Effects of reading on knowledge, social abilities, and selfhood: Theory and empirical studies

Abstract

Reading exhibits a principle of expertise: the more one does it the more skilled one is likely to become both in the activity and in content knowledge. Our experiences with text lead to the acquisition of both vocabulary and general knowledge. Research from our group examines how reading can have other outcomes. With a starting point of fiction as an entryway into simulations of social interactions, we review empirical studies of how the reading of fiction can improve empathy and other social abilities, and prompt changes in personality.

Cognitive Literary Studies: Current Themes and New Directions

“…In our own studies we have found two kinds of effect (Mar, Oatley, and Djikic 2008). In one kind we investigated associations between reading fiction and social abilities.…”

“…We can identify three main lines of research that scholars involved in the empirical study of literature have been following: a) a search for the cog nitive underpinnings of literariness (the distinctive features of literary dis course) through the study of the effects on readers and film viewers of sty listic features such as foregrounding (Van Peer, Hakemulder, and Zyngier 2007a; Hakemulder 2007; Miall 2008), b) the study of the affective aspects of readers' responses to literature by looking into phenomena such as self-modifying feelings and self-implication (Kuiken et al 2004;Kuiken 2008), and c) a socio-psychological orientation that traces the effects of literary read ing on self and society (Hakemulder 2000(Hakemulder , 2001(Hakemulder , 2008Mar et al 2006;Mar, Djikic, and Oatley 2008; see "Literature and Human Development" sec tion below). The research produced by IGEL since its creation by Siegfried Schmidt in 1987 inspired cognitive literary scholars who sought to open up to empirical methodologies and collaboration with researchers from scientific disciplines (see Bortolussi and Dixon 2003;Van Peer, Hakemulder, and Zyn gier 2007b;).…”

“…4 By proposing theories of the act of reading and submitting them to empirical testing, they turn their project into "a continual two-way interweaving of theoretical proposal and empirical investigation" (Miall modifying feelings and self-implication (Kuiken et al 2004; Kuiken 2008), and c) a socio-psychological orientation that traces the effects of literary read ing on self and society (Hakemulder 2000(Hakemulder , 2001(Hakemulder , 2008Mar et al 2006;Mar, Djikic, and Oatley 2008; see "Literature and Human Development" sec tion below). The research produced by IGEL since its creation by Siegfried Schmidt in 1987 inspired cognitive literary scholars who sought to open up to empirical methodologies and collaboration with researchers from scientific disciplines (see Bortolussi and Dixon 2003; Van Peer, Hakemulder, and Zyn gier 2007b;).…”

Reader response research in stylistics

“…Finally, productive dialogue between experimental and stylistic work is also evident in phenomenological research into readers' responses to literature, which has examined issues such as the influence of reader personality (Dijkic et al, 2009;Djikic, Oatley and Carland, 2012;Mar, 2008) or story structure on response (Brewer and Lichtenstein, 1982;Brewer, 1998), or the experience of identification, empathy, sympathy and emotion during literary reading (e.g. Kuiken, Miall and Sikora, 2004;Oatley, 1999Oatley, , 2002.…”

The Magic of Storytelling: How Curiosity and Aesthetic Preferences Work

“…According to the social-improvement hypothesis, narrative strengthens human abilities such as empathy and other social skills, since it provides a model of the world of people's intentions and their interactions (Mar et al 2008, Oatley 2012Dunbar et al 2010). According to the self-improvement hypothesis, on the other hand, the simulated world of fiction allows us to identify with characters in situations that we do not experience in everyday life and for this reason they can promote personal change (Oatley 2011: 23).…”