Since at least Aristotle, writers and scholars have debated what makes for a great story. One of them is Samsun Knight, a novelist who is also an economist and assistant professor of marketing at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management. With a scientist’s tools, he’s done what previous theorizers have failed to: put theory to the test and demonstrated the key factor for empirically predicting which stories will be snore fests and which will leave audiences hungry for more.
Plenty of ups and downs are key to a great story, research finds
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The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, is trying his best to shake up the dynamics of the Russia-Ukraine war. He recently undertook a major cabinet reshuffle in which he replaced no fewer than nine ministers, including [...]
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Professional and lay judges are not supposed to be influenced by personal values or political opinions. Despite this, the language of judgments reflects stereotypical ideas about gender and sexuality. This language means that women who [...]
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Conservative voters have slightly larger amygdalas than progressive voters—by about the size of a sesame seed. In a replication study published September 19 in the journal iScience, researchers revisited the idea that progressive and conservative [...]
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Significant racial and gender disparities exist in U.S. crime victim compensation programs, revealing Black and Indigenous people as well as survivors of gender-based violence face unique challenges in obtaining financial support, according to a new [...]
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The Australian Government wants to ban kids from social media—but will it work and is it a good idea?This post was originally published on this site
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A new study from NYU Tandon School of Engineering suggests that when it comes to visualizations of mass shooting data, political ideology plays a more significant role in shaping emotional responses than racial identity.This post [...]
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Happiness may be reshaping America’s political landscape.This post was originally published on this site
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The burden of supporting asylum-seekers with food and housing often falls to cities, creating severe budget crunches. But Denver is piloting a new approach designed to integrate immigrants into the workforce faster.This post was originally [...]
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People selectively underestimate how rich the world’s richest people are, according to a study. Increasing income inequality in many countries is driven by steep gains among the top 1% of earners. In the United States, [...]
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A study of political speeches, social media posts from politicians, and Reddit discussions among everyday users finds a higher prevalence of abstract, moralized, and power-centric language in national versus local politics. Political dialogue and debate [...]