In today's culture there is constant subliminal messaging whether it be about social class, gender, ethnicity or other factors. Subliminal messaging is used to change people's mindset about issues. This was seen in the works of “The Mega Marketing of Depression in Japan” by Ethan Watters, “The Myth of the Ant Queen” by Steven Johnson, and Malcolm Gladwell’s piece “The Power of Context”. Gladwell describes The Broken Windows Theory as the idea that environment or culture can alter people's mindset, making a person more likely to act a certain way. Individual agency has a paradoxical relationship with systematic effect, and according to Johnson individual's choices creates a system. However Gladwell and Watters argue that the system influences
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Influences of outside effects alter a person's mindset. For example, the Japanese people had previously no common association with depression, “depression was very negative” (515). The Japanese people had previously regarded depression as something rare. It was noted, “they wouldn't want to accept the disease” (Watters 515). The pharmaceutical companies had to overturn the country's entire mindset; thereby showing the influence the system can have on the individual agency. Soon after the pharmaceutical companies started advertising with television that depression was “a cold for the soul” or “kokoro no kaze” (Watters 519). This proves that the systematic does have influence, because their sales went up, proving that they were successful. The pharmaceutical companies were able “to influence, at the most fundamental level, the Japanese understanding of sadness and depression” (Watters 516). The systematic effect of the company worked to get people to reconsider their understanding of depression. The pharmaceutical companies were successful in altering mindsets and thereby the individual choice was limited due to the increased awareness of depression. People in japan felt the change of the system around them, and that change allowed their choices to be influenced. In Japan, the systematic effect was more influential over individual …show more content…
He was a man who was affected multiple times by the negativity that was in the city. Goetz never received any resolve for the negativity he had endured. This led him to commit actions, which he probably wouldn't have taken if he had not been in this negative environment. Gladwell says that “a small expression of disorder that invited much more serious crime” (Gladwell 153). This perhaps was the reason Goetz committed the crime, he experienced several small crimes and that built up. Goetz was severely affected by the negativity, which led him to commit
Influences of outside effects alter a person's mindset. For example, the Japanese people had previously no common association with depression, “depression was very negative” (515). The Japanese people had previously regarded depression as something rare. It was noted, “they wouldn't want to accept the disease” (Watters 515). The pharmaceutical companies had to overturn the country's entire mindset; thereby showing the influence the system can have on the individual agency. Soon after the pharmaceutical companies started advertising with television that depression was “a cold for the soul” or “kokoro no kaze” (Watters 519). This proves that the systematic does have influence, because their sales went up, proving that they were successful. The pharmaceutical companies were able “to influence, at the most fundamental level, the Japanese understanding of sadness and depression” (Watters 516). The systematic effect of the company worked to get people to reconsider their understanding of depression. The pharmaceutical companies were successful in altering mindsets and thereby the individual choice was limited due to the increased awareness of depression. People in japan felt the change of the system around them, and that change allowed their choices to be influenced. In Japan, the systematic effect was more influential over individual …show more content…
He was a man who was affected multiple times by the negativity that was in the city. Goetz never received any resolve for the negativity he had endured. This led him to commit actions, which he probably wouldn't have taken if he had not been in this negative environment. Gladwell says that “a small expression of disorder that invited much more serious crime” (Gladwell 153). This perhaps was the reason Goetz committed the crime, he experienced several small crimes and that built up. Goetz was severely affected by the negativity, which led him to commit