Why do humans so readily adopt fiction into our lives, and feel emotion about characters as though they were someone close to us in real life?

Paul Salmon/Alamy

Fiona Lyczynska
Tadley, Hampshire, UK

I suggest it is driven by our social and tribal nature and our emotional and practical needs.

Humans have the ability to create parasocial bonds, such as with leaders, heroes and media influencers, as well as AI and fictional characters. In the 1990s, researchers found that adults interacting with a computer through text would treat it as though it had “feelings”. If we detect enough of the hallmarks of human interaction, we are likely to have an emotional response.

Additionally, it may appeal to our emotions or desires, or on the other side, perhaps a desire for our compliance or cooperation. Ideas that spread can unite us and on occasion give us an advantage as a species, such as technological innovations that promote our survival, or help us escape dangers. If a charismatic leader can unite us, or we feel our needs will be met by someone or something, the pool of social anxiety reduces in the short term – good for everyone in that regard, although it is easily reactivated.

If we detect enough of the hallmarks of human interaction, we are likely to have an emotional response

With respect to big ideas, it may typically be a small minority that come up with the better ideas. Most humans, even in this day and age, probably lean on social bonds, hierarchies and social contagion to decide who to trust and what to adopt, rather than only deciding after doing their own research and using scientific methods.

Fiction might not be real, but it is often sufficient to stimulate our emotions. When we can relate to a character, it can be self-affirming; we may see ourselves reflected, which gives us hope and courage to act in the world. It is also relatively safe compared with the stress and inequities of messy real-life relationships. So, we often happily adopt fictions that may hold metaphorical truth for us, even when we are aware they are fictions.

Richard Hind
Chapel Haddlesey, North Yorkshire, UK

I have been pondering a related question for some time: how can I harness this effect in my teaching to help my students get a better understanding of the subject in the context of the real world through the use of narratives?

Angus Fletcher, in his book of the same name, explains “storythinking” (narrative cognition) and how it is fundamental to life itself. Western academic traditions tend to promote logical cognition as the primary mode of thought, which can be traced back to the Greek philosophers (beginning with Socrates). Fletcher argues that this view is misleading because “narrative is how we experience the world”.

Anil Seth’s concept of “controlled hallucination” appeals to my computer-scientist brain. Rather than constructing consciousness from scratch each moment, the brain appears to maintain a predictive model of reality, updating it only when incoming sensory information differs from what it expects. It is an elegant solution to the problem of limited sensory bandwidth and reminds me of how MPEG compression works with streamed video!

It occurs to me that these ideas could be linked – if we each live within a personal “story” (self-consciousness) based on our internal model of the world, updated as new information is received, perhaps stories work like predictive codecs too? This process can, of course, be confused when the inputs don’t match what we anticipate, such as optical illusions.

When we read fictional stories, they can resonate with our internal world model, triggering emotional responses. As social animals able to apply theory of mind, we can get into the minds of others and imagine the world from their perspective. Our brains appear to use many of the same cognitive and emotional processes with regards to fictional characters and real people, which I assume is why we are able to make that emotional connection.

I’ll leave the last word to Fletcher: “Narrative intelligence is an engine of empirical science, medicine, engineering, technical innovation and physiological resilience.”

Jean Whitney
San Diego, California, US

The loneliness epidemic is one answer. Maybe the covid-19 pandemic had something to do with it, too. Social media and the entertainment industry create an artificial world of perfection, which generates unreasonable expectations, thus real humans are, well, such disappointments. Enter fictional characters, initially created by people, now also created by AI, who save the day. We choose the ones who please us, and dismiss the ones we deem flawed. No painful partings, tears, guilt; simply click the X and close. What’s not to like?

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