Blog

For Better Social Skills, Read Literary Fiction

If you are thrown into a new situation, a project with a new team, or a promotion to a new job, how should you prepare? Researchers have recently discovered that reading literary fiction for as as little as three to five minutes can make you perform better when it comes to empathy, social perception and emotional intelligence. These skills are especially important when you are trying to determine what someone is thinking or to gauge their body language.  And these skills are critical for effectiveness in your work and personal life.

The study was conducted by  social psychologists at the New School for Social Research in New York. The participants, ranging in age from 18-75, took part in five studies. Some were given excerpts from award winning literary fiction, while others were given excerpts of popular fiction. In one experiment participants were given non-fiction excerpts from articles from the Smithsonian magazine.  Others were given nothing to read.  Then they were given tests that quantitively  measured their ability to decode emotions or predict  a person’s expectations or beliefs in a certain scenario.  For example, in one scenario, they were given  a test where they studied 36 photographs of pairs of eyes and chose which of the four adjectives best described the emotion each showed. The results clearly showed that those who read the literary  fiction had the highest scores.

One explanation may be  that in literary fiction, characters and life are more complex and involve more participation and imagination  by the reader.  In popular fiction, there may be more emphasis on the plot, with stereotypical characters that allow the reader to assume a more passive role.

The results  of this study are especially important because  it gives busy executives and managers who struggle with empathy and other emotional intelligence indicators ways that they can improve their social skills for only three-five minutes a day!  So executives and managers, perhaps it is a good idea to get some books  by Dickens or Alice Munro and start reading.

 

0

About the Author:

Deborah Brown (Debbie) founded Atlanta based D&B Consulting, Inc. in 1993 to provide executive career and leadership coaching, and executive career transitions and outplacement services to organizations and individuals. She is a Master Practitioner of the MBTI personality assessment and a Certified Social + Emotional Intelligence Coach® through the Institute of Social + Emotional Intelligence® of Denver, Colorado. Debbie earned the SPHR (Senior Professional in Human Resources) certification.