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By mixing fayerye with realism in the Merchant's Tale, Chaucer invites us to explore how we respond to fiction, mythical languages, and imagination. Do we anxiously brush off what happens in an enchanted garden? Do we refuse to be credulous? The magical setting of the action forces us out of a realist prism into a reflection on interpretive spontaneity, and it delivers a deeper message about suspending disbelief. Chaucer shows us that faith in the power of poesis provides a means to grapple with the unspeakable and to heal wounds of love, death, and sexuality. Just as children watching puppet shows respond differently at different points in their cognitive development, so an old man must question what he sees in order to believe and disbelieve in new ways. Chaucer's retelling of a staple medieval fabliau anatomizes fantasy in order to give us vital new ears to hear and eyes to see. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the intersection of fairy tales and Holocaust narratives, exploring the emerging trend of presenting Holocaust tales within the fairy-tale genre as a societal response to grappling with Holocaust trauma. Examining linguistic and ethical approaches in works by authors Liz Braswell, Louise Murphy, and Jane Yolen, it poses a central question: does merging Holocaust and fairy-tale narratives enhance understanding or hinder respectful remembrance? The article scrutinises subliminal storytelling in Holocaust tales, highlighting varied authorial approaches, from Braswell's cryptic social conflict to Murphy's and Yolen's use of vague references within a Holocaust-aware context. Exploring how Holocaust tales navigate the balance between fantasy and historical context, it analyses recontextualisation in the works of Braswell and Murphy. Braswell's 'Beauty and the Beast' engages with social conflict and history by transforming the curse, while Murphy's 'Hansel and Gretel' reframes the oven as a symbol of safety. Additionally, the article addresses the ethical dimensions of representing the Holocaust in children's fiction, emphasising the use of fantasy to enhance accessibility and emotional engagement. Analysing works like Yolen's 'Briar Rose' and Braswell's 'Beauty and the Beast' illustrates how these narratives navigate historical representation complexities, aiming to preserve awareness and prompt moral reflections. The article argues that fantasy elements not only render the Holocaust accessible to contemporary readers but also provide a unique avenue for emotional engagement, transcending the limitations of historical facts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maladaptive daydreaming (MD) is a compulsive fantasy activity that takes precedence over one's life, interfering with other activities often, becoming source of shame. To determine the lived experiences of people suffering from MD, we analyzed a sample of 336 public Reddit posts shared in September 2023. We implemented thematic analysis using an inductive approach. We identified six key themes across the data connected to the impact MD has on a sense of self: (1) This world is not my own: Rejecting the imperfection, (2) Blending of realities, (3) It's not a loop; it's a spiral: The changing experience, (4) Losing focus, cover blown: Daydreaming's influence on life, (5) It's keeping me alive The healing aspects of daydreaming, (6) I need this to stop: The ongoing struggle to quit. MD appeared to influence the majority of aspects of the Redditors' lives, including a sense of self, motivation, behaviors, and cognitive capabilities (e.g., attention problems). The recollection of unsuccessful attempts to cease daydreaming was highlighted therefore a comparison with behavioral addiction was made. Lack of professional support and reliance on the Reddit community and daydream characters for support were also reported. The results suggest MD may be connected to various consequences that were overlooked in the past (e.g., problems with a sense of identity, motivation, frustration tolerance). Therefore, there is an urgent need for professional interventions that should encompass the multifaceted dimensions of daily functioning impacted by MD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maladaptive daydreaming (MD) is a need to daydream that replaces human interactions and disturbs everyday life. Research suggests that MD can be considered a stress-relief strategy, as a repeating sequence of using imagination may play a significant role in calming oneself down and seeking comfort through escapism and avoidance. The current study explored the relationships between maladaptive daydreaming, coping styles, and frustration intolerance (including discomfort and emotional intolerance) in a general population. The sample was divided into two subgroups: maladaptive daydreamers (MDers) and non-maladaptive daydreamers (non-MDers) based on the cutoff score in the Maladaptive Daydreaming Scale-16 (MDS-16). Three hundred seventeen individuals participated in the study, including 142 MDers. The results showed significantly higher levels of frustration intolerance (U = 9952.00, p <.01) and avoidance-focused strategies (U = 10170.00, p <.01) among the MDers. Non-MDers scored significantly higher on the Emotional support-seeking scale (U = 16117.50, p <.001). Additionally, the network analysis proved differences in the variables' dynamics: only in the MDers network MD exhibited significant edges with avoidant coping (0.05), discomfort intolerance (0.10), entitlement (0.07), and emotional intolerance (0.10). Entitlement was the variable of the highest expected influence in both subgroups studied. The current study proposes clinical implications: as emotional intolerance may serve as an essential factor in maintaining engagement in maladaptive daydreaming, the role of discomfort intolerance and its links to avoidance should be of significant focus in MD therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing from liberation psychology as well as progressive traditions within psychoanalysis, psychoanalytic liberation psychology represents a paradigmatic approach to practice, one that moves away from regressive disciplinary orthodoxies and toward the flows of desire and emotion that characterize emancipatory political spaces. For psychoanalytic liberation psychology, the manner by which fantasy is engaged within anti‐capitalist movements remains, somewhat curiously, under‐considered. In this article, I reflect on my work with a South African social movement to flesh out some of the progressive and regressive valances of fantasy in the context of social movement building. Specifically, I consider how psychoanalytic liberation psychology may and may not be of use to anti‐capitalist resistance movement actors whose political activity is undergirded by a bricolage of fantasies, breakdowns in fantasy, and holding reality accountable to liberatory fantasies. I conclude by speculating what fantasy might mean for future psychoanalytic liberation psychology work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In commercial BDSM sessions, the problems of feminized labor, the myth of modern subjectivity, and the contested status of the sex worker as variably subject or object become the frameworks for erotic play. These problems, which circle around fantasies of objectification and subjectification, are never resolved. Rather, they conflict with one another, and it is the tension engendered through this conflict that invests the session with its erotic charge. Through an ethnographic discussion of three professional dominatrixes and their clients, this article asks how transgressive investments in sociohistorical fantasies of objectification as well as the ambivalence of psychosexual processes of objectification get enacted in BDSM sessions. When dominatrixes play with these fantasies, they leverage the ambivalences in both their own and their clients' drives for becoming subjects and becoming objects in order to play with--and even derive pleasure from--objectification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores Ilyenkov's conception of imagination as it is expressed in his writings on aesthetics and in his 1968 book Ob idolakh i idealakh (Of Idols and Ideals). Ilyenkov deemed imagination and creativity to be central to the character of distinctively human forms of mental activity. After examining the many different contexts in which Ilyenkov sees imagination at work—from the most basic operations of perception to the expression of artistic and scientific genius—I bring his ideas into dialogue with the account of imagination developed in Vygotsky's writings. I argue that, though there are significant differences, their respective approaches are complementary. Both see imagination not simply as a vehicle of fantasy, but as intimately involved in disclosing reality. Moreover, both thinkers are reluctant to cast imagination as a discrete mental function on a par with reason, memory, will, etc. Imagination, rather, is critical to the way in which mental functions express themselves. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of whether children can be taught to be creative and imaginative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this research is to examine the impact of reading storybooks and the presence of different characters such as humans, animals, and fantasy characters in storybooks on children's costly sharing behaviour. A total of 235 children participated in the study. The children were presented with 20 stickers and were asked to choose their 10 favourites. They were then instructed to share as many stickers as they wanted from their chosen 10. The children randomly assigned to following storybook conditions: human, anthropomorphic (animal-like), fantasy characters and a neutral storybook group. After reading the stories, the costly sharing procedure was repeated. As a result, increase in sharing rates from pre-test to post-test, it was determined that the highest increase occurred in children who listened to a storybook with human characters. The increase in costly sharing behaviour of children who listened to the storybook with human characters was significantly higher than the change in the costly sharing behaviour of children who listened to anthropomorphic and neutral storybooks. The increase in sharing behaviour of children who listened to fantasy character storybooks was significantly higher than that of children who listened to neutral storybooks. No other differences were observed among the groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Breaking the demand chain for sex from minors would render supply worthless, contributing to the elimination of commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC). Using a novel sampling technique, this study reports on actual and potential adult customers of CSEC in two areas in Kathmandu (n = 466). Controlling for refusal conversion, age, education, and income, higher scores on a new Love-Fantasy Scale (LFS) were associated with increased odds of purchasing sex from young girls, as were patriarchal norms emphasizing the power of men. Further research is needed to design interventions that include aspects related to sexual fantasy for young girls to combat demand for CSEC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the symbolic and discursive effects of the "final boss" trope in speculative and fantasy games. In contrast to our own world, the rulers, kings, and presidents of speculative games are often the most powerful individuals personally or physically, not just systemically. I employ political theorists Claude Lefort and Eric Santner to argue that the utilization of this trope allows audiences to safely engage with tensions and uncomfortable affects which are inherent to life in a democracy. Fighting bosses which are both monarch and the most powerful of their faction allows audiences to smooth frustrations with the symbolic and discursive chaos which often pervades democratic life. I examine one boss, Godrick the Grafted of Elden Ring, as a particularly fascinating example of this dynamic. I employ close readings of character dialogue and design to argue that such games serve a more concretized political function than scholars have identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Immortality has been an enduring human desire, and certainly one that British novelists in the late century engaged with. H. Rider Haggard was one such novelist, and in his sensational She: A History of Adventure he raises the possibility of transcending human conceptions of time through the titular Ayesha, whose existence represents both an existential threat to the British way of life and a seductive fantasy. Although initially illegible to the explorers who encounter her, through her bodily destruction Ayesha, and the scale of time that she stands for in the text, becomes legible, dissolving the fantasy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sexual problems are highly prevalent in postpartum period. This study aimed to review educational programs and counseling models which had addressed the postpartum sexual health. This narrative review was written based on the SANDRA checklist. A comprehensive search was performed in the international databases (PubMed, Scopus, Embase, WebofScience, ProQuest, Cochrane Library) and Google Scholar, until June-2021. After screening the title and abstract of the observational and interventional articles whose aim was in line with our study(n = 5,758), the texts of 37 articles were fully studied and, finally, 7 articles were selected. Four articles introduced sexual education programs and three articles were about the sexual counseling models (PLISSIT, BETTER, REDI). Sexual education and sexual counseling had 3-7 and 4-6 sessions respectively. They focused on the increasing of sexual knowledge, correction of misconceptions, Kegel exercises, common sexual problems, and appropriate solutions for them. Sex education can improve sexual function by increasing awareness about genital anatomy and sexual response cycle; sexual counseling can also improve sexual function by providing strategies such as the use of lubricants, increased foreplay time, sexual fantasies, and promotion of marital intimacy by expressing sexual feelings and conversations. Present summary of the structure and components of sexual educational/counseling models can empower health care providers in providing postpartum sexual services. Postpartum sexual problems are highly prevalent. Present summary of the components of educational/counseling models can empower health care providers in providing evidence-based postnatal sexual services. They emphasized the increase of sexual knowledge, correction of misconceptions, Kegel exercises, identification of postpartum sexual problems, and provision of solutions for them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although stories for children often feature supernatural and fantastical events, children themselves often prefer realistic events when choosing what should happen in a story. In two experiments, we investigated whether 3- to 5-year-olds (total N = 240 from diverse backgrounds) might be more likely to include fantastical events in stories about familiar fantasy characters. In Experiment 1, children saw stories about fantasy or real-world characters (e.g., a mermaid or an ordinary woman) and judged whether they would achieve goals using fantastic or realistic methods. Children were more likely to choose fantastic methods for the fantasy characters, and this tendency was more common in older children. In Experiment 2, children were asked yes/no questions about whether characters could use fantastic, realistic, and unusual methods to achieve goals. Children more often affirmed fantastic methods for fantasy than real-world characters. These findings contrast with previous work suggesting children avoid including fantastic events in fiction and suggest that children use precedent and familiarity to decide what can happen in a story. Public Significance Statement: This work helps us better understand how children see stories. Much previous work has found that young children are surprisingly prone to including realistic events in stories, even though so much of the fiction they encounter is fantastical. Our findings suggest children are more likely to include fantastic elements in stories when the stories are about familiar fantastic characters like fairies and superheroes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While in training, the author had the impression that interpretations of deep, unconscious content, unknown to the patient, and that would surprise him, was the only mutative interpretation. However, his attempt to work in this way most often lead to therapeutic impasses. Following Freud’s structural model led to a different approach, where the unconscious resistances of the ego needed to be worked through as a means of reaching unconscious fantasies in a way that recognized the dangers patients experienced when facing unmetabolized unconscious fantasies and feelings. Although Freud’s (1923b) The Ego and the Id laid the framework for working through unconscious resistances to approach unconscious fantasies more safely, Freud remained ambivalent towards this approach throughout his writings (Busch, 1992; Gray, 1982; Paniagua, 2001). It was the work of these latter authors who described a way of working through unconscious resistances and later an entire approach that focused on the role of the ego in psychoanalytic technique [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Paraphilia is a condition in which the sexual excitement relies on fantasizing and/or participating in unusual sexual behaviors although the line between "normal" and "abnormal" has been disputed. The project aimed to explore which sexual fantasies and behaviors are common and uncommon in the general population. Furthermore, the relationship between sexual fantasies, sexual behaviors, and problematic pornography consumption was examined. Finally, the impact of gender was assessed. Analyses were conducted on a sample of 139 participants. Correlations were found between fantasies, behaviors, and problematic pornography consumption. Furthermore, gender differences were found for both sexual fantasies and problematic pornography consumption. Finally, multiple regression revealed that age, gender [Men], fantasies, and behaviors were significant predictor of problematic pornography consumption. Those findings are in-line with previous studies which highlighted that the threshold to consider a sexual practice as being abnormal needs to be reconsidered on the basis of self-reported fantasies and behaviors in the general population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes an intersubjective journey between an analyst and her patient, a woman beset by a lifelong fear that she is actually a robot, not a human being. Alienated from the human world, the woman sustained her sense of self by creating emotional ties to fantasy selfobjects. The patient is saved by these ties and undone by them too. On the one hand, these connections carry her striving for health and stability. On the other, they shield her from what she most longs for—the warmth of a human heart. Interactions between her and her analyst reveal the grip of a powerful unconscious organizing principle: She must cleanse herself of feelings and serve the master. Claiming her place as a human among humans rests on her liberation from this horrifying belief. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Throughout his lectures and published writings on anthropology, Kant describes a form of unintentional, unstructured, obscure, and pleasurable imaginative mental activity, which he calls fantasy (Phantasie), where we 'take pleasure in letting our mind wander about in obscurity' (LA 25:480). In the context of his pragmatic anthropology, Kant is concerned not only to describe this form of mental activity as a fact of human psychology, but more importantly, to criticize and discourage it. But must we share Kant's negative evaluation? Could fantasy play a positive role in some kinds of experience? In this paper I first reconstruct Kant's conception of fantasy, and then consider what role fantasy might play in aesthetic experience. Precisely because of his anxieties about fantasy, Kant is careful to distinguish between the lawless freedom of the imagination in fantasy and the 'free lawfulness' of the imagination in aesthetic judgment. Departing from Kant, and with help from Susan Sontag, I argue that certain aesthetic objects, especially certain works of modernist art, positively invite fantasy, making fantasy part of proper aesthetic appreciation. I conclude by suggesting that while fantasy can indeed play a positive role in aesthetic appreciation, there is still reason to regard fantasy as 'normatively ambiguous'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

»I want to grow into the sky, but that could destroy the world.« Psychotherapeutic treatment of a traumatized child in the field of tension between stabilization and structural change This paper describes the therapist's approach with a traumatized and psychologically already prestressed boy and reflects on it based on various theoretical concepts. The structural weaknesses of the patient appeared in the play in the fragility of the symbolization ability and the pretend mode. Strong feelings of anxiety and confusion, perceptible in the countertransference, as well as the presence of defense mechanisms such as splitting, idealization, omnipotence or dissociation, demand to a greater extent the therapist's container function. Therefore, at the beginning of the treatment, an initial phase served to stabilize the patient. Only gradually, after a good working alliance was established, a clearer confrontation with the fears became possible. Instead of being left alone with it, the patient found in therapy a language, images, space. Thus, the patient was able to reduce his omnipotent control and the transformation of stressful fantasies and feelings also developed in the relationship with the therapist. A gradual integration and de-idealization became possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Estudios de Filosofía is the property of Universidad de Antioquia, Instituto de Filosofia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Revista de Filosofía UIS is the property of Universidad Industrial de Santander and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article titled "Commentary on Morbid Identification: Traumatizing Transgenerational Communication" analyzes the importance of the external world in psychoanalysis and how it permeates the unconscious, generating ways of living that can deviate from health and trap individuals in illness and suffering. The influence of morbid identifications in intergenerational transmission is highlighted, as well as how traumatic aspects can be transmitted from parents to children through projective identification. The work of analysis allows for the reliving and understanding of these early aspects in order to disidentify from them and exit the world of strange fantasies in which patients find themselves. [Extracted from the article]

We tend to think of money as concrete and simple, a thing, but in fact it is multi‐faceted and complex, more symbolic than actual. In the modern world it has come to take such a variety of forms that economists can no longer define it. On the other hand, our reliance on it causes us to invest it with a stability it does not and, probably, cannot have. Our ideas about money are, essentially, social defenses, and the money we think we have in our pockets or in our bank accounts is based on widely shared fantasies. The anxieties underlying these defenses spring from two sources: awareness that money's fixed values are unreliable, unable to protect us from loss, and an opposite irrational optimism about its capacity to grow magically. This paper suggests that the understanding psychoanalysis can offer about such common fantasies inextricably woven around money can provide the groundwork for an interdisciplinary collaboration with economics and the social sciences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sexual imagination hypothesis predicts that gender differences in jealousy emerge from the differences in explicit imagination between men and women. In particular, men strongly respond to partners' sexual infidelity because they can imagine sexual stimuli explicitly. In contrast, women strongly respond to emotional infidelity because they can effortlessly envision emotional infidelity. We hypothesised that higher sexual and romantic imaginations were associated with greater distress over partners' sexual and emotional infidelity, respectively. Participants (226 women and 135 men) answered questions regarding experiences with personal sexual and emotional infidelity and the degree of distress they felt over their partners' sexual and emotional infidelity. They completed the scales for sexual and romantic imaginations. Multiple regression analyses showed that the sexual imagination hypothesis provided a unique explanation for gender differences in jealousy beyond the effects of gender, including relationship experience and experiences with personal sexual and emotional infidelity. Additionally, individuals with relationship experience and experiences with personal sexual and emotional infidelity reported higher sexual and romantic imaginations than those without such experiences. Furthermore, our findings imply that responses to partners' infidelity, considering gender, are more similar than different. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article compares representations of soccer fanship in two Argentine films. It makes the claim that the representation of football fanship can be read as desire or jouissance depending on their historical and political context of production. Following Slavoj Žižek's concept of ideological fantasy, the article claims that these two films stage the relationship between the symbolic and imaginary registers as they operate to construct the reality that masks the real of the fans' desire in their given historical and political contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Namık Kemal Tıp Dergisi is the property of Galenos Yayinevi Tic. LTD. STI and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This research draws on shattered assumptions theory and fantasy realization theory to underscore how abrupt changes in worldview could turn into a quest for new kinds of voyages. It proposes a model leading from meaning search to travel intention through the mediation of travel motivation and involvement. The moderations of COVID worry and loneliness are also examined. It further articulates that COVID worry and loneliness can further activate tourists' mental contrasting strategies to negotiate their quest for life/world meaning. This mechanism offers new insights into how tourists' goal pursuit through travelling can be strengthened or weakened. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study introduces the concept of joint fantasizing into narrative criminology. Joint fantasizing is presented as a conceptual and methodological innovation because it allows for the exploration of fantasies, a type of narrative capable of conveying highly important content, often unattainable through other means. It does so in a collective and shared manner, minimizing the researcher's presence, thereby improving the ecological validity of individual interviews, widely used in narrative criminology. By analyzing joint fantasizing that emerge from interactions among four men who comprise a motor vehicle theft group, the analysis identifies the functions of joint fantasizing within a criminal context, categorizing them as 'Formation of Subcultural Narratives,' 'Escapism and Catharsis,' and 'Symbolic Resistance and Moral superiority.' By delving into the multifaceted dimensions of joint fantasizing, this study aims to suggest a novel conceptual and methodological framework and contribute valuable insights into the identities, values, motivations of individuals within the criminal landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article proposes a new approach to the nature of a core set within fantasy fiction that regards it as a speculative literature of the exploration of subjectivity, one which at its limit conjectures fresh possibilities for the subjective world. To motivate acceptance of this proposed approach, I begin by surveying the existing state of debate in the critical field. I notice the emergence of widening agreement on the idea that fantasy is a literature of the impossible. I then develop the logical implications of this widening agreement in the critical field, arguing that it entails a representational definition of fantasy literature, which implies a modal approach to the core set that defines this literary order. I suggest that the marvellous mode, the kind of writing which represents the impossible, is a broad class that includes other speculative literatures, and that what differentiates these is the referential world within which the impossible happens. The aim here is to break up monolithic conceptions of the impossible, while pointing to a motivation for developing an understanding of the specificity of a core set of fantasy texts that proceeds by way of contrasts. After explaining why I am extremely skeptical about the definition of science fiction as a "literature of the possible", I probe descriptions of the difference between fantasy and sci-fi. I propose that whereas some science fiction is a literature of conjectural objectivity, guided by the "cognitive novum", a significant group of fantasy texts is a literature of speculative subjectivity, guided by an "affective novum". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Daydreaming may contribute to the maintenance of grandiose delusions. Repeated, pleasant and vivid daydreams about the content of grandiose delusions may keep the ideas in mind, elaborate the details, and increase the degree of conviction in the delusion. Pleasant daydreams more generally could contribute to elevated mood, which may influence the delusion content. Aims: We sought to develop a brief questionnaire, suitable for research and clinical practice, to assess daydreaming and test potential associations with grandiosity. Method: 798 patients with psychosis (375 with grandiose delusions) and 4518 non-clinical adults (1788 with high grandiosity) were recruited. Participants completed a daydreaming item pool and measures of grandiosity, time spent thinking about the grandiose belief, and grandiose belief conviction. Factor analysis was used to derive the Qualities of Daydreaming Scale (QuOD) and associations were tested using pairwise correlations and structural equation modelling. Results: The questionnaire had three factors: realism, pleasantness, and frequency of daydreams. The measure was invariant across clinical and non-clinical groups. Internal consistency was good (alpha-ordinals: realism=0.86, pleasantness=0.93, frequency=0.82) as was test–retest reliability (intra-class coefficient=0.75). Daydreaming scores were higher in patients with grandiose delusions than in patients without grandiose delusions or in the non-clinical group. Daydreaming was significantly associated with grandiosity, time spent thinking about the grandiose delusion, and grandiose delusion conviction, explaining 19.1, 7.7 and 5.2% of the variance in the clinical group data, respectively. Similar associations were found in the non-clinical group. Conclusions: The process of daydreaming may be one target in psychological interventions for grandiose delusions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Queerfeminist strategies in the reconstruction of memories, such as performative uses of fantasy in (auto)biographical (non)fiction texts, can bring out what has been repressed by androcentric narratives of History. Through memory dispositives, which trigger frictions between past and present, fiction and reality, creators manage to confront trauma. This is illustrated by close reading two works dealing with (post)memories of the Spanish Civil War and Franco's dictatorship: Carmen Martín Gaite's novel El cuarto de atrás (1978) and Maite García Ribot's documentary film Cartas a María (2015). While Martín Gaite navigates through her own fictionalized memories, García Ribot reconstructs her grandfather's exile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dany Laferrière has demonstrated a continuous engagement with Japan, beginning with the novel Éroshima in 1987 and continuing to his most recent publication in 2021, Sur la route avec Bashō. The aim of this article is to understand what role Japan plays within Laferrière's writing and how it helps us understand the complex network of sex, power, and race in his work. Between the cosmopolitanism of the network of nation-states and the despair of identity politics, I situate Laferrière's use of Japan as a fantasy that empowers the writer beyond the impasse of a white-black racial imaginary. Reading Laferrière this way allows us to understand how his writing uses the fantasy of the Orient, often to the detriment of Asian women. As such it contributes to comparative work between Asian and French literatures, debates in Francophonie, and critical understandings of race in the Francophone sphere of the Americas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Previous research has presented varying perspectives on the potential effect of screen media use among preschoolers. In this study, we systematically reviewed experimental studies that investigated how pacing and fantasy features of TV programs affect children's attention and executive functions (EFs). Methods: A systematic search was conducted across eight online databases to identify pertinent studies published until August 2023. We followed the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis) guidelines. Results: Fifteen papers involving 1855 participants aged 2–7 years fulfilled all the inclusion criteria for this review and were entered into the narrative synthesis. Despite the challenge of reaching general conclusions and encountering conflicting outcomes, a nuanced analysis reveals distinct patterns within various subgroups. The impact of pacing on attention is discernible, particularly in bottom-up attention processes, although the nature of this effect remains contradictory. Conversely, consistent findings emerge regarding top-down attention, suggesting any impact. Moreover, a subgroup analysis of different EF components yields valuable insights, highlighting the negative effect of fantasy on inhibitory control within the EF framework. Conclusion: The complexity of these outcomes highlights the need for further research, considering factors such as content, child-specific characteristics, environmental factors, and methodological approaches. These findings collectively emphasize the necessity of conducting more comprehensive and detailed research, especially in terms of the underlying mechanisms and their impact on brain function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Each of the functions of fantasy described by J. R. R. Tolkien in his essay "On Fairy‐Stories" can be reframed through affordance theory into a kind of re‐visioning. Such re‐visioning is comparable to the formalist notion of defamiliarization or the science fiction technique that Darko Suvin called "cognitive estrangement." Whereas science fiction projects alternative futures, fantasy's affordances allow writers to generate alternative worldviews grounded in real or invented mythic pasts. The initial move away from claiming to imitate reality allows fantasy writers to project inner experience onto an outer storyworld (there is no pathetic fallacy in fantasy), to depict multiple contradictory selves (housed within a single body or spread out over several characters), and to invite readers to consider alternatives to commonsense assumptions and seemingly inevitable social orders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the emotional appeal of Nazi propaganda from a psychoanalytic point of view. A shared ideological narrative connecting to unconscious fantasies within a large group psychology are utilized to explain this emotional appeal in the context of an intersubjective leader‐audience relationship. A narrative of narcissistic revenge, apocalyptic battle, and utopian unity and purification are explored utilizing speeches of Hitler as examples of ideological transmission. Prophesizing the extermination of the Jews of Europe is understood as integral to the emotional appeal of Nazi propaganda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While most discussions of Tolkien's 'On Fairy-stories' in light of Romanticism deal with his supposed debt (or reaction) to Coleridge's "suspension of disbelief," other recognizably Romantic tenets may be discovered in Tolkien's essay. This essay examines three: (1) the philological relations of the words imagination, fancy, and fantasy; (2) the relation of poetic creation to God's (Tolkien's subcreation); and (3) poetry's power of "removing the veil" (Gk. kalymma) from reality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Alexithymia is characterized by difficulties identifying and describing feelings but expression of externally oriented thinking (EOT) and difficulty fantasizing is more variable. In two studies, we investigated whether links between EOT and fantasizing are mediated by sensory processing sensitivity (SPS). Methods: University students completed measures of alexithymia, SPS, and fantasizing. Results: In Study 1 (N = 700) we identified two clusters of SPS traits: a positive facet (sensitivity to subtle stimuli) and a negative facet (sensitivity to uncomfortable stimuli). In the 499 participants who completed the fantasy measure, low EOT scores predicted stronger SPS positive and negative traits, which predicted a stronger tendency to mentally project oneself into the lives of characters in books, movies, and plays. In Study 2 (N = 600), the link between EOT and this same fantasizing tendency was again mediated by features of SPS--in this case fantasy proneness and emotional reactivity. Discussion: We suggest that, whereas individuals who score high on EOT have an impoverished fantasy life, those who score relatively low on EOT and turn their attention inward are able to maintain stronger representations of imagined events in working memory (enhancing the likelihood that they will be recalled) and react more strongly to these events (enhancing their salience). Stronger expression of these features of SPS, in turn, increases the likelihood that one will develop a cognitive style that involves the application of imagery-based strategies to support deep processing of the thoughts and feelings of characters depicted in narratives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay argues for the primacy of energy as an impetus in the writing of the Sudanese author al-Tayyib Salih. Taking his most famous novel, موسم الهجرة إلى الشمال (1966; Mawsim al-hijra ilā al-shimāl ; Season of Migration to the North), as a case study, it explores the significance of climatic factors and of changes to energy regimes in the novel's plot, characterization, intertextuality, and postcolonial critique. Through the character of Mustafa Saʿid, it argues for a posthuman impulse in the novel, as Mustafa uncannily transforms from Faustian archetype to a fantastical, nonhuman force. It concludes by shifting to alternative forms of energy within Salih's writing, as the spiritual energy of the Sufi "unseen" meets the unheeding world of atoms, supercharged with new energies in the modern era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay traces the emergence of Anthropocene fantasy through an analysis of three multivolume series—George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire, Robin Hobb's Realm of the Elderlings, and N. K. Jemisin's The Broken Earth. Each of these series repurposes the conventions of epic fantasy to analyze the ideological underpinnings of anthropogenic crisis. Among the most important tropes revised are fantasy infrastructures, which, in Anthropocene fantasy, frequently manifest a problematic division between the human and the nonhuman. Consequently, characters' responses to these infrastructures often reflect these novels' ecological politics. The surrender of agency associated with the abandonment of ancient infrastructures further indicates Anthropocene fantasy's interest in reimagining the individualistic mode of human agency that drives so many novel plotlines, fantasy and realist alike. Anthropocene fantasy's revision of its own problematic genre infrastructures thus has implications not only for the epic fantasy but for the novel form more broadly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To contribute to studies on upper classes' self-justification, in this article, we aim to develop a perspective to explore how the increasingly wealthy upper classes seek to morally justify themselves in the realm of politics. Drawing on Norbert Elias's work, we suggest that amid the current economic and technological turbulence, the wealthy upper classes form dynamic wealth elite figurations that devise shared symbolics and programmes to coordinate and justify their political interests. By drawing on 90 interviews with the top 0.1% earners in Finland, we trace how old and new money – heirs to large family businesses, high-end corporate executives and up-and-coming nouveau riche entrepreneurs – craft, in Elias's terms, an establishment fantasy as a melange of moral goods to justify the upper classes' political views in an egalitarian society. The fantasy serves as a banner uniting the wealthy and supporting their societal interests. In the fantasy, the top earners resemble a resolute vanguard with a reformatory programme that utilises the strong bonds of we-ness in egalitarian Nordic solidarity while simultaneously questioning the core features of the Nordic welfare model to the advantage of the wealthiest stratum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on the creative group and individual interviews with young people aged 11–18 years old in England and Wales in 2018, this paper assembles data that addresses the changing nature of intimacies in young people's digitally-networked lives. Informed by Lauren Berlant's work (2008, viii), it maps how platforms such as Instagram and YouTube circulate certain 'fantasies of the good life' that orient young people towards heteronormative future imaginaries. It argues that publicising intimate relationships on social media works to both reify and unsettle fantasies of monogamy, marriage and domesticity by highlighting their inherent precarity. It also illustrates how smart technologies such as the virtual personal assistants Alexa and Siri reconfigure the good life fantasy. Moving beyond simplistic moral panics that seek to discipline young people's digital intimacies, this paper aims to engage with the nuances of young people's digital sexual cultures. Overall, this paper argues that attending to this complexity can enable practitioners to better attune to and support young people to navigate contemporary digital relationships and sexuality issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gordon Campbell's book, "Norse America: The Story of a Founding Myth," explores the belief that the Norse were the first Europeans to reach and settle North America. Campbell examines the evidence and arguments put forth to support this idea, highlighting the role of Protestant Europeans in promoting a pre-Columbian Viking America to supplant the importance of Indigenous peoples. He also exposes the fabrication of physical evidence and misinterpretation of texts and remains that have contributed to the myth of a Norse history in America. Campbell's book emphasizes the importance of critical evaluation of evidence and the recognition of Indigenous contributions to the continent. [Extracted from the article]

Despite growing evidence demonstrating the psychotherapeutic potential of reading and writing poetry for various mental health problems, there remains limited evidence in relation to psychosis. This paper explores the therapeutic potential of poetry for psychosis by exploring the narratives of people with experience of psychosis who read and write poetry and people who are using poetry therapeutically within their practice. Nineteen participants were recruited to the research and data was collected via narrative interviews. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed, and subjected to Labovian narrative analysis. Four themes were identified: i) the unsayable becoming sayable; ii) poetry supporting discovery, play and meaning making; iii) relational expression through poetry; and iv) poetry and recovery. The research offers a poetic window into the way in which we might begin to understand the language of psychosis and the interpersonal communication challenge therein. The authors propose the concept of the "poetic wavelength" which can inform the education of practitioners who are working with people who experience psychosis. Understanding the "Poetic Wavelength" offers an alternative form of meaning making, developing the capacity of practitioners in being able to accurately detect emotional states, and to respond accordingly, ultimately improving the experience of service users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Experiencing victimization or mistreatment often induces feelings of anger. The catharsis hypothesis suggests that venting anger may aid in alleviating these negative emotions. Although this hypothesis has faced criticism, therapeutic interventions rooted in catharsis are employed to assist victims in managing their anger. One notable application of the catharsis principle in psychotherapeutic practice with victims involves engaging in aggressive fantasies: Victims who harbor aggressive fantasies against their offenders are supported in working with these fantasies to navigate the complex emotions arising from their victimization. Research investigating the effects of aggressive fantasizing on victims has yielded inconsistent findings, with some studies indicating positive and others suggesting negative outcomes. Herein, we examine whether (instructed) aggressive fantasizing diminishes (catharsis hypothesis) or heightens (escalation hypothesis) subsequent aggressive inclinations compared to non‐aggressive fantasizing. Additionally, the moderating role of victims' dispositional tendencies to express anger, specifically Anger Expression‐out and Anger Expression‐control, in the relationship between aggressive fantasizing and aggressive inclinations was examined. We recruited individuals (N = 245) who had experienced victimization through highly unfair treatment and instructed them to imagine confronting their wrongdoer using either aggressive or non‐aggressive communication. Participants then reported their aggressive inclinations. Data supported the escalation hypothesis, revealing that aggressive fantasizing amplifies subsequent aggressive inclinations. Importantly, individuals with higher Anger Expression‐out demonstrated greater susceptibility to this effect; whereas, Anger Expression‐control did not moderate the link between aggressive fantasizing and inclinations. These findings further challenge the catharsis hypothesis and underscore the role of dispositional anger expression tendencies on the effects of aggressive fantasizing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides an interdisciplinary and intersectional analysis of sex robots and/as sexual fantasy. I demonstrate that sexual fantasy is a highly complex and salient vector of analysis for any discussion of love and sex with robots. First, I introduce contemporary North American sex robots and offer a brief sketch of their ontology as relates to sex toys and pornography. Next, I provide a short but instructive mapping of sexual fantasy scholarship from across the fields of experimental psychology, media and cultural studies, post-colonial, psychoanalytic, feminist, queer and critical race theory. My goal here is to demonstrate sexual fantasy's polymorphous and productive nature and its complex relationship to reality. Drawing on the theories of sexual fantasy canvassed herein, I examine the role of fantasy to sex robots' inception, marketing, and consumption. From here I offer an appraisal of radical feminist, new materialist, and disabled queer and trans feminists' critiques of sex robots and their users. I argue that theorizing sex robots through the lens(es) of sexual fantasy is necessary given efforts to stigmatize, regulate, and criminalize sexual fantasy and sextech users in the post/digital age. Future scholarship is encouraged to further examine the sex robot/sexual fantasy nexus and to consider whether and how their intersections impede or facilitate the development of alternative "networks of affection" including those that lie between the platonic and romantic or between "carbonsexuality" and technosexuality/digisexuality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Creative thinking is the ability to generate novel ideas, make unique connections, and approach problems and challenges in innovative and imaginative ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The traditional Laing–Giddens paradigm views ontological insecurity as an unusual mental state triggered by critical situations and characterized by feelings of anxiety, disorientation and paralysis. However, theories inspired by Lacan suggest a different perspective, stating that ontological insecurity is not an exception but rather a regular state of mind. Similarly, ontological security is a fantasy stemming from the desire to fill the primordial lack, thus fuelling agency. While these Lacanian interpretations have introduced a fresh viewpoint into Ontological Security Studies (OSS), they have not fully incorporated one of the key concepts from Lacanian psychoanalysis – the object-cause of desire (French: objet petit a) – into international relations theory. In this article, we present a framework of how to conceptualize and empirically study the objects-cause of desire in world politics. Our arguments are exemplified in a case study of Serbia's resistance to Kosovo's UNESCO membership in 2015. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]