The TED Talk The Secret to Living Longer May Be Your Social Life, Susan Pinker speaks to the developed world about the importance of having personal relationships and face-to-face interactions. Pinker reveals how in-person social interactions are necessary for human happiness and a key to health and longevity. Her purpose is to persuade the audience to make connections with the people that surround them every day because of the health benefits that will result from it. Pinker uses an Italian island in Sardinia to give an example of what it takes to live a life of longevity. Pinker argued that even the smallest interactions with strangers can be beneficial to your health. The overall message of this talk was effective because of the compelling
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She did so by presenting a graph of the research found in the study. In this research, Holt looked at thousands of middle-aged people’s lifestyle: their diet, their exercise, marital status, how often they went to the doctor, whether they smoked or drank, etc. After seven years of conducting this study, what they found reduced their chances of dying the most is having strong personal relationships and social integration (Pinker 6:38). This was a good source for Pinker to use, to help persuade the audience to start making it a necessity to talk to people that we walk passed every single …show more content…
One downfall was the failure to cite specific sources. One instance of this is when Pinker mentions how face-to-face contact releases neurotransmitters, and how they protect you now in the present and well into the future. She also mentions how giving somebody a high-five releases oxytocin, which increases your level of trust and it lowers your cortisol levels. Also, dopamine is generated, which gives a little high and it kills pain, like a naturally produced morphine (Pinker 10:00). Although this is quality information to insert in her presentation to persuade the audience, she did not cite where this information came from. This takes away from Pinker’s credibility because audience members might question the reliability of the information. Failure to cite specific sources takes away from the overall effectiveness because factual claims are not supported.
This TED talk about the importance of social interactions was effective because of several aspects throughout the talk. Pinker’s background information, stories, and the way she presented herself all helped make her message effective. She also did a good job making sure her stories and facts were all relevant to the topic. While the majority of the speech was successful, there were some downfalls such as lack of factual evidence. Pinker’s purpose was to persuade the audience to make connections with the
She did so by presenting a graph of the research found in the study. In this research, Holt looked at thousands of middle-aged people’s lifestyle: their diet, their exercise, marital status, how often they went to the doctor, whether they smoked or drank, etc. After seven years of conducting this study, what they found reduced their chances of dying the most is having strong personal relationships and social integration (Pinker 6:38). This was a good source for Pinker to use, to help persuade the audience to start making it a necessity to talk to people that we walk passed every single …show more content…
One downfall was the failure to cite specific sources. One instance of this is when Pinker mentions how face-to-face contact releases neurotransmitters, and how they protect you now in the present and well into the future. She also mentions how giving somebody a high-five releases oxytocin, which increases your level of trust and it lowers your cortisol levels. Also, dopamine is generated, which gives a little high and it kills pain, like a naturally produced morphine (Pinker 10:00). Although this is quality information to insert in her presentation to persuade the audience, she did not cite where this information came from. This takes away from Pinker’s credibility because audience members might question the reliability of the information. Failure to cite specific sources takes away from the overall effectiveness because factual claims are not supported.
This TED talk about the importance of social interactions was effective because of several aspects throughout the talk. Pinker’s background information, stories, and the way she presented herself all helped make her message effective. She also did a good job making sure her stories and facts were all relevant to the topic. While the majority of the speech was successful, there were some downfalls such as lack of factual evidence. Pinker’s purpose was to persuade the audience to make connections with the