【阅读-思维】小说爱好者更富有创造力
Scientists: literary fiction readers are more creative
Reading literature may result in greater creativity and less rigid thinking, according to new study by University of Toronto scholars and lead researcher professor Maja Djikic.
Djikic reports that people who have just read a short story have less need for 'cognitive closure' and more comfort with disorder and uncertainty.
In psychology, the term 'cognitive closure' describes the human desire to eliminate ambiguity and arrive at definite conclusions - sometimes irrationally - which can result in bad decision-making and snap judgements.
The study notes that the need for cognitive closure results in '"seizing" on an early statement in the process of acquiring knowledge, "freezing" on the seized idea, and remaining impervious to additional information' which impedes rationality as well as creativity.
For the study, 100 participants were divided into two groups. One group was given an essay to read from among eight choices by respected writers such as George Bernard Shaw. The second group was given a short story to read, by equally illustrious writers of fiction.
After reading their essay or short story, participants filled out a survey measuring their need for certainty and stability. They expressed their agreement or disagreement with such statements as 'I don’t like situations that are uncertain' and 'I dislike questions that can be answered in many different ways.'
The study found that those who had read a short story had much lower scores than those who had read an essay - meaning they had less need for stability and certainty.
This result was particularly emphasized in study participants who were also regular readers of both fiction and non-fiction.
'The thinking a person engages in while reading fiction does not necessarily lead him or her to a decision,' reports the study, suggesting that readers become more comfortable with ambiguity than non-readers.
'Furthermore, while reading, the reader can simulate the thinking styles even of people he or she might personally dislike. One can think along and even feel along with Humbert Humbert in Lolita, no matter how offensive one finds this character. This double release - of thinking through events without concerns for urgency and permanence, and thinking in ways that are different than one’s own - may produce effects of opening the mind,' the study continues.
The researchers suggest that reading then, is a way of becoming more open-minded. 'Exposure to literature may offer a [way for people] to become more likely to open their minds.'
It's not clear exactly how long the more open-minded thinking could last after reading a work of fiction, but the researchers think it's clear the effect is stronger in long-term readers, meaning it's likely their brains become programmed to think in a more creative way and be less likely to need cognitive closure.
The study urges that people consider the research when educational cutbacks are being made to the arts and humanities, since the reading of fiction appears to be able to shape thinking in a way that other study can't.
Reading fiction, the researchers say, 'requires people to become insightful about others and their perspectives,', a sentiment echoed by Confucius:
'No matter how busy you may think you are, you must find time for reading, or surrender yourself to self-chosen ignorance.'
And, in the words perhaps the world's best-known fantasy writer, George R. R. Martin, author of the best-selling, mania-inducing series Game of Thrones, put in the mouth of his character Jojen Reed, 'A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one.'
据多伦多大学的一项研究显示，阅读文学作品会增强人的创造力，减少僵化的思维。该项研究是由多伦多大学教授马加•德吉期克领衔，并由多位学者共同参与完成的。
据德吉期克称，阅读短篇故事的读者很少需要“封闭式的认知”，对于混乱和不确定因素可以泰然处之。
从心理学上说，“封闭式认知”是指人们有意于消除模糊的概念，获得确定的结论，而这有时是不理智的，可能会导致负面的决定和仓促的判断。
该研究注意到，对“封闭式认知”的需求会导致人们在获取知识的过程中抓取早先的理论，并将思维僵化在这个抓取的理论中，而对其他的信息充耳不闻。这将会影响理性思考和创新性思维。
研究将100名参与者分成两组，一组给了八篇包括萧伯纳在内的名作者的散文，另一组则给了同等著名的作者的短篇小说来阅读。
读毕，参与者们通过填写调查问卷来衡量其对于确定性和稳定性的需求。研究显示阅读短篇小说的人比阅读散文的人得分低了很多，这说明阅读小说的人对于稳定性和确定性没有太大需求。
“人们沉浸在小说的阅读中时，不需要将思维引导到一个结论中去，”该研究报告称，这也暗示了有阅读习惯的人们比不阅读的人群更能坦然面对模棱两可的事物。
Reading literature may result in greater creativity and less rigid thinking, according to new study by University of Toronto scholars and lead researcher professor Maja Djikic.
Djikic reports that people who have just read a short story have less need for 'cognitive closure' and more comfort with disorder and uncertainty.
In psychology, the term 'cognitive closure' describes the human desire to eliminate ambiguity and arrive at definite conclusions - sometimes irrationally - which can result in bad decision-making and snap judgements.
The study notes that the need for cognitive closure results in '"seizing" on an early statement in the process of acquiring knowledge, "freezing" on the seized idea, and remaining impervious to additional information' which impedes rationality as well as creativity.
For the study, 100 participants were divided into two groups. One group was given an essay to read from among eight choices by respected writers such as George Bernard Shaw. The second group was given a short story to read, by equally illustrious writers of fiction.
After reading their essay or short story, participants filled out a survey measuring their need for certainty and stability. They expressed their agreement or disagreement with such statements as 'I don’t like situations that are uncertain' and 'I dislike questions that can be answered in many different ways.'
The study found that those who had read a short story had much lower scores than those who had read an essay - meaning they had less need for stability and certainty.
This result was particularly emphasized in study participants who were also regular readers of both fiction and non-fiction.
'The thinking a person engages in while reading fiction does not necessarily lead him or her to a decision,' reports the study, suggesting that readers become more comfortable with ambiguity than non-readers.
'Furthermore, while reading, the reader can simulate the thinking styles even of people he or she might personally dislike. One can think along and even feel along with Humbert Humbert in Lolita, no matter how offensive one finds this character. This double release - of thinking through events without concerns for urgency and permanence, and thinking in ways that are different than one’s own - may produce effects of opening the mind,' the study continues.
The researchers suggest that reading then, is a way of becoming more open-minded. 'Exposure to literature may offer a [way for people] to become more likely to open their minds.'
It's not clear exactly how long the more open-minded thinking could last after reading a work of fiction, but the researchers think it's clear the effect is stronger in long-term readers, meaning it's likely their brains become programmed to think in a more creative way and be less likely to need cognitive closure.
The study urges that people consider the research when educational cutbacks are being made to the arts and humanities, since the reading of fiction appears to be able to shape thinking in a way that other study can't.
Reading fiction, the researchers say, 'requires people to become insightful about others and their perspectives,', a sentiment echoed by Confucius:
'No matter how busy you may think you are, you must find time for reading, or surrender yourself to self-chosen ignorance.'
And, in the words perhaps the world's best-known fantasy writer, George R. R. Martin, author of the best-selling, mania-inducing series Game of Thrones, put in the mouth of his character Jojen Reed, 'A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one.'
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据多伦多大学的一项研究显示，阅读文学作品会增强人的创造力，减少僵化的思维。该项研究是由多伦多大学教授马加•德吉期克领衔，并由多位学者共同参与完成的。
据德吉期克称，阅读短篇故事的读者很少需要“封闭式的认知”，对于混乱和不确定因素可以泰然处之。
从心理学上说，“封闭式认知”是指人们有意于消除模糊的概念，获得确定的结论，而这有时是不理智的，可能会导致负面的决定和仓促的判断。
该研究注意到，对“封闭式认知”的需求会导致人们在获取知识的过程中抓取早先的理论，并将思维僵化在这个抓取的理论中，而对其他的信息充耳不闻。这将会影响理性思考和创新性思维。
研究将100名参与者分成两组，一组给了八篇包括萧伯纳在内的名作者的散文，另一组则给了同等著名的作者的短篇小说来阅读。
读毕，参与者们通过填写调查问卷来衡量其对于确定性和稳定性的需求。研究显示阅读短篇小说的人比阅读散文的人得分低了很多，这说明阅读小说的人对于稳定性和确定性没有太大需求。
“人们沉浸在小说的阅读中时，不需要将思维引导到一个结论中去，”该研究报告称，这也暗示了有阅读习惯的人们比不阅读的人群更能坦然面对模棱两可的事物。
