Orgarnizational Behavior: The Conclusion - Persuasion In The Media Age: The Beginning

Persuasion in the Media Age: An Analysis

by

Charles Lamson

Hello

This is the conclusion of my in-depth Analysis of Organizational Behavior: Securing Competitive Advantage and the beginning of my analysis of Persuasion in the Media Age. I know yesterday I said I would do some more articles on this topic. However, after reading the last chapter, I decided against it. It just did not seem like very good blog material. I give this book a favorable rating. I enjoyed it. I found it easy to read, yet very informative. I would recommend this book to all those interested in administrative science.

Poseidon

Poseidon was one of the twelve Olympian deities of the pantheon in Greek mythology. His main domain was the ocean, and he is called the "God of the Sea". Additionally, he is referred to as "Earth-Shaker," due to his role in causing earthquakes, and has been called the "tamer of horses." He is usually depicted as an older male with curly hair and beard.

The name of the sea-god Nethuns in Etruscan was adopted in Latin for Neptune in Roman mythology; both were sea gods analogous to Poseidon. Poseidon was venerated at Pylos and Thebes in pre-Olympian Bronze Age Greece as a chief deity, but he was integrated into the Olympian gods as the brother of Zeus and Hades. According to some folklore, he was saved by his mother Rhea, who concealed him among a flock of lambs and pretended to have given birth to a colt, which was devoured by Cronos.

There is a Homeric hymn to Poseidon, who was the protector of many Hellenic cities, although he lost the contest for Athens to Athena. According to the references from Plato in his dialogues Timaeus and Critias, the island of Atlantis was the chosen domain of Poseidon.

Moving On (Back to Earth)

I now plan to start an in-depth analysis of another one of my favorite college text-books, Persuasion in the Media Age.


Analysis of Persuasion in the Media Age

The Beginning

We are constantly bombarded by persuasive messages. Everyone from advertisers and politicians to our friends and colleagues seek to gain our support for their ideas, products or services. In today's world, persuaders use increasingly sophisticated ways of exerting influence over the attitudes, beliefs and behaviors of their audiences. It is essential that we develop an ability to critically analyze the persuasive messages we encounter. Consider two brief examples:

A television commercial for a new car tells us much more than how many miles to the gallon the car gets or which safety features it includes. Automobile advertising tells us what kind of cars we should drive, the cultural importance of driving particular cars and why it is important to have the freedom of mobility that driving affords. We often do not even realize how the implicit messages of advertisers affect our attitudes and ultimately our buying behavior.

Politicians - in combination with news media sources - use public opinion polling to shape the public's agenda telling us which issues are important and which are not. While this agenda may be reflective of some peoples' priorities, it is just as likely to exclude the priorities of many others. In fact, politicians purposely create agendas that ignore many members of the public instead targeting smaller influential groups that can help them with re-election.

As persuaders begin to target through direct-broadcast satellites, direct mail and narrowcasting television programming, the challenge of making informed decisions is even greater.

Poseidon, Paella Museum

Poseidon in Kadriorg Palace, Tallinn

Persuasion in the Media Age explores the nature of persuasion today and offers strategies for critically evaluating persuasive communication. This analysis provides a contemporary response to an age old problem: understanding and adapting to the technological advances in our society. Today's world demands a new perspective of persuasion: one that is grounded in the assumption that human consciousness has been forever altered by communication technology. In order to respond to this fast-paced change, we must move beyond traditional theories to better understand how to respond to and evaluate persuasive communication in this era of technological advances.

Check this out to learn more about the mighty Greek god, Poseidon.