Characterization is the representation of persons (or other beings or creatures) in narrative or dramatic works of art. This representation may include direct methods like the attribution of qualities in description or commentary, and indirect (or "dramatic") methods inviting readers to infer qualities from character's actions, dialogues, or appearance. Such a personage is called a character. Character is a literary element.  The term chracterization was introduced in the 19th century. Aristotle promoted the primacy of plot over characters, that is, a plot driven narrative, urging in his Poetics that tragedy "is a representation, not of men, but of action and life." This view was reversed in the 19th century, when the primacy of the character, that is, a character-driven narrative, was affirmed first with the realist novel, and increasingly later with the influencial development of psychology. The psychologist Carl Jung identified twelve primary "original p...

A narrative hook (or simply hook) is a literary technique in the opening of a story that "hooks" the reader's attention so that he or she will keep reading. The "opening" may consist of several paragraphs for a short story, or several pages for a novel, but ideally it is the opening sentence in the book. Opening a novel with startling, dramatic action or an ominous description can function as a narrative hook. Ovid's Fasti employs narrative hooks in the openings of each book, including the description of a bloody ghost and an ominous exchange between the characters Callisto and Diana. A narrative hook can also take the form of a short, often shocking passage discussing the important event in the life of one of the work's characters. The device establishes character voice and introduces a theme of the work. In Anna Quindlen's Black and Blue, the opening sentence recounts the first time the protagonist endured abuse from her husband, which is the c...

Consumption, defined as the acquisition of utility, is a major concept in economics and is also studied in many other social sciences. It is seen in contrast to investing, which is spending for acquisition of future income. Different schools of economists define consumption differently. According to mainstream economists, only the final purchase of newly produced goods and services by individuals for immediate use constitutes consumption, while other types of expenditure -- in particular, fixed investment, intermediate consumption, and government spending, are placed in separate categories. Other economists define consumption much more broadly, as the aggregate of all economic activity that does not entail the design, production and marketing of goods and services (e.g. the selection, adoption, use, disposal, and recycling of goods and services). Economists are particularly interested in the relationship between consumption and income, as modeled with the consumption function. ...

Ambivalent sexism is a theoretical framework which posits that sexism has two sub-components: "hostile sexism" and "benevolent sexism." Hostile sexism reflects overtly negative evaluations and stereotypes about a gender (e.g. the ideas that women are incompetent and inferior to men). Benevolent sexism represents evaluations of gender that may appear subjectively positive (subjective to the person who is evaluating) but are actually damaging to people and gender equality more broadly (e.g. the idea that women need to be protected by men). For the most part, psychologists have studied hostile forms of sexism. However, theorists using the theoretical framework of ambivalent sexism have found extensive empirical evidence for both varities. The theory has largely been developed by social psychologists Peter Glick and Susan Fiske. Sexism, like other forms of prejudice, is a type of bias about a group of people. Sexism is founded in conceptualizations of one gender as...

The epistles of St Paul are the oldest extant writings. These mention Jesus' mother (without naming her), but do not refer to his foster father. The Book of Mark, believed to be the first gospel to be written and with a date about two decades after Paul, also does not mention Jesus' legal father. The first appearance of St Joseph is in the gospels of St Matthew and St Luke, written from around 80 - 90 AD. Each contains a genealogy of Jesus showing ancestry from King David, but through different sons; St Matthew follows the royal line from Solomon, while St Luke traces another line back to Nathan, another son of David and Bathsheba. Consequently, all the names between David and Joseph are different. Like the two differing genealogies, the infancy narratives appear only in St Matthew and St Luke and take different approaches to reconciling the prophecy that the Messiah be born in Bethlehem with the tradition that Jesus in fact came from Nazareth. In the Gospel of St Matthew, ...

In psychology and logic, rationalization (also known as making excuses) is a defense mechanism in which controversial behaviors or feelings are justified and explained in seemingly rational or logical manner to avoid the merits of the true explanation, and are made consciously tolerable (or even admirable or superior) by plausible means. It is also considered an informal fallacy of reasoning. Rationalization happens in two steps: A decision, action, judgment is made for a given reason or no (known) reason at all. A rationalization is performed, constructing a seemingly good or logical reason, as an attempt to justify the act after the fact (for oneself or others). Rationalization encourages irrational or unacceptable behavior, motives, or feelings and often involves ad hoc hypothesizing. This process ranges from fully conscious (e.g. to present an external defense against ridicule from others) to mostly unconscious (e.g. to create a block against internal feelings of guilt ...

Abnormal psychology is the branch of psychology that studies unusual patterns of behavior, emotion, and thought, which may or may not be understood as precipitating a mental disorder. Although many behaviors could be considered as abnormal, this branch of psychology typically deals with behavior in a clinical context. There is a long history of attempts to understand and control behavior deemed to be aberrant or deviant (statistically, functionally, morally or in some other sense), and there is often cultural variation in the approach taken. The field of abnormal psychology identifies multiple causes for different conditions, employing diverse theories from the general field of psychology and elsewhere, and much still hinges on what exactly is meant by "abnormal." There has traditionally been a divide between psychological and biological explanations, reflecting philosophical dualism in regard to the mind-body problem. There have also been different approaches in trying to ...