Opening the closed mind? Effects of reading literary fiction on need for closure and creativity

Although philosophers have long claimed that reading fiction has the potential to improve imaginative capacities, empirical evidence on this topic is limited. We report an experiment that aims to conceptually replicate and extend previous work by Djikic and colleagues (2013) by testing whether reading literary fiction reduces the need for closure, and by testing for the first time whether it enhances openness to experience, cognitive complexity, imaginability, and divergent thinking. We also examined whether a potential fiction-based impact depends on previous exposure to print fiction or non-fiction. In a between-subjects design, N=111 higher education students were randomly assigned to read either two literary fiction short stories or two non-fictional essays. Outcome variables were assessed after the reading assignments using a battery of questionnaire-based and behavioral indicators. The two groups of readers did not differ on any outcome measure, and results were not influenced by lifetime exposure to written fiction or non-fiction. Taken together, the current findings do not support the assumption that reading literary fiction increases imaginative capacities or related outcomes.