Published In

Frontiers in Human Neuroscience

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

3-2024

Subjects

Fiction -- Literature, Empathy in literature, Empathy -- Fiction

Abstract

The transformative power of fiction has been acknowledged since antiquity (Jaén and Simon, 2012) and technologies such as cinematography have amplified it. This power resides in its capacity to move us, to change our emotional states. Moreover, the audiovisual and narrative strategies employed in film fictions allow us to experience emotions not only intensely but also safely. Our participatory responses are both elicited and modulated by the fictional “crafted” quality of the stories that we witness on the screen. What happens before our eyes does not pose a threat to us and does not need our intervention. Yet, it seems quite real to our brains and may transform us, by allowing us to adopt different cognitive-affective perspectives, which may result in prosocial behaviors, that is, actions oriented toward the benefit of others.

Rights

COPYRIGHT © 2024 Jaén Portillo. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

Locate the Document

10.3389/fnhum.2024.1363720

DOI

10.3389/fnhum.2024.1363720

Persistent Identifier

https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/41732

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