Keyword

Willing, suspension, disbelief, impulse, impulse buying

Abstract

Poetry and drama, for a long time now, have been utilizing a celebrated phenomenon of ‘willing suspension of disbelief’ to make a setting for awestruck poetry and rapt drama performances. There is an element of believability in the thread of imagination that runs through fantasy, poetry, drama and the human wish to seek and revel in pleasure. This thread is tied around human ability to suspend disbelief to accept the fancies. This article explores the literature on the phenomenon and further proposes a link of the same with a well known marketing phenomenon - impulse buying. The article is structured in three sections- first section deals with a discussion on origin of the phenomenon. Second section deals with epistemology of the phenomenon and identifies a conceptual convergence of the thoughts on the process of suspended disbelief and third section explores the possibility of ‘willing suspension of disbelief’ as a powerful motivator to the act of impulse buying. The article concludes with implications and future research directions


Full Text : PDF

References
  1. Ben-Zeev, Aharon & Goussinsky, Ruhama (2008). In the name of love: romantic ideology and its victims: Oxford University Press.
  2. Bayley & Nancarrow (1998). Impulse purchasing: a qualitative exploration of the phenomenon. Qualitative Market Research 1 (2). 
  3. Coleridge, S.T. & Coleridge, H.T (1848). Biographia Literaria. William Pickering. Original from Oxford University Digitized 18 Jun 2007.
  4. Dittmar, H. & Halliwell, E. (2008). Consumer culture, identity and well-being: the search for the "good life" and the "body perfect". Routledge. 
  5. Ellman Richard and Charles Feidelson (1965). The Modern Tradition, Backgrounds of Modern Literature. New York, Oxford University Press. 
  6. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved May 17, 2009. Retrieved from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/7484/aesthetics 
  7. Ferri, Anthony J. (2007). Willing suspension of disbelief: poetic faith in film.  Lexington Books.
  8. Frede & Striker (1996). Rationality in Greek thought. Oxford University Press.
  9. Holland, Norman. H. (2002). The willing suspension of disbelief: A neuro-psychoanalytic view, presented at 19th International literature and psychology conference.
  10. Hunter, M. Image quality issues. Retrieved May20, 2009, retrieved from www.markhunter.com/ writings/ articles/image_quality_issues.asp
  11. Kawin, Bruce F. (1992). How movies work. University of California Press.  
  12. Kollat, David T. and Willet, Ronal P.  (1967). Customer Impulse Purchasing Behavior. Journal of Marketing Research, 4. 
  13. Mateas, M (2001). A neo Aristotelian theory of Interactive Drama. Retrieved April 15, 2009,  from www.soe.ucsc.edu/~michaelm/publications/mateas-aaai-symp-aiie-2000.pdf.  
  14. Michael (2004). Poetry of the Romantic Period: Coleridge and Keats. Blackwell reference online.
  15. Millburn, D. Willed suspension of belief. Retrieved on March 11, 2009, from www.texaschapbookpress.com/ megallanslog.htm.
  16. Naikar, Basavraj S. (2002). Indian response to Shakespeare. Atlantic publishers & Distributors. 
  17. Rader, Melvin Miller (1967). Wordsworth: a philosophical approach. Clarendon P.
  18. Safire, William (2007, October 7). Suspension of Disbelief, New York Times.
  19. Sigmund, Freud. (1961). Beyond the Pleasure Principle. New York. W. W. Norton. 
  20. Silvera, David H., Lavack, Anne M., & Kropp Fredric (2008).  Impulse buying: the role of affect, social influence, and subjective wellbeing. Journal of Consumer Marketing. 25 (1).
  21. Sneath, J., Lacey, R. & Kennett- Hensel, P.(2009). Coping with a natural disaster: Losses, emotions, and impulsive and compulsive buying. Marketing Letters.
  22. Stern, H. (1962). The significance of impulse buying today. Journal of Marketing. 26(1).
  23. Tolkien, J. R. R. (1997). On Fairy-Stories in Tolkien (ed.) The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays. Harper Collins.