Plato and Tolstoy both assume that it can be firmly established that certain works have certain effects. Plato is sure that the representation of cowardly people makes us cowardly; the only way to prevent this effect is to suppress such representations. Tolstoy is confident that the artist who sincerely expresses feelings of pride will pass those feelings on to us; we can no more escape than we could escape an infectious disease. In fact, however, the effects of art are neither so certain nor so direct. People vary a great deal both in the intensity of their response to art and in the form which that response takes. Some people may indulge fantasies of violence by watching a film instead of working out those fantasies in real life. Others may be disgusted by even glamorous representations of violence. Still others may be left unmoved, neither attracted nor disgusted.

Although Plato and Tolstoy claim that works of art have a(n) _____(A)_____ impact on people’s feelings, the degrees and forms of people’s actual responses _____(B)_____ greatly.