Merging vs. detachment attitude of readers

to folktale characters[1]

Sergei Schebetenko

Perm State Institute of Art and Culture, Perm, Russia

The study develops metaindividual psychology approach to the arts and literature (Dorfman, 2000). The space referents of merging vs. detachment attitude of readers to folktale characters has been examined as contingent on regions of metaindividual world (Dorfman, 2004) of readers.

In terms of the plural self theory (Dorfman, 2004), the plural self is divided into four subselves as mental representations of the metaindividual world regions: Authorship (autonomy), Possession (possessing the Other), Other-acceptance (tolerance of the Other), and Relatedness (viewing oneself as of service to others). It has been found that the Authored subself of readers unlike other subselves effected the space referents of merging vs. detachment attitude of readers to folktale characters (Schebetenko, 2004a, 2004b).

The current study tests the same hypothetical model but takes into account other manifest variables of the readers’s metaindividual world regions. It has been suggested that autonomy, control, and impersonal orientations subscales extracted from the General causality orientations scale (Deci & Ryan, 1985) would be manifest variables of the Authorship, the Possession, and the Relatedness regions of the readers’s metaindividual world.

There were 104 undergraduates (women only) recruited from Library faculty of Perm State Institute of Art and Culture, age 17 to 26 (M = 18.50, SD = 1.63). The plural self was measured by Perm Plural Self Questionnaire (Dorfman et al., 2000). The General causality orientations scale (Deci & Ryan, 1985) adopted to Russian population (Dergacheva, Dorfman, & Leontiev, 2002) was used to assess autonomy, control, and impersonal orientations subscales. The Inclusion of Other in the Self Scale (Aron, Aron, & Smollan, 1992), a single-item pictorial measure, was used as a space referent of merging–detachment between readers and folktale characters. Besides, the Inclusion of Other in the Self Scale was to some extent modified: 3 space measures were added to the “Inclusion” measure, namely the “Distance”, the “Reader”, and the “Character”. Our findings evidenced that all 4 space measures can be considered the space referents of merging–detachment between readers and folktale characters (Schebetenko, 2004b).

Each participant got measures on each subself, causal orientations subscale, and space measures. A 3-way ANOVA (within-subjects design, fixed effects, regression approach, type III SS, polynomial contrast) was used to assess interactions between subselves and causal orientations variables. Within-subject factors included the Authorship subself and autonomy causal orientation variables, the Possession subself and control causal orientation variables, and the Relatedness subself and impersonal causal orientation variables, respectively.Within-subject factors interacted, F (2, 206) = 310.41, p < .001. The first factor was called “Authorship”, the second “Possession”, and the third “Relatedness”.

In structural equation modeling the initial parameters were the Authorship exogenous factor with 12 autonomy causal orientation points as its manifest variables, the Possession exogenous factor with 12 control causal orientation points as its manifest variables, and the Relatedness exogenous factor with 12 impersonal causal orientation points as its manifest variables. The Possession exogenous factor was included into the model as correlated with the Authorship and the Relatedness exogenous factors because the control causal orientation variable correlated significantly with the autonomy and impersonal causal orientation variables. The Space of merging–detachment between readers and folktale characters was an endogenous factor and the Inclusion, the Distance, the Reader, and the Character as its manifest variables.

Correlation matrix for manifest variables was submitted to structural equation modeling using SEPATH in Statistica (Steiger, 1995). The method of discrepancy function estimation was that of Generalized Least Squares. Line search method was Golden section. Five indexes were used to assess model fit, namely the chi-square statistic, χ2 / df, Steiger and Lind's root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA), goodness-of-fit index (GFI), and the adjusted goodness-of-fit index (AGFI).

The model fitted the data (χ2 (735) = 694.39, p > .05, χ2 / df = .95, RMSEA = .001, GFI = 1.00, AGFI = 1.00).

The model summary was that the Authorship exogenous factor included 12 autonomy causal orientation manifest variables (p < .001). The Possession exogenous factor included 7 control causal orientation manifest variables (p < .001). The Relatedness exogenous factor included 3 impersonal causal orientation manifest variables (p < .01 ¸ .001). The Space of merging–detachment endogenous factor included the manifest variables: Distance with positive sign (p < .001), Reader with negative sign (p < .001), and Character with negative sign (p < .001)

The path passed to the Space of merging–detachment endogenous factor from the Authorship exogenous factor (p < .05) but was nonsignificant for the Possession and Relatedness exogenous factors. Authorship and Possession exogenous factors correlated positively (p < .001).

The findings evidenced that the Space of detachment–merging between readers and folktale characters can be contingent on the Authorship region of the readers’s metaindividual world (autonomy causal orientation). Yet, the Authorship region can mediate links between the Possession region of the readers’s metaindividual world (control causal orientation) and the Space of merging–detachment between readers and folktale characters. The Authorship and Possession regions can foster readers to detach from rather than to merge with folktale characters.

References

Aron, A., Aron, E. N., & Smollan, D. (1992) Inclusion of other in the self: Scale and the structure of interpersonal closeness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 63, 4, 596–612.

Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (1985). Intrinsic motivation and self-determination in human behavior. New York: Plenum.

Dergacheva, O., Dorfman, L., & Leontiev, D. (2002). Measurement of autonomy in Russian culture. 8th International Conference on Motivation (Workshop on Achievement and Task Motivation). Abstracts (p. 27). Moscow.

Dorfman, L. Ia. (2000). Individuality and art from the perspective of the meta-individual psychology of art. Journal of Russian and East European Psychology, 38, 3, 7–27.

Dorfman, L. Ya. (2004). Self–conception: Differentiation and integration. In L. Ya. Dorfman (Ed.), Integral individuality, self-conception, and personality (pp. 96–123). Moscow: Smysl. (In Russian).

Schebetenko, S. A. (2004a). Self–conception, empathy of readers and closeness of folktale characters. In Dorfman (Ed.), Integral individuality, self–conception, and personality (pp. 261–293). Moscow: Smysl (In Russian).

Schebetenko, S. A. (2004b). Folktale characters in the metaindividual world of readers: Space referents of merging – detachments. In L. Ya. Dorfman, Eu. A. Malianov, & E. M. Berezina (Eds.), Metaindividual world and the plural self: Creativity, the arts, and ethnos (pp. 52–63). Perm: Perm State Institute of Art and Culture. (In Russian).

[1] Schebetenko, S. (2005). Merging vs. Detachment attitude of readers to folktale characters. In: E. Malianov, C. Martindale, E. Berezina, L. Dorfman, D. Leontiev, V. Petrov, and P. Locher (Eds.) (2005). Proceedings of the International Congress on Aesthetics, Creativity, and Psychology of the Arts. Perm: Administration of Perm Region, Perm State Institute of Art and Culture; Moscow: Smysl, 345–347.