You’ve always thought about becoming a vampire. But you’ve been worried about being bitten by another vampire and having to go through the transition (which is long, painful, and can sometimes lead to death). Well, worry no more! I discovered a way to become a vampire that doesn’t involve being bitten by an actual vampire.
Vampires are feared worldwide. Whether it’s the sparkly vampires of Twilight, the blood sucking taint of True Blood or even the phallic vampires of The Vampire Diaries, they’re all here to haunt and scare us all. And while we probably won’t be getting that warm and fuzzy Twilight romance anytime soon, we can still learn a lot from these skilled bloodsuckers. Why? Because being a vampire — though much cooler — is actually NOT that different to being a real estate investor. In fact, if you squint just right, you could easily mistake one for another.
When you picture vampires, what do you see? Those who have been transformed or born with the gift of immortality may make up your image of this mythical creature. But not all vampires are such. Some have acquired their own power and ability through attending a special school. Others have been cursed by a witch, rather than being blessed by God or angels.
How To Become A Vampire Without Being Bitten
Obviously, you can’t hold a book’s hand, and a book isn’t going to dry your tears when you’re sad,” says University at Buffalo, SUNY psychologist Shira Gabriel. Yet we feel human connection, without real relationships, through reading. “Something else important must be happening.”
In an upcoming study in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, Gabriel and graduate student Ariana Young show what that something is: When we read, we psychologically become part of the community described in the narrative—be they wizards or vampires. That mechanism satisfies the deeply human, evolutionarily crucial, need for belonging.
The researchers recruited 140 undergraduates for the study. First the participants were assessed on the extent to which they meet their needs for connection by identifying with groups. Then some read a passage from the novel Twilight in which the undead Edward describes what it feels like to be a vampire to his romantic interest Bella. Others read a passage from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone in which the Hogwarts students are separated into “houses” and Harry meets potions professor Severus Snape. Participants were given 30 minutes to read the passage and were instructed to simply read for their own pleasure.
Then, two measures gauged the participants’ psychological affiliation with vampires or wizards. In the first, the students were instructed to categorize—as quickly and accurately as possible—“me” words (myself, mine) and “wizard” words (broomstick, spell, wand, potions) by pressing the same key when any of those words flashed on the screen; they pressed another key for “not-me” words (they, theirs) and “vampire” words (blood, fangs, bitten, undead). Then the pairs were reversed. Gabriel and Young expected participants to respond more quickly when “me” words were linked with a group to which “me” belonged, depending on which book they read.
Next the researchers administered what they called the Twilight/Harry Potter Narrative Collective Assimilation Scale, consisting of questions indicating identification with wizards or vampires. Examples: “Do you think you might be able to make yourself disappear and reappear somewhere else?” and “How sharp are your teeth?” Finally, short questionnaires assessed participants’ life satisfaction and mood.
As predicted, on both measures, Harry Potter readers “became” wizards and the Twilight readers “became” vampires. In addition, participants who were more group-oriented in life showed the largest assimilation effects. Finally, “belonging” to these fictional communities delivered the same mood and life satisfaction people get from affiliation with real-life groups.
“The study explains how this everyday phenomenon—reading—works not just for escape or education, but as something that fulfills a deep psychological need,” says Young. And we don’t have to slay any boggarts or get bitten to feel it.
News > Latest Research News > Becoming a Vampire Without Being Bitten. A New Study Shows That Reading Expands Our Self-Concepts.
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… Regarding the influence of stories on the self, few studies examined self-perceptions on an implicit level. In a study, Gabriel and Young (2011) asked participants to read a passage from either Twilight (a novel about vampires) or from Harry Potter (in which the lives of young British wizards are depicted). As one dependent variable, an implicit measure, the identity IAT (Nosek et al., 2002) was administered. …
… Appel Dal Cin, Zanna, & Fong, 2004;Green & Brock, 2000), attitudes (Escalas, 2004;Johnson, 2013;Mazzocco, Green, Sasota, & Jones, 2010), and behavioral intentions (Banerjee & Greene, 2012;. Even the few studies on narratives’ influence on one’s self-perceptions expect assimilation effects as default outcome (e.g., Dal Cin et al., 2007;Gabriel & Young, 2011;. As mentioned above, being transported into a story world and identifying with a protagonist are highly engaging processes that foster assimilation effects by adapting traits, goals , and even behavior of a protagonists (M. . …
… Stories possess the power to take us out of our own everyday realities. We become transported into narratives , and we encounter characters in these narratives with a diverse range of personalities and perspectives (Gabriel & Young, 2011). The existing empirical evidence on this topic showed that participants’ self-perceptions tend to temporally change in line with the story protagonists’ characteristics. …
How stories influence the self: Antecedents, processes and consequences
Thesis
Full-text available
Jan 2020
Stefan Krause
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… As people are drawn to familiar music, movies, and other media when feeling lonely (Derrick et al., 2009) the engagement with media for social reasons has gained some attention in the past years. So far, it has been shown that the engagement with TV programs and books can provide a sense of belonging (Derrick et al., 2009, Gabriel & Young, 2011. In the following, we will give an overview of the mechanisms of social surrogacy that have been proposed in different domains. …
… Preceding research has shown that favorite books (Gabriel & Young, 2011) as well as TV programs (Derrick et al., 2009) can temporarily provide a sense of belonging. However, the authors put forward diverse ways in which different media are thought to replenish feelings of belonging. …
… However, the authors put forward diverse ways in which different media are thought to replenish feelings of belonging. Gabriel & Young (2011), for instance, propose that readers connect to symbolic groups in other social worlds by identifying themselves with their favorite characters. Through this imaginative process they forget their role as reader and adopt the perspective of a character (Cohen, 2006). …
How listening to music and engagement with other media provide a sense of belonging: An exploratory study of social surrogacy
Article
Sep 2018Psychol Music
Katharina Schäfer
Tuomas Eerola
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… Narratives can also serve more immediate demands of the need to belong by filling belongingness needs and protecting against the harmful effects of rejection, social isolation, and loneliness (Derrick, Gabriel, & Hugenberg, 2009). Narratives lead individuals to psychologically become a part of the collective described within the narrative (Gabriel & Young, 2011). In other words, when people engage with a narrative, they feel like a member of the group described within the narrative. …
… In other words, when people engage with a narrative, they feel like a member of the group described within the narrative. That feeling increases wellbeing via increased social connections (Gabriel & Young, 2011). Thus, providing narratives is another way that music can increase feelings of social connection. …
… Evolution and Human Behavior, 37(5), 343-349. Troisi, J. D.,& Gabriel, S. (2011). Chicken soup really is good for the soul: “comfort food” fulfills the need to belong. …
Musicality as a predictive process
Article
Sep 2021
Nils Kraus
Guido Hesselmann
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… Narratives can also serve more immediate demands of the need to belong by filling belongingness needs and protecting against the harmful effects of rejection, social isolation, and loneliness (Derrick, Gabriel, & Hugenberg, 2009). Narratives lead individuals to psychologically become a part of the collective described within the narrative (Gabriel & Young, 2011). In other words, when people engage with a narrative, they feel like a member of the group described within the narrative. …
… In other words, when people engage with a narrative, they feel like a member of the group described within the narrative. That feeling increases wellbeing via increased social connections (Gabriel & Young, 2011). Thus, providing narratives is another way that music can increase feelings of social connection. …
… Evolution and Human Behavior, 37(5), 343-349. Troisi, J. D.,& Gabriel, S. (2011). Chicken soup really is good for the soul: “comfort food” fulfills the need to belong. …
