exaggeration - wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Exaggeration - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exaggeration[27/02/2012 09:28:34]

ExaggerationFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Exaggeration is a representation of something in an excessive manner. The exaggerator has beena familiar figure in Western culture since at least Aristotle's discussion of the alazon: 'the boaster isregarded as one who pretends to have distinguished qualities which he possesses either not at all orto a lesser degree than he pretends...exaggerating'.[1]

It is the opposite of minimisation.

Words or expressions associated with exaggeration include:

catastrophizationhyperbolelaying it on thick

magnificationmaximizationoverreaction

overstatingstretching the truth

Contents [hide]

1 Everyday and psycho-pathological contexts2 Humour3 Overacting4 Tragedy5 Expressionism6 Metaphors7 Literary analogues8 See also9 References10 Further reading11 External links

This section needs attention from an expert on thesubject. See the talk page for details. WikiProject Psychology orthe Psychology Portal may be able to help recruit an expert. (March2011)

Contexts of exaggeration include:

The boasting and bragging by arrogant or manipulative people has been sent up on stage since thefirst appearance of the alazon - 'a stock character in Greek comedy'.[2] Inflated praise in the form offlattery and puffery has a similarly lengthy history.[3]

Amplifying achievements, obstacles and problems to seek attention is an everyday occurrence, as 'inexaggerating what one feels by magnifying the emotional expression: this is the ploy used by the six-year-old who dramatically twists her face into a pathetic frown, lips quivering, as she runs to complainto her mother about being teased'.[4]

Exaggerating is also a type of deception,[5] as well as a means of malingering - magnifying small

[edit]Everyday and psycho-pathological contexts

[edit]Manipulation

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injuries or discomforts as an excuse to avoid responsibilities.[6]

Cognitive behavioral therapy views magnification (as opposed to minimization) as unconscious,unrealistic mental processing or cognitive distortion, which can take the form of probabilityoverestimation or of catastrophizing. This is better known as 'making a big deal out of nothing.''Whereas probability overestimation refers to exaggerating the "likelihood" of an event,catastrophizing refers to exaggerating the "importance" of the event'.[7] Closely related 'isovergeneralizing. You take a single negative event and see it as a never-ending pattern of defeat'.[8]

Another form of cognitive exaggeration is inflation of the difficulty of achieving a goal after attaining it,possibly to improve self-esteem.[9]

In depression, exaggerated all-or-nothing thinking can form a self-reinforcing cycle: 'these thoughtsmight be called emotional amplifiers because, as they go around and around, they become moreintense....Here are some typical all-or-nothing thoughts:

My efforts are either a success or they are an abject failureI am/other people are either all good or all bad

if you're not with us, you're against us'.[10]

Psychoanalysis considered that 'if neurotic exaggerations - namely, attitudes in which a relativelyharmless thing is emotionally overvalued - are analyzed, the results demonstrate that they arederivatives of something that has been repressed...displacement'.[11] Thus for example a conflictover ambivalence may be resolved 'by this means. The subject's hatred of a person whom he lovesis kept down by an exaggerated amount of tenderness for him'.[12]

The grandiose sense of self-importance observed in narcissists[13] also uses exaggeration to thwartany recognition of fallibility, 'any step towards help....The grandiose side of the self always steps in atsuch a moment and exaggerates the truth, saying something like, "You see? Everything you've doneis absolutely hopeless'.[14]

"Self-dramatization, theatricality, and exaggerated expression of emotion" can be observed in thosewith histrionic personality disorder[13] and other Cluster B personality disorders; while"catastrophizing" is associated with depressive, neurotic or paranoid behavior focusing on the worstpossible outcome, however unlikely, or thinking that a situation is unbearable or impossible when it isreally just uncomfortable.[15][16]

Exaggeration may also be observed in abusers or manipulators to amplify or fabricate faults of thevictim as a component of victim blaming.

'Some theoreticians of the comic consider exaggeration to be a universal comic device'.[17] It maytake different forms in different genres, but all rely on the fact that 'the easiest way to make thingslaughable is to exaggerate to the point of absurdity their salient traits'.[18]

Main article: Caricature

A caricature can refer to a portrait that exaggerates or distorts the essence of a person or thing tocreate an easily identifiable visual likeness: 'disproportionately increasing and emphasizing thedefects of the features'.[19] In literature, a caricature is a description of a person using exaggerationof some characteristics and oversimplification of others.[20]

Main article: Slapstick

[edit]Cognitive distortions

[edit]Pathology

[edit]Humour

[edit]Caricature

[edit]Slapstick



Slapstick is a type of comedy involving exaggerated physical violence and activities which exceed theboundaries of common sense.[citation needed] These exaggerated depictions are often found inchildren's cartoons, and light film comedies aimed at younger audiences.

Main article: Paradoxical laughter

Paradoxical laughter is an exaggerated expression of humor which is unwarranted by external events.It may be uncontrollable laughter which may be recognised as inappropriate by the person involved.Freud considered 'the compulsive laughter which so often occurs on mournful occasions'[21] the by-product of ambivalence.

Main article: Miles Gloriosus

The boastful soldier or Miles Gloriosus has for thousands of years formed part of the Western stage.'The original miles gloriosus in Plautus is a son of Jove and Venus who has killed an elephant withhis fist and seven thousand men in one day's fighting. In other words, he is trying to put on a goodshow: the exuberance of his boasting helps to put the play over'.[22]

Main article: Overacting

Overacting is the exaggeration of gestures and speech when acting. It may be unintentional,particularly in the case of a bad actor, or be required for the role. For the latter, it is commonly usedin comical situations or to stress the evil characteristics of a villain. Since the perception of actingquality differs between people the extent of overacting can be subjective.

Though the boaster (alazon) is primarily a comic figure, 'the alazon may be one aspect of the tragichero as well: the touch of miles gloriosus in Tamburlaine, even in Othello, is unmistakable, as is thetouch of the obsessed philosopher in Faustus and Hamlet'.[23]

Main article: Expressionism

'"Expressionist art"...attempted to intensify the expression of feeling and attitude by exaggeration'.[24]In its wake, even the 'new and hard realism...kept much of the distortion and exaggeration which hadbeen one of the chief devices of earlier Expressionism'.[25]

"Making a mountain out of a molehill""Blow out of proportion" or "Blow out of all proportion""The sky is falling in""World War III has broken out"

In the BookWorld, warnings are issued about ' Poetry Island...any visit longer than a few hourswill have an exaggerating effect on the senses. Upbeat poems will tend to have you laughinguncontrollably, while sombre poems will have you questioning your own worth in a most hideously

self-obsessed manner'.[26]

The Monty Python Dirty Fork sketch demonstrates an absurd level of catastrophization where

[edit]Paradoxical laughter

[edit]Miles Gloriosus

[edit]Overacting

[edit]Tragedy

[edit]Expressionism

[edit]Metaphors

[edit]Literary analogues



restaurant staff commit suicide and murder each other because of a customer complaint of a dirtyfork.

Fear mongeringHenny PennyHypercriticism

HypervigilanceNegativity effectPositivity effect

SpinSuperiority complex

1. ^ Aristotle, Ethics (Penguin 1976) p. 1652. ^ H. J. Rose, A Handbook of Latin Literature (London 1966)p. 493. ^ ""puff piece." Answers.com" . The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms. Houghton Mifflin

Company. 1992. Retrieved 2006-07-22.4. ^ Daniel Goleman, Emotional Intelligence (London 1996) p. 1135. ^ Guerrero, L., Anderson, P., Afifi, W. (2007). Close Encounters: Communication in Relationships (2nd

ed.). Los Angeles: Sage Publications.6. ^ R. Rogers Clinical Assessment of Malingering and Deception 3rd Edition, Guilford, 2008. ISBN 1-

59385-699-77. ^ M. M. Antony/P. J. Norton, The Anti-Anxiety Workbook (2008) p. 838. ^ Paul Gilbert, Overcoming Depression (London 1999) p. 2869. ^ Beth Azar All puffed up Monitor on Psychology June 2007, Vol 38, No. 6

10. ^ Gilbert, p. 63 and p. 9811. ^ Otto Fenichel, The Psychoanalytic Theory of Neurosis (London 1994) p. 14912. ^ Sigmund Freud, On Psychopathology (PFL 10) p. 31713. ^ a b Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Fourth edition Text Revision (DSM-IV-TR)

American Psychiatric Association (2000)14. ^ Neville Symington, Narcissism: A New Theory (London 1993) p. 7115. ^ John M.Grohol; PsyD. "What is Catastrophizing? Psych Central" . Retrieved 1 March 2010.16. ^ http://www.outofthefog.net/CommonBehaviors/Catastrophizing.html17. ^ Emil Draitser, Techniques of Satire (1994) p. 13518. ^ M. Eastman/W. Fry, Enjoyment of Laughter (2008) p. 15619. ^ Filippo Baldinucci, quoted in Harold Osborne ed., The Oxford Companion to Art (Oxford 1992) p. 20420. ^ Caricature in literature21. ^ Sigmund Freud, Case Studies II (PFL 9) p. 7422. ^ Northrop Frye, Anatomy of Criticism (Princeton 1973) p. 16523. ^ Frye, p. 3924. ^ Harold Bloom, Thomas Hardy (2010) p. 9325. ^ Harold Osborne ed., The Oxford Companion to Art (Oxford 1992) p. 39726. ^ Jasper Fforde, One of Our Thursdays is Missing (London 2011) p. 249

Duttmann, AG; Phillips, J Philosophy of Exaggeration (Continuum Studies in ContinentalPhilosophy) (2007)

Clayer, JR; Bookless, C; Ross, MW Neurosis and conscious symptom exaggeration: Itsdifferentiation by the illness behaviour questionnaire Journal of Psychosomatic Research Volume28, Issue 3, 1984, Pages 237-241Demaree, HA; Schmeichel, BJ; Robinson, JL; Everhart, D. Erik Behavioural, affective, and

[edit]See also

[edit]References

[edit]Further reading

[edit]Books

[edit]Academic papers



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Look up exaggeration inWiktionary, the free dictionary.

physiological effects of negative and positive emotional exaggeration. Cognition and Emotion,Volume 18, Number 8, 2004, 1079-1097(19)Masterson, J; Dunworth, R; Williams, N Extreme illness exaggeration in pediatric patients: Avariant of Munchausen's by Proxy?. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry. Vol 58(2), Apr 1988,188-195.McNicholas, F Slonims, V & Cass H Exaggeration of Symptoms or Psychiatric Munchausen'sSyndrome by Proxy? Child and Adolescent Mental Health 2003 Volume 5 Issue 2, Pages 69 75Mittenberg, W; Patton, C; Canyock, EM; Condit, DC Base rates of malingering and symptomexaggeration. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology. Vol 24(8), Dec 2002, 1094-1102.Mueller, J Simplicity and spook: Terrorism and the dynamics of threat exaggerationInternational Studies Perspectives, 2005Pieper, WJ Exaggeration, puffery, inferential beliefs and deception in advertising - 1976 -University of South Carolina.Sperling, OE Exaggeration as a Defense. Psychoanal Q., 32:553-548. (1963).

Magnification and MinimizationCognitive Distortion #6: Magnification andMinimization

Defence mechanisms

Psychological manipulation

Abuse

Categories: Social psychology Cognitive biases Defence mechanism Diversionary tacticsDeception Public relations techniques

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