Catharsis

Entertainment / Literature / Catharsis: An emotional discharge that brings about a moral or spiritual renewal or welcome relief from tension and anxiety. According to Aristotle, catharsis is the marking feature and ultimate end of any tragic artistic work. He writes in his Poetics (c. 350 BCE): Tragedy is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude, . . . Through pity [eleos] and fear [phobos] effecting the proper purgation [catharsis] of these emotions (Book 6.2). (See tragedy.)
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Limited Effects Theory

Technology / Television (TV) / Limited Effects Theory: A type of communication theory (e.g., social learning theory, vicarious catharsis theory) that regards media as having conditional influences on the viewer: due to intervening variables, the effects o MORE

Tragedy

Entertainment / Literature / Tragedy: A serious play in which the chief character, by some peculiarity of psychology, passes through a series of misfortunes leading to a final, devastating catastrophe. According to Aristotle, catharsis is MORE

Ekstasos

Entertainment / Literature / Ekstasos: (Greek, 'ecstasy') In Greek thinking, ekstasos is a non-rational state of mind that people achieve by 'losing themselves' in an experience--becoming so engrossed in a sensation or a moment that one fo MORE