Reading books makes you a better person than watching TV

Reading a book and forgetting everything around you can sometimes make you look like a "bookworm" but in fact, reading helps you become a kinder and more sympathetic person than watching TV.

That is the result of a new study conducted by Kingston University (London, England). People who read books tend to act according to the moral standards that society aims for, while people who like to watch TV seem to be less friendly, they often find it difficult to understand the feelings of others.

The Kingston University psychological study was conducted with 123 volunteers. These people were asked many questions about their reading and TV viewing habits, to determine the true entertainment trends of each volunteer.

The volunteers were then tested on their interpersonal skills to assess their ability to sense other people’s emotions and how to help them in situations where support was needed. Psychological research showed that people who enjoyed reading had more positive responses than those who enjoyed watching TV.

In particular, people who like to read literary novels and romance novels show a much greater ability to empathize; meanwhile, people who love to read science books or books that help improve knowledge show the ability to see things from many diverse perspectives in a thorough manner.

In particular, people who like to read humorous stories have the best results in understanding, sympathizing with, and helping those around them. Research suggests that reading allows readers to observe events through different angles through the characters' perspectives, thereby helping them to understand others better in real life.

The study concluded: Regular reading is linked to a person’s ability to empathize and understand. Enjoying literary fiction can be considered a key to improving an individual’s ability to empathize.

Reading brings positive ways of thinking and doing in life; and people with inner depth and good character often have a hobby of reading.

This study follows another study conducted in 2015 that found similar results, that reading literature makes readers smarter and better-natured.

In particular, research by psychologists from the Institute for Social Research (New York, USA) has shown more details, when they affirmed that classical literature has more effects in improving people's ability to empathize (compared to market literature).

Researchers showed volunteers a series of photographs of actors’ eyes, asking them to name the emotion being expressed in the eyes. Those who tended to read classic literature were significantly better at naming the emotions.

People who also read literature but prefer modern, trendy literature and read according to taste, have worse survey results.

This is explained by the fact that many popular market literary novels today tend to be written according to formulas, with characters lacking depth; while classic literary books that have been tested by time always have characters with psychological depth, diverse and complex inner developments, requiring readers to "brainstorm" to understand.

In contrast, trendy, best-selling novels, although easy to read and easy to relate to, tend to portray characters that are less dynamic and quite predictable.

According to Dan Tri