2009/12/01 by Raymond A. Mar, Keith Oatley, Jordan B. Peterson · 326 citations
Arts and Humanities · Psychology · Social Sciences · #Media Influence and Health #Misinformation and Its Impacts #Optimism, Hope, and Well-being
paper · doi:10.1515/comm.2009.025
published in COMM 34(4), 407-428 (Walter de Gruyter GmbH)
crossref issued 2009/12/01 · crossref published 2009/12/01 · crossref published-print 2009/12/01 · openalex publication_date 2009/12/01 · crossref published-online 2009/12/14 · crossref created 2009/12/14 · crossref deposited 2022/08/23 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/14 · crossref indexed 2026/08/07
Abstract Readers of fiction tend to have better abilities of empathy and theory of mind (Mar et al., Journal of Personality 74: 1047–1078, 2006). We present a study designed to replicate this finding, rule out one possible explanation, and extend the assessment of social outcomes. In order to rule out the role of personality, we first identified Openness as the most consistent correlate. This trait was then statistically controlled for, along with two other important individual differences: the tendency to be drawn into stories and gender. Even after accounting for these variables, fiction exposure still predicted performance on an empathy task. Extending these results, we also found that exposure to fiction was positively correlated with social support. Exposure to nonfiction, in contrast, was associated with loneliness, and negatively related to social support.