<p>Those who study fiction often make certain claims, such as fiction allowing us to "gain depth into the human experience" and such. Psychology is the academic field which studies human behavior, and by proxy, the human mind and experience.</p>

<p>My question is, has a fictional work or the study fiction (literary analysis) ever made a meaningful contribution to the field of psychology? Like, has a literary analyzer written a paper on friendship of fictional characters, which ended up making a contribution to some psychological theory of friendship. Or are the claims that fiction gives insight into human experience empty?</p>

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2015-09-01T01:19:42.837Z
Fiction does not have to contribute to the field of psychology in order to give insight into the human experience. They are completely separate in that fiction is not rigorously scientific the way that psychology (tries) to be. Often, the behavioral response to certain fictions is more relevant to psychology than the actual content, as seen [here](http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0118179), for example. I would argue that fiction is applied [phenomenology](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenomenology_(psychology)) -- rarely scientifically useful, yet necessary.
Sydney Maples
<history-of-psychology>
Has fiction or the study of fiction ever made meaningful contributions to Psychology?
Christopher King
# Has fiction or the study of fiction ever made meaningful contributions to Psychology?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2015-09-01)

Those who study fiction often make certain claims, such as fiction allowing us to "gain depth into the human experience" and such. Psychology is the academic field which studies human behavior, and by proxy, the human mind and experience.

My question is, has a fictional work or the study fiction (literary analysis) ever made a meaningful contribution to the field of psychology? Like, has a literary analyzer written a paper on friendship of fictional characters, which ended up making a contribution to some psychological theory of friendship. Or are the claims that fiction gives insight into human experience empty?

**Tags:** history-of-psychology

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Fiction does not have to contribute to the field of psychology in order to give insight into the human experience. They are completely separate in that fiction is not rigorously scientific the way that psychology (tries) to be. Often, the behavioral response to certain fictions is more relevant to psychology than the actual content, as seen [here](http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0118179), for example. I would argue that fiction is applied [phenomenology](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenomenology_(psychology)) -- rarely scientifically useful, yet necessary.  

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