Neuroscience
People apparently find it harder to imagine battle scenes from World War II than from the Middle Ages, probably because of their exposure to authentic footage of the Second World War, which is often poor quality. And the less able someone is to imagine World War II scenes vividly, the more likely they are to deny Nazi cruelty.
That’s according to Eric Rassin and colleagues who asked students to imagine a battle scene from either the Second World
War or from Medieval times. Students who imagined a Medieval scene rated their own imagery as more vivid than those who imagined a Second World War scene. And students whose Second World War imagery was less vivid agreed more strongly with the suggestion that history books exaggerate Nazi atrocities.
“…perhaps people may conclude that a particular event cannot have taken place because they are unable to imagine it”, the authors speculated. “[And this] activation of unclear mental imagery may foster readiness to deny Nazi cruelties”, they continued. In which case, “…next to political reasons there may also be a cognitive reason for Nazi cruelty denial”.
___________________________________
Rassin, E. & van Rootselaar, A-F. (2005). Nazi cruelties: are they literally hard to imagine? British Journal of Psychology, 96, 321-329.
Post written by Christian Jarrett (@psych_writer) for the BPS Research Digest.
- Using A Little Imagination To Help Beat Racism
Prejudice and animosity between groups derives largely from the idea that the "they" are somehow different from "us". Hundreds of studies have shown that this animosity can dissolve when members of different groups make contact with each other - becoming...
- Speed Matters When It Comes To Imagining The Perfect Putt
You've probably heard that imagining yourself performing a skilled action can actually help you pull off the move in real life. New research builds on this idea, by showing that - at least when it comes to golf putting - how fast you should imagine...
- Want To Achieve Something? Picture Yourself Doing It From A Third-person Perspective
'Visualise yourself doing it' is a common slice of advice for people seeking to achieve something. But there are two ways of visualising yourself in a scene: from a first-person perspective as in real-life, or from an external perspective, as...
- I Swear I'm Telling You The Truth
Sir Bob Geldof’s penchant for the odd swearword or two, might be a shrewder oratory strategy than we realise. Eric Rassin and Simon Van Der Heijden at Erasmus University in The Netherlands report evidence that people are more likely to rate a statement...
- No Regrets?
From the trivial – ‘I wouldn’t have this thumping headache if only I hadn’t drunk that last double vodka’, to the (slightly) more profound – ‘If only I’d studied finance rather than psychology I might be going to Las Vegas, not Blackpool’,...
Neuroscience
Imagining World War II
People apparently find it harder to imagine battle scenes from World War II than from the Middle Ages, probably because of their exposure to authentic footage of the Second World War, which is often poor quality. And the less able someone is to imagine World War II scenes vividly, the more likely they are to deny Nazi cruelty.That’s according to Eric Rassin and colleagues who asked students to imagine a battle scene from either the Second World
War or from Medieval times. Students who imagined a Medieval scene rated their own imagery as more vivid than those who imagined a Second World War scene. And students whose Second World War imagery was less vivid agreed more strongly with the suggestion that history books exaggerate Nazi atrocities.
“…perhaps people may conclude that a particular event cannot have taken place because they are unable to imagine it”, the authors speculated. “[And this] activation of unclear mental imagery may foster readiness to deny Nazi cruelties”, they continued. In which case, “…next to political reasons there may also be a cognitive reason for Nazi cruelty denial”.
"...for educational purposes it would be better to show people modern films like Saving Private Ryan..."
In a final experiment, students who imagined a Second World War scene after watching a clip from the war movie Saving Private Ryan rated their imagery as more vivid than students who had first watched a clip of authentic war footage. “…the data ultimately suggest that for educational purposes it would be better to show people modern films like Saving Private Ryan, than it is to show authentic footage”, the authors said.___________________________________
Rassin, E. & van Rootselaar, A-F. (2005). Nazi cruelties: are they literally hard to imagine? British Journal of Psychology, 96, 321-329.
Post written by Christian Jarrett (@psych_writer) for the BPS Research Digest.
- Using A Little Imagination To Help Beat Racism
Prejudice and animosity between groups derives largely from the idea that the "they" are somehow different from "us". Hundreds of studies have shown that this animosity can dissolve when members of different groups make contact with each other - becoming...
- Speed Matters When It Comes To Imagining The Perfect Putt
You've probably heard that imagining yourself performing a skilled action can actually help you pull off the move in real life. New research builds on this idea, by showing that - at least when it comes to golf putting - how fast you should imagine...
- Want To Achieve Something? Picture Yourself Doing It From A Third-person Perspective
'Visualise yourself doing it' is a common slice of advice for people seeking to achieve something. But there are two ways of visualising yourself in a scene: from a first-person perspective as in real-life, or from an external perspective, as...
- I Swear I'm Telling You The Truth
Sir Bob Geldof’s penchant for the odd swearword or two, might be a shrewder oratory strategy than we realise. Eric Rassin and Simon Van Der Heijden at Erasmus University in The Netherlands report evidence that people are more likely to rate a statement...
- No Regrets?
From the trivial – ‘I wouldn’t have this thumping headache if only I hadn’t drunk that last double vodka’, to the (slightly) more profound – ‘If only I’d studied finance rather than psychology I might be going to Las Vegas, not Blackpool’,...