Now let us praise ... fiction

I’m not talking about “fake news.” In fact, what I’m about to suggest is a practice that will give you some relief from news of all sorts, plus make you the life at the next neighborhood party. And, no, drugs and alcohol aren’t involved. What is involved is the practice of reading fiction.

I came upon this interesting research following two separate events. The first was a blow out at my book club. A little back story: The book club has been going strong for almost 15 years. Yes, we’ve had our ups and downs and the make-up of the group has changed as you might expect. However, there remains a core group who have been participating monthly for around a decade. This group is engaging, highly social and remarkably accomplished — no shrinking violets and the kind of people who seem to end up in Sarasota.

Recently one meeting had an almost perfect attendance of 18 members. We had read an engaging mystery. 

For our next meeting, we scheduled a nonfiction book, which should be popular, as an acclaimed movie was produced based on the book. 

One person RSVP’d. Everyone else was going to Las Vegas, or spring skiing or suddenly hooked on “60 Minutes” (it meets on Sunday night).

I began to wonder about the difference between fiction and nonfiction and attendance. Sure enough, a quick check of the relationship between books and attendance showed that attendance is generally higher when the book club is reading fiction.

The second event was a visit from my younger brother. He, too, is fairly accomplished, a voracious reader, but struggles with being introverted. As he put it during his last visit, “you got all the extrovert DNA in our family.” He leans toward nonfiction.

I felt like I was on to a science fair project. Could there be a relationship between what you read and your tendency toward introversion or extroversion? I began researching to see if any studies had been done, and the answer is “not really.”

What I did find out, however, was interesting and may tip the scales when encouraging young readers in a choice between nonfiction and fiction. A story published in Social Cognitive & Affective Neuroscience — not your everyday coffee table magazine for sure — reported on this subject. What it surmised is that people who read a lot of fiction are known to have stronger social skills than nonfiction readers or nonreaders. Fiction readers were found to have enhanced social skills.

That is rather amazing. The group studied a mixed gender group of 19- to 26-year-olds who underwent MRI brain scans to determine what happened in an area of the brain known as the default network. This brain system is active when people are imagining various situations such as what might happen in the past or the future, potential relationships, or other’s perspectives. Increased activity in certain regions of the default network are closely linked to high scores on social-cognition assessments. In other words, people who get a buzz on being with other people, engaging in social skills, are rocking their brain’s default network.

The study group was asked to read various sources of fiction and nonfiction while being scanned. Participants who were the fiction readers, especially fiction that contains emotional, psychological and social content, triggered significantly more activity in the default network. The link between fiction readers, especially that fiction that explores relationships and psyches, was established.

So why is this important? Social skills are the skills we need to interact adaptively in our cultural environment. Learning experts tell us there are several types of social skills that must be mastered for an individual to be socially adept. These range from the ability to initiate, maintain and end a conversation to reading social signals to more complex skills such as solving problems and resolving conflict. All of these skills are crucial in personal relationships and gaining and maintaining financially and emotionally rewarding professions.

The relationship between reading fiction and the development and practice of social skills is one worth serious consideration. In these times of instant messaging, texting, screen time overload, isn’t it worth the attempt to carve out some fiction time? Time to use our imagination to get into a character’s experiences and emotions and to light up the default network in our brain. The rewards are significant.

Kristine Nickel is a marketing communications consultant and former marketing and public relations executive. For more than 30 years, she has relieved her stress by writing features for publications across the country.