BBC - Future - Does reading fiction make us better people?

The claims for fiction are great. It's been credited with everything from an increase in volunteering and charitable giving to the tendency to vote - and even with the gradual decrease in violence over the centuries.

Characters hook us into stories. Aristotle said that when we watch a tragedy two emotions predominate: pity (for the character) and fear (for yourself). Without necessarily even noticing, we imagine what it's like to be them and compare their reactions to situations with how we responded in the past, or imagine we might in the future.