This paper critically examines the growing influence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) through the lens of Feyerabend’s philosophy, specifically his defense of pluralism and the conquest of abundance. This influence poses a challenge to us by flattening the diversity and richness of human world and cognition. Our paper explores how AI systems actively sculpt reality by curtailing human preferences and narrowing the scope of what is considered real or possible. This algorithmic compression of reality is shown to be a direct assault on the abundance Feyerabend sought to protect. The algorithmic flattening will be explored in an empirical study, from which the concept of cognitive debt emerges. This cognitive impairment, coupled with the impoverishment of our shared reality, underscores the urgency of Feyerabend’s call to fight attempts to reduce abundance and devalue human existence. The paper concludes that Feyerabend’s pluralistic view offers a philosophical resource for critically facing the AI-driven world.

Keywords play a prominent role in social discourse. Since Raymond Williams’ formative contributions, cultural studies scholars have studied and, at times, sought to actively shape their meanings. In addition, close attention has been paid to various prominent neologisms, such as ‘post-truth’ and ‘the Anthropocene’. This article makes the case for attending to notable words of a third kind. Neither present-day keywords nor prominent neologisms, these terms can nonetheless exert significant semantic power as social circumstances change. For instance, in Anglophone political debates, consider how the word ‘oligarchy’ has achieved a new and potent salience since around 2015. However, the semantic ‘journey’ of words like this can vary considerably, for example, the speed and particular causes of them taking on renewed significance. Attending to this variety can allow cultural study scholars and others to make conscious strategic interventions intended, on ethico-political grounds, to shape the social discourses they study. To illustrate, the article examines an old and seemingly ordinary word, namely ‘scale’. Scale may seem far too dry or technical to play a key role in present-day social discourse. I argue otherwise. Major shifts in our shared reality are today giving scale a heightened relevance. This suggests there’s potential for the word to perform increasingly important semantic work in the 2020s and beyond. The article resolves and itemises the venerable meanings of scale before suggesting why and how this ensemble sheds useful light on our troubled world. The example of global environmental change is used to illustrate the argument. Scale, I suggest, may become a ‘minor keyword’ or ‘semantic sinew’ of considerable significance as, or if, broader awareness of its helpful polysemy grows. Cultural studies scholars can contribute to this process as part of a wider ‘scalar turn’ emerging in the Anglophone social sciences and humanities. More broadly, by attending closely to the ‘career’ of ordinary words like scale, they can continue to shape public discourse in self-consciously normative ways, as they have done with critiques of neoliberalism. Keywords and prominent neologisms matter, but other important terms both reflect and shape the major contours of social reality. Aside from scale, we might ask what other existing terms contain large semantic potential that may be better actualised.

ABSTRACT How do people make sense of the world and determine what is real? We propose that conversation enhances the perceived realness of everyday objects and experiences by allowing conversation partners to develop a shared reality — the perception of sharing the same beliefs and feelings about the world. We found that conversation partners who spontaneously talked more about ambiguous images perceived them as more real, and this effect was mediated by their sense of shared reality (Study 1). A 5-day daily diary study revealed that on days participants talked with a close partner more than usual, their experiences felt more real, and this effect was mediated by shared reality (Study 2). Experimentally introducing doubt in romantic couples’ beliefs about their shared reality disrupted the effect of conversation on realness, with effects persisting one week later (Study 3). These studies suggest that conversations may heighten perceived realness by enhancing shared reality, highlighting the importance of interpersonal relationships in shaping people’s sense of reality.

Disinformation costs the global economy an estimated $78 billion a year, fueling a frantic race to build AI fact-checkers. Yet, this arms race is creating a dangerous new problem: an unaccountable 'black box of truth' that delivers an authoritative answer without showing its work, further eroding public trust. The world is trying to build an AI referee to make the final call. This paper presents a radical alternative: instead of an AI referee, we need an AI auditor. This paper details the blueprint for a Pluralistic Framework that achieves this by integrating a community-driven Endorsement model with a Comprehensive Truth Verification engine powered by Dempster-Shafer theory. This approach synthesizes conflicting information from experts, officials, and the public to produce not an answer, but a transparent audit that makes the degree of consensus and conflict easy for anyone to understand. This is not just a better fact-checker; it is a framework for turning fact-checking from a private judgment into a public audit, a vital tool for rebuilding trust in our shared reality.

Vibocracy refers to societal conditions in which public life and decision-making are shaped by affective resonance, performative legitimacy, and unstable epistemic frames, often amplified by algorithmic media and neo-oral communication environments. Unlike wicked problems, which presuppose shared intelligibility, and post-truth politics, which emphasize the erosion of factual authority, vibocracy designates contexts where problems themselves are enacted and sustained through affective circulation. Recent years have seen the emergence of societal challenges where public life and decision-making are shaped less by shared evidence and deliberative reasoning than by affective resonance and performative legitimacy. This entry introduces the concept of vibocracy to describe these conditions and distinguishes it from existing categories such as wicked problems and messes. The analysis is based on a conceptual synthesis of scholarship from planning, organizational studies, media theory, and political science, combined with illustrative examples from recent societal controversies. The main finding is that vibocratic problems resist not only solutions but stable framing itself, creating volatile, performative arenas where legitimacy is enacted rather than negotiated. The entry concludes by proposing vibocracy as a distinct conceptual lens for understanding emerging societal challenges and outlines methodological implications for researchers and practitioners.

Our short essay newly enquires into the Tongan philosophy of fonua, itself defined by fakafelavai (intersection) (i.e., fakahoko [connection] and fakamāvae [separation]) of ‘uta (land) and tahi (sea). In the Tongan material arts tufunga langafale (land-architecture) and tufunga fo‘uvaka (sea-architecture)—or what amounts to housebuilding and boat-building—are deeply rooted in this philosophy of fonua. Importantly, fonua addresses what is ontologically primary, as opposed to land-architecture and boat-architecture, which are socially produced and therefore capable of being grasped epistemologically. Given this, we initially survey the Tongan talatupu‘a (cosmogony and cosmology) of fonua as it defines the emergence of the landscape and seascape (and later skyscape). Following this emergence is the appearance of the first tangata (humans) succeeded by the ‘otua (deities), through their social and spiritual practices. We draw on three examples of a rich body of Tongan ethnography related to Tāvāism or Tongan time-space philosophy of reality: firstly, there are the vaka (boat), fale (house), and ouau kava-tō (kava-sugarcane ceremony); secondly, there are falevaka (boathouse) or faletahi (sea-house), and faleafolau (houseboat; i.e., toho‘angavaka [boat-hangar/hanger]) or vaka‘uta (land-boat); and, thirdly, there is the fata‘ufi (yam pyramids, structures or platforms) and Vaka-‘a-Hina (Boat-of-Hina). These ethnographic examples, like all things in a single shared reality, behave in tā-vā (temporal-spatial) tafa‘akifā (four-dimensional) ways. As such, tā (time) is fakafuo (temporal definer) taken as a verb in the sense of being action-led, while vā (space) is, in turn, a fakauho (spatial composer), seen as a noun in the sense of being object-based. Both senses inseparably operate through sustained mālie/faka‘ofo‘ofa (beauty) and ‘aonga/ngāue (utility), in investigative, transformative, and communicative ways by means of both process and outcome.

Social support helps people of color (POC) cope with stressors such as racial discrimination. Yet when POC disclose lived experiences of racism, confidants may fail to provide support that meets disclosers' emotional needs. Drawing on theories of shared reality and emotion reappraisal, we compare two emotion-focused social support approaches: validation (conveying that recipients' feelings or responses are appropriate) and reframing (seeking to reduce recipients' distress by offering a more positive perspective). Two POC samples of Canadian young adults (35% South Asian, 32% East Asian, 9% Black, 8% Southeast Asian, 7% Middle Eastern, 2% Latino/a/e, 1% Indigenous, 6% other; 78% women, 19% men, 2% nonbinary; mean age = 19.9) recalled a lived experience of racism then were randomly assigned to imagine disclosing it to a White or same-race confidant. In Study 1 (N = 430), POC rated validation as more helpful than reframing and forecasted larger gaps between desired and expected support from White than same-race confidants. Study 2 (N = 651) found that (a) experiences of racism are disclosed to same-race and White confidants more often than other groups and (b) imagining a confidant's reframing (vs. validating) response led to worse overall affect, less perceived responsiveness, less racial shared reality, and more rumination. In both studies, the gap between validation and reframing on perceived support increased for experiences that participants more strongly attributed to race, especially when disclosed to White confidants. Implications for providing responsive emotional support for lived experiences of racism are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

ABSTRACTThere are individual differences in how people respond to emotionally ambiguous cues (i.e., valence bias), which have important consequences for mental health, development, and social functioning, yet how these differences develop in childhood and adolescence is unknown. Extensive literature shows that children's cognitive biases, including appraisals in uncertain situations, can be influenced by parents. The current study collected valence bias from parent and child dyads (n = 136, children ages 6–17 years, M = 10.92, SD = 3.22) using a dual‐valence ambiguity task (i.e., the valence bias task). Using structural equation modeling, we found that a child's valence bias was associated with their parent's valence bias (β = 0.283, p = 0.005). We also explored the effect of parent–child attachment in three facets (communication, alienation, and trust) on this intergenerational transmission. Communication moderated the relationship between parent and child valence bias, such that higher communication led to a stronger relationship between parent and child valence bias (β = 0.03, p = 0.04). These findings suggest that one mechanism that supports valence bias development is the parent's bias, and this may be uniquely influenced by the degree of parent–child communication. This tendency to similarly interpret ambiguous stimuli may result from social learning. Specifically, our results support a theory of generalized shared reality where parents and children who have a greater interpersonal connection (i.e., communication) also share a more similar world view (i.e., valence bias). A video abstract of this article can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlSDxFDmP7gSummaryValence bias represents variability in appraisals of emotional ambiguity, with some people showing greater negativity, and others more positive.There is evidence of intergenerational transmission of valence bias, such that children tend to have a bias that mirrors their parents.Transmission was moderated by parent-child attachment, such that children that report greater communication with their parent show a more similar bias to their parent.These findings are discussed in the context of theories on development and generalized shared realities.

This study examines the phenomenon of anomalous experiences. The term 'anomalous experience' refers to experiences often described as hallucinations and, more broadly, to the experiential dimensions of what is commonly referred to as psychosis. I present a critical analysis of the dominant clinical conceptualization of anomalous experience, which frames it as a 'pathology of the mind', by focusing on how this assumption is experienced intersubjectively. Drawing on Ratcliffe's (2017) account of how intersubjectivity is implicated in anomalous experience, I argue that the psychiatric conceptualization of such experiences may obstruct intersubjective processes for those who undergo them. I suggest that this pathological marker, through its underlying assumptions and institutional practices associated with it, can give rise to a certain kind of relationality, characterized by an affective tone that excludes individuals from the shared interpersonal dynamics typically structuring experience in relation to a shared reality. Consequently, the psychiatric conceptualization of anomalous experience may play a role in the constitution of experiences of the kind that it seeks to erase. This implicates phenomenological psychopathology to question the starting assumptions that it takes as a given, direct picture of reality. Phenomenological psychopathology often adopts a pathological conceptualization of anomalous experience as its starting point, taking psychiatric concepts as given. I suggest that the discipline consider its own role, phenomenologically, in the multidirectional interactions that take place between anomalous experiences and the ways they are conceptualized and responded to. I propose that beginning with the direct experience itself, rather than its pathological association (and all the affective baggage this entails), would represent a progressive direction for the future of phenomenological psychopathology. This points toward critical phenomenology and critical phenomenological psychopathology.

Can the pretend and fanciful impinge upon reality? Over two studies (of which the second was pre-registered) we examine to what degree there is a ‘cognitive quarantine’ between the real and the imagined. We examine the permeability between real and fictive identities (using the ‘identity fusion’ construct), and establish a novel ‘cognitive porousness’ scale. We outline several theoretically relevant factors, such as emotional intensity, unpleasantness, and enjoyment which we expected to influence permeability. We also examined the Euclidean distance between one's real and one's fictive personality and moral identity. We find one's identity is influenced by the trait permeability of the participant, as well as the moral overlap between the participant and their character. This research demonstrates the tractability of examining adult pretence from a quantitative and cognitive perspective.

We propose that, although deeply personal, meaning is facilitated by interpersonal processes. Namely, we theorize that experiencing a sense of shared reality with a close partner (i.e., perceiving an overlap in inner states about the world in general) reduces uncertainty about one's environment, which in turn promotes meaning in work and life. In the current research, we test this hypothesis across five mixed-method studies (e.g., longitudinal, experimental). We find cross-sectional evidence for this association in a couples' study (Study 1: N = 103 romantic dyads) and in ecologically rich samples of people experiencing highly uncertain situations, specifically Black people consistently facing racism in the United States (Study 2: N = 190 participants) and frontline health care workers directly treating COVID-19 patients during the height of the pandemic (Study 3: N = 139 participants). Further, we provide causal evidence for this association in two experiments (Studies 4 and 5: N₄ = 364 participants, N₅ = 389 participants). Taken together, this work suggests that shared reality with close partners has real-world benefits, reducing uncertainty and promoting meaning. In addition, we show that experimentally heightening shared reality, by reducing uncertainty, can promote a greater sense of meaning in life. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

Human security offers a transformative analytical framework that shifts the focus of protection from the state to the individual, addressing non-military threats that endanger daily life. While crises affect entire populations, women often bear disproportionate burdens due to structural inequalities, particularly in fragile contexts marked by conflict, poverty, and political instability. This study explores the impact of crises on women through the lens of human security, focusing on the challenges they face and the opportunities for empowerment and active participation in post-crisis reconstruction. The research begins with a conceptual and theoretical framework examining the intersection between human security and gender, highlighting how women are positioned within unequal social and economic structures that affect both their vulnerability and access to protection. The second chapter presents a case study of Lebanon, investigating the lived experiences of women during armed conflicts and socio-political crises, as well as the legal and political barriers that limit their participation in peacebuilding and protection efforts. Drawing on academic literature and analytical sources, the study demonstrates the vital role that women play in humanitarian response, social reconstruction, and sustainable peace. Ultimately, the study argues that integrating a gender-sensitive approach into human security analysis must go beyond identifying vulnerabilities to recognizing women as key actors in peace processes and community resilience. Despite ongoing challenges, this vision points toward a more equitable future where human security is a shared reality, and women are recognized not as victims but as agents of change.

This study examined how non–art therapists utilize art within a multimodal therapeutic intervention program for combat veterans. Through thematic analysis of interviews with 17 facilitators, the research explored their perceptions and practices of art integration. While facilitators initially positioned art as secondary to verbal therapy, they identified multiple therapeutic benefits, including trauma processing, emotional regulation, and group cohesion, thus positioning art as a multidimensional tool. Facilitators also developed intuitive rituals around the art, attributing special contributions of art to the groups. The findings have contributions for art therapists, such as the ways that the facilitators utilized arts to concretize a shared reality narrative resulting from a traumatic group event, and have implications for the use of arts in shared reality group work. The findings suggest opportunities for enhancing trauma and group intervention through structured integration of art therapy principles into existing therapeutic frameworks.

Abstract During the 2019 Indonesian presidential election, two supporter groups of presidential candidates exhibited negative attitudes toward each other. This study aimed to explain the mediating effect of collective narcissism on the relationship between three predictors (religiosity, group‐based anger, and shared reality) and attitudes toward opposing groups. We conducted two surveys before and during the official campaign period (Study 1, n = 300) and after the official campaign period until one day after the election (Study 2, n = 158). The results of Study 1 showed that group‐based anger and shared reality had a significant relationship with negative attitudes toward the opposing group. In Study 2, collective narcissism was found to significantly predict negative attitudes toward the opposing group and mediate the relationship between shared reality and negative attitudes. We also found a mediating effect of collective narcissism on the relationship between group‐based anger and negative attitudes. These findings indicate that the strength of collective narcissism in the ingroup can predict negative attitudes toward the opposing group.

The role of racial shared reality in Black Americans' identity-safety during interracial interactions

Black individuals often feel unheard and misunderstood by White people during conversations about race. These experiences could be due in part to a perceived disconnect between their own and White people's views on race. In the current research (N = 1,470 Black Americans), we developed and tested a new scale to capture this potential mechanism-racial shared reality (RSR)-which we conceptualize as Black Americans' perceived consensus with White Americans about race and racism. First, we demonstrated the RSR scale's validity and reliability (Studies 1 and 2a), including its consistency across time (Study 2b). We also showed the scale's predictive validity. Specifically, RSR uniquely predicted Black Americans' general interaction experiences with White people (e.g., identity-safety; Study 2b) as well as their expectations for feeling understood when disclosing a personal experience of racial bias (Study 3). These patterns held even when controlling for established predictors of interaction quality, including perceptions of White individuals' prejudice, similarity, and general shared reality. Finally, in the context of an anticipated live interaction with a White person about racial profiling, we found that a cue intended to promote identity-safety-a White person's racially diverse (vs. all White) friendship network-was effective in part because it boosted Black individuals' felt RSR with their White partner (Study 4). Together, this work demonstrates that RSR is critical for understanding Black individuals' experiences discussing race with White people and provides a new tool for assessing RSR in future research. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

Intergroup meta-attitude inaccuracy—the extent to which perceptions of outgroup views towards the ingroup diverge from what outgroup members actually think—fuels intergroup hostility, yet research on its precursors is scarce. Through four correlational studies, we examined whether and how intergroup contact predicts meta-attitude (in)accuracy in three conflict contexts: Black–White British in the United Kingdom (UK), Turks–Kurds in Turkey, and Catholics–Protestants in Northern Ireland. Regardless of context or status, all groups perceived themselves to be evaluated more negatively by the outgroup than they really were. Positive contact predicted increased meta-attitude accuracy (through increased shared reality) which was, in turn, associated with more positive outgroup attitudes. The role of negative contact and affective mediators (such as intergroup anxiety and fear) was not consistent and depended on group and context. The use of positive intergroup contact as a potential rectifier of overestimated negative meta-attitudes in conflict contexts is discussed.

Military veterans face elevated risks of mental health issues, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and suicide. While previous research has identified loneliness and social isolation as major contributors to these outcomes, less is known about existential isolation (EI), the sense that others cannot understand one's personal experiences. Shared reality, defined as a perceived commonality of inner states with others, may help reduce EI and improve health outcomes. This study examined whether experiences of generalized shared reality (SR-G) in close relationships were associated with reduced EI, and in turn, whether lower EI predicted better mental and physical health outcomes in veterans. The two hypotheses for this study were (1) higher levels of EI will be associated with greater symptoms of anxiety, depression, and PTSD, and with lower levels of physical health and (2) greater shared reality will be associated with lower levels of EI, which, in turn, will be related to reduced symptoms of depression, anxiety, PTSD, and increased physical well-being. A sample of 464 U.S. veterans completed measures of SR-G, EI, loneliness, PTSD, anxiety, depression, and physical well-being. Results showed that SR-G was significantly negatively associated with EI, loneliness, and depression, and positively associated with physical health. Mediation analyses showed that EI partially mediated the relationship between SR-G and both depression and physical health, even when controlling for loneliness. These findings suggest that fostering shared reality in close relationships may serve as a protective factor against EI and its associated negative health outcomes in military veterans. Implications for clinical interventions and veteran reintegration support programs are discussed.

Up to 40% of seriously ill patients develop a (temporary) desire to die which can lead to requests for assisted dying. Health professionals often feel uncertain about addressing these topics, while informal caregivers may feel guilty and left out. Open and respectful communication proves beneficial. It remains unclear how this communication ideal realizes within the lived experience of all 3 parties. Therefore, we conducted in-depth analysis of communication strategies about desire to die from triangulated perspectives of patients, informal caregivers, and health professionals. We conducted semi-structured interviews with purposefully sampled triads consisting of seriously ill patients, their respective informal caregivers and health professionals. Interviews were part of the qualitative evaluation of a 3-phase mixed-methods study on the effects of communication about desire to die on seriously ill patients. We followed a framework analysis approach to build communication types. From the N = 13 patients, 54% suffered from oncological diseases. Health professionals (N = 13) were multiprofessional. Informal caregivers (N = 13) were partners, children, or another relation. All in all, we conducted N = 14 interview triads (n = 3 incomplete; N = 39 individual interviews).Four key themes emerged from analysis: (a) how open communication was perceived, (b) whether participants reported shared reality, (c) how they talked about death, and (d) their communication strategies.Ultimately, 3 communication types were inductively derived at from these key themes. Type 1 "Between the Lines," type 2 "Past each Other" and type 3 "Matter of Fact" show differing expressions on the key themes, especially on (b) shared reality. Specific type characteristics produce suggestions for health professionals' communicative practice. Awareness of typical communication strategies is necessary to foresee potential pitfalls such as loss of information or acting on unchecked assumptions. To reduce distress and increase information flow, health professionals should actively approach informal caregivers for desire to die conversations.

Supplemental Material for The Racial Shared Reality Scale: Capturing Black Americans’ Perceived Consensus With White Americans About Race and Racism