Absurdism Makes You Smarter

It's official. Throw all your standard narrative books away, because reading Absurdism makes you smarter.

That's the conclusion, at least, in a recently published Psychological Science article. Therein, psychologists Travis Proulx of the University of California, Santa Barbara and Steven Heine of the University of British Columbia report on their studies that show our ability to find patterns is enhanced when we are faced with the challenge of making sense of an absurd text. Further, this heightened aptitude carries over into other aspects of life and thinking.

Basically, Proulx and Heine had a bunch of Canadian undergrads read some Kafka. One group read Kafka with extra absurd non-sequitur additions, while another read Kafka with extra linear narrative additions, and then each group performed some pattern recognition and organization tasks. Those exposed to the absurdist Kafka performed better.

As Tom Jacobs reports, "these findings suggest we have an innate tendency to impose order upon our experiences and create what [Proulx and Heine] call 'meaning frameworks.' Any threat to this process will 'activate a meaning-maintenance motivation that may call upon any other available associations to restore a sense of meaning.'" In other words, Absurdism stimulates the mind and augments your cognitive skills.

Cog novice drama, like giraffe sleep better up red anger, sigh.

See? You're smarter already.

Photo via Wikimedia Commons.