Anticipation
Anticipation is the awareness, expectation, and possibly preparation for something that lies ahead, typically in the near future.
As a defense mechanism
George Eman Vaillant considered anticipation as one of "the mature ways of dealing with real stress... You reduce the stress of some difficult challenge by anticipating what it will be like and preparing for how you are going to deal with it". There is evidence that "the use of mature defenses (sublimation, anticipation) tended to increase with age".
Desire
"Anticipation is the central ingredient in sexual desire." As 'sex has a major cognitive component - the most important element for desire is positive anticipation':indeed, one name for pleasurable anticipation is excitement.
More generally, anticipation is a central motivating force in everyday life - 'the normal process of imaginative anticipation of, or speculation about, the future'. To enjoy one's life, 'one needs a belief in Time as a promising medium to do things in; one needs to be able to suffer the pains and pleasures of anticipation and deferral'.
Phenomenology
For Husserl, anticipation is an essential feature of human action. 'In every action we know the goal in advance in the form of an anticipation that is "empty", in the sense of vague...and [we] seek by our action to bring it step by step to concrete realization'.
Anticipation can be shown in many ways; for example, some people seem to smile uncontrollably during this period, while others seem ill or sick. It is not uncommon for the brain to be so focused on an event, that the body is affected in such a way. Stage fright is a type of anticipation, stemming from the actor or actress hoping that they perform well.
Anticipation of punishment
Anticipation of a coming punishment can put the delinquent in terror for an extended time, thus adding to his or her suffering before the actual punishment even starts. For example, a person sentenced to capital punishment may be made to wait for many years locked up in a death cell before their execution - a situation in which they have their inescapable fate before their eyes day after day with little or no hope of rescue. The waiting for punishment is thus a punishment by itself, making something that's bad enough even worse.
In corporal punishment, the delinquent may be made to wait for their whipping or spanking in various ways, such as:
- announcing a specific time a few hours ahead at which they are to report at a specific place
- locking them up in a room for a period of time
- letting them stand, sit or kneel in corner time or some other time-out place (e.g. their room)
- (in BDSM): putting them in bondage or locking them up in a cage
Further methods to add to the suffering via anticipation:
- letting them prepare themselves and/or the spanking implement (e.g. a birch)
- letting them write lines or an essay on their coming-up and well-deserved punishment
- certain rituals designed to put them in anxiety (e.g. extended scolding/lecturing, putting the spanking implement before their eyes, or making noises with the spanking implement so they will be reminded of what's coming to them)
In consensual spanking, these and related methods are popular too because both the spanker and the spankee can enjoy the feeling of anticipation. For some spankophiles, a luxurious anticipation is the best part of a spanking. Spankophiles can also enjoy the anticipation that comes with the making of a new spanking implement, the making of an item of spanking furniture, the preparation of the spankee (undressing, positioning), and so on.
Anticipation in animation
Anticipation is also an important technique in animation. Typically, whenever an energetic motion starts (for example, a slap, throw, kick, fall, jump), the principle of anticipation says that it should be preceded by a smaller motion that goes in the opposite direction. Then the motion comes, and when it comes to a halt, it also often passes a little beyond the target, then reverts to the target.
Anticipation adds a lot of realism to animation and is often exaggerated for a comic effect. It can be combined well with the techniques of squash and stretch.
Schema: Motion without anticipation (dull):
______________ -> time
/
/
_______________/
Schema: Motion with anticipation (better):
/\____________ -> time
/
/
_____________ /
\/
^-this is the anticipation
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