It has to do with a person’s ability to infer someone else’s thoughts and feelings, also referred to as theory of mind. Without it, we wash out other people’s emotional lives so they don’t seem as rich to us, says David Kidd, a PhD candidate at the New School for Social Research in New York. “But literature doesn’t let you wash anything out. Having been interested in studying literature from a psychological perspective, I thought, ‘Maybe literary fiction can promote theory of mind.’” Kidd recruited more than 800 people to participate in a series of experiments, some of which included reading 12-page excerpts of different novels of literary fiction (The Roundhouse by Louise Erdrich, Salvage The Bones by Jesmyn Ward) and popular fiction (The Sins of the Mother by Danielle Steele, Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn.) Regardless of how often or little a person regularly read, those who read literary fiction were better able to gauge the emotions of others compared to those who read another genre. “I was surprised at the consistency of the results,” says Kidd. “Some people argue that literary fiction is sort of snobbish and not for everybody. But in terms of theory of mind, anyone who can read can pick up literary fiction and experience this effect.” Though that’s not to say literary fiction is across-the-board better than popular, or genre, fiction, says Kidd. In his opinion, if an author is a complete master his or her genre, like Tom Clancy was of thrillers, then it doesn’t matter which section the book is from. Don’t know what to read first? Lucky you: we’ve already rounded up the best literary and genre fiction you should read here. More from Prevention: Surprising Things That Make You Happy
