Affective, cognitive, and arousal responses to Marko Kraljević and Alija Đerzelez: a cross-cultural study of narrative perception among multicultural students.

Background: Epic poetry represents an important component of literary education and plays a significant role in shaping historical consciousness and cultural identity among students in multicultural learning environments. The aim of this study was to examine students' affective, cognitive, and arousal responses to two selected epic narratives centered on Marko Kraljević and Alija Đerzelez within an educational context, and to explore how students' cultural background moderated responses to these specific narrative stimuli. Methods: Using a mixed factorial design, 64 seventh-grade students (32 Serbian, 32 Bosniak) from multicultural schools evaluated both poems. Responses were analyzed using linear mixed-effects models with poem, ethnicity, and their interaction as fixed effects and participant as a random intercept. Results: Significant poem × ethnicity interactions were observed for valence, Conclusions: Although both selected narratives were generally evaluated positively, students' responses differed in the relative strength of affective, cognitive, and arousal evaluations as a function of cultural background. These findings underscore the importance of critically contextualizing national literary traditions in educational settings to promote reflective and inclusive engagement with shared cultural heritage.