Asking a narrower question
The broad idea that reading builds empathy is covered in the introduction to this topic. This article asks something narrower: if reading does have effects, what might they be, does the kind of reading change them, and which readers are likely to notice anything?
It reports no study of its own. The points below are general and cautious, and they describe possibilities, not measured results.
Types of effect people might expect
It helps to separate several possible effects, since they differ in how likely and how lasting they are.
- In the moment. A strong scene may leave you thinking about someone else for an hour or a day. This is the most believable effect and the least durable.
- Habits of attention. Over many books, a reader may become more used to wondering what lies behind someone’s behavior.
- Wider familiarity. Reading about lives unlike your own may reduce the sense that those lives are strange or remote.
- Action. A reader might become more willing to listen, help or give time. This is the hardest to show and the most uncertain.
Each step down this list is a bigger claim than the one before it.
Comparing kinds of reading
Fiction. Novels and stories are the most discussed. They give access to inner thoughts and let readers follow characters over time. Reading fiction is where the idea of stepping into another mind is most natural, but effects probably depend on quality and attention. A shallow, formulaic story may offer little.
Memoir and biography. Biography and memoir are real accounts, which can lend them weight. Readers know the events happened, though they are still one person’s version.
Journalism and essays. Long-form journalism and other reported pieces can describe unfamiliar circumstances in detail. They may inform more than they move, depending on how they are written.
Poetry. Reading poetry can compress a feeling into a few lines. Some readers find them powerful, others find them hard to enter without patience.
Light or genre reading. A mystery or romance is mainly entertainment, and mystery fiction in particular keeps asking why people act as they do, but characters in them still have motives and feelings. It would be a mistake to assume that only serious literature has any effect, or that serious literature always does.
Reading that confirms your views. Material written to flatter existing opinions may do little to widen understanding and may even harden it.
No evidence reliable enough to rank these types firmly is offered here. The point is that the type of reading may matter and the differences are probably less tidy than the above list suggests.
How you read may matter more than what you read
Across all these forms, one plausible factor stands out: engagement. A reader who is absorbed, who pauses over a character’s choices, and who thinks about what they would have done may get more from a book than one who skims for plot. Reading that is hurried or distracted, or that is done mainly to finish, seems less likely to leave a mark.
Discussion likely helps too. Talking with others about a book exposes you to readings you had not considered, and it asks you to explain your reactions. Reading to children offers a similar chance when an adult pauses and asks how a character might feel.
Who is likely to notice effects
Some readers may be better placed to notice a change, though this is speculation rather than a finding.
- Children and teenagers, who are still building their sense of other people, may have more to gain than adults whose habits are well set. Reading together with an adult may add to this.
- Readers who start with narrow reading habits have more room to be surprised than those who already read widely.
- Readers who reflect on what they read, perhaps by jotting short reading responses or discussing, give effects a chance to take hold.
- Readers who already have little contact with different kinds of people may find books one of the few windows available. This does not replace actual contact.
Many adults who read a lot will not notice any change at all, partly because empathy shifts slowly and partly because it is hard to see in yourself.
Compassion and the step from feeling to doing
Moving from understanding to caring action is a larger step than understanding itself, and it is explored further in the article on how literacy fosters compassion. The short version is that stories can make concern more vivid, but turning concern into action usually needs a nudge from circumstances, other people or habit.
Why the effects may be modest
Several reasons to expect modest effects have been mentioned: empathy is shaped by family, friends, culture and daily experience, which are far larger than any one book. Studies in this area typically use small samples, short tasks and self-reports, and their results vary. Some reading may even have no effect or an unwelcome one.
A sensible stance is open-minded and slightly skeptical. Reading may contribute a little to how you think about others, and for some readers at some times that contribution is noticeable. It is not a reason to read, or to stop reading, any particular thing. If you read because you enjoy it, any effect on empathy is a pleasant possibility rather than the point.