Researchers found that subjects who read fiction scored higher on empathy social reasoning tests. The reasoning is that fiction is a way for understanding the world.
"Fiction is really about how to get around in the social world, which is not as easy as one might think," said Keith Oatley, one of the researchers and a professor in the department of human development and applied psychology at the University of Toronto. "People who read fiction give themselves quite a bit of practice in understanding that. And also, I think reading fiction sort of prompts one to think about these questions - you know, what are these people up to?"Makes a certain amount of sense. Read fiction, witness what characters do in different situations. Apply similar responses to situations that emerge in life.
But as the authors note, the research did not distinguish between different kinds of fiction.
As a science fiction lover, I've got to wonder about the stereotypical "socially inept" sf/fantasy reader. This reader of fantastical fiction often is pictured as someone incapable of carrying on a conversation about anything but the books he/she reads, will argue minutiae and details of their favorite series, and generally seems to exhibit a reluctance to move out of routine and comfortable circles. This stereotype isn't misplaced. I have met people like this. I've also met people like this who only watch a specific genre of movie (sf, fantasy and/or horror usually) or only play a certain type of video game.
So why the stereotype, and does reading sf make you a more socially apt person as much as other genres of fiction might?
I would suggest that readers of science fiction who balance their lives and reading, and who read other genres in addition to science fiction could become more empathetic than readers of other genres. Yes, I realize I fall into that category, so in some ways I'm defending my own love of science fiction by proposing that a little science fiction is good for you. But I think the argument makes sense. Tell me what you think.
If as the researchers suggest, fiction teaches you about life and how to interact with real life people by reading about imaginary ones, then it stands to reason that the biggest social benefits of reading come from reading about characters that are unlike people who you've actually met before. In real life, you've already figured out how to deal with the people you've met. So the social benefit of reading is to encounter characters who are unlike those you've met in real life so that if/when you meet people like those characters in the future, you will already have an idea how they think and how you might respond to them. It makes sense that the social lessons learned through reading are ones that are uniquely different from the lessons learned in real life.
So science fiction (and fantasy) would produce the most empathy because they offer worlds and characters that you presumably would not meet in real life. But at this point it becomes necessary to consider the way that science fiction worlds are created.
In science fiction (and fantasy), the author usually begins with a premise that doesn't exist in real life, for example, that we have humanoid robots, or that humans have developed ESP, or that we can travel through space. Based on this premise, the story unfolds in a way that accounts for this factor that differs from our reality. This means that many things might change. For example, if humans evolved to develop ESP, the nature of espionage, secrets, and social interaction would be different.
What doesn't change much in science fiction is the people. As the saying goes, "people are people wherever you go" and this applies to science fiction as much as it does to life. The characters in science fiction, the ones that we hear the story through are people first and foremost. They may be different from us, but their responses are recognizable as the kinds of responses people might make, even if those people are sentient robots, aliens, or humans just trying to make sense of a world in which space travel is a possibility.
This is the consistent factor in science fiction. No matter how different the world in which the story takes place might be from our world, the responses of the people in the story seem right and appropriate to the situation.
If fiction does indeed provide us with models for approaching people and situations that we've never encountered before, then it stands to reason that the more fantastical the people and situations, the better prepared one might be to meet with future unknown people and situations. In that case, reading science fiction just might make you a better human.
No comments:
Post a Comment