Mentor/s
Professor Stephen Briner
Participation Type
Poster
Abstract
How does reading about fictional characters influence the way we view people in the everyday world? Recent research (Kidd & Castano, 2013) suggests that reading “literary” fiction improves a reader’s ability to understand other people, as measured by a test of Theory of Mind (ToM). However, reading “pop” fiction does not improve ToM. This finding has been difficult to replicate with other works of literature or pop fiction. Perhaps some feature in the text besides “literariness” drives changes in ToM?
In our study, we explored two questions: 1) Do reading preferences interact with the type of story presented? and 2) What features of the text influence ToM scores? Participants read a “pop” story or a “literature” story taken from Kidd & Castano (2013). Participants then took the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET), a test of Theory of Mind, then indicated whether they enjoyed reading less than, as much as, or more than their peers. ToM scores were higher in the literature condition than the pop condition. But in the literature condition, this effect was larger for those who liked reading less than their peers, suggesting that the impact of fiction on ToM might be greatest for those who have less exposure to fiction. We did not find a similar effect in the pop condition. We also found that the literary story required more emotional inferences than the pop story, which suggests that needing to make inferences about characters’ emotions might translate to higher ToM scores.
College and Major available
Psychology
Location
University Commons
Start Day/Time
4-20-2018 1:00 PM
End Day/Time
4-20-2018 3:00 PM
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License.
Prize Categories
Most Scholarly Impact or Potential, Most Creative, Most Meaningful
How Does Reading Fiction Improve Theory of Mind?
University Commons
How does reading about fictional characters influence the way we view people in the everyday world? Recent research (Kidd & Castano, 2013) suggests that reading “literary” fiction improves a reader’s ability to understand other people, as measured by a test of Theory of Mind (ToM). However, reading “pop” fiction does not improve ToM. This finding has been difficult to replicate with other works of literature or pop fiction. Perhaps some feature in the text besides “literariness” drives changes in ToM?
In our study, we explored two questions: 1) Do reading preferences interact with the type of story presented? and 2) What features of the text influence ToM scores? Participants read a “pop” story or a “literature” story taken from Kidd & Castano (2013). Participants then took the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET), a test of Theory of Mind, then indicated whether they enjoyed reading less than, as much as, or more than their peers. ToM scores were higher in the literature condition than the pop condition. But in the literature condition, this effect was larger for those who liked reading less than their peers, suggesting that the impact of fiction on ToM might be greatest for those who have less exposure to fiction. We did not find a similar effect in the pop condition. We also found that the literary story required more emotional inferences than the pop story, which suggests that needing to make inferences about characters’ emotions might translate to higher ToM scores.
Students' Information
Anna Brown, Noelle Mayne, and Gabriella Monferrato are students in the Thomas More Honors Program.
Winner of the 2018 Academic Festival award category Most Scholarly Impact or Potential.