What You Didn’t Know About Reading Fiction

When you are a busy college student, it can be difficult to carve out some time to read for pure enjoyment. Though college courses assign a variety of reading materials to bright-eyed students, you might want to introduce or reintroduce some fiction into your life. 

According to researchers in the fields of psychology and health sciences, reading literary fiction offers mental health benefits that are unmatched by their non-fiction counterparts. Literary fiction is different from popular or genre fiction in that it is not neatly categorized and divided into sub-genres. It is character driven and generally based on real-life situations. 

Indulging in a beautifully crafted story not only fuels imagination but also prompts us to think in new and creative ways to understand the stranger minds of others.

A simulative experience

Researchers Dr. Raymond Mar from York University and Dr. Keith Oatley from the University of Toronto authored a compelling article highlighting the psychological benefits of reading literary narratives. The 2008 study posed critical questions regarding the purpose of reading in the context of psychology. Arguing against the idea that the sole function of fiction is entertainment, Mar and Oatley suggest that novels “create a deep and immersive simulative experience of social interactions.” 

If you have ever put yourself in the shoes of another character in a book, you will know the experience that Mar and Oatley discuss in their article. According to the researchers, literary fiction helps us to understand those who seem different from us by increasing our capacity to empathize with them. 

Say goodbye to stress!

In 2009, a study that was published in the Journal of College Teaching & Learning further expanded on the mental health benefits of reading. For this study, Dr. Denise Rizzolo from Seton Hall University and colleagues assessed the effects of yoga, humor and reading in relation to levels of stress in Doctor of Physical Therapy and Master’s of Occupational Therapy students. The study volunteers participated once in three different interventions over the course of three weeks. All sessions lasted for 30 minutes. Participants in the humor session were given the option to select an episode from a popular talk show while those in the reading session read articles about historical events and innovative technology. Students’ blood pressure, heart rate and levels of stress were measured before and after each session.

Rizzolo and colleagues concluded that no one intervention was better or more effective than the other. In other words, they all helped to reduce stress in health sciences students. As a result, the researchers list reading as a way to relieve stress fast.

Become a mind reader

In 2013, David Kidd who was working towards a Ph.D. at the time and psychology Professor Emanuele Castano from The New School for Social Research took the subject further and took a deep dive into the mentally stimulating powers of reading fiction. Kidd and Castano analyzed literary fiction within the context of the Theory of Mind. Theory of Mind talks about our ability to understand other people’s mental states and the different beliefs and desires that we all hold. After conducting five different experiments on the matter, Kidd and Castano discovered reading literary fiction (compared with non-fiction, popular fiction or nothing at all) led to better performance on Theory of Mind tasks. 

Visiting brand new worlds and having dream-like meetings with characters who live on coffee-stained pages of a book (or on electronic pages) certainly bring about new insights for fiction lovers.

All of these studies underline perhaps one of the most beneficial aspects of reading literary fiction: immersing oneself in stories embellished with characters from worlds near and far. 

Happy reading!