READERS’ RESPONSE TO MAMAN SUHERMAN’S RE

The topic of the research is Readers' Reactions to Maman Suherman's Re: The study's goals were to look at the readers' reactions to the plot components in Maman Suherman's Re: and the reasons for their reactions to Maman Suherman's Re: The descriptive qualitative method was used in this study's investigation. The readers' responses to the novel's questionnaire served as the study's data. The information was gathered from readers who had completed the novel in its entirety. The outcome revealed how readers reacted to Maman Suherman's Re: Beach, and Marshall's theory was used to examine the data. The reader liked the story elements in Maman Suherman's Re: the reader liked the story elements in Maman Suherman's Re: the reader liked the story elements in Maman Suherman's Re: the reader liked the story elements in Maman Suherman's Re: the reader liked the story elements in Maman Suherman's Re: the reader liked the story elements in Maman Suherman's Re

A Comparative Study of Density and Fineness in the Narratives of Chinese and Western Classical Novels

Density refers to the number of story elements within a narrative of a given piece of writing. Fineness refers to the sufficiency and inherent completeness of the story elements displayed. In comparison, the density of story elements in ancient Chinese novels is higher, and the fineness is lower, while the density of story elements in Western novels is lower and the fineness is higher. This difference partly contributes to the simplicity and refinement of the structure of Chinese novels and the complexity and delicate nature of the structure of Western novels. However, each of these characteristics has its strengths, in line with the national culture and social framework from which the Chinese and Western novels emerged. As such, these elements found in both Chinese and Western novels can appropriately reflect the way of life of their respective societies and the thoughts and feelings of the people therein, both of which are worthy of recognition.

When does the story matter? No evidence for the foregrounding hypothesis in math story problems

Math story problems are difficult for many solvers because comprehension of mathematical and linguistic content must occur simultaneously. Across two studies, we attempted to conceptually replicate and extend findings reported by Mattarella-Micke and Beilock (2010, https://doi.org/10.3758/PBR.17.1.106) and Jarosz and Jaeger (2019, https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.3471). Mattarella-Micke and Beilock found that multiplication word problems in which an irrelevant number was associated with the protagonist of the problem (i.e., foregrounded in the text) were solved less accurately than problems in other conditions. Jarosz and Jaeger used similar materials but tested the more general inconsistent-operations hypothesis that association with the protagonist would interfere with multiplication whereas dissociation would interfere with division. They found partial support: When division problems were primed with dissociative scenarios, solvers made more errors, but they failed to replicate the associative findings for multiplication. In the present research, we conducted two studies (Ns = 205 and 359), in which we similarly manipulated whether irrelevant content was associated with or dissociated from the story protagonist. In these studies, we did not find support for either the foregrounding or inconsistent-operations hypotheses. Exploratory error analyses suggested that solvers’ errors were most often the result of calculation difficulties or inappropriate operation choices and were unrelated to the presence of associative or dissociative story elements. Our careful implementation of this manipulation and much greater power to detect effects suggests that the association manipulation in irrelevant text does not influence adults’ performance on simple math story problems.

Survey of the Story Elements of Isekai Manga

This paper presents a survey of the story elements in isekai (other world) manga. The large number of available isekai manga series allows the use of a survey to investigate patterns in story elements. These patterns can be used to generate hypotheses about relationships between story elements, authors’ intent, and readers’ interests. The paper begins with a review of the characteristics of isekai manga stories and places the stories into existing speculative fiction ontologies. A brief history of isekai manga and their relationships to roleplaying computer and tabletop games is provided. Finally, descriptions of the survey framework, instrument and results are presented. The survey includes data on 746 manga series identified as isekai manga by publishers or fans. The series are divided into four types (portal-quest, immersive, intrusion, and liminal). A detailed survey was performed on the 427 series identified as “portal-quest” stories (the most common type of isekai stories). The survey results are captured in a database of story elements that is organized based on plot points dictated by the form of the portal-quest stories. The survey found that the majority of the manga series are inspired by first-person shônen and otome computer games. The characteristics of the stories vary with the gender and age of the protagonists (here taken as surrogates for the gender and age of the stories’ target audiences) and this variation allows the generation of hypotheses on the motivations and interests of the different reader demographics and how they are satisfied by the stories.

Revisiting the Parable of the Good Samaritan

The parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) is among the best-known Gospel texts. It may also be one of the most mis-interpreted texts in the Gospels. The story of a traveler who comes to the aid of a victim of crime has inspired Christians for centuries to establish agencies to render assistance to those in need. The popular acclaim for the parable can cloud the meaning and significance of the story recounted in Luke’s Gospel. The ways the parable has been presented to and read by Christians represents a stumbling block in relations between Christians and Jews. This article surveys contemporary scholarly literature published for an English-speaking audience to determine what limitations and possibilities exist for understanding this parable. A close and careful reading of Luke’s text can reveal story elements that challenge traditional interpretations of this significant parable.

Sleep and testing both strengthen and distort story recollection

Over time, memories lose episodic detail and become distorted, a process with serious ramifications for topics such as eyewitness identification. What are the processes which contribute to such transformation over time? We investigated the roles of post learning sleep and retrieval practice in memory accuracy, transformation, and distortion, using a naturalistic story recollection task. Undergraduate students listened to a recording of the “War of the Ghosts”, a Native American folktale, and were assigned to either a retrieval practice or listen only study condition, and either a sleep or wake delay group. Sleep and retrieval practice independently resulted in more story elements being recalled accurately, and fewer importations of non-story elements, than the wake, no retrieval practice group. However, sleep and retrieval practice also led to more inferences of non-presented, but story related information. These findings suggest that both sleep and retrieval practice contribute equally to narrative memory stabilization and distortion.

Not Whodunit But Whydunit: Story Characters’ Motivations Influence Audience Interest in Services

Service providers and consumer well-being advocates often share stories to promote audience interest in relevant behavior. This research examines how characters’ motivations for engaging in service-related behavior in such stories influence consumers’ interest in services. Across five studies, we show that audiences are more interested in services after reading about a character who acts for intrinsically (vs. extrinsically) motivated reasons. We show that this occurs because the audience identifies more with intrinsically motivated characters. We also examine how consequences of characters’ actions (both for others and for themselves when they make miscalibrated decisions) shape an audience’s service interest in targeted ways, specifically encouraging interest in services that help people while avoiding unintended negative consequences. The results of this work suggest that stories can be an effective way to encourage consumers’ interest in services that enhance personal and societal well-being and identify critical story elements that influence their success in doing so.