Suspending Disbelief and

Pretending Belief
 Focus
• When watching/reading fiction
people are engrossed in it and
suspend their disbelief.
• For example, when wearing
shoes, people are not aware of
them most of the time except
when they put them on or take
them off
 Reality-test
• When we intend to act or to plan
a movement, we imagine the
outcome.
• When we do not plan to move
while reading a book or watching
a play or movie, we do not test
the reality of what we perceive,
thus willingly suspend disbelief.
Real Emotions to something
fictional
• When people feel for something
fictional, but it is almost always
at a much toned down degree
• Emotions are also often more
brief, and less likely to influence
their behaviour
• Our ability to empathize makes
us drawn to fiction
Why do people watch
horror movies?
•To experience the fear
•To enjoy the feel of adrenaline
rush
•To endure the terror and enjoy
relief
•To remind people, that evil exists
in the world
 Fictional, but still
afraid?
•Although people know that it is
fictional, their emotions get the
better of them.
•they roleplay as a character in the
movie as though they are in the
movie itself, experiencing all that
the main character experiences
 Afraid, but still
watching?
• They realize that such horrors
are merely imaginary.
• Tug of war between our rational
mind and gut instincts
• Movements such as covering
eyes distract the person
 END

Pei Wen
Mei Jing