You are what you read: How we naturally become similar to our favourite fictional characters

[Jazzy]

If you find yourself acting a little more like Tyrion Lannister after reading bestseller A Game of Thrones, there's good reason, according to a new study.



Readers who identify with fictional characters are prone to subconsciously adopt their behaviour, new data shows.



Researchers at Ohio State University say bookworms have been shown to adopt the feelings, thoughts, beliefs and internal responses of fictional characters they relate to in a phenomenon called 'experience-taking'.



According to the study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology: 'When you lose yourself inside the world of a fictional character while reading a story, you may actually end up changing your own behaviour and thoughts to match that of the character.'



Geoff Kaufman, a post-doctoral researcher at the Tiltfactor Laboratory at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hamphire, and his co-author Lisa Libby, an assistant professor of psychology at Ohio State University, conducted a series of six different tests on about 500 volunteers.



Their research showed that first-person narratives can be temporarily transformative, changing the way readers see the world, themselves, and other social groups.



Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencet...urite-fictional-characters.html#ixzz1urn5XN5y



I better cancel my order for Jacqueline the Ripper!

What do you think of this study?

 

[Sinon]

I think it's partly true. I do find myself slowly collecting traits from characters in books I read a lot. Not to a huge extent of course, as most of my favourite characters are generally found slaughtering hordes of orcs/goblins/defenseless children. But confidence, vocabulary and such I definitely pick up.

 

[Evil Eye]

Makes sense, I guess.

I was reading Mists of Avalon last year, halfway through the book I noticed my own thoughts sounded a bit more posh, more like the way the book was written. I got over it

defenseless children

That one could work.

 

[DrLeftover]

I wonder if you become like the characters you write.

 

[Evil Eye]

I wonder if you become like the characters you write.

Wouldn't you already be like them, because they're already a part of you?

 

[Scarlet Rose]

As essentially all of my reading is non-fiction, I would wonder if the same also applies. In terms of nonfiction, I am of course referring to the voice of the writer as they discuss the material. If I was to guess, I would say it might have a similar impact. I have personally noticed myself adopting mannerisms of writers at times.

 

[DrLeftover]

Wouldn't you already be like them, because they're already a part of you?

... ... ... .... ... ... ..... now THAT is an absolutely terrifying thought.

 

[Evil Eye]

... ... ... .... ... ... ..... now THAT is an absolutely terrifying thought.

No more so than dreaming of being a mass murderer I think.

 

[Jazzy]

I wonder if you become like the characters you write.

Where do the characters you write about come from. Are they based on real people or your imagination? When you write, aren't you feeling what you're writing about at the time?

 

[DrLeftover]

Usually, and such was the case with the sci-fi novel now being lined up with a couple of proofreaders.....



I was just the reporter recording the events as they happened.



Everybody from the squid guys (who like to dance, by the way) the General, the British woman that I don't like, the Brazilian lady doctor that I do, the reporter in Bahrain, the Japanese pilots, the single mom in Australia.... The Annunaki and their Reptilian soldiers, the race known as the Hu (who don't like anybody, including other Hu), and all, were already there. The events unfolded in front of me and all I did was record it.



Just as I did during a garbage collector strike when I worked on a weekly newspaper almost thirty years ago.



I don't KNOW where any of them, except the Annunaki came from. They've been around for about five thousand years, I didn't invent them.



So, you tell me, this 65,000 page book has more characters, locations, planets, space vehicles, races, and so on, than anything else I have EVER written.... was all of THAT 'inside me' and just waiting until last month to come out?

 

[Jazzy]

So, you tell me, this 65,000 page book has more characters, locations, planets, space vehicles, races, and so on, than anything else I have EVER written.... was all of THAT 'inside me' and just waiting until last month to come out?

Depends on what, if anything, happened to make you even want to write this.

 

[Evil Eye]

was all of THAT 'inside me' and just waiting until last month to come out?

Unless you're a fan of divine inspiration, yes. In a way it was. The basis was there, the roots were there. When you started writing, the tree started to grow.

 

[DrLeftover]

I'll take your word for it.



For my part, I have no idea how or why it happens. it just does.

 

[Evil Eye]

it just does.

Well, that's the most important part, right?