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The Benefits of Bad Events for Narrative Characters: Limits of Symhedonia as a Hidden Gem

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Abstract

This essay proposes that Royzman and Rozin’s (2006) article on the differential role of prior emotional attachment in sympathy and sympathetic joy is a hidden gem for Communication scholars. Royzman and Rozin’s studies demonstrate that individuals feel sympathy for negative events that happen to both close others and strangers, but symhedonia (sympathetic joy, or happiness for the good fortune of others) depends more strongly on a prior positive relationship with the person. These findings have implications for understanding empathy and identification with narrative characters, and are relevant to studies of emotional flow and narrative structure.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)30-36
Number of pages7
JournalAsian Communication Research
Volume21
Issue number1 Special Issue
DOIs
StatePublished - 2024

Keywords

  • empathy
  • identification
  • narrative
  • relational closeness
  • sympathy

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