Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Media and television

The media play a critical role in modern society because they are the carriers of information about how people behave. And, the evidence from social science is clear that information about others’ behavior can have a contagious effect—leading observers to behave similarly, which can lead still more and more observers to conform.

Television commercials depict crowds rushing into stores and hands depleting shelves of the product. Advertisers proclaim their products as the “largest selling” or “fastest growing” in the market. Restaurant owners designate certain menu items as “our most popular,” which immediately makes them even more popular. Besides the number of others who have performed an action, there is another feature of others that makes their actions contagious—similarity. People follow the actions of others who are like them. Here, again, the media must exercise caution, as these behaviors can take on a copycat character.

I suggesting that the media should be censored in the reporting of news of genuine value. media representatives can reduce the negative consequences of events such as panics and suicides by reducing the repetitiousness and sensationalism of their coverage.

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Thursday, July 3, 2008

Does Exercise Truly Make You Happy?



The World Health Organization advises at least half an hour of extensive exercise per day in order to stay in healthy shape.


It is thought that people who do not exercise on a regular base are more often anxious, depressed, and have lower self-esteem than people who do not exercise .


What if the perceived causality between the healthy mind and body is false? Suppose that, in general, happy people are just more fond of exercise, meaning that there is only a correlation? Or factors involved with exercising could operate independently and the effects of exercise are found in factors that accidentally come with exercise. People suffering from depression could in fact benefit from exercise programs due to the fact that they engage in a social activity, exercising with other people and receiving attention in a constructive and positive way.


In order to gain a more proper understanding of the causal relationship between exercise and depression (if any),


one should examine several environmental and physiological mechanisms that are involved, as well as the use of random trials, drawn from the general population.

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Monday, June 30, 2008

Creativity is More Than a Trait: It’s a Relation

What is all the commotion about creativity?
Whatever definition this vogue expressionm, it has apparently captured the awareness of countless authorities for educational, economical, governmental and last but not least, scientific issues.
Moreover, the media is filled with references to creativity or its synonyms.

The variation observed in human intellect was controlled by genetically-determined, biological processes.
.
Assuming “talent and character” are only passed on from fathers to sons, intellectual ability is indeed hereditary, such men must have more prominent relatives than found distributed in the general population. ,


Social groups play a role in establishing creativity.
Their perception and evaluation processes may be hard in an increasingly networked world,
but ignoring this does not necessarily facilitate creativity.

:DDDDD

Sunday, June 22, 2008

STEREOTYPE


Blonds are dumb, foreigners lazy, women can't do math. We continuously encounter such statements in our every-day lives – even if most people obviously wouldn’t take them seriously.
Nevertheless, we often act towards others as if they were members of a particular group and nothing more.
The bases for such behaviors are stereotypes and prejudices. Stereotypes are subjective views about the characteristics, attitudes, and behaviors of the members of a particular group.
They are overgeneralizations, whereby the members of a group are assigned certain characteristics

Of course, we don’t like to think of ourselves as prejudiced.
We believe in equality between genders and races. We might joke about the dumb blond, but do we really believe it?
Do we really think women can’t do math?
Do we think Black Americans are more aggressive than White Americans?
Most of us would probably answer no. While we hold beliefs of equality and equity, and while we think we’re not judgmental and that we act in a fair manner, research has indicated that the “evil” stereotypes lie hidden deep inside of us all.

People activate such stereotypes in many situations and based on minimal cue.
when encountering a member of a particular group, we automatically recall information about this person’s group, such as typical attitudes and behaviors.

:DDD

Sunday, June 15, 2008

mass communication

The Simpsons is one of my favaorite cartoon on cable tv, I'm sure everyone loves the simpsons, The yellow, American working class family are just as recognisable as the stars and stripes or the golden arches.

A slight introduction to the Simpsons family,

Bart Simpson He's a Krusty-loving, slingshot-owner, and loves the create trouble.

Homer Simpson The father who loves Doughnuts, Beer andmessing around with Nuclear safety protocols.

Marge Simpson Blue hair, endless patience - Marge is the glue of the Simpson family.

Lisa Simpson The literature loving, saxophone playing, responsible genius sister.

Maggie Simpson The babygro clad, dummy-sucking baby of the family.
(taken from the website)

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The simpsons wooed the audience when it first aired in 1990s. It was the first sitecom that's not afraid to poke fun at authority, the show ruffled a few feathers. taken from the website, "Even George Bush, then president of the USA, announced that American families should be 'more like the Waltons and less like the Simpsons' - which he didn't mean in a nice way! "

the simpsons appeal to all ages and that there are some jokes for grown ups, and some for kids, which is a great way of getting pass the censors.

Although they were poorly animated, the Simpsons had great writing, good voices and good music. The show's humor turns on cultural references that cover a wide spectrum of society so that viewers from all generations can enjoy the show, Whenever possible, the animators also put jokes or sight gags into the show's background and hidden messages in the sitcom.

The impact of mass communication is very great as it communicates to a large audience, the influence of media messages that are put into the simpsons can be spreaded widely as it's popluar tv sitcom.

what do you think?
leave a comment (:

Monday, May 26, 2008

Non- verbal communication

Yesterday im comm's class,
we going through the chapter on "non-verbal communication"

The teacher showed us a video clip, in japanese, and we could only figure out what the characters were talking about through their expression and body language.
And throughout the entire video clip, i actually understand what it was about.
just by looking at their body language and expressions.

Non-verbal communication is plays a very big part in movies, especially when the movies in
different languauge.
for example, the guy in the movie, was grabbing his pants, when the drunk man was moving too near to the lady.
From his body language, i could tell that he was uncomforable and agitated by the dunk.
He didnt have to say that he was angry or anything, his actions says everything.
There was no need for words to be spoken, or any subtitles needed.
We understood the video just by how the characters communication with us non-verbally with his body language and expression
this is what i think!
Comment me if you agree of think otherwise :D

Friday, May 16, 2008

Post 1

I read this article on the newpaper today and the heading goes,
" Free refills? No problem"

The refills meant rice!
this particular hawker have not adjusted the price of the food : it had alway been $2.
and is giving the workers free refill of rice despite the trippling of the rice prices.
but under one condition,
quoted from the newpaper
"You have to pay $3 if you don't finish it (refills of rice)."
Although the prices of the rice are hitting almost $1,400 a ton,
and he had been paying three times the price for rice then usual because of the increase in price.
Still, he doesn't mind refilling rice for the construction workers.
i thought that this was really generous of him,
he did not rise the prices of the food nor did he make people pay for refilling rice.
putting a fine on those people who doesn't finish their rice is a good deterrent against wastage.
Having the fine, it stops "kiasu" of people from coming. They would think twice about having extra rice.
Rice is very important to asian,It's the main source of food for us.
singaporeans cannot survive without rice, so when they get rice for free and unlimited refills,
they would take advantage of it.
the more they have for free, the merrier they'll be.
Give me comments about what you think!
:D