3Q: Fiction's role in emotional development
Wednesday, October 16, 2013 - 08:00
in Psychology & Sociology
Research published last week in the journal Science found that subjects who read literary fiction, compared to popular fiction or nonfiction, performed better on tests measuring their ability to determine what other people were feeling. This work overlaps with research by Northeastern professor Laura Green, chair of the Department of English, whose book Literary Identification: From Charlotte Brontë to Tsitsi Dangarembga looks at empathy and the relationship between readers and characters. We asked Green discuss the role fiction plays in readers' emotions and the bonds they form with authors and characters.