Empathy And Transportation: A Narrative Analysis

Empathy and transportation are two qualities that allow readers to become absorbed into a story and both are necessary to create a sense of connection with the characters within a narrative. Researchers describe empathy as the capacity to share another’s feelings and emotions (Stansfield & Bruce, 2014). While researchers defined transportation as a phenomenon where readers often forget about time and their environment since they are completely immersed in the world of the narrative (Green, Brock & Kaufman, 2004). Though prior research has shown that individuals who read fiction are more likely to be empathic and be transported into a story, there is still no specific methodology for fostering growth.
Based off research, there seems to be a link between fiction, empathy and transportation. Researchers have shown that empathy is only one of the factors that are essential to understanding and enjoying fiction (Stansfield & Bruce, 2014). When reading fiction, readers have many opportunities to encode mental preferences about characters’ decisions (Jacovina & Gerrig, 2010). By having a reader make participatory responses while reading, it indicates
As a reader is submersed into the narrative, they may lose track of time and become unaware of their current environment (Green, 2004). Researchers have shown that while reading fiction, the simulation of social experience that occurs might engage the same social-cognitive processes employed during real-world social comprehension (Mar, Oately, Peterson, 2009). Therefore reading fiction stimulates social experience and allows the reader to feel emotions in conflicts and relationships of the stories characters (Mar et., 2009). Mar and colleagues found that stimulating social experiences through fiction allows individuals to improve social skills, especially empathy (Mar et.,