Autobiographical phenomenology of memories of fiction.

Most autobiographical memories are based on real-life experiences, but memories of fiction have many similarities to real-life autobiographical memories. However, the phenomenological nature of this similarity, the potential differences between media types, and the role of individual differences need further investigation. Based on previous findings, we expected differences between media types on emotional intensity, sensory vividness, and confidence about the recall. To provide insight into these issues, we collected one real-life autobiographical memory and one memory of fiction (book, film, or video game) from 291 participants. We asked them to rate their memories phenomenologically. The participants also provided information regarding their motivations for engaging with fictional stories. Our results show phenomenological differences in several dimensions between media types and differences in the similarity of media types to real-life memories. While absorption seems to be a good predictor for immersion, escapism tendency is a motivation to engage with fiction frequently.

Real is the new sexy: the influence of perceived realness on self-reported arousal to sexual visual stimuli.

As state-of-art technology can create artificial images that are indistinguishable from real ones, it is urgent to understand whether believing that a picture is real or not has some import over affective phenomena such as sexual arousal. Thus, in two pre-registered online studies, we tested whether 60 images depicting models in underwear elicited higher self-reported sexual arousal when believed to be (N = 57) or presented as (N = 108) real photographs as opposed to artificially generated. In both cases, Realness correlated with significantly higher scores on self-reported sexual arousal. Consistently with the literature on downregulation of emotional response to fictional works, our result indicates that sexual images that are perceived to be fake are less arousing than those believed to portray real people.

Buffering effect of fiction on negative emotions: engagement with negatively valenced fiction decreases the intensity of negative emotions.

Previous research has investigated how the context of perception affects emotional response. This study investigated how engagement with perceived fictional content vs perceived everyday-life content affects the way people experience negative emotions. Four studies with an experimental design tested how engagement with perceived fictional content vs perceived everyday life content affects the intensity of negative emotional response to negative emotional content, the motivation to decrease negative emotions, and cognitive reappraisal. Participants were presented with negatively valenced images and were asked to imagine either that they were witnessing them, or that a bystander was witnessing them, or that they were viewing a movie including these scenes. After the manipulation, all participants observed a different set of negatively valenced images or a set of negatively valenced videos and reported their emotional response. We found that the intensity of negative emotions and motivation to decrease them was lower among participants in the fiction condition compared to participants in the everyday life condition. Although perspective-taking had a similar effect on negative emotions, fiction condition was more successful in decreasing negative emotions. This might indicate that fiction plays a buffering role in decreasing the negative emotions people experience when facing negative emotional content.

The Altruism Requirement as Moral Fiction.

It is widely agreed that living kidney donation is permitted but living kidney sales are not. Call this the Received View. One way to support the Received View is to appeal to a particular understanding of the conditions under which living kidney transplantation is permissible. It is often claimed that donors must act altruistically, without the expectation of payment and for the sake of another. Call this the Altruism Requirement. On the conventional interpretation, the Altruism Requirement is a moral fact. It states a legitimate constraint on permissible transplantation and is accepted on the basis of cogent argument. The present paper offers an alternative interpretation. I suggest the Altruism Requirement is a moral fiction-a kind of motivated falsehood. It is false that transplantation requires altruism. But the Requirement serves a purpose. Accepting it allows kidney donation but not kidney sale. It, in short, rationalizes the Received View.

Representation of aided AAC in contemporary young adult fiction.

The current study explored both the extent to which representation of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) exists in young adult literature, as well as qualitative characteristics of that representation. A systematic search of multiple databases was conducted using standardized keywords and inclusion criteria. Descriptive statistics and literary content analysis were employed in order to analyze quantitative and qualitative information about each of the 32 novels that fit inclusion criteria. Results indicated that, while representation of AAC in young adult fiction largely aligned with existing statistics regarding types of AAC devices used, stories often differed from current information about the most common etiologies of AAC users. Analyses of character development revealed most featured AAC-using characters were multidimensional and expressed positive attitudes regarding their devices, although some characters also expressed frustration. These results indicated that representation of AAC in young adult literature was sparse. However, the representation that did exist at least partially reflected reality and may represent a positive portrayal of AAC use and users.

Impact of spy fiction on cognition: a case study.

Reading spy fiction has imprinted its traces on the thinking patterns of the readers that encourage them to consider it as a real event in their life. This case study is about a 37 year old woman, referred by a senior clinical psychologist with complaints of having the feeling of being monitored through a device and hearing the voices of the people. The brief therapeutic plan was based on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy which focused on developing insight, identifying cognitive errors, and enhancing her socialisation skills. This case report holds its implications to drift the attention of the readers and clinicians toward the issue of consuming content that may potentially have an impact on its reader's mental health.

Beyond trans* medicalisation: hapticality and the art of crafting trans*masculine identities in Ali Smith's How to be both (2014).

The past decade has witnessed an unprecedented rise in trans* representation in literature, with works of fictions that go from critically acclaimed best sellers like Torrey Peters' Detransition Baby (2021) to Booker-Prize winner postcolonial-centred study of non-binary characters in Bernardine Evaristo's Girl, Woman, Other (2019). In this blossoming context of exploring trans* voices, Ali Smith's How to be both (2014) breaks the mould in its defiance of traditional representations of transivity, usually grounded on medico-legal discourses. Following the precept of transnormativity as well as the theories of hapticality of Jeanne Vaccaro and Laura Marks, which respectively explore the possibilities of trans* identity perceived as a collective process of crafting and the potential found in a haptical approach to the visual, I hereby discuss Smith's representation of trans*masculine identity outside the regime of medicine. Pivoting around Smith's conceptualisation of 'the painter self', an original reinterpretation of trans* identity as expressed and crafted through the arts and the feeling of touch, I offer an analysis of the continual process of becoming of trans* Renaissance character Francescho del Cossa. Moreover, I offer analyses on the impact others may have on one's own trans* identity, with an interest on the trans* joy that comes from acceptance and on the role of arts to outgrow the pain that comes from rejection. Finally, I examine the role of the visual in the artistic representation of transivity, where Smith defies the limits of time, portraying trans* identity as the true never-ending process.

Story stimuli for instantiating true and false beliefs about the world.

We offer short story ("vignette") materials that have been developed and tested with the intention of influencing people's true and false beliefs about the world. First, we present norming data on the baseline rates at which participants from both U.S.-census matched and general U.S. online samples were correctly able to classify a selected set of accurate (e.g., aerobic exercise strengthens your heart and lungs) and inaccurate (e.g., aerobic exercise weakens your heart and lungs) assertions as "True" or "False." Next, we present data which validate that reading vignettes in which people discuss these accurate and inaccurate assertions influences participants' subsequent judgments of the validity of the asserted claims. These vignettes are brief, easy-to-read, allow for flexible and accountable online data collection, and reflect realistic accurate and inaccurate claims that people routinely encounter (e.g., preventative health behaviors, use of alternative medicines and therapies, etc.). As intended, vignettes containing inaccurate assertions increased participants' subsequent judgment errors, while vignettes containing accurate assertions decreased participants' subsequent judgment errors, both relative to participants' judgments after not reading related information. In an additional experiment, we used the vignette materials to replicate findings from Salovich et al. (2021), wherein participants reported lower confidence in correct judgments and higher confidence in incorrect judgments after having read inaccurate assertions. Overall, these materials are well suited for investigations on the consequences of exposures to accurate and inaccurate information, address limitations in currently available stimuli, and align with trends in research practice (e.g., online sampling) within psychological science.

Testing the validity of a self-report scale, author recognition test, and book counting as measures of lifetime exposure to print fiction.

We report a study testing the validity of the three most commonly used indicators of lifetime exposure to print fiction, namely a self-report scale, an author recognition test (ART), and book counting, in a sample of older adults (N=306; Mage = 59.29 years, SDage = 7.01). Convergent validity of the self-report scale and book counting was assessed through correlations with the fiction sub-score of the ART; divergent validity of these two indicators was examined via correlations with the non-fiction sub-score of that ART. We also assessed criterion-related validity by testing the degree to which each of the three indicators predicted participants' performance in a vocabulary test. The self-report scale and book counting were significantly more positively associated with the ART fiction sub-score than the ART non-fiction sub-score. Regression analyses, controlling for gender and non-fiction exposure, revealed that the ART fiction sub-score had the highest explanatory power among all indicators under investigation for predicting vocabulary test performance. The present results suggest that only ARTs may have satisfactory levels of both construct and criterion-related validity. Recommendations for the assessment of fiction exposure and future directions are discussed.

NanoAdventure: Development of a Text-Based Adventure Game in English, Spanish, and Chinese for Communicating about Nanotechnology and the Nanoscale.

Video games and immersive, narrative experiences are often called upon to help students understand difficult scientific concepts, such as sense of scale. However, the development of educational video games requires expertise and, frequently, a sizable budget. Here, we report on the use of an interactive text-style video game, NanoAdventure, to communicate about sense of scale and nanotechnology to the public. NanoAdventure was developed on an open-source, free-to-use platform with simple coding and enhanced with free or low-cost assets. NanoAdventure was launched in three languages (English, Spanish, Chinese) and compared to textbook-style and blog-style control texts in a randomized study. Participants answered questions on their knowledge of nanotechnology and their attitudes toward nanotechnology before and after reading one randomly assigned text (textbook, blog, or NanoAdventure game). Our results demonstrate that interactive fiction is effective in communicating about sense of scale and nanotechnology as well as the relevance of nanotechnology to a general public. NanoAdventure was found to be the most "fun" and easy to read of all text styles by participants in a randomized trial. Here, we make the case for interactive "Choose Your Own Adventure" style games as another effective tool among educational game models for chemistry and science communication.

Has stigma changed? The image of epilepsy in literature. An essay.

Stigma is perhaps the most important sociopsychological burden for people with epilepsy (PWE), and literature both reflects and influences societal attitudes including stigma. To study how representations of stigma have changed over time could provide interesting insights. Traditionally, often repeated stigmatizing aspects include possession, insanity and crime, the weak, dependent and miserable epileptic, unfitness for marriage and reproduction, unreliability, but also special gifts. Many works present characters with epilepsy as inferior, outsiders, or misers. Recently, however, changes became apparent. First, several books addressed and criticized stigmatization of PWE. This was followed by works with positive characters, even role models, both women and men. They are independent, competent, sexually active, and attractive. Some indulge in sports, arts, or advanced technologies. Several are based on first-hand knowledge of people with epilepsy, and some belong to the field of autofiction. Optimistic literary categories like romance or coming-of-age are increasingly met, often with a first-person narrator. Whereas traditional epilepsy metaphors often indicate vulnerability, emotional instability, and weirdness, newer literature increasingly uses electricity metaphors. These represent power, excitement, and modernity. Another frequent new destigmatizing feature are olfactory auras that create a positive atmosphere. Along with comparable destigmatizing features in present popular music, recent developments in literature may represent a parallel to an emerging change in public opinions on epilepsy to which they could contribute an emotional dimension.

Reading fiction and reading minds in early adolescence: A longitudinal study.

Reading fiction is argued to have benefits for our understanding of others' thoughts, feelings and desires, referred to as 'theory of mind'(ToM). We aimed to test this assumption by examining whether children's reading experience is longitudinally associated with later ToM. We examined reading experience and ToM in 236 children between the ages of 11-13 years. Participants were asked to report on their time spent reading both fiction and non-fiction at ages 11 and 13, ToM was measured at age 13. Verbal ability, reading comprehension, and reading motivation were included as control variables in all analyses. Results showed that children's self-reported fiction, but not their non-fiction reading was associated with ToM. Further, the association was concurrent but not longitudinal: fiction reading and ToM at age 13 were associated but fiction reading at age 11 did not predict ToM at age 13. Our findings motivate further research on what types of reading materials might be beneficial, and the level of exposure to fiction that is needed for measurable benefits for later ToM.

The effect of character similarity on children's learning from fictional stories: The roles of race and gender.

Factors that make stories more or less similar to children's lives may influence learning. One such factor, the similarity of characters in a story to its readers, may influence learning because of children's social preference for similar others, because of stronger identification with similar characters, or because some types of similarity may indicate to children whether the story is relevant to their lives. The current studies examined the effects of two types of character similarity (race and gender) on 6- to 8-year-olds' learning from stories to begin to disambiguate these possibilities. In Study 1, White children demonstrated greater learning on implicit measures (i.e., free recall) from a story with a White character versus a Black character. Although children said that they were more similar to and identified more strongly with a White character than a Black character, these factors did not predict learning. In Study 2, character gender did not influence learning or identification. Children showed preferences for own-race and own-gender playmates, but these preferences did not predict learning. These findings suggest that White children's greater learning from the White character was not due to social preference for similar others or to stronger identification with the White character. One explanation for the divergent findings for race and gender is that, because of the differing roles of race and gender within U.S. society, children may use race but not gender as a cue as to whether the information provided in a story is relevant for them.

Do embodiment and fictionality affect young children's learning?

Preschool-aged children can learn from fictional, pretend, and imaginative activities. However, many studies showing this learning involve children as physically passive while consuming fictional narratives rather than as actively, physically engaged. Physical engagement may add to cognitive processes already at play when watching narratives, making children more likely to retain or understand information. Children's natural pretend involves physical movement, role play, and embodiment. To test learning from embodied pretense, we conducted two studies in which we experimentally manipulated whether children were physically passive while consuming narratives or physically actively engaged with them through embodied pretend play using puppets or costumes. In Study 1, children were shown/engaged in television-based narratives, all of which contained fantastical content. In Study 2, children were shown/engaged in lab-created stories, some of which contained fantastical elements. We measured children's learning and perceptions of realism. In Study 1, neither perception of fictionality nor embodiment immediately affected learning, although older preschoolers learned more than younger preschoolers. In Study 2, neither perception nor presence of fantastical content affected learning, but embodiment did. Children learned more from both embodied conditions compared with the physically passive condition. We also included 2-week follow-up tests of recall and found that although children retained very little, embodiment still affected retention in both studies. Overall, children did not use realism judgments to differentiate learning. These findings show the complexity of different elements involved in children's learning from pretense and the need to understand what elements affect learning from fantastical and embodied pretend play and stories.

Cisheteronormativity, Conversion Therapy, and Identity Among Sexual and Gender Minority People: A Narrative Inquiry and Creative Non-fiction.

Sexual and gender minorities (SGMs) navigate systems of oppression that reify cisgender and heterosexual norms (cisheteronormativity) while developing their identities. 'Conversion therapy' represents a particularly prominent and harmful threat in this landscape. We explore how SGM who experienced conversion therapy develop their identities to understand antecedents to mental health struggles in this population. In-depth interviews were conducted with 22 people in Canada. A 'master narratives' framework combined with Polkinghorne's narrative analysis were used to explore individual-structural relations that affect identity in settings where cisheteronormative master narratives are amplified (i.e., conversion therapy). We present research findings through a creative non-fiction, which includes learning cisheteronormative master narratives; internalizing master narratives; feeling broken and searching for alternatives; and embracing self-love amidst pain. The amplification of master narratives through conversion therapy leads to conflict and delays in adopting a coherent identity. Health professionals should enact institutional practices that affirm SGM and thereby deemphasize cisheteronormativity.

Scientific counterfactuals as make-believe.

Counterfactuals abound in science, especially when reasoning about and with models. This often requires entertaining counterfactual conditionals with nomologically or metaphysically impossible antecedents, namely, counternomics or counterpossibles. In this paper I defend the make-believe view of scientific counterfactuals, a naturalised fiction-based account of counterfactuals in science which provides a means to evaluate their meanings independently of the possibility of the states of affairs their antecedents describe, and under which they have non-trivial truth-values. Fiction is here understood as imagination (in contrast with its most typical association with falsity), characterised as a propositional attitude of pretense or 'make-believe' (Walton 1990). The application of this theory to scientific counterfactuals makes their evaluation a game of make-believe: a counterfactual is (fictionally) true iff its antecedent and the rules of the game prescribe the imagining of its consequent (Kimpton-Nye 2020). The result is a practice-based account of counterfactuals and counterfactual reasoning in science which incorporates insights from theoretical and experimental analytic philosophy as well as cognitive science. This way, the make-believe view of scientific counterfactuals shows that the evaluation of scientific counterfactuals is none other than a question of scientific representation in disguise.

The Past, Present, and Future States of Political Theory.

Beginning with a historical perspective on the long and short past of political theory, I argue for three priorities for the field's future: (1) theorizing why and how constitutional democracies corrode and die, and what might be done to stop rising authoritarianism and fascism, as well as racism and misogyny, in liberal egalitarian political systems; (2) the advancement of more predictive and future-oriented forms of political theory to address democratic corruption, democratic backsliding into authoritarianism, and other urgent political problems; and (3) the need to diversify the field and the wider discipline of political science by advancing women and people of color. To stay true to its own history, political theory should lend a helping hand to politics and society when democracy is in crisis.

Euclidean Embodiments in the Twenty-First Century: An Allegorical Ode to Aldous Huxley (1894-1963).

An allegorical thought experiment occurring in a pseudo Huxleyean world in the future is conducted, in which "Euclidean" geometry has been forgotten and can only be retrieved by traversing backward in time, physically and virtually by two protagonists, Alpha and Beta, inspired by the challenge issued by their teacher Aleph 1. In the year 136 A.H (After Huxley, or late twenty-first century of the Common Era), all instruction occurs virtually. Mathematics is the exclusive purview of 0.01% of society (the alphas). The thought experiment leads to the discovery and realization from the two protagonists that Euclidean geometry is possible using sensorimotor functions with tools called a straight edge and compass or simply a rope with knots. As an ode to Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) this article is deliberately in the form of a satirical provocation that examines the interaction of technology with the learning of mathematics in a dystopian future. A prolog explaining the context of the thought experiment along with a coda with implications for the immediate future in the learning of mathematics is made. A glossary with terms unfamiliar to the reader is also provided.

The Magic School Bus dilemma: How fantasy affects children's learning from stories.

Although children's books often include fantasy, research suggests that children do not learn as well from fantastical stories as from realistic ones. The current studies investigated whether the type of fantasy matters, in effect testing two possible mechanisms for fantasy's interference. Across two studies, 110 5-year-olds were read different types of fantastical stories containing a problem and then were asked to solve an analogous problem in a real lab setting. Children who were read a minimally fantastical version of the story, in which the story occurred on another planet "that looked just like Earth," were no more likely to transfer the solution than children who heard a story that was slightly more fantastical in that the story occurred on another planet and that planet looked different from Earth (e.g., orange grass, a green sky). In contrast, significantly higher rates of learning were observed when the story contained those elements and two physically impossible events (e.g., walking through walls). Furthermore, this improvement was obtained only when the impossible events preceded, and not when they followed, the educational content. Although fantasy may sometimes detract from learning (as other research has shown), these new studies suggest that minimal fantasy does not and that particular types of fantasy may even increase learning. We propose that the mechanism for this may be that a small dose of impossible events induces deeper processing of the subsequent events in the story.

Pretending with realistic and fantastical stories facilitates executive function in 3-year-old children.

Fictional stories can affect many aspects of children's behavior and cognition, yet little is known about how they might help or hinder children's executive function skills. The current study investigated the role of story content (fantasy or reality) and mode of engagement with the story (pretense or a non-pretense control) on children's inhibitory control, an important component of early executive function. A total of 60 3-year-olds were randomly assigned to hear a fantastical or realistic story and were encouraged to engage in either pretense or a non-pretense activity related to the story. They then completed the Less Is More task of inhibitory control. Story content had no impact on children's inhibitory control; children performed equally well after hearing a fantastical or realistic story. However, children who engaged in story-related pretend play showed greater inhibitory control than those who engaged in a non-pretense activity. We found no interaction between story content and play engagement type. These results held when controlling for baseline inhibitory control, receptive vocabulary, age, gender, affect, and propensity toward pretense. Therefore, mode of play engagement with a story was more important in promoting children's inhibitory control skills than the degree of realism in the story.