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Unlikely Heroes: Resilience with a Dragon Tattoo

October 24, 2011 By Leave a Comment
2011-10-24-lisbeth-salander-rooney-mara

Hollywood's remake of the film from the bestseller "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"is scheduled for release just before Christmas.  It comes on the heels of the 2009 Swedish film versions of the Stieg Larsson's Millenium Triology*.  While not exactly family fare, I loved Larsson's books and I'm not the only one eager to see how Director David Fincher handles the material.  The marketing build-up to the December release, concern about the explicit sexual violence, the casting intrigues, and the inevitable comparison to the Swedish versions have, however, eclipsed the true power of the book -- the psychology, particularly of Larsson's complex anti-hero, the anti-social, computer hacker, Lisbeth Salander.   The Psychology of the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo furthers this discussion. The soon to be released anthology published by BenBella  and edited by fellow PT blogger Robin Rosenberg and Shannon O'Neill, is collection of essays (including mine) examining the psychology of Lisbeth … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Culture & Society, Positive Psychology, Psychology Tagged With: , ,

Transmedia Storytelling Raises Awareness for OCD

August 22, 2011 By 1 Comment
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Stories are powerful things.  The International OCD Foundation is putting transmedia storytelling to work in its new campaign to raise awareness and overcome stereotypes about Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) called Dare to Believe...Together We Can Beat OCD.  Stories are a primal form of communication that allows us to capture and share authentic human experience.  If you or those you know have never experienced OCD or its symptoms, it's hard to image what it's like, how difficult life with OCD can be, or the stigma and emotional hurdles to getting treatment. But stories engage us at multiple levels and using all of our senses and, most importantly, they create a shared space of understanding.  This opens a pathway to our right brain, activating our creativity and imagination; we can experience stepping out of our own world and into another.  For a sufferer of OCD, stories can show proof of hope and help suffers image possibilities for the future and change their … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Culture & Society, Education, Psychology, Transmedia Tagged With: , ,

Missouri Takes Aim at Facebook: Who Are We Protecting?

August 20, 2011 By Leave a Comment
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Social media and Facebook in particular are an emotional powder keg these days.  From anxieties over stalking and child abuse to the potential for terrorism and social unrest, social networking is the new poster child for fear.  The state of Missouri has even gone so far as enact legislation severely restricting teachers online interaction with students. Gov. Jay Nixon signed Senate Bill 54, or the "Amy Hestir Student Protection Act" into law on July 14. There is a political and emotional appeal in artificially suppressing something you're worried about, in this case how teachers and students can communicate and connect.  You can either feel like you're doing something (or show your constituents you're doing something), and/or you don't have to see it when it does happen, so you don't have to worry about it.  But I guarantee you that there are already geeks inventing new ways of communicating that this law won't touch.  Unless, of course, you don't want teachers talking to … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Culture & Society, Education, Psychology Tagged With: ,

Us versus Them? It’s time for “We’re all in this together”

August 18, 2011 By Leave a Comment
201-08-18_Small-All-in-this-together

The in-flight safety message on a recent Virgin America flight ended with a clever info-cartoon intended to raise awareness of how obnoxious airplane behavior impacts everyone on the flight called “We’re all in this together.” This is a message in short supply today.  We should take a cue from Virgin America & Method (who co-sponsored the message). Instead of politicians trying to convince voters that the other guy is the problem, or, like after the London riots or the BART cell phone shut down, that access to communications tools is dangerous, we need a new mindset.  It's time for a Public Service Announcement that focuses on the strengths that come from unity; a nationwide public relations campaign based on the understanding that we are all in this together. Social media and communications technologies are in everyone’s sights.  Technology does contribute to what David Altheide (2010) calls the ‘politics of fear.’  He talks about it in terms of the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Culture & Society, Politics & Policy, Psychology, Social Media & Networks Tagged With: , , , ,
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