Realism theory Realism theory is the belief that many or most cognitive biases are not "errors", but

instead logical and practical reasoning methods of dealing with the "real world". Inherent in it is the assumption that subjects include far more information than cognitive experimenters want them to in their thought processes. Realism is a literary term which is so widely used as to be more or less meaningless except when used in contradistinction to some other movement, such as Naturalism, Expressionism, Surrealism. The original definition of realism by Sir P. Harvey was "a loosely used term meaning truth to the observed facts of life." Realism has been chiefly concerned with the commonplaces of everyday life among the middle and lower classes, where character is a product of social factors and environment is the integral element in the dramatic complications. Realism in literature is an approach that attempts to describe life without idealization or romantic subjectivity. Although realism is not limited to any one century or group of writers, it is most often associated with the literary movement in 19th-century France, specifically with the French novelists Flaubert and Balzac. In the drama, realism is most closely associated with Ibsen's social plays. Later writers felt that realism laid too much emphasis on external reality. Many, notably Henry James, turned to a psychological realism that closely examined the complex workings of the mind. The French realist school of the mid-19th century stressed "sincerity" as opposed to the "liberty" proclaimed by the Romantics; it insisted on accurate documentation, sociological insight, an accumulation of the details of material fact, an avoidance of poetic diction, idealization, exaggeration, melodrama, etc.; subjects were to be taken from everyday life, preferably from lower-class life. This emphasis clearly reflected the interests of an increasingly positivist and scientific age. French Realism developed into Naturalism, an associated but more scientifically applied and elaborated doctrine, seen by some later critics (notably Marxist critics) as degenerate. Realism when applied to literature of the 19th century implies the attempt to depict contemporary life and society. The growth of realism is linked to the development of science, history and the social sciences and to the growth of industrialism and commerce. Branches of realism Political realism Political realism is a theory of political philosophy that attempts to explain, model, and prescribe political relations. It takes as its assumption that power is (or ought to be) the primary end of political action, whether in the domestic or international arena. In the domestic arena, the theory asserts that politicians do, or should, strive to maximize their power, whilst on the international stage, nation states are seen as the primary agents that maximize, or ought to maximize, their power. The theory is therefore to be examined as either a prescription of what ought to be the case, that is, nations and politicians ought to pursue power or their own

interests, or as a description of the ruling state of affairs-that nations and politicians only pursue (and perhaps only can pursue) power or self-interest. Liberal realism The English School holds that the international system, while anarchical in structure, forms a "society of states" where common norms and interests allow for more order and stability than what might be expected in a strict realist view. Prominent English School writer Hedley Bull's 1977 classic, The Anarchical Society, is a key statement of this position. Classical realism Classical realism states that it is fundamentally the nature of man that pushes states and individuals to act in a way that places interests over ideologies. Classical realism is an ideology defined as the view that the "drive for power and the will to dominate that are held to be fundamental aspects of human nature".[5] Modern realism began as a serious field of research in the United States during and after World War II. This evolution was partly fuelled by European war migrants like Hans Morgenthau.