László Halász

A cross-cultural study of fictional and non-fictional text understanding.

It is often assumed that readers of texts vary in their responses, even if they come from the same cultural background, depending upon their personal assumptions and knowledge about the kind of text they are reading. In this paper we investigate how readers from three different language groups responded to (translations of) the same textual extracts. We focus on two questions. Do readers respond differently to the same textual extract depending on what text-type they think it is, and does the response vary much from one language/cultural group to another? Our study involves English, Hungarian and German senior secondary school students. They were asked to read and comment on three short extracts from three different text-types (novel, newspaper report and autobiography) according to different text-type assumptions. Although there were some palpable differences in response to the texts, both within and among the samples, there were also considerable similarities. Moreover, there was no discernible effect on reading outcomes of declared text-type.

Understanding Short Stories: An American-Hungarian Cross-Cultural Study

This article presents a cross-cultural study about the relationship between story understanding, memory, and attitude towards the contents of a story. An American and a Hungarian short story dealing with the social class versus repression dimension were used. Thirty-four American freshmen (average age 18.5) and forty-eight Hungarian secondary school students (average 17.5) took part in the study. Half of each population read one, the second half the other story, in three-three segments. Following the reading of a segment, the subjects reported their understanding, answering some questions. They were asked to recognize some sentences in a set of original and false, aggressive, cooperative, evasive versions on 7 seven-point scales; and judged the content of the sentences from the points of view of refusal, activity, aggressivity, security, oppression, strength, and anxiety on 5-point scales. There were significant cross-cultural differences between the two populations in the frequency of the response-items of understanding and the recognition of sentences and in the content of the response-categories of understanding and the sensitivity towards aggressivity, oppression and anxiety. The results are discussed in terms of different issues of the social role of literature and literary competence on the one hand, and as those of some culture-dependent themes that influence literary understanding on the other hand.

Social psychology, social cognition, and the empirical study of literature

Abstract The empirical study of literature as a whole covers a significantly broader domain of knowledge than the socio-psychological study of literature. Nevertheless, the major areas where social psychology is relevant are quite important. These areas comprise studies of the relation between authors and their works, the interaction between literacy and social or psychological cognition, the reception and impact of a literary work. In this paper, we shall concentrate on some fundamental problems involving assignment of meaning to a literary work, social perception of a literary character, and the linkage between cognitive and emotional processing. Fictitious characters and their interactions present a special case in regard to social cognition, the readers manoeuvers with the character, and the perception of the meaning of the text. Conversely the perception of the meaning is inseparable from understanding the character. In view of these functions and conventions of literary processing, we shall examine the complexity of literary text, the readers freedom and constraint, the differences between such a reader and the subject of a projective test, the self-relevant information processing and the unity both of cognitive and emotional interest, and of analytical and experiential understanding.

The Reverse Effect of an Attempt to Shape Reader Awareness

Abstract In a previous study, Marton et al. (1992) asked Hungarian and Swedish secondary school students to read Franz Kafkas parable Before the Law several times. Rereading the text several times did not in itself improve or alter the students’ understanding of it. We found, however, that a more complex and advanced way of understanding the text was highly correlated with a certain way of reading; that is, in the use of a reflective variation. In order to determine whether it is possible to elicit reflective variation in readers and affect their awareness of alternative ways of understanding the parable, by giving explicit instructions, we conducted a new experiment in Sweden. The procedure for this experiment was designed with the aim of eliciting a variational reading and a more advanced understanding of the text. This procedure, however, created a strong reverse effect. Paradoxically, the variation in the readers’ understanding of Kafkas parable was dramatically reduced. The attempt to encourage rea...

Inhibition of Amyloid-like Fibril Formation of Trypsin by Red Wines.

The aim of the present study was to examine the potential role and applicability of dietary supplements in reducing the risk of development of amyloid diseases associated with the gastrointestinal tract, such as type II diabetes. Trypsin, a well-known serine protease was used as a model protein in our experiments. The effect of various red wines on the formation of amyloid-like fibrils of trypsin was studied in vitro, in aqueous ethanol, at pH 7.0. Turbidity measurements, aggregation kinetics experiments, Congo red binding assays and electronic circular dichroism spectroscopic measurements were used to follow the aggregation process in the presence or absence of various red wines. The results suggest that red wines effectively inhibit the formation of amyloid-like fibrils of trypsin and the inhibitory effect is dose-dependent. The extent of inhibition was found to be proportional to the total concentration of phenolic compounds.