Group Sports.

We always wonder what makes us go watch any kind of sport?

This would be my topic of discussion today. What makes people go more to one sport than another? I guess one reason is that alot of the popular sports are played in groups or rather teams.

These team sports such as cricket, soccer and basketball are all nothing but group activities because around 10 people from one country with different talents come together to form a team or a group. (By different talents I mean talents pertaining to the sport but for example in cricket a player may be good at bowling and another may be good at feilding etc.)

Then, the team works towards a goal. The goal may be different, for example, some teams which are not playing well, may have goals of improving while others may have a goal of winning! They work towards their goals and it is this hardwork which shows up in their performance. However, in games like tennis and badminton, although there may be doubles, the group is small or nil. It is their individual hardwork that is seen in the game.

Hence, in single/double player games the participants have to take up all kinds of different roles whereas in a team of 10 - 12 people, a captain has to be appointed, then there is the vice captain and many other posts are also designated.

This gives the audience more things to look at and more things to talk about. They want to see how different groups of people cope up with similar pressures and thats why the audience looks at a larger group activity more than a smaller group activity.

Personal schemata at change!

Personal schemata according to psychologists are the mental representations or guidelines which help us to identify and rearrange incoming information.

Many a times, these schemata are not constant. They are subject to changes as we acquire new information each time.

For example, today when I was reading news at yahoo.com, there was an article stating that Singapore is not safe from Tsunamis. Actually, even a Tsunami which is not as big as the one on December 2004 can cause more damage because it many of the coastal lines are scattered with infrastructure! This made me rearrange my schema that Singapore is safe from Tsunamis and alike.

Similarly, this morning when I was reading the newspaper, I came to realize that the dairy products which are generally perceived to be good for health are actually carcinogens due to the preservatives added in them. This again changed my personal schema and I had to rearrange my view points as i got to learn about this.

In today's world, it is not easy to live with a constant line of thought, as new information is revealed, we are forced to rearrange our schemata and make place for the information which may completely disregard my previous schema.

Violent Ways to Express yourself.

Lately, there has been much news on terrorism. There have been bomb attacks in the Indian capital, Delhi this Saturday. According to the Herald Times, these types of bombings have been done many a times in order to create a rift between the Hindu and Muslim society which are both major residents in the country.

According to ‘Wikipedia’, terrorism is a form of unconventional warfare and psychological warfare. These acts of terrorism are done to influence many large audiences in order to leave a message. It is their way of showing their disagreement to a particular thing a government, or a country, is doing.

A lot of times, the target victims are not those who pose a threat to terrorist groups but those who are seen as weak or as special symbol or tools, to further achieve a terrorist's point of view. This means many innocent victims also have to face a terrorist’s wrath, something they clearly do not deserve.

As we all know, there are many different types of terrorism. For example, a political terrorist would have violent criminal behavior in order to create fear amongst the civilians for political reasons. Then there are the civil disorders which is a form of collective violence against peace security and normal society. But one thing is common in all these type of terrorism. They all have an aim of spreading terrorism through a very unacceptable method: violence.

I know in a majorly democratic world, one should have a freedom of opinions and a freedom to believe in one way of life but my question is, Is it necessary to use violence to put forward your view points? Without terrorism, would the world cease to exist as we know it?

I feel that terrorism is not the solution to any of our problems. Although they open our eyes wide about a lot of issues, it could be done in many other ways like creating awareness through advertisement, voicing your opinion out through press conferences or any other form of media. I feel that terrorism is too violent a way to express your opinions which might lead to harming many innocent bystanders who had done nothing to deserve getting hurt or even dying in order to put forward a view of a terrorist organization.

Source of India's bombing - http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/09/14/asia/india.php

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrorism

NON VERBAL COMMUNICATION!

As discussed in class, there are two ways of communication, verbal and non-verbal. Also in today's advertisements, there are two types of ads - verbal and non verbal and there are some which are non verbal throughout and ended with a tagline. My point is, are commercials which have verbal communication the only effective to communicate and attract audience or are non verbal and partially verbal (the ones with tag lines) also equally effective in communication?

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1693449/shahrukh_khan_promotes_jet_airways_first_class_in_flight_expe/

Here is a video of a verbal add, where they talk about the benefits of travelling by jet airways. Although things are very verbal here, they have managed to attract alot of attention due to their amazing benefits of using jet airways.

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1649709/sensei_mountain_dew_commercial/

The link below is a partially verbal ad. Through out the ad, there is no mention of the product but it still attracts your attention. It communicates alot without any verbal needs (exept for the last part).

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1697772/touch_ford_commercial/

Here also, there is no verbal communication. All they wanted to say has been done by expressions or is written. The - "In 10 years the car will be hers", says alot about the little girl's emotions about the car. The car should really be good if this little girl wants it even after 10 years.

Frankly. I feel that verbal and non verbal ads are both very effective in communicating what they were meant to. It depends on how well the ad is made and not which way of communication is used. And actually speaking, it took me a very LONG time to find a recent commercial which has a very verbal way of communication.

Please tell me what you guys feel!!!!!