Reading Literary Fiction Improves Theory of Mind

Kidd, David; Castano, Emanuele

doi:10.1126/science.1239918

Cited by 1,090 publications

(1,059 citation statements)

References 30 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

930

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…These correlational findings suggest that reading fiction and mentalising may involve overlapping cognitive abilities. In line with this general idea, Kidd and Castano (2013) hypothesised that a single session of reading literary fiction may prime mentalising processes, by leading readers to engage in mind-reading and character construction. To test this hypothesis, Kidd and Castano experimentally manipulated whether or not participants were exposed to literary texts during a single reading session.…”

mentioning

confidence: 97%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Does a single session of reading literary fiction prime enhanced mentalising performance? Four replication experiments of Kidd and Castano (2013)

Samur

Tops

Koole

2017

Cognition and Emotion

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

mentioning

confidence: 97%

“…The findings by Kidd and Castano (2013) could have far-ranging practical implications. For instance, to the extent that these findings are correct, people may be taught to prime themselves with literary fiction in contexts where it is essential for people to understand each other's mental states, such as negotiation settings (De Dreu, Koole, & Steinel, 2000).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Does a single session of reading literary fiction prime enhanced mentalising performance? Four replication experiments of Kidd and Castano (2013)

Samur

Tops

Koole

2017

Cognition and Emotion

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…These stories also conveyed information about the nature of individuals in the present and recent past, their experiences and feelings, as well as factual knowledge about longdistance networks, kinship, and land tenure. Stories told by firelight put listeners on the same emotional wavelength, elicited understanding, trust, and sympathy (93), and built positive reputations for qualities like humor, congeniality, and innovation. The capacity for expanding the imagination by night may have deep roots, extending back to the regular use of fire in encampments some 200,000-300,000 ka, a time when evidence for broader intergroup interactions begins to crop up in the archeological record (94)(95)(96)(97)(98)(99).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Embers of society: Firelight talk among the Ju/’hoansi Bushmen

Wiessner

2014

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

286

181

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Much attention has been focused on control of fire in human evolution and the impact of cooking on anatomy, social, and residential arrangements. However, little is known about what transpired when firelight extended the day, creating effective time for social activities that did not conflict with productive time for subsistence activities. Comparison of 174 day and nighttime conversations among the Ju/'hoan (!Kung) Bushmen of southern Africa, supplemented by 68 translated texts, suggests that day talk centers on economic matters and gossip to regulate social relations. Night activities steer away from tensions of the day to singing, dancing, religious ceremonies, and enthralling stories, often about known people. Such stories describe the workings of entire institutions in a small-scale society with little formal teaching. Night talk plays an important role in evoking higher orders of theory of mind via the imagination, conveying attributes of people in broad networks (virtual communities), and transmitting the "big picture" of cultural institutions that generate regularity of behavior, cooperation, and trust at the regional level. Findings from the Ju/'hoan are compared with other hunter-gatherer societies and related to the widespread human use of firelight for intimate conversation and our appetite for evening stories. The question is raised as to what happens when economically unproductive firelit time is turned to productive time by artificial lighting.Our old people long ago had a government, and it was an ember from the fire where we last lived which we used to light the fire at the new place we were going. . . Di//xao = Oma, 1998 (1) C ontrol of fire had an enormous impact on the life of our hominin ancestors. As Wrangham and Carmody have so cogently argued, the use of fire for cooking greatly increased the digestibility of food and effective provisioning of young, allowing for shorter birth intervals (2-4). Fire altered anatomy, particularly brain size and gut volume, and radically reduced chewing time. Fire protected early humans from predators and provided a new context for social interaction when food was brought to a central site for cooking. Modified landscapes after burning (5) and higher caloric returns from cooked foods lowered the costs of foraged foods, and thus the costs of sharing. Finally, artificial firelight altered circadian rhythms and extended the day (6), freeing time for social interaction that did not conflict with time for subsistence work.Current archaeological evidence indicates that our ancestors had sporadic control of fire by 1 million y ago or longer (7,8) and regular use after approximately 400,000 ka (9). With or following the control of fire, many developments were unfolding that rendered modern humans "unique" (10): extended cooperative breeding (11-13), higher orders of theory of mind (14, 15), religion (16), language (17, 18), social learning and cultural transmission (19,20), cultural institutions and their regulation (21,22), and intergroup cooperation and exchange (...

show abstract

“…Confronting complicated human behavior through literary texts has, along with reflective writing and perspective taking, been associated with patient-centeredness (Blatt et al 2010), increased self-awareness, and empathy among providers (DasGupta and Charon 2004;Shapiro et al 2004). Theory of mind research by Kidd and Castano (2013) links empathy to engagement with characters whose Binner lives are rarely easily discerned but warrant exploration^(378).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

What Pauline Doesn’t Know: Using Guided Fiction Writing to Educate Health Professionals about Cultural Competence

Saffran

2017

J Med Humanit

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Research linking reading literary fiction to empathy supports health humanities programs in which reflective writing accompanies close readings of texts, both to explore principles of storytelling (narrative arc and concrete language) and to promote an examination of biases in care. Little attention has been paid to the possible contribution of guided fictionwriting in health humanities curricula toward enhancing cultural competence among health professionals, both clinical and community-based. Through an analysis of the short story BPie Dance^by Molly Giles, juxtaposed with descriptions of specific writing exercises, this paper explains how the demands of writing fiction promote cultural competency.

show abstract

Reading Literary Fiction Improves Theory of Mind

Cited by 1,090 publications

References 30 publications

Does a single session of reading literary fiction prime enhanced mentalising performance? Four replication experiments of Kidd and Castano (2013)

Does a single session of reading literary fiction prime enhanced mentalising performance? Four replication experiments of Kidd and Castano (2013)

Embers of society: Firelight talk among the Ju/’hoansi Bushmen

What Pauline Doesn’t Know: Using Guided Fiction Writing to Educate Health Professionals about Cultural Competence

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About