merriam-websters:
1. obsolete : good fortune : prosperity
2. a state of well-being and contentment : joy ; a pleasurable or satisfying experience
3: felicity, aptness
dictionary.com:
1. the quality or state of being happy.
2. good fortune; pleasure; contentment; joy.
lundi 10 décembre 2007
media influence on body image of children and adolescents
Lawrie, Z., Sulilvan, E., Davies, P., & Hill, R. (2006, October). Media influence on the body image of children and adolescents. Eating Disorders, 14(5), 355-364. Retrieved December 10, 2007. doi:10.1080/10640260600952506
the media often serves as a child's reference for the way the world works. a study focused on adolescents and the influence of media to put pressure on them to be skinnier or fatter or more muscular.
in not scientific jargon: girls found that the media was influencing them to be slimmer over gaining weight and becoming more muscular. Also, older teens found that the media influenced them more. This comes with puberty and increasing body awareness, report the study's authors.
the media has created an ideal body which has changed over time. nowadays, women and men both are being shown slimmer models, which pushes them to lose weight themselves. they see the models on tv or in magazines, and take these to be ideal. the media in this way is the ultimate informer on how society is, so teens and children learn gender roles and how to look from mimicking the peope they see on tv.
the skinny stereotype has been linked to eating disorders, especially in females. when they don't look like the women they see on the cover of magazines, they become disappointed in themselves and work harder--by dieting, exercizing, and otherwise--to become like the ideal woman (as reported in the study). they are constantly chasing an ideal that is difficult to reach, and every day they don't become "the perfect woman" is another day they fail. all this failure leads adolescents to be unhappy with themselves. this is a way that global media makes people unhappy.
the media often serves as a child's reference for the way the world works. a study focused on adolescents and the influence of media to put pressure on them to be skinnier or fatter or more muscular.
It was not surprising that the girls
studied here agreed to a greater extent that the media was influencing them
to be slimmer than either of the other media influences and an age relationship
was also found whereby agreement with this statement increased with
increasing age.
in not scientific jargon: girls found that the media was influencing them to be slimmer over gaining weight and becoming more muscular. Also, older teens found that the media influenced them more. This comes with puberty and increasing body awareness, report the study's authors.
the media has created an ideal body which has changed over time. nowadays, women and men both are being shown slimmer models, which pushes them to lose weight themselves. they see the models on tv or in magazines, and take these to be ideal. the media in this way is the ultimate informer on how society is, so teens and children learn gender roles and how to look from mimicking the peope they see on tv.
the skinny stereotype has been linked to eating disorders, especially in females. when they don't look like the women they see on the cover of magazines, they become disappointed in themselves and work harder--by dieting, exercizing, and otherwise--to become like the ideal woman (as reported in the study). they are constantly chasing an ideal that is difficult to reach, and every day they don't become "the perfect woman" is another day they fail. all this failure leads adolescents to be unhappy with themselves. this is a way that global media makes people unhappy.
dimanche 9 décembre 2007
Media effects: Advances in theory and research
Gerbner, G., Gross, L., Morgan, M., Signorielli, N., & Shanahan, J. (2002). Growing up with television: Cultivation process. In J. Bryant & D. Zillmann (Eds.), Media effects: Advances in theory and research (2nd ed., pp. 43-68). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Retrieved December 9, 2007, from Google Scholar database: http://scholar.google.com
the media doesn't necessarily tell people what to think, but it does tell them what to think about (bernard cohen, 1963)
chapter on growing up with television: cultivation process
television is the ultimate storyteller. it is "the primary common source of socialization and everyday information."
both elites and common people share the same shows. as the tv shows and other media on television continue to repeat the same ideas, facts, myths, etc. over time, they begin to "define the world" and "legitimize a particular social order."
because commercial television must sell ads to stay in business, it must appeal to a wide audience made up of different types of people. because so many people do watch tv, it creates a "shared conception of reality" among people who, without television, might believe differently.
the media doesn't necessarily tell people what to think, but it does tell them what to think about (bernard cohen, 1963)
chapter on growing up with television: cultivation process
television is the ultimate storyteller. it is "the primary common source of socialization and everyday information."
both elites and common people share the same shows. as the tv shows and other media on television continue to repeat the same ideas, facts, myths, etc. over time, they begin to "define the world" and "legitimize a particular social order."
because commercial television must sell ads to stay in business, it must appeal to a wide audience made up of different types of people. because so many people do watch tv, it creates a "shared conception of reality" among people who, without television, might believe differently.
samedi 8 décembre 2007
the new science of happiness
Wallis, C. (2005, January 9). The new science of happiness. Time. Retrieved December 8, 2007, from http://www.time.com
so you can become happier by living in the moment, so to say. if you're hanging out with your family, then enjoy hanging out with your family. don't worry about what work you should be doing or whatever.
you can also become happier by getting more pleasure out of life. it should be noted that this article points out that pleasure is a different thing from happiness...pleasure is a temporary emotion, like what we feel when we find a dollar on the street or when we meet someone famous. this will not raise our overall happiness. anyway, you get more pleasure out of life by really enjoying those good moments...a few researchers, including sonja something from UCR, have suggested the "gratitude journal," where a person writes daily or weekly about the good things in their life. these can either be things they're thankful for or things that went well in the day.
the third way to become happier is to find ways to make life more meaningful...volunteering in a soup kitchen, donating to darfur, figuring out a way you can make the world better, whatever. getting involved in something bigger than yourself can help you feel like a better person.
(prof Christopher Peterson at the University of Michigan)
University of Illinois psychologist Edward Diener found the following things about happiness:
1. additional income does little to raise your sense of satisfaction with life
2. being smarter or having more education doesn't make you happier, either
3. sipping from the fountain of youth won't make you happier. in fact, older people are consistently more satisfied with life than younger people.
4. married people are generally happier than singles, but that may be because they were happier to begin with
5. sunny days don't make people happier, either. californians aren't necessarily happier than oaklahomans just because of that fact.
6. having religious faith seems to make people happier, but it's difficult to say if that's due to God or the community aspect.
7. spending time with friends and family overwhelmingly makes a person happier.
"A 2002 study conducted at the University of Illinois by Diener and Seligman found that the most salient characteristics shared by the 10% of students with the highest levels of happiness and the fewest signs of depression were their strong ties to friends and family and commitment to spending time with them."
seligman finds that there are three dimensions to happiness: pleasure, engagement (connection to family, friends, work, hobbies), and meaning (using your personal strengths to better something bigger than you).
in 1996 University of Minnesota researcher David Lykken published a paper looking at the role of genes in determining one's sense of satisfaction in life. he found that genes determine about 50% of our satisfaction with life. this is to say that we are sort of "born with a happiness level." other research has confirmed that this is largely true: we do have a happiness level. no matter what happens to us, we will return to that level. unless we take an active role in making ourselves happier, with things like a gratitude journal and positive psychology.
...positive-psychology movement, which has put a premium on research showing you can raise your level of happiness. For Seligman and like-minded researchers, that involves working on the three components of happiness--getting more pleasure out of life (which can be done by savoring sensory experiences...), becoming more engaged in what you do and finding ways of making your life feel more meaningful.
so you can become happier by living in the moment, so to say. if you're hanging out with your family, then enjoy hanging out with your family. don't worry about what work you should be doing or whatever.
you can also become happier by getting more pleasure out of life. it should be noted that this article points out that pleasure is a different thing from happiness...pleasure is a temporary emotion, like what we feel when we find a dollar on the street or when we meet someone famous. this will not raise our overall happiness. anyway, you get more pleasure out of life by really enjoying those good moments...a few researchers, including sonja something from UCR, have suggested the "gratitude journal," where a person writes daily or weekly about the good things in their life. these can either be things they're thankful for or things that went well in the day.
the third way to become happier is to find ways to make life more meaningful...volunteering in a soup kitchen, donating to darfur, figuring out a way you can make the world better, whatever. getting involved in something bigger than yourself can help you feel like a better person.
Seligman's biggest recommendation for lasting happiness is to figure out (courtesy of his website, reflectivehappiness.com your strengths and find new ways to deploy them.
"Giving makes you feel good about yourself," says Peterson. "When you're volunteering, you're distracting yourself from your own existence, and that's beneficial. More fuzzily, giving puts meaning into your life. You have a sense of purpose because you matter to someone else." Virtually all the happiness exercises being tested by positive psychologists, he says, make people feel more connected to others.
(prof Christopher Peterson at the University of Michigan)
University of Illinois psychologist Edward Diener found the following things about happiness:
1. additional income does little to raise your sense of satisfaction with life
2. being smarter or having more education doesn't make you happier, either
3. sipping from the fountain of youth won't make you happier. in fact, older people are consistently more satisfied with life than younger people.
4. married people are generally happier than singles, but that may be because they were happier to begin with
5. sunny days don't make people happier, either. californians aren't necessarily happier than oaklahomans just because of that fact.
6. having religious faith seems to make people happier, but it's difficult to say if that's due to God or the community aspect.
7. spending time with friends and family overwhelmingly makes a person happier.
"A 2002 study conducted at the University of Illinois by Diener and Seligman found that the most salient characteristics shared by the 10% of students with the highest levels of happiness and the fewest signs of depression were their strong ties to friends and family and commitment to spending time with them."
seligman finds that there are three dimensions to happiness: pleasure, engagement (connection to family, friends, work, hobbies), and meaning (using your personal strengths to better something bigger than you).
in 1996 University of Minnesota researcher David Lykken published a paper looking at the role of genes in determining one's sense of satisfaction in life. he found that genes determine about 50% of our satisfaction with life. this is to say that we are sort of "born with a happiness level." other research has confirmed that this is largely true: we do have a happiness level. no matter what happens to us, we will return to that level. unless we take an active role in making ourselves happier, with things like a gratitude journal and positive psychology.
jeudi 6 décembre 2007
In Pursuit of Happiness Research
Wilkinson, W. (2007, April 11). In pursuit of happiness research: Is it reliable? What does it imply for policy? In The Cato institute. Retrieved December 6, 2007, from http://www.cato.org
Wilkinson argues that we should tax the rich. There should be a tax that "reduces the benefits of monetary labor" will encourage everyone together to stop working so hard. with all that extra time, we could hang out with friends and family and spend time engaging in hobbies we actually enjoy. (other research has shown that it is not money or material things that make us happiest; instead, it's our relationships we form with other people that boost our happiness)
Wilkinson argues that we should tax the rich. There should be a tax that "reduces the benefits of monetary labor" will encourage everyone together to stop working so hard. with all that extra time, we could hang out with friends and family and spend time engaging in hobbies we actually enjoy. (other research has shown that it is not money or material things that make us happiest; instead, it's our relationships we form with other people that boost our happiness)
The Hippies Were Right all Along about Happiness
Oswald, A. (2006, January 18). The hippies were right all along about happiness. Financial Times.Retrieved December 6, 2007, from http://www.ft.com
--people today are not happier than their (poorer) parents and grandparents were years ago.
this is to say that how happy you are depends on how rich your neighbors/peers are. if they get the newest game system and you don't, you will be sad. if you start to earn more money than them, you will be happy. we compare ourselves with other people to find out if we're actually happy.
i already have this research, but this just backs it up more.
p.s. andrew oswald is an economics professor at warwick university
--people today are not happier than their (poorer) parents and grandparents were years ago.
Research last year showed that happiness levels depend inversely on the earnings levels of a person’s neighbours. Prosperity next door makes you dissatisfied. It is relative income that matters: when everyone in a society gets wealthier, average wellbeing stays the same.
this is to say that how happy you are depends on how rich your neighbors/peers are. if they get the newest game system and you don't, you will be sad. if you start to earn more money than them, you will be happy. we compare ourselves with other people to find out if we're actually happy.
i already have this research, but this just backs it up more.
p.s. andrew oswald is an economics professor at warwick university
"a growing gap between the savers and the save-nots"
Johnston, D. C. (1999, March 21). A growing gap between the savers and the save-nots. The New York Times. Retrieved December 6, 2007, from http://www.nytimes.com
(Prof George Lowenstein)
in my words: the media tells soon-to-be retirees that they need to worry about the money the will--or won't--have after they quit. so then those 60-somethings get real worked up over whether they've saved enough for retirement or if they'll have to keep working until they die.
their sense of reality, however, has been distorted by the media. most people have, in fact, saved enough for retirement. they adjust to new situations in the lives and the money thing is less of an issue than they expected, despite what the media and other financial advisers told them.
in this case, the media made them worry unnecessarily, which caused them unhappiness. the media took something that was no big deal and, to make it newsworthy, made it seem as if it were a big tragedy. the media has this tendency of sensationalizing issues so that people will pay attention. this can cause viewers to see the world as a dramatic, sometimes awful place. this can cause distress and unhappiness. with the sensationalization of media, then, we can say that people have become unhappier.
infotainment! that's what that's called. mention that.
people worry more about having enough to retire in the five years before they stop working than after they quit.
''The financial press and the mutual fund industry are telling people that you need to save a lot, that you should be worried, and people work themselves into a state of anxiety,'' Professor Lowenstein said. ''But even though income drops after retirement and consumption drops even more, people find it is not nearly as bad as they expected. People adapt to adverse circumstances much faster than they expect.''
(Prof George Lowenstein)
in my words: the media tells soon-to-be retirees that they need to worry about the money the will--or won't--have after they quit. so then those 60-somethings get real worked up over whether they've saved enough for retirement or if they'll have to keep working until they die.
their sense of reality, however, has been distorted by the media. most people have, in fact, saved enough for retirement. they adjust to new situations in the lives and the money thing is less of an issue than they expected, despite what the media and other financial advisers told them.
in this case, the media made them worry unnecessarily, which caused them unhappiness. the media took something that was no big deal and, to make it newsworthy, made it seem as if it were a big tragedy. the media has this tendency of sensationalizing issues so that people will pay attention. this can cause viewers to see the world as a dramatic, sometimes awful place. this can cause distress and unhappiness. with the sensationalization of media, then, we can say that people have become unhappier.
infotainment! that's what that's called. mention that.
mercredi 5 décembre 2007
advertisers playing to happiness
advertisers today are smart people. before freud and bernays, companies would advertise the usefulness of their product only, and people would buy it if they needed it. however, bernays revolutionized the advertising market because he found that he and advertisers could make people THINK they needed things they had no use for. if they played to people's emotions, they could convince them they needed to have not just any purse, but a certain brand name purse. they could make people feel unsatisfied and unhappy if they didn't have a specific product.
global companies recognize this method of advertising today, and use it to their advantage. Coca cola, for example, has capitalized on the Christmas market. They have made themselves synonymous with Christmastime. If you drink a Coke around Christmas, you can be happy like those cute polar bears in their commercials. Jolly Santa drinks Coke, so you can be jolly when you drink Coke, too. The advertisers play to the consumers' happiness.
There has been much research on the new field of positive psychology. In short, it is a focus on the good things in life rather than the problems (explain this more, and talk about Seligman). Traditional psychology focuses on fixing problems in life and figuring out why people become mentally ill or disturbed. Until recently, nobody had really done much research into the happy individual. Now some psychologists are proponents of positive psychology, and claim that traditional psychological methods may be failing because they focus too much on negative aspects of life.
Advertisers, it seems, have taken this advice to heart. Mastercard ads, for example. They give a whole host of things that cost money. For example, there's one that aired in London that shows an arrivals gate at an airport and families, friends and lovers reuniting. While the loved ones are hugging, a caption at the bottom of the screen tells how much the flight tickets cost. At the end, though, it says, "Spending Christmas together: priceless." The screen Mastercard logo the appears, but only for a brief two seconds. This ad shows the viewer families and friends getting together and sharing a special moment. It can be hypothesized that this causes the viewer to think about his or her own family, especially around the holiday season. You'll notice that the ad wasn't about Mastercard until the very end. It was about reuniting and being happy in the arms of someone you love. It was playing to the viewers positive emotions. Mastercard has flipped the table; instead of being associated with money, they have now linked themselves with happy families. This is not to say that immediately following this ad, the viewer will apply for a Mastercard and start spending. Instead, the point I am making is that Mastercard has associated itself with happiness and joy. In the future, when faced with deciding between Mastercard and a competitor, a consumer may be influenced by the ad and go with Mastercard because of the positive, happy ad. Mastercard advertisers have used positive psychology to make the consumer happy while watching the ad, and therefore associate their product with satisfaction.
global companies recognize this method of advertising today, and use it to their advantage. Coca cola, for example, has capitalized on the Christmas market. They have made themselves synonymous with Christmastime. If you drink a Coke around Christmas, you can be happy like those cute polar bears in their commercials. Jolly Santa drinks Coke, so you can be jolly when you drink Coke, too. The advertisers play to the consumers' happiness.
There has been much research on the new field of positive psychology. In short, it is a focus on the good things in life rather than the problems (explain this more, and talk about Seligman). Traditional psychology focuses on fixing problems in life and figuring out why people become mentally ill or disturbed. Until recently, nobody had really done much research into the happy individual. Now some psychologists are proponents of positive psychology, and claim that traditional psychological methods may be failing because they focus too much on negative aspects of life.
Advertisers, it seems, have taken this advice to heart. Mastercard ads, for example. They give a whole host of things that cost money. For example, there's one that aired in London that shows an arrivals gate at an airport and families, friends and lovers reuniting. While the loved ones are hugging, a caption at the bottom of the screen tells how much the flight tickets cost. At the end, though, it says, "Spending Christmas together: priceless." The screen Mastercard logo the appears, but only for a brief two seconds. This ad shows the viewer families and friends getting together and sharing a special moment. It can be hypothesized that this causes the viewer to think about his or her own family, especially around the holiday season. You'll notice that the ad wasn't about Mastercard until the very end. It was about reuniting and being happy in the arms of someone you love. It was playing to the viewers positive emotions. Mastercard has flipped the table; instead of being associated with money, they have now linked themselves with happy families. This is not to say that immediately following this ad, the viewer will apply for a Mastercard and start spending. Instead, the point I am making is that Mastercard has associated itself with happiness and joy. In the future, when faced with deciding between Mastercard and a competitor, a consumer may be influenced by the ad and go with Mastercard because of the positive, happy ad. Mastercard advertisers have used positive psychology to make the consumer happy while watching the ad, and therefore associate their product with satisfaction.
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