{"id":92,"date":"2025-02-02T17:29:35","date_gmt":"2025-02-03T00:29:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/keizern\/?p=92"},"modified":"2025-02-02T18:35:48","modified_gmt":"2025-02-03T01:35:48","slug":"linking-assignment-link-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/keizern\/linking-assignment-link-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Linking Assignment – Link 1"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/metprogramnp\/2025\/01\/19\/task-2-does-language-shape-the-way-we-think\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I chose to link to Navid\u2019s post because when I read the connection with \u201cReading fiction improves your theory of mind,\u201d my heart dropped. This reminder of how students are reading less for enjoyment made me gasp.\u00a0 In reality, I am not surprised by this anecdotal observation that few high school students are reading for pleasure, but seeing it on the page in black and white made it stand out for me.\u00a0

I teach grades one and two, and most students are eager to learn to read.\u00a0 They can\u2019t wait to get their hands on chapter books. I have even seen students taking books outside during recess to read.\u00a0 While it\u2019s heartening to see young students still eager to read, it\u2019s difficult not to feel concerned when considering the broader trend. I suspect that the increased use of personal devices and social media is a major contributor to the decline in reading for enjoyment.

Navid poses an interesting question: if reading fiction improves your theory of mind, could a decline in reading weaken this cognitive skill? This is a fair question; in fact, questions regarding the effects of reading fiction have been asked since the time of Aristotle (Fekete et al., 2023). However, in response to this, I would like to question if people are actually becoming more resistant to trying to understand another person\u2019s perspective.\u00a0 Historically, I am not convinced that there has been a time when populations of people were understanding each other.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0

Despite the concerning decline in reading for enjoyment, there\u2019s some hope. Fekete et al. point out that \u201ccurrent research shows that playing non-violent video games, that focus on storytelling and role-playing, or watching quality TV dramas also improves ToM [theory of mind]\u201d (2023, p. 2).\u00a0 It\u2019s reassuring to know that, in some form, people are still engaging with narratives that may foster empathy and understanding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

References:

Fekete, J., P\u00f3t\u00f3, Z., Varga, E., Hebling, D., Herold, M., Albert, N., Peth\u0151, B., T\u00e9nyi, T., & Herold, R. (2023). The effect of reading literary fiction on the theory of mind skills among persons with schizophrenia and normal controls. Frontiers in Psychiatry<\/em>, 14, 1197677-1197677. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/fpsyt.2023.1197677<\/a>

SAR School for Advanced Research. (2017, June 7). Lera Boroditsky, how the languages we speak shape the ways we think<\/em> [Video]. YouTube. https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=iGuuHwbuQOg<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/metprogramnp\/2025\/01\/19\/task-2-does-language-shape-the-way-we-think\/ I chose to link to Navid\u2019s post because when I read the connection with \u201cReading fiction improves your theory of mind,\u201d my heart dropped. This reminder of how students are reading less for enjoyment made me gasp.\u00a0 In reality, Continue reading Linking Assignment – Link 1<\/span>→<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91876,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-92","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-linking-assignment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/keizern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/keizern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/keizern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/keizern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/91876"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/keizern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/keizern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/keizern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92\/revisions\/98"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/keizern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/keizern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/keizern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}