The Landscape of Emotion in Literary Encounters Gerald C. Cupchik University of Toronto, Canada Garry Leonard University of Toronto, Canada Elise Axelrad Duke University, Durham, USA Judith D. Kalin Carleton University, Ottowa, Canada This study examined the effects of emotional subject matter and descriptive style in short story excerpts on text (e.g. rich in meaning) and reader response-oriented (e.g. liking) ratings. Forty-eight subjects, including equal numbers of trained and novice male and female students, read two examples of each text twice and either generated or received interpretations between readings in a within-subjects design. In general, intellectual challenge slowed the pace of reading, whereas suspense-based arousal increased it. Emotional subject matter had a more powerful effect than descriptive style on both cognitive (challenging, rich in meaning) and affective (expressive, personally relevant) scales and were read more quickly. Generating interpretations fostered subjective reactions to the Emotional excerpts (images), whereas Descriptive texts were less amenable to subjective responses. Consistent effects were also found for background and gender. As in everyday life, subject matter had a dominant effect in engaging a person’s involvement. INTRODUCTION Psychological aesthetics is concerned with how people come to appreciate works of art, literature, and so on, intellectually and emotionally. This appreciation encompasses subject matter and style, the two domains that COGNITION AND EMOTION, 1998, 12 (6), 825±847 Requests for reprints should be sent to Dr G.C. Cupchik, University of Toronto, Scar- borough College, Life Sciences Division, Scarborough, ON, Canada, M1C 1A4; e-mail: cupchik@lake.scar.utoronto.ca. The authors would like to thank Randy Sollenberger for writing the software used to present the short stories and for assistance with data analysis. We also appreciate the helpful comments and concerns raised by the anonymous reviewers. q 1998 Psychology Press Ltd