The effect of the narrative depiction of separation in the novel portrayed friendship on being moved: Focusing on the mediating effect of uncovering the social values

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to examine the effect of finitude salience and the meditational effect of uncovering the social values on the emotional responses of being moved. We tested the hypothesis that the narrative depiction of separation as finitude salience would result in readers uncovering the social values of the story, and increase their emotional responses of being moved. Participants read a novel whose theme was friendship with or without the depiction of separation. Then, all the participants rated the extent to which they were moved by the novel. As hypothesized, our results indicated that participants who read the novel that depicted separation were more strongly moved. In addition, mediational data demonstrated that the effect of the depiction of separation on being moved could be explained by the participants' uncovering of the social values of the story.View full abstract