Topical Guide 341
Mark Dorset
Books: Real and Fictional: The Thousand and One Nights
Magic: Magic Words
Interpersonal Behavior: Going Along with the Gag, Going Along to Get Along
Personality Characteristics and Emotional Stability, Assessing
His last piece of work was the hidden entrance. In the hallway, between the door to the bathroom and the door to Herb and Lorna’s bedroom, he built a set of bookcases, recessed into the wall. Among the books on the shelves was a leather-bound edition of The Thousand and One Nights. …
“This bookcase is a door,” said Herb. “Watch.” He removed The Thousand and One Nights. In doing so, he released a hidden latch. He opened the book as if he were going to read from it. He flipped a few pages until he apparently found what he wanted. “Open, Sesame!” he boomed, and he replaced the volume on the shelf, thereby activating a hidden spring. Slowly, one section of the bookcase swung open. …
Lorna, charmed by Ella’s reaction as much as by the door, reacted just as Ella had. “Oh, Herb,” she said, “it’s magic!” She clapped her hands together like a girl and hugged Herb.
Over Lorna’s shoulder, Herb winked at Mrs. Stolz, and Mrs. Stolz, convinced that Lorna, batty as she was, really believed Herb had made magic, reacted as Lorna had, the better to keep the illusion alive, or to strengthen it. She clapped her hands like a girl. …
From then on, whenever Mrs. Stolz went to her room, she would open the door by removing the leather volume, flipping through it as if she had forgotten the command and had to find it again, come at last to “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves,” and, apparently reading from the book, command the bookcase, “Open, Sesame!” replace the volume, and seem to marvel again at the magic she worked. Lorna, whenever she saw Mrs. Stolz go through her rigmarole at the bookcase, would swallow hard at the poignancy of it, and think to herself, The poor old woman has really lost her marbles.Herb ’n’ Lorna, Chapter 13
An unparalleled monument to the ageless art of story-telling, the tales of the One Thousand and One Nights have, for many centuries, titillated the imaginations of generations the world over. Perhaps one of the greatest Arabic, Middle Eastern, and Islamic contributions to world literature, the many stories of the Arabian Nights, (or Alf Laylah wa-Laylah as it is known in Arabic) in their various forms and genres, have influenced literature, music, art, and cinema, and continue to do so until our present day. Whether through its folktales, its magical stories full of adventure, or through its modern depictions as Hollywood feature films or Disney animated movies, almost everyone has been influenced to some extent by at least one or another of Shahrazad’s dazzling Arabian stories of the exotic East. Indeed, one would be hard-pressed to find anyone not familiar with the stories of Aladdin, Ali Baba, or Sindbad among many others, or with such terms as genie and ghoul, all of which became known to the West through the tales of One Thousand and One Nights.
“‘The catch is this,’ he said. ‘You’re going to be on display.’
“‘On display?’ I asked.
“‘On view, available for viewing.’
“‘What do you mean, available for viewing?’
“‘You’re going to have an audience.’
“i thought he was kidding. I told him so. ‘You’ve got to be kidding,’ I said.
“‘Come and see,’ he said. He put his glass on the bar and he held his arm out, bent at the elbow, for me to take. I shrugged, so that he—and the rest of the guys at the bar, who were taking this whole thing in—would know that I was just going along with the gag.
Two studies examined the heuristic and systematic processing of accuracy- versus impression-motivated individuals expecting a discussion with a partner believed to hold either a favorable or unfavorable opinion on the discussion issue. Given the goal of having a pleasant interaction, impression-motivated (versus accuracy-motivated) participants in both studies were particularly likely to express attitudes that were evaluatively consistent with the partner’s opinion, reflecting their selective use of a “go along to get along” heuristic. Study 2 yielded stronger evidence for the distinct nature of heuristic and systematic processing in the service of accuracy versus impression goals. In this study, the evaluative implication of impression-motivated participants’ low-effort application of a “go along to get along” heuristic biased their more effortful, systematic processing, leading to attitudes consistent with the partner’s views. In contrast, given the goal of determining an accurate issue opinion, accuracy-motivated participants exhibited relatively evenhanded systematic processing, resulting in attitudes unbiased by the partner’s opinion. The results underscore the utility of a dual-process approach to understanding motivated cognition.
Serena Chen, David Shechter, and S. Chaiken, “Getting at the truth or getting along: Accuracy- versus impression-motivated heuristic and systematic processing.” Published 1 August 1996 in Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (via Semantic Scholar)
See also: Books, Real and Fictional TG 99; Words TG 11; Personality Characteristics and Emotional Stability, Assessing TG 119
Ramsey Lewis, Jazz Pianist Who Became a Pop Star, Dies at 87
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