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In the first, the students were instructed to categorize-as quickly and accurately as possible-"me" words (myself, mine) and "wizard" words (broomstick, spell, wand, potions) by pressing the same key when any of those words flashed on the screen they pressed another key for "not-me" words (they, theirs) and "vampire" words (blood, fangs, bitten, undead). Then, two measures gauged the participants' psychological affiliation with vampires or wizards. Participants were given 30 minutes to read the passage and were instructed to simply read for their own pleasure.
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Others read a passage from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in which the Hogwarts students are separated into "houses" and Harry meets potions professor Severus Snape. Then some read a passage from the novel Twilight in which the undead Edward describes what it feels like to be a vampire to his romantic interest Bella. First the participants were assessed on the extent to which they meet their needs for connection by identifying with groups. The researchers recruited 140 undergraduates for the study. That mechanism satisfies the deeply human, evolutionarily crucial, need for belonging. In an upcoming study in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, Gabriel and graduate student Ariana Young show what that something is: When we read, we psychologically become part of the community described in the narrative-be they wizards or vampires. "Something else important must be happening." Yet we feel human connection, without real relationships, through reading.
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"Obviously, you can't hold a book's hand, and a book isn't going to dry your tears when you're sad," says University at Buffalo, SUNY psychologist Shira Gabriel. But how do books make us feel we are not alone? "We read to know we are not alone," wrote C.S.