Studies Show How Reading Fictional Books Can Boost Our Empathy

Literary fiction is particularly stimulating, prompting us to understand and feel empathy.

Measuring this empathetic response, researcher Dr. Raymond Mar and a few others were lead by no other than Oatley, who were the first to use the “Mind of the Eye Test”. Participants were shown 36 images of people’s eyes.

They had to choose among them, one of the four terms offered to decipher what they were thinking and feeling.

 

CHANTEL JVR