psychology of literature

• Craft and Criticism
• Fiction and Poetry
• News and Culture
• Lit Hub Radio
• Reading Lists

• Literary Criticism
• Craft and Advice
• In Conversation
• On Translation
• Short Story
• From the Novel
• Bookstores and Libraries
• Film and TV
• Art and Photography
• Freeman’s
• The Virtual Book Channel
• Behind the Mic
• Beyond the Page
• The Cosmic Library
• The Critic and Her Publics
• Emergence Magazine
• Fiction/Non/Fiction
• First Draft: A Dialogue on Writing
• The History of Literature
• I’m a Writer But
• Lit Century
• Tor Presents: Voyage Into Genre
• Windham-Campbell Prizes Podcast
• Write-minded
• The Best of the Decade
• Best Reviewed Books
• BookMarks Daily Giveaway
• The Daily Thrill
• CrimeReads Daily Giveaway

Why Literature Needs Psychology

Two disciplines wrestling with the same big questions.

The risk of passionate love is this: it makes everything outside its immediate, glowing orbit look dull and distant by comparison. What we love dims the rest of the universe, whether we love a person, a drug, or an idea.

Or even, I would venture, an art form. For the reader feels a lover’s protective affection for her books—not books in general, but the few genres she has settled into like old furniture: midlist literary fiction, say, or historical memoirs. She reads what she knows she likes, until one day she wakes up to find that what she likes no longer measures up to what she needs.

When I was 18, I did the same two things as a million other 18-year-olds: I went to college, and I got depressed. To my naive surprise, depression changed what I needed from my reading. It made the great realist novel, until then my deepest pleasure, feel far away, like the events it described were happening to characters living in a world a few feet to the left of mine. No longer for me setups, marriages, intrigues, misunderstandings. I wanted writers who didn’t take for granted the fact of getting out of bed in the morning, or putting on clothes, or leaving the house.

I embarked on what amounted to a research project that took as its object of study my own emotional state. I started with Andrew Solomon’s The Noonday Demon , William Styron’s Darkness Visible , and Kay Redfield Jamison’s An Unquiet Mind , all hybrid memoir-studies in the shapes and shadows of mental illness. Once I had a sense of the big themes in writing about mood disorders, I moved on to nonfiction less grounded in personal narrative, like Peter Kramer’s Against Depression , which asks us to see depression as a biological disease process rather than a metaphysical affliction. My expanded curiosity also led me to classics of popular psychology beyond the topic of depression, like Oliver Sacks’s  The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat , a collection of case studies in psychopathology, and A General Theory of Love (Lewis, Amini, and Lannon), which sketches neural structures in order to show how our constant forming and severing of romantic attachments—otherwise known as “dating”—causes literal brain damage. Ten years later, I still consider these books foundational.

Though my reading frenzy began as a search for comfort, the kind of comfort we experience when we say we “relate” to a book, it changed once I realized I had stumbled sideways into an entire genre of literature that deserved its own reckoning. For these authors were writing literature of a kind; you could hear it in the music of their prose and their command of figurative language. They were telling stories of loneliness and connection not unlike those I’d read in the bread-and-butter standards of my English education. And their concerns were literary, which is to say they were interested in the same vital questions about the human condition that philosophers and novelists have asked for millennia.

I discovered, in other words, that these two bodies of work—literature as I’d always known it and the psychological writing I was coming to know—were secretly twinned. The difference between the genres lay not in what stories they told, but in how they told them, each according to the intellectual tradition from which its authors had come. Despite their divergent frameworks, both traditions were organized around that fact of human experience that summoned art and philosophy into being: pain, the disharmony in the tune of all human endeavor. An essential mission of literary and psychological writing is to construct a taxonomy of pain in order to extract meaning from it—because if pain means nothing, then it cannot be borne. Whereas literature gestures at this mission obliquely, psychology features it front and center.

Which is one reason it had previously escaped my notice. Depression forced me into a critical intimacy with my pain, made up of traumas and anxieties that had heretofore lain dormant. But now I peered into the well of my discomfort, craning to see its dark recesses. As I dove deeper, my reading advanced from the popular to the academic: theories of childhood development, subverbal communication, integration and attachment. Each forced me, to greater and lesser degrees, to remake my world in its image.

I felt exhilarated, newly awakened, yet also prickled by that annoyance you feel when you discover on your own what smarter people should have made you read long ago. Even years into my self-made course of study, I’d heard nary a mention of the psychological sciences from the overwhelming majority of my humanities professors and bookish friends, who were quick to incorporate other social scientific texts—historicist, feminist, ecocritical—into their analysis of life and literature. When I thought of introducing a psychological context to these discussions, I balked, restrained by a sure premonition of pushback, or worse, blank stares.

I do not think this dread was unfounded. Present-day subjects tend to scowl at the mention of the word “psychology.” They find themselves transported to 1890 Vienna, cradle of Freudian psychoanalysis, Oedipal complexes, penis envy, etc. No matter that the psychoanalytic tradition was quick to outgrow Freudian orthodoxy, beginning with Jung and Lacan and continuing into its present incarnation, which ranges from Buddhist mindfulness to gestalt to feminist analysis. And even the ideas of Freud himself were never confined to the pinhole of the individual and his neuroses; he was always already writing social theory on a grand scale.

Yet this bias makes small beans compared to what I suspect is the real root of psychology’s intellectual exile: the damnable, never-ending war between the “two cultures,” the term coined in 1959 by C. P. Snow to describe the chasm in Western intellectual life between the humanities and the sciences. The literary arts are grouped among the former, psychology generally with the latter, in the company of the so-called social sciences (much to the chagrin, I’m sure, of the natural sciences).

Though some have heard in the current vogue of multi- and interdisciplinary studies the death knell of the culture war, we are everywhere surrounded by evidence of its vigor. Take, for instance, Marco Roth’s 2009 article in n+1 , “The Rise of the Neuronovel.” Roth coins the term “neuronovel” to decry a burgeoning genre: narratives that feature protagonists with psychiatric disorders (Tourette’s syndrome, schizophrenia, etc.). These stories, he claims, cede ground from the social/environmental theory of mind to the neurobiologic study of the brain. Too much pathology, says Roth, which is too particular, too strange to generalize in the way that literature ought to allow for.

As though pathology were not universal. As though there were any difference between mind and brain. And as though the scope of human knowledge were a finite resource, to be doled out between disciplines like wartime rations.

Rather than berate the neuronovelist for letting icky science into her writing, we ought to commend her for broadening the purview of literature to include insights gleaned from other territories. If we want literature to inhabit the full measure of human experience, it must stretch to accommodate new ways of knowing the world. And if we want to catch glimpses of the truths that govern human culture and behavior, we must open ourselves to the wisdom, no matter how surprising or counterintuitive, of strangers working in strange lands.

One of the most successful cross-pollinators of literature and psychology has been Dr. Irvin Yalom, a Hopkins-trained psychiatrist, clinical and academic psychologist, and writer. Dr. Yalom has written scholarly texts, short stories, and novels. His model of existential psychotherapy represents an approach to science colored by a deep knowledge of literature; his literary writing is similarly informed by his years of study and practice in psychology. He is interested, above all, in how to cope with the meaninglessness and isolation of existence, and so his writing is beloved by readers across disciplines and preferences.

The book of Yalom’s I love best is his first, a quasi-memoir called Every Day Gets a Little Closer , which he co-wrote with a long-term patient, Ginny. Ginny and Yalom each wrote logs of their therapy sessions together, which are therein collected in chronological order. The accounts differ in style and content, yet the reader can clearly trace the development of the therapeutic relationship, its slow burn, its moments of spark and combustion. It is the kind of book that enlarges your idea of what storytelling can do.

It is also a reminder that the field of psychology is both a body of writing and a practice, which two cannot be disentangled one from the other. The theory exists in service of the praxis, which is ultimately a pursuit of wellness through counseling, medication, and a variety of other treatments. Psychology, that is to say, is about doing. Even its pure research arm, which, like all scientific research, seeks knowledge partly for its own sake, harbors an outsize focus on the pragmatic applications of its findings. Literature, as an art, can and should not embrace such a functional aim. This is a core distinction between the two. Psychology is oriented in the direction of health; the artist’s fuel is sickness, strife. The artist dwells in his suffering in order to make something from it; the clinical psychologist explores her patient’s pain only to the extent necessary to move past it.

Which is not to belittle the therapeutic value of reading. Beyond the immediate pleasure of the text, good books kindle empathy, expand our sense of what is possible, offer escape both out of and into the world. But does reading make us happy? Can it heal the wounds of early life that dog us into adulthood? Granted, happiness isn’t everything, but grasping in the direction of something-like-happiness—satisfaction, meaning, relationality—comes pretty close. Much if not most of the emotional work we do in this life is, in the words of Edward St. Aubyn, “to get ready to be ready to be well”—to reach a degree of health at which happiness, however hard-won and fleeting, is even a possibility.

For reading is a solitary endeavor, and wellness exists between people, like a gift, or a secret. This is not to say that we should seek the key to our own fulfillment in others—only that we won’t find it solely within ourselves.

This is the founding premise of talk therapy, a cornerstone of psychological praxis. Skeptics ridicule the notion of talking oneself out of depression—and they are right to. That goes double for other, severer disorders of mind. But what naysayers miss is that therapy, in its modern form, is not about cure, but connection. It’s about cultivating a relationship within preset boundaries, and then trying out healthier styles of connection within the safety of that relationship. It’s an experiential approach to answering the question of how to live. Talk therapy is the Big Questions of literature made flesh.

I began therapy soon after my college downswing, and have been in and out since. One reason I keep coming back is that I am a reader, and therapy, too, generates a text, projected into the third dimension, suspended between therapist and patient, which then dissipates, its residue hanging in the air like an old scent. Each session makes a chapter in a book, infinitely recursive, referring to its earlier, half-remembered antecedents. This book, ever unfinished, may have much to teach the student of literature. It sits on a shelf spine-to-spine with that other book which consists of everything we’ve ever read that’s knocked us into a new ways of seeing, new ways of being—and thereby taught us who we really are. Our task, as T. S. Eliot wrote, is not to cease from exploration, so that we may arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.

• Share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)

Jennifer R. Bernstein

Previous article, next article, support lit hub..

Join our community of readers.

to the Lithub Daily

Popular posts.

Follow us on Twitter

The Life and Times of a True American Moral Hysteric

• RSS - Posts

Literary Hub

Created by Grove Atlantic and Electric Literature

Sign Up For Our Newsletters

How to Pitch Lit Hub

Advertisers: Contact Us

Privacy Policy

Support Lit Hub - Become A Member

Become a Lit Hub Supporting Member : Because Books Matter

For the past decade, Literary Hub has brought you the best of the book world for free—no paywall. But our future relies on you. In return for a donation, you’ll get an ad-free reading experience , exclusive editors’ picks, book giveaways, and our coveted Joan Didion Lit Hub tote bag . Most importantly, you’ll keep independent book coverage alive and thriving on the internet.

Become a member for as low as $5/month

• Search This Site All UCSD Sites Faculty/Staff Search Term
• Contact & Directions
• Climate Statement
• Cognitive Behavioral Neuroscience
• Cognitive Psychology
• Developmental Psychology
• Social Psychology
• Adjunct Faculty
• Non-Senate Instructors
• Researchers
• Psychology Grads
• Affiliated Grads
• New and Prospective Students
• Honors Program
• Experiential Learning
• Programs & Events
• Psi Chi / Psychology Club
• Prospective PhD Students
• Current PhD Students
• Area Brown Bags
• Colloquium Series
• Anderson Distinguished Lecture Series
• Speaker Videos
• Undergraduate Program
• Academic and Writing Resources

Writing Research Papers

• Writing a Literature Review

When writing a research paper on a specific topic, you will often need to include an overview of any prior research that has been conducted on that topic.  For example, if your research paper is describing an experiment on fear conditioning, then you will probably need to provide an overview of prior research on fear conditioning.  That overview is typically known as a literature review.  

Please note that a full-length literature review article may be suitable for fulfilling the requirements for the Psychology B.S. Degree Research Paper .  For further details, please check with your faculty advisor.

Different Types of Literature Reviews

Literature reviews come in many forms.  They can be part of a research paper, for example as part of the Introduction section.  They can be one chapter of a doctoral dissertation.  Literature reviews can also “stand alone” as separate articles by themselves.  For instance, some journals such as Annual Review of Psychology , Psychological Bulletin , and others typically publish full-length review articles.  Similarly, in courses at UCSD, you may be asked to write a research paper that is itself a literature review (such as, with an instructor’s permission, in fulfillment of the B.S. Degree Research Paper requirement). Alternatively, you may be expected to include a literature review as part of a larger research paper (such as part of an Honors Thesis). 

Literature reviews can be written using a variety of different styles.  These may differ in the way prior research is reviewed as well as the way in which the literature review is organized.  Examples of stylistic variations in literature reviews include: 

• Summarization of prior work vs. critical evaluation. In some cases, prior research is simply described and summarized; in other cases, the writer compares, contrasts, and may even critique prior research (for example, discusses their strengths and weaknesses).
• Chronological vs. categorical and other types of organization. In some cases, the literature review begins with the oldest research and advances until it concludes with the latest research.  In other cases, research is discussed by category (such as in groupings of closely related studies) without regard for chronological order.  In yet other cases, research is discussed in terms of opposing views (such as when different research studies or researchers disagree with one another).

Overall, all literature reviews, whether they are written as a part of a larger work or as separate articles unto themselves, have a common feature: they do not present new research; rather, they provide an overview of prior research on a specific topic . 

How to Write a Literature Review

When writing a literature review, it can be helpful to rely on the following steps.  Please note that these procedures are not necessarily only for writing a literature review that becomes part of a larger article; they can also be used for writing a full-length article that is itself a literature review (although such reviews are typically more detailed and exhaustive; for more information please refer to the Further Resources section of this page).

Steps for Writing a Literature Review

1. Identify and define the topic that you will be reviewing.

The topic, which is commonly a research question (or problem) of some kind, needs to be identified and defined as clearly as possible.  You need to have an idea of what you will be reviewing in order to effectively search for references and to write a coherent summary of the research on it.  At this stage it can be helpful to write down a description of the research question, area, or topic that you will be reviewing, as well as to identify any keywords that you will be using to search for relevant research.

2. Conduct a literature search.

Use a range of keywords to search databases such as PsycINFO and any others that may contain relevant articles.  You should focus on peer-reviewed, scholarly articles.  Published books may also be helpful, but keep in mind that peer-reviewed articles are widely considered to be the “gold standard” of scientific research.  Read through titles and abstracts, select and obtain articles (that is, download, copy, or print them out), and save your searches as needed.  For more information about this step, please see the Using Databases and Finding Scholarly References section of this website.

3. Read through the research that you have found and take notes.

Absorb as much information as you can.  Read through the articles and books that you have found, and as you do, take notes.  The notes should include anything that will be helpful in advancing your own thinking about the topic and in helping you write the literature review (such as key points, ideas, or even page numbers that index key information).  Some references may turn out to be more helpful than others; you may notice patterns or striking contrasts between different sources ; and some sources may refer to yet other sources of potential interest.  This is often the most time-consuming part of the review process.  However, it is also where you get to learn about the topic in great detail.  For more details about taking notes, please see the “Reading Sources and Taking Notes” section of the Finding Scholarly References page of this website.

4. Organize your notes and thoughts; create an outline.

At this stage, you are close to writing the review itself.  However, it is often helpful to first reflect on all the reading that you have done.  What patterns stand out?  Do the different sources converge on a consensus?  Or not?  What unresolved questions still remain?  You should look over your notes (it may also be helpful to reorganize them), and as you do, to think about how you will present this research in your literature review.  Are you going to summarize or critically evaluate?  Are you going to use a chronological or other type of organizational structure?  It can also be helpful to create an outline of how your literature review will be structured.

5. Write the literature review itself and edit and revise as needed.

The final stage involves writing.  When writing, keep in mind that literature reviews are generally characterized by a summary style in which prior research is described sufficiently to explain critical findings but does not include a high level of detail (if readers want to learn about all the specific details of a study, then they can look up the references that you cite and read the original articles themselves).  However, the degree of emphasis that is given to individual studies may vary (more or less detail may be warranted depending on how critical or unique a given study was).   After you have written a first draft, you should read it carefully and then edit and revise as needed.  You may need to repeat this process more than once.  It may be helpful to have another person read through your draft(s) and provide feedback.

6. Incorporate the literature review into your research paper draft.

After the literature review is complete, you should incorporate it into your research paper (if you are writing the review as one component of a larger paper).  Depending on the stage at which your paper is at, this may involve merging your literature review into a partially complete Introduction section, writing the rest of the paper around the literature review, or other processes.

Further Tips for Writing a Literature Review

Full-length literature reviews

• Many full-length literature review articles use a three-part structure: Introduction (where the topic is identified and any trends or major problems in the literature are introduced), Body (where the studies that comprise the literature on that topic are discussed), and Discussion or Conclusion (where major patterns and points are discussed and the general state of what is known about the topic is summarized)

Literature reviews as part of a larger paper

• An “express method” of writing a literature review for a research paper is as follows: first, write a one paragraph description of each article that you read. Second, choose how you will order all the paragraphs and combine them in one document.  Third, add transitions between the paragraphs, as well as an introductory and concluding paragraph. 1
• A literature review that is part of a larger research paper typically does not have to be exhaustive. Rather, it should contain most or all of the significant studies about a research topic but not tangential or loosely related ones. 2   Generally, literature reviews should be sufficient for the reader to understand the major issues and key findings about a research topic.  You may however need to confer with your instructor or editor to determine how comprehensive you need to be.

Benefits of Literature Reviews

By summarizing prior research on a topic, literature reviews have multiple benefits.  These include:

• Literature reviews help readers understand what is known about a topic without having to find and read through multiple sources.
• Literature reviews help “set the stage” for later reading about new research on a given topic (such as if they are placed in the Introduction of a larger research paper). In other words, they provide helpful background and context.
• Literature reviews can also help the writer learn about a given topic while in the process of preparing the review itself. In the act of research and writing the literature review, the writer gains expertise on the topic .

Downloadable Resources

• How to Write APA Style Research Papers (a comprehensive guide) [ PDF ]
• Tips for Writing APA Style Research Papers (a brief summary) [ PDF ]
• Example APA Style Research Paper (for B.S. Degree – literature review) [ PDF ]

Further Resources

How-To Videos     

• Writing Research Paper Videos
• UCSD Library Psychology Research Guide: Literature Reviews

External Resources

• Developing and Writing a Literature Review from N Carolina A&T State University
• Example of a Short Literature Review from York College CUNY
• How to Write a Review of Literature from UW-Madison
• Writing a Literature Review from UC Santa Cruz  
• Pautasso, M. (2013). Ten Simple Rules for Writing a Literature Review. PLoS Computational Biology, 9 (7), e1003149. doi : 1371/journal.pcbi.1003149

1 Ashton, W. Writing a short literature review . [PDF]     

2 carver, l. (2014).  writing the research paper [workshop]. , prepared by s. c. pan for ucsd psychology.

Back to top

• Research Paper Structure
• Formatting Research Papers
• Using Databases and Finding References
• What Types of References Are Appropriate?
• Evaluating References and Taking Notes
• Citing References
• Writing Process and Revising
• Improving Scientific Writing
• Academic Integrity and Avoiding Plagiarism
• Writing Research Papers Videos

The Mental Health Benefits of Reading

Research shows that literature can help—from the clinic to the community..

Posted March 16, 2022 | Reviewed by Ekua Hagan

• Bibliotherapy, the therapeutic use of select reading material, has been used to alleviate many different mental health challenges.
• Reading fiction has been found to improve one's social cognition and ability to empathize with others.
• New research finds that reading programs can support youth mental health through conversation and connection.

Despite recent controversies over which books should line the shelves of schools and libraries, there is little debate that literature expands the mind. But can the act of reading also improve our mental health and wellbeing?

Researchers are investigating the impact of reading experiences and reporting evidence of promising mental and social health benefits. Whether reading alone or with others, people are finding connection and meaning between the pages, giving their mental health a boost along the way. Now practitioners are exploring new models using the literary arts to support mental health in clinics, classrooms, and communities worldwide.

The Science-Backed Benefits of Reading

Getting wrapped up in a good book is good for our health.

The experience of being immersed or engaged while reading a story is called narrative absorption and serves as more than an innately pleasurable experience—it can also enhance our sense of wellbeing. Researchers believe that mentally transporting ourselves away from our physical surroundings can provide an escape or opportunity for meaningful contemplation .

Reading not only provides these opportunities, but it also helps us make sense of our worlds. In one neuroimaging study , participants who read more narrative fiction had greater activation of parts of the prefrontal cortex involved in perspective-taking when reading text containing social context. This greater activation may partially explain the correlation between lifetime reading and the ability to understand how people are thinking.

A good story tends to stick with you, too—and so do the benefits: The health impacts of reading last long after we put down the book, with some research showing reductions in depression symptoms persisting months or even years later in adults. And reading can not only help make life more worth living but is associated with living longer: One study found that older adults who regularly read books had a 20 percent reduction in mortality compared to those who did not read.

Bibliotherapy: An Accessible Treatment for Mental Health

Health practitioners use books and bibliotherapy to support the mental health of groups facing various challenges, including anxiety , depression, and grief . Though it can take on different forms, bibliotherapy typically involves the experience of reading, reflection, and discussion of specific literature with an individual therapist or in a group therapy setting, though a therapist is not always involved. Some research suggests that clients may benefit from bibliotherapy used in conjunction with more traditional cognitive behavioral therapy or grief counseling.

Although bibliotherapy’s efficacy requires more research, this intervention has already shown some promising results amongst people with different health concerns. Researchers have reported that shared reading experiences helped alleviate depressive symptoms for surgery patients , decreased cognitive and emotional symptoms in dementia patients , and improved cognitive and psychological functioning in patients with psychosis .

More recent research suggests that bibliotherapy could be a low-cost and accessible intervention to improve the mental health of healthcare workers and the general public living through the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic. The systematic review cited the positive effects of bibliotherapy across 13 studies, indicating that the treatment helped to promote autonomy, giving people a sense of agency and control in their lives.

Reading Builds Bridges to Understanding Ourselves and Others

In a time of pronounced isolation and disconnection caused by the pandemic, reading fiction, in particular, may also help to foster greater empathy and social cognition .

One seminal study found that frequent fiction readers were associated with better social ability and that the tendency to get absorbed in a story correlated with higher empathy scores. These results have been replicated, and a meta-analysis found that lifetime exposure to narrative fiction was associated with more perspective-taking and empathy.

Reading and responding to fiction may foster young people’s understanding of human nature and their place in the world, especially if the texts are thematically relevant and coupled with writing activities that reflect on personal experiences related to the reading. Identifying with characters going through similar experiences can comfort readers , knowing that they are not alone in their struggles or pain.

A Citywide Reading Program to Support Youth Mental Health

Building upon these lessons, local organizations partnered to develop One Book Baltimore , a citywide reading program to support youth mental wellbeing and connection. A recently published study of the program in the Journal of Community Psychology found that literature can be used to generate productive conversations about complex and sensitive topics, like violence and mental health.

Researchers from the International Arts + Mind Lab (IAM Lab) of Johns Hopkins University evaluated the results of the 2019 program, in which 10,000 seventh- and eighth-grade Baltimore City Public School students read the same award-winning novel, Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds. Reynolds is currently the Library of Congress’s National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature.

“Long Way Down” powerfully portrays youth violence and its consequences through its teenage protagonist, Will.

The subject matter is familiar to many enrolled in the One Book Baltimore program: In surveys before and after the program, half of the students reported that they or a close family member had directly experienced violence.

“Literature, like many art forms, helps us talk about difficult or sensitive issues, and it gives us a starting point for new conversations,” said Tasha Golden, Ph.D., director of research at IAM Lab and lead author of the study. “At a time when young people are suffering and seeking support — from their communities and from one another — we have to consider how the arts can help generate connection, creativity and dialogue.”

The pandemic has exacerbated social isolation and rates of mental illness , particularly in youth populations . Program leaders developed the One Book Baltimore intervention to help mitigate the harmful effects of isolation that often accompany anxiety, depression or trauma .

The new research found that reading Long Way Down influenced how the middle-schoolers thought about violence, with a greater effect on those who had personal experiences with violence. The study also reported that students who read the novel in full had more conversations about violence with their friends and family. After the program, almost 60% of students reported that they wanted more opportunities to discuss violence and peace with their peers.

The study also makes recommendations on implementing the program in other places. Dr. Golden explained, "This is a way to explore new mental health supports for young people. The model, which draws upon schools, libraries, and literature, could work in any community."

Written and reported by IAM Lab Communications Specialist Richard Sima . Richard received his Ph.D. in neuroscience from Johns Hopkins and is a science writer living in Baltimore, Maryland.

Bavishi, A., Slade, M. D., & Levy, B. R. (2016). A chapter a day: Association of book reading with longevity. Social Science & Medicine, 164, 44-48.

Golden, T. L., Sima, R., Roebuck, G., Gupta, S., & Magsamen, S. (2022). Generating youth dialogue through the literary arts: A citywide youth health collaboration in the US. Journal of community psychology.

Gualano, M. R., Bert, F., Martorana, M., Voglino, G., Andriolo, V., Thomas, R., ... & Siliquini, R. (2017). The long-term effects of bibliotherapy in depression treatment: Systematic review of randomized clinical trials. Clinical psychology review, 58, 49-58.

Kuijpers, M. M. (2018). Bibliotherapy in the age of digitization. First Monday.

Latchem, J. M., & Greenhalgh, J. (2014). The role of reading on the health and well-being of people with neurological conditions: a systematic review. Aging & Mental Health, 18(6), 731-744.

Mar, R. A., Oatley, K., Hirsh, J., Dela Paz, J., & Peterson, J. B. (2006). Bookworms versus nerds: Exposure to fiction versus non-fiction, divergent associations with social ability, and the simulation of fictional social worlds. Journal of research in personality, 40(5), 694-712.

Monroy-Fraustro, D., Maldonado-Castellanos, I., Aboites-Molina, M., Rodríguez, S., Sueiras, P., Altamirano-Bustamante, N. F., ... & Altamirano-Bustamante, M. M. (2021). Bibliotherapy as a non-pharmaceutical intervention to enhance mental health in response to the COVID-19 pandemic: a mixed-methods systematic review and bioethical meta-analysis. Frontiers in public health, 9, 42.

Mumper, M. L., & Gerrig, R. J. (2017). Leisure reading and social cognition: A meta-analysis. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 11(1), 109.

Schrijvers, M., Janssen, T., Fialho, O., & Rijlaarsdam, G. (2019). Gaining insight into human nature: A review of literature classroom intervention studies. Review of Educational Research, 89(1), 3-45.

Tamir, D. I., Bricker, A. B., Dodell-Feder, D., & Mitchell, J. P. (2016). Reading fiction and reading minds: The role of simulation in the default network. Social cognitive and affective neuroscience, 11(2), 215-224.

Troscianko, E. T. (2018). Fiction-reading for good or ill: eating disorders, interpretation and the case for creative bibliotherapy research. Medical Humanities, 44(3), 201-211.

The International Arts + Mind Lab (IAM Lab) is a multidisciplinary research-to-practice initiative from the Pedersen Brain Science Institute at Johns Hopkins University that is accelerating the field of neuroaesthetics.

• Find a Therapist
• Find a Treatment Center
• Find a Psychiatrist
• Find a Support Group
• Find Online Therapy
• United States
• Brooklyn, NY
• Chicago, IL
• Houston, TX
• Los Angeles, CA
• New York, NY
• Portland, OR
• San Diego, CA
• San Francisco, CA
• Seattle, WA
• Washington, DC
• Asperger's
• Bipolar Disorder
• Chronic Pain
• Eating Disorders
• Passive Aggression
• Personality
• Goal Setting
• Positive Psychology
• Stopping Smoking
• Low Sexual Desire
• Relationships
• Child Development
• Therapy Center NEW
• Diagnosis Dictionary
• Types of Therapy

Understanding what emotional intelligence looks like and the steps needed to improve it could light a path to a more emotionally adept world.

• Emotional Intelligence
• Gaslighting
• Affective Forecasting
• Neuroscience

Academia.edu no longer supports Internet Explorer.

To browse Academia.edu and the wider internet faster and more securely, please take a few seconds to  upgrade your browser .

Enter the email address you signed up with and we'll email you a reset link.

• We're Hiring!
• Help Center

Psychology of Literature and Literature in Psychology

Temas em Psicologia

Related Papers

International Journal of Applied Research in Social Sciences

This research paper analyzes the relationship between Literature and Psychology and how they are connected with each other in order to portray the characters more beautifully. Psychology plays a very important role in the literature whether we talk about the one who writes the story or the one who reads it. It makes a strong connection between a writer and a reader. The author is not just influenced by society, he influences society. This study explores the significant role psychology plays in literature, the relationship between these two subjects, and how psychology helps an author to write a piece of literature that is more interesting to read. It also focuses on the different features and elements which the writer chooses to make the story more captivating. The study has been conducted by researching different journals, e-books, books, and websites. Undoubtedly, psychology helps the writers to present the characters successfully, expressing their feelings, moods, emotions, and e...

Peter Benyei

The interplay of literature and psychology, the cross-section of these areas opens up vast possibilities for literary studies, but, at the same time, they cause just as many dilemmas: the reader enters an uncertain terrain when s/he endeavours to lay down the foundations for his/her reading at the cross-sections of the two disciplines. This paper sets out to answer a number of strategically posed questions: in what kind of conceptual discourse can we interpret the psychological representations of literary texts? What are at stake at such interpretations? Another aim of this investigation is to find a conceptual and discursive structure in which the novels of Mór Jókai can be analyzed within the framework of psychological criticism. The interplay of literature and psychology, the cross-section of these areas opens up vast possibilities for literary studies, but, at the same time, they cause just as many dilemmas. These approaches are haunted by insecurities and prejudices: although the interpretational framework is not without serious antecedents, the reader enters an uncertain terrain when s/he endeavours to lay down the foundations for his/her reading at the cross-sections of the two disciplines. This is the reason why my paper sets out to answer a number of strategically posed questions: in what kind of conceptual discourse can we interpret the psychological representations of literary texts? What are at stake at such interpretations? The overt aim of my investigation is to find a conceptual and discursive structure in which the novels of the famous 19 th century Hungarian novelist, Mór Jókai (1825–1904) can be analyzed within the framework of psychological criticism. The Encounter of Literature and Psychology − Aversions towards Psychological Criticism At a first glance it appears easy to map out the common terrain of literature and psychology, since both " selectively examine particular parts of the whole of human experience " .

MEDIATION OF LITERARY READING: INTERPRETATION OF LANGUAGE UNDER THE NEUROSCIENTIFIC BIAS (Atena Editora)

Atena Editora

The selection of literary works is essential for the development of reading mediation activities for student interaction with the text. This way, the articulation between theory and practice is a challenge when problematizing to reduce the distance between both. Therefore, the workshops have a practical character with the purpose of developing reflections based on the feel-think-act triad. The definition of the research problem raises several questions, which aim to guide the understanding of the research object, among them: How do students of the 21st century perform literary reading? What are the facilitator's contributions to student/reader planning? What are the neuroscientific findings about literary reading? To respond to the research problem, the present study investigated the students' knowledge about literary reading comprehension as well as the neuroscientific contributions on the subject. Therefore, the methodological approach taken to build this study was based on a qualitative approach with a semi-structured interview in planning interventions at the interface of differences in methods and languages. According to the results of the workshops developed with the students, relevant reflections on the conception of reading as well as the understanding, based on the student's interaction with reading, establish relationships of a reflective, interpretive and dialogic nature.

Muhammad A Budiman

There are many kinds of psychology branch in the world. In medical sector, psychology is used to cure real people. Psychiatrists use psychology to analyze the self of the people who suffer mental breakdown. In literature, psychology is used to analyze imaginary people who exist in literary works. All characters in literary works (whether it is in drama, prose or poetry) can be analyzed using psychology. Psychology is not only for analyzing literary works which is categorized as masterpiece, but it is also being used to analyze characters in pop literature. By analyzing pop literature, we will grasp the trend or culture in it. Pop literature is blooming in the market because publishers want to get maximum profit. The market proves that pop literature is more sellable compare to classic literature.

Unpublished essay

Ed Mendelowitz

"''Literary Psychology,' the expression, traces back to a fleeting exchange between Henry Murray and B.F. Skinner--two manifestly different temperaments and visions. The present essay sketches one telling of the tale, reflecting upon personal memories of individuals in and around the broader discipline by whom I have been especially influenced and moved. It is, in this sense, both homage and continuation of a form. Literary psychology is less a "tradition" than a sort of outsider art, one that vastly expands understanding to the extent that it is meaningfully integrated by those, in the words of child psychoanalyst Robert Coles, 'within hearing distance.'"

Forum Poetyki

Zuzanna Sala

The author discusses the concept of Lev Vygotsky’s psychology of literature against the background of various interpretations of the term. Through reconstructing a reactological understanding of the text as a stimulus, she juxtaposes different applications of the category of “strategy” in Polish literary studies and criticism. This makes it possible to reclaim the concept of the psychology of literature and discard the unfavourable connotations with panpsychologism, biographism or interpreters’ pretense for being diagnosticians of literary characters or authors.

Frontiers in Psychology

Zhaoming Li

Educational psychology focuses on the laws of change in the knowledge, skills, and individual psychology of the educatees in the process of education and teaching. Writing teaching is a key and difficult point in literature teaching. Nowadays, it is common for students to be afraid and tired of writing in school literature education. In view of these problems, the present work optimizes the teaching mode of writing from the perspective of reconstructing the writing subject. Through literature research and interdisciplinary analysis, a questionnaire is designed to analyze the literary situation and the reconstruction of writing subjects in literary education. The questionnaire is aimed at three aspects, namely the hidden educational effect of teachers’ personality charm, the influencing factors of students’ psychology and students’ learning effect, and the influencing factors of psychology of the communication between teachers and students and teachers’ teaching effect. Then, the changes of students’ performance in literary class in these three aspects before and after using the teaching strategy of writing subject reconstruction are analyzed. Finally, the changes of students’ grades in the literary course are investigated. In this experiment, a total of 400 questionnaires were distributed, and a total of 389 questionnaires were collected. The survey results show that the number of students who feel the classroom atmosphere is active increases by 10%, the number of students who listen carefully and take notes increases by 7%, and 45% of students have improved their grades. Besides, after the implementation of the teaching strategy, most students change their attitude to the literature course, become more active, and significantly improve their motivation for learning. This study has a certain reference value for the analysis of literary situations and the reconstruction of writing subjects in literary education from the perspective of educational psychology.

Scientific Study of Literature

Marisa Bortolussi

Journal of Asian multicultural research for social sciences study

Suci Mardatillah Rosfi

Anora Jabbarova

This Article is about analyzing psychological features of written speech, main aspects of different texts, distinguishing different semantic categories of texts, prominent features of the text and the linguistic application of semantic relationships in the context of the work.

RELATED PAPERS

Juan Carlos Hallak

Turkish Journal of Agriculture - Food Science and Technology

nursel develi ışıklı

V Jornadas De La Redvitec 10 Anos De Experiencias De Cooperacion Universidad Entorno Socioproductivo Estado

Walter Bonillo

Journal of Water Resource and Protection

Julleh Rahman

Dr. Kapil Amgain

Tushar Mali

Temas de Derecho Civil, Persona y Patrimonio

Samantha Singer

Antonio Garrido Domínguez

REVISTA CIF BRASIL

WANESSA FERREIRA MACHADO

yann percherancier

Journal of High Resolution Chromatography

Khoa Nguyen

Human Brain Mapping

Andrea König

Século XXI – Revista de Ciências Sociais

IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science

Richard Siemon

Fertility and Sterility

Nikhil Gupta

medRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)

Shagufta Mufti

African Journal of Business Management

Haldun Müderrisoglu

SSRN Electronic Journal

Nader Mosavari

Anuar Caldon

Journal of Turkish Studies

meral kuzgun

jhkghjf hfdgedfg

Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin

KC McCulloch

Elke Krekels

Josaphat K Byamugisha

•   We're Hiring!
•   Help Center
• Find new research papers in:
• Health Sciences
• Earth Sciences
• Cognitive Science
• Mathematics
• Computer Science
• Academia ©2024