Key points are not available for this paper at this time.
There is a long tradition in philosophy and literary theory defending the view that engagement with literature promotes readers’ empathy. Until the last century, few of the empirical claims adduced in that tradition were investigated experimentally. Recent work in psychology and neuropsychology has now shed new light on the interplay of empathy and literature. This article surveys the experimental findings, addressing three central questions: What is it to read empathically? Does reading make us more empathic? What characteristics of literature, if any, affect readers’ empathy? While experimental studies have delivered no conclusive answers to these questions, it has exposed their psychological complexity and constructed a more nuanced picture of the diverse ways in which literature interacts with our empathic capacities.
Building similarity graph...
Analyzing shared references across papers
Loading...
Alison Denham (Thu,) studied this question.
www.synapsesocial.com/papers/68e73097b6db6435876aa111 — DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/17540739241233601
Alison Denham
Emotion Review
University of Oxford
Building similarity graph...
Analyzing shared references across papers
Loading...
Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context: