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?
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?