Kelsey Keegan
Dr. Minda Oriña
Psych 249C
3/31/14
Individual Summary #2
Journal Club
Citation
Kaufman, G. F., & Libby, L. K. (2012). Changing Beliefs and Behavior Through
Experience-Taking. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 103(1),
1-19. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0027525.
Overview
This research investigates the concept of experience-taking, which is the “imaginative
process of spontaneously assuming the identity of a character in a narrative and simulating
that character’s thoughts, emotions, behaviors, goals, and traits as if they were one’s own” (1).
Kaufman and Libby hypothesized that when experience-taking occurs, readers let go of
certain components of their own identity (such as their beliefs, memories, personality traits,
and group affiliations) and instead assume the identity of the protagonist, accepting the
character’s decisions, outcomes, and reactions as their own. The researchers predicted that the
greater the ability a narrative has to evoke experience-taking (and the greater the ability a
reader has to simulate the subjective experience of a character), the greater the potential that
story has to change the reader’s self-concept, attitudes, and behavior.
While this research focuses on how one’s exposure to other people’s actions, beliefs or
experiences can transform the self, it differs in that “experience-taking does not rely on
orienting the other as a target for […] comparison but rather, it entails the spontaneous
replacement of self with other” (2). Thus, Kaufman and Libby believe that experience-taking
requires the reader to temporarily dismiss their own identities and simulate story events
through the identity of the protagonist. They propose that experience-taking is promoted by a
reduction rather than an increase in the activation of one’s self-concept.
During the laboratory sessions, experimenters directed participants to individual
cubicles and distributed booklets containing the experiment materials. Instructions explained
that participants would be asked to read a brief work of fiction and to answer a number of
questions about the story and other topics. After reading the narrative, participants completed
a measure designed to index their level of experience-taking. *See page 3 for a list of items
measured.
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Just as Kaufman and Libby hypothesized, studies 1-3 revealed that being in a reduced
state of self-concept accessibility while reading a fictional work increased (whereas being in a
heightened state of self-concept accessibility decreased) participants’ levels of experiencetaking and the incorporation of a character’s personality traits into their self-concept. Study 4
demonstrated that a first-person narrative depicting an “ingroup” character (a character which
identified in the same group that a participant identified in) elicited the highest levels of
experience-taking and produced the greatest change in a participant’s behavior, in comparison
to versions of the narrative written in 3rd-person and/or depicting an “outgroup” protagonist (a
group in which a participant does not identify). The results from studies 5 and 6 proved that
revealing a character’s “outgroup” membership as a homosexual or African American (to a
heterosexual or Caucasian participant) early in a narrative inhibited experience-taking,
whereas delaying the revelation of a character’s “outgroup” identity until later in the story
produced higher levels of experience-taking, lower levels of stereotyping in participants’
evaluation of the character, and also more favorable attitudes toward the character’s group.
This research has possible implications by changing the way people view themselves and
others, in addition to potentially decreasing prejudice and stereotyping.
Connections

These findings are connected to the notions of persuasion. Specifically, one could
attest that experience-taking occurs when the reader is utilizing the central or
systematic route to persuasion – attending carefully to the message or considering the
evidence/logic of the story – which occurs when the message is relevant to a person
(like when the narration is in 1st person and the protagonist identifies with a similar
group that the participant also identifies with).

Furthermore, it’s interesting that people typically tend to be resistant to persuasion
(particularly if it’s blatant) because of preexisting biases and knowledge, but one could
argue that experience-taking is a form of somewhat successful persuasion that (under
the right circumstances and given the right conditions) allows for people to become
more open-minded in possibly changing their attitudes, beliefs, or behaviors.

This research can also be linked to the priming of behavior, which shows that the
activation of things like goals, traits, or stereotypes can influence later actions, even
without conscious awareness or intention. One could conclude from the results that
simulating the protagonist’s experience strengthened the effect of primed constructs
on participants’ judgments and behavior.
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Questions

The implications of this research are quite phenomenal and could have potentially
positive outcomes. However, have there been studies done in which experience-taking
had more negative effects? For example, could it lead people to adopt more harmful
beliefs, traits or behavior if the protagonist with which a participant is to identify
showed hostile behavior or performed various crimes within a narrative (after the
participant put his or her own identity aside and got wrapped up in a protagonist’s
story and beliefs)?

Could experience-taking be translated into other mediums? For example, would it be
as effective if participants had listened to an audio version of the fictional story or if
they had watched a movie along the same storylines, narrative perspective, “ingroup”
conditions, etc. as the story that they read?

These studies used self-report measures in order to obtain results. Is there a more
effective way of getting more accurate results? Self-reporting isn’t always as accurate
as one may like, so could neuroimaging (or some technique like that) be used in order
to see the different parts of the brain being activated and at what times or during which
parts of the story certain areas of the brain are functioning?
Experience-Taking Measure
Rate the extent to which you agree with the following statements about how you felt while reading the story.
Circle the number that corresponds to your response for each item.
1. I felt like I could put myself in the shoes of the character in the story.
2. I found myself thinking what the character in the story was thinking.
3. I found myself feeling what the character in the story was feeling.
4. I could empathize with the situation of the character in the story.
5. I understood the events of the story as though I were the character in the story.
6. I was not able to get inside the character’s head.
7. At key moments in the story, I felt I knew what the character was going through.
Note. Each item had a 9-point scale anchored at 1 (strongly disagree) and 9 (strongly agree).
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