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How to teach AP history to a homeschooler
As a kid I read a fair amount of fiction. Into young adulthood even. I used to love science fiction short stories and subscribed to a couple great zines of them. But as I’ve gotten older I’ve left fiction almost entirely behind. I think the last novel I read was The Mandibles, which was fascinating. That was in 2016. Mostly I read memoir now.
I heard the Fresh Air interview with Bo Burnham. Fascinating and now I want to see the movie. My younger son introduced me to his Netflix specials which were in many ways delightful.
When I was 18, I quit reading fiction, opting for the amazing world of self-help and business books.
I wonder if there has been a decline in my emotional intelligence. I’ve heard studies that Emotional Intelligence is a huge predictor of success, but your article is the first time that I’ve understood the importance of reading fiction as it pertains to increasing Emotional Intelligence.
I’m off to research some more fictional narrative books.
I liked the Recode Media interview with Mr. Burnham
The researchers explicitly included science fiction in their definition of “narrative fiction.” See page 9: “… an assessment of exposure to narrative fiction (50 names, divided into 5 genres, such as thrillers, romance novels, and science fiction)”
I agree that some science fiction doesn’t have the kind of character development you’re talking about. The Martian, for example, is really about the science and not the character. Much of the genre uses the science or futuristic setting as a way to push character development though.
From what I understand of the research, it sounds like the connection to empathy is largely related to how much you are able to immerse yourself in the narrative and imagine the characters. If that’s true, then how much it increases empathy probably has less to do with the genre and more to do with the writing focus and the person reading.
This was interesting research that I hadn’t seen before. Thanks for sharing it!
If I could hand out honorary degrees, I’d give you one in psychology. You link to and discuss numerous research topics in the psychology field as they relate to careers, education, and life. Your tagline – Advice at the intersection of work and life ( and now education). And your posts have me searching other related topics. This post made me think about music and empathy. I read chick flick in your post, laughed, and then thought chick music. So I searched and found a few studies on the subject including this one titled – “Can Music Increase Empathy? Interpreting Musical Experience Through The Empathizing–Systemizing (E-S) Theory: Implications For Autism” – at http://emusicology.org/article/view/4603/4162 . As the article states – “In the following sections, we describe how E-S theory may explain differences in musical preference, perception, and performance; the implications for autism; and the theoretical reasoning on how music can increase empathy.” I think there will be more studies in the future regarding the correlation between music and empathy for everybody.