Personality, literary genre, and the interpretation of narrative

Genres are argued to represent culturally shared cognitive schemas that determine to a large extent the form and content of narratives. Genre can be a property of form (e.g., poetry), subject matter (e.g., mysteries, westerns), or effect on the reader (e.g., horror, humor). To date, no research has documented the degree to which knowledge of literary genres is consistent across a population. This study addressed this question and explored the relationship between genre preference, interpretation, and personality traits. It was hypothesized that literary genres would be construed similarly by all participants, that participants' self-reported favorite genres would influence how they interpreted a genre-ambiguous text, that participants' characterization of their own “life stories” would correlate with their genre preference, and that personality traits would predict genre preference.; A sample of 105 undergraduates rated the form and content of 10 common literary genres (e.g., fantasy, mystery, biography) across 16 bipolar dimensions (e.g., realistic/fantasy-like, optimistic/pessimistic, intense/superficial). Participants ranked the 10 genres in order of personal preference; they rated the kind of story they believed their own lives would make, and they rated a text excerpt from an unidentified genre on the same 16 dimensions just cited. They also completed the Five Factor Inventory, a standardized measure of the Five-Factor Model of traits that assesses extroversion, neuroticism, openness to experience, agreeableness and conscientiousness.; Results indicated strong support for the hypothesis that literary genres would be construed similarly by all participants. There was weak but statistically significant support for the hypothesis that participants would perceive the qualities of their favorite genres in the ambiguous stimulus, and slightly stronger support for the hypothesis that participants would report a preference for genres similar to their own life stories. Finally, the Five-Factor Model significantly predicted genre preference.; This study demonstrates that genres represent culturally shared schemas, at least in the literary medium. In addition, the results suggest that personality attributes (e.g., life story conceptualizations, traits) predict interpretive styles and genre preference.