ArticlePDF Available

Abstract

Understanding others’ mental states is a crucial skill that enables the complex social relationships that characterize human societies. Yet little research has investigated what fosters this skill, which is known as Theory of Mind (ToM), in adults. We present five experiments showing that reading literary fiction led to better performance on tests of affective ToM (experiments 1 to 5) and cognitive ToM (experiments 4 and 5) compared with reading nonfiction (experiments 1), popular fiction (experiments 2 to 5), or nothing at all (experiments 2 and 5). Specifically, these results show that reading literary fiction temporarily enhances ToM. More broadly, they suggest that ToM may be influenced by engagement with works of art.
A preview of the PDF is not available
... In line with the ambition to cultivate empathy, Suzanne S. Choo (2018) promotes the development of 'cosmopolitan literacy'. Some studies are concerned with theory of mind (Kidd & Castano, 2013), or make a case for the ambiguity of literature as a democratic asset (McKenzie & Bender, 2021). A large field, that I will not dive that deep into, is critical literacy (Anwaruddin, 2016;Ashbridge et al., 2022;Jones, 2013;Molloy, 2017). ...
... Litteraturundervisningens demokratiska potential omtalas i ett antal studier, såväl i en svensk kontext (se t.ex. Alkestrand, 2016;Ljung & Thavenius, 1978;Molloy, 2002) som internationellt (Chieregato, 2023;Kidd & Castano, 2013;Porto & Zembylas, 2020). En vanlig uppfattning om litteraturundervisningens demokratiska roll är dess förmodade kraft att utveckla vad filosofen Martha C. Nussbaum (2003) kallar "narrative imagination" -förmåga att sätta sig in i andra människors livsvillkor. ...
Thesis
Full-text available
This thesis is an exploration of the relationship between literature education and democracy. The aim of the thesis is to develop an understanding of literature education as a possible space for democracy. I develop this understanding theoretically by turning to agonistic theory, to theory of performative emotions, to theory of school as free time, and to theory of literary attunement. I also develop this understanding empirically, by turning to two classes in upper secondary school and their L1 Swedish teachers. Two collaborative projects were conducted at two different schools, in two classes in their last year of upper secondary school. In the first collaboration, a teacher and her students read and discussed the play Miss Julie by August Strindberg. In the second collaboration, another teacher and his students read and discussed the short story “Farangs” by Rattawut Lapcharoensap. When designing the teaching, the teachers and I intended for the classroom to become an arena of democratic conflict, in which there is space for dissent. In the thesis, I contrast a socialising focus in democratic literature education to a subjectivating focus. Rather than viewing literature education as a space that fosters democratic citizens, I explore the classroom as a space that has the potential to become democratic in itself, at least momentarily. The thesis comprises four articles. In the first article (I), didactic conditions for agonistic literature discussions are formulated, in light of the classroom conversation on Miss Julie . The second article (II) centres on political emotions, particularly the performative role of emotion in the discussion on “Farangs”. In the third article (III), the relevance of Mouffean agonistic theory to education is informed by Masschelein and Simons’ theory of school as ‘free time’. School is therefore not viewed as preparation for a pre-set mode of future societal participation, but as time freed for the next generation to form their generation. The fourth and last article (IV) combines the concept of ‘free time’ with Felski’s concept attunement, to suggest a way of understanding the teaching of literature as a place of becoming, individually and collectively, in relation to the literary text. Collective identity formation in relation to the literary text is discussed in terms of democratic moments.
... Attending theatre, be it "Hamlet" or "A Christmas Carol", improved adolescents' ability to understand others' mental states (i.e., ToM) [11]. Similarly, a series of studies on reading literary fiction showed performance gains in ToM ability [10,38,39]. A meta-analysis compiling findings from studies that examined the effect of reading literary fiction found a positive, small, causal effect on social cognitive skills [7]. ...
... On the contrary, it is not clear whether these measures are apt to measure, or appropriate to use for measuring, immediate or momentary differences that could follow a brief experience. Indeed, some research showed the effect on RMET [10] while others failed to replicate it [e.g., 9]. Future work should clarify what this difference between the two formats means for the effect of art and its conceptualization. ...
Article
Full-text available
Engaging with art can move individuals through a myriad of emotions, provoke reflective thoughts, and lead to new ideas. Could art also influence interpersonal outcomes pertaining to the ways we interact with others and navigate the social world, that is, our suite of social cognitive skills? Here, we focus on visual art to explore the effect of art engagement on personal aesthetic experience and social cognitive skills. Across two studies, using veridical paintings and matched non-art photos, we examined the effect of art engagement on emotional (e.g., awe, being moved) and eudaimonic experiences (e.g., reflective thoughts), as well as social cognitive skills pertaining to Theory of Mind (ToM) and recognition of other’s emotions. Further, we varied the depth with which participants engaged with the experiences of the characters in the artworks, to assess whether deep social information processing could boost the effect of art engagement on social cognitive skills. Our findings showed that art engagement altered personal aesthetic experience through changes in emotional and eudaimonic outcomes. However, we did not find any support for the effect of art engagement on social cognitive skills: Neither engaging with art, nor art in combination with deep social information processing, influenced performance on social cognitive skills of ToM and emotion recognition. The effect of art engagement on personal aesthetic experience and the absence of effect on social cognitive skills highlight the nuanced nature of individuals’ interactions with art. We discuss these results considering the varied ways of engagement with different artforms and in relation to different operationalizations of social cognitive skills.
... Исследование Кидда и Кастано [57] показало, что чтение художественной литературы улучшает эмпатию у детей. Хотя книги являются традиционной формой медиа, исследование показывает, что медиаконтент, сфокусированный на персонажах, может разрушить стереотипы и помочь детям понять людей, от которых они отличаются. ...
Chapter
Full-text available
Представлен анализ воздействия цифровых технологий на детей различного возраста. Выделены положительные и негативные аспекты воздействия электронных устройств на психофизическое состояние детей раннего возраста. Особое внимание уделяется взаимодействию ребенка со взрослыми, где цифровые технологии играют вспомогательную роль. Подтверждена способность детей усваивать знания из высококачественных телепрограмм. Отмечено положительное влияние социальных медиаресурсов на обучение и общение. Рассмотрена связь между медиаконтентом и сном, а также риском ожирения детей. Описывается связь восприятия рискованного поведения в цифровой среде и подражания, а также взаимосвязь между использованием социальных сетей и депрессией. Выделены риски столкновения детей с кибербуллингом и секстингом. Отмечена важность поддержания баланса между технологиями и семейным взаимодействием. (The analysis of the impact of digital technologies on children of different ages is presented. The positive and negative aspects of the impact of electronic devices on the psychophysical state of young children are highlighted. Special attention is paid to the interaction of the child with adults, where digital technologies play a supporting role. The ability of children to assimilate knowledge from high-quality TV programs has been confirmed. The positive impact of social media resources on learning and communication is noted. The relationship between media content and sleep, as well as the risk of childhood obesity, is considered. It describes the relationship between the perception of risky behavior in the digital environment and imitation, as well as the relationship between the use of social networks and depression. The risks of children encountering cyberbullying and sexting are highlighted. The importance of maintaining a balance between technology and family interaction was noted).
... Fiction, that is, "literature created from the imagination, not presented as fact, though it may be based on a true story or situation" (Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d.), has been found to serve both enjoyment and insight (e.g., Dubourg & Baumard, 2022; as well as other purposes, see Djikic et al., 2013;Kidd & Castano, 2013;Mar & Oatley, 2008;Mar et al., 2009;Park, 1982;Ricoeur, 1979;Wimmer et al., 2024). Zooming in on insight, empirical evidence shows that humans acquire both accurate and inaccurate information contained in fiction (for an overview, see . ...
Article
Full-text available
In addition to accurate information, people also acquire inaccurate information (i.e., a type of semantically inconsistent information) when reading fictional texts. This can result from low epistemic vigilance during reading. Here, we examine the prediction that low (vs. high) accessibility of fictional texts increases epistemic vigilance (approximated as reading time per syllable for semantically inconsistent compared to consistent information). In addition, we explore two associations: first, accessibility with transportation and perceived effects of foregrounding (both measured via self-report), and second, accessibility with acceptance of fiction-based inaccuracies (measured via a general knowledge test). Undergraduate students (n = 102) were randomly assigned to read a fictional story either high or low in accessibility (i.e., accessibility varied between subjects), after which perceived foregrounding, transportation, and then acceptance of inaccurate fiction-based information as accurate were collected. Contrary to our hypothesis, high instead of low accessibility increased epistemic vigilance. Furthermore, accessibility was unrelated to transportation and negatively linked with perceived foregrounding. The acceptance of inaccurate information could not be analyzed due to a floor effect. We exclude several alternative explanations for the pattern of results, such as too high text difficulty. In sum, high text accessibility increases epistemic vigilance and presumably can contribute to reducing the acquisition of inaccurate information.
Article
Eleven large language models (LLMs) were assessed using 40 bespoke false-belief tasks, considered a gold standard in testing theory of mind (ToM) in humans. Each task included a false-belief scenario, three closely matched true-belief control scenarios, and the reversed versions of all four. An LLM had to solve all eight scenarios to solve a single task. Older models solved no tasks; Generative Pre-trained Transformer (GPT)-3-davinci-003 (from November 2022) and ChatGPT-3.5-turbo (from March 2023) solved 20% of the tasks; ChatGPT-4 (from June 2023) solved 75% of the tasks, matching the performance of 6-y-old children observed in past studies. We explore the potential interpretation of these results, including the intriguing possibility that ToM-like ability, previously considered unique to humans, may have emerged as an unintended by-product of LLMs’ improving language skills. Regardless of how we interpret these outcomes, they signify the advent of more powerful and socially skilled AI—with profound positive and negative implications.
Article
Existing research shows that first-person narratives can reduce exclusionary attitudes against marginalized groups. In this article, we test how they might mitigate stigma against formerly incarcerated people. We outline two mechanisms: (1) signaling, wherein sharing an autobiographical narrative improves others’ perception of oneself, and (2) role-taking, wherein the content of the narrative leads the audience to see themselves in the author’s place, thereby changing their evaluation of the author. We test these mechanisms using data from a vignette-based online experiment. We examine how a sample of college students respond to a hypothetical classmate who discloses a history of incarceration. Overall, we find support for the signaling mechanism. We also find that desired social distance falls primarily because the narrative increases the classmate’s perceived warmth (e.g., sincerity, trustworthiness, friendliness, etc.). Findings suggest advocates and institutions should create opportunities to obtain and present credentials and skills that will credibly signal warmth.
Article
With the recent advancements of generative artificial intelligence (AI), the dialog between humans and AI is no longer merely functional but can be a profound means of reflection and psychological growth, especially when artistic approaches, such as poetry, are included. AI has the potential to generate poetic responses that deeply resonate with human experience, facilitating the expression of emotions, promoting psychological well-being, and encouraging personal reflection. This article describes a poetic exchange over a seven-day period between the author and ChatGPT, personified as the “Voice from Elsewhere,” that explores an existential crisis. After each exchange, the results were analyzed from a Jungian perspective to highlight connections to symbols and archetypes that could be used in Poetry Therapy or other therapeutic environments. The results indicate that ChatGPT has the capacity to create poems related to existential questions which could open the way for new and enriching dialogs, capable of potentially supporting psychotherapeutic work. Poetry, whether human or machine generated, will remain an artistic means to explore and experience inner transformation.
Article
Full-text available
Emotion recognition, the most reliably validated component within the construct of emotional intelligence, is a complicated skill. Although emotion recognition skill is generally valued in the workplace, “eavesdropping,” or relatively better recognition ability with emotions expressed through the less controllable “leaky” nonverbal channels, can have detrimental social and workplace consequences. In light of theory regarding positive emotion in organizations, as well as research on the consequences of perceiving negative information, the authors hypothesized and found an interaction between nonverbal channel and emotional valence in predicting workplace ratings from colleagues and supervisors. Ratings were higher for eavesdropping ability with positive emotion and lower for eavesdropping ability with negative emotion. The authors discuss implications for the complexity of interventions associated with emotional intelligence in workplace settings.
Article
Full-text available
We propose a communication analogue to Allport's (19541. Allport GW 1954 The nature of prejudice Cambridge, MA Perseus Books View all references) Contact Hypothesis called the Parasocial Contact Hypothesis (PCH). If people process mass-mediated parasocial interaction in a manner similar to interpersonal interaction, then the socially beneficial functions of intergroup contact may result from parasocial contact. We describe and test the PCH with respect to majority group members' level of prejudice in three studies, two involving parasocial contact with gay men (Six Feet Under and Queer Eye for the Straight Guy) and one involving parasocial contact with comedian and male transvestite Eddie Izzard. In all three studies, parasocial contact was associated with lower levels of prejudice. Moreover, tests of the underlying mechanisms of PCH were generally supported, suggesting that parasocial contact facilitates positive parasocial responses and changes in beliefs about the attributes of minority group categories.
Article
Full-text available
It is now widely maintained that the concept of literariness has been critically examined and found deficient. Prominent postmodern literary theorists have argued that there are no special characteristics that distinguish literature from other texts. Similarly, cognitive psychology has often subsumed literary understanding within a general theory of discourse processing. However, a review of empirical studies of literary readers reveals traces of literariness that appear irreducible to either of these explanatory frameworks. Our analysis of readers’ responses to several literary texts (short stories and poems) indicates processes beyond the explanatory reach of current situation models. Such findings suggest a three‐component model of literariness involving foregrounded stylistic or narrative features, readers’ defamiliarizing responses to them, and the consequent modification of personal meanings.
Article
This article considers the theoretical and practice-based evidence for the therapeutic effects of the shared reading of literature (poetry, fiction, plays, short stories) in prison communities. Taking as its starting point recent research and practice relating to the successful intervention ('Get into Reading') pioneered by UK charity The Reader Organisation, the article situates the components of this model in the context of established theories of reader response, as well as new research on reading and the brain. Yet its focus is always shared reading in practice and, through specific examples and testimony from prisoners and those who read with them (including health professionals), the article demonstrates the vital relation of this intervention to current recommendations in respect of the mental health needs of prisoners. It also offers a possible model for future interdisciplinary research in this field.
Article
Most psychological researchers now accept the premise that literary narra- tives have an effect on people's everyday lives. Contemporary research examines the types of psychological processes that give rise to literary impact. The article describes experiments in two broad areas. First, it supports a position called the willing construc- tion of disbelief and relates that to readers' feelings of having been transported to nar- rative worlds. The data suggest that readers must expend strategic effort to reject the information they acquire from literary narratives. Second, the article discusses the ways in which the unfolding of causes and consequences in literary narratives affect readers' judgments and understanding of characters and outcomes. These experi- ments support the claim that readers may derive bodies of evidence from their literary experiences that they apply to their own life experiences.