CMNS 110 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Pole And Polar, Social Proof, Consumerism

• School: Simon Fraser University
• Department: Communication
• Course: CMNS 110
• Professor: Gary Mc Carron

Document Summary

Civilization advances by extending the number of operations we can perform without thinking about them. - alfred north whitehead. Semiotics: making assumptions bc vast majority of the time we are correct. Semiotic shortcuts: the tendency to respond to symbolic behavior without the felt need for critical reflection. Hay sacks, dust etc = western movie. Social experience explains why semiotic shortcuts are useful and attractive. Individual experience explains why they can be dangerous and misleading. Fixed-action patterns: instinctive responses to external stimuli, usually initiating sequences of behavior (courtship, feeding, etc) Fixed-action patterns are set in motion by specific trigger features. Ex) male robins during mating season will destroy anything red. We do have a number of biological dispositions over which we have limited control, such as appetite, thirst, sexual arousal, fatigue, emotional responses, and so on. Evidence of humans reacting more biologically than culturally. Ex) because. you automatically make a semiotic shortcut when you hear because .