Bookworms: Nerds or Social Butterflies?

            As an active reader, I am fully aware of the stereotypes that are generally associated with people who read for fun. In general, people tend to picture people like me as quiet, timid hermits who would rather sit in a room alone buried in countless boring pages rather than enjoy the real world and the people in it. However, those who share my enjoyment for reading understand that reading is much more than a pass-time; it allows to you explore another world. However, what few tend to consider when judging those who read is the fact that, in general, most reader’s book of choice is not a textbook. I personally have found few non-fiction books that I enjoy reading with the same vigor as I do a fictional story involving dragons and princesses. While I do not doubt there are a select few who choose history books over Harry Potter, I can safely say that this is not true of me. But what does this tell us about all the bookworms then? In fact, research has been done within the past few years that actually shows that readers of fiction actually tend to have high social abilities.

This week I opted to read the paper, “Bookworms versus nerds: Exposure to fiction

versus non-fiction, divergent associations with social ability, and the simulation of fictional

social worlds”, by Mar et al. (2005). I found this study to not only be very intuitive and easy to relate to, but also strikingly similar to several observations that I have made regarding “Persuasion” by Jane Austen. Not only does it pinpoint several things that have been mentioned in class discussion, but it also can be related to the concluding events of the book as well. In my blog this week I plan to explore the results and implications of this study as well as the implications that can be made about “Persuasion”.

            In “Bookworms versus nerds”, Mar et al. (2005) examine the correlation between social abilities and readers of fiction compared to non-fiction. In order to do this, participants completed a series of surveys, where they were asked to indicate from a list which authors they had heard of before. They were strongly discouraged from guessing, and were told that there were some people listed who were not, in fact, authors. It was accepted that exposure to authors generally accompanies activities that relate to the act of reading itself, so this was taken to be a reliable measure. Results found that familiarity with fiction authors was correlated with social ability, which familiarity with non-fiction authors showed no correlation. “Thus, frequent readers of narrative fiction, individuals who could be considered ‘bookworms,’ may bolster or

maintain social-processing skills whilst reading stories, although they are removed

from actual social contact during this activity” (Mar et al, 2005). Unlike the usual stereotype, it turns out that book worms are not socially inept after all. However, what does this mean about the fictional stories found in books? Does this mean that experience with social situations found in fictional tales better prepare readers to deal with real-life social situations? In “Persuasion”, there are countless instances that could very well be considered support for this exact idea.

            First of all, several of the events from the first half of the book arguably deal with very stressful situations that many readers can surely relate to. The main character, Anne, faces oppression from both society based on her financial situation as well as family manipulation that ultimately leads her to breaking off engagement with her lover. These conflicts are easily to relate to, making “Persuasion” and extremely relatable book for readers. Mar and colleagues would surely argue that situations such as these are high stress, and by reading about the mistakes and accomplishments of characters in fictional tales, readers may very well be better prepared to face their own social dilemmas in the real world. Reading is an experience, and every experience is a chance to learn. Therefore, it is very possible that  by experiencing Anne’s hardships with her through reading, the audience learns more about different social situations, thus increasing their social ability.

            Furthermore, as the book proceeds, Anne’s situation becomes very real for readers. She experiences one of the most relatable social situations for readers: falling in love. Love is a natural and evolutionary human emotion. The fact that “Persuasion” introduces such a realistic social situation (especially for the social expectations of the time when Jane Austen wrote the book) makes it incredibly powerful in the eyes of the reader, and it seems to be a logical argument that this exposure to this type of situation would, in fact, influence the reader’s perception of social situations.