This article is about some intentionally cryptic concepts. For the heraldic and military flags, see gonfalon.
A granfalloon, in the fictional religion of Bokononism (created by Kurt Vonnegut in his 1963 novel Cat's Cradle), is defined as a "false karass". That is, it is a group of people who affect a shared identity or purpose, but whose mutual association is meaningless.
As quoted in And So It Goes: Kurt Vonnegut: A Life (2011) by Charles J. Shields, Vonnegut writes in his introduction to his book Wampeters, Foma and Granfalloons (1974) that a "granfalloon is a proud and meaningless collection of human beings"; Shields also comments that in the same book, Vonnegut later cites the demonym of 'Hoosiers' as "one of [Vonnegut's] favorite examples" of what the term embodies. Another example of a granfalloon given in Cat's Cradle is 'alumni of Cornell University'. Kurt Vonnegut himself was born in Indiana and attended Cornell University.
Examples
The most commonly purported granfalloons are associations and societies based on a shared but ultimately fabricated premise. Examples from Cat's Cradle include: "the Communist Party, the Daughters of the American Revolution, the General Electric Company—and any nation, anytime, anywhere." A more general and oft-cited quote defines a granfalloon as "a proud and meaningless association of human beings."[1] Other examples of granfalloons cited in the novel include Hoosiers, which included the fictional narrator (and Vonnegut himself); and Cornellians (those who attended Cornell University)—which also included the fictional narrator and Vonnegut himself.
If you wish to examine a granfalloon, just remove the skin of a toy balloon. — Bokonon
"My God," she said, "are you a Hoosier?" I admitted I was. "I'm a Hoosier, too," she crowed. "Nobody has to be ashamed of being a Hoosier." "I'm not," I said. "I never knew anybody who was." – Kurt Vonnegut, Cat's Cradle
"His gaze lit on Newt again. "You go to college?" "Cornell," said Newt. "Cornell!" cried Crosby gladly. "My God, I went to Cornell." "So did he." Newt nodded at me. "Three Cornellians – all in the same plane!" said Crosby, and we had another granfalloon festival on our hands. – Kurt Vonnegut, Cat's Cradle
They had found a can of white paint, and on the front doors of the cab Frank had painted white stars, and on the roof he had painted the letters of a granfalloon: U.S.A. – Kurt Vonnegut, Cat's Cradle
In the English translations of the several entries of the popular video game series Castlevania, the name Granfalloon has been used as an alternate name to represent the Judeo-Christian demon Legion. Particularly noted in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night as a mass of living corpses whom the protagonist Alucard, son of Dracula, fights against as one of the game's many bosses. Series director Koji Igarashi (a.k.a. Iga) is a noted fan of Kurt Vonnegut and selected this alternate name for Legion, as he believed the Vonnegut concept to be a perfect representation for that boss.[citation needed]
Granfalloon technique
For a sport festival, participants are randomly split into color groups.
The granfalloon technique is a method of persuasion in which individuals are encouraged to identify with a particular granfalloon or social group.[2] The pressure to identify with a group is meant as a method of securing the individual's loyalty and commitment through adoption of the group's symbols, rituals, and beliefs.
In social psychology, the concept stems from research by the Polish social psychologist Henri Tajfel, whose findings have come to be known as the minimal group paradigm. In his research, Tajfel found that strangers would form groups on the basis of completely inconsequential criteria.
In one study, Tajfel subjects were asked to watch a coin toss. They were then designated to a particular group based on whether the coin landed on heads or tails. The subjects placed in groups based on such meaningless associations between them have consistently been found to "act as if those sharing the meaningless labels were kin or close friends."[3]
Researchers since Tajfel have made strides into unraveling the mystery behind this phenomenon. Today it is broken down into two basic psychological processes, one cognitive and one motivational.
First, knowing that one is a part of this group is used to make sense of the world. When one associates with a particular group, those in the group focus on the similarities between the members. However, for people not in the group, or "outsiders," differences are focused upon and often exaggerated. A problem with the granfalloon is that it often leads to in-group, out-groupbias.
Second, social groups provide a source of self-esteem and pride, a form of reverse Groucho Marxism as in his famous remark "I don't care to belong to any club that would have me as a member."[4]
↑ Billig, Michael; Tajfel, Henri (1973). "Social categorization and similarity in intergroup behaviour". European Journal of Social Psychology. 3 (1): 27–52. doi:10.1002/ejsp.2420030103.
↑ Pratkanis, Anthony R.; Aronson, Elliot (1992). Age of Propaganda (Rev.ed.). New York: Owl Book. pp.214–223.
Hoosier is the official demonym for the people of the U.S. state of Indiana. The origin of the term remains a matter of debate, but "Hoosier" was in general use by the 1840s, having been popularized by Richmond resident John Finley's 1833 poem "The Hoosier's Nest". Indiana adopted the nickname "The Hoosier State" more than 150 years ago.
Kurt Vonnegut was an American writer and humorist known for his satirical and darkly humorous novels. In a career spanning over 50 years, he published fourteen novels, three short-story collections, five plays, and five nonfiction works; further collections have been published after his death.
Cat's Cradle is a satirical postmodern novel, with science fiction elements, by American writer Kurt Vonnegut. Vonnegut's fourth novel, it was first published in 1963, exploring and satirizing issues of science, technology, the purpose of religion, and the arms race, often through the use of morbid humor.
Slaughterhouse-Five, or, The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death is a 1969 semi-autobiographic science fiction-infused anti-war novel by Kurt Vonnegut. It follows the life and experiences of Billy Pilgrim, from his early years, to his time as an American soldier and chaplain's assistant during World War II, to the post-war years, with Billy occasionally traveling through time. The text centers on Billy's capture by the German Army and his survival of the Allied firebombing of Dresden as a prisoner of war, an experience which Vonnegut himself lived through as an American serviceman. The work has been called an example of "unmatched moral clarity" and "one of the most enduring anti-war novels of all time".
Foma may refer to:
Player Piano is the first novel by American writer Kurt Vonnegut Jr., published in 1952. The novel depicts a dystopia of automation partly inspired by the author's time working at General Electric, describing the negative impact technology can have on quality of life. The story takes place in a near-future society that is almost totally mechanized, eliminating the need for human laborers. The widespread mechanization creates conflict between the wealthy upper class, the engineers and managers, who keep society running, and the lower class, whose skills and purpose in society have been replaced by machines. The book uses irony and sentimentality, which were to become hallmarks developed further in Vonnegut's later works.
Elliot Aronson is an American psychologist who has carried out experiments on the theory of cognitive dissonance and invented the Jigsaw Classroom, a cooperative teaching technique that facilitates learning while reducing interethnic hostility and prejudice. In his 1972 social psychology textbook, The Social Animal, he stated Aronson's First Law: "People who do crazy things are not necessarily crazy", thus asserting the importance of situational factors in bizarre behavior. He is the only person in the 120-year history of the American Psychological Association to have won all three of its major awards: for writing, for teaching, and for research. In 2007, he received the William James Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Association for Psychological Science, in which he was cited as the scientist who "fundamentally changed the way we look at everyday life". A Review of General Psychology survey, published in 2002, ranked Aronson as the 78th most cited psychologist of the 20th century. He officially retired in 1994 but continues to teach and write.
Ilium is a fictional town in eastern New York state, used as a setting for many of Kurt Vonnegut's novels and stories, including Player Piano, Cat's Cradle, Slaughterhouse-Five, and the stories "Deer in the Works", "Poor Little Rich Town", and "Ed Luby's Key Club". The town is dominated by its major industry leader, the Ilium Works, which produces scientific marvels to assist, or possibly harm, human life. The Ilium Works is Vonnegut's symbol for the "impersonal corporate giant" with the power to alter humankind's destiny. The town has been compared to Zenith, the fictional setting in Sinclair Lewis's 1922 novel Babbitt.
Ice-nine is a fictional material that appears in Kurt Vonnegut's 1963 novel Cat's Cradle. Ice-nine is described as a polymorph of water which instead of melting at 0 °C (32 °F), melts at 45.8 °C (114.4 °F). When ice-nine comes into contact with liquid water below 45.8 °C, it acts as a seed crystal and causes the solidification of the entire body of water, which quickly crystallizes as more ice-nine. As people are mostly water, ice-nine kills nearly instantly when ingested or brought into contact with soft tissues exposed to the bloodstream, such as the eyes or tongue. It wasn't explained why the same doesn't happen by mere skin contact or inhalation of dust generated from mechanical impacts.
A T-group or training group is a form of group training where participants learn about themselves through their interaction with each other. They use feedback, problem solving, and role play to gain insights into themselves, others, and groups.
Wampeters, Foma & Granfalloons (Opinions) is a collection of essays, reviews, short travel accounts, and human interest stories written by Kurt Vonnegut from c. 1966–1974.
In sociology and social psychology, an in-group is a social group to which a person psychologically identifies as being a member. By contrast, an out-group is a social group with which an individual does not identify. People may for example identify with their peer group, family, community, sports team, political party, gender, sexual orientation, religion, or nation. It has been found that the psychological membership of social groups and categories is associated with a wide variety of phenomena.
Palm Sunday is a 1981 collection of short stories, speeches, essays, letters, and other previously unpublished works by Kurt Vonnegut.
Michael Billig is a British academic. He is Emeritus Professor of Social Sciences at Loughborough University, working principally in contemporary social psychology although much of his work crosses disciplinary boundaries in the social sciences.
The minimal group paradigm is a method employed in social psychology. Although it may be used for a variety of purposes, it is best known as a method for investigating the minimal conditions required for discrimination to occur between groups. Experiments using this approach have revealed that even arbitrary distinctions between groups, such as preferences for certain paintings, or the color of their shirts, can trigger a tendency to favor one's own group at the expense of others, even when it means sacrificing in-group gain.
Social identity is the portion of an individual's self-concept derived from perceived membership in a relevant social group.
Dan Wakefield is an American novelist, journalist and screenwriter.
Mark W. Doyon is an American author, recording artist, and creative director. He has led the indie rock bands Arms of Kismet, Wampeters and Waterslide, and produced tribute albums to Jonathan Richman, Lou Reed and Warren Zevon. He is the founder and principal of the record label and media company Wampus Multimedia.
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