Affiliation:
1. University of Canterbury
Abstract
285 short stories from New Zealand and Australian literary magazines were content analyzed with respect to the main emotion or emotions portrayed. Analysis showed that there was far more concern with negative than with positive emotion, although this differed within the two countries surveyed. Also, certain emotions stand out as being of major concern. Results are discussed in terms of the reflection of emotion in the writers of psychology and of fiction and also with respect to possible differences in national character.