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

[John Grigg]

"Psychology has often supported a dismissal of the genre. The most recent
psychological accusation against science fiction is the “great fantasy
migration hypothesis <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4651513/>.”
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
<https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0142200>
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
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