How to explain emotions caused by fictional stimuli: A research program

Abstract: Starting from the observation that fictional stimuli can cause emotions, the question arises what are the necessary and sufficient conditions for this observation, both in terms of situational factors and intervening mechanisms. To tackle this question I propose following 3 steps. In a first step, I define the difference between real and fictional stimuli in terms of their relation to reality. If fictional stimuli can elicit emotions, one may already conclude that reality is not a necessary condition for emotion elicitation. In a second step, I list a number of factors that may typically co-vary with the reality factor (e.g., vividness, goal relevance, distance from the self, perceptual vs. verbal format of external or internal representations, imaginability, degree of immersion) and that may or may not constitute necessary conditions for emotion elicitation. To constitute this list, I propose using (a) a top-down strategy in which factors are derived from emotion theories (both theories developed to explain emotions caused by real stimuli and theories developed to explain emotions caused by fictional stimuli), and (b) a bottom-up strategy in which factors are derived from examining real and fictional stimuli. In a third step, I propose setting up experiments in which (a) each of the listed factors is manipulated orthogonally to the reality factor (to the extent that this is possible) while keeping the other factors constant, and (b) the presence, intensity, and quality of emotions (or emotional components) is measured. I discuss various potential results and the conclusions that can be drawn from them.status: publishe