The Alluring Illusion: Psychological Secrets in Light and Shadow
Author: Zhichao Wei (Crazy Diamond)
Publisher: Electronic Industry Press
Publication year: 2014-8
Pages: 288
Price: 39.80 yuan
Binding: Paperback
ISBN: 9787121235962
Related honors
Douban’s 2014 Annual Book Roundup · Annual Book of the Year in Film
Synopsis
【Psychology Blended with Film】I hope readers will use this book to discover some little-known knowledge hidden in films everyone knows all too well—and, more importantly, discover that psychology is, surprisingly, a pretty reliable science most of the time.
If you’re a psychology enthusiast, this book will show you—
··The secret of If You Are the One: Why do women choose “tall, rich, and handsome,” while men choose “fair, rich, and beautiful”? What evolutionary code lies hidden behind the appearance of romance?
··How can we explain the mysterious pen fairy scientifically?
··Why do people in the salty-zongzi camp find sweet zongzi “disgusting”? What does “disgust” have to do with the human survival instinct?
··Could we really live forever?
··Are seeing ghosts, out-of-body experiences, and spiritual experiences supernatural?
··Why are people willing to believe in prophetic books like The Bible Code and Tui Bei Tu?
··Why isn’t truly fair revenge “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth,” but “a wounded heart for a wounded heart”?
··How can we use “magical thinking” to pursue the man or woman of our dreams?
··How does thinking get hijacked by feelings?
··Do humans have free will?
··Is procrastination happiness—or unhappiness?
··Why isn’t “positive energy” in short supply, but in excess? Why is being more sensitive to “negative energy” part of human nature?
··Where exactly is human consciousness stored? Could a machine be conscious too?
··Why do we fear solitude and crave it at the same time?
··Why does something become more wonderful the more taboo it is?
··Could reality be a dream?
··Why is the end of ambiguity the beginning of disappointment?
··How much of memory is made up?
··Why can the more obsessive-minded among us be happier?
If you’re a film buff, this book will show you—
··How do the mind magician and brainwasher in Now You See Me read minds and brainwash people?
··What connection is there between the “world’s ten most banned films” and a uniquely human kind of fear?
··Why is Dr. Hannibal, the brain-eating character in The Silence of the Lambs, actually unable to perceive death?
··How can Tesla’s cloning machine in The Prestige be used to conduct a thought experiment?
··Why isn’t the ending of A.I. Artificial Intelligence a botched ending?
··What’s wrong with the explanation of Sherlock Holmes’s faked death in Season 3 of Sherlock?
··Why does the “top master always uses palm strikes” setup in wuxia films fit the audience’s psychology?
··Why does “Sheldon” try so hard to build and maintain a little world entirely under his control?
··Why is Gloomy Sunday an imperfect revenge story?
··Why do the good guys use Apple and the bad guys use PCs in Hollywood movies?
··Why is watching horror films pleasurable?
··Why did traditional Hong Kong martial-arts films pair punches and kicks with wildly exaggerated sound effects?
··Why does Pacific Rim, sold on the appeal of “giant” mecha, so often fail to make viewers feel that they are “giant”?
··How does Thor reconcile the “magic” in the clouds with the “science” on the ground?
··What do Pi and Richard Parker in Life of Pi each represent?
··Why is The Legend of 1900 a bowl of stale spiritual “chicken soup”?
··What are the three levels of romantic action films?
··Why do AV actresses appear in waves and disappear from memory in waves, while Monroe’s skirt has kept men around the world spellbound for more than half a century?
··What real-world basis does Inception have for its dream rules?
··Why did Bourne in The Bourne Identity forget who he was without forgetting how to fight?
··What does James Cameron’s stubborn, never-let-it-go spirit in Avatar and Titanic have to do with “happiness”?
Experimental psychology PhD and well-known film critic Zhichao Wei takes you through psychology to explore the mysteries of film.
More than 4000 films watched, backed by the latest psychological research,
teasing apart and examining the many psychological states of filmmakers and audiences.
Contents
Adam The War Between Adam and Eve / 1
··The Misunderstood Theory of Evolution / 2
··Modern Humans Carrying Ancient Genes / 6
··“Visible” Genes / 6
··
Belle “Tall, Rich, and Handsome” vs. “Fair, Rich, and Beautiful” / 9
··The Arms Race Between Genes / 10
··The “Cheap” Logic of Handsomeness / 12
··Women All Love “Rich” / 16
··Hope for Losers / 18
··Philandering and Men’s Mate Preferences / 20
··
Consciousness The Amazing Power of Consciousness / 25
··Pen Fairy, Pen Fairy, Come Out of Your Cave / 26
··The Pen Fairy’s First Secret / 32
··The Pen Fairy’s Second Secret / 33
··The Pen Fairy’s Third Secret / 34
··The Pen Fairy’s Fourth Secret / 34
··
Death N Ways to Escape Death / 36
··How Far Away Is Death? / 36
··The Uncanny Valley Hypothesis / 38
··The Instinct to Reject Death / 41
··A Uniquely Human Fear / 42
··What If You Were No Longer Afraid? / 44
··
Eternity Could We Really Live Forever? / 47
··Do Humans Have Souls? / 48
··No One Can Perceive Death / 50
··Can Cloning Let You Live Forever? / 51
··“The Day of Resurrection” / 55
··
Fate Are You in Control of Your Fate? / 57
··“Losing Control” Is Terrifying / 59
··The More Cowardly You Feel Inside, the More You Bare Your Teeth / 61
··Building a Little World You Can Control / 64
··
Governing What If Fate Can’t Be Controlled? / 67
··Going Back to the Past to See the Future / 68
··The Buffering Effect of Fatalism / 74
··
Haunting Can Humans Really See Ghosts? / 77
··Whether You See Ghosts Has Nothing to Do with Ghosts / 78
··All It Takes Is Fooling the Eyes to Make the Soul Leave the Body / 79
··Infrasound and Paranormal Experiences / 81
··Brain Stimulation That Sends Your Soul Wandering / 82
··A Scientific Explanation of Spiritual Experiences / 84
··
Illusion There Are Ways to Read Minds, but Fate Is Unknowable / 87
··Why Can the Pen Fairy Read Bystanders’ Minds? / 88
··Why Can Mediums Know Your Past and Future? / 96
··Predicting the Future and Its Risks / 99
··
Judgment Do You Still Dare Trust Your Own Judgment? / 102
··A Brain Hungry for Patterns / 103
··Wishful Coincidences / 106
··The Law of Large Numbers That Reveals Heaven’s Secrets / 108
··There Isn’t Necessarily a Cause Behind a Trend / 110
··
Karma Waiting for Good Luck at the Roulette Table / 113
··No Umbrella When It Rains, No Rain When You Bring One / 114
··There Is No Such Thing as a Free Lunch / 118
··Balanced Revenge / 120
··
Linkage Everything Is Connected—even When That’s Just an Illusion / 122
··Anything Close or Similar Must Be Connected / 123
··Magical Thinking Shared by All Humans / 125
··Good Guys Use Apple, Bad Guys Use PC? / 127
··Why Is Watching Horror Films Pleasurable? / 128
··Nonsensical Love / 129
··
Manipulation Techniques for Manipulating Hearts and Minds / 133
··Using Synesthesia to Heighten Sensitivity / 134
··Classical Conditioning / 135
··Using the Contrast Effect / 137
··
Nothingness The Illusion of Free Will / 141
··Magic and Science Are the Same Thing / 142
··How Thinking Gets Hijacked by Feelings / 145
··“You” Are Not the One Issuing the Brain’s Commands / 146
··
Opponent Balancing the Urge to Resist / 149
··The Present and the Future Are Always in Conflict / 150
··The Good Person with a Beast Inside / 154
··
Positive Too Much Positive Energy / 158
··Being More Sensitive to Negative Energy Is Human Nature / 159
··People Who Pursue Happiness Are More Likely to Develop Depression / 162
··How Should Procrastination Be Treated? / 165
··
Quantum The Quantum Mind / 168
··“You” Are a Matrix / 169
··Can Machines Be Conscious Too? / 172
··I See Everything / 174
··
Reality Eyes Deceived / 177
··It Is the Brain That Sees, Not the Eyes / 179
··Invisibility: We See Only the Center of Attention / 181
··Sleight of Hand: We See Only the “Now” of Here and Now / 184
··You Have Never Seen the Real World / 187
··
Solitude The Two Faces of Solitude / 189
··Fearing Solitude / 190
··Craving Solitude / 194
··
Taboo The More Taboo, the Better / 198
··The First Level of Romantic Action Films / 199
··The Second Level of Romantic Action Films / 201
··The Third Level of Romantic Action Films / 207
··
Utmost The Ultimate Brain / 209
··The Trade-Off Between Intelligence and Energy Consumption / 210
··The Brain’s “Memory” Is Very Limited / 211
··How We Simplify the World / 213
··The Uses of Simplification / 218
··
Vagueness Filling In the Gaps Around Ambiguity / 220
··Ambiguity Triggers Imagination / 221
··The Amplifying Effect of Imagination / 223
··The End of Ambiguity Is the Beginning of Disappointment / 225
··Monroe’s Skirt / 226
··
Wonderland Dreamwalking in Wonderland / 228
··Q1: Can You Enter Someone Else’s Dream? / 229
··Q2: Do Dreams Reveal Our Secrets? / 230
··Q3: Can You Remember Your Dreams? / 233
··Q4: Why Implant Ideas in Dreams? / 233
··Q5: Can Losing Your Balance Wake You from a Dream? / 235
··Q6: Can We Run Like the Wind in Dreams? / 235
··Q7: Does Time Pass More Slowly in Dreams? / 237
··Q8: Can We Control Our Dreams? / 238
··Q9: Could Reality Be a Dream? / 240
··
Xenophobe The Other Is Hell / 242
··The Person Who Loves Me Most in the World Is Myself / 243
··Whatever I Think Must Be Right / 245
··Whatever I Do Must Be Right / 247
··
Yesterday The Past Like Smoke / 251
··Reconstructing the Past: Many of Your Experiences May Be False / 252
··Forgetting the Past: Bodily Memories That Are Hard to Forget / 256
··
Zealot Happiness Fanatics / 262
··The More Comfortable You Are, the Less Happy You Are / 263
··The Excruciating Details / 266
··“Focus” Itself Is a Kind of Happiness / 269
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