Reading Literary Fiction and Theory of Mind
Three Preregistered Replications and Extensions of Kidd and Castano (2013)
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21209281 |
|---|---|
| Authors | David Kidd (0000-0001-6938-8291, Harvard University, corresponding author), Emanuele Castano (0000-0003-1709-590X, University of Bergamo) |
| Year | 2019 |
| Volume | 10 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 522-531 |
| Publication date | 2019-05-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Social Psychological and Personality Science (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1948-5506 • E-ISSN: 1948-5514 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/1948550618775410 |
| OpenAlex | W2809485665 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 19 |
| References cited | 40 |
Scholars from diverse disciplines have proposed that reading fiction improves intersubjective capacities. Experiments have yielded mixed evidence that reading literary fiction improves performance on the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test, a test of Theory of Mind. Three preregistered experiments revealed mixed results. Applying the “small telescopes” method developed by Simonsohn revealed two uninformative failures to replicate and one successful replication. On a measure of the importance of intentions to moral judgments, results were more mixed, with one significant effect in the expected direction, one nonsignificant effect, and one significant effect in the unexpected direction. In addition, two experiments yielded support for the exploratory but preregistered hypothesis that characters in popular fiction are perceived as more predictable and stereotypic than those in literary fiction. These findings help clarify the sociocognitive effects of reading literary fiction and refine questions for future research
Cognitive psychology · Linguistics · Replicate · Media Influence and Health · Philosophy · Psychology · Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment · Social and Intergroup Psychology · Social Psychology
A literacia e seus desafios
Preliminary steps towards a cognitive theory of fiction and its effects
Learning empathy through literature
Contributions of Reading Fiction to Well-Being
Science fiction and self-transcendence
Reading Patterns, Engagement Style and Theory of Mind
Cognitive Empathy as Imagination
Fiction exposure and reading ability
Art films foster theory of mind
Reading Fictional Narratives to Improve Social and Moral Cognition
Narrative Scaffolding
Empathy & Literature
Less Is More
Historical empathy and medicine
Reading about minds
Different fiction genres take children’s memories to different places
Teaching public health humanities
Dance and the Embodied Social Cognition of Mating
Reading literary fiction can improve theory of mind
Actual Minds, Possible Worlds
The Moral Laboratory
Small Telescopes
Reading Literary Fiction Improves Theory of Mind
Transportation into a story increases empathy, prosocial behavior, and perceptual bias toward fearful expressions
How Does Fiction Reading Influence Empathy? An Experimental Investigation on the Role of Emotional Transportation
New and updated tests of print exposure and reading abilities in college students
Exploring the link between reading fiction and empathy
The neural basis of the interaction between theory of mind and moral judgment
The “Reading the Mind in the Eyes” Test Revised Version
G*Power 3
Bookworms versus nerds
Does reading a single passage of literary fiction really improve theory of mind? An attempt at replication
The effects of reading material on social and non-social cognition
Readers' Temperaments and Fictional Character
The Literary Imagination in Public Life
| Citations per year | 2.38 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2018 - 2026 (9) |
| Highly cited | No |