Eye-Opening Facts About Fiction
Literary Thinking
Reading literature doesn’t just flex your powers of imagination, it also expands your capacity for creative reasoning. A 2013 study at the University of Toronto has shown that reading literature is excellent mental “conditioning” for becoming more open‑minded.
It turns out that reading fictional stories prompts a mental response that’s distinct from what happens when we read nonfiction texts like newspapers and essays. Literature releases you from the pressures of real‑world decision‑making, and lets you enter the mindset of characters who are often very different from yourself.
The Great Escape
You may not be as imaginative or impulsive as Anne of Green Gables, but reading helps you see the world through her eyes. And while reading about and thinking like Anne, you’re reducing what psychologists call your need for “cognitive closure.”
People who need a lot of cognitive closure get frustrated or anxious when they face confusing or complex situations. They often jump to conclusions before fully thinking through things.
This “closed” mental state can be damaging to rationality and creativity. Luckily, though, the simple act of cracking open a book and diving into its literary world opens the brain up to new ways of thinking.
文學(xué)思維
閱讀文學(xué)作品并不只是能夠鍛煉你的想象力而已，它還能拓展的你的創(chuàng)造力。2013年多倫多大學(xué)的一項(xiàng)研究表明：閱讀文學(xué)作品是一種極好的精神調(diào)節(jié)方式，它能夠使思維更加開闊。
實(shí)際上，閱讀小說故事所引發(fā)的心理反應(yīng)與閱讀報(bào)紙、散文這類非虛構(gòu)類文體的心理反應(yīng)是截然不同的。文學(xué)將你從現(xiàn)實(shí)世界的決策壓力中釋放出來，把你帶進(jìn)一個(gè)與你自身完全不同的人物思維中。
大逃離
也許你并不像《清秀佳人》中的安妮那樣充滿想象力，或是如她那般性格沖動(dòng)。但閱讀能幫助你透過她的眼睛看見這個(gè)世界。并且當(dāng)你像安妮那樣閱讀和思考時(shí)，你也是在降低你的“需求”，心理學(xué)家稱之為“認(rèn)知閉合”。
一些人會(huì)在面臨令人困惑復(fù)雜的情況時(shí)變得受挫或焦慮，這時(shí)他們便需要一系列的認(rèn)知閉合。他們經(jīng)常還沒有思考完全就妄下定論。
這種“閉合的”精神狀態(tài)會(huì)對(duì)理性及創(chuàng)造力進(jìn)行破壞。不過幸運(yùn)的是，打開一本書并投入其中的文學(xué)世界中這樣一個(gè)簡(jiǎn)單的舉動(dòng)就能夠開放你的大腦，獲得一種全新的思維方式。
投入其中的文學(xué)世界中這樣一個(gè)簡(jiǎn)單的舉動(dòng)就能夠開放你的大腦，獲得一種全新的思維方式。
