Science News for Writers

As authors and screenwriters, it's our unenviable job to interpret what's going on in the world to our readers and viewers. Take the highly emotionally charged topic of terrorism and terrorists.  Act of terror either by groups or isolated lone wolf terrorists seem to happen daily and almost anywhere.  Fear of terrorism has become a fact of modern life. What are these people thinking when they plan or execute an attack? According to this research led by Sumitra Sri Bhashyam and Gilberto Montibeller, one reason anti-terror officials find it hard to predict attacks is predictive modelling that assumes a rational mind trying to achieve clear objects effectively and efficiently.  As researchers across a number of fields are pointing out, the rational conscious mind gives us an impression of being in control of our thoughts and actions but that in reality our conscious self only acts as a "traffic cop" between thoughts and impulses generated in different parts of our

Bruce Willis as John McClane in Die Hard, 1988.  How would this movie play out if the writer had given the protagonist different character traits?  If personality drives response to situations, it would have been a different movie. This study confirms what should be intuitive to experienced authors and screenwriters: that personality predicts behavior just as does situation.  But until this study was conducted, researchers were unable to confirm this result in the real world.  This study by researchers in the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science at Florida Atlantic University and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin in Germany confirms this real-life observation in a controlled situation. Try an experiment.  Take one of your stories or perhaps a popular story from fiction or film, and write a scenario in which the only thing you do is change the personality of the protagonist.  For example, how would you describe the character of John McClane from the Die Hard franchise, the

We all, each of us, bear the burden of prejudice.  It may be against a race or a sexual orientation or a political group.  Bias and prejudice are in us no matter how hard each of works to overcome these deeply embedded, even genetically controlled opinions and feelings. Part of this is due to the genetic need to protect our family and clan that helped humans survive over millions of years.  Part of these stem from our upbringing and life experience.  These traits have, frankly, outlived their usefulness.  Yet they are still there. This study deals with how reading the prejudiced comments of others triggers our own bias and prejudice.  It's part of how the human animal works. Two recent studies posted on SNfW play into this.  Research that shows humans have not changed much over the past 104,000 years, and that free will is an illusion, and that our thoughts and actions are controlled by our subconscious minds. Here is the story with a link to the full study in the attribut

www.luigibobba.it A majority of poor Americans have jobs.  The majority of the United States' poor aren't sitting on street corners. They're  employed at low-paying jobs, struggling to support themselves and a family.   While this is a hot political issue, understanding the lifestyle of these people is important to any writer.  It impacts the journalist, the author and the screenwriter equally.  Any story that involves these Americans needs to reflect the reality that these people do work, often quite hard, and that their families suffer because of the poverty and lack of opportunity they endure.  They often live in sub-standard housing eating diets that are high-fat and starchy - because that's what they can afford even with the help of food banks and Food Stamps. This is not a cry for pity.  It's a cry for understanding.  This is a reality of life in the U.S. which should be accurately portrayed in your work.  Think Grapes of Wrath or the young men

"Free will. . . does not exist."   Why do people do they things they do?   Is it all rational thought?  Or do our thoughts, attitudes and actions come from "below", from beneath our aware self, does instinct and subconscious thought control our attitudes and actions that is only interpreted and expressed by our conscious mind?    According to a new theory being introduced by San Francisco State University Associate Professor of Psychology Ezequiel Morsella, "the "free will" that people typically attribute to their conscious mind -- the idea that our consciousness, as a "decider, "guides us to a course of action -- does not exist. Instead, consciousness only relays information to control "voluntary" action, or goal-oriented movement involving the skeletal muscle system."   Doctor Morsella's theory points out an important question for any writer of fiction.  Are we truly in control of our actions?  Or, l

Credit: © Photographee.eu / Fotolia Whether its a difficult job interview or a stressful parent-teacher meeting, people are usually expected to sit down. New research shows that sitting down makes people feel more anxious. A Confederacy of Dunces . by John Kennedy Toole Click on  image to order Powell's Books On those occasions I feel anxious, I have the urge to pace or go for a walk. Now I understand why.  Sitting can increase a person's anxiety level.  Who'd a thunk?   There are so many reasons for being active.  For one thing, going for a walk not only calms one down, it increases a person's creativity.  Obviously, walking is a very healthy thing to do.   Here's the story which has implications not only for your own work and health, but for your characters as well.  The main character, Ignatius J. Reilly, an "educated, but slothful 30-year-old man," in John Kennedy Toole's A Confederacy of Dunces, is a classic examp

According to this research out of Penn State, our common assumption that big business owns our Congress and the Federal agencies that regulate them with the result that they're calling the shots. . . is wrong.  In fact, they don't get always what they want despite busloads of lobbyists and truckloads of cash.  However, they are somewhat successful in getting what they need.  It all depends on opposition from citizen's action groups.  No opposition, they get what they want.  Opposition, business often looses the battle - but with deep pockets they are often able to win the war. This may seem like quibbling over terms. As with many assumptions, this report points out that the situation in Washington, D.C. is far less clear, far more complicated and more hazily defined. How does this impact the writer?  As in any topic whether fiction or non-fiction, reality is always far more nuanced than appears on the surface.  With the growing importance of getting your science r

" The perception that people with mental illness are more violent is a myth reinforced by the media ." To understand the violence inherent in human society, especially the many mass shootings in our country in addition to our world's-highest murder rate, it's important that screenwriters, authors and journalists understand what causes - and what doesn't cause - someone to kill someone else. One of the common misconceptions with both the public, journalists, writers of fiction and screenplays is that mental illness is a major cause of violence, especially murder . This conclusion does not compute, to quote science officer Spock of the Starship Enterprise. In fact, research shows that the mentally ill are more likely to be the victims of crime rather than the perpetrators. As writers, we each have a responsibility to present accurate and true profiles of killers and mass murderers in our work.  By stating or implying that anyone who commits a viol