Jane Eyre's psychological profile

A couple of thought-provoking discussions in the news today:

Miller-McCune discusses a recent report published by the Journal of Research in Personality (doi:10.1016/j.jrp.2010.11.011) called Portrayal of personality in Victorian novels reflects modern research findings but amplifies the significance of agreeableness by John A. Johnson, Joseph Carroll, Jonathan Gottschall and Daniel Kruger. This is how it came about:

Over the past century, countless theories purporting to explain human behavior have been proposed, only to ultimately be modified or discarded. But as it turns out, there was one set of 19th-century writers whose insights into human nature were so nuanced and profound, they still ring true today.
Paging Dr. Austen. And Dr. Brontë. And, of course, Dr. Dickens.
“Victorian authors do seem to be good intuitive psychologists,” concludes a research team led by psychologist John Johnson of Pennsylvania State University, DuBois.[...]
After sending invitations to hundreds of English departments and individuals interested in Victorian-era literature, Johnson and his colleagues recruited 519 “raters,” each of whom agreed to assess at least one character. (About half the characters were assessed by more than one rater.) The researchers ultimately collected data on 432 characters from 143 canonical novels published between the early 19th and early 20th centuries — essentially, from Jane Austen to E.M. Forster.
The raters ranked the degree to which the character accomplished his or her primary goals. They then assessed the character’s underlying motivations, working from a list that included “finding or keeping a spouse,” “gaining or keeping wealth,” “making friends and forming alliances” and “building, creating or discovering something.”
If a character is engaged in one or more romantic relationships during the course of the novel, the raters assessed the qualities he or she finds attractive in a potential mate, differentiating between long-term and short-term attachments. These variables include physical attractiveness, power, prestige, intelligence and kindness.
Finally, the raters assessed the degree to which the character reflects five essential personality traits, including “extraverted, enthusiastic,” “critical, quarrelsome,” “dependable, self-disciplined” and “calm, emotionally stable.”
By crunching this data, the researchers created psychological profiles of these fictional characters. For example, the title character in Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre scored “very low on extraversion, well above average on agreeableness and emotional stability, and high on conscientiousness and openness to experience.” (Tom Jacobs)

NewsTime (South Africa) discusses schooling in fiction and in life.

The most memorable depictions of the school experience manage to unite the child’s vision with the reminiscing adult’s increased wisdom. This complex assessment is present, of course, in Charlotte Brontë’s descriptions of Lowood in “Jane Eyre”, and in Dickens’s presentation of Salem House in “David Copperfield”. [...]
The profundity of [Muriel Spark's] “[The prime of] Jean Brodie” – in no matter what version – lies in its recognition of the fact that the truly great teacher has to be both powerful and, in the end, disempowered. We hope to communicate our knowledge, yet should delight in our pupils’ challenging responses to it. We should be overjoyed to introduce pupils to “Wuthering Heights”, for instance, but should never be affronted if their views of Heathcliff differ from ours. (Digby Ricci)

And on Young Adult Fiction Examiner Melissa Jensen lists her 'Top Ten fave books for teens' stockings this holiday', one of which is

7. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. Ambition, loneliness, insanity, and a guy who's somewhere between Mr. Devine-Darcy and that kind of biting werewolf I don't like (and, of course, you should all care very very much about what I like...). Jane's not Lizzie Bennet, but there's something in her restlessness and yearning and refusal to agree with everyone else that she doesn't deserve something fab that just resonates. If we're not Jane, we know Janes. If we're lucky, she's one of our inner circle.

On the blogosphere, Murphy's Library posts about Wuthering Heights and La favola della botte writes about Villette in Italian. Finally, Poetictouchannel on YouTube has uploaded a recording of Mauren Lipman reading Emily Brontë's Love and Friendship.

EDIT: Steve Stanworth informed us of the recent annual carols in the Old Bell Chapel in Thornton. Regrettably the information came a bit late:

The Brontë Bell Chapel in Thornton holds its annual carols by candlelight 6.30. All welcome, bring your torch and sing your favourite carols in this atmospheric setting where the Brontë girls were christened  and Patrick preached from 1815-1820. Free mulled wine and mince pies after in the church hall.
Steve Stanworth.  Old Bell Chapel Action Group

Categories: Jane Eyre, Poetry, Scholar, Wuthering Heights