Dødstematikken i nogle H.C. Andersen-texter og relationen til de sociale, sexuelle og skriptuelle traumer
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Betragtninger over litteraturens og litteraturundervisningens funktioner
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Træk i den historiske udvikling i Danmark 1870-1900Pontoppidans emancipatoriske positionerHistoriske problemer i den småborgerlige og borgerlige socialiseringKommunikationsformer og kunstnerrollens degraderingDrømmen om løsrivelse fra... more
Træk i den historiske udvikling i Danmark 1870-1900Pontoppidans emancipatoriske positionerHistoriske problemer i den småborgerlige og borgerlige socialiseringKommunikationsformer og kunstnerrollens degraderingDrømmen om løsrivelse fra markedsunderkastelseBorgerlighed og driftregulering
Research Interests:
Tendenser i nyere fiktionsanalyse: Kommunikation, ekspression og historisering
Research Interests:
Joseph Carroll's target article "An Evolutionary Paradigm for Literary Studies" makes a bold argument for the importance of an evolutionary perspective in the humanities, and it provides a sweeping overview of the literary... more
Joseph Carroll's target article "An Evolutionary Paradigm for Literary Studies" makes a bold argument for the importance of an evolutionary perspective in the humanities, and it provides a sweeping overview of the literary research based on evolutionary theory. Carroll makes important arguments for the necessity of fusing methods and research results from the humanities and the natural sciences and the necessity of combining cognitive and evolutionary perspectives. (I make similar arguments in Embodied Visions.) To build bridges between the sciences and the humanities is a vital project if the humanities are to survive as a scholarly endeavor. Central to Carroll's argument is to reopen the question of Human Nature. Given the way social constructivism in sociology and the humanities has neglected universals based on innate features of human nature, this is a crucially important move. The question of human universals has not been central to the study of fiction since the Structuralist era, and social constructionists have falsely presupposed that the human brain has no innate architecture and is thus infinitely malleable. Carroll argues convincingly that the central themes in literature reflect problems that have been vital to human survival. Further, Carroll's emphasis on universalism avoids an excessive reliance on a fine-grained modularity, and the critique of massive modularity is a convincing argument for the role of culture in establishing universal themes and structures. Carroll also gives an important emphasis to the idea that culture can only be instantiated in individual brains with specific life histories. In short, the target article is a great argument for the value of evolutionary bioculturalism. The most tricky part of the article is the section on the adaptive function of literature, which raises many thorny questions and problems. The central problem in the article is linked to the use of the word "art." Carroll wants both to define "what is peculiar and essential" to art and to identify a specific adaptive problem that this peculiar and essential mental disposition would have fulfilled in ancestral environments. He further wants to identify design features that mediated this adaptive function. The problems derive from the requirement that art should be something peculiar and essential, since such an essentialist definition relies on a rather historically specific understanding of art related to its institutionalization. It makes much more evolutionary sense to see the different activities that we now call art as developed out of a series of adaptations that have provided behavioral flexibility. Activities like storytelling develop in tandem with the radical increase of intelligence and the ability to provide verbal representations of memorized or imagined scenarios. As pointed out by Carroll and E. O. Wilson, whom Carroll cites, flexible intelligence evidently had enormous adaptive advantages. A flexible intelligence even supports inventions of recent art activities like film or video games that run on the old bio-computer developed in the Pleistocene by synthesizing visual, acoustic, and narrative skills. There are no special design features in the brain developed in the EEA (Environment of Evolutionary Adaptedness) and reserved for an art-essence, for instance film art, to be invented many years later. Different arts and different types of a given art activate different mental capacities, and although it is highly probable that we could identify neurological activity typical of a given aesthetic activity, I doubt that it is possible--as Carroll supposes--to identify neural activity specific for aesthetic forms. Art enhances many different activities, from strengthening social bonds to allocating special resources for perceptual activities and thus making certain phenomena special, to borrow Ellen Dissanayake's term for the function of art, or serving as means of strengthening mechanisms for imagining counterfactual situations. …
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
The article discusses the relations between sexual emotions and emotions related to care, and also discusses the question of the function of modesty
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Psychology and Routledge
The paper will analyze how action films use different emotional sources of arousal in order to create narrative tension in the PECMA flow and analyze how different emotions link to each other or contrast each other in what you... more
The paper will analyze how action films use different emotional sources of arousal in order to create narrative tension in the PECMA flow and analyze how different emotions link to each other or contrast each other in what you metaphorically might call an emotion symphony. It will illustrate this by a close analysis of the narrative flow in Die Hard. It will use the neurologist Jaak Panksepp’s (1998, 2012) description of how the human emotions are controlled by seven basic emotional systems, and also use the tool HTTOFF-scenarios, short for hiding, tracking, trapping/being trapped, observing, fighting and fleeing, that describe action patterns shared by all reptiles and mammals.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
In the chapter I will discuss a general theory of comic entertainment. The theory is a general one because it provides a unified account of the different mechanisms in the embodied brain that support and regulate comic entertainment and... more
In the chapter I will discuss a general theory of comic entertainment. The theory is a general one because it provides a unified account of the different mechanisms in the embodied brain that support and regulate comic entertainment and the evolutionary origin of these mechanisms. I will further show how such a theory links to the PECMA (perception, emotion, cognition, and motor action) flow model that describes the fundamental features of the experience of audiovisual entertainment. The article is published in "Cognitive Film Theory" ed. Nannicelli and Taberham, p 177-195. AFI-Readers/Routledge
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
This chapter analyzes the cognitive tools that viewers use when evaluating the veracity of documentaries, using the docudrama, The Queen, to exemplify viewers’ evaluations of a documentary’s truthfulness. It argues that viewers use a... more
This chapter analyzes the cognitive tools that viewers use when evaluating the veracity of documentaries, using the docudrama, The Queen, to exemplify viewers’ evaluations of a documentary’s truthfulness. It argues that viewers use a series of cognitive heuristic tools, such as availability, representativeness and anchoring, based on their individual cognitive and affective dispositions, including the personal relevance of a given documentary. It further argues that documentaries, but also fiction, tend to be believed unless such cognitive and affective processes provide disconfirmation, and that documentaries may often be veiled propaganda, as in the case of The Queen, where a central purpose is to present a glowing portrait of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Skitse til en litteratur- og bevidsthedshistorisk beksrivelse af perioden 1848-1901 i Danmark
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Artiklen er en grundig gennemgang af en række principielle kognitive mekanismer, der har afgørende betydning for, hvordan computerspil kan modtages af ”brugeren”. Artiklen diskuterer en række verserende synspunkter om, hvordan... more
Artiklen er en grundig gennemgang af en række principielle kognitive mekanismer, der har afgørende betydning for, hvordan computerspil kan modtages af ”brugeren”. Artiklen diskuterer en række verserende synspunkter om, hvordan computerspil kan eller ikke kan betragtes som historie og spil. Endelig fremlægger artiklen det synspunkt, at com- puterspil aktiverer en fundamental anden form for kognitiv respons sam- menlignet med at se film. At spille et spil og at se en film er kognitivt set noget forskelligt.
Research Interests:
Med referencer til og eksempler hentet fra såvel Kurosavas film, talk- shows, sæbeoperaer og endda Anja Andersens raserianfald på TV- skærmen, kommer Torben Grodal i denne artikel med en illustrativ introduktion til, hvordan ikke-sproglig... more
Med referencer til og eksempler hentet fra såvel Kurosavas film, talk- shows, sæbeoperaer og endda Anja Andersens raserianfald på TV- skærmen, kommer Torben Grodal i denne artikel med en illustrativ introduktion til, hvordan ikke-sproglig kommunikation fungerer, her- under hvilke interaktionelle karakteristika denne kommunikationsform besidder. Forfatteren præsenterer nogle grundbegreber inden for den ikke-sproglige kommunikation og analyserer, hvordan forskellige aspek- ter af vor medfødte kropssprog overføres og udtrykkes i audiovisuelle medier. Slutteligt argumenterer Grodal for nødvendigheden af at give analyserne af den ikke-sproglige kommunikation en central plads i ana- lyser af den audiovisuelle kommunikation.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
This article argues that the central dimensions of film aesthetics may be explained by a general theory of viewer psychology, the PECMA flow model. The PECMA flow model explains how the film experience is shaped by the brain‘s... more
This article argues that the central dimensions of film aesthetics may be explained by a general theory of viewer psychology, the PECMA flow model. The PECMA flow model explains how the film experience is shaped by the brain‘s architecture and the operation of different cognitive systems; the model describes how the experience is based on a mental flow from perception, through emotional activation and cognitive processing, to motor action. The article uses the flow model to account for a variety of aesthetic phenomena, including the reality-status of films, the difference between narrative and lyrical-associative film forms, and the notion of ‘excess’.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Art and Oxford university
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Art and Oxford university
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Art and Oxford university
ABSTRACT This article analyzes the psychological and neurological underpinnings of crime fiction and discusses the interrelation between cultural and biological-evolutionary determinants of fictions of detection. It argues that although... more
ABSTRACT This article analyzes the psychological and neurological underpinnings of crime fiction and discusses the interrelation between cultural and biological-evolutionary determinants of fictions of detection. It argues that although crime fiction is a product of modern life conditions, it is also centrally fueled in the minds of viewers and readers by the mammalian dopamine seeking/wanting system developed for seeking out resources by foraging and hunting and important for focused mental and physical goal-directed activities. The article describes the way the working of the seeking system explains how crime fiction activates strong salience (in some respects similar to the effect of dopamine-drugs like cocaine, Ritalin, and amphetamine) and discusses the role of social intelligence in crime fiction. It further contrasts the unempathic classical detector fictions with two subtypes of crime fiction that blend seeking with other emotions: the hardboiled crime fiction that blends detection with action and hot emotions like anger and bonding, and the moral crime fiction that strongly evokes moral disgust and contempt, often in conjunction with detectors that perform hard to fake signals of moral commitment that make them role models for modern work ethics. The article is part of bio-cultural research that describes how biology and culture interact as argued in Grodal's Embodied Visions.
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Psychology and Narrative
Research Interests:
This article discusses the role of empathy based on evolutionary, human developmental, and neuropsychological theories in combination with film theory and analysis in order to explain the film viewer’s emotional reactions primarily to... more
This article discusses the role of empathy based on evolutionary, human developmental, and neuropsychological theories in combination with film theory and analysis in order to explain the film viewer’s emotional reactions primarily to painful fictive scenarios.
Research Interests:
... Eibl-Eibesfeldt has pointed out, the model is often a caring child-parent interaction so that "baby" may be synonymous with "beloved."l8 In Groundhog... more
... Eibl-Eibesfeldt has pointed out, the model is often a caring child-parent interaction so that "baby" may be synonymous with "beloved."l8 In Groundhog Day, for example, Phil Connors (Bill Murray) has to learn to care for others before he and Rita (Andie MacDowell) may establish ...
Research Interests:
... Moving pictures: A new theory of film genres, feelings, and cognition. Post a Comment. CONTRIBUTORS: Author: Grodal, Torben Kragh. PUBLISHER: Clarendon Press (Oxford and New York). SERIES TITLE: YEAR: 1997. ... Quality. N/A, High. 7,... more
... Moving pictures: A new theory of film genres, feelings, and cognition. Post a Comment. CONTRIBUTORS: Author: Grodal, Torben Kragh. PUBLISHER: Clarendon Press (Oxford and New York). SERIES TITLE: YEAR: 1997. ... Quality. N/A, High. 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Low. Interest. N/A, ...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
The article describes how basic cognitive and emotional systems of the embodied brain are products of a long evolutionary history and how this determines the way in which the major film genres are constructed. It synthesizes research from... more
The article describes how basic cognitive and emotional systems of the embodied brain are products of a long evolutionary history and how this determines the way in which the major film genres are constructed. It synthesizes research from evolutionary psychology and cognitive film studies, as well as moral psychology. It explains how the film experience is embodied: experienced not only cognitively but with the whole body and its interaction with the world. Also discussed is how the biological underpinning of genres are based on three major types of emotions: a group of reptilian emotions central to action and adventure; a group of mammalian emotions related to offspring of care; and separation panic/ grief. A special human development to enhance group living has expanded emotions of care to also underpin emotions linked to group living such as loyalty to tribe, aggression towards out-groups and submission to tribal hierarchy, central in war, sci-fi and fantasy films, and also emotions related to social rituals such as comedy, tragedy and musical. A discussion is also offered of how the historical development from hunter-gatherers via societies based on agriculture to the present post-agrarian society has moulded moral emotions; this is exemplified in relation to crime films. Finally, also considered is how age and gender influence genre preferences.
Research Interests:
11 TTVTTTTTT Video Games and the Pleasures of Control Torben Grodal University of Copenlwgen, Denmark Video games are remarkable new forms of entertainment. Video games import and customize many different forms of entertainment, from... more
11 TTVTTTTTT Video Games and the Pleasures of Control Torben Grodal University of Copenlwgen, Denmark Video games are remarkable new forms of entertainment. Video games import and customize many different forms of entertainment, from games related to jig- ...
In the chapter I will discuss a general theory of comic entertainment. The theory is a general one because it provides a unified account of the different mechanisms in the embodied brain that support and regulate comic entertainment and... more
In the chapter I will discuss a general theory of comic entertainment. The theory is a general one because it provides a unified account of the different mechanisms in the embodied brain that support and regulate comic entertainment and the evolutionary origin of these mechanisms. I will further show how such a theory links to the PECMA (perception, emotion, cognition, and motor action) flow model that describes the fundamental features of the experience of audiovisual entertainment.
The article is published in "Cognitive Film Theory" ed. Nannicelli and Taberham, p 177-195. AFI-Readers/Routledge
The article is published in "Cognitive Film Theory" ed. Nannicelli and Taberham, p 177-195. AFI-Readers/Routledge
Research Interests:
The article discusses the relations between sexual emotions and emotions related to care, and also discusses the question of the function of modesty
Research Interests:
This article discusses the role of empathy based on evolutionary, human developmental, and neuropsychological theories in combination with film theory and analysis in order to explain the film viewer’s emotional reactions primarily to... more
This article discusses the role of empathy based on evolutionary, human developmental, and neuropsychological theories in combination with film theory and analysis in order to explain the film viewer’s emotional reactions primarily to painful fictive scenarios.
Research Interests:
Several critical statements proposing that general theory – also known as Grand Theory – should be banned from the discipline of film studies have motivated me to discuss the validity of general theory within film studies. Nine years ago,... more
Several critical statements proposing that general theory – also known as Grand Theory – should be banned from the discipline of film studies have motivated me to discuss the validity of general theory within film studies. Nine years ago, I proposed a general theory of the film experience and the central dimensions of film aesthetics in my book Moving Pictures.1 The central model of this book described the flow from perception, through emotional activation and cognitive processing, to motor action. Since then, I have named this model the PECMA flow (short for perception, emotion, cognition, and motor action). An additional feature of the PECMA flow model is the evaluation of reality- status, based on combining a radical constructivism with evolutionary realism. In this paper, I will attempt to show that a series of problems within film theory and film criticism – for example, the questions of excess, linear vs. non-linear forms, realism, and reality effects – have relatively simple explanations within a general theory of how the brain processes film.
Research Interests:
Films with supernatural elements as based on evolutionary adaptations: the interest in causal control that creates interest in fantastic violation of naturalist expectations; fear of being preyed upon by powerful agents (animals or other... more
Films with supernatural elements as based on evolutionary adaptations: the interest in causal control that creates interest in fantastic violation of naturalist expectations; fear of being preyed upon by powerful agents (animals or other humans) and fear of contamination from dead bodies; and needs to enforce moral supervision and submission to powerful (supernatural) others to enhance group cohesion. Supernaturalism in media could be caused by a diminished organized ‘heresy-control’ allowing media to exploit innate dispositions and ‘heathen’ superstitions.
Keywords:
Evolutionary theory, supernaturalism, enchantment, horror films, fantasy films, film melodrama.
Keywords:
Evolutionary theory, supernaturalism, enchantment, horror films, fantasy films, film melodrama.
Research Interests:
Abstract: This article analyzes the psychological and neurological underpin- nings of crime fiction and discusses the interrelation between cultural and biological-evolutionary determinants of fictions of detection. It argues that... more
Abstract: This article analyzes the psychological and neurological underpin- nings of crime fiction and discusses the interrelation between cultural and biological-evolutionary determinants of fictions of detection. It argues that although crime fiction is a product of modern life conditions, it is also cen- trally fueled in the minds of viewers and readers by the mammalian dopamine seeking/wanting system developed for seeking out resources by foraging and hunting and important for focused mental and physical goal-directed activi- ties. The article describes the way the working of the seeking system explains how crime fiction activates strong salience (in some respects similar to the ef- fect of dopamine-drugs like cocaine, Ritalin, and amphetamine) and discusses the role of social intelligence in crime fiction. It further contrasts the unem- pathic classical detector fictions with two subtypes of crime fiction that blend seeking with other emotions: the hardboiled crime fiction that blends detec- tion with action and hot emotions like anger and bonding, and the moral crime fiction that strongly evokes moral disgust and contempt, often in con- junction with detectors that perform hard to fake signals of moral commit- ment that make them role models for modern work ethics. The article is part of bio-cultural research that describes how biology and culture interact as ar- gued in Grodal’s Embodied Visions.
Keywords: bioculturalism, crime fiction, detection, dopaminergic seeking, emotions, incentive salience, moral emotions, obsessive-compulsive fiction
Keywords: bioculturalism, crime fiction, detection, dopaminergic seeking, emotions, incentive salience, moral emotions, obsessive-compulsive fiction
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
The paper analyzes how different forms of lighting in film influences the mood of the scenes and the experience of the viewer
Research Interests:
An introduction to the Italian translation of Embodied Visions