Abstract
Humans have repeatedly reproduced original stories by interpreting them via new works of art (novels and paintings) through the ages. The motivation behind such reproductions seem to be related to “misprojection” and “fictional projection”. According to Suzuki (2016), who used the term “projection science,” misprojection refers to situations in which internal representations of the real world are projected onto a wrong target, like in a ventriloquism effect, whereas fictional projection refers to situations in which internal representations are projected onto something in the real world despite the absence of actual visual input (e.g., ghost). Women who create fan fiction in which an existing story of friendship or rivalry between two men is changed into a love story between men, and who prefer love stories about homosexual men (referred to in Japanese as “Fujoshi”) are considered to be converting the original work into a reproduction through misprojection and fictional projection. We discuss the similarities between fan fictions by Fujoshi and academic activities, because both fan fictions and scientific hypotheses describe things that do not exist in reality, yet are shared by many people if they are convincing enough. Products of misprojection and fictional projection shared by the community are overwritten and more refined. Previous literatures on “projection science” have focused on each individual, and barely address the dynamics of sharing and the propagation of new works reproduced through misprojection and fictional projection. This review paper analyzes the sharing of misprojection and fictional projection common to art, religion, and academic activities, and proposes that the sharing of those projections is an important function related to various human cognitive activities.
