YourMorals.Org

The scale you completed was a measure of what types of stories you enjoy that is currently under development by Ravi Iyer of the University of Southern California.

The scale is a measure of various themes that may lead individuals to choose some stories over others. Among the themes that we hypothesize may lead individuals to choose particular stories are:
• Suspense - Some people may enjoy the feeling of having a secret revealed.
• Action - Some people may enjoy conflict.
• Happy Endings - Some people may prefer happy endings.
• Moral Clarity - Some people may like stories where good triumphs over evil.
• Love - Some people enjoy stories of love.
• Escape - Some people read stories to escape from their everyday lives.
• Identification - Some people enjoy stories where they can identify with the characters.

The idea behind the scale is that stories are a fundamental and basic way that moral messages are transferred between people and reinforced. For example, this study found that people who were told a story by another person had synchronous brain activation patterns, suggesting that stories allow the transmission of ideas, thoughts, and emotions. Stories often have clear moral messages and the emotional impact that a just or happy ending can possibly reinforce pre-existing values. We are interested in examining whether people who have particular value orientations also enjoy particular kinds of stories. For example, people who enjoy stories where good triumphs over evil may also endorse ideas of moral relativism less than others.

Do you have ideas on improving this study? Or did you encounter any difficulties in answering the questions? Click here to send a message to the creators of this study.

To learn more about the psychology of stories, consider this collection of articles about the power of stories from Psychology Today, this page about narrative psychology , or this research website concerning narrative psychology.

Return to the "Explore" page.