LIBRARY
HON498_Fall 2024_Moon Library Instruction_Aiken: Mackenzie
Library Catalog ebooks : emotional attachment AND fictional characters
Why Do We Care about Literary Characters? by Call Number: ebookISBN: 9781421403106Publication Date: 2010-01-01Blakey Vermeule wonders how readers become involved in the lives of fictional characters, people they know do not exist. Vermeule examines the ways in which readers' experiences of literature are affected by the emotional attachments they form to fictional characters and how those experiences then influence their social relationships in real life. She focuses on a range of topics, from intimate articulations of sexual desire, gender identity, ambition, and rivalry to larger issues brought on by rapid historical and economic change. Vermeule discusses the phenomenon of emotional attachment to literary characters primarily in terms of 18th-century British fiction but also considers the postmodern work of Thomas Mann, J. M. Coetzee, Ian McEwan, and Chinua Achebe. From the perspective of cognitive science, Vermeule finds that caring about literary characters is not all that different from caring about other people, especially strangers. The tools used by literary authors to sharpen and focus reader interest tap into evolved neural mechanisms that trigger a caring response. This book contributes to the emerging field of evolutionary literary criticism. Vermeule draws upon recent research in cognitive science to understand the mental processes underlying human social interactions without sacrificing solid literary criticism. People interested in literary theory, in cognitive analyses of the arts, and in Darwinian approaches to human culture will find much to ponder in Why Do We Care about Literary Characters?
Database: EBSCO - APA PsycINFO - emotional attachment AND fictional
- Warped nostalgia in online fandoms.In recent years, the growing levels of toxic behavior in online fan communities has become increasingly concerning, as many acts of harassment have been committed over trivial matters surrounding entertainment franchises. The purpose of this research was to understand how and why these toxic attitudes are emerging. 'Warped Nostalgia' is a proposed mental state in which an individual's emotional attachment to a fictional entertainment franchise or intellectual property (IP) becomes toxic, and they start to venerate the franchise's past, while disparaging the present. The proposed four component parts of Warped Nostalgia are Fandom, Toxicity, Nostalgia, and Enmeshment. Using various social media platforms, primarily Reddit, 322 participants were recruited to take a mixed methods survey on Qualtrics. The results found mild instances of the kinds of behaviors associated with the four component parts of Warped Nostalgia. However, chi-square analyses of the subscales created for the four component parts of Warped Nostalgia indicated that most were related to each other on at a p < .05 level. By finding these statistically significant relationships in such a generalizable sample, support has been established for the theory of Warped Nostalgia. A new model of Warped Nostalgia was then proposed for future studies, one in which A High Toxicity Environment corrupts the benign concepts of Fandom Engagement and Nostalgia into Enmeshment and Warped Nostalgia. This demonstrates the ways in which information systems can influence the psychological health of their users, while also showcasing the interconnectivity of the disciplines of information science and psychology. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)
- Warped Nostalgia in Online FandomsFull Text Dissertation or Thesis