Media Releases

Reading books and watching films makes you kinder in real life

July 20, 2016

International Business Times | July 19, 2016

Read­ing fic­tion nov­els may make peo­ple more empa­thet­ic, a psy­chol­o­gist has said. This is because read­ers iden­ti­fy and sym­pa­thise with the emo­tions and ideas of the char­ac­ters, a skill which they can then repro­duce in real life. Kei­th Oat­ley, a nov­el­ist and pro­fes­sor of Psy­chol­o­gy at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to inves­ti­gates whether read­ing fic­tion improves peo­ple’s men­tal well-being and social inter­ac­tions with oth­ers. Read more.