Lifetime exposure to narrative fiction correlates with ToM and empathy, but correlational designs preclude causal conclusions¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · review r3 · q2
Currency · newest study 2022 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Several studies consistently revealed relations between lifetime exposure to narrative fiction and ToM and empathy, while exposure to expository texts did not correlate or negatively correlated with sociomoral outcomes. → Luciano Gasser · Yvonne Dammert · P. Karen Murphy 2022 q2 i? In 4- to 6-year-old children, ToM task performance was significantly associated with exposure to narrative fiction even when parents' income and children's gender or vocabulary were partialed out. → Luciano Gasser · Yvonne Dammert · P. Karen Murphy 2022

Evidence¶

Luciano Gasser · Yvonne Dammert · P. Karen Murphy 2022¶

Luciano Gasser · Yvonne Dammert · P. Karen Murphy. (2022). How Do Children Socially Learn from Narrative Fiction: Getting the Lesson, Simulating Social Worlds, or Dialogic Inquiry? Educational Psychology Review (2022) 34:1445–1475. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-022-09667-4

q2 · i? · review · r3

The review's synthesis of correlational studies using the Author Recognition Test, RMET, and IRI reports consistent relations between lifetime narrative-fiction exposure and sociomoral outcomes; a meta-analysis of short-time exposure also suggests possible improvement.

"Several studies consistently revealed relations between lifetime exposure to narrative fiction and ToM and empathy (for a meta-analysis, see Mumper & Gerrig, 2017). In contrast, lifetime exposure to expository texts did not correlate or negatively correlate with sociomoral outcomes."

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Social Awareness and Relationship Skills — outcome: instruction changes it

Related Claims¶

• Reading fiction gives at most a very small gain on theory-of-mind and social-cognition tasks, and the single-passage literary-fiction effect did not replicate — related
• Expressively oriented literary programs improved ToM, emotion understanding, and self-reported insight in children and adolescents — related
• Youth text reading experience correlates modestly with narrative comprehension; current text and youth comic experience do not — related