The more deeply we are cast under a story’s spell, the more potent its influence. In fact, fiction seems to be more effective at changing beliefs than nonfiction, which is designed to persuade through argument and evidence. Studies show that when we read nonfiction, we read with our shields up. We are critical and skeptical. But when we are absorbed in a story, we drop our intellectual guard. We are moved emotionally, and this seems to make us rubbery and easy to shape.

But perhaps the most impressive finding is just how fiction shapes us: mainly for the better, not for the worse. Fiction enhances our ability to understand other people; it promotes a deep morality that cuts across religious and political creeds. More peculiarly, fiction’s happy endings seem to warp our sense of reality. They make us believe in a lie: that the world is more just than it actually is. But believing that lie has important effects for society — and it may even help explain why humans tell stories in the first place.

Jonathan Gottschall, author of the excellent The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human, on why fiction is good for you. (via explore-blog)

312 Notes/ Hide

  1. aurulentagraphia reblogged this from explore-blog
  2. fizzingweaselbee reblogged this from flyinginafriendshipship
  3. myfandomsareinfinite reblogged this from castielsgraceandchoice
  4. lzbthwlsn reblogged this from flyinginafriendshipship
  5. shreyzies reblogged this from hershotsonher
  6. starkid-poop reblogged this from flyinginafriendshipship
  7. castielsgraceandchoice reblogged this from hershotsonher
  8. wildebeat reblogged this from flyinginafriendshipship
  9. flyinginafriendshipship reblogged this from hershotsonher
  10. hershotsonher reblogged this from explore-blog
  11. shanhammer reblogged this from fluffadventures
  12. fluffadventures reblogged this from explore-blog
  13. musedweller reblogged this from explore-blog
  14. flintshine reblogged this from explore-blog
  15. mingalingsings reblogged this from aahvaaaina
  16. aflailingbandit reblogged this from aahvaaaina
  17. aahvaaaina reblogged this from explore-blog
  18. writingourwaytothestars reblogged this from explore-blog
  19. soulofayoungman reblogged this from explore-blog
  20. elastasi reblogged this from explore-blog
  21. ladyjolras reblogged this from horrorpointseven
  22. thankyouforyourcooperation reblogged this from horrorpointseven