Graphing Jane Austen:

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Graphing Jane Austen Paleolithic Politics in
British Novels of the 19th Century
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• Website questionnaire on 2,000 characters
  from 202
  British novels of the longer 19th century
• 1,494 protocols completed
• Separate website for Thomas Hardys
• The Mayor of Casterbridge (124 protocols
  completed)
• 441 individual characters profiled and graphed

Joseph Carroll, Jonathan Gottschall, John
Johnson, Daniel Kruger
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Research Design
Designs of the author
(start here)
(end here)

• Responses of readers
• Emotional responses
• Do you want the character to succeed?
• Is the characters success a main feature of the
  story?

• Content of characters
• Sex
• Age
• Attractiveness
• Personality
• Motives
• Mate Selection Criteria

Role assignment Is the character a
protagonist? an antagonist? a
good minor character ? or a bad minor
character?
Ethos of individual novels
Ethos of a whole culture
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12 Motives Reduced to Five Motive
Factors (loadings greater than .3 or -.3)
Original Motives Dominance Constructive Effort Romance Subsistence Nurture

Survival 0.80
Routine work 0.76
Short-term mating 0.63 -0.56
Long-term mating 0.83
Wealth 0.70 0.38
Power 0.89
Prestige 0.89
Help non-kin -0.34 0.56 0.41
Education 0.77
Make friends Make friends 0.62
Building/Creating 0.73
Help offspring/kin Help offspring/kin 0.82
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Seven Long-Term Mate-Selection Criteria Reduced
to Three Factors (loadings greater than .3 or
-.3)
Extrinsic Attributes Intrinsic Qualities Physical Attractiveness
Power 0.89
Prestige 0.91
Wealth 0.88
Reliability 0.85
Kindness 0.85
Intelligence Intelligence 0.78
Physical Attractiveness Physical Attractiveness Physical Attractiveness 0.98
Original Criteria
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FIVE PERSONALITY FACTORS
Extraversion ----
assertiveness and sociability
Agreeableness ---- warmth
and affiliative behavior
Conscientiousness ----
organization and reliability
Emotional Stability ---- calmness
and evenness of temper
Openness to Experience ---- curiosity or
mental liveliness
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10 Emotional Responses Reduced to Three Emotional
Response Factors (loadings greater than .3 or -.3)
Original Emotions Dislike Dislike Sorrow Interest
Anger 0.86 0.86
Disgust 0.89 0.89
Contempt 0.83 0.83
Fear of character 0.72 0.72
Admiration -0.73 -0.73 0.30
Liking -0.78 -0.78 0.42
Fear for character Fear for character Fear for character 0.77
Sadness Sadness 0.83
Amusement Amusement Amusement -0.67 0.47
Indifference Indifference Indifference -0.86
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CONCLUSION
The adaptive function of agonistic structure.
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Agonistic structure mirrors the basic political
dynamic in egalitarian hunter-gatherer cultures.

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• The novels serve as a medium for readers to
  participate in an egalitarian social ethos.
• The novels help create the ethos that governs
  the society of its readers. That ethos enables
  people to cooperate as a social unit.
• The novels extend cultural practices that in
  oral cultures require face-to-face interaction.

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The adaptive function of literature is centrally
important to our understanding of the evolved
and adapted character of human nature.
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2006
2007
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Thanks for your attention.
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Graphing Jane Austen
Joe Carroll, Jon Gottschall, John Johnson, Dan
Kruger