[ExI] Fan of Sci-Fi? Psychologists Have You in Their Sights

[Dan TheBookMan]

On Sun, Oct 25, 2020 at 3:19 AM John Grigg via extropy-chat
<extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
> "Psychology has often supported a dismissal of the genre. The most
> recent psychological accusation against science fiction is the “great
> fantasy migration hypothesis.” This supposes that the real world of
> unemployment and debt is too disappointing for a generation of
> entitled narcissists. They consequently migrate to a land of make-
> believe where they can live out their grandiose fantasies.
>
> The authors of a 2015 study stress that, while they have found
> evidence to confirm this hypothesis, such psychological profiling
> of “geeks” is not intended to be stigmatising. Fantasy migration
> is “adaptive” – dressing up as Princess Leia or Darth Vader makes
> science fiction fans happy and keeps them out of trouble.
>
> But, while psychology may not exactly diagnose fans as mentally ill,
> the insinuation remains – science fiction evades, rather than confronts,
> disappointment with the real world."
>
> What do you think?
>
> https://getpocket.com/explore/item/fan-of-sci-fi-psychologists-have-you-in-their-sights?utm_source=pocket-newtab-global-en-GB

For other people, hiking, reading literary fiction, watching art
films, attending a Shotakovich concert, or having wine and cheese
parties keeps them out of trouble. They make it sound as if only SF
fans would ever have a need for entertainment that might be labeled
escapist.

By the way, I saw this before on FB. Roderick Long posted it on his wall there.

And see the study the article discusses at:

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0142200

I'd have to 'study the study' to see if it's sound from my admittedly
non-expert vantage post.

Regards,

Dan
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http://author.to/DanUst