The Mass Media And Its Various Influences On Us!

The power of mass media has never failed to amaze me. It can prove very useful to both the sender and the receiver. For the sender its beneficial as it a means of communicating or publicizing certain information they wish to deliver. And for the receiver it can prover very informative sometimes. Media has far reaching effects on all of us who are on the receiving end of the messages conveyed by the mass media. This influence not only plays an important role in our decision making, but also shapes our perspective on various people and issues and also regularly modifies our lifestyles in many ways. Even our culture sometimes is influenced by the media.

There are different types of media- namely, the television media, the print media and the radio broadcast media. There are certain characteristics of all these types of media. Firstly, they all have 'invisible receivers' who are large, heterogeneous and anonymous. The media cannot individualize messages and their communication with the audience could be terminated at the will of the audience. Also another characteristic we should take into consideration is that all the different types of media use different technologies to send and receive messages.

Now that we have discussed the different types of media and their characteristics, lets talk about its influences on us- the audience. Just yesterday I was talking to a friend of mine and he mentioned that on of his friends said that he was acting like 'Dr. House' form the television series called 'HOUSE' which airs on Star World. When I asked him that why did his friend made such a comment, he said that because he was being very blunt and rude like Dr. House. It struck me that this was not the first time that i have heard someone refer to a famous character to describe someone's behavior. It is very often that we resort to such means of describing someone or something. It is because the globalization of media has brought the world together and we all commonly relate to most of them, despite of our cultural differences.

The media also influences our decision making. The media uses different strategies like, famous figures, credible sources, appropriate data and statistics which appeals to different aspects of different audiences. Your decision depends on what influences you, credible sources and information (appeals to one's logic) or celebrity endorsing the product (appeals to one's emotions).

Media influences us in both good and bad ways. Media plays a big role in the formation of our perceptions. For example if we watch a movie where the very handsome lead actor is seen smoking in a very stylish manner, the we start to believe that smoking is very hip and we should do it as well (this is a bad influence). On the other hand, if a famous celebrity talks on T.V about how smoking is bad for your health and not cool at all then you immediately might stop it. This proves how media constantly manipulates our perception and with that our habits.

The Importance Of Language!!

“I know more than I can say”. This quote by Michael Polanyi can be interpreted as- language limits our expression of knowledge. We know and feel a lot of things which we cannot express in words. We understand a lot of things better when we experience it ourselves than when someone tells us about them, like a rollercoaster ride. You cannot explain the feeling in your stomach during the ride to someone. They need to ride to know it. But to communicate to someone that he should experience this ride called the ‘rollercoaster ride’ we need language. Thus the need for language arises from the need to communicate. Every group or tribe of humans that ever existed has had a spoken and written language of its own because all of them felt the need to find a common way of communication or passing information to each other. This is the basic role of language.

According to me language gives identity to what we see, feel and think about the world around us so that we can convey it to others. One thing is for sure that language plays an important role in different areas of knowledge such as Arts, Science, Mathematics, Politics and many others. But the question is- ‘is this importance of language the same in all the areas of knowledge?’ And is the importance of language in an area of knowledge dependent on the importance of communication in that area of knowledge? Well let us evaluate this with different examples.

Let us start with Science. As said by Nicholas Alchin, “Broadly speaking natural sciences are about finding out how the physical world works”. It is important to keep passing on information of all inventions made by the scientists through their experimentation and observations. Here language comes into play. Even though some might argue that science is about theory and practice, it starts with the study. Nomenclature is a major part of all the sciences. In chemistry nomenclature can be defined as the terminology of chemical compounds. It represents the basic "language of chemistry". For example the IUPAC system for naming organic compounds. Hence when students write their examinations or scientists write reports on their research they must use the proper scientific terminologies. Without these terms you cannot expect to be understood. Even if you know the theories in sciences you might not be able to express your knowledge of it without appropriate words. Thus language limits one’s expression of what they know in science.

Now let us consider Mathematics as an area of knowledge. In mathematics one calculates, counts, finds out ratios and proportions. But only looking at numbers or writing them down wouldn’t be of any purpose. If we just say 25% it is very ambiguous. It doesn’t make sense until it is used to quantify certain thing. For example 25% of water or 85% of marks in math. Statistics, even though is all about graphic and diagrammatic representation, unless supported with proper heading, labeling and a scale, the graphs and diagram mean nothing. The bell curve for example represents the standard deviation. That shows how the data given is clustered around the mean. To interpret the bell curve it is important to support it with appropriate data. In math to make a diagram meaningful language is necessary. Being an International Baccalaureate student I have to write math portfolios as a part of my internal assessment. I understand the importance of language in math more as I need to explain each step in words, while solving the problems. In these portfolios it is important to explain what logic or method you have applied to solve the particular problem and why have you applied it?

Though language is important in arts, I think its importance is very limited. Dance is an art form doesn’t require language, if it is to be learnt. We simply see someone dancing and we learn the steps by trying and imitating them. Professional dancers do have names for their steps for communication purposes within their group. In Baratnatayam (a classical dance form in India) “hasya” is a general term used for ‘expression of laughter’. But there are different types of laughter; laughter of joy, ridicule, scorn. It is upto the dancer to perform the laughter appropriate to the context, to convey the theme of the dance to the audience. Paintings are made from inspiration to inspire others. And to feel inspired by a painting, language is not necessary. It is only when we have to tell someone what we interpreted from a painting, that we have to use words. But a lot of times we find ourselves incapable of putting across these emotions.

History is defined as a series of events, in the recent past or far back. If we look at history as an area of knowledge, we can see that the quote, ‘History is written by the victors’ is quite true. It’s the way in which the history is presented to us, that determines our perceptions and emotions about the events that took place in the past. Here we see that language determines our perception of history. But on the other hand if we are presented with both sides of the history (the victors and the vanquished) we might reason out the facts for ourselves. In this way language does not limit our perception.

While studying business and management, we learnt Abraham Maslow’s model of hierarchy of needs.The above picture taken from:-http://sagerave.files.wordpress.com/2008/01/maslow.gif

It is a theory of non-financial motivation. It explains how our needs motivate us. At the base of the pyramid of ‘hierarchy of needs’; are the physiological needs, like food, clothing and shelter. If these are not satisfied then a person does not feel motivated at work. It is simple to define physiological need, at the base of the pyramid as they are general and common to everyone. But as we go higher in the pyramid, we see that the needs get harder and harder to define. The top most in the level is self actualization. It is a very subjective one. Self actualization will be different for different people and it is something that no one can explain in words. When Buddha attained enlightenment, what he experienced at that time cannot be put in words. His preaching’s taught people how to live righteously but not what he felt in his hour of enlightenment. He only, amongst million will know.

Based on the examples evaluated above, I can say that language is important in all the areas of knowledge but its importance is not the same in all of them. Language is of less importance in areas of knowledge such as arts and history, as compared to areas of knowledge such as sciences and politics and mathematics.

A NOTE to all readers:
This blog entry is a personal reflection and is completely based on my personal views and is open for debate. You all are welcome to comment on my views.

F.R.I.E.N.D.S!!!

I am a huge fan of the series on Starworld named "FRIENDS". It is a brilliantly made series. Everything about the series is amazing- the direction, the story line and ofcourse the actors!!! For those of you who don't know about this series, its a series about the lives of six friends and their relationship with each other. It stars Jennifer Aniston (Rachael), Courteney Cox (Monica), Lisa Kudro (Pheobe), Matt Le Blance (Joe), Matthew Perry (Chandler) and David Schwimmer (Ross). As it talks about six friends and their lives you can guess that it involves a lot of interpersonal and group communication.

"FRIENDS" airs Monday to Thursday, two episodes back to back from 8pm to 9pm and these episodes are repeated on Saturday and Sunday in a marathon of 5 episodes per day. This weekend as I was watching the third season and episodes 15, 16 and 17 caught my eye. The major theme behind these episodes being the conflict in the interpersonal relationship of Ross and Rachael and its effects on the group and vise-a-versa

'Interpersonal communication' is defined in the book "Thinking Through Communication" by Sarah Trenholm, as 'in a sense, all communication is interpersonal, because it occurs between people. The term interpersonal communication, however, is generally reserved for two-person, face-to-face interaction and is often used interchangeably with the term dyadic communication.' and in the same book 'group' is defined as "a special kind of entity. It is a collection of individuals who, as a result of interacting with one another over time, become interdependent, developing shared patterns of behavior and a collective identity."After watching these particular episodes I realized that interpersonal relations develop in groups and conflicts between these relations also affects the group along with the ndividuals involved.

Lets start off by watching all the three episodes, here are the links:
Episode 15 , parts 1-3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckg-kmH-9kA&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0plix-bJaoU&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEEiJM668No&feature=related

Episode 16, parts 1-3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TG3MAD4U_uk&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnmTuQHtmeY&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhxvxJSCYp8&feature=related

Episode 17, part 1-3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DF4vGogdZD4&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIdIK4Or8Cw&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Or2Pn5_VP18&feature=related

As you could see in episode 15 the conflict between Ross and Rachael has started. The major cause for their conflict could be identified as lack of time, as Ross complains that Rachael is too busy in her work and does not find time for them these days (also on their anniversary). After Ross's failed attempts at celebrating their anniversary together they enter into a heated argument during which they use terms such as I, me, you rather that us, we. This a sign that their relationship is in the first stage of dissolution according to Knapp's Relationship Development Model. This stage is known as the differentiating stage where the couple starts to point out each others faults which were previously overlooked.

Knapp's Relationship Development Model

As we move on from episode 15 to 16 we could see that their relationship has established a regressive spiral. Here one thing leads to the other and so on, until the relationship is terminated completely. Because Ross thinks that Rachael is with Mark and that his and Rachael's relationship is temporarily over he sleeps with another women. After committing such a mistake we usually tend to seek help from our group of friends, and that is what Ross did. He sought help from Chandler and Joe, who advise him not to tell Rachael anything. Because of this advise Ross tries every way of keeping it form her but the truth finally leaks through the grapevine and Rachael finds out from someone else. This finally leads to the termination of their relationship. Here is an example of how group advise sometimes leads to increase of conflict in interpersonal relationship. Another thing that could be observed here is that their relationship has jumped a few stages of dissolution (namely circumscribing, stagnation and avoiding). Such skipping of stages happens in many cases. Depending on the nature of the conflict the stages that the couple goes through differs every time.

In this particular situation we can also apply Duck's relational dissolution model which consists of four different phases of relationship dissolution. These four phases are; intrapsychic, dyadic, social and grave-dressing phase. In episode 16 where Rachael comes to know that Ross has slept with another women is the intrapsychic phase. The dyadic phase is where they both confront and talk about it and come to a common consensus of breaking-up. The third phase , known as the social phase is where they make it public that they no longer are a couple. The fourth and the final phase, that is the grave-dressing phase is where they decide that they no longer are going to talk to each other or be together.

Now moving on to the effect of the conflict on the group. The effects are quite evident in the 17th episode. When groups are formed the members become interdependent on each other and hence one persons actions in the group affect all the others in the group. If even one member of the group is unhappy it make the entire group unhappy. It is the same in the case of "FRIENDS" where everyone seems to be unhappy because of the break-up. As both Ross and Rachael are equally close to them, it becomes very difficult for Pheobe, Monica, Chandler and Joe to distribute their time equally with each of them. We can see this when each Ross and Rachael offer to spend the weekend with them and they have to go with the one that asked them first and leave the other behind. This creates nothing but tension in the group. It creates a situation where if they go out with one person and the other shows up then it makes it awkward for them. This can also threaten the existence of the group, as Phoebe points out that if both Ross and Rachael do not agree to be in each others company and behave in a civil manner then their group could dissolve.

From all of this we could see that interpersonal relationships and groups are closely linked to each other. Faulty communication in one could lead to faulty communication in the other. When close interpersonal relationships develop within a group, then a conflict in the relationship could affect the group.

The Moment Of Truth

The moment of truth is the latest U.S television game show in which the contestants are strapped to a lie detector and are asked 50 questions about their most intimate secrets before they come on the show. On the show, from those 50 questions 21 questions are selected to be asked. The answer to the question is either yes or no. There is no explanation required. The questions become more and more personal as they go higher. Parents, friends and partners of the person playing are invited on the show. The questions are such that they could destroy all the interpersonal relationships of the person in the hot seat. All this is done to earn money. the maximum amount a person could win is half a million dollars!!! But one untruthful answer and you loose everything. This is all at the cost of ones relations? Is it worth it? I don't think so.

Here is the a clip from the opening night of the show. This clip also provide an idea about the questions usually asked:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=td3hpNX6PNc

Its a fact that most people come on the show to earn some money, but there were a few who came just because they needed a platform for self- disclosure. It made me wonder that is their interpersonal relationships and communication is so bad that they have to resort to such vicious game shows? And is it this game show providing the right platform for such revelations of a person to their loved ones?

Before answering the above questions let me start by providing some definitions. As defined in the book "Thinking Through Communication" by Sarah Trenholm, 'in a sense, all communication is interpersonal, because it occurs between people. The term interpersonal communication, however, is generally reserved for two-person, face-to-face interaction and is often used interchangeably with the term dyadic communication.' As defined by abacon.com 'Self-disclosure is not simply providing information to another person. Instead, scholars define self-disclosure as sharing information with others that they would not normally know or discover. Self-disclosure involves risk and vulnerability on the part of the person sharing the information.'

Self-disclosure is the key to increasing relational skills. But there are some rules that we need to follow to make sure that self-disclosure leads to improving your relational skills. How much and what you disclose depends on the relationship in concern. You cannot just disclose some secrets to your mom in front of your friends. This is the first reason why the game show is the wrong platform for sharing your secrets as everyone close to you is present and there is atleast one question regarding each member. The second and the most important rule is the place where this revelation of truth takes place. This kind of conversations should take place in complete privacy and not in a studio in the presence of a large audience. And definitely not an a show which will be aired on national television! This could do nothing but damage the relationship severly.

Another important point to be noted during a disclosure is that a reponce from the reciever is absolutly necessary. Without this response the disclosure won't bridge the communication gap but will only increase it. Because there are so many people watching the show the reciver of the message is unable to provide a response to the sender and this furthur compecates the matter.

As indicated in the definition self-disclosure is something that the reciever has never heard before. On this show the contestant not only reveals one unknown secret but reveals any number of truths between 1 to 21 and they are usually more than one. This is the result of avoiding and postponing the managment of conflict which is known as "gunnysacking". Due to gunnysacking the even if the conflicts arise one of the partner tends to avoid discussing and keep the complete truth from the other partner. Gunnysacking furthur weakens the relationship.

So as we could see that rather than resorting to such game shows to reveal the truths to your dear ones, it is wiser to do it in privacy, where you can recieve the response from the reciever and work towards working the relationship. There is another advantage of privacy and thats is instead of one way disclosure, even your partner might disclose some facts about his/her life that you were unaware of.

Here are some more episodes for you to watch and to form your own opinion on the issue raised above. Your comments will be appreciated.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGqrLYSzbiQ&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fX4Cm3J8QIY&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcjVzM1Xjtw&feature=related

Whom to vote? - problems faced by the two U.S precidential candidates.

Today I was just going through some current news online, when I came across this piece of news. The news was relating to the current presidential elections going on in the United States Of America. The article talked about how Barack Obama is suffering in polls because of racial discrimination. The article says, "The poll, conducted with Stanford University, suggests that the percentage of voters who may turn away from Obama because of his race could easily be larger than the final difference between the candidates in 2004 — about two and one-half percentage points." It also says that, "one-third of white Democrats harbor negative views toward blacks — many calling them "lazy," "violent" or responsible for their own troubles."

This current situation is a perfect example of stereotyping. Just because he is a black he is subjected to adjectives such as being lazy and violent. Later on the article also says that racial discrimination is not the biggest factor that is affecting Obama's votes- "Race is not the biggest factor driving Democrats and independents away from Obama. Doubts about his competency loom even larger, the poll indicates. More than a quarter of all Democrats expressed doubt that Obama can bring about the change they want, and they are likely to vote against him because of that." Regardless of this fact, the article points out that, "Statistical models derived from the poll suggest that Obama's support would be as much as 6 percentage points higher if there were no white racial prejudice." In the field of politics this 6 percent points of support also makes a huge difference. It would definetly be wrong if people do not vote for Obama only based on the fact that he is a black.

On the other hand, the other contestant of the current elections, Republican John McCain is suffering in the polls due to the fact that he is closely acquainted with the current President of the United States Of America. The article says, "He's an ally of an unpopular president and would be the nation's oldest first-term president." Here is an example of how we are judged by the people based on our interpersonal relationships. Even if it is true that we are influenced by the people we acquaint with, it is unfair that we are judged completely based on this fact.

I think that people should consider all the aspects of both the competitors before making any decisions. it is very important to keep aside all the prejudices and look at the situation from an open-minded perspective.

For the entire article go to:- http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26803840

Culture :- A factor for faulty communication.

I remember when I first came to Singapore, I had a rough time communicating with people as i was not used to their accent and they were not used to mine. As I just started to get over this problem I was faced with another one; and that was the different usage of the same word. Once I had visited my dad in his office and to pass my time I offered to help with any minor task they had to offer. At this offer a guy comes to me and asks me to chop some papers for him and hands me a stack. Thinking that by 'chopping' he probably means that he wants me to shred some papers i asked for a paper shredder. Looking at his puzzled look i ask him what did he mean by "chop papers"? Handing me some official stamps he tells me that by "chopping" he meant "stamping" the papers!!!! That is when I realized that in Singapore 'chopping' means 'stamping' whereas in India (that is where I come from), by 'chopping' we mean cutting(in case of vegetables) and shredding(in the case of papers). This is a good example of how in different cultures the same words have different meanings and this could result in faulty communication. Had I not asked him for the meaning of 'chop' i probably would have cut those important documents into small pieces!!!

Culture and perspective influence each other to a great extent. A perspective is defined in the book 'Thinking through communication' by Sarah Trenholm as a coherent set of assumptions about the way a process operates. And these assumptions that one makes about a certain process might differ from culture to culture.

Culture is one of the major factors that defines a persons thought process, hence influencing a persons psychological perspective. As written in 'Thinking through communication' by Sarah Trenholm, psychological perspective focuses on what happens "inside the heads" of communicators as they transmit or receive messages. If the communicators are from different cultural background the sender might send the message from a certain psychological perspective but the reciever being from a different cultural backgroung might interpret differently. This could result in faulty communication.

Sports - a good career or bad?

Sports has always been an excellent form of recreation. But what about taking up one as a career? Even though these days the number of people taking up sports as a career have increased, still there is a certain kind of reluctance in many families about letting their young ones be a sportsperson. There could be many reason for this reluctance. Some cultures have a very conservative approach towards sports. It is only to be played for fun and is not meant to earn a living. People of this belief could argue that it involves a lot of investment and there is an uncertainty in the amount of returns one will receive. Even in schools sports sports activities are regarded as extra-curricular activity and has a secondary status.

To promote sports as a profession, sports competition winners around the world are rewarded heavily in cash. Not only this, but sports persons have also earned themselves a great amount of respect from their audience. Even governments are funding sports events generously. Even recently, the Olympics held at Beijing was an excellent show of the grandeur of sports events.

Through all this, these people are trying to communicate that after all sports is not a bad option or career.