This post is on my idol Fann Wong’s wedding preparation show (芳心有李).  Reasons for sharing this is for all of you to feel their happiness and most importantly, in the videos above, you can see how non-verbal communication is at work in their relationship. At 3 minute 50 second, Fann made use of vocalies (sound other than words) which is a part of paralinguistic; when they talk about what they quarrel over that cause them to have a cold war for two months . Through this we can also see that non-verbal communication is receiver-oriented and subjective because only Christopher knew which incident she is talking about.

       While Christopher is talking about his mother at 6 minute 56 second, Fann could see that Christopher is starting to tear through oculesics (the study of non-verbal meaning associated with the eyes). Indeed “eyes are the windows to the soul”.

       Similarly, the way they hold hands where they crossed their fingers together at part two also tell us through haptics (the study of touch in communication) that they are deeply in love. Christopher also mentioned a good point in part two 2 minute 23 second, whereby he can feel how happy Fann is through the way she held his hand on the day of their engagement. These are forms of haptics in non-verbal communication.

      Their relationship is mostly formed based on similarity where both of them were actors and they work in an almost similar environment. However, they do not have attitudinal similarity as they have different characters and they come from different countries. In the course of the relationship, Christopher started to like Japanese food due to Fann’s influence (social preference similarity), it is seen is part two of the video.

       Hope you have enjoyed the video and feel the sense of happiness they have in anticipation to 29 September (their wedding day!).

       I am going to introduce you a funny and touching Korean comedy in my second entry. It is called the Scandal Makers. This movie is about a not so popular 36 year old Korean DJ who is having high listenership due to an anonymous young single mother calling in. One day, the DJ ‘s doorbell rang and this 22 year old single mum with a 6 year old boy claim to be his daughter and grandson at his doorstep. This resulted in a twist in his bachelor life and the single mum’s life, whereby this selfish man and this immature girl changed into caring and responsible individuals.

       The DJ took in the mother and child under situational rules that govern the situation he is in. The mother threatens to reveal their identity and because he is a celebrity and exposing this scandal will spoil his good image, changing people’s perception of him as a caring person and cause listenership to fall. It’s a good example to show how organisation can be influenced by structural elements that shape our overall approach to the perceptual tasks.

       In this movie, you can also see how physical personal constructs is used to predict the future and how it governs people’s personal action or response. The girl was dressed like a village girl at first and when she participate the singing competition her biological father, the DJ, had the thinking that she will not sing well until she sung. They were all shocked that the girl could sing so well. When the girl took a makeover, she rose to popularity in a short time. Similarly, the grandson was dressed shabbily and the kids in the childcare refused to play with him. Things start to change for the better until his dad bought him nice outfits and when they realized that he could play the piano very well.

       Figure (the focus of our attention) and ground (setting or context surrounding the context) also plays a part in this movie. The first day in the childcare, the little boy saw a very cute little girl (figure) and he totally had all his eyes on her and even when his grandfather (ground), the DJ, called out to him he is not paying attention. His grandfather also focuses on the gorgeous female teacher when he saw her and forgets the surrounding.

       We also tend to form closure which is tendency to fill in the missing piece of a puzzle by mentally completing it so as to make sense of a particular set of stimuli. In one of the scene, the ex-boyfriend of the single mother saw her going up the same house with the DJ, and he starts to suspect that she is having an affair with the DJ. Also, when he saw the little boy at the police station he thought that the DJ is the father of the boy. Through vision, he made up his perception without knowing the full picture.

       Lastly, this is a comedy worth watching as it have a good storyline and a cute boy as the character which will make you laugh. Mostly importantly, it is a touching movie about kinship and family ties.

You can watch the thriller at the link below:

http://www.moviexclusive.com/review/scandalmakers/scandalmakers.html (Read More)

           Miscommunication is a big problem, not only does it results in misunderstandings or offending people unknowingly, it may even cause something more serious like death.

               This is seen in the stampede on 10 September in the India capital New Delhi. Five were killed and many others injured. This could have been avoided if they use a better way or other channel to inform the students about the electrical breakdown so that they can evacuate from the building safely and effectively.

          As reported, the students received different messages and students from the first floor were told to evacuate to the top of the building whereas the students from the ground floor were told to go up instead. Partly also due to the students, who is the receivers, are distracted by competing internal stimuli which is their fear of being electrocuted hence they just rush out of the building without any order.

           Some students might also follow the crowd to escape as its common for human nature to have the tendency to use our senses to rush to conclusion that there is danger even though they are not inform through proper announcements. This is idols of the tribe, one of Bacon’s four Idols. Furthermore, the place is filled with people’s screaming and chattering, even if there were any important messages being announced, it would be difficult for the message to be decoded in the mist of these noises. Hence message send not equals to message received.

               If the teachers could take note of the lexis and the decorum, which is the style and delivery of the announcement, and the words and subject matter to fit together, to the circumstances and occasion, the audience; the number of death and injuries might have reduced significantly. The students should have been told to evacuate quietly class by class before their exams starts by the teachers rather then messages being passed around by students. This is evident in the article as the girl being interviewed says that she and her classmates were pushed out of their class for no reason. If the communication is an effective one, students would not be so alarm and rushing out in such a disorganised manner.

           Therefore, miscommunication can be really serious especially in times of danger and chaotic situations.  I deeply feel that this tragedy could have been avoided if the communication between the teachers and the students is an effective one.

URL: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/1004086/1/.html