Robin S. Rosenberg's Blog
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May.08.2012
The idea of an Avengers film was daring: to put together A-list actors who have played Marvel superheroes recently, give them a good plot, script, and director (Joss Whedon). As opening weekend box office sales indicate, the risk paid off and the film was a success.
What about...
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Jan.12.2012
I previously wrote a post about one of the themes from the film Limitless: the idea that some pills can make us smarter. That they can enhance our cognitive abilities, such as our ability to pay attention, to learn, to remember, to be creative or think "out of the box." In essence, such pills-...
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Dec.15.2011
For those of you interested in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, here are links to my interview with Dr. Chris Blazina for his radio show The Secret Life of Men.We discuss the psychology of the character of Lisbeth Salander and raise some of the issues addressed in the book The...
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Dec.09.2011
This blog post is an excerpt from a chapter in the anthology titled The Psychology of the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, published by BenBella Books.
Lisbeth Salander is a captivating protagonist. Her appearance and demeanor lead us-and the characters in her world-to make assumptions about her...
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Nov.29.2011
Unless you're someone who avidly avoids advertisements, you've probably seen some ads for the upcoming American film adaptation of Stieg Larsson's "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo." The film's protagonist, Lisbeth Salander (played by Rooney Mara), is a strong female character and...
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Nov.22.2011
I didn't get a chance to see to see the film Limitless when it was in theatres, but I recently saw it on the small screen. Before I talk about it, though if you haven't seen it, here's an overview, from IMDB:
An action-thriller about a writer who takes an experimental drug...
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Nov.16.2011
Recently, I went to the monthly Treasure Island Flea Market for the first time. I was amazed at the ingenuity and creativity behind some of the items for sale there, some of which were made by the people selling the items. For instance, one woman was selling recycled decorated wine...
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Oct.14.2011
It's not uncommon for women (or even men) to bond with each other over the travails of their appearance: their hair, their clothes, their weight, their fat. Sound familiar? If so, take note. The week of Oct. 16-22 isFat Talk Free Week. It's a week in which people are encouraged to stop their...
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Sep.20.2011
I had the opportunity to speak with some former and current Special Forces soldiers about their training and experience; these are real-life heroes (though they wouldn't necessarily use that term to describe themselves). Their missions and actions rival those of fully human superheroes such as...
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Sep.03.2011
It's that time of year again. Fall is about to be upon us. Many people associate the beginning of fall and the Labor Day weekend with the start of the school year. Blank notebooks, pristine binders, new teachers, new learning. Beginnings.
Most adults don't have annual opportunities to begin again...
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Aug.08.2011
Perhaps you, like me, enjoyed the two Christopher Nolan Batman films out thus far. One of the reasons that I liked the films was for their sense of psychological realism: I got a vivid sense of what it might be like to live in Batman's world (or have him live in mine). Moreover,Batman Begins ...
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Jul.20.2011
After seeing a preview of the film Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, based on Lisa See's novel about the practice of female foot-binding in pre-revolutionary China, Arianna Huffington recently wrote a post on her thoughts about women's friendships and the ways that women are willing to deform...
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Jul.13.2011
You're probably familiar with what I'll call the "superhero stance": the physical pose in which the superhero stands with legs spread apart, arms on hips, elbows bent. The superhero stance projects "power." The superhero stance is an example of what psychologists refer to as ...
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Jun.20.2011
It's normal to fantasize about a "better" version of yourself. As more heroic, smarter, powerful, successful, generous, kinder than you are. (Or more cutthroat or vengeful than you are.) These fantasies can serve as ideals of who we want to become -- and thus can be blueprints,...
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Jun.03.2011
If you yearn for a quieter, more peaceful era, it's not necessarily that you're looking at the past with Vaseline- and gauze-covered lenses or watching too many old television shows on Nick at Nite. Research indicates that we, as a culture, are more anxious than we used to be. What do psychologists...
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About Robin
Robin S. Rosenberg is a clinical psychologist, author, speaker, and blogger. She uses events in popular culture to illustrate psychological phenomena.
She writes college-level psychology textbooks and is series editor of the Oxford Superhero...
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