For Better Social Skills, Scientists Recommend a Little Chekhov

[astrum]

From article:


"After reading — or in some cases reading nothing — the participants took computerized tests that measure people’s ability to decode emotions or predict a person’s expectations or beliefs in a particular scenario. In one test, called “Reading the Mind in the Eyes,” subjects did just that: they studied 36 photographs of pairs of eyes and chose which of four adjectives best described the emotion each showed.

Is the woman with the smoky eyes aghast or doubtful? Is the man whose gaze has slivered to a squint suspicious or indecisive? Is she interested or irritated, flirtatious or hostile? Is he fantasizing or guilty, dominant or horrified? Or annoyed that his tech stock dropped half a percent on the Nasdaq in a round of late trading after news from the Middle East? (Just kidding — that last one isn’t on the test.)

The idea that what we read might influence our social and emotional skills is not new. Previous studies have correlated various types of reading with empathy and sensitivity. More recently, in a field called “theory of mind,” scientists have used emotional intelligence perception tests to study, for example, children with autism."


Read more here: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/10/03/i-know-how-youre-feeling-i-read-chekhov/?hp&_r=2

[mal4mac]

'Ms. Erdrich, the author, said the study made her feel “personally cheered.”

“Writers are often lonely obsessives, especially the literary ones. It’s nice to be told what we write is of social value,” she said.'

Irony is obviously her strong point!

[russellb]

it strikes me that the intelligence required has a strong visual element and i just don't 'visualise' novels. Is that a necessary component of how one reads viz this study? If i could make a social comment reading trash rather than chekov is more likely to help you 'fit in' in the 'average' social situation, say, in an ordinary pub. If your head is full of Tolstoy and chekov you're best just keeping quiet even if you can work out what the meaning is of peculiar look in the eyes of the bloke sitting next to you...