The Magician, the Savior, and the Cyborg

2021 ◽  
pp. 194-212
Author(s):  
Lucia-Mihaela Grosu-Rădulescu
Keyword(s):  
Young Adult ◽  
Possible Worlds ◽  
Social Cognitive ◽  
Cognitive Theory ◽  
Harry Potter ◽  
His Dark Materials ◽  
Female Protagonists ◽  
Behavioral Psychology ◽  
Visual Text ◽  
Gender Specific

The chapter analyses female protagonists in recent young adult movies with a focus on the educational side of such productions. The text approaches femininity and empowerment of three well-known heroines: Hermione (from the Harry Potter series), Lyra (from His Dark Materials Season 1 TV series), and Alita (from Alita: Battle Angel). The chapter centers on the roles played by the three characters in the economy of the respective cinematic productions and on how their girlhood is framed by the visual text. The author's purpose is to unearth interpretations of gender-specific roles that impact the young viewers and their understanding of femininity. The chapter intends to open a conversation about the implication of possible worlds theory and social cognitive theory in interpreting depictions of girlhood in fantasy and Sci-Fi young adult movies. From the magician (Hermione) to the (supernatural) savior (Lyra) and ending with the cyborg (Alita), the analysis will also take into account tenets of feminism, Techno Feminism, and behavioral psychology.

scholarly journals ‘DEATH’S OTHER KINGDOMS’: DEATH AND THE AFTERLIFE IN SOME RECENT FANTASIES FOR YOUNG ADULTS

Mousaion ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 141-153
Author(s):  
Molly Brown
Keyword(s):  
Young Adults ◽  
Young Adult ◽  
Human Mind ◽  
Harry Potter ◽  
His Dark Materials ◽  
Safe Spaces ◽  
Young Readers ◽  
Adolescent Readers

Trites (2000:117) argues that death is a biological imperative that possibly operates even more powerfully on the human mind than sexuality. In this article it will be suggested that coming to terms with the inevitability of mortality is a key maturational task, but that popular young adult fantasies dealing with immortal vampires or decaying zombies usually offer little or no support to adolescents struggling to deal with this issue. By contrast, it will be suggested that novels such as those in Terry Pratchett’s Johnny Maxwell series, JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series, Ursula Le Guin’s Earthsea series and Philip Pullman’s His dark materials trilogy provide adolescent readers with safe spaces in which to explore not only the threat of death, but a range of social and religious approaches to the problem. In this way, young readers may be encouraged to accept themselves, in Heidegger’s (1962 [1927]:304–307) terms, as ‘Being-towards-death’ and eventually even be empowered by such an acknowledgement.

scholarly journals Negotiating the Societal and Cultural Impact on a Perpetrator’s Psyche in Elif Shafak’s Honour

sjesr ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 109-118
Author(s):  
Hina Rafique ◽  
Maryam Tariq ◽  
Saadat Ali Khan
Keyword(s):  
Social Cognitive ◽  
Cognitive Theory ◽  
Personality Development ◽  
Islamic Culture ◽  
Moral Principles ◽  
Behavioral Psychology ◽  
Cognitive Framework ◽  
Turkish Literature ◽  
Social Code ◽  
Honor Killing

The present study focuses on investigating the behavioral psychology of the protagonist, Iskender as a killer from the text Honour by Elif Shafak, a renowned Turkish novelist. Albert Bandura's Social Cognitive Theory (1977) presents the importance of Observational Learning, Imitation, and Modeling in an individual's social learning and personality development. He propounds that behavior, cognition, and other environmental influences: all operate as interacting determinants to influence the development of an individual. Hence, by taking the cognitive framework of Bandura, and by tracking the factors behind the felony committed by Iskender in the name of honor, the researchers have analyzed Iskender’s behavioral psychology and guilt-oriented self. The study showed that Iskender was not criminal by nature but had been forced to act on honor ideology. Honor serves as a social code in Turkish Islamic culture and the analysis shed light on the moral principles or ethos in Turkish society implying that moral degradation and honor-killing practices are an everyday phenomenon in Turkish Islamic culture. The arguments in the study provided a lens to the readers to understand the psyche of the accused; Iskender was a victim of culturally transmitted ideology. Society, culture, and immediate relations served as the powerful influences on him in instigating him to commit this felony. Besides, the analysis exposed the subaltern position of women in Turkish culture. The study is a positive addition to Turkish literature and literature on honor killing.

General Risk and Need, Gender Specificity, and the Recidivism of Female Offenders

2009 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Jill Rettinger ◽  
D. A. Andrews
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factors ◽  
Criminal Behavior ◽  
Social Cognitive ◽  
Cognitive Theory ◽  
Neutral Theory ◽  
Female Offenders ◽  
Predictive Performance ◽  
Gender Neutral ◽  
Feminist Perspectives ◽  
Gender Specific

The study examined the predictive performance of social cognitive variables derived from a gender-neutral theory of criminal behavior in relation to several variables suggested as relevant by feminist perspectives. Multivariate analyses revealed that eight gender-neutral risk factors—assessed via the Level of Service/Case Management Inventory (LS/CMI)—performed very well in the prediction of the general and violent recidivism of more than 400 adult female offenders. None of the gender-specific factors, including parenting responsibility and stress, victimization history, and self-harm, had incremental validity over the gender-neutral risk and need variables. However, financial problems and a measure of personal misfortune did predict reoffending among low-risk/low-need women. The findings suggest that risk factors derived from a gender-neutral social cognitive theory of crime are relevant for adult females and that perhaps gender-specific concerns may be best viewed as specific responsivity factors.

Social Cognitive Theory and Motivation

2019 ◽  
pp. 9-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dale H. Schunk ◽  
Ellen L. Usher
Keyword(s):  
Social Cognitive Theory ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Goal Attainment ◽  
Social Cognitive ◽  
Cognitive Theory ◽  
Outcome Expectations ◽  
Social Comparisons ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Regulatory Processes ◽  
Social Environmental

Social cognitive theory is a theory of human behavior that emphasizes learning from the social environment. This chapter focuses on Bandura’s social cognitive theory, which postulates reciprocal interactions among personal, behavioral, and social/environmental factors. Persons use various vicarious, symbolic, and self-regulatory processes as they strive to develop a sense of agency in their lives. Key motivational processes are goals and self-evaluations of progress, outcome expectations, values, social comparisons, and self-efficacy. People set goals and evaluate their goal progress. The perception of progress sustains self-efficacy and motivation. Individuals act in accordance with their values and strive for outcomes they desire. Social comparisons with others provide further information on their learning and goal attainment. Self-efficacy is a critical influence on motivation and affects task choices, effort, persistence, and achievement. Recommendations are made for future research.

Moral Self-Identity and Character Development

2020 ◽  
pp. 683-707
Author(s):  
Daniel Lapsley ◽  
Timothy S. Reilly ◽  
Darcia F. Narvaez
Keyword(s):  
Social Cognitive ◽  
Character Development ◽  
Cognitive Theory ◽  
Character Strengths ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Moral Self ◽  
Life Span Development ◽  
Self Identity ◽  
Moral Personality ◽  
Moral Stage

Moral development is a kind of sociopersonality development that has as its aim the disposition to virtue. The developmental grounding of moral personality is in the first months of life and includes neurobiological foundations, the mutual responsive orientation, and dialogic socialization of the moral self. The authors argue that moral self-identity offers integrative possibilities for understanding the life span development of moral personality and for understanding the dispositional and motivational bases of moral behavior, and that social cognitive theory has resources for understanding how the moral self and conscience of infancy is canalized into individual and cultural differences in the schedule and priority of character strengths that are the targets of socialization. Moral self-identity and character are placed in the historical context of the moral stage theory paradigm.

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