Read literary fiction– get smarter

So, I’ve been reading a terrific work of literary fiction the past week, Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk.  And not only am I really enjoying the time reading it– I’ve honestly been pausing to just appreciate how incredibly well written it is– I’m actually improving my social skills while I’m at it (okay, that’s not “smarter” per se, but that makes for a better blog post title).  What you may say?  Details from the Times story:

Something by Chekhov or Alice Munro will help you navigate new social territory better than a potboiler by Danielle Steel.

That is the conclusion of a studypublished Thursday in the journal Science. It found that after reading literary fiction, as opposed to popular fiction or serious nonfiction, people performed better on tests measuring empathy, social perception and emotional intelligence — skills that come in especially handy when you are trying to read someone’s body language or gauge what they might be thinking.

The researchers say the reason is that literary fiction often leaves more to the imagination, encouraging readers to make inferences about characters and be sensitive to emotional nuance and complexity…

The idea that what we read might influence our social and emotional skills is not new. Previous studies have correlated various types of reading with empathy and sensitivity. More recently, in a field called “theory of mind,” scientists have used emotional intelligence perception tests to study, for example, children with autism.

But psychologists and other experts said the new study was powerful because it suggested a direct effect — quantifiable by measuring how many right and wrong answers people got on the tests — from reading literature for only a few minutes.

“It’s a really important result,” said Nicholas Humphrey, an evolutionary psychologist who has written extensively about human intelligence, and who was not involved in the research. “That they would have subjects read for three to five minutes and that they would get these results is astonishing.”

Dr. Humphrey, an emeritus professor at Cambridge University’s Darwin College, said he would have expected that reading generally would make people more empathetic and understanding. “But to separate off literary fiction, and to demonstrate that it has different effects from the other forms of reading, is remarkable,” he said.

There probably is nothing I love more than truly great literary fiction for just this reason– I love how it stretches my mind by treating me as an intelligent reader.  That said, I also find that I’m much more likely to be disappointed by literary fiction; something plot-driven is more likely to simply get the job of entertaining me done.  When it’s done right, though, it’s not only enjoyable, but seemingly expanding your brain in important ways.  Pretty cool.

Along these lines, I should also mention that I love a well-done story with an unreliable narrator– that’s why Lolita is one of my all-time favorites.