Notes tagged “Book”

2022

• Jul 3
  The subjective awareness of peak experience When audiences have peak aesthetic experiences, they move from tension to release, often experiencing interaction of both happiness and sadness and having a sense of profundity and connectedness.

  11 min
• Jun 27
  Peak experiences and reward In peak aesthetic experience, activation of reward circuitry manifest in increased pleasure, attention, and memory.

  7 min
• Jun 17
  The physiology of peak experiences When something elicits peak aesthetic experience, our bodies are put into a unique physiological state that mingles elements of both tension and release.

  6 min
• Jun 10
  Peak experience and the breakthrough moment At climactic moments, story audiences should experience the greatest magnitude in shifts from tension and disequilibrium to balance and release.

  11 min
• Jun 5
  Intensity and peak experience Tension must reach a certain minimum level of intensity before peak aesthetic experience is possible.

  8 min
• May 25
  Priming, callbacks, and peak experience Storytellers can use both tonal and thematic setups to create peak aesthetic experiences.

  8 min
• May 22
  Incongruity and peak experience Storytellers can create peak aesthetic experiences by setting up imbalances for which our brains naturally seek resolution.

  8 min
• May 9
  Optimal difference and peak experience To make story moments maximally engaging, storytellers must find a balance between expectation and suprise. Too familiar is boring. Too different is unbelievable.

  4 min
• Apr 15
  Expectation, the knowledge instinct, and peak experience Stories hook into our reward systems, leveraging our brains’ built-in mechanisms for learning in order to create anticipation and narrative drive.

  12 min
• Apr 8
  What types of content create peak experience? Moving stories often feature a common set of characteristics, among them resonance with values, relationship change, prosocial actions, and moments of mixed valence.

  7 min
• Apr 5
  Investment and peak experience The deeper we are invested in the characters and themes in a story, the more likely we will find the story moving.

  5 min
• Mar 29
  Definitions: what are peak aesthetic experiences? A peak aesthetic experience is one in which a person is exposed to a particularly meaningful work of art, music, nature, or story and experiences tears, chills, a sense of being moved, or some combination of these.

  1 min
• Mar 21
  Sharing my research for a book on story In the interests of ‘working with the garage door open,’ I’m sharing my research notes.

  1 min