Social Cognition, Emotions and Fiction: Theatre as an experimental ground for Cognitive Science

Résumé : 

Theatre and cognitive science, though methodologically distinct, both converge on a common object: the human mind in its embodied, social, and affective expression. While theatre is often presented as a paradigmatic context of emotional communion between individuals, scientific investigation of such collective experiences remains limited. This doctoral research thus uses theatre as an ecological context to investigate how individual emotions, experienced in co-presence with others, give rise to collective emotional dynamics, and how these collective experiences, in turn, contribute to aesthetic enjoyment.

First, the theoretical chapters trace the historical relationships between theatre and the sciences of mind, before reviewing how the recent field of audience studies has conceptualized spectatorship as an active, inherently social practice. Finally, they examine cognitive science’s theoretical and methodological approaches to collective emotions, and propose a framework for investigating theatre as a secular space of shared emotions. Three empirical studies then test this framework using real audiences attending professional performances, primarily in France, with an extension to the UK contemporary dance scene. Using self-report questionnaires administered to spectators and, in some cases, actors, the research examines the relationships between emotional responses, collective experiences, and enjoyment.

A parallel photographic and plastic practice, Interstices, documents the subject matter in a sensitive way, while highlighting the research process itself, exploring the interstices between observation, participation, and representation. This artistic strand serves both as a mode of dissemination and as a methodological reflection on what scientific analyses tend to abstract away: the material texture of live experiences.

Altogether, the work carried out in this thesis illustrates how combining artistic and scientific approaches can illuminate the collective dimension of aesthetic experiences.

Jury :

• Prof. Antonia Hamilton (University College London), présidente du jury
• Prof. Jonna Vuoskoski (Université d'Oslo), rapporteuse,
• Dr. Gabriele Sofia (Università di Roma Tre), rapporteur.
• Dr. Louis Dieuzayde (Aix-Marseille Université), examinateur
• Marion Chénetier-Alev (ENS-PSL), co-encadrante
• Julie Grèzes (ENS-PSL/INSERM), co-directrice