LEARNING TO LEARN
human suffering and asks why bad things happen to good people . Both examples demonstrate how story telling has been used to examine tricky philosophical and emotional territories that are highly pertinent to lived experience .
In his book “ The Literary Mind , The Origins of Thought and Language ” Mark Turner ( 1998 ), the cognitive psychologist and literary critic , argues that the literary mind , that is the mind of stories , is not peripheral but basic to thought . Story , he possets is the central principle of our experience and knowledge . It is something that gives meaning to our lived experience and is , as such , an essential tool for everyday reason . He writes , “ Narrative imagining – story – is the fundamental instrument of thought . Rational capacities depend on it . It is our chief means of looking into the future , of predicting , of planning of explaining .”( p . 12 ).
Reading matters
Jane Henshaw , former Head of English
I cannot imagine that many people think that reading is not important . Reading infiltrates our every day , our classrooms , workplaces and in an increasingly digital age , social interactions . To be illiterate makes it almost impossible to be a functioning part of society . However , how often do we think about the importance of reading to the way that we think , feel and learn ?
History suggests that reading and writing have been key to cultural development . While early forms of writing were used for communicating factual information , many different civilisations , independently of each other , developed stories to explore the complex nature of existence . The earliest known written story , the Mesopotamian Epic of Gilgamesh ( 21000 BCE ), follows Gilgamesh ’ s path to wisdom and explores the benefits of civilisation over savagery and finally engages with the perennial fear of death . The Book of Job , the earliest book in the Bible ( 64 BCE ), wrestles with the nature of
The 2013 paper “ Opening the Closed Mind ; The Effects of exposure to Literature on the Closed Mind ( Djikic , Oately & Moldoveanu ) tested the hypothesis that exposure to fictional short stories , as compared with exposure to nonfictional essays , would reduce the desire for ‘ cognitive closure ’. This is defined as the desire to reach a quick , closed conclusion with a resistance to ambiguity . The findings suggest that reading literary fiction is an effective way to enhance the brain ’ s ability to keep an open mind while , at the same time , processing information : essential skills for decision making . The paper notes that individuals with a strong need for cognitive closure rely on “ early information cues ,” ( p . 6 ) meaning they struggle to change their minds when new information became available . Such individuals also produce fewer hypotheses about alternative explanations , which makes them more certain of their own ideas , however potentially flawed . A high need for cognitive closure means individuals base decisions on less information and fewer viewpoints . Individuals who resist the need for cognitive closure tend to be more thoughtful , creative , and at ease with competing narratives , the research concludes . The paper , however , makes it clear that the causal impact of reading depends on the kind of book being read ; texts that follow stereotypical patterns , such as romantic and detective fiction , do not encourage enhanced cognition . The importance of complexity is further endorsed in the paper “ Fiction and Complexity ( Buttrick , Westgate and Oshi , 2022 ) which examines the importance of reading difficult texts from a young age . The authors suggest that those who read more literary fiction when young are less likely to endorse the idea that people only think and act in one way . This perception of a complex world view clearly increases intellectual humility , low essentialism , ( that is the belief that people and things have a permanent and unchanging set of characteristics ,) and opens up a world of complex psychological richness .
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