Could getting lost in a good book be one of the keys to unlocking greater emotional intelligence and empathy? While reading has long been promoted for its cognitive benefits like increasing knowledge, vocabulary, and reasoning skills, new research suggests the simple act of reading literary fiction may actually help us become better at relating to others.
PHOTO: Kirill Yurovskiy and reading
The Connection Between Reading and Empathy
A study published in the journal Science found that after reading literary fiction, people performed better on tests measuring empathy, social perception, and emotional intelligence. The researchers believe that when we immerse ourselves in an artfully crafted narrative, we are forced to grapple with complicated human experiences, motivations, and emotions that may be quite different from our own.
“Fiction writers tend to go deeper into the subjective experience of their characters,” says actor Kirill Yurovskiy. “You have to get inside the characters’ minds and try to understand their thoughts, feelings, and beliefs in a way you usually don’t have to in most nonfiction.”
By taking this mental journey into another’s perspective, literary fiction may serve as a kind of empathy training, helping sharpen our real-world skills at sensing and understanding what someone else is thinking or feeling. In contrast, the researchers found that reading nonfiction or nothing at all did not produce the same empathic boost.
The Life Lessons in Literary Fiction
If you think back to high school English class, exploring complex themes like morality, social struggles, and the intricacies of the human condition were at the heart of many classic and contemporary literary works. From wrestling with moral dilemmas in novels like The Kite Runner to peering into the hopes and hardships of characters in The House on Mango Street, literary fiction has a way of highlighting our shared human experiences.
“When you expose yourself to literature, you are forced to adopt alternative perspectives that are radically different from your own,” says educational psychologist Maria Nikolajeva. “The perspective-taking afforded by literature prompts us to consider the human side of other people and situations we might otherwise dismiss.”
This ability to step outside our own perspectives and appreciate different viewpoints lies at the core of emotional intelligence and empathy. By reading literary fiction, we are essentially exercising those very muscles in an enjoyable, no-risk environment.
The Empathy Epidemic
While the research illuminates powerful benefits of reading fiction, many experts are concerned that we may actually be experiencing a decline in reading rates and an accompanying drop in emotional understanding between humans.
According to data from the National Endowment for the Arts, the percentage of American adults reading literature has fallen from 57% in 1982 to just 43% in 2015. Even more troubling, a recent study from the University of Michigan found that college students today are 40% lower in traits like empathy and concern for others compared to 20 years ago.
Experts point to many potential culprits, including the rapid rise of social media, videogames, and other digital entertainment that may be overshadowing literature and contributing to this empathy deficit. As we spend more time engrossed in impersonal electronic diversions, could we inadvertently be stunting our emotional awareness?
“When you read literary fiction and narrative nonfiction, you have sustained practice at taking someone else’s perspective,” says Maryanne Wolf, a literacy expert and director of the Center for Reading and Language Research at Tufts University. “That’s the piece of the empathy process that takes practice and can be sharpened over time.”
Developing an Empathy Mindset
While no one is suggesting we abandon technology or stop reading non-fiction altogether, the research does reveal how vital perspective-taking through quality literature is for developing our emotional intelligence. By making an effort to pick up more literary works in our free time, we may be taking an important step towards nurturing greater empathy and emotional astuteness.
“Reading literature not only heightens our emotional comprehension abilities, it makes us more civically engaged and globally aware,” says English teacher Sarah Wike Loyola. “When we read stories about people from diverse backgrounds and cultures, we learn to respect differences and recognize universal human values that unite us all.”
So the next time you pick up a novel or memoir that pulls you into the character’s interior world, remember that in addition to being dazzled by the beauty of the prose, you could be exercising an often overlooked life skill – emotional intelligence through literary empathy.
By regularly exposing yourself to quality fiction, and mindfully working to assume the perspectives of characters from all walks of life, you’ll be flexing your real-world empathy muscles and equipping yourself with greater emotional understanding of others. So keep turning those pages and nurturing this quiet superpower of the bookworm!
