2013 Fiscal Year Final Research Report
How people acquire cultural scripts through folktales: East-West Comparison
| Project/Area Number |
22530689
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
Social psychology
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| Research Institution | Komazawa Women's Junior College |
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Principal Investigator |
MUKAIDA Kumiko 駒沢女子短期大学, その他部局等, 准教授 (70310448)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2010-04-01 – 2014-03-31
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| Keywords | 文化 / スクリプト / 昔話 / 内容分析 / 語り / 読み聞かせ |
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| Research Abstract |
This study explored cultural scripts of major Japanese and European folktales. Based on popularity indices, 19 Japanese folktales and 21 Grimm's folktales were selected and a coding scheme covering their contents was created. Content analysis revealed the following results: 1) Compared to Grimm's folktales, Japanese folktales have fewer happy endings and more ambiguous endings, 2) Japanese happy endings are not necessarily accompanied by marriage, 3) The characters of Japanese folktales tend to be less active than their counterparts in Grimm's folktales, 4) There was a common script pattern as well as an unique script pattern in each culture, 5) Japanese folktales tend to be shorter than Grimm's folktales. These culture-specific features of folktales were found to correspond to those of Japanese and American undergraduates' narratives. This finding suggests that folktales could function as a source of personal narratives.
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