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Mental Malware: The Psychology of Korean Advertisements

Mental Malware: The Psychology of Korean Advertisements

Abstract

On the basis that current psychological research into mass media gives more representation to Western than Korean cultures, this project uses Western research theories alongside Korean studies to investigate persuasion techniques in 10 Korean advertisements. If Western psychological research on mass media is valid across cultures, then the concepts, theories, and studies will apply to…

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Hiding Bumping Uglies Behind Silver Screens: Media Underrepresentation and Misrepresentation of the Elderly

Hiding Bumping Uglies Behind Silver Screens: Media Underrepresentation and Misrepresentation of the Elderly

Written by: Knigel Holmes

Abstract

The global media immensely influences culture through implicit and explicit communication; therefore, the media is responsible for representing various demographics. As the elderly population increases, so too does the focus on its representation in the media. Advertisers, political campaigns, and health industries are only but a few of those gaining more…

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Ethan Kessler: There's nothing dangerous or bad about the principle of GM foods and crops.

One of our Skepti-Forum members, Ethan Kessler, provides several sources countering many of the common misconceptions we often see shared around the Internet condemning GMOs.

In general, there’s nothing dangerous or bad about the principle of GM foods and crops. Genetically modified crops are not killing the honey bees:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22194811

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pub…

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Jeff Bidstrup's 500 Words | Perspective of a Forth-Generation Australian Farmer

Jeff Bidstrup’s 500 Words | Perspective of a Forth-Generation Australian Farmer

“Neither organic production, nor total reliance on chemicals will ever allow sustained food security to become a reality.”

Those are the words of forth-generation farmer, Jeff Bidstrup, who now shares his story to our 500 word project. In the following piece, Bidstrup relates his experience of using newer technologies to defend crops against pests, while also realising that there is no…

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Share Your Science Communication Adventures in π x Σy Words | How Can We Communicate Science?

Share Your Science Communication Adventures in π x Σy Words | How Can We Communicate Science?

We want to share your adventures in science communication

When we first called out for your 500 word perspectiveson issues surrounding genetic-modification, we expected perhaps a couple of you would copy & paste us a few tweets and the rest would send us hate-mail. Instead, we are backlogged with stories we need to publish and we keep getting more. Not only that, but no one has yet been…

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Michelle Nijhuis: The Pocket Guide to Bullshit Prevention

Michelle Nijhuis: The Pocket Guide to Bullshit Prevention

Michelle Nijhuis @ The Last Word On Nothing: “I am not often—knock wood—wrong in print, and that’s because, as a journalist, I’ve had advanced training in Bullshit Prevention Protocol (BPP).”

Lately, as I’ve watched smarter and better-dressed friends believe all manner of Internet nonsense, I’ve come to appreciate my familiarity with BPP. Especially because we’re all publishers now. (Sharing a…

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The Genetic Literacy Project: Is Glyphosate, used with some GM crops, dangerously toxic to humans?

The Genetic Literacy Project: Is Glyphosate, used with some GM crops, dangerously toxic to humans?

There’s a lot of misinformation on glyphosate, and people often become hostile when discussing the science, so here is an article challenging the alarmism and fear-mongering of some of the organisations and activists spreading misconceptions. This solid piece contrasts the shoddy claims mimicking science with examples of quality research from credible institutions and experts. Further, XiaoZhi…

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Academics Review: Why Consumers Pay More for Organic Foods? Fear Sells and Marketers Know it.

Academics Review: Why Consumers Pay More for Organic Foods? Fear Sells and Marketers Know it.

Academics Review: An academic review of more than 25 years of market research, marketing tactics and government programs driving sales in the organic and natural product industries

Our report finds consumers have spent hundreds of billion dollars purchasing premium-priced organic food products based on false or misleading perceptions about comparative product food safety, nutrition and health…

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Dan Kahan on How Culture Wars Hijack Science Discussions

Dan Kahan on How Culture Wars Hijack Science Discussions

Jonathan Coppage @ the American Conservative: Kahan emphasizes that “we must disentangle competing positions on climate change from opposing cultural identities, so that culturally pluralistic citizens aren’t put in the position of having to choose between knowing what’s known to science and being who they are.”

Do you know what the correlation is between saying “I believe in evolution” and…

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PLOS: Why it’s so easy to believe our food is toxic

PLOS: Why it’s so easy to believe our food is toxic

Beth Skwarecki @ PLOS: Nutrition is a wonderful playground for people who want to manipulate fear. We need food to live, yet can be poisoned by eating the wrong things. Learning from others which foods are safe and which are dangerous was essential to our survival in the days before grocery stores. We are primed to react to scares about food.

All this misinformation is a version of the Fear,…

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PSMag: The Reformation: Can Social Scientists Save Themselves?

PSMag: The Reformation: Can Social Scientists Save Themselves?

Jerry Adler @ PSMag: An intellectual crisis in the age of TED talks and Freakonomics.

Then they made what many would consider a fatal mistake. Even though they had no reason to doubt the result, Nosek and Motyl repeated the experiment—and nature, in its infinite capriciousness, took away what it had just given. “Our immediate reaction was ‘why the #&@! did we do a direct replication?’” they later…

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How “they” view “us”

David Gorski @ Science-Based Medicine:

When blogging about SBM versus quackery, my target is not people like J.B. Handley, Mama Mac, the bloggers at AoA or The Thinking Moms’ Revolution, or Eric Merola. These people are the very people who believe that I am an evil person hopelessly in the thrall of big pharma, which rewards me richly for crushing their hopes. (If that’s the case, I ask: Where is…

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Sudhindra Kulkarni's 500 Words | My experiences with GM crops

Sudhindra Kulkarni’s 500 Words | My experiences with GM crops

Following Ravichandran’s 500 words on his own views of biotechnology in India, Sudhindra Kulkarni would now like to tell his own experiences of farming in India. Kulkarni discusses his own history of battling with pests to grow his crops. We’ve previously heard Vandana Shivaand others blame GMOs for farmer suicides in India, but here we have a different story of GMOs benefiting Kulkarni’s…

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Monsters versus Mobs: A Call to Unleash the Scientist/Narrator Hybrids

Technology cannot speak for science without frightening the townsfolk.

The Modern Prometheus tries speaking, tries explaining, but his patchwork throat provokes fear from the mob on the brink of lynch mob. If scientists want to avoid inciting irrational fear and misunderstanding towards science and technology, and if these professionals value a conscientious community, their secret laboratory…

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Veg Expo is coming to Vancouver, but they are misleading the public

Veg Expo is coming to Vancouver, but they are misleading the public

Will the organisers at Veg Expo 2014 accept our offer to have an actual expert speak on GMOs at their event? Veg Expo 2014 advertises Jeffrey Smith as a world expert on genetically-modified foods, but this is deceptive marketing. Smith’s claims are not supported by well-established science and his assertions are refuted by legitimate experts.

I was initially hesitant to write about Veg Expo.…

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Generically Memeified Organisations

Analogical, Empathetical, and Analytical Reasoning in the Movement Against Genetically Modified Organisms Written by Knigel Holmes Science is no longer obscured behind an esoteric shroud.

The wizard of Oz has stepped out from behind the curtain. He was human all along. Bringing with them gifts of brains, heart, and courage, celebrity speakers such as Bill Nye, Carl Sagan, and Neil deGrasse Tyson…

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Mary Mangan's 500 Words | What do I want from ag biotechnology, including (but not only) GMOs?

Mary Mangan’s 500 Words | What do I want from ag biotechnology, including (but not only) GMOs?

One of our members from our Google Plus Skepti-Forum community, Mary Mangan, adds to our 500 Word Project, sharing many of the potential benefits she sees with genetically-modified technologies.

You can find more from Mary on Google Plus

Don’t forget to check out our project and group directory to get involved with some of our communities such as GMO Skepti-Forum and Environment Skepti-Forumon…

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