Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-30T21:55:43.276Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The enjoyment of negative emotions in the experience of magic

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 November 2017

Jason Leddington
Jason Leddington*
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA 17837. jason.leddington@bucknell.eduwww.jasonleddington.net
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Theatrical magic is designed to elicit negative emotions such as feelings of vulnerability, loss of control, apprehension, fear, confusion, and bafflement. This commentary suggests that the Distancing-Embracing model can help us understand how the experience of magic can be aesthetically pleasurable, not despite, rather thanks to, some of the strong negative emotions it provokes.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 40 , 2017 , e369
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Kuhn, G., Olson, J. & Raz, A. (2016) Editorial: The psychology of magic and the magic of psychology. Frontiers in Psychology 7:1–4.Google Scholar
Lamont, P. (2017) A particular kind of wonder: The experience of magic past and present. Review of General Psychology 21(1):1–8.Google Scholar
Leddington, J. (2016) The experience of magic. The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 74(3):253–64.Google Scholar
Rensink, R. A. & Kuhn, G. (2015) A framework for using magic to study the mind. Frontiers in Psychology 5:1–14.Google Scholar
Swiss, J. I. (2002) Why magic sucks. In: Shattering illusions, pp. 3–12. Hermetic. Available at: http://www.honestliar.com/fm/works/whymagicsucks.html.Google Scholar