I'm a psych student and have been doing some research on experience-taking, a process by which individuals spontaneously assume the identity of a character in a narrative, to the extent that they assume their behaviour, emotions, thoughts, goals and traits as though they were their own. The reader or viewer begins to experience the story from their perspective, imagining themselves as those characters in a world they have become immersed in.

Now, this isn't always a given. Some characters and worlds have more potential than others to encourage experience-taking and ,similarly, some readers (depending on their psychological state e.g. state of self-concept) can be more or less inclined to simulate the subjective experience of a character (Kaufman & Libby, 2012: Changing Beliefs and Behaviour Through Experience-Taking).

It was stated by Hayakawa (1990: Language in thought and action) that:

“In a very real sense, people who have read good literature have lived more than people who cannot or will not read. It is not true that we have only one life to lead; if we can read, we can live as many more lives and as many kinds of lives as we wish.”

Thus my question. I'd love to know what you avid readers think about this. If you've experienced this process, what kind of lives have you lead? What was your most memorable life and why? What does it take to grab you and transform you into someone else for every page you read?