COGNITIVE CRITICISM AND AFFECTIVE ENGAGEMENT: A STUDY OF YOUNG CHILDREN’S EMOTIONAL ENGAGEMENT WITH PICTUREBOOKS AND PICTUREBOOK CHARACTERS
Open Access
Author:
Gregerson, Annette L
Graduate Program:
Curriculum and Instruction
Degree:
Doctor of Philosophy
Document Type:
Dissertation
Date of Defense:
April 24, 2017
Committee Members:
Daniel D. Hade, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor Daniel D. Hade, Committee Chair/Co-Chair Jacqueline Reid-Walsh, Committee Member Jamie Myers, Committee Member Christine Marmé Thompson, Outside Member
Keywords:
Cognitive Criticism Children's Literature Picturebooks Emotional Engagement Characters
Abstract:
ABSTRACT
Cognitive criticism (a literary criticism also referred to as cognitive poetics) is contributing to the continuum of educational research, influencing the understanding of literacies and providing frameworks for the study of affective engagement with literature. This critical literary theory acknowledges the impact of contemporary scientific knowledge about human development and neuroscience on scholarly research. The resulting interdisciplinary cooperation enables new perspectives on life experiences based on who we are as biological beings. Scientific research which most influences this study is that which investigates the primacy of human emotions and the development of empathy with others, which is a crucial sociocultural life skill.
This study focuses on investigating, by observation, the emotional engagement that young children have with literature, specifically picturebooks. Affective connections and identifications with fictional characters are also examined. This qualitative phenomenological study is based on several months of data collection with four children (ages 2-6) and presents detailed reflective explication of the children’s experiences of emotional engagement.
