Article Evaluation 1: Novel

Title of the Text:  Novel Finding: Reading Literary Fiction Improves Empathy

Author:  Julianne Chiaet

Title of Journal:  Scientific American

URL / Web Address:  https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/novel-finding-reading-literary-fiction-improves-empathy/

Main Idea:  "Literary fiction improves a reader’s capacity to understand what others are thinking and feeling."

Evidences that supports the Main Idea:

1.  "Emanuele Castano, a social psychologist, along with PhD candidate David Kidd conducted five studies. When study participants read non-fiction or nothing, their results were unimpressive. When they read excerpts of genre fiction, such as Danielle Steel’s The Sins of the Mother, their test results were dually insignificant. However, when they read literary fiction, such as The Round House by Louise Erdrich, their test results improved markedly—and, by implication, so did their capacity for empathy. The study was published October 4 in Science."

2.  "Although literary fiction tends to be more realistic than popular fiction, the characters disrupt reader expectations, undermining prejudices and stereotypes. They support and teach us values about social behavior, such as the importance of understanding those who are different from ourselves."

New Information or Idea Identified:

1.  "The results suggest that reading fiction is a valuable socializing influence."

2.  "The study data could inform debates over how much fiction should be included in educational curricula and whether reading programs should be implemented in prisons, where reading literary fiction might improve inmates’ social functioning and empathy."

3.  "Castano also hopes the finding will encourage autistic people to engage in more literary fiction, in the hope it could improve their ability to empathize without the side effects of medication."