Research shows that reading literary but not popular fiction enhances the Theory of Mind (ToM). This article builds on the symmetry between literary theory and film theory and investigates whether exposure to art films, but not Hollywood films, enhances ToM. Participants (N = 232) were randomly assigned to view either art or Hollywood films and then answered questions about the film and its characters before completing two separate measures of ToM (the Read the Mind in the Eyes Test and the Moral Judgement Task). Results showed that art film viewers scored higher on both ToM measures and that the effect was sequentially mediated by perception of complexity and predictability of the characters. The findings are discussed in the context of the emerging literature on the impact of fiction on social cognition.

研究表明，阅读文学而不是通俗小说会增强心理理论（ToM）。本文建立在文学理论和电影理论之间的对称性基础上，并研究曝光艺术电影而不是好莱坞电影是否可以增强ToM。参与者（N  = 232）被随机分配来观看艺术或好莱坞电影，然后在完成两项独立的TOM措施（“读心眼测试”和“道德判断任务”）之前，回答有关电影及其角色的问题。结果表明，艺术电影观众在两种ToM措施上得分都较高，并且效果是通过感知角色的复杂性和可预测性来依次介导的。在有关小说对社会认知影响的新兴文献的背景下讨论了这些发现。