This was in my latest iShift…
Is literature necessary? What is its evolutionary function?
Recent studies suggest that reading fiction enhances our social skills and capacities for empathy and personality change. After assessing how much fiction participants in one study routinely read, investigators Maja Djikic, Raymond Mar, and Keith Oatley, of the University of Toronto in Canada, asked them to take a “mind-in-the-eyes test,” which measures empathy and social acumen. Fiction readers showed substantially greater empathy and interpersonal perception in the test than non-fiction readers did. “I liken fiction to a simulation that runs on the software of our minds,” says investigative psychologist Keith Oatley. “Just as computer simulations can help us get to grips with complex problems such as flying a plane or forecasting the weather, so novels, stories, and dramas can help us understand the complexities of social life.” See the Journal of Research in Personality 40.5 and the Creativity Research Journal 20.4. You’ll find the mind-in-the-eyes test here.
I’m mostly a nonfiction reader and I scored below average on this one. Hmmmmm.
