What your summer reading list says about you
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- Your choice of summer reading material can reveal aspects of your personality, according to cognitive scientists.
- Book genres tap into pre-existing motivations and emotions rather than creating new ones.
- Research suggests anxieties influence genre selection, categorizing readers into clusters based on their preferences.
The books you choose for your summer vacation might offer more than just entertainment; they could be a window into your personality. Cognitive scientist Edgar Dubourg explains that reading lists are not random selections but rather a 'map of your personality.' Whether you opt for a thriller, romance, horror, or science fiction, you are engaging with, rather than escaping, your own psychology.
Your reading list is basically a map of your personality.
Dubourg suggests that fiction doesn't invent new emotions but rather activates pre-existing motivations and instincts within the brain. Studies indicate that book choices can subconsciously reveal what brings pleasure and evokes emotion. This connection between reading habits and inner states is further explored by research from Dr. Valerie van Mulukom, a senior psychology lecturer at Oxford Brookes University.
Your reading list is basically a map of your personality.
Van Mulukom's research proposes that existential insecurities, or inner anxieties, play a significant role in determining genre preferences. Her study matches how often individuals engage with certain genres to four distinct clusters: 'Epic other-world adventures' (including action, adventure, sci-fi, fantasy), 'Everyday life and human relationships' (comedy, romance, drama), 'Threat and danger' (true crime, thrillers, horror), and 'Facts and histories' (documentary, biography, historical).
Fiction isn't inventing new emotions in you. It's pressing on those pre-existing motivations like instincts.
These genre preferences, according to the research, can be linked to specific anxieties. By examining the types of stories individuals gravitate towards, it's possible to gain insight into their underlying psychological makeup, including what they find pleasurable and what triggers emotional responses. The act of choosing a book, therefore, becomes a subtle yet revealing act of self-expression.
our inner anxieties (or what she calls existential insecurities) determine which book we pick from the shelf.
DistantNews Editorial
Originally published by BBC News. Summarized and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.
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