Psychology of name calling in story telling

Psychology of Name Calling in Story Telling

It’s well understood in psychology that name calling (eg. what Donald Trump does to every adversary) is a reflection on the person doing the name calling rather than a judgement of the other person’s character.

That’s obvious of course, but it can also be used when writing a controversial piece of content to enhance a hero’s humanity and place the villain in an even worse light.

It distracts the reader from internal thoughts by grabbing their attention. Then aligns them by declaring and sharing the same values as the hero.

That’s when the story reveals the magic formula that destroys the villain and makes everything right again (including the sales that follow from the feel good alignment factor).


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