1. Reading strengthens IQ related abilities

Research shows that reading is one of the strongest predictors of intellectual development throughout adulthood.

Reading enhances core cognitive skills

• verbal intelligence
• vocabulary
• general knowledge
• reasoning and inference skills

Stanovich and Cunningham (1992) demonstrate that greater reading is closely linked to stronger core cognitive skills.

Print exposure as a lifelong predictor

• richer vocabulary
• higher verbal intelligence
• faster information processing
• stronger inferential reasoning
• broader general knowledge

Stanovich, West and Harrison (1995) show that adults with high print exposure perform significantly better on verbal IQ like measures.

Reading protects cognitive performance in aging

• reduced cognitive decline
• preserved executive functions
• long term mental training effects

Wilson et al. (2013) show that regular readers experience slower cognitive decline.

2. Reading increases EQ‑related abilities

Fiction reading enhances emotional and social cognition in adults.

• higher empathy
• better Theory of Mind
• stronger emotional perspective taking
• greater social sensitivity

Oatley and Mar (2006 -2011) show that these effects remain even when controlling for personality and education.

Kidd and Castano (2013) demonstrate that literary fiction improves Theory of Mind after a single session. This is a direct EQ effect in adults.

3. Reading develops complex adult competencies

Maryanne Wolf and Deep Reading

Wolf’s research shows that deep reading activates a network of cognitive processes that mature and strengthen throughout adulthood.

• sustained attention
• complex reasoning
• cognitive empathy
• critical judgment

Martha Nussbaum and narrative imagination

Nussbaum highlights that literature expands the reader’s moral and emotional imagination by enabling encounters with unfamiliar lives and ethical situations.

• expanded moral judgment
• ethical sensitivity
• perspective taking
• complex worldviews

4. From deep reading to embodied wisdom

Deep reading strengthens attention, empathy, moral reasoning and interpretive depth. These capacities become embodied through repeated narrative experience.

Embodied wisdom emerges when literature shapes the whole person cognitively, emotionally and experientially.

Through sustained engagement with complex texts, readers internalize patterns of reflection, emotional nuance and ethical discernment that gradually shift from conscious effort to intuitive competence.

This integration of thought, feeling and lived understanding forms a durable inner architecture that guides judgment and behavior across real‑world contexts.

5. Reading as a foundation for leadership

Deep reading cultivates embodied wisdom that is increasingly recognized as essential for modern leadership.

Leaders who interpret complexity, empathize with diverse perspectives and integrate meaning across domains are more effective in shaping culture and guiding teams.

Literature trains exactly these capacities.

In this sense: The LQ is not only a measure of literary engagement, it is a foundation for reflective, ethical, and narrative‑competent leadership.