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A developmental model of story liking is proposed for suspense stories.The model predicts that: (a) reader identification increases with greater perceived similarity between character and reader; (b) increased identification leads to greater suspense; (c) liking of outcome is a joint function of character valence (good or bad character) and outcome valence (positive or negative outcome); and (d) overall liking of story increases with greater identification, greater suspense, and greater liking of outcome.The model was tested by having 2nd, 4th, and 6th grade children rate suspense stories on 10 affective scales.Resultsshowed that similarity to character increased reader identification, and increased identification produced more suspense.A strong developmental trend in evaluations of story endings was found: young children preferred positive outcomes regardless of the valence of the character but older children liked positive endings for good characters and negative endings for bad characters.This finding was interpreted as evidence for acquisition of the "just world" belief.Overall story liking was predicted by independent contributions of character identification, suspense, and liking of outcome using path analysis.The results supported the proposed model of story appreciation.
Jose et al. (Sat,) studied this question.