What’s New In The World of Reading Research?
I’m rounding out the second year of my second master’s degree program this semester. I earned my Masters in Information Studies back in 2008, and now I’m working my way through a Masters in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. Obviously, the coursework is of interest and of benefit, but one element of going back to school that I had not considered was access to an array of research via the academic library. A lot of public libraries have access to databases, though because they serve the public, the primary research reports are not always as easy to get your hands on as they are in a college or university.
All of that is to say that over the last two years, I’ve had fun digging into research that I may otherwise never know or hear about. These are studies that do not often get publicity outside of the research circles they are published in, even though they offer interesting insight and perspective for the average non-academic person. Sometimes, this is by design–the study is small or meant to be the first in a series of lengthier projects, or the design is limited, not offering as broad an application as desired–but more frequently, it’s because studies like these aren’t easy to package for a two-minute news segment. Let’s take the opportunity to wander through some of the latest research from a variety of professionals about books, reading, and literature. These are the kinds of studies that make you want to learn more or that send you down your own rabbit hole. Reading is good for us, and there’s scientific research to back it up. I’ve included the citation information for all of the below so you can track them down, too.
Do You Remember The Name of That Book? Why You May or May Not.
I don’t know about you, but I judge a book by its title, and more, I always notice title trends. Remember the era of Twilight and how, for years after, the one-word title reigned supreme in YA? Then there were the A ___ of ____ and ____ titles. Now we have some fun sentence-style titles, as well as plenty of titles giving us a full character name in them. But what exactly draws readers into a book title, and what makes them recall a title? That’s the question behind Barnes and Black’s research–Barnes, a.k.a. Jennifer L. Barnes, is a bestselling YA author who has written a lot of interesting stuff about psychology and books.
In the study, the researchers looked at the four reasons why people are drawn into fictional stories. These include the way it allows us to enter the mind of someone else, that it mimics a desire to engage in gossip, that it offers moral value, and that it offers pleasures related to those hard-wired into us as humans. It turns out that readers liked book titles that tapped into these arenas more than they did the control titles (those were bestsellers that did not elicit mind, gossip, morals, or pleasures in their titles). Over time, readers recalled the titles of books that tapped into gossip, morals, or pleasures more than they did mind, and gossip-related titles were those most remembered when it came to short book titles.
Published in Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, May 2022.
Kids Get Absorbed In Literature, Much Like Adults
According to research conducted by Prezioso and Harris, professors in Harvard’s Department of Education, children between the ages of 9 and 11 can become absorbed in fiction like adults. To date, there had been no research specifically looking at the experience of reading like this in young people–it’s been focused on adults. This study noted that the frequency of reading doesn’t matter; avid and periodic readers in this pre-teen age group indicate absorption, a four-dimensional experience defined by “attention, transportation, emotional engagement, and mental imagery.”
Published in Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and The Arts, June 20, 2023.
Kids Get Absorbed In Literature, Much Like Adults
According to research conducted by Prezioso and Harris, professors in Harvard’s Department of Education, children between the ages of 9 and 11 can become absorbed in fiction like adults. To date, there had been no research specifically looking at the experience of reading like this in young people–it’s been focused on adults. This study noted that the frequency of reading doesn’t matter; avid and periodic readers in this pre-teen age group indicate absorbtion, a four-dimensional experience defined by “attention, transportation, emotional engagement, and mental imagery.”
Published in Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and The Arts, June 20, 2023.
Facebook Reading Groups Foster Positive Psychological Benefits
I don’t know about you, but “Facebook” and “positive” are not words I put together unless the word “awful” is also included. But research by Gazit, Mass, and Bronstein suggests Facebook can offer a lot of benefits for readers who engage in book clubs on the platform. The researchers conducted a study of 20 women in two large reading groups to understand the roles that the groups had on the individuals’ socialization, self-expression, deep engagement with books, and mutual support among members. They measured those through what is called the Interactive Therapeutic Process Perspective (i.e., the stages people go through when they attend therapy). Members of reading groups moved through the entire therapeutic process, practicing skills like identification, projection, catharsis, and insight, and they also found a sense of community. In other words, virtual book groups may be beneficial to mental health in several capacities, enhancing several skills reminiscent of the therapeutic process and encouraging community-building. On a platform like Facebook? Rad! I suspect these findings may be paralleled in other online book clubs, too.
Published in Empirical Studies of the Arts, Volume 41, Issue 1.
Gender May Not Impact How We Judge Fiction
The amount of ink spilled over the idea that author gender impacts perception of fiction is not insignificant. We do know that cis men carry the bulk of authority in the Western Canon, but does the lay reader ascribe more value to books by men? Research from Ivanski, Humphries, van Dalen-Oskam, and Mar suggests not, putting the “Goldberg Effect” to the test. This particular study utilizes the gender binary, so know that going in. Two different experimental designs were explored. First, students evaluated a passage that was attributed to either a male or female author then evaluated the text. The second study asked students to do the same thing, but this time, the passage was labeled as either literary or romance. In both cases, the passage was fiction, which made the experiment different from most which have come before, as the bulk of hard research has happened in academia, on academic work.
It turns out that in both cases, gender of the author does not impact how a student evaluates the text. Interestingly, though perhaps not surprisingly, individuals who identified with the gender of the author found the characters to be slightly more realistic than they did in cross-gender evaluation (i.e., female students found female characters by female authors more realistic). The results of this one are interesting and open the door to tons of potential other angles: does race of author impact evaluation? What about sexuality? What about an expanded view of gender?
Published in Journal of Media Psychology, Volume 34, Issue 5.
Comic Books Have Educational Value
In the worlds of education and libraries, some still refuse to believe there is merit, value, and power in the use of comic books to tell stories and present information. In a big research survey conducted with school librarians across Taiwan, researchers Lo, Lyu, Chen, Lu, and Stark asked a series of questions about beliefs related to the use of comic books. There were nearly 800 responses–an amazing response rate for any survey–and several themes emerged. Respondents believed comic books helped encourage students to visit the school library, helped improve student comprehension skills, and elicited an interest in reading for fun. It is sure nice to see more research validating what so many have said and continue to say. Comics are important and facilitate literacy!
Published in Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, January 2021.
Because reading is a uniquely human activity, it stands to reason there is so much about it to study. This is but the tip of the iceberg and proof of the power literature has on each one of us in different, meaningful ways.
Leave a comment
Join All Access to add comments.