{"id":426,"date":"2020-04-23T13:30:30","date_gmt":"2020-04-23T12:30:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/upgrade-rocs\/?p=426"},"modified":"2020-04-23T13:30:30","modified_gmt":"2020-04-23T12:30:30","slug":"learning-from-fiction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/rocs\/learning-from-fiction\/","title":{"rendered":"Learning from fiction: A philosophical and psychological study"},"content":{"rendered":"

More about Professor Heather Ferguson<\/a>
\nRelated coverage, University of Kent<\/a> and Leverhulme Trust<\/a>
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

About<\/span><\/b>\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

This is a three-year research project funded by the <\/span>Leverhulme<\/span><\/b> Trust<\/span><\/b> focused on learning from fiction. It <\/span>has often been claimed<\/span> that fiction can be a source of truth and insight, and that it enhances moral imagination. <\/span>However, other scholars express scepticism about the idea of educational fiction. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There is a lack of convincing empirical support for the claim that fiction can be an educational source and therefore this project aims to formulate significant claims about learning from fiction. It is particularly relevant for educational settings to clarify whether and how we can learn from fiction, and how<\/span> we<\/span> can encourage this in children.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Research objectives<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

The project aims to answer the following questions:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  • Does reading fiction improve our moral sensitivity to others?\u202f<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Psychological insight: Do certain kinds of narrative enable us to understand other people\u2019s minds, or are they likely to provide misleading pictures?<\/li>\n
  • Beliefs and attitudes: Does fiction enhance our understanding of the world, or generate false, even irrational views?<\/li>\n
  • Imaginative capacities: Does engaging with literary complexity exercise our imaginations in ways that matter in our ordinary lives?\u202f\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Programme and methodology<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n
      \n
    • The project<\/span> combine<\/span>s<\/span> state-of-the-art empirical research with a philosophical framework for evaluating claims about learning from literature.\u202f<\/span><\/li>\n
    • Participants will complete multiple sessions with reading assignments<\/span> in between.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
    • There will be several experiments in which the type of text, the duration of the reading assignment and the length of time between sessions will vary to determine short-term and cumulative effects.<\/li>\n
    • The study will employ cutting-edge research methods such as eye-tracking, heart-rate monitoring and facial emotion reading.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      Findings<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

      This is an ongoing project and findings are forthcoming<\/p>\n

      Impact<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

      This project <\/span><\/span>will offer<\/span><\/span> new and important information<\/span><\/span> on <\/span><\/span>the educational benefits of reading fiction. <\/span><\/span>The data will contribute to understanding the psychology of reading and learning, and to philosophical conceptions of the cognitive value of fiction. The results will inform new accounts of the different ways we do or do not learn from fiction.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      More about Professor Heather Ferguson Related coverage, University of Kent and Leverhulme Trust About\u202f\u00a0 This is a three-year research project funded by the Leverhulme Trust focused on learning from fiction. It has often been claimed that fiction can be a source of truth and insight, and that it enhances moral imagination. However, other scholars express […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":610,"featured_media":428,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorised"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/rocs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/rocs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/rocs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/rocs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/610"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/rocs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=426"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/rocs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/rocs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/rocs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/rocs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/rocs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}