in a narrative and simulating that character’s thoughts, emotions, behaviors, goals, and traits as if they were one’s own”. They undertook research to explore which factors facilitate and which impede experience-taking. They also demonstrate the influential impact experience-taking may have on the self-concepts, goals and actions of engaged readers. They further differentiate experience-taking from perspective-taking.
Kaufman and Libby (citing Oatley 1999, 2012: 2) suggests that experience-taking occurs when “readers simulate the events of a narrative as though they were a particular character in the story world, adopting the character’s mindset and perspective as the story progresses rather than orienting themselves as an observer or evaluator of the character”. In order to succeed in experience-taking, the reader need to set aside key aspects of own identity—“such as their beliefs, memories, personality traits and ingroup affiliations—and instead assume the identity of a protagonist, accepting the character’s decisions, outcomes, and reactions as their own” (Kaufman & Libby, 2012: 2).
It is suggested, based on the prediction and research findings of Kaufman and Libby (2012), that the better a simulation is capable to evoke experience-taking and to enable the participant to mimic the character’s subjective experience, the better is the potential of adapting self-concept, attitudes, and behaviour.
Kaufman, G. F.; Libby, L. K. 2012. Changing beliefs and behavior through experience-taking. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Mar 26.
Visit also: 'Losing Yourself' in a Fictional Character Can Affect Your Real Life
Oatley, K. 1999. Meetings of minds: Dialogue, sympathy, and identification, in reading fiction. Poetics, 26, 439–454. doi:10.1016/S0304-422X(99)00011-X
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