The effect of exposure to fiction on attributional complexity, egocentric bias and accuracy in social perception

PLoS One. 2020 May 29;15(5):e0233378. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0233378. eCollection 2020.

Abstract

We investigated the effects of long-term exposure to literary and popular fiction on attributional complexity, egocentric bias and accuracy. Results of a pre-registered study showed that exposure to literary fiction is positively associated with scores on the attributional complexity scale. Literary fiction is also associated with accuracy in mentalizing, measured via the Reading the Mind in the Eyes test, and with accuracy in predicting average social attitudes. The predicted negative association between literary fiction and egocentric bias emerged only when education and gender were controlled for-a covariance analysis that was not pre-registered. Exposure to popular fiction is associated solely with attributional complexity, but negatively. We discuss the significance of these findings in the context of the emerging literature regarding the relationship between fiction and social cognition.

Publication types

  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Attitude
  • Egocentrism
  • Female
  • Fictional Works as Topic*
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Mentalization
  • Middle Aged
  • Models, Psychological
  • Social Behavior
  • Social Perception*
  • Theory of Mind
  • Young Adult

Grants and funding

EC 16-3800-7004 National Endowments for the Arts https://www.arts.gov/ The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.