Syftet med den här studien är att jämföra två grundskollärarens förhållningssätt till skönlitterärt läsande för att visa dess betydelse för hur elever i mellanstadiet kan uppmuntras till att läsa skönlitterära texter i skolan. Därför har semistrukturerade intervjuer använts enligt Bryman (2011) samt kvalitativa forskningsintervjuer. Resultaten av undersökningen är tvådelade. Det ena visar på att om läraren utåt sett visar eleverna ett positivt förhållningssätt till skönlitteratur kan det ha en positiv inverkan på elevens läslust. Om läraren istället visar ett negativt förhållningssätt till skönlitteratur för eleverna kan detta ha en negativ inverkan på elevens läslust. Det som inte har någon betydelse är om lärarens positiva förhållningssätt till skönlitteratur är äkta eller inte, såvida inte eleverna märker att lärarens positiva förhållningssätt inte är äkta utan lärarens personliga tycke om skönlitteratur lyser igenom. / The purpose of this study is to examine and compare two primary school teachers approach to fictional reading and to show its significance regarding how pupils in middle school can be encouraged to read fictional texts in classroom activities. Therefore semi structured research interviews have been used, according to Bryman (2011) which was used was qualitative research interviews. The results of the research are twofold. One the one hand if the teacher shows the pupils a positive approach to fictional reading the impact on pupils’ love of reading might be positive. If the teacher instead show the pupils a negative approach to fictional reading the effects can be negative. On the other hand, it does not seem important if the teachers’ positive approach to fictional reading is authentic or not, unless the pupils notice that the teachers just pretend having a positive approach and their real thoughts shine through.

Considerable psycho-physiological research on empathy examines biological structures such as the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA-axis) and oxytocin systems as efficacious methods for strengthening positive emotional responses. This study recruited 76 adult participants (54 female, 23 male) for the purpose of evaluating the effects oxytocin and fiction reading have on empathetic responses. Participants completed a measure of trauma and received either intranasal oxytocin, a story created to induce emotional responses, or a neutral non-fiction story. Stressors were counterbalanced as a family or non-family stimuli to assess changes in stress response measured by salivary cortisol and heart rate variability. Results supported existing research stating that heart rate variability (HRV) is a more sensitive measure of stress. HRV statistically significantly interacted between type of stressor and PTSD symptomology (1, 70) = 5.018, p = .028, η2 =0.06. Scores on the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) indicated there were increases in empathy across time, but were not impacted by exposure to stress or treatment condition. Trauma was identified as a statistically significant factor on heart rate variability F(1, 70) = 8.39, p = .005, η2 = .10. Treatment condition did not impact cortisol levels across time F(2, 71) = .2.532, p = .087, η2 = .11. Taken together, these results suggest support for the use of biomarkers in measuring the rate of stress and recovery for those with and without trauma. These findings suggest potential avenues for translational research and implications for theory and practice.