Differential Imagery Experience and Ut Pictura Poesis in the 18th-century

That the ability to visualise, to see with ‘the mind's eye’, varies between individuals has been known since Francis Galton reported on the results of his ‘Breakfast Table’ questionnaire in 1880. Research in the ensuing years has supported what Galton's surveys suggested: that the vividness of the population's mental imagery lies across a spectrum, with small percentages at the extremes being bereft of imagery or visualising with near percept-like quality. This paper explores what impact this factor of individual psychological difference had on the literary-theoretical debate over ut pictura poesis — whether poetry can or should emulate painting — as it culminated in the 18th-century. After making the case for personal experience of imagery being an influencing factor on the position that critics in the period took on ut pictura poesis, the paper concludes by engaging with the methodological and conceptual difficulties — for the philosophy of science as much as for literary theory and history — that the line of argument produces.     

Die Seele auf der Bühne der Justiz. Die Entstehung der Kriminalpsychologie im 19. Jahrhundert und ihre interdisziplinäre Erforschung

The mind on the stage of justice: The formation of criminal psychology in the 19th century and its interdisciplinary research. – Criminal psychology emerges at the end of the 18th century as a new academic discipline in lectures and publications. It has recently been investigated by a considerable number of contributions from researchers of different academic backgrounds. In many respects criminal psychology can be seen as a predecessor of criminology. Its subject is the analysis of the origins of crime and its causes and determinants in the human mind. Criminal psychology embraced at that time philosophical, medical, legal and biological aspects. The latter increase in importance in the second half of the 19th century. The conditions of individual responsibility were generally codified in penal law, but had to be individually investigated in crucial cases through expertise in court. There a conflict emerged between medical experts and judges about their ability and competence to decide. At the end of the 19th century criminal psychology is used to fulfil the needs and interests of a criminal law which understands itself as increasingly utilitarian. Force and new instruments of treatment of offenders were legitimized by scientists who were very optimistic about their own epistemological abilities.     

Théodore Flournoy on synesthetic personification

In 1893, Théodore Flournoy published a landmark book on synesthesia — Des phénomènes de synopsie [Of Synoptic Phenomena]. The book presented a pioneering chapter on synesthetic personification, including numerous striking case examples, and it is frequently cited by twenty-first-century researchers as providing some of the earliest examples of the phenomenon. Flournoy employed a broad definition of personification — the representation of stimuli as concrete and specific individuals or inanimate objects. This definition encompassed a more extensive set of phenomena than the definition used by researchers today and was illustrated by cases that would fall outside of contemporary subtypes of synesthetic personification. Yet, Flournoy’s seminal work remains unavailable in English, and the extent of the phenomenon that he described has not been discussed in the contemporary literature. We provide an unabridged translation of Flournoy’s chapter “Des personnifications” [“Of Personifications”].     

Nationalist cosmopolitanism: the psychology of cosmopolitanism,national identity,and going to war for the country

A frequently expressed criticism of cosmopolitanism by liberal nationalist theorists is that its moral universalism is incompatible with national identity and patriotic obligations, defined as obligations to the nation and to fellow nationals. While some scholars of cosmopolitanism agree with this incompatibility argument, others contend that nationalism, cosmopolitanism, and patriotic duties are not rivals. However, few efforts have been made to examine the relationship between cosmopolitanism, nationalism, and patriotic obligations at the level of individual people. Drawing fresh insights from psychological approaches to social identity, I argue that cosmopolitan individuals have an integrated dual identity that embodies both nationalism and world citizenship, and this dual identity is compatible with patriotic obligations. Using data from the 2010–2014, round of the Word Values Survey, I show that cosmopolitans who identify as world citizens also identify with the nation and are willing to perform the ultimate patriotic sacrifice of going to war to defend their country. Upending certain convention wisdoms, this result indicates that cosmopolitan and national identities are compatible and cosmopolitan identity does not hinder patriotic obligations.     

旅游目的地意象定位研究述评——基于心理学视角的分析

旅游目的地意象自20世纪70年代初产生以来一直是旅游研究中的热点问题,国内外此类研究取得了丰硕的成果。本文以对此类研究成果的述评为基础,从心理学角度分析了旅游目的地意象的构成和发展过程,提出＂destination image＂的翻译应体现该概念的心理学构成,从旅游者心理研究角度将其译为＂旅游目的地意象＂;旅游目的地意象研究应着力将抽象的概念推理和具体的实证测量相结合;在此基础上借助认知心理学理论成果提出了旅游目的地意象形成中的讯息加工过程及阶段模式。     

唐朝下层士人社会交往特征及其心态

唐朝下层士人的社会交往具有鲜明的时代特色,他们以科举和入幕为社交中心,以上层权贵、名士及地方官为社交对象,展开觅举、游丐、游幕等社交活动,并在这些社交活动中表现出不同的心态。     

以光纤照明演绎陶瓷之美——故宫新陶瓷馆的照明设计

本文试图通过对故宫新陶瓷馆灯光设计的种种尝试,尽最大限度地运用灯光表现手法,为观众提供精神和物质多层次、多角度的审美信息,这种信息包括有历史文化的、心理的、生理的等诸多方面。作者在文中表达出将灯光照明、古代建筑空间、陈列设备以及展品等有机地融为一体的设计理念,从而创作出一个完整的艺术作品——新陶瓷馆。     

女性心理——西尔维亚·普拉斯及其诗歌(英文)

作为美国历史上最著名的女诗人之一,西尔维亚·普拉斯以其独特的创作视角和她对女性生命中的各种情感体验大胆而细腻的书写被世人所铭记。本论文以普拉斯及其诗歌为研究对象,探索、揭示二战后女性心理。在研究方法上,本论文立足于文本分析,同时结合诗人的体验及经历,深入挖掘普拉斯的诗歌主题及其对女性世界的影响。     

The body-mind of Oscar Wilde's reviews for the Pall Mall Gazette

Little is known about the circumstances of Oscar Wilde's employment by the Pall Mall Gazette, and even less is known about his engagement with its editorial policies. His reviews are often neglected, but when examined are considered in isolation rather than as a contribution to a serial format. The Pall Mall Gazette's structure provides a new context in which to understand Wilde's reviews, which were inevitably shaped by the paper's editorial policies. The paper hired reviewers who could help it maintain a balance between politics and light relief. With an understanding of audience affect and cognition, Wilde employed a range of strategies to manage reader response. The reviews analysed in this article show Wilde exploring the material, and psychological aspects of books and reading.     

L'illusion métabiologique

In this article, I explore the complex and unappreciated relationship between the moral and political thought of Cicero and Adam Smith. Cicero’s views about justice, propriety, and the selfish love of praise find new expression in Smith’s Theory of Moral Sentiments. I illustrate the important ways in which Smith adopts – often without attribution – Cicero’s precepts and moral judgments. I then go on to demonstrate how Smith strips those Ciceronian conclusions from their original justifying grounds in teleology and natural law. In their place, Smith injects his own psychology based in sentiments as a new account of why it is that we prefer virtue and justice to their opposites. By exploring this relationship, I hope to shed light on an important dynamic whereby modern thought has creatively adapted classical moral and political concepts.