This article is from the public number: Neural Reality (ID: goodness) , author: PHILLIPS, original title “ Reading literature will not make you understand others better 》
In 2013, Science published a study with an interesting title: “Reading fiction from pure literature improves the theory of mind.” The authors of the paper, David Comer Kidd (David Comer Kidd) and Emmanuel Castano (Emanuele Castano) claim that they have proved that pure literary fiction can enhance our “mind theory”. In contrast, reading popular fiction is not good, neither is reading excellent non-fiction. “Mind theory” refers to the ability to discern the thoughts and feelings of others. In the words of the author, it “makes people find directions in complex social relationships and produces empathic responses to maintain relationships.” .
Newspapers and magazines quickly reported this conclusion. Some people doubt it. Maria Eugenia Panero (Maria Eugenia Panero) is a psychologist who tries to repeat the results of this experiment. In 2016, she published a report as the lead author, stating that they failed to repeat the exciting results of the previous study, and found that readers of purely fictional works of literature had “no significant advantage” in the theory of mind. Overall, Panero and colleagues point out that the reason this study looks incredibly good is that it is inherently false—or in other words, it is not at least a decisive and conclusive conclusion.
We discussed with Panero why the original study was so attractive, and what we know about art and empathy.
“What can you tell us about the relationship between empathy and the theory of mind?”
You can think of the theory of mind as an integral part of empathy. Mind theory is a kind of cognitive empathy: I know that others have thoughts and emotions. There are many levels of this kind of cognitive empathy. The first layer is I know what X thinks; the second layer is I know X thinks Y is thinking;The third layer is I know what X thinks Y thinks Z is thinking; and so on. Higher levels become quite self-explanatory. In addition, there is another kind of empathy I call it “Emotional empathy”-I can really feel the feelings of others . The last is sympathy-I will take action to ease your pain.
“How do you measure the theory of mind?”
There are several commonly used methods. Simon Baron-Cohen (Simon Baron-Cohen) Invented a “test by eye-view” (the Reading the Mind in the Eyes test) is often used to measure individual differences in the theory of mind of adults.
In this test you will look at a group of people’s eyes and then judge what the person is thinking or feeling. Participants were to choose from the four adjectives given. But this test is often criticized, saying it’s too much like a vocabulary test. In our own experiments and the one we wanted to repeat, only native English speakers were used.
Because if your mother tongue is not English—or even English—if your vocabulary can’t keep up, the test results may not be good, but this does not mean that your theory of mind is not good. At present, this test is basically the only mental theory test that can be used by adults. Other tests are for young children, which is too simple for adults, and can’t distinguish individual differences. We need some new tests for adults.
Volunteers are rehearsing a beggar opera.
Image source: Nick Ansell / Flickr
“Why did the duplicate experiment fail?”
Oh, because the effect of the original experiment is very small. This is a statistical concept, meaning that the average score of the “eye test” under different experimental conditions is very small. If the amount of effect is very small, the research results will be difficult to repeat. To put it bluntly, it is not so reliable.
We don’t find the “eye test” difference between pure literature and popular novel readers like they do. There is also a reason that both genres are actually related to mental state. In theory, there is no good reason to speculate that reading pure literary novels can lead to a higher theory of mind.
“The original experiment had high media exposure. Why is this? Are we cheering for empathy? Or for fiction?”
Absolutely, both. Almost anything published in Science gets a lot of attention. But we also want to believe in literature. Everyone’s intuition: we may have been moved by a literary work, we may have benefited from a story, or we may have empathized with a character. We all want to believe in the existence of these things, but we have not been able to verify them scientifically.
So when a study said-ah we found evidence! -This is very exciting and touching. There is also an autism spectrum disorder: people with autism have difficulty with the theory of mind, and if we can find a way to help them, it is best.
Valentyna Petyurenko
“For‘ art can makeWe have been a better debate for a long time. Is there anything to say in psychology? Is empathy part of the ‘better man’? “
I’m currently working at Ellen Winner’s (Ellen Winner) at Boston College. The team studies any overlap between art and psychology, and we talk about it in our own casual chats. Although many people claim that art makes us better, more ethical, and more empathetic, there is not much hard evidence for this. If you like art, it might help you! Your concentration will be more focused, or art will relax you. But we haven’t found that it can really make us better.
There is a conclusion in the original experiment, which we did repeat. It is true that people who have read a lot of novels throughout their lives do have a higher theory of mind. (measured by “eye test”) . But it should be noted that this result cannot explain any causal relationship: reading fictional works may improve the theory of mind, but on the other hand, it is entirely reasonable that people with high theory of mind are more attracted to the novel.
Some studies have also focused on the role of other art types. There is evidence that drama is good for children’s social skills and empathy. However, the experiment requires many control groups to rule out other possible explanations. For example, drama is good for social skills, and it may just be that children are able to interact with like-minded partners in the theater. If these children like sports, the results may not be the same. Other studies have revealed some correlations (for example, children who study music have better academic performance) , but the causal relationship is (music improves academic performance) is still difficult to prove.
“Let ’s turn it upside down: art may not help us understand or empathize with others. Instead, it may be that those with better understanding and empathy are better artists?”
I would like to say “yes”, but I can’t come up with specific scientific evidence. A writer needs to be able to predict what readers can understand and not what, and what information he wants his characters to possess; an actor,You must really understand the perspectives of all the characters and what is going on around you. So I really want to say “yes”; but I don’t have any real evidence to support it. It is possible that people with strong theory of mind have gathered in the art field, or that art has improved the theory of mind of man.
“Why do you want to study empathy?”
I have been an actor. I studied musical theatre in New York. As an actor, I will try to study the characters and understand their lives-trying to connect with them emotionally and experience their emotions. This experience itself aroused my interest, even more than practice and acting! Then I found this art and mind laboratory. The main researchers here and most of the graduate students have artistic backgrounds. Lab leader Ellen Winner was a painter, I was an actor, and another student was a musician. We all came from art, and raised questions from our own experience.
“Will your experimental support or deny your personal experience?”
My master’s thesis explores actors and separations (dissociation) . Separation is generally considered bad. For example, there are separation disorders, including multiple personalities; and the disintegration of personality is to experience the separation between mental and physical-looking in the mirror but not recognizing yourself. There is also a separation and fantasy (fantasy) and focused (absorption) has a lot to do. It is a bad thing for a person to be absent-minded all day long-you can’t work and live normally. But a little bit of fantasy is fun and useful; it helps us relax and see things in new ways.
In the theater world, what I see is a huge push for actors to “become” a role, encouraging them to be in the same place and feel the same as the characters. This has done a lot of harm to some people, making them feel separated from their true self. I think this situation is very similar to separation.
In my research, actors scored higher on segregation than others. This may not be a good thing, but the separation of the actors is fantasy / focused, and it is related to empathy and perspective selection. (perspective taking) . Therefore, they will not forget who they are. They are controllable. This finding is consistent with my thoughts when I review my personal experience-being able to scientifically verify it really satisfied me. As long as it is controllable, separation is only part of the art.