graphing jane austen - toward a new humanities

7/30/2019 Graphing Jane Austen - Toward a New Humanities

1/21

Graphing J ane Austen: Toward a New Humanities

Website questionnaire on 2,000 charactersfrom 202 19th century British novels

1470 protocols completed

435 unique characters coded for

J oseph CarrollJ ohn J ohnson

J onathan Gottschall

Daniel Kruger


2/21

Working Hypotheses:

(1)L iterature depicts human nature.

(2) L iterature articulates and cultivates specific values.

(3) Values are mediated by positive and negativeemotional responses to specific features of

characterparticularly to motives andpersonality.

(4) Positive and negative emotional responses correspond

to the agonistic roles writers and readers assignto characters.


3/21

Three-Part Research Design

Content of Character:

Sex

AgeAttractiveness

Personality

Motives

Mate Selection Criteria

Responses of Readers:

Emotional responses

Do you want the character to succeed?Is the characters success a main feature of

the story?

Role Assignment:

Is the character:

aprotagonist?

an antagonist?

or just aminor character (an associate

of a protagonist or antagonist)?


4/21

Categories Produced by Our Own Factor Analysis

Content of Character:

MotivesMate Selection Criteria

Responses of Readers:

Emotional responses


5/21

Character Sets are constituted by combinations of three variables:

1. Sex (male/female)

2. Valence (good/bad)

3. Status (major/minor)

These three variables produce three character set pairs:

1. All males vs. all females

2. All good vs. all bad characters

3. All major vs. all minor characters


6/21

1.Good major males (protagonists)

2. Good minor males

3. Good major females (protagonists)

4. Good minor females

5. Bad major males (antagonists)

6. Bad minor males

7. Bad major females (antagonists)

8. Bad minor females

Combinations of the three variables produce

eight agonistic character sets:


7/21

Chief Findings:

(1) Sex, Valence, and Status produce robust patterns of correlation andcan thus be identified as central organizing features in the novels.

(2) Male and female characters are differentiated in motives and mateselection criteria. Differences in mate selection criteria reflect

human universals.

(3) Valence is more important than Sex or Status in organizing readerresponses to the novels.

(4) The chief constituent of positive valence is prosociality.(5) The chief constituent of negative valence is a desire for social

dominancewealth, power, and prestige.

(6) Standing as a protagonista good major charactertypically dependson a combination of prosociality and an active mental life.

(7) In personality factors and mate-selection criteria, female protagonistsmost fully exemplify the normative tendencies of good major characters.

The norms of the novels are thus gynocentric or feminized.


8/21

10 Emotional Responses Reduced to Three EmotionalResponse Factors (loadings of .3 or greater).

-0.86Indifference0.47-0.67Amusement

0.83Sadness

0.77Fear for character

0.42-0.78Liking

0.30-0.73Admiration

0.72Fear of character

0.83Contempt0.89Disgust

0.86Anger

InterestSorrowDislikeOriginal Emotions


9/21

Emotional Response Factors in the Three Character Set Pairs

-0.60

-0.40

-0.20

0.00

0.20

0.40

0.60

0.80

1.00

1.20

standardized

scores

Dislike

Sorrow

Interest

Sex Valence Status

males females good bad major minor


10/21

Emotional Response Factors for Protagonists and Antagonists

-1

-0.5

0

0.5

1

1.5

Dislike

Sorrow

Interest

Male protags Female protags Male antags Female antags


11/21

0.82Help offspring/kin

0.73Building/Creating

0.62Make friends

0.77Education

0.410.56-0.34Help non-kin

0.89Prestige

0.89Power

0.380.70Wealth

0.83Long-term mating

-0.560.63Short-term mating

0.76Routine work0.80Survival

NurtureSubsistenceRomanceConstructive

EffortDominanceOriginal Motives

12 Motives Reduced to Five Motive Factors

(loadings of .3 or greater)


12/21

Motive Factors: The Three Character Set Pairs

-0.8

-0.6

-0.4

-0.2

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

stan

d

ard

ized

scores

Dominance

ConstructiveEffort

Romance

Subsisting

Nurturing

Sex Valence Status



13/21

Motive Factors: Protagonists and Antagonists

-0.80

-0.60

-0.40

-0.20

0.00

0.20

0.40

0.60

0.80

1.00

1.20

Dominance

Constructive

Effort

Subsistence

Romance

Nurture



14/21

Personality Factors: The Six Paired Character Sets

-1.2

-1

-0.8

-0.6

-0.4

-0.2

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

standardize

d

scores

Extraversion

Agreeableness

Conscientiousness

Stability

Openness

Sex Valence Status



15/21

Personality Factors: Protagonists and Antagonists

-1.4

-1.2

-1

-0.8

-0.6

-0.4

-0.2

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

sta

n

d

a

rd

ize

d

sco

res

Extraversion

Agreeableness

Conscientiousness

Stability

Openness



16/21

0.98PhysicalAttractiveness

0.78Intelligence

0.85Kindness0.85Reliability

0.88Wealth

0.91Prestige0.89Power

PhysicalAttractiveness

IntrinsicQualities

ExtrinsicAttributes

Seven Long-Term Mate-Selection Criteria

Reduced to Three Factors (loadings of .3 or greater)

Original Criteria


17/21

Long-Term Mate Selection in the Three Character Set Pairs

-1.2

-1

-0.8

-0.6

-0.4

-0.2

0

0.2

0.4

standardiz

ed

scores

Extrinsic

Intrinsic

Attractiveness

Sex Valence Status



18/21

Long-Term Mate Selection Criteria for Protagonists and Antagonists

-1.2

-1

-0.8

-0.6

-0.4

-0.2

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

standardize

d

scores

Extrinsic

Intrinsic

Attractive

ness



19/21

CONCLUSION:Dominance and affiliation are basic organizing elements in allsocial life. The central contrast in our study between good and

bad characters reflects that opposition.The emotional responses of readers to characters mirror theadaptively conditioned responses that people make whenassessing other people as potential partners for socialinteraction.

Reading literature simulates the experience of emotionallyresponsive social judgment.

That simulation has an adaptive value in cultivating theemotionally charged social responses of readers, organizingtheir social attitudes, and thus ultimately in regulating their

social behavior.


20/21

Possible Further Study:

Our model for the analysis of character in literature is intended to be acomprehensive model of human nature.

That model is derived from evolutionary psychology and includes sex, age,

attractiveness, motives, mate-selection criteria, personality, and emotionalresponses.

Using a comprehensive model of human nature makes it possible to compare

theway the elementsof human nature are organized in different individualpersons and different individual cultures.

We have used the model for the analysis of literary texts in a single culture.We could also use the model for the analysis of texts in other cultures and

other periods.

It would be possible to use a similar model for the comparative study of

behavior and normative values within populations of actual people.


21/21

END

graphing jane austen - toward a new humanities

Documents