GET ME OUT OF HERE!

The deadline for the assignment is getting closer. Words cannot come to your head. You feel like your brain has been drained. You cannot help to distract yourself with FACEBOOK. It seems like Rita has not wasted her time and purchase some new pair of tits and big round ass! I wonder, how can she….? Maybe I should ask my dad for some of those for my birthday (Giggles).You look at the time, it nearly 3:15pm. Great! You really did it this time! Deadline is in approximate in 1hr 45 minutes. You manage have wasted an hour of your time looking at pictures of those BOUNCING BETTIES and that VOLUPTOUS JLO ASS! You start to feel anxieties, nervousness, pain in the chest…In that moment you realise you are under STRESS!

Researchers have defined stress “as state in which individuals are faced with the need to make difficult or undesirable changes in order to adapt to events and situations in their lives” (click here). The changes in the demands of the woman’s role in today’s society has substantially increased the rates of stress. The Health and Safety Executive organization found out that overall there is an estimate of 400,000 out of 1, 152,000 cases that are related to stress in Great Britain. Although some people would think that male have higher levels of stress, figures have proved differently. Females have shown higher rates of stress than men with an approximate of 125,000 female cases over the 86,000 male cases (click here) in the United Kingdom. Moreover, the American Psychological Association reported that overall women suffer of more stress than men by 8%; woman are expected to have physical and emotional symptoms than men by 11% and that woman would stress more about economic issues than men by 7% (click here).

The new role of woman has implied new challenges, concerns and responsibilities in their lives. There are higher expectations in the achievement of success, not only in their personal life but on the academic and work fields, as woman are trying to position as a stronger individual in society. Stress can be related to perception of the individual. Butler (1993) pointed out that stress can rise when the demands seem to exceed the resources in the eyes of the individual (click here).Woman can perceived differently the difficulty of tasks according to their personal knowledge and their range of abilities. An activity that can cause stress to a woman might be a pleasurable task to another. There are some woman that seem to find numbers stressful while others find it enjoyable and easy. Mosher (1998) stated that perception does not only involve the collection of data into our system, but it is related to the interpretation that we give to that data based on our previous experiences (click here).

According to a study conducted by Agolla and Ongori (2009), stress can be the result of academic overload, low motivation in students, poor academic performance and the uncertainty of what the future holds for them (click here).  Nowadays, students are not only concerned about their academic performance but they have to balance their student life with work in order to afford their expenses.  The National Restaurant Association in the United States found out that 28% of their employees were under the age of 20 (click here ). Globalization has implied the merge of economies which has led to high competitiveness in the labour market.  In today’s work framework, organizations need employees who have wider knowledge and have the capacity to apply learning and adapt to the constant changes which they are exposed to.  The fact that a student goes to university does not guarantee that they will get a job. This is causing stress and concern amongst undergraduate students who find it hard to feel motivated.

Stress does not only have an effect on the individual but also on organizations in terms of productivity and performance. Studies have shown that stress can generate economic losses to businesses.  The cost of work-related stress in 2007-2008 was approximately £4 billion each year (click here). This cost can be translated into absenteeism, turnovers, resignation, work related accidents, sickness and impaired decision making.  Stress at work can develop for several reasons.  Subbulaxmi, et.al (2002) points out that “the psychological sources of stress may be due to a particular situation such as boring job, inability to socialize, and lack of autonomy, responsibility of results, no sufficient authority, unrealistic objectives, role ambiguity, role conflict and dual career marriages” (click here) . The Psychological demand/decision latitude Model describes two dimensions and four work environments. The first one describes that the employee needs certain skills and to keep a constant intense work with their colleagues; and the second relates to the degree of freedom and creativity that the employee has to make their own decisions. In the chart below you can see that the most adverse work environment is the high strain where there are high psychology demands in the job and there is low decision latitude (click here). The higher implications have caught the attention of organizations who are constantly doing surveys and interventions to reduce the stress at work by doing job rotations or giving more challenges and freedom in decision-making.`

The best way to avoid stress is to learn to manage our time. Time management allows us to relax and still be able to do the do the activities we enjoy the most.  However, if you get caught up by stress, you should do activities that you will find inner peace such as Yoga or Pilates. Personally if I get caught up on stress, an effective way I found to release it, is by doing sports like volleyball. I get to hit the ball as many times as possible and release that negative energy. Stress can be the causes of diseases like high blood pressure and heart diseases. We need to find ways to prevent this psychological disease. Lets fight stress, shall we?!

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I GOT the BIEBER FEVER!♥♡

In 2006, the music world was the spectator of the rise of a new pop star Justin Bieber. Who did not fall in love with the thirteen year old singer with the release of his debut single “Baby”? Who has not sung their lungs out to “Somebody to Love”? How many of us cried when we heard “Pray”? (I did!) How many of us have had a hard time to resist the “Bieber Fever”? Social networks such as Twitter and Facebook have been overload by thousands of fans post on the artist. So what makes us connect to artists like Justin Bieber? Do we find a connection to the artist through their lyrics? Do we identify ourselves on the songs they compose? Do our music choices give a sense of our identity and personality?

The Music Industry in the United Kingdom is considered to be the third largest in the world. Its total value was estimated to be of £3.9 billion in 2009 (click here), accounting for 12% of the global sales (click here). However, due to world economic changes, the United Kingdom has presented a substantial fall down to an amount of £190 million on 2010. Even though the so called digital music was expected to revolutionize the music market share value, it turned out that the actual drop in revenue was affected by the physical sales and the piracy issue has had an economic impact (click here). Chairman of the British Recorded Music Industry, Tony Wadsworth, stated that: “The defining characteristic of the UK’s recorded music market is its overwhelming potential for overseas success. It is our extraordinary ability to convert domestic success into international acclaim that really sets our music economy apart and gives us a unique position in the global music market” (click here).

Music can be described as tool that allows individuals to perceive the world. It evokes emotions, as well as it plays the role of an instrument that allows us to express ourselves to the people that surround us. Our individual choices in music have to do with our identity. It could be said that it is an expression of us, as we find a connection with the lyrics of our particular song choices based on personal life experiences. Nicholas Cook (1998) pointed out: ‘In today’s world, deciding what music to listen to is a significant part of deciding and announcing to people not just who you “want to be” . . . but who you are” (click here ).  The description of our self-identity goes far beyond emotions and feelings, but it also unveils our values, beliefs and culture. A study conducted by Padilla and Perez (2003) shows that social identity can be understood by the different musical forms of each culture (click here).  Nowadays, artists use music as an instrument to express our beliefs about particular social topics such as war or racism. When United States declared war to Iraq in 2003, artists such as Good Charlotte, Green Day and Metallica used their voice to express its disagreement with Bush.  A particular song that caught my attention was “B.Y.O.B” by System of a Down: “Why don’t presidents fight the war? Why do they always send the poor? Why don’t presidents fight the war? Why do they always send the poor?”.

In addition to this, music is a reference to others about our group preferences.  According to Knobloch, Vorderer & Zillmann (2000), individuals are expected to form a positive evaluation of another individual if they have similar music preferences (click here).  Teenagers seem to have found music as a common instrument to form social groups and to create perception for outsiders.  A research conducted by Bakagiannis and Tarrant (2004) analysed two variables: music identity and expected interaction.  The researchers grouped 97 adolescents into two groups (in-group and out-group). The later procedure was to tell a third of those individuals that they shared similar music taste with the two groups; the other third was told that there were differences in their musical taste; and finally the other third was told no specific detail about music taste. The results clearly showed that teenagers are more willing to put an effort in the interaction with other individuals who share the same music taste. (click here). High school students tend to group themselves based on musical similarities. There are the girls who will always be the eternal Bieber fans, the girls who will never stop listening to Britney Spears not matter how many times she shaves her hair and goes insane, the so called geek guys whose appearance might disguise you that they have classical musical preference but who transform themselves in rap stars whenever they are alone in their rooms or the unforgettable Goths who like dark, sad, depressive songs.

In a world where not only teenagers but adults have also found a way to express themselves, music has become a worldwide language that raises the voice of thousands of people. It creates a perception of individuals throughout a representation of our emotions through our musical preferences. Songs like “Never say Never” not only motivates and inspires people to keep strong, but it can be representation of our identity. The song represents how strong and perseverant I had to remain in order to obtain my degree considering English is my second language and I had to stay away from family: “I will never say never, I will fight til forever”.

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Forgive me FASHION, for I have SINNED!

Karl Lagerfeld quoted: “Fashion is a language that creates itself in clothes to interpret reality.” The expression would make us think, what is our reality as retailed customers then? What influences our purchasing choice of clothing? How do people perceive us based just on our style? How relevant can it be the skirt we wore yesterday at work? Does everything we wear have to have a meaning to others? The answer to these questions could not have been answer better by any other person than The Queen of England, who once wrote to her son: “Dress gives one the outward sign from which people in general can and do judge upon the inward state of mind and feelings of a person; for this they can see, while the other they cannot see. On that account, clothes are of particular importance.“

The fashion industry generated to the United Kingdom an approximate of £37.2bn two years ago; contributing to the employment of 816,000 people, which constitutes almost 3% of the total employment of this country (click here).  Magazines, billboards and advert campaigns have contributed to the success of the fashion industry with the constant promise to their customers that their clothing lines are going to allow them to achieve their ideals of identity (click here) .  Society has taught us that the best way to represent ourselves is defined by our personal style.  Clothes not only represent our gender, but our religion, sexuality, social status, culture, and our profession.  Woman in most Muslim countries such as India and Pakistan can be seen wearing a Burqa. The meaning behind that clothing has to do with their religion and their beliefs, in which women are not seen as sexual objects.  Woman in the United Kingdom have the option to be free to express their image and personality through clothes.

Clothing can also evoke emotions based on the perception of the observer. The psychology of clothing describes how predominant empathy is in this science. Dearborn (1981) suggested that people want external observers to appreciate their personality expressed through clothes, the satisfaction that it meant to combine those pieces of clothing into one style and to estimate the value that it portrays to society (click here).  Subconsciously, we are seeking for approval and the feeling of belonging into particular groups.  A paper recently read for our discussion session comes in mind: “To be or Not to be? The influence of Dissociative Reference Groups on Consumer Preferences”.  The paper mentions how people try NOT to be associated to particular groups, but are rather are influenced by the choices that their aspirational reference groups have as they aspire to be members of that group.  High school can gives us a broader framework about how clothing can be representative of the difference social groups made: There are the popular girls who always dress fashionable; the geeks who to are known for not knowing how to combine two pieces of clothes; the well-known EMOS who wear mainly black and the sports guys amongst others.

Moreover, colour has played an essential role in the fashion industry. The perceptions that people made about us through clothing have to do with the different connotations that each colour is trying to express.  According to a study conducted by Roberts, Owen and Havlicek (2010), colour has a psychological effect on the perceiver.  In an experiment, colour choices of a t-shirt made a big difference in male’s perception of a woman’s attractiveness, being red and black considered to raise arousal in men (click here).  Our everyday choices in colour clothing can generate attributions to its audience. Colours can help woman to give a particular impression about them. If you want see friendly and approachable and trustworthy, you can use clear tones (e.g. camel) and warm colours (e.g. coral); if you want to seem authoritative, you can wear dark colours (e.g. black, navy) and if you want to look successful, you can use colours such as red (click here).

As you can see, the clothes and colour choice you make every day generate a statement of who you are.  The perceptions that people make about you can be influenced by your choices, giving you certain advantage in contextual situations.  My clothing shows that I am quite formal, respectful and studious and trustworthy. What do your clothes tell about yourself?

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