There was an article in the science section of the Straits Times (Saturday, September 20 2008, Page D13) titled “Rethinking mental health care in S’pore”. The author used logos, pathos, and ethos throughout the article and was successful in creating awareness and attention.
The article has 2 main purposes, one: to ask that Singaporeans change their attitudes about the mentally ill, and two: to announce that there is a need for increase in mental health professionals.
How many of you will think of a person in a straight jacket in an enclosed room with padded walls when u hear the words “mentally retarded” or “mental condition”?
The author stated “Throughout history, a stigma has clung tenaciously to mental illness. It prevents patients from studying, working, and socializing in their community.” Sadly, many employers of these people are biased against them or ostracize them, giving them a harder time then they already are in. Furthermore, “The stigma makes the public less willing to pay for mental health care. Many people believe that all who have mental illnesses are dangerous and should be locked away.”
Even though the government has started to take steps to improve the mental health care in Singapore, its citizens (us) need to change our perceptions about these people. However, I don’t think this change will come easy. Deep set perceptions like personal constructs or prototypes about certain kinds of people (the mentally ill in this case) would most probably be hard to change unless they come to encounter someone (who has a mental illness) who does not fall into stereotypes and change that perception.
Given that “up to seven in 10 victims (of suicides) were affected by some form of mental illness”, and “conditions like schizophrenia, major depression and alcohol abuse significantly increase the risk of early death”, what do you think causes these mental illnesses? Is it stress (be it work or school)? Or a traumatic event affected him/her so drastically? Or could it be hereditary?
In addition, what other ways do you think can help Singaporeans change their perception of the mentally ill in Singapore?
The author, Chong Siow Ann, is the vice-chairman, Medical Board (Research), at the Institute of Mental health and a member of Singapore’s National Mental Health Blueprint Taskforce.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Sunday, September 21, 2008
The F1 craze!
F1 is coming to Singapore hotter and faster than ever!
In part D Special Report of Saturday’s Strait Times (September 20, 2008), there were 11 pages dedicated to the F1 event that is going to take place in Singapore very soon. New structures needed to be built, and contractors rushed to meet deadlines. Now the track is almost ready and so are the pit stops. With the influx of F1 fans to Singapore during that period, everyone is trying to boost their sales. However, those people are not staying longer than the 3 days of “racing period”, ruining companies “hopes and dreams”. To capitalize on that short period of influx of tourists, many hotels have lowered their rates or removed their “minimum days stay” just to get customers. It’s like “might as well earn less per person than not earn at all”.
We can also see from the various articles that many companies are trying to capitalize on the F1 theme to attract customers. A common advertising practice – to get people in the mood and to provide the atmosphere for the arriving F1 event. Furthermore, it is also to boost sales in the lights that people will support this big event that is held in Singapore for the first time in history. It will also be the first time in F1’s history for the race to be held at night!
As the article on page D5 says, “The great F1 sale”. Examples provided by the article consist of sports brands like Puma – “selling official Ferrari merchandise … [with] racing car models and cans of red bull with purchases”, Tag Heuer – which “stars Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen as its brand ambassadors”. Using these icons to boost the “value” of their product as well to boost sales, promoters are using the weapons of influence like liking, authority, and social proof. Using these “stars” or big names as the faces of their product, they are appealing to fans and subtly saying that their product is of superior standard because these elite sportsmen use them. Liking and authority has taken place there. As for social proof, since F1 advertisements are everywhere (supermarkets, fashion retailers, bookshops, even bakeries). For example, BreadTalk has a new bread in a shape of a F1 racing car called Ferraberri. Advertisers hope to get people in the mood to spend on these memorable items. And the best way to do it is show consumers that everyone else is doing the same thing!
Some limited edition items have been promoted and with the principle of scarcity, we can see F1 fans buying those products. Limited edition items are definitely a good way to push items as people know they wont be able to get it next time if its sold out. Of course, the products have to be of a certain value and worth so people would cherish it as well. Like Mr Joseph Baladi, chief executive of BrandAsian said: “just because customers know about it doesn’t mean people are going to buy the products off the shelves. Singaporean customers are smarter than that, they’re not going to rush out and buy something if it’s totally irrelevant (to F1).”
On a side note, another thing to think about: to go to the stands to watch F1 live? Or stay at home at watch it on television? Which do u prefer/think is better?
In part D Special Report of Saturday’s Strait Times (September 20, 2008), there were 11 pages dedicated to the F1 event that is going to take place in Singapore very soon. New structures needed to be built, and contractors rushed to meet deadlines. Now the track is almost ready and so are the pit stops. With the influx of F1 fans to Singapore during that period, everyone is trying to boost their sales. However, those people are not staying longer than the 3 days of “racing period”, ruining companies “hopes and dreams”. To capitalize on that short period of influx of tourists, many hotels have lowered their rates or removed their “minimum days stay” just to get customers. It’s like “might as well earn less per person than not earn at all”.
We can also see from the various articles that many companies are trying to capitalize on the F1 theme to attract customers. A common advertising practice – to get people in the mood and to provide the atmosphere for the arriving F1 event. Furthermore, it is also to boost sales in the lights that people will support this big event that is held in Singapore for the first time in history. It will also be the first time in F1’s history for the race to be held at night!
As the article on page D5 says, “The great F1 sale”. Examples provided by the article consist of sports brands like Puma – “selling official Ferrari merchandise … [with] racing car models and cans of red bull with purchases”, Tag Heuer – which “stars Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen as its brand ambassadors”. Using these icons to boost the “value” of their product as well to boost sales, promoters are using the weapons of influence like liking, authority, and social proof. Using these “stars” or big names as the faces of their product, they are appealing to fans and subtly saying that their product is of superior standard because these elite sportsmen use them. Liking and authority has taken place there. As for social proof, since F1 advertisements are everywhere (supermarkets, fashion retailers, bookshops, even bakeries). For example, BreadTalk has a new bread in a shape of a F1 racing car called Ferraberri. Advertisers hope to get people in the mood to spend on these memorable items. And the best way to do it is show consumers that everyone else is doing the same thing!
Some limited edition items have been promoted and with the principle of scarcity, we can see F1 fans buying those products. Limited edition items are definitely a good way to push items as people know they wont be able to get it next time if its sold out. Of course, the products have to be of a certain value and worth so people would cherish it as well. Like Mr Joseph Baladi, chief executive of BrandAsian said: “just because customers know about it doesn’t mean people are going to buy the products off the shelves. Singaporean customers are smarter than that, they’re not going to rush out and buy something if it’s totally irrelevant (to F1).”
On a side note, another thing to think about: to go to the stands to watch F1 live? Or stay at home at watch it on television? Which do u prefer/think is better?
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Perception and Language
Perception is very much affected by an individual’s culture, experiences, and personal preferences/principles. It deals a lot with both verbal and nonverbal communication, interpretation, and attribution. With verbal communication comes language. And language and words convey a person’s ideas, opinions, and emotions, which meanings are generated by its users and interpreted in different ways by the receiver.
Here are two vids to illustrate how verbal language and body language affect perception. (Due to my lack of knowledge in technology, I couldn’t create or find specific clips for the instances I wanted to show. So, I’ll give u guys the timings.)
In this first clip, from time 1.16-1.52, we can see that the guy (James) was trying to tell the girl (Blaire) something serious, but when Blaire saw the guy (Chuck) on the other side of the pool, she started saying “you’re so funny, I could just listen to you all day”. She was trying to make Chuck jealous and from her body language, James could tell. Should she have handled the situation differently? Did her glance to her right at Chuck give her away? Or was it a combination of what she said and did?
From 2.44-3.55 (first clip), we can see that James interpreted what Blaire did as using him to make Chuck jealous, and he was right. To Blaire, what she did was different to Chuck and said that “Chuck is an awful person, he does terrible things, he uses people.” What she might have meant was that compared to Chuck, what she did was a tip of the iceberg and considered a small thing. But as James said, “and you think you’re any different” made her realize that even though she thinks that its not as bad, she still used someone. This brings us to note the self-serving bias -- when we judge ourselves more tolerantly then we judge others, giving ourselves more reasons and excuses for doing what we did (it being wrong or right).
From 4.04-5.06 (first clip), we can see that the lady (Serena) was trying to help the guy (Nate) make the other woman jealous, and thus kissing him. However, they were spotted by another guy (Dan) who had no clue what was happening and had the impression that they were either together or liked each other. This is very much like attribution, trying to assign cause to human behaviour. In Dan’s head, he most likely would have been thinking “why did they kiss?”, “will it happen again in the future?”, “did they have individual control over the situation?” and “what does it say about Serena?”. The answers that he came up with, together with his own experiences with Serena, would determine how he interpreted the situation.
In the second clip, from 0.32-2.29, we can see Blaire admitting her mistake and subtly apologising to James and giving him a compliment. Why James decided to forgive her so easily I don’t really understand but maybe it was because they both had something in common – he wasn’t totally truthful to her either. When James told Blaire his true identity (Marcus Beaton) and that he was a lord, Blaire was pleasantly surprised and focused more on his title than his act of dishonesty at first. Marcus aka James, changed Blaire’s perception and impression of him when he revealed his real identity mainly because Blaire considers wealth, his title, and his accent to be very attractive attributes. It would also mean that being with him now would change her status as she associated herself with his title. It was very obvious her attitude towards him changed and this shows that liking towards another person is increased when he possesses characteristics that we consider favourable.
Do post your thoughts and comments or if you have any questions or suggestions in the comments section! Hope to hear from you guys soon!
Here are two vids to illustrate how verbal language and body language affect perception. (Due to my lack of knowledge in technology, I couldn’t create or find specific clips for the instances I wanted to show. So, I’ll give u guys the timings.)
In this first clip, from time 1.16-1.52, we can see that the guy (James) was trying to tell the girl (Blaire) something serious, but when Blaire saw the guy (Chuck) on the other side of the pool, she started saying “you’re so funny, I could just listen to you all day”. She was trying to make Chuck jealous and from her body language, James could tell. Should she have handled the situation differently? Did her glance to her right at Chuck give her away? Or was it a combination of what she said and did?
From 2.44-3.55 (first clip), we can see that James interpreted what Blaire did as using him to make Chuck jealous, and he was right. To Blaire, what she did was different to Chuck and said that “Chuck is an awful person, he does terrible things, he uses people.” What she might have meant was that compared to Chuck, what she did was a tip of the iceberg and considered a small thing. But as James said, “and you think you’re any different” made her realize that even though she thinks that its not as bad, she still used someone. This brings us to note the self-serving bias -- when we judge ourselves more tolerantly then we judge others, giving ourselves more reasons and excuses for doing what we did (it being wrong or right).
From 4.04-5.06 (first clip), we can see that the lady (Serena) was trying to help the guy (Nate) make the other woman jealous, and thus kissing him. However, they were spotted by another guy (Dan) who had no clue what was happening and had the impression that they were either together or liked each other. This is very much like attribution, trying to assign cause to human behaviour. In Dan’s head, he most likely would have been thinking “why did they kiss?”, “will it happen again in the future?”, “did they have individual control over the situation?” and “what does it say about Serena?”. The answers that he came up with, together with his own experiences with Serena, would determine how he interpreted the situation.
In the second clip, from 0.32-2.29, we can see Blaire admitting her mistake and subtly apologising to James and giving him a compliment. Why James decided to forgive her so easily I don’t really understand but maybe it was because they both had something in common – he wasn’t totally truthful to her either. When James told Blaire his true identity (Marcus Beaton) and that he was a lord, Blaire was pleasantly surprised and focused more on his title than his act of dishonesty at first. Marcus aka James, changed Blaire’s perception and impression of him when he revealed his real identity mainly because Blaire considers wealth, his title, and his accent to be very attractive attributes. It would also mean that being with him now would change her status as she associated herself with his title. It was very obvious her attitude towards him changed and this shows that liking towards another person is increased when he possesses characteristics that we consider favourable.
Do post your thoughts and comments or if you have any questions or suggestions in the comments section! Hope to hear from you guys soon!
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
S4 and WoTLK - The World of Warcraft Community
With s4 already in full swing and WotLK coming up in the next few months, beta testing and new talents are being released. At this point of time, many guilds are still trying to make the last scramble for a shot at getting Kil’jaeden down. However, there is also talk about how t6 gear will stand against greens after the expansion is applied.
I would expect many of you who have just read that above paragraph to have no clue whatsoever unless you actually play World of Warcraft (WoW) and understand the game activities and what it currently offers. The WoW community is a big one consisting of at least 8.5 million users worldwide. However, it is only part of a person’s “world” or “reality” if they know about it or play it. In addition, the various short forms for words such as “s4” meaning season four of arenas, and “WotLK” meaning Wrath of the Lich King would carry no meaning to someone who is not interested or who doesn’t play the game mainly because it is not a shared experience.
Many people treat WoW with various importance. And with increased importance comes greater association and dedication. Many people are willing to spend hundreds or even a thousand dollars for tickets to the upcoming BlizzCon and dress themselves up as one of the characters of the game as they participate in the event. This might be something they share with their friends and it is part of their shared experience, resulting in greater bonding and ease in communication.
This does not only apply to the WoW community, it is evident in any social circle, mainly friends/people who enjoy doing the same thing as you. Being it a game, a hobby, Japanese comics, anime, television series, etc, it is usually something common that holds relationships between people together. Friends usually share something in common (be it beliefs, hobby, background) to maintain communication and interest. Similarly, people usually pick out what is more important to them to look for in a friend based on their own experiences to try to sustain a friendship.
All in all, communication is and has been part of our everyday lives and people have subconsciously integrated and associated the sense of liking to sharing similar experiences.
For more news and information about WoW, u can visit:
http://www.mmo-champion.com/
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/
I would expect many of you who have just read that above paragraph to have no clue whatsoever unless you actually play World of Warcraft (WoW) and understand the game activities and what it currently offers. The WoW community is a big one consisting of at least 8.5 million users worldwide. However, it is only part of a person’s “world” or “reality” if they know about it or play it. In addition, the various short forms for words such as “s4” meaning season four of arenas, and “WotLK” meaning Wrath of the Lich King would carry no meaning to someone who is not interested or who doesn’t play the game mainly because it is not a shared experience.
Many people treat WoW with various importance. And with increased importance comes greater association and dedication. Many people are willing to spend hundreds or even a thousand dollars for tickets to the upcoming BlizzCon and dress themselves up as one of the characters of the game as they participate in the event. This might be something they share with their friends and it is part of their shared experience, resulting in greater bonding and ease in communication.
This does not only apply to the WoW community, it is evident in any social circle, mainly friends/people who enjoy doing the same thing as you. Being it a game, a hobby, Japanese comics, anime, television series, etc, it is usually something common that holds relationships between people together. Friends usually share something in common (be it beliefs, hobby, background) to maintain communication and interest. Similarly, people usually pick out what is more important to them to look for in a friend based on their own experiences to try to sustain a friendship.
All in all, communication is and has been part of our everyday lives and people have subconsciously integrated and associated the sense of liking to sharing similar experiences.
For more news and information about WoW, u can visit:
http://www.mmo-champion.com/
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/
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