Changing Beliefs and Behavior through Experience-Taking by Kaufman and Libby - Article Example

I have learned that; when one reads a brief fictional work with a reduced psychological state, the self-concept accessibility increases. However, the self-concept accessibility decreases when one reads while in a heightened state. I have also learned that a narrative that is written in the first person elicits a higher degree of experience-taking than a narrative that is written in the third person. In the article, I also learned that the background of a character inhibited experience-taking. Kaufman and Libby (7) argue that experience-taking was highly inhibited in narratives that introduced homosexuals as the characters.

From my experience and research, I agree with the views expressed by Kaufman and Libby. First-person narratives capture the reader and enable one to participate in the story. The readers identify with the characters in the narrative, and in the process of reading, they internalize the content, promoting experience-taking. The attitude that the reader forms about the characters in a narrative affect the reader’s experience-taking. Haslam et al. (357) and Connelly and Clandinin (7) argue that the attitude that a reader form about the characters in a narrative has a great effect on their experience-taking.

In the case of a homosexual character, the many readers who do not identify with homosexuality form a negative attitude about the characters and inhibit experience-taking.