The psychologist about reading: "Like working out in the empathy gym"

In the World of Science program: The Truth Behind Violence, theories are highlighted that both violence and homicide rates have declined in recent centuries.

Researchers link, among other things, the development to increased literacy and that the novels took place in the literature.

- In them, the reader had the opportunity to look into the interior of the characters.

You saw not only what they do, but what they felt and thought when they did it, says Lynn Hunt, professor of modern European history, in the world of science. 

Library card - a gym card for empathy?

Psychologist Jamil Zaki talks about psychological tests that show that fiction can strengthen empathy. 

- We may think that reading a novel is something very individual and self-absorbed, but it is deeper than that.

You train at the empathy gym, says Jamil Zaki. 

Want to know more about how literature can affect empathy?

Watch the program The Truth Behind the Violence - Man's Change in the World of Science on Monday 12 October on SVT2, at

20.00.

The program can also be seen already now on SVT Play.