Cover not available

Article published In: Scientific Study of Literature
Vol. 4:2 (2014) ► pp.196–210

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
authorization required

Amazing but true

A preference for fiction-like non-fiction

 | University of California, San Diego
Published online: 30 March 2015
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/ssol.4.2.04lea
People find it important to know if a story is factual, but still the most popular stories, in such forms as books and movies, are fictional. Research suggests that a story being true may add value to the reader’s experience, but other findings suggest that fiction may increase enjoyment by providing fewer disruptions to narrative comprehension. In three studies we explored the appeal of stories when they are presented as fiction or as non-fiction. Subjects read (1) story synopses, (2) vignettes from two popular websites, or (3) narratives on relationships and war. Results indicate that readers preferred stories when they were presented, externally, as non-fiction. Readers also preferred stories that seemed internally — that is, because of how they were written — like fiction. Additionally the results suggested that readers rely more heavily on factual stories to update their notions of reality. This study contributes to a body of literature on reader enjoyment in relation to truth labels made explicit or implicit in narratives as well as on the efficacy of arts-based research.
References (37)
All-Time Box Office: World-Wide. (2012). Retrieved from IMBd website: [URL]
Appel, M., & Maleckar, B. (2012). The Influence of paratext on narrative persuasion: Fact, fiction, or fake? Human Communication Research, 381, 459–484. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bastone, W., Ed. (2006, January 6). A million little lies. Retrieved from The Smoking Gun website: [URL].
Baumeister, R.F., Zhang, L., & Vohs, K.D. (2004). Gossip as cultural learning. Review of General Psychology, 81, 111–121. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bohr, H. (1967). My Father. In S. Rozental (Ed.), Niels Bohr: His life and work as seen by his friends and colleagues. Amsterdam: North Holland Publishing Company.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chenier, T., & Winkielman, P. (2009). The origins of aesthetic pleasure: processing fluency and affect in judgment, body, and the brain. In M. Skov & O. Vartanian (Eds.), Neuroaesthetics (pp. 275–289). Amityville, NY: Baywood Publishing Co.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Frey, J. (2005). A million little pieces. New York: Anchor.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Grabianowski, E. (2012). The 21 best-selling books of all time. Retrieved from HowStuffWorks website: [URL]
Gerrig, R.J., & Prentice, D.A. (1991). The representation of fictional information. Psychological Science, 21, 336–340. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Giesman, H., & Misiewicz, J. (2001). Surviving reality television. (Honors thesis). Ball State University, Indiana.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Graesser, A.C., Olde, B., & Klettke, B. (2002). How does the mind construct and represent stories? In M.C. Green, J.J. Strange, & T.C. Brock (Eds.), Narrative impact: Social and cognitive foundations (pp. 229–262). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hanauer, D.I. (2010). Poetry as research: Exploring second language poetry writing (Vol. 91). Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Harvey Jr., L.O. (2003). Living with uncertainty in an uncertain world: Signal detection theory in the real world. In J. Andre, D.A. Owens, & L.O. Harvey Jr. (Eds.), Visual perception: The influence of H. W. Leibowitz (Decade of behavior) (pp. 23–41). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hatano, G., & Inagaki, K. (2003). When is conceptual change intended? A cognitive-sociocultural view. In G.M. Sinatra, & P.R. Pintrich (Eds.), Intentional conceptual change (pp. 403–422). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hekkert, P. (2006). Design aesthetics: Principles of pleasure in product design. Psychology Science, 48(2), 157–172.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hendersen, D.J.O., & Clark, H. (2007). Retelling narratives as fiction or non-fiction. In D.S. McNamara, & G. Trafton (Eds.), Proceedings of the 29th Annual Cognitive Science Society (pp. 353–358). Austin: Cognitive Science Society.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hoover, Kevin D. (2012). Pragmatism, perspectival realism, and econometrics. In A. Lehtinen, Jaakko Kuorikoski and Petri Ylikoski (Eds.), Economics for real: Uskali Mäki and the place of truth in economics (pp. 223–240). London: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hunter, I.E., & Hunter, R.F. (1984). Validity and utility of alternative predictors of job performance. Psychological Bulletin, 961, 72–98. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kagan, J. (2003). Surprise and uncertainty. In B.A. Maher, M.F. Lenzenweger, & J.M. Hooley (Eds.), Principles of experimental psychopathology: Essays in honor of Brendan A. Maher (pp. 245–253). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kroft, S. (2011, April 15). Questions over Greg Mortenson’s stories. Retrieved from CBS News website: [URL].
Leder, H., Belke, B., Oeberst, A., & Augustin, D. (2004). A model of aesthetic appreciation and aesthetic judgments. British Journal of Psychology, 951, 489–508. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Marshall, B.J., & Warren, J.R. (1984). Unidentified curved bacilli in the stomach of patients with gastritis and peptic ulceration. Lancet, 11, 1311–1315. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mar, R.A., & Oatley, K. (2008). The function of fiction is the abstraction and simulation of social experience. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 31, 173–192. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
McDonald, J.B. (2012, February 21). In the Details: Review of The Lifespan of a Fact, by John D’Agata and Jim Fingal. New York Times, BR1.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mortenson, G. & Relin, D.O. (2006). Three cups of tea. New York: Viking.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nisbett, R.E., Zukier, H., & Lemley, R. (1981). The dilution effect: Nondiagnostic information weakens the impact of diagnostic information. Cognitive Psychology, 131, 248–277. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Oatley, K. (1999). Why fiction may be twice as true as fact: Fiction as cognitive and emotional simulation. Review of General Psychology, 31, 101–117. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pihlainen, K. (2002). The moral of the historical story: Textual differences in fact and fiction. New Literary History, 331, 39–60. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Prentice, D.A., Gerrig, R.J., & Bailis, D.S. (1997). What readers bring to the processing of fictional texts. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 41, 416–420. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Reber, R., Schwarz, N., & Winkielman, P. (2004). Processing fluency and aesthetic pleasure: Is beauty in the perceiver’s processing experience? Personality and Social Psychology Review, 81, 364–382. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Richert, R.A., & Smith, E.I. (2011). Preschoolers’ quarantining of fantasy stories. Child Development, 821, 1106–1119. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schwarz, N. (1996). Cognition and communication: Judgmental biases, research methods, and the logic of conversation. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sperber, D., & Wilson, D. (1986.) Relevance: Communication and cognition. Oxford, UK: Blackwell.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Stelter, B. (2012, March 16). ‘This American Life’ retracts episode on Apple’s suppliers in China. New York Times.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Strange, J.J., & Leung, C.C. (1999). How anecdotal accounts in news and in fiction can influence judgments of a social problem’s urgency, causes, and cures. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 251, 436–449. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Taylor, B., Miller, E., Farrington, C.P., Petropoulos, M.C., Favot-Mayaud, I., Li, J., & Waight, P.A. (1999). Autism and measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine: no epidemiological evidence for a causal association. Lancet, 3531, 2026–2029. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Trabasso, T., Secco, T., & van den Broek, E.W. (1984). Causal cohesion and story coherence. In H. Mandl, N.L. Stein, & T. Trabasso (Eds.), Learning and comprehension of text (pp. 83–111). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (1)

Cited by one other publication

Deane, Paul, Swapna Somasundaran, René R. Lawless, Hilary Persky & Colleen Appel
2019. The Key Practice, Building and Sharing Stories and Social Understandings: The Intrinsic Value of Narrative. ETS Research Report Series 2019:1 ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 4 december 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue