What the World Needs Now is Literature, Sweet Literature

What the World Needs Now is Literature, Sweet Literature Thanks to two WSU professors, we can now add empathy to the ever-growing list of benefits associated with reading literature. English professor Sally Shigley and psychology professor Lauren Fowler, who also heads up WSU’s Neuroscience Program, joined forces to study a possible connection between literature and empathy.

The study measured the physiological signs of empathy (facial muscle activity, heart rate, skin temperature) in its subjects as they read the Pulitzer Prize-winning play Wit, which chronicles a woman battling stage 4 cancer. The results of the study showed that reading literature elicited empathy because readers assumed the role of the main character.

The study has been presented at several conferences, including one at Oxford University. It has been published as a chapter in Routledge Press’ book Rethinking Empathy Through Literature. Today, the research continues to progress. Fowler’s student, Chase Brower, for example, looked into the relationship between oxytocin, a neuro-hormone widely referred to as the “love hormone,” and literature. His study involved testing individuals for oxytocin receptor genetics, then testing them to measure their physiological levels of empathy.

“Chase found that, with literature, instead of saying, ‘Here is your empathy level based on your genetics,’ you can say, ‘Here is your empathy range, and literature actually can bring that level up,’” Fowler said. “It’s been really fun to involve students and watch this research evolve.”