Confessions

Today I am going to post a simple review of a Japanese movie called Confessions.

This movie is about a Junior high school teacher, Moriguchi Yuko, who annoced to her class one day that she will resign. She told her class that her daughter, Minami was killed by two students whom she named as Student A and Student B. As she goes on to describe the behaviours of the two students, the class realized that Student A was Watanabe Shuya while Student B was Shinomura Naoya. Knowing the fact that they will escape punishment as legal minors, she told the whole class that she had injected HIV virus from her late husband, into the packet of milk of the two students. Through this, she had sucessfully instilled fear not only to the two students but the whole class.

Ever since then, Shinomura Naoya refused to go to sch and locked himself in the room, fearing for his life. He did not bathe nor cut his hair, as to him these were signs that he is alive. The whole class also acted as if nothing had happened. Then came the new teacher who took over the class. He was very passionate about teaching and told the class that he was inspired to become a teacher due to the book written by Moriguchi late husband. But he failed to realise the reaction of the students especially the fear they had when he mentioned it. Without knowing Naoya situation, he encouraged the class to write encouraging messages to Naoya so that he will come back to school. Not only that he also asked another student, Kitahara Mizuki, to accompany him to visit Naoya. Naoya's mother was very grateful for the class effort in the messages. But she could not understand why did Naoya became even more deranged after seeing the messages. It was until very much later that the mother realized that there was a hidden message in the so called encoragment message, "Go to die murderer!" As time goes by Naoya became violent and hit here mother. One day, her mother could not take it and wanted to kill Naoya then commit suicide. During the struggle, Naoya overpowered the mother and killed her, while he was arrested for murder.

On the other hand, Watanabe Shuya continued to go to school as if nothing had happened. However, he became a target for bullying. One day he was forced to kiss with Kitahara Mizuki as she was the only one who did not bully him. Slowly, Mizuki grew feeling for Shuya and confessed that she is Lunacy who had killed her parents using poison. Shuya killed Mizuki after she confronted him for not facing his mother and had Oedipus complex.

At graduation, Shuya plants a bomb to kill himself and his classmates, but the bomb does not go off then receives a call from Moriguchi telling him she had moved the bomb to his mother's office, killing her instead. Moriguchi appears at the end, telling Shuya, overcome and humiliated was her revenge, and his redemption just begins, but she adds, "just kidding", referencing to what Shuya told her when he confessed that he killed her daughter.

What is interesting about the movie is the confession of Moriguchi. She did not carried any feeling while saying but still instill fear through her words. Also during the confrontation of crime, Shuya attitude of joking around was a point that everyone should take note of. In conclusion, this movie tells us that how powerful words can be. It is always important for us to look for the hidden meaning in a person message and also to take note of the other party behavior so that we will not misinterpret the situation.

Labeling Effects

Looking Glass Self: We see ourselves through the eyes of other people, even to the extent of incorporating their views of us into our own self-concept.

Labeling is something we all do for other people, and for ourselves. It's related to stereotypes, confirmation bias, self fulfilling prophecy, and all other theories involved with the concept of identity.

Many of us know the harmful effects of it, and the good effects of it. While I do not believe that it is good to admonish all these, one should never use it to cloud our judgement on other people. Like how in the case of 911, anyone viewed as "dark skinned" are terrorists regardless of country of origin etc.

In self-fulfilling prophecy, it states that if you believe that you are so and so, you eventually do become so and so. This can go negatively and positively; If you believe you are going to ace a test, there is a higher chance you will. Think you are going to be late, and you'll be late.

I think that one of the situations that causes a high potential "harm" of negative labeling would be when (related) adults label children, like family members and relatives. Every person started out as a young kid under the protection of their family. Their family members are their first taste of human interaction, communication, and their mini "society". I think you can see what I am getting at.

There has been a common trend of calling people either introverts or extroverts. Society seems to depict introverts as shy, quiet awkward antisocial people, while extroverts are like social butterflies ready to try everything under the sun. I feel that a lot of people underlying believed that extroverts are more favourable in most situations, and we should get rid of that notion because introverts are not a "negative" trait.

According to this article, a more accurate way of seeing the difference between an introvert and an extrovert is to see "how these children react to stimuli".

"When these children are at four months, if you pop a balloon over their heads, they holler and pump their arms more than other babies do. At age 2, they proceed carefully when they see a radio-controlled toy robot for the first time. When they’re school age, they play matching games with more deliberation than their peers, considering all the alternatives at length and even using more eye movements to compare choices. Notice that none of these things — popping balloons, toy robots, matching games — has anything to do with people. In other words, these kids are not antisocial. They’re simply sensitive to their environments."

Again, I stress the importance of labeling such kids as introverts with a "negative" connotation as anti-social. If one believes that their kid is shy and has difficulty forming friendships with kids more, if affects the way one treats the child, and through a combination effect of the looking glass self and the self-fulfilling prophecy, the kid really might grow to become an antisocial kid.


Also, on an unrelated note, I thought this study is quite interesting...

If you believe that a medication would work on making you feel better, science proves that you actually can get better. A study showed that by using the correct colour associated to cure (blue colour), regardless of all these placebo medication, there is a higher percentage of people who said their symptoms of pain were gone. The research even went deeper to prove that indeed, there was a higher trend of people who really were cured.

Communications with the kids.

Have you ever interact with a kid, notice how they response and the way they interpret themselves in front of you?

From verbal to non-verbal, children are always expressing themselves when they are in need of attention and expressing themselves.

From my experiences while working with the kids, I realised that they interacted with a different form. Through their body language, I can somehow understand their needs and attention. From the way they stick to me, it kinds of indicating they want the love and attention more than the other kids. From the way they reacts to their surroundings can show their character as well.

Well, different kid would express differently. Some would express loudly, while some would express quietly. For me, I have to understand most kids so as to communicate in a better way for them through different methods to let them adapt to the new surroundings and also to let them feel comfortable.

If you were the one to handle kids, how do you manage it through communication to allow them feel more comfortable with you? :)

Children with Communication Disorders

Communication is a fundamental requisite in everyday life, especially for a child. Unfortunately, not every child is able to communicate with ease. A minority of school children suffer from communication disorders. In other words, they face difficulties in the language, speech, and hearing departments. These disorders not only impede their learning capabilities, but also hinder them from enjoying a normal childhood. Young victims of communication disorders often require special assistance to learn communication skills and express themselves.

Some speech and language impairments involves problems with articulation, fluency and slowdowns in speech and/or language. Where hearing is concerned, the child may experience partial or even total deafness.

Most would think that the ideal solution to helping these children would be to seek medical help from professionals. It is true that speech-language pathologists, special education teachers, guidance counsellors, physicians, teachers in schools and social workers can make an impact in the child’s condition.

However, I feel that the parents’ role would be the most significant. It would be more practical to embrace the fact that their child is unwell and start seeking professional help as soon as possible. Instead of blaming themselves or being in denial of their child’s condition, or in worst scenarios, vent it on the child, it would be good if parents are rational enough to see the situation from another perspective. Of course, it is easier said than done. It is normal for parents to feel upset and perhaps be bitter, towards the sick child initially. After all, which parent on Earth does not want their flesh and blood to grow up healthy?

Nonetheless, parents do play a vital role in the child’s life, especially when the child’s health is concerned. Outsiders can do everything that needs to be done, but if the parents remain fixated on their own opinions, then it would be the children who suffer the most. This is not only applicable for children with special needs or disabilities, but also healthy children too.



References:

http://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1079&context=cmc_theses
http://www.comeunity.com/disability/speech/communication.html

Watch Your Words

Words affect everything. We have learn that if you phrase your speeches in line with what the audience wants to hear, the reception to your speech will be more favorable. Likewise, in surveys, tiny changes to the wording can alter opinions. That is why surveys regarding politics are always so particular about it.

For example, in a study, surveys were sent out to voters before an election. One side received a question if it was "important to vote". The other side received the question asking if it was "important to be a voter." With this, people who read the word "voter" were 14 percent more likely to vote on Election Day.

Perhaps by using the word "voter", it causes people to identify themselves with it, resulting in action done. Perhaps the word "vote" sounded like a command for people to do, and people felt less inclined to do so. As phrased nicely, "One was about a simple action, the other was about being a type of person."

Another example would be a health care debate. Organizations conducted polls to see how much of Americans supported a "public option" for their health insurance plans. One was called, "government administered health insurance plan", the other "government-run health insurance plan". 66% support goes to the former, and 44% to the latter. Even though we do not know how such large government organization system works, it is quite obvious which one we would prefer too. "Administered" sounds as if the government are helping us (and giving us what we deserve), while "run" just sounds like another clinic that we have to go and request for services and pay up.

I am sure that context matters all the time, but these experiments just goes to show how one word can easily alter opinions. As we continue to take on more modules, we will have opportunities to create lots of surveys for our projects and research, so we have to actually put more thought into phrasing our questions. We have to be very mindful and avoid traps such as leading questions, like those questions that ask if you have a problem and you need help with it, therefore if I introduce you to a solution, you cannot say no.

Impact of Violent Video Games

In today's modern but volatile society, playing video games is considered very much a norm. You can find video game consoles in almost every household and even on peoples mobile devices. This exposure to video games makes the players very vulnerable to being affected by the games they play, since video games have become to hard to avoid.


The content put out by the companies that publish video game titles have evolved over the years. Ever since the first video games, these companies have been constantly trying to introduce new games and revolutionary gameplay to attract new players and keep the video game industry going.
From the earliest arcade games to today's modern titles, the change in the content and intensity has changed significantly. The main difference being the sheer amount of action and violence in modern games.



Game developers decided that adding more over-the-top violence and allow gamers to do outrageous actions would end up generating more sales. This did more than just that because the video game industry has been dominated by violent video game titles due to their massive appeal.
However it has been noted that the psychological effects of playing violent video games for extended periods of time can be detrimental and can have adverse consequences.


Research has shown that immediately after playing a violent video game, kids can have aggressive thoughts, angry feelings and physiological effects such as increased heart rate and blood pressure. In addition, studies that survey large populations of kids on their game-playing habits and measure aggressive personality traits or self-reported aggressive acts — physical fights, arguments with teachers — often find an association between games and aggression.
A lab experiment showed that individuals low in violent video game exposure (VVE) behave more aggressively after playing a violent video game than after a nonviolent game but that those high in VVE display relatively high levels of aggression regardless of game content. Mediational analyses show that trait hostility, empathy, and hostile perceptions partially account for the VVE effect on aggression.

However, not all people who play violent video games will show some signs of aggressive behavior immediately afterward. A person who just played Call of Duty for example won't always have the sudden urge to pick up a gun and start shooting at other people or start being very hostile toward others. It is true that there is a certain connection between violent video games and the aggressive behavior shown in those who played them but it is not always apparent.

I feel that alot is dependent on the players themselves and depending on their age, they play the games deemed appropriate for them. Or else they risk exposure to game content that they might not understand or be prepared for. There is a rating coupled with every video game sold today which suggests the age appropriateness for the game, and appears on the front of virtually every game box available for retail sale or rental.



For example, a little kid picks up a mature game from the local store and goes home to play it, he might be exposed to things which might not be appropriate for his age, such as the level of violence or deaths of the in-game characters. This might trigger a unintended response in the kid and may result in a permanent change in his behavior.

Although this is just a hypothetical and extreme situation, my point is that aggressive or unpredictable behavior in the player would typically arise because he is not prepared. Also not be able to distinguish between virtual reality and real life can attribute to aggressive behavior.

Amongst other things..




Sources:
http://www.esrb.org/ratings/index.jsp
http://psp.sagepub.com/content/31/11/1573.abstract
http://articles.latimes.com/2010/may/03/health/la-he-closer-20100503

For One More Day

“If you had the chance, just one chance, to go back and fix what you did wrong in life, would you take it? And if you did, would you be big enough to stand it?”
—
For One More Day is a true story about a man who attempted suicide after feeling that he had lost all hope and reason to live.

Chick Benetto, a former baseball player, last saw his mother on a bad note, and is regretful for failing to make full use of the time he had with her when she was still alive. Chick’s life spirals downhill ever since his mum’s death and is haunted with a string of problems since young; his difficult childhood, his parents’ divorce, the death of his mum, his alcoholic ways, and his dwindling relationships with his wife and only daughter who shut him out on her wedding day, which was the last straw that pushed him to the brink of sanity.
Drunk and in a mess, he drives to his hometown where he had intended to attempt suicide, but got involved in an accident along the way. He fled the scene and went back to his old family home, where he was shocked to see his late mother in the house, talking to him like nothing had happened. He tries to ignore the impossibility of the whole situation, and instead revel in the opportunity to spend a day with his mum. He then resolves his problems and got his life back slowly with her help. He also discovers long-hidden truths about his dad and his family. The magical day comes to an end when he regains consciousness, only to find himself at the scene of the accident, in the hands of a police officer.
Mitch Albom’s For One More Day is a gem of a book. Extremely unputdownable (devoured it in less than a day, and I must add that I involuntarily burst into tears once I read the last line of the book). Here is a must-read for everyone. This will teach you life lessons you can never get from your textbooks; inspiring and genuine, tear-jerking and poignant, guaranteed to tug on your heartstrings.
Albom’s very ability to delve into mortality and touch our hearts, highlighting human’s errs and strengths, is what makes his works so beautiful and life-changing. I’m eternally indebted to him for gifting us with The Five People You Meet in Heaven, Tuesdays With Morrie & now, For One More Day.

”..but there’s a story behind everything. How a picture got on a wall. How a scar got on your face. Sometimes the stories are simple, and sometimes they are hard and heartbreaking. But behind all your stories is always your mother’s story, because hers is where yours begin.”

This book will remind yourself that a mum’s love supersedes any man’s fears, weaknesses, and everything else in this world. Purchase this book and keep it as a “guide”. If it ever slips your mind why, or most importantly what you are living for, flip this open, read it again, and remind yourself to never take for granted the time on earth with your loved ones, always make time for them no matter how caught up you are in your own lives, and that your life and everyone present in it is a precious gift; cherish it, live it, and fight for it.

Animal Communication

Ever wonder how animals communicate among themselves?

Studies have found out that animals mainly make use their sense of smell, sight, hearing and touch to relay and receive information from their own species. They do try to communicate with other species from time to time too.

For most animals, the sense of smell is used as the primary method of communication with one another. They make use of scents to attract mates, mark their own territories, to guard against impeding danger and lastly, to attract preys. Urine is the most common substance that is used. One example would be the urine of a female giraffe allows the male giraffe to determine its fertility, simply by sniffing it. Dung is another substance that animals use to mark their own territories. Such markings serve as a platform of communication for animals belonging to the same species. However, at the same time, these markings alert preys so that they know which areas to avoid. Animals like wolves, and jaguars, for instance, mark their own territory by rubbing themselves against trees.

Visual acts which are physical changes such as facial expressions, body postures, colour and movement, is another way in which animals communicate with one another. A familiar illustration would be the fireflies that light up at night to attract mates. Monkeys often employ the use of facial gestures as an expression of their emotions. Just like how humans show their displeasure, monkeys frown when they are upset. When they raise their eyebrow or flutter their eyelids, it usually means that they are feeling good. Dogs and cats do show threatening postures such as the arching of their backs when they feel something is amiss.

Hearing is also another technique that animals are dependent on to exchange information with one another. For most mammals, the small ones squeak while the large species rumble. This is because “the smaller the animal's head, the higher the frequency of sound it can receive and transmit.” Whales are the largest animals and they have an interesting way of communicating via sound. Whale belonging to the same species amazingly has its own “repertoire of 'songs' which it repeats at intervals”. Smaller species such as the dolphins also have a large variety of sounds which can change rapidly in different situations. When they are hunting for preys, for instance, they make agitated fast-paced sounds. Small mammals like kangaroos and rabbits tend to thump their hind legs on the ground, acting as a warning sign to others.

Last but not least, animals use touch as an approach to contact other animals. Some animals nuzzle against each other to show affection, and it indicates their close relationship with one another. Elephants, for one, interlock their trunks as a sign of affection and care. When a chimpanzee cleans another chimpanzee's body, it actually strengthens their bond between one another and it implies their closeness belonging to the same species.

Animal communication is an amazing aspect of nature, which I believe no matter how scientifically advanced we are, we will never be able to fully comprehend these animals. Even though some people might see animals as a degraded species, one that is inferior to mankind, animals do have a world of their own that we are unable to understand. Their simple acts of communication can be so much more meaningful than some of our own communicative ways. It is really heart-warming to witness animals displaying affections for one another, through simple actions like a pat on the back, finding food for one another and even watching out for each other’s backs in times of danger. Despite their lack of cognitive ability to think like how humans do, I find that we all have something in common: we are able to communicate with each other. Maybe this is why some animals are able to communicate with human beings too, because we all have the innate ability in us to communicate.

References:
http://www.ypte.org.uk/environmental/communication-in-animals/19
http://www.essortment.com/forms-communication-between-animals-37386.html

Sincerity transcends language barriers.

Just 2 weeks ago, I decided to visit my grandmother to give her a pleasant surprise. Before I went to her apartment, I was unsure of what to expect. The main reason was because of the language differences. I am aware of my own weakness when it comes to dialects. And just like most elderly in Singapore, my grandmother is unable to converse in English or even Mandarin. Thus, our conversations were mostly filled with non-verbal behaviour. I tried my best to nod at every few sentences that she was rattling, and we made sufficient eye contact to gain acknowledge of the other party’s attention. At the end of the day, I went home with a satisfied heart, not because of what was said, but rather, what was felt.

         

This is a personal example of how communication can take place even when there is a language barrier. Many of us take it for granted that language competence plays a major role in effective communication, especially in Singapore where education has taught us to be critical and perhaps, unforgiving to those who may not be capable enough to reach a particular standard. Unfortunately, the use of bombastic vocabulary may not always be the best choice, as not everyone has the ability to communicate well with words. 

That aside, body language may sometimes serve as a more competent form of communication. More often than not, non-verbal cues such as a pat in the back or simple smile reveals a lot about the communicator's intentions, whether he or she is putting on a false front or being sincere. Words have the ability to manipulate genuine emotions, but it is not the case for non-verbal behaviour. Whether we realise it or not, non-verbal cues do give our true intentions away. 

Despite being a platform that encourages genuine emotions, non-verbal communication can be misleading at times too. Misinterpretations do occur from time to time as well, when the parties involved have contrasting definitions of a particular action. Thus we should learn to pay attention to the other party’s cues and watch out for inconsistencies between his speech and body behaviour. More importantly, trust our own instincts.

My Sister's Keeper

Kate Fitzgerald was diagnosed with leukemia at a very young age of 2. Shocked by the news, Sara is determined to do whatever it takes to save her daughter’s life. Unfortunately, nobody in the family is an exact match and a suitable donor for Kate. The only solution: specifically engineer another baby in order to save Kate’s life.

Anna, the designer baby, becomes the new addition to the Fitzgerald family. The moment she was born, the doctors started taking parts of her body, to be given to Kate. From then on, Sara and her husband did all they can to ensure that Kate is being treated for all her subsequent illnesses every single time. Things in the family started to change once Anna reached thirteen. She has now decided that she wants to stop saving Kate. She knows the consequences of what will happen to her sister if she were to refuse to donate her kidney. She finds herself a lawyer to represent and fight for her in this complicated case of suing her own parents for the rights to her own body.

The characters in the story felt so real; Jodi Picoult’s magic of presenting the characters as though they are people you personally know. How much I want to knock Sara in the head and tell her to stop for a moment, take a step back, breathe, and that some things are just beyond her control. How much I want to tell Jesse, Kate’s brother, that he doesn’t have to rebel just to prove that he is still there, that he has so much in him, if only he would channel that youthful energy into doing something beneficial. How much I want to console Anna and tell her that it is human to feel left out, to feel as though you are invisible, that you need to be brave to stand up for yourself and voice your opinions, now that you know what is best for you.

My Sister’s Keeper is, for the lack of a better description, a sad story. This story left me crying inside with a heart bitter as spit. I’m not going to lie, I wished Jodi Picoult would’ve written a more desirable ending, where at least I could sleep peacefully knowing that the protagonist whom I’ve rooted for so much finally gets her peace. But that’s the beauty of this story, the looming end will surprise you, in a way of telling us how sometimes life isn’t predictable. We just have to willingly accept what it brings us. There’s always a reason why some things end up a certain way. It tells us to look at life at a different perspective, to appreciate every single thing that comes our way, and that every single problem we face is a test to see how much we are willing to sacrifice for the ones we love.

Needless for me to say, read this before watching the movie. Not a smart move to judge the book by its movie, the book’s definitely more emotionally charged. Guaranteed to tug on your heartstrings.

Body Language: Not what you hear, but what you see.

Remember Chapter 5? The one on non-spoken communication? The lesson where the Australian guy in a suit demonstrated how we unconsciously know how to interpret body language?
Well, here is Allan Pease again in case you don't remember:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoEfCOTcYIQ

Body language plays such a large part of our lives every single day however we don't even notice it. It is widely agreed that body language plays a significantly larger role in us being able to understand other people as compared to spoken words. According to Professor Albert Mehrabian, who has pioneered the understanding of communications since the 1960s:

• 7% of message pertaining to feelings and attitudes is in the words that are spoken
• 38% of message pertaining to feelings and attitudes is paralinguistic (the way that the words are said)
• 55% of message pertaining to feelings and attitudes is in facial expressions

We are constantly exposed to body language when we interact with other people. Like you instinctively know when is the appropriate time to go up to someone and talk to him/her. And when that person is actually listening to what you say, whether the person's responses are truthful or not. You can kind of see it, rather than pick up something a little off just from the words that person is saying.

Like when the person you are talking to is constantly making eye contact and not being easily distracted by other things, you know you have that person's attention and they are willing to hold a conversation. Or when Murphy's Law strikes and due to the Law of Encounters, you suddenly find yourself with a person you don't really want to talk to.

Like so,



You would to everything you can to break off the conversation as fast as possible with the least pain right? So, you would act like you're in a hurry or distracted and constantly check you phone for example, all the while saying all the right things. All of this is to just convey the message that this conversation is getting awkward and you don't wanna talk anymore, but in a more subtle, and less direct way.

Another situation would be when you come up to someone and you get a feeling that you don't want to approach the person just by the way he acts. His/her body language tells you so much without him/her needing to say a word.



 "Be water, my friend."


You wouldn't wanna mess with him right? Even if you wanted to you simply can't. He's Bruce Lee.
But, the main point is the body language part.

The point is recognizing body language and interpreting it correctly will help you through daily life, it lets you see so many other hidden meanings you could have missed and enable you to react accordingly. Recognizing negative vibes early on would save you from making the wrong choices, and this can be applied in almost every aspect of daily life.


Mehrabian's Communication Research, Retrieved from: http://www.businessballs.com/mehrabiancommunications.htm
Bruce Lee picture, retrieved from http://www.bruceleedivinewind.com/

How often do we assume ladybugs are female?

Recalling Chapter 4 on the spoken language, we learnt that language affects the way we see the world. Focusing on this point, I went to dig around the Internet, and found several studies which I thought were really interesting.


1. Language shapes colour perception

"Different languages divide up the color continuum differently: some make many more distinctions between colors than others, and the boundaries often don't line up across languages."

You might have experienced this quite often. Like how I would describe our UB tee as blue, but my friend who studied design comes waltzing in and tells me it's navy, or palatinate, or cobalt. Or something.



"BLUE. Why are you being so picky about this?!"


But that is just English. What about languages that have lesser terms for colours?

Example. Here be colours.



To most of us, we know that they are orange, pink and red respectively. But to people from the Himba tribe, they call all these "serandu". To put this into perspective, give them a red card, they say it's "serandu". Give them an orange card, and it's "serandu" as well. They can see that they are different if you put them next to each other, but show them separately, and they might confuse them to be the same card.

To make things more interesting, if you teach them new names for the colours, they are able to learn how to identify the different shades in the future even without any comparison.

Let's go back to different shades of blue (again, haha). To an English speaker, all shades of blue are called "Blue". But in Russian, there is no such single term that categorises all shades we term as blue. They have this different terms between light blue (goluboy) and dark blue (siniy). Due to having more words for different shades of blue, Russians are better than English speakers in visually discriminating shades of blue.


Nooooooo they are all blueeeeeeeee.


2. Language determines your navigational ability

If I tell you to give me directions, you would often use words like, "left", "right", "in front", "behind" etc. Most of these terms are relative to us. A typical string of directions would be, "turn left (from where you are) at the end of the block", "go forward (from here) and then turn right at the corner"

But for Aboriginal people, they give directions with Naughty Elephant Spray Water cardinal-direction terms aka North South East West. For everything. Directions become "Go southwest, then head Northeast to the west". Telling them that they have something on one of their legs, and you have to say "There's something on your southeast leg."

Tell them to come over and sit with you, and it will be "Hey, take your bags and come sit to the northnorthwest."

This means that for Aboriginal people, they must stay oriented at all times without the help of a compass or a smartphone with 3G capability. English speakers rely on language that uses relative reference frames (i.e. Your left is my right), whereas Aboriginal people uses absolute reference frames (North will always be North. Turn 180 degrees from North, and it's South) This results in Aboroginal people being better navigators than English speakers, even in unfamiliar territory, because they are just so much better at staying oriented and keeping track of where they are.

Now for another interesting bit: Imagine if you never had a "left" in your vocabulary. Will it still affect the way you navigate?

The answer is yes.

A group of deaf schoolschildren invented their own sign language in the 1970s. In the early stages of developing this language, they did not have terms for "left" and "right". Even though all their senses function the same as us, not only they are having extreme difficulty explaining space, they have difficulty figuring out where things are too. In a study, an item was placed at the corner of a room, and they were told to direct a fellow person to the item. The result was that because of the lack of certain linguistic codes for space such as "left of", they have more difficulty internalising a mental map of the room and orientate themselves properly.

---------

In several of these links, they mentioned that language shape how we perceive space, time, colors, and objects. If you search around, studies have found that language can also affect people in more profound ways such as "constructing events, reason about causality, keep track of numbers, understand material substance, perceive and experience emotion, reason about other people's minds, choose to take risks, and even in the way they choose professions and spouses." (Google around. Examples are everywhere!)

This all ties back to how language is arbitrary, how it shapes the way we think and view the world, and even our lifestyle. They all support the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis in which it suggests that the structure of a language affects the ways in which its speakers are able to conceptualize their world, like how the ability to recognise colours comes with having names for them. It brings a whole new deep meaning to the point in our slides that says, "Language is a kind of knowledge."


This is the end of my long-winded entry. For those who are bored, I give you some fun. This has got nothing to do with communications, but well..

Munsell Hue Test

My eyes just died. But at least I have a victory.




I took ages completing this. Glad that this doesn't have a timer. I had to keep leaning back and forth. Blue-Green row was the hardest for me; I was working on the blue side, then by the time I reached the green bit, they all looked the same to me HAHAHA.

Formation of Chinese Character

A few days ago, my brother approached me asking me about Oracle Bone Script （甲骨文）which left me in shock as he was never interested in this kind of stuffs. When I asked him why, he explained to me that his teacher had shown him an article about it. As he knows that I learned History in Chinese in JC and that I was in Chinese Cultral Society, he thought of asking me about it. Due to this, I started digging for all the stuffs I know about it. This triggered me into writing this blog post because after reading back, I find it interesting about how the oracle bone scripts becomes the Simplified Chinese characters that we are learning today.

Oracle bone script is considered the earliest form of Chinese character which later developed to the modern Chinese characters. The origin of it's name is due to these characters being carved on the shell to turtles or the animal bones. Then towards the end of Shang dynasty, Bronze script is created. As the name suggest, it is Chinese characters engraved in bronze whereby the characters are first carved in the inner mold before the molten bronze is poured in.

During the Warring states of Qin, Seal script arises and it is further divided into Large Seal Script and Small Seal script. Large Seal script evolved from the Chinese Bronze Script. In Qin dynasty there were different types of word form used in different states in China. Therefore after the unification of China, Qin Shi Huang commanded one of his officials Li Shi to systematize the characters throughout China, thus the formation of Small Seal Scripts. Seal Script is also an ancient form of calligraphy is mostly widely used in seal engraving.

So where does the Chinese characters that we learn today are formed? In actual fact, Traditional Chinese emerge with Clerical script. In Han dynasty, Clerical script was created. As the sides of the Chinese characters are more squarish compared to Seal script, it was faster to write. From the formation of Clerical script, Cursive script, Regular Script and Semi-cursive scripts were created as the different style of calligraphy.

Lastly, the Simplified Chinese characters which is taught in Singapore was first discovered during the Northern and Southern Dynasty of China. In Tang dynasty that there was an increase in Simplified Chinese Characters. However, it was until 1909 that Simplified Chinese Characters were firstly publicized. In 1935, the first table for Simplified Chinese character was introduced and there was an exercise to promote the use of Simplified Chinese. But it was stopped during 1937 due to the Second Sino-Japanese War. Only in 1950s, after the formation of People's Republic of China there were further simplification of Chinese Characters. In 1964, the Chinese government introduced the Simplified Chinese Charaters table which consists 2238 characters formed the standard words that China used now.

Linking back to Singapore, do you actually know that first batch of Simplified Chinese characters was introduced in 1969? After 3 rounds simplification, in 1976 Singapore had the same set of Simplified Chinese characters as China. Imagine if there was o simplification of Chinese Characters, Singapore might be like Taiwan and Hong Kong using simplified Chinese characters isn't it?

Styles of Communications.

Do you know how we first started our form of communications on Earth and how it revolves till to date?

It was from the olden days, where people are not illiterate, whom produced the first form of communication on earth. Like how we understand:
Fire is being made to form a communication between the sender and the receiver through the smoke indication. Symbols are being crafted on stones and walls in ancient times.

But how do we derive to the kind of communications we have to date?
As the years passed, people started to learn the ways of writing, the style of communicating properly and how to convey a message.

In today’s society, our communications have increased tremendously with the different styles of communication, from our body languages to the communications in the cyber world. Our first communication before entering into this world is when we were a foetus in our mothers’ uteruses. It is when we react to our parents through kicking or punching inside our mothers’ wombs. When we were born, crying is the only method in helping us to convey our messages and emotions to our parents. Even as a child, we have our own ways of communication and seek for attention when we needed it.

It is when we start to learn the ways of conveying our messages to the society where we have to change our style of communication with the flow of the changing state of society, be it at work, in school or even in the public. For example, when we were at work, we wouldn’t possibly talk to our boss in an informal way as compared to talking to our best friends. It is the status and the place of interaction that changes our style of communication at different point of time. When we communicate at certain point, our body language also informs one our thoughts and how we react to the situation. In public places when we were alone, we tend to not caring our surroundings and keep to ourselves. For instance, teenagers do put on their headphones and cut off all noises beyond them when they are alone outside or in public transports. This is a kind of communication we tend to portray in today’s society.

To me, I feel that communications had always played a huge part to our life. Through the ways of communication, it really helps us to see one better, and understand them deeper; however, I also believe that communications can be a form of a lie, where people would use it to hide their real emotions. Different styles of communications could portray who we are and how we handle the different situations in this society. Without communication, it is hard for us to understand people, in the form of their thoughts and emotions.