Literature and Mind Post 13: Theory of Mind and Pride and Prejudice

" 'Don't keep coughing so, Kitty, for heaven's sake! Have a little compassion on my nerves. You tear them to pieces.'
 'Kitty has no discretion in her coughs,' said her father; 'she times them ill.'
'I do not cough for my own amusement,' replied Kitty fretfully."
(Pride and Prejudice p.  46)

"In spite of the way it sounds, mind-reading has nothing to do with plain old telepathy. Instead, it is a term used by cognitive psychologists interchangeably with "Theory of Mind," to describe our ability to explain people's behavior in terms of their thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and desires. Thus we engage in mind-reading when we ascribe to a person a certain mental state on the basis of her observable action..." (Zunshine, Why We Read Fiction, p. 6)

Paper Update:
I took your suggestion of looking for connections about obsession within The Female Quixote itself and have started to notice a few things that may be interesting to look into in the context of the other information I have found. For instance, it seems like there is a sort of narcissism that Arabella carries, as shown by all the demands she makes of others and the stake she believes she holds in others lives. For instance, she thinks her lovers will do something drastic to themselves because they have fallen out of her favor. I'll have to look closer at my quotes to see, but this could either be a trait that she had before the romances came into her life, or part of the construction that comes after them. It would be interesting to see if this is all part of that self-objectification, or if it actually fights against that a little bit.  Also, the book constantly brings up how intelligent she is, so could this be linked to some of the dialogue related to "genius" that comes from absorption? It could be interesting to add this in as a contrast to make my argument that what is being presented in the book is actually the 18th century concept of obsession. I also think the transition you noted about the romance novels being the objects, and then Arabella becoming the object through her obsession will definitely be something to explore more in depth within the scheme of my essay.