Fiction seems to be more effective at changing beliefs than nonfiction, which is designed to persuade through argument and evidence. Studies show that when we read nonfiction, we read with our shields up. We are critical and skeptical. But when we are absorbed in a story, we drop our intellectual guard. We are moved emotionally, and this seems to make us rubbery and easy to shape.

The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human (ed. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012) - ISBN: 9780547644813