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 I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts, The Psych Files which I had forgotten about for a couple of months and came across a really interesting podcast called “Manhood: Are You A “Real Man”?“. The podcasts are aimed at people who are interested in psychology and human behaviour and nature in general. It is hosted by Michael A. Britt who holds a PhD in Psychology and used to be a college professor, but his podcasts are from bein lectures, they are informal and easy to follow.
Back to the specific podcast I mentioned, which was quite interesting. Britt discusses how men in most cultures need to prove their manhood, and how many cultures have rites of passage men have to go through to go from being boys to men whereas women in most cultures have nothing similar. The podcast was inspired by a specific study about the subject; how also men were more sensitive and defensive about their gender identity than women were. What I also found interesting was that men were more likely to react to to negative situations by aggression whereas women used relational aggression. In other words men fight while women exclude, gossip or spread rumors.
Listen to the podcast and let me know what you think. Do you believe men have to prove their manhood? Why do you think women don’t have to prove their womanhood? That’s what I find really weird, shouldn’t both genders have the need to prove their gender identity?
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 I subscribe to a wonderful podcast called ThePsychFiles by Michael Britt a psychology professor, he talks about everyday topics with a psychological twist. In his episode titled “How Do You Really Raise Self-Esteem? The Incredibles vs. American Idol” he touches on the subject of praising children on talent versus effort and how it really affects them. Another article by the Scientific American, The secret to raising smart kids, also talks about the same issue.
I watched The Incredibles a while back and really enjoyed it but I had never thought about it deeply or about what underlying message it might be trying to convey. This review points out lots of points which I had previously missed such as recognizing the stay at home mom who left behind a life of super heroism and the dad who leaves the limelight to work in a miserable cubicle. Perhaps I never gave it second thought because at the time I was single and watched it for the entertainment value (which was super) and today I am married and expecting my first child and already trying to figure out what are the kind of movies I want my kid to watch and which I want to filter to make sure she is only exposed to positive influences.
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I am a focused, well balanced and very dependable career girl. No wait, I was all of that until I got pregnant. My hormones have rendered by brain into a lump of mushy marshmallows with lots of chocolate sauce and cherries on top. I will be fair as I usually am ( thankfully my ability to rationalize is not fully gone yet ) and say that not all of it is because of being pregnant. I am in a strange country, still don’t have a driving license, work at home and don’t get to socialize at all, so I tend to spend most of my time working at home and surfing the internet. I am bored and when I get bored I usually loose interest in real life. But then again, I love reading but my reading capacity has gone down from 800 page books in a week to 8 words on the back of microwave dinner packs.
I spend most of the day trying to pick out the perfect nursery, taking into consideration that I am not going to have a nursery at all, just a baby crib which which will probably end up in our room for the first year. I dream of lovely pink polka dot wallpaper ( for the record, I don’t even like pink that much, and polka dots were never my thing). I also have a thing for baby clothes, although in comparison my husband is much worse off, I practically have to drag him away from the baby girl section to stop him from buying more stuff than she could possibly wear in the beginning, and every time he gives me a nasty look which makes me feel like I am the evil step mother or the wicked witch of the west. He also talks to the baby which I find so cute and tells her all of the wonderful things he is planning to do with her, like teach her how to build Lego towers.
Did I mention I also dream of having my pre-baby body back? I am 30 weeks pregnant and I miss being able to roll around in bed when I want to instead of having to get up and roll to my other side, and I also miss sleeping on my back. I also miss my waist, is was a nice feature. I was never really “thin”, but I was ok and I was happy with my body and comfortable with it, now we are not very comfortable with each other, my body wants to go to the bathroom every 3 minutes and my legs don’t want to carry me there. My shoes don’t fit anymore either, part of it is because my feet are bigger and part because I used to buy shoes that fit with no room to spare for even a pair of thicker socks, so I guess I deserve that one. My sister will be very happy because I guess she might as well have them, including a pair that was only worn twice and cost an arm and a leg.
The funny thing in all of this is that I am euphoric, I don’t really care about all of these things, I want to get to my due date and end up with a cute and slightly naughty little baby girl whom I hope will be my friend forever.
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I enjoy watching documentaries, I prefer the factual programs to soaps, dramas, silly movies and reality TV. I find it educational intellectual entertainment. I came across The Century of the Self completely by chance. It is a four part documentary by Adam Curtis. In his own words the series is “about how those in power have used Freud’s theories to try and control the dangerous crowd in an age of mass democracy”.
I have always known that the media, politics and business do not just happen to market their ideas and products but they actively try to control what we think so we buy, vote or believe more of what they have. The documentary shows how this came to be, and how Freud’s ideas and theories were interpreted and used to manipulate the crowds.
Reminds me of the Arabic phrase “waraya ya kherfan” translation; “behind me you sheep”.
Watch the series on Google video.
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Most of my friends always find my “thing” for Amr Diab music quite weird, because it totally doesn’t fit with the rest of my music tastes. Yes it is true and I confess, but I have a reason. Growing up, Amr Diab always would release an album in the summer, and it would always psychologically get anchored to a happy summer vacation mood so by default any Amr Diab music just reminds me of the summer and the good days of being young and not caring about tomorrow.
This one is different, this one seems to hit home harder than the others, it reminds me of those summers more than the others and of Egypt and family and friends who are far away. Especially the song “Tool Mana Shayfak Gambi” which might sound corny to lots of you out there, but it has a different meaning to me, I keep thinking of the little things I used to love about Egypt, and when you are far away you really do tend to forget all of the bad things, those nuisances that made you go home angry and irritated, like double parking, hot & humid weather, rude people in the streets who spit and love shouting obscenities, and many more. You just tend to have a romanticized view of it, of sunny summers, clear weather, the beaches, having coffee with friends, going to Marina with your sister singing all your favorite songs at the top of your lungs all the way and back, skipping a couple of hours of work to go to the pool in the summer with your best friend.
Its not about the songs, or a singer or even the music, it is about what they might represent in our subconscious, as memories and feelings.
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Personally I have always hated franchises. For example coffee houses, I like to go to unique places with their own ambiance and feel. That was until I came to Kuwait. When you are hundreds of miles away from your home, family and friends the feeling of familiarity really does make you feel so much better. My husband and I went to Chilli’s for dinner a few days ago and I walked in and felt I was back in Egypt, the tables, the walls, the waiters’ uniforms everything made me feel right where I wanted to feel. I had never thought about it but even Costa (which I don’t like very much because they make really mundane coffee) feels soooo cozy when you are homesick. I used to wonder why the high people in the big corporations like McDonald’s are real stiff when it comes to the interior design of their little franchises and why they never try to incorporate the countries’ culture in the look’n'feel of their places, but now I get it.
Of course it is not just about making you feel at home, it is also all about the money, these places are designed to make you order more food and become more loyal to these places. Certain colors make you hungry, relaxed, happy and whatever the marketers want you to feel. Hospitals have always been associated with greys and pastel blues because they make people feel really relaxed and helps the healing process.
Since I am a geek/nerd, I decided to look it up, I mainly found articles on color and how color affects our moods and feeling, I am still looking for how designers come up with restaurant themes and how details are decided on. Because life really is about the details, the little things that tug at your heart forever and make you come back for more every time. Subliminal marketing is sly but it is very effective but perhaps a more in depth post on that later.
Experts say colors can be good for business
Color symbolism and psychology
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I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts, The Psych Files which I had forgotten about for a couple of months and came across a really interesting podcast called “Manhood: Are You A “Real Man”?“. The podcasts are aimed at people who are interested in psychology and human behaviour and nature in general. It is hosted by Michael A. Britt who holds a PhD in Psychology and used to be a college professor, but his podcasts are from bein lectures, they are informal and easy to follow.
