Suspension of disbelief

Suspension of disbelief or willing suspension of disbelief is a term coined in 1817 by the poet and aesthetic philosopher Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who suggested that if a writer could infuse a "human interest and a semblance of truth" into a fantastic tale, the reader would suspend judgment concerning the implausibility of the narrative. Suspension of disbelief often applies to fictional works of the action, comedy, fantasy, and horror genres. Cognitive estrangement in fiction involves using a person's ignorance or lack of knowledge to promote suspension of disbelief.

The Human Will-To-Believe, Even In The Face Of All Factual Evidence.

I heard that meme has been officially added to the dictionary.

A meme is "an idea, behavior or style that spreads from person to person within a culture." A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural ideas, symbols or practices, which can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals or other imitable phenomena. An Internet meme is a concept that spreads via the Internet. Balloon boy hoaxor Ancient Aliens

Know Your Meme

Lost Continents: The Atlantis Theme in History, Science, and Literature is a study by L. Sprague de Camp_[1]. It is considered one of his most popular works. It was written in 1948, and first published serially in the magazine Other Worlds Science Fiction in 1952-1953; portions also appeared as articles in Astounding Science Fiction, Galaxy Science Fiction, Natural History Magazine, and the Toronto Star. It was first published in book form by Gnome Press i n 1954. I never noticed this about Sprague de Camp_[1] when I first blogged him in 2011.

L. Sprague de Camp_[1] enjoyed debunking doubtful history and pseudoscientific claims. The work provides a detailed examination of theories and speculations on Atlantis and other lost lands, including the scientific arguments against their existence.

Francis the Talking Mule and Mister Ed

Francis the Talking Mule was a mule celebrity, featured in seven movie comedies in the 1950s. The character originated in a novel by writer David Stern, and Universal Studios bought the rights for a film series, with Stern adapting his own script for the first entry, simply titled Francis.

The book and series focused on the exploits of Francis, an experienced Army mule, and Peter Stirling, the young soldier whom he befriends (and stays with through civilian life and then back into the military). In the original 1950 film, the mule identifies himself to the commanding general as "Francis...123rd Mule Detachment...[serial number] M52519." Donald O'Connor received top billing as Peter, but the true star was undoubtedly Francis. With a plot device like the later series Mister Ed, Francis would usually only talk to Peter, thus causing problems for his nominal "master." The first six movies were directed by Universal comedy veteran Arthur Lubin, previously known for helming Abbott and Costello vehicles, who would go on to produce and direct Mister Ed for television.

Rational Emotive Behavior

Dr. Albert Ellis (1913 – 2007) was an American psychologist who in 1955 developed Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), inspired by many of the teachings of Asian, Greek, Roman and modern philosophers. REBT is one form of cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) and was first expounded by Ellis in the mid-1950s; development continued until his death in 2007.
Ellis explained REBT:

Rochester Rappings

The Fox sisters were three sisters from New York who played an important role in the creation of Spiritualism. The three sisters were Leah Fox (1814–1890), Margaret Fox (also called Maggie) (1833–1893) and Kate Fox (1837–1892). The two younger sisters used "rappings" to convince their much older sister and others that they were communicating with spirits. Their older sister then took charge of them and managed their careers for some time. They all enjoyed success as mediums for many years.

Our acts are directed by our belief!

If you can make the reader believe anything no matter how absurd it is, he will prove it to be true by his experiments. This proves that our beliefs make us act and our acts are directed by our belief, for the wisdom or knowledge is in the belief. People are not aware of this.

Make man responsible for his belief and he will be as cautious what he believes as he is in what he says and does, for he will see that just as he measures out to another just so it will be measured out to him.

If you make a person believe that he is in danger of any trouble he will be affected just according to his belief, so all beliefs are to be analyzed like food or drink to see what it contains and how it acts upon the body, for the belief being in the mind, it shows itself on the body.

Phineas Parkhurst Quimby
1863

Dorothy Martin ~ ‘Sister Thedra’

I like to play connect the dot and see where it leads me.

Enthusiastic members of her circle were Dr Charles and Lillian Laughead (who appear as Thomas and Daisy Armstrong in When Prophecy Fails [http://pvrguymale.blogspot.com/2011/07/leon-festinger-1919-1989-was-american.html]).

Theory of Cognitive Dissonance

Leon Festinger (1919 – 1989), was an American social psychologist, responsible for the development of the Theory of Cognitive Dissonance, Social comparison theory, and the discovery of the role of propinquity in the formation of social ties as well as other contributions to the study of social networks. Festinger is perhaps best known for the Theory of Cognitive Dissonance, which suggests that inconsistency among beliefs and behaviors will cause an uncomfortable psychological tension. This will lead people to change their beliefs to fit their actual behavior, rather than the other way around, as popular wisdom may suggest.

True-believer syndrome

is a term coined by M. Lamar Keene in his 1976 book The Psychic Mafia. Keene used the term to refer to people who continued to believe in a paranormal event or phenomenon even after it had been proven to have been staged.