Reading can change our lives—quite literally, according to a new study. Researchers say that literary characters can have a sizable impact on how we think and act.
Now, that doesn’t mean that Harry Potter readers are going to start shopping for cauldrons or fans of the book The Hunger Games will stalk neighborhood pets. But the study (published recently in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology) does suggest that we may internalize and emulate some character traits from, well, our favorite characters.
That can be a good thing, researchers say. Geoff Kaufman, the study’s lead author, uses Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird as an example: If you dig Atticus, you might find yourself acting a bit more ethically due to his influence. But it stands to reason that the opposite would also be true. “Think of American Psycho,” Kaufman told msn.com. “The character is very likable and charismatic. But he’s a serial killer. To the extent that you connect with him, you may try to understand or justify the actions he’s committing.”
Sounds kinda familiar, doesn’t it? After all, we Plugged In folks are always talking about how entertainment can influence us. Books are (regardless of what your typical seventh-grader might say) a form of entertainment. And frankly, I think the impact books have on us might be even more profound: Reading is more immersive: Our brains are engaged when we’re pounding through prose, our imaginations are locked into what’s happening. Anyone who calls themselves a “reader” knows what it feels like to get lost in a book—to look up from its pages and see that a couple of hours have flown by without you even noticing. Frankly, I think the books I’ve read have had more impact on my life than anything outside my friends and family.
But while books are undeniably influential, I think the way we engage with them gives us a greater ability to choose what sorts of influences we’ll take on, if that makes sense. When we read, we’re not overwhelmed by the spectacle of the thing, as we can be in movies. Rather, we’re engrossed in the story. We feel, in some ways, as though we’re part of that story. And as such, I think we intuitively look for both characters we can relate to and characters we’d want to be more like.
For instance, I was (and am) a big Chronicles of Narnia fan. But when I read, I didn’t gravitate toward Peter or Caspian. They were a little too heroically distant for me. I certainly never aspired to be like King Miraz or Uncle Andrew. But I always did like Eustace—a pretty dweebish guy who, throughout three books, grew in both character and faith.
Because our brains are so fully engaged, I think we’re more aware of the messages we’re absorbing through the books we read than the stuff we watch and listen to. It makes them more affecting … but it also allows us more opportunity to sift through what we’re reading and push back when necessary.
But that doesn’t give us an excuse to not sift through what we—or what our kids—read just as carefully as we do movies or television. The old saw that you can’t judge a book by it’s cover is right on. But you can judge it by its character.
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