Fiction is the simulation of selves in interaction. People who read it improve their
understanding of others. This effect is especially marked with literary fiction, which also …

Empathy features a tension between automaticity and context dependency. On the one
hand, people often take on each other's internal states reflexively and outside of awareness …

Drawing on state-of-the-art personality and developmental research, this book presents a
new and broadly integrative theory of how people come to be who they are over the life …

The research area of brain plasticity studies indicates that individuals can train and improve
their cognitive abilities throughout life. In addition, more and more computerized training …

A great deal of research exists on the neural basis of theory-of-mind (ToM) or mentalizing.
Qualitative reviews on this topic have identified a mentalizing network composed of the …

Research in psychology has suggested that reading fiction can improve individuals' social-
cognitive abilities. Findings from neuroscience show that reading and social cognition both …

The field of the medical humanities is developing rapidly, however, there has also been
parallel concern from sceptics that the value of medical humanities educational interventions …

The potential of literature to increase empathy was investigated in an experiment.
Participants (N= 100, 69 women) completed a package of questionnaires that measured …

Such Stuff as Dreams: The Psychology of Fiction explores how fiction works in the brains
and imagination of both readers and writers. Demonstrates how reading fiction can …

Popular movies grab and hold our attention. One reason for this is that storytelling is
culturally important to us, but another is that general narrative formulae have been honed …