BBC’s time traveling hero turns proactive to root out his own childhood fear. A frightening “Doctor Who” episode about fright literally and figuratively explores how fear feeds itself, and turns that around to stress the value of fear and its function in the fight-or-flight response. If fear itself is not truly a thing to fear, fear instead may be your fuel.
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Serpents in a Happy Valley: Does the World Need Villains?
“The world needs villains so there can be heroes,” claims Netflix promotion for the BBC series “Happy Valley.” Can that be true? Does the world really need villains? Can heroism exist without villainy? From a storytelling standpoint, a villain has value, but not all emergencies in everyday life arise from evil intent. Are we so ready to take evil among people for granted?
A Visit to the Rape Room: Who Sees Humor in Sexual Assault?
Who sees humor in sexual assault? Rape jokes take a variety of forms, generated by a greater variety of intentions. Should those individuals who jest about sexual violence learn greater sensitivity or should others who object to such jokes lighten up? What has empirical research shown us about how, why, and when people will make light of sex crimes? Who makes these jokes?
Are We Blaming the Famous Victims of Nude Photo Theft?
Should 101 celebrities like Jennifer Lawrence have “known better”? When a hacker steals their private, encrypted photos and distributes them online, fault should be easy to assign. The victims did nothing wrong here, so why do people even discuss this issue of blame? Is hindsight bias at work in this manifestation of the just-world phenomenon, or is schadenfreude afoot?
Stolen Celebrity Nude Photos: Stop Blaming the Victims!
Should 101 celebrities like Jennifer Lawrence have “known better”? When a hacker steals their private, encrypted photos and distributes them online, fault should be easy to assign. The victims did nothing wrong here, so why do people even discuss this issue of blame? Is hindsight bias at work in this manifestation of the just-world phenomenon, or is something darker afoot?
Doctor Who and the Neuroscience of Morality Malfunctions
Has the Doctor misplaced one of his hearts? The latest version of the lead character on “Doctor Who” seems short on empathy and he worries whether regeneration skewed his morality when it completely altered his body. Both neural manipulation and traumatic brain injury can alter real people’s empathic and moral capabilities in terms of cognition, emotion, and compassion.