From cinema to the lab

Psychological experiments as liminal affective technologies

Bibliographic Data

ID20402002
AuthorsEdoardo Zulato (0000-0002-7157-1551, London School of Economics and Political Science, corresponding author)
Year2026
Volume36
Issue2
Pages163-176
Publication date2026-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueTheory & Psychology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0959-3543 • E-ISSN: 1461-7447
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/09593543251391140
OpenAlexW4416774379
LanguageEN
References cited28

This commentary provides an assessment of the article “Analysing movies to rethink the psychology of time” written by Paul Stenner and Tania Zittoun. Their article makes a relevant contribution to expanding our understanding—and potential use—of time in psychology through a re-working of Bakhtin’s concept of chronotopes. The authors move beyond the conventional distinction between minor and major chronotopes by recovering Bakhtin’s classification of chronotopes into created , creating , and creative ones. In doing so, they employ this classification to describe the time-space experience of engaging with art, with a particular focus on appreciating films. This commentary aims to (1) situate the authors’ contribution within the broader psychological literature, (2) extend their chronotopic analysis to the appreciation of classic experiments in psychology, and (3) discuss its potential for research practice. Overall, I conclude that experiments in psychology—like aesthetic objects—can function as liminal affective technologies that construct distinct configurations of time-space whilst claiming to reveal timeless truths

Discursive psychology · Liminality · Movie theater · Media Influence and Health · Neuroscience and Music Perception · Social Representations and Identity