Jane Austen and theory of mind: how literary fiction sharpens your ‘mindreading’ skills

By Carmen Barajas, Profesora Psicología Evolutiva y de la Educación, Universidad de Málaga
Noelia López-Montilla, Psicóloga e Investigadora, Universidad de Málaga

At the beginning of Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen’s most well-known novel, the protagonist, Elizabeth Bennet, overhears Mr Darcy speaking ill of her. This, naturally, leads her to form a negative opinion of him.

However, she is unaware of the real reasons behind his words, while Mr Darcy, for his part, does not realise that he has been overheard. Thus begins an emotional and mental dance between two characters, with each trying to decipher the other’s thoughts and feelings over the course of the novel.

The reader, meanwhile, exists as an omnipresent third party, privy…

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