Human Cloning in Film: Horror,Ambivalence, Hope

Abstract

Fictional filmic representations of human cloning have shifted in relation to the 1997 announcement of the birth of Dolly the cloned sheep, and since therapeutic human cloning became a scientific practice in the early twentieth century. The operation and detail of these shifts can be seen through an analysis of the films The Island and Aeon Flux . These films provide a site for the examination of how these changes in human cloning from fiction to practice, and from horror to hope, have been represented and imagined, and how these distinctions have operated visually in fiction, and in relation to genre.     

Don't Tease Me: Effects of Ending Type on Horror Film Enjoyment

This experimental study explores the influence of horror film ending type on audience enjoyment. Four horror films were manipulated to create versions with traditional endings (endings in which the evil/antagonist is destroyed) or teaser endings (endings in which the evil/antagonist revives). Analysis explored differences in the preferences for ending type based on watcher motivations. Results suggest that viewers, particularly viewers highly motivated by gore or thrill factors, rated traditional endings more favorably than teaser endings, although seemingly for different reasons.     

Children's Emotional Reactions to a Scary Film The Role of Prior Outcome Information and Coping Style

An experiment examined the influence of happy outcome information and coping style on children's emotional responses to a frightening film sequence. Fourth and fifth graders viewed a program that included a threatening scene and a happy resolution. Before viewing, they heard an audiotaped introduction that either described the happy outcome or did not. Children's preferred coping style was classified as blunting or monitoring, using Miller's Child Behavioral Style Scale. Hypotheses were derived from theory and research on emotion, responses to suspense, and self-regulation processes. Consistent with expectations, prior knowledge of the happy outcome reduced self-reported fear and worry for Hunters but not for monitors. Regardless of coping style, outcome information reduced children's facial expressions of fear and increased positive affect during the conclusion of the show. Interpretations of the findings, as well as implications for understanding emotional responses to mass media, are discussed.     

Prior Trauma Exposure for Youth in Treatment Foster Care

Very little research has focused on rates of trauma exposure for youth in treatment foster care (TFC). Available research has utilized record review for assessing exposure, which presents limitations for the range of trauma types examined, as records are predominantly focused on abuse and neglect. The current study examines exposure rates and association with emotional and behavioral outcomes for 229 youth in 46 TFC agencies. The youth in this study had exceptionally high rates of trauma exposure by foster parent report, similar to youth in traditional foster care, with nearly half of the sample exposed to four or more types of traumatic events. A composite child abuse and neglect exposure variable was associated with child and adolescent emotional and behavioral outcomes. Implications for services provided as part of TFC are discussed.     

Forewarning of a Threat and Prior Knowledge of Outcome Effects on Children's Emotional Responses to a Film Sequence

An experiment examined the influence of prior information on children's emotional responses to a frightening program. Children at two age levels (5–7 and 9–11 years) viewed a program that included a threatening scene and a happy resolution. Before viewing, they heard one of four audiotaped introductions created by factorially varying information about the threat (forewarning, no forewarning) and the happy outcome (prior knowledge, no prior knowledge). Emotional responses were assessed through self-reports, facial expressions (coded using hard's Affex coding scheme), and skin temperature (as an index of physiological arousal). Self-reports of emotion revealed that forewarning of the threat increased anticipatory fear but did not affect emotional responses to the threatening scene. Prior knowledge of the happy outcome tended to reduce anticipatory fear but had a somewhat inconsistent effect on fear during the threatening scene. Changes in skin temperature over time were consistent with predictions, but no effects of the manipulations emerged for facial expressions of negative affect. Expected age differences were not observed for either type of prior information. Responses to the happy outcome were also examined. Children's reports of coping strategies and the results of manipulation checks were considered in interpreting the findings.     

Transportation Across Media: Repeated Exposure to Print and Film

“Transportation into a narrative world” is a state of immersion into a story (Green & Brock, 2000 Green, M. C. and Brock, T. C. 2000. The role of transportation in the persuasiveness of public narratives. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79(5): 701–721. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Transportation entails imagery, emotional response, and attentional focus. Two studies investigated whether transportation was affected by the medium of story presentation, especially when the narrative was experienced for a second time (e.g., watching the movie version of a previously read story). Study 1 (N = 88) showed that people who read a novel before viewing the film version were more transported into the film compared to nonreaders. In Study 2 (N = 71) participants came to the lab on two separate occasions to either read a passage or watch a movie clip. Reading followed by watching provided the greatest transportation. Furthermore, high need for cognition individuals were more transported when reading, whereas low need for cognition individuals were more transported when watching a narrative.     

On Becoming Creatures: Being Called to Presence in a Distracted World

In the biblical creation story human beings are depicted as beings ejected from the true home given to them in creation and entrapped in the dynamics of their flight from God. Franz Rosenzweig suggested that modern life is best understood as a type of chronic living death characterized by an animate but nevertheless sterile experience of loss. Following Eric Santner's presentation of this theme in Rosenzweig, this article will explore what it might mean to recover a sense of the goodness of place and particularity. I will examine Santner's suggestion that to become present to ‘place’ is to have undergone the ‘undeadening’ intervention of another person, who offers us an exit route in the midst of the tangle of our lived lives. I will then show how the main lines of his analysis both parallel and offer ways to sharpen important aspects of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's account in Creation and Fall of the dynamics of the Fall and the healing of creatures. Human beings are depicted by Bonhoeffer as in need of being transformed into creatures, a theological insight resting on a complex account of creation, and which I will suggest, in conclusion, is a particularly important theme of a Christian gospel that can speak to a world saturated by the desire to be elsewhere.     

从浪漫派的"存在先于意识"到马克思的"社会存在决定社会意识"

众所周知,启蒙运动导致知识启蒙与理性批判之间产生如下内在矛盾:知识增多的同时,作为生活更高目标的超验价值及意义日益被质疑和消解,启蒙的公众教育也在消解公众美德和审美能力这些启蒙运动自己追求的目标;而且,启蒙运动带来的工业化、世俗化日益把生活分裂为碎片、“散文”,从而使得崇高、本质日益式微,虚无主义日益甚嚣尘上。德国浪漫派试图通过找到更根本的原我来克服之。从后来促生唯物史观这个角度来说,浪漫派对这个作为根本指归的原我的理解,最有意义、最应加以讨论的就是它针对德国唯心主义的“意识先于存在”提出了针锋相对的命题…     

Addressing Dropout From Prolonged Exposure: Feasibility of Involving Peers During Exposure Trials

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a significant problem for combat veterans. Fortunately, effective treatments, such as Prolonged Exposure (PE), are available and widely disseminated in the Veterans Affairs (VA) health-care system. Nonetheless, despite well-documented effectiveness, attrition remains high at approximately 30% across evidence-based interventions. Early studies indicated that dropout was largely related to stigma and logistical barriers (e.g., travel time and cost). However, research demonstrates that eliminating these logistical and stigma-based barriers (e.g., through home-based telemedicine) has little effect on dropout. We surveyed 82 veterans who dropped out of PE treatment regarding reasons for leaving treatment. Approximately half indicated that in vivo homework assignments caused significant problems, and when asked to consider the possibility of peer support during in vivo exposure assignments, 52% indicated that they would consider returning to treatment with such assistance. In response to this feedback, we constructed an in vivo therapy peer support program wherein peers are directly involved with in vivo exposure exercises. The following brief report presents the rationale for, outline of, and initial feasibility data supporting this program to enhance both return to, and completion of, exposure therapy treatment for PTSD.     

Lessons Learned From a Randomized Controlled Pilot Trial Testing an Inhibitory Learning Approach to Exposure in Anxious Youth

Accumulating evidence from basic and translational research indicates that fear extinction may be best explained by principles of “inhibitory learning,” by which prefrontal cortical structures inhibit activity in the amygdala. New guidelines for the clinical practice of exposure therapy have arisen from research on inhibitory learning, but these guidelines have received little empirical testing in clinical samples of youth receiving treatment for anxiety disorders. We investigated the acceptability, feasibility, and initial efficacy of conducting exposure therapy for anxiety disorders in youth according to clinical guidelines developed from basic research on inhibitory learning principles, using a pilot randomized controlled trial design. Thirteen youths (ages 7 to 16) were recruited from a university hospital-based pediatric outpatient clinic to participate in a 9-week treatment study and were randomized to either an inhibitory learning-based exposure condition or a standard exposure condition. Results supported the feasibility and acceptability of an inhibitory learning-based approach to exposure therapy in youth and, despite the small sample size, effect sizes were in favor of the inhibitory learning approach on several measures. Differences between the standard exposure and inhibitory learning conditions are discussed using two case examples. Discussion of results and lessons learned may contribute to changes in clinical guidelines for optimally effective practice of exposure.     

Repeated Exposure to Perceptual Illusion Challenges Reduces Anxiety Sensitivity Cognitive Concerns: Evidence From a Randomized Clinical Trial

BackgroundAnxiety sensitivity cognitive concerns (ASCC), or fear of cognitive dyscontrol sensations, confers risk for anxiety and mood psychopathology. Recent work demonstrated that novel perceptual challenges generated by a head mounted display can elicit fear among those with elevated ASCC. This suggests that interoceptive exposure to perceptual challenges may offer a means to mitigate ASCC. This study was designed to evaluate whether repeated exposure to novel perceptual challenges can reduce ASCC, and if these effects are stronger among those experiencing greater negative emotionality as a proxy for individuals likely to present for treatment.MethodsParticipants with elevated ASCC (N = 57) were randomized to one of three experimental conditions utilizing a head-mounted display. In the rotations condition (n = 20), participants viewed themselves spinning in a circle. In the opposite directions condition (n = 20), participants turned their head while the camera moved in the opposite direction creating dissonance in their visual field. In the control condition (n = 17), participants completed a series of simple arithmetic problems.ResultsParticipants in the rotation condition, relative to control, reported significant reductions in ASCC from pre- to post-exposure and these effects were strongest for those with elevated negative affect. The main effect of the opposite directions exposure on post-treatment ASCC was non-significant, but follow-up analyses revealed that reductions in ASCC were observed among those with elevated negative affectivity.DiscussionPerceptual illusion challenges appear to have utility for reducing ASCC through repeated exposure. There was evidence for the perceptual illusion exercises, particularly the rotations condition, specifically reducing ASCC, making this challenge the first we are aware of that specifically targets ASCC-related concerns.LimitationsAs a proof-of-concept study, the present sample was not recruited for clinically-significant psychopathology, and only a brief follow-up was utilized. Future research should utilize a longer follow-up and test if these exposures mitigate ASCC-relevant psychopathology among clinical samples.     

论"公正"先于"关护"

在应用伦理学的论证过程中,尽管各种不同的伦理学派、道德理论或价值诉求相互差异、彼此竞争,但在当代境遇下,它们都可以归溯为一个以凸显人权原则为特征的共同的道德视点。换言之,在诉诸一个根基性的价值诉求———人权理念———方面,它们大体上是一致的。正如哈贝马斯所言:“当宗教与形而上学的世界图景丧失了其普遍约束力时,我们(或者我们的大多数)在向宽容的世界观多元主义过渡之后,既没有变成冷漠的玩世不恭者,也没有变成什么都行的相对主义者,因为我们已经、并且愿意坚守着有关正确或错误的道德判断的二元规则。我们将生活世界及政治…     

制造“恐惧“是为造“神“

李洪志在他的歪理邪说中,从天地、社会到人生,制造了种种“恐惧“论调,其目的就是为了把自己捧到神龛的顶端.……     

Connections From Kafka: Exposure to Meaning Threats Improves Implicit Learning of an Artificial Grammar

ABSTRACT— In the current studies, we tested the prediction that learning of novel patterns of association would be enhanced in response to unrelated meaning threats. This prediction derives from the meaning-maintenance model, which hypothesizes that meaning-maintenance efforts may recruit patterns of association unrelated to the original meaning threat. Compared with participants in control conditions, participants exposed to either of two unrelated meaning threats (i.e., reading an absurd short story by Franz Kafka or arguing against one's own self-unity) demonstrated both a heightened motivation to perceive the presence of patterns within letter strings and enhanced learning of a novel pattern actually embedded within letter strings (artificial-grammar learning task). These results suggest that the cognitive mechanisms responsible for implicitly learning patterns are enhanced by the presence of a meaning threat.     

Fallout From The Day After. The Impact of a TV Film on Attitudes Related to Nuclear War1

A household survey utilizing a quasi-experimental design was undertaken to assess the impact of the TV movie. The Day After, on a number of psychologically and politically important variables such as the salience of the issue of nuclear war and individuals' beliefs about the efficacy of their own political actions in helping to prevent such a war. Respondents were initially surveyed 2 weeks prior to the movie's airing and were resurveyed afterwards. Contrary to the impression conveyed by reports of a number of public opinion polls, which focussed on attitudes toward government policies, we found that The Day After and the surrounding controversy had a substantial impact on many dimensions including the salience of nuclear war, feelings of personal efficacy, affect related to the idea of a nuclear war, intentions to engage in anti-nuclear behavior, estimates of the probability that a nuclear war would occur, and beliefs about the likelihood and desirability of survival. Two general conclusions emerged. First, many of the effects occurred for the entire sample rather than only for those who watched the film, suggesting that the widely publicized controversy that surrounded the movie contributed to its impact. Second, reactions appeared to be depressive in nature. Compared to the pre-airing responses, the post-airing survey found more passive affective reactions to the idea of nuclear war, decreased estimates of the chances of survival, a decreased desire to survive, and a decreased sense of personal efficiacy. Nonetheless, respondents, especially those who watched The Day After, were more likely to intend to engage in antinuclear war activities after the film than before.     

Marital Satisfaction Prior to Couples Therapy

SUMMARY

The author predicted that couples would begin therapy with a high potential for separation or divorce and with one partner significantly more dissatisfied than the other. Using the Index of Marital Satisfaction (Hudson, 1982), 24 couples were studied using a practitioner-researcher model. Although the first hypothesis was not confirmed at the level of prediction, partners were found to be at a level of dissatisfaction close to the predicted levels. A highly significant statistical difference (p = .0001) was observed between the satisfaction levels of the partners in the couples. Based upon the research findings, some clinical wisdom was revised and other beliefs were confirmed.     

On the Perils of Living Dangerously in the Slasher Horror Film: Gender Differences in the Association Between Sexual Activity and Survival

The slasher horror film has been deplored based on claims that it depicts eroticized violence against predominately female characters as punishment for sexual activities. To test this assertion, a quantitative content analysis was conducted to examine the extent to which gender differences are evident in the association between character survival and engagement in sexual activities. Information pertaining to gender, engagement in sexual activities, and survival was coded for film characters from a simple random sample of 50 English-language, North American slasher films released between 1960 and 2009. Results indicated that sexual female characters were less likely to survive and had significantly longer death scenes as compared to those female characters who did not engage in sexual behaviors.