Browsing by Subject "Reality"
Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
Results Per Page
Sort Options
Item Ex-votos : reality and fiction in a Mexican short film(2012-12) Guerra Lucas, Ivete Raquel; Raval, P. J. (Paul James); Stekler, Paul; Ramirez-Berg, Charles; Lewis, AnneThis report will summarize the process of developing, producing and finishing the short film Ex-Votos. Shot on HD video in Real de Catorce, Mexico during the fall of 2012, the film was produced as my Graduate Thesis Film in the Department of Radio-TV-Film at the University of Texas at Austin in partial fulfillment of my Master of Fine Arts in Film Production degree.Item Making sense of it all : mapping the current to the past(2010-05) Dennis, John Lawrence, 1973-; MacNeilage, Peter F.; Davis, Barbara; Gerrig, Richard J.; Pennebaker, James W.; Wooley, Jacqueline D.What are the representational differences between situations that do and do not map well onto previous experiences? This research offers some answers to this question by having participants compare two narratives that were either reality or fantasy-based. Fantasy-based narratives, with their deviations from reality, were considered similar to situations that do not map well onto previous experience. The concept of systematicity, where high-order relations constrain low-order relations was used to describe such situations (Bowdle & Gentner, 1997). Compared to a reality-based narrative, extra processing is required to maintain a systematic representation of a fantasy-based narrative. One can reduce the amount of processing needed by grounding that fantasy-based narrative in a reality-based or another fantasy-based narrative. Comparative judgments were used to measure processing differences. In three studies, participants read two narratives and then performed a series of comparative judgments derived from retrospective duration judgment (Block, 1992), event-structure perception (Zacks & Tversky, 2001), and structure-mapping theory (Gentner, 1983) research. For example, one of the comparative judgments adopted from structure-mapping theory was the rating of directional similarity, or the similarity rating of the second-read narrative relative to the first-read narrative. Directional similarity was proposed to increase as the amount of processing associated with maintaining a systematic representation of the first and second-read narrative decreased. For Studies 1A-E, the directional similarity was higher for the RealityFirst condition (reality read first) than the FantasyFirst condition (fantasy read first). These results are interpreted as indicated that the increase in directional similarity for the RealityFirst conditions was due to structure lending from the first-read reality-based narrative and that the decrease in directional similarity for the FantasyFirst conditions was due to representational disruption from the first-read fantasy-based narrative. Results also indicated that comparing two reality-based narratives (Studies 2A-B) was similar to comparing two fantasy-based narratives (Studies 3A-B) for the directional similarity and directional duration judgments, but differed for the listing of commonalities and differences and the segmentation of the narrative event structure. According to the systematicity principle (Gentner, 1989), people prefer mappings between two representations that form coherent and highly interconnected structures. The results from Studies 1A-E demonstrate a clear directional preference for the RealityFirst conditions. The results, therefore, indicate that it was more difficult to utilize the inherent structure of the narratives for the FantasyFirst conditions then the RealityFirst conditions. Comparing the results across the final set of studies, the increase in segmentation and increase in word count for the commonalities and differences were clear indications that participants still had difficulties in utilizing the structure of the narratives when both narratives being compared were fantasy-based (Studies 3A-B). In operationalizing systematicity with fantasy and reality-based narratives, I have been able to extend our understanding of how structure-lending can occur between these two narrative types. The results, therefore, extend our understanding of the structural alignment approach to narrative comparisons. But, since this research also involves the theoretical integration of the structure alignment approach (directional similarity and listing of commonalities and differences) with theories of time estimation (directional duration), event structure representation (segmentation), the basic findings herein should be applicable to comparisons ranging from auditory narrative structures to simple lexical units (e.g., unicorns vs. horses) to visual depicted objects (e.g., aliens vs. humans), even if the current set of studies described in this article involved only the comparison of written narrative structure.Item Mechanisms for overcoming reality status biases(2009-05) Tullos, Sara Ansley; Woolley, Jacqueline D.Children use many cues to differentiate reality from fantasy, including context, testimony from others, and physical evidence in the world around them. However, due to individual differences, some children hold strong reality status biases that interfere with their ability to infer reality status from these cues correctly. This research identified two general cognitive skills, inhibitory control and a metacognitive understanding of certainty, which serve as mechanisms for overcoming biases to infer reality status. In general, children with a high interest in fantastical play and older children with poorer developed inhibitory control skills are more likely to display a reality status bias. Additionally, children with reality status biases are more likely to overcome them to infer reality status correctly when they have a better metacognitive understanding of certainty and better developed inhibitory control. This research informs both the fantasy/reality literature and the scientific reasoning literature in demonstrating how biases can affect children's judgments.Item Modality and identity(Texas Tech University, 1996-12) Cochran, John MurrayKripke semantics will be discussed in some detail along with a fairly common modification which will be central to the arguments of this paper. In order to explicate this modification a discussion of several semantic issues will be helpful. These will include the difference between representational semantics and interpretational semantics, how interpretational semantics can be seen as a type of counterpart semantics, and how the modified Kripke semantics can be viewed as a representational-interpretational hybrid semantics. Several types of modality will be discussed. The paper will be primarily concerned with alethic modality as opposed to deontic, temporal or other general categories of modality although epistemic modality will be discussed briefly. The types of modality which will be discussed include narrow and broad logical modalities, intermediaries between these two types of logical modalities which include mathematical modality and what will be termed semantic modality, and natural modality. Relations between these modalities will be investigated with particular attention to the semantic theories which will be presented and several common misconceptions about modal logic will be dispelled.Item The whole bleeding lot or Brett Kelly's guide to writing an apocalypse a novel(2008-05) Ingram, James Spencer; Jones, Stephen G.; Patterson, JillThe Whole Bleeding Lot is my second novel, albeit my only good one. At least I think so. Its story concerns a young journalist named Ford who works for a small news publication in Dallas. He’s not happy with his situation, so he decides to invent a few stories to sell some copy. Things don’t turn out the way Ford hoped they would, naturally, and he has to choose what he will do with a powerful, mystifying and dark talent that somehow falls into his lap. It’s a naturalistic work that breaks down fiction and reality, the idea of authorship and the violent desires within the public that draw us to what we buy, read, watch, discuss, etc. It was a joy to write, and hopefully an entertaining read.