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Pictures can speak much louder than words can. My favorite quote is “what you are thunders louder than what you say”, and powerful images really do speak to that. In this image, you see a woman in her Military uniform holding a child, most likely her daughter, close to her. Let’s break this image down, starting with the background. You see white tile floor and a man in a suit holding a briefcase or bag of some sort. This implies that they are most likely in an airport. Looking at the child, her arms are wrapped around her mother’s neck and she is almost kneeling into her, trying to get as close as possible. Lastly, look at the woman. Her combat boots, backpack, and uniform obviously signify that she is returning from a military deployment. Her hands are wrapped around the child’s head and body, showing how tightly she is holding her. Notice the woman’s face, she’s smiling while also crying (tears of joy), signifying that she missed her daughter. This image is demonstrating how much those who serve our country sacrifice things that we often take for granted (i.e., a hug from our children). This picture is able to convey this argument because of the emotional appeal it evokes from anyone who views it. It makes you realize that you are lucky enough to be able to see and hug your family every day, which is something we often overlook. Another way it conveys this argument is through its ability to be interpreted. When I looked at this image, I viewed it as the woman coming back from her deployment, but it could also be her leaving for her deployment. This allows the audience to envision their own idea behind the image, but while still understanding the message behind it. They say that a picture is worth a thousand words, but I think that this one is speechless.

I remember watching this TED Talk in my World Literature Class my Senior year of high school, and it’s always stuck with mw. Not only is it an interesting topic, but Keith Berry is also an extremely intriguing speaker. In his talk, he shows how much power our brains have, to the point where our bodies don’t even realize what’s happening even if our brains do. A main point that he focuses on is that the majority of human communication comes from body language and social cues, rather than verbal communication. This expanded my understanding of human behavior and communication. As a psych major, I know that body language has a lot to do with how we understand each other, but I didn’t realize that the majority of our understanding of other people came from it. After watching this TED Talk, I now look more at people’s actions and attitude when they are talking, rather than just listen to what they’re saying.

Something that Barry does that is different from other TED Talks is the fact that he uses people from the audience in order to demonstrate his points. This literally engages the audience and compels them to pay closer attention to what he is saying. I think the use of visuals and demonstrations makes his TED Talk more of a presentation rather than a speech. To me, a speech is focused very heavily on what the speaker is saying, but a presentation relies on both what the speaker is saying and also relies on the visuals that the speaker uses. In this case, Barry uses visuals and a hands-on demonstration, which provides more of a demonstration vibe. Overall, I loved this TED Talk and found it personally very interesting not only because of the topic, but because of the audience-based and hands-on approach that Barry uses.

After analyzing the last two minutes of Neil deGrasse Tyson’s speech on his take on knowledge vs. thinking (watch it here, from 3:26 to 5:26), I noticed there were three things that were a key component to his speech: his eye contact/gestures, the way he organized the speech, and his strong ethos appeal.

Throughout his speech, he is consistently making eye contact with the audience and is using his hand motions to really engage and captivate the audience. This shows how passionate he is about the topic, which compels the audience to listen and really grip his main point. It also shows that he is well informed on this topic, which engages the audience as well.

His organization is interesting, and for the most part easy to follow. He begins with an example, which allows the audience to envision his idea in a real life situation. He then explains the outcome of the example and relates it back to his main idea: how to think goes much farther than knowing what to think.

People know who Neil deGrasse Tyson is, being one of the most famous astrophysicists out there. His audience knows that he is extremely smart, and they also know that he is very talented at communicating a complicated topic in a simpler way.  People are engaged because they know who he is, and that what he is saying actually has meaning, he’s not just making ideas up.

Overall, I think Neil deGrasse Tyson was very effective in terms of getting his point across. He used real world examples, spoke cleanly but simply, and was able to get his point across in the most understandable way possible.

I agree with the writer’s idea that many studies are uncontrollably biased and that “correlation does not equal causation” (after all, I’m a psych major and that is the first thing they teach you). In even the most controlled study settings, there are series of uncontrollable factors, which can lead to skewed results. However, I do not necessarily agree with the argument that many studies are inaccurate. Also, he bases this information off of research, so isn’t he contradicting himself? I believe that there are many studies that are biased and not credible, but I also believe that there are many studies that are the exact opposite. It all depends on which study you choose from. For example, if you simply Google “do vaccines cause Autism” and you see information from Generation Rescue, Jenny McCarthy’s Autism Organization, you would know that that specific source is not credible. Jenny McCarthy is avidly against vaccines, so the information put on her website is obviously biased. However, if you find research from a source that you know is unbiased and scholarly, that is information that you would want to use in research. 

This is important to know when finding information for my paradigm shift research because in order to find compelling and accurate evidence for a paradigm shift, the sources should be reliable and unbiased. Finding scholarly articles and studies can help form a better essay and further understand the research at hand. Addressing this is significant when writing this essay because unreliable sources can completely tear apart your writing. Therefore, it is important to thoroughly research the information from your source as well as the source itself. My essay is on the topic of cigarettes and vaping, so I will have to research sources that are unbiased on both ends of smoking and non-smoking. 

Cigarettes were huge in America during the 1950s and 60s; almost every public place allowed anyone to smoke at any time, even high schools had smoking sections! Obviously, times have changed. When the discovery that cigarettes are connected to lung cancer was confirmed, many things shifted. Advertisements against smoking became more popular, warnings on cigarette packs were issued, and laws were being passed to designate smoking sections in many more public places. The rate of people who smoked cigarettes decreased steadily, and is still decreasing today. However, there has been another shift. More people, especially teens and younger adults, are turning to vaping and e-Cigarettes. The percentage of young people who Juul or vape has increased significantly. This modern day shift is due to the invention of vapes, Juuls, e-Cigarettes, etc., along with a more accessible way to target teens: social media. The shift of cigarettes started in the 1950s and the percentage of cigarette smokers is reaching its lowest levels today, while the shift of using smokeless tobacco began in 2016 and is still continuing today.

I chose to research and write about the double paradigm shift regarding cigarettes and vapes because it is something that Penn State students, along with almost all other teenagers and young adults, have experienced first hand. People Juul at parties, in their dorms, even while walking to class; we see it everywhere. This is something that I know this audience can relate to, because we all know at least one person who owns a vape. This shift needs to be explored and researched because, in a sense, history is repeating itself here. People think vaping is healthier than cigarettes, similar to how people in the 1950s didn’t realize that smoking is extremely hazardous to their health. By researching and bringing awareness to this topic, people may be able to understand that we have made similar mistakes like this before with cigarettes, so why continue to do this?  Overall, I feel that this topic is relevant, interesting, and informative to my audience, and I am excited to research more about it!

In the article, Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?, author Jean M. Twenge discusses how childhoods have changed thanks to the invention and usage of smartphones. Everything has shifted, from how kids and teens spend their free time to the appeal of getting a license. The biggest change between generations is the longing for independence. Years ago, teens couldn’t wait to get their license, as it marked the first step towards adulthood and freedom. Now, kids are pushing off the responsibilities of having to become an adult, and more and more teenagers are waiting to get their license until it is an absolute must have.

The definition of a paradigm shift, according the the Cambridge Dictionary, is “a time when the usual and accepted way of doing or thinking about something changes completely”. The lessened appeal for independent freedom can be considered a paradigm shift because the way teenagers think now has completely changed from the way that they thought several years ago. This shift of thinking was triggered by the innovation of the internet, and now widely-used smartphones. Teenagers can reach out to their friends without leaving their bed, which results in less of a need for independence. Years ago, kids needed to have that independence in order to see their friends and communicate with other people, but nowadays, teens have all their freedom in the palm of their hand.

Not only is this a paradigm shift because of the lack of desire for freedom, but also the increase in depression and the decrease of sleep in teenagers. Graphs in this article show that teens are now more likely to feel lonely or left out, and more likely to not get enough sleep at night. This is a paradigm shift because it is a change in what many teenagers are doing. They are less likely to go out because they can just communicate through text or FaceTime, they feel depressed if they do not get a certain number of “likes” on Instagram, the list goes on. This change is leading to a generation full of depression and anxiety.

While this change in teenager’s thoughts and activities is considered to be a paradigm shift, it is not necessarily a good one. Teens without smartphones years ago were much happier than teens today. On the bright side, Twenge mentions that more and more teenagers are linking certain problems to their smartphones, which is definitely a step in the right direction.

In 2014, Aerie announced their newest campaign called “AerieReal”, which featured real women wearing their products, rather than the typical supermodel. They use women with stretch marks, cellulite, freckles, you name it! They also don’t filter, photoshop, or edit their pictures, making the campaign as “real” as it can get. While they are trying to sell their products, Aerie is also breaking the mold of the stereotypical body-shaming advertisements that are seen everywhere.
Aerie argues the idea that all women are beautiful, and that real is beautiful. With companies that use only women who are tall, thin, and toned, many women feel ashamed of their body and don’t feel comfortable in their own skin. Aerie is showing that women should love themselves, because real is beautiful.

I am drawn to the Aerie Campaign because I personally, along with many other young women, have struggled with body confidence for a long time. I remember constantly seeing Victoria’s Secret advertisements and thinking “my body doesn’t look like that, which means my body is wrong and not beautiful”. Once the Aerie Real campaign came out, I realized that the majority of women don’t look like the models portrayed in photoshopped advertisements. I chose this artifact because I knew it was something that went beyond just “buy our products”. It created a massive movement for empowering women and encouraging equality for women. The audience of the Aerie Campaign is something I have really been looking into, because especially now in 2018, women are fighting harder and harder for equality and women are becoming more encouraging of each other rather than viewing each other as a competition. The kairos of the Aerie Campaign is clearly seen, as the feminist movement has rapidly grown over the course of the 2000s; therefore, the campaign received the upmost amount of support from not only women, but many feminists as well. This also touches upon the pathos of the advertisement, as it inspires women and bands them together as a whole. The campaign triggers  feeling of confidence, and calls together women to bond together over their differences.

Furthermore, since Aerie is such a large and successful company, the ethos of their advertisement is very strong. Since they sell clothes that are made for women, typically younger women, they know all about how women and girls can feel insecure about their bodies, so their goal is to make clothes that make them feel confident! Thus, they clearly had an understanding of the issue at hand, and were a very credible company to get the message out.

I feel that because of the audience, the kairos, the ethos, and the pathos, the Aerie Campaign is an artifact that can be explored deeper than just a marketing ploy to get more people to buy their products. It’s more than an ad; it’s a movement.

Would you pay $168 for a fat-shaming sweatshirt? Yeah, neither would anyone else. The clothing company Revolve has been in the hot seat for the past few days, as they just released a sweatshirt that has “being fat is not beautiful, it’s an excuse” plastered on the front of it. While the company had not intended for the sweatshirt to be harmful or hurtful, they received a great deal of backlash from their customers.

Revolve claims that they were not trying to fat shame, but rather shed light on the hurtful effects of cyberbullying through showing a real-life comment. The original goal of this sweatshirt was to show how all women have been victims of hurtful comments and to empower women who have felt subject to cyberbullying. Revolve’s logic is clearly flawed, however, because anyone who looks at the sweatshirt is going to think that it’s just another offensive saying on a graphic tee, rather than have some meaning behind it. They also placed the sweatshirt on a “sample-sized” model, which did not help their case. Using a plus-sized model would have helped their logical appeal, because it would have shown a person who is more likely to have been affected by fat-shaming via the internet or cyberbullying.

Personally, I understand where Revolve was coming from, as the idea of the sweatshirt had good intentions to support and enable women to stand up against cyberbullies, but the company went about it in the wrong way. If they had used a plus-sized model, or had made the saying on the sweatshirt clearly understandable as said as a hurtful comment, then Revolve would not have received nearly as much backlash as it did. Overall, their idea was okay, but their logic was completely flawed.

When I first saw this advertisement/public service announcement, I really was taken aback on the effect it had on me. Normally advertisements do not hold my attention for more than a few seconds, but this was different. I legitimately stared at this picture for five minutes. I really stopped to think about how large of a problem climate change is and how much it will impact our world as a whole. People talk about climate change on a daily basis, but what is everyone doing to really help?

When people think about climate change, the major idea that they think about is how the ice is melting in Antarctica and that the polar bear population is steadily decreasing; often times, people do not think of how climate change is directly affecting them. This image creates a sense of urgency, as the melted water from Antarctica is slowly drowning the hustle and bustle of everyday city life. Not to mention that of this is all depicted through an hourglass, which presents the idea of time running out.

There is a strong emotional appeal stemming from this picture, whether it’s a feeling of fear, sadness, or anxiety, the viewer definitely feels something. Since all people viewing this ad live on Earth, all people are going to feel the effects of climate change, which triggers that emption that the audience feels. While (hopefully) the extent of the emotion won’t cause crippling anxiety, it does instill at least a little bit of motivation to maybe recycle, start carpooling, or just generally become more eco-friendly. I know for a fact that whenever I see this picture, I feel the need to sort my garbage and shut the lights off, and I think that anyone else who sees this will feel the same way.

“Successful Marriages Start in the Kitchen!”

“Now the new mistress of the house can go right ahead with some of those girlhood dreams- planning lovely meals for her man, preparing all sorts of interesting little dishes and safe in the knowledge that Pyrex is going to make failure-free cooking easy.

The not-so-glamorous tasks of the kitchen become fun too, with Pyrex. Just one dish for cooking, serving, and storing, and when it comes to washing up, the suds banish grease from Pyrex in the twinkling of an eye!”

Clearly this advertisement is quite old; an ad like this would never be posted today due to the rise of feminism and equality for women. Even though women were viewed as property in the 1950s, this does not make the ad any less offensive, sexist, and just downright terrible.

Persuasive Appeals

This ad is aimed at women, as Pyrex had assumed that all women love to cook and that their lives revolve around their husbands. Therefore, buying Pyrex containers would make the wife a better cook, which means she is a better wife, which means she will please her husband, which was a “persuasive” appeal. This whole ad is centered around the idea that a women’s purpose is serving and pleasing her husband.

Visual Elements

The first visual element I noticed was the fact that the woman is bending over and the man is standing over her and looking down on her.  They also show the woman in a wedding dress, cooking in an oven, while the man is wearing a tuxedo, and watching her cook. This represents the 1950s attitude that women are submissive to men, and as mentioned earlier, the idea that she is serving her husband. This is a pathos appeal, because the image depicts a happy couple, which is what any two people want in a relationship. The ad depicts Pyrex cooking containers as the key to happiness in relationships, which may have made women want to purchase them.

Writing Components

The text that follows the image is just as bad as the image itself. It states that every girls dream is preparing food for her man, which is obviously incredibly sexist. As offensive as the text is, however, Aristotle’s logos appeal is used as the glass containers positive features are brought up immediately: “makes failure free cooking easy,” “one dish for cooking, serving, storing,” and “the suds banish grease”. All of these qualities make Pyrex seem like a reliable company with good products, which ties into the ethos appeal.

Although the creators of this ad used multiple appeals and elements to target their audience and sell their product, it is still extremely offensive and appalling to see that women were viewed so poorly. Absolutely nothing about this ad was respectful nor enjoyable to look at. Luckily, ads like this nowadays are few and far between.