Abstract This article challenges the current discourse on the personal and social benefits of reading fiction by analyzing the representation and use of social mind reading in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Though the novel is closely associated with literary criticism on improved Theory of Mind, and contains a clear moral message about the importance of careful interpretation of others’ behavior, the style of character description in the early part of the novel reinforces biases in readers’ social cognition that have the potential for negative social impact. The article uses research from social psychology and social neuroscience to support this argument, concluding that literary critics need to take seriously the possibility that reading fiction may have negative effects on readers’ social cognition.
Claudia Carroll (Mon,) studied this question.