The study, published by the journal Science, has found that reading literary fiction – not popular fiction, so put your Dan Browns down – might make you better at decoding how the people around you are feeling.
‘Cultural practices’ reads the study, ‘May function to promote and refine interpersonal sensitivity throughout our lives. One such practice is reading fiction.’
Using “Theory of the Mind” (ToM), which is a relatively new study field that tests people’s ability to translate the feelings of others, researchers used works of fiction by award-winning or canonical writers and compared their effects on ToM levels against those who read nonfiction, popular fiction or nothing at all.
86 participants were randomly assigned to read one of six short texts (three literary fiction and three nonfiction). Participants were then asked to complete a test where they were asked to indentify facially expressed emotions. The familiarity with fiction of each of the participants was also tested using an author recognition test.
The study found that those who read literary fiction scored higher than non-fiction and fiction readers.
Literary fiction relies on piecing together metaphors, missing information and inferences about characters – forcing the reader to become more attune to emotional subtleties.
The study, by David Kidd and Emanuele Castano, states, ‘Fiction may change how, not just what, people think about others. We submit that fiction affects ToM processes because it forces us to engage in mind-reading and character construction. Not any kind of fiction achieves that, though. Our proposal is that it is literary fiction that forces the reader to engage in ToM processes.’
The authors believe the information could be used in education to improve skills that are vital to long-term success as an adult, such as understanding others and empathy.
The study differentiates between what they call ‘writerly’ and ‘readerly’ texts. Readerly texts, such as that great page turner you picked up at the airport, usually engage easily, allowing the reader to remain mostly passive. Writerly texts engage their readers creatively as writers.
While it was able to clearly define short term benefits of reading literature, many are hopeful that the long term benefits could be even greater. If reading just one short piece can have such immediate effects, what can a lifetime of reader literature do?
Want to see how emotionally intelligent you are? Participate here.
Image: alyssakai on Flickr
