The Science of Free-Indirect Discourse: An Alternate Cognitive Effect

Angus Fletcher; John Monterosso

doi:10.1353/nar.2016.0004

journal article Jan 01, 2016

The Science of Free-Indirect Discourse: An Alternate Cognitive Effect

Angus Fletcher John Monterosso

Narrative Vol. 24 No. 1 pp. 82-103 · Project MUSE

View at Publisher Save 10.1353/nar.2016.0004

Abstract

Recent cognitive research has indicated that free-indirect discourse (FID) can promote empathy in readers. We broaden and refine this research by distinguishing between two formal features of FID: (1) its pivot from the third person into the first, and (2) its pivot back out of the first person into the third. We then suggest that a historical survey of literature provides grounds for hypothesizing that the second formal feature of FID might have a very different cognitive effect from empathy: an acceptance of alterity. We provide some supporting evidence for our hypothesis through an original psychology study and conclude by proposing that our identification of a second cognitive effect of FID reveals how scientific reduction might be used to develop multiple, even divergent, models of rhetorical function.

Topics

No keywords indexed for this article. Browse by subject →

Metrics

13

Citations

0

References

Details

Published: Jan 01, 2016
Vol/Issue: 24(1)
Pages: 82-103

Authors

Cite This Article

Angus Fletcher, John Monterosso (2016). The Science of Free-Indirect Discourse: An Alternate Cognitive Effect. Narrative, 24(1), 82-103. https://doi.org/10.1353/nar.2016.0004

The Science of Free-Indirect Discourse: An Alternate Cognitive Effect

You May Also Like