Friday Fun: Psychology at the Movies III

www.imdb.com

It's been a few months since we last discussed movies on PYM. Since my spouse and I moved to Chambana, we have had a lot of time to enjoy $5.50 movie nights at the local cinema. Yeah, you read that right, movie tickets are sold on the cheap out here in the Midwest!

As in my previous posts examining psychological constructs in movies, I'll proceed by describing what happens in a film--roughly from my own memory--and then I will link those events to a construct studied now in psychological research. There may be some spoilers, so don't say I didn't warn you! ONWARD!

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When Objectification Is a Choice

In a recent interview, actress Cameron Diaz controversially said "I think every woman does want to be objectified." Given that decades of research has documented the many ways that objectification can be harmful, why would anyone voluntarily choose to objectify themselves?

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Akhtaboot 3rd Job Fair Successfully Concluded with 11,000 Visitors

(Amman, Jordan)

Akhtaboot 3rd Job Fair has successfully concluded for the 3rd year in a row with the attendance of more than 11,000 job seekers from various sectors and career levels. With the participation of 70 local and international companies, the job fair was held at Amman Grand Hall, Al Hussein Youth City on the 21st and 22nd of November 2012.

The job fair was inaugurated by His Excellency the Minister of Labor Dr. Nidal Al-Qatamin, along with the participation of Orange - Jordan as Main Sponsor of Jordan’s biggest career event for the year 2012. During the job fair, Orange conducted several presentations highlighting the corporate culture at Orange while shedding light on a number of success stories of Orange - Jordan employees.

The CEO of Orange - Jordan Mr. Jean Francois Thomas expressed his happiness for the partnership Orange formed with Akhtaboot for this event, which goes in line with the company's strategy to support the youth sector in Jordan through creating promising career opportunities.

He added that Orange is always keen to provide support for all productive sectors in Jordan to help build and support the national economy to use all of its capabilities in order to contribute to the economic development of Jordan.

On the other hand CEO and Cofounder of Akhtaboot, Eng. Yousef Shamoun praised the large turnout of job seekers saying:

"We are very pleased and satisfied with the results of Akhtaboot 3rd Job Fair, which was organized by the Akhtaboot Cares Initiative – Akhtaboot’s CSR Arm, as it provided an excellent opportunity of direct communication between our corporate clients and our job seekers under one roof. The success of our 3rd job fair confirms our mission in creating an easy and efficient way of linking the right person to the right career opportunity in the Middle East and North Africa while maintaining the highest levels of integrity and ethics."

The job fair which was held from 10 am to 7 pm attracted thousands of job seekers who were looking to connect with companies and institutions from the private and public sectors seeking Jordanian competencies.

It is worth mentioning that Akhtaboot 3rd Job Fair was sponsored by Orange Jordan (Main Sponsor), Bank al Etihad (Platinum Sponsor), ATICO Fakhreldin Group, Ahli Micro-finance, Art Line Interiors and Jordan Valley Exhibitions (Silver Sponsors), Addustour newspaper, Al Kawn, Modern Media and Ro’ya TV (Media Sponsors).

What Not to Include on Your CV

Things Employers HATE to See on a CV!

If you’re looking to win the job search game you have to leap ahead of your competition by taking your CV writing skills to the next level. Many people believe that they have to include all of their work experiences on their CV, which eventually may become unmanageable if they switch jobs many times during their career. What you don't include on your CV can be as important as what you do include. Akhtaboot is here to the rescue with a number of things you should leave off when writing your CV.

Short-term Jobs

Including short-term jobs in your CV will raise red flags for hiring managers, as it will give an impression that you are unstable and that you don’t have a clear career path. A few months in a job won't be sufficient to present any real accomplishments anyway. Short-term jobs can be included in one case; if the job was contract or project based, it won't raise any question marks as you'll have an explanation that doesn't reflect poorly on you.

Additional Pages

If you're under 30 years of age, your resume should only be one page. If you have enough experience to justify a second one, two pages are fine. Hiring managers may spend only 20 or 30 seconds on each job application initially, so extra pages are either ignored or frowned upon. Your resume should be for highlights, not extensive detail that should be tackled during the interview.

Your Last Salary

Salary information should never be included in a CV, as it is guaranteed to make you come across as naive or greedy. And by sharing such information you can actually harm your salary negotiations later on. Since employers are likely to inquire about the salary range you're looking for, there's no point trying to negotiate before you have a real job offer.

Your Photo

Since your appearance has nothing to do with your ability to do the job, there’s no need to include personal photos in your CV. While adding a photo might make your CV stand out from the others being looked at, there are times when this isn’t necessarily a good thing! A photo can take up valuable space on your CV that you could use more effectively to promote your key skills - which is what will ultimately help you land the job.

A Complicated Design

Unless you're applying for a job as a designer, CVs with an unusual design and weird colors can backfire on you as it will give the impression that you don’t understand what employers are looking for. Line up all headings to keep your resume looking clean and professional and avoid excessive graphics use, boxes or distracting lines and designs.

Fancy Self-descriptions

Your CV should only highlight your experience and accomplishments. It's not the place for subjective self-descriptions, such as "great leadership skills" or "creative innovator". Hiring managers often disregard anything subjective that job seekers write about themselves because self-assessments are wildly inaccurate. Stick to objective facts and actual achievements.

Using Standard Templates

Although it can be very tempting to use resume templates, employers come across thousands of CVs per month and looking at the same thing gets boring. They can look at the format of a resume and know immediately if it is a template or an original design. If they think it is, they may make assumptions about the applicant not taking the time to create an original resume. If you decide to use a standard template, make sure that you customize the margins, font and spacing.

What is Charisma?

Did charisma win the 2012 election?

Today on PYM we are pleased to bring you the second guest blog from Emily Plutov, advanced undergraduate at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

In some of PYM’s election coverage, Amie cited an example of the incredible influence television has over voters’ conceptions of political figures: the famous debate between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon in 1960. In this debate, Kennedy was the clear victor; not only was he calm and collected, but he also was said to have displayed “charisma,” an attribute that people widely believe makes politicians into effective leaders.

What is charisma?

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Akhtaboot Announces the Winner of “#AkhtabootJobFair” Twitter Competition

Akhtaboot– the career network is proud to announce Dina Abandah as the winner of “#AkhtabootJobFair” Twitter competition.The contest attracted hundreds of active participants from all over the Middle East. @akhtaboot followers only had to retweet one of Akhtaboot 3rd Job Fair tweets to be able to enter a random draw for their chance to win a trip for two to Sharm Al Sheikh. 

“#AkhtabootJobFair” Twitter competition took place during the period of November 7th and November 20th, 2012. Dina Abandah was crowned winner through a random draw that was conducted and announced on the 22nd of November, 2012 during Akhtaboot 3rd Job Fair and on all Akhtaboot's Social media Channels including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and Pinterest. Akhtaboot's latest competition was organized as part of Akhtaboot's 3rd Job Fair which was held on the 21st and 22nd of November at Amman Grand Hall, Al Hussein Sports City with the attendance of more than 11,000 job seekers and 70 local and international companies.

Rana Qubain, Social Media Strategist at Akhtaboot said:

“We are happy to announce the winner of Akhtaboot’s first Twitter competition, “#AkhtabootJobFair”. The contest was conducted to reward one of thousands of true and loyal followers of @akhtaboot. The energy and enthusiasm of our users continue to affirm the success of our efforts in linking the right person to the right career opportunity.”

The lucky winner won a trip for two to Sharm Al Sheikh granted from the competition's sponsor, Naouri Group.

Your Thanksgiving Table - The Political Metaphor

Source

This week, I'd like to follow up on Michael's post about the ways that our parents' attitudes shape our political ideals. 

A recent study (Fraley, Griffin, Belsky & Roisman, 2012) has found that parents who tend to believe in authoritarian parenting raise kids more likely to become conservative. Those that have egalitarian parenting attitudes tend to have kids who become liberal.

As you fly home and think about your parents' strict or relaxed styles, I'd like to ask how it is that parents help shape our core values. 

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Maximize Your Job Fair Experience

Thousands of job seekers are attending Akhtaboot 3rd Job Fair which is taking place tomorrow Wednesday, 21st of November and on the 23rd. Attending a job fair takes more than wearing a nice suit and updating your CV. To be able to land your dream job you need to make a good impression and differentiate yourself from the rest of applying candidates. Here are some tips to help you make the most out of job fairs. 

Can Mindfulness Make You Happier?

Today's guest post comes from Sarah Roberts, Ph.D. candidate in Psychology at the University of Quebec in Montreal and blogger at Psychobabble for Normal People.

Mindfulness and mindfulness meditation are hot trends in clinical psychology right now. What's all the buzz about?

Mindfulness refers to a state of mind characterized by awareness and attention in the present moment, and by an accepting, curious, and non-judgmental attitude. A Buddhist concept now integrated into secular psychology and medicine, mindfulness is being cultivated by everyone from chronic pain patients to stressed out executives, often through courses in mindfulness meditation and mindfulness-based stress reduction.

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10 Signs Your Resume Needs Updating

A resume tune-up

Reprinted with permission from http://theundercoverrecruiter.com



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The dynamic job market of today keeps changing and what was required on a resume a few years ago could be the show stopper today. To roll with the punches the clever job seeker has to be flexible and prepared to adapt, this goes especially for your resume. Resumes are living documents and will change over time, just like you should. The devil is most often in the detail and are you confident that your resume will do you justice?



Signs that tell you it’s time for a little resume makeover:





1. The title is... Resume



Even if you use the fancy spelling and call it résumé, it's not going to do you any favors as recruiters and HR people look at 100s of resumes per day and yours won't stand out. In fact, in can be rather annoying for them as they have to change the titles themselves sometimes. Make the title your name and make sure the file name is your name as well.



2. It's one page only



Not sure who came up with this recommendation in the first place, I have friends who had a one page document for years. Your resume should obviously be concise and to the point but one page does make it look like there is a page missing and probably left in the printer. The rule of thumb is, the longer the career, the longer the resume so go ahead and fill out what you have done and if it lands at 2 full pages that is fine (as long as it’s relevant information).



3. You have included age, height, weight, and marital status



These personal details have no place in your resume, if it’s on your profile you might be accused of ageism and other unpleasant things. Make sure to remove.



4. You have a photo



A photo on a resume is a bit weird somehow, it comes across as the person is using their looks to secure a job. And most often the photo will not be great and therefore do more harm than good to an applicant. There are of course exceptions to this rule, in case you are in TV, modeling, entertainment etc you can get away with it. You will be told when a photo is required on a resume and by default it is not.



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What to Consider When Making a Career Change

Considering a career change means a complete transformation; a new job, new industry, new employer. It’s a big deal. These kinds of changes cause massive amounts of stress, anxiety and worry. It takes more planning and preparation than most people realize. Akhtaboot provides you with some things to consider when making a career change to ensure you’re making the right decision and you’re on the right track.

Another Lay Theory of Success in Graduate School

source

My first semester as a member of the faculty at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (referred to affectionately as Chambana) is coming to an end. Arriving with the Winter, is an important time in my new job--the time for graduate school applications. As a new faculty member, this will be my first chance guide the academic future of a new research career, from admission to dissertation. That's heavy!

This event made me think: What the heck am I looking for in a graduate student? I'm glad you asked that question interwebs. I'll try to provide an answer in what follows.

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How to Prepare Yourself When Attending Job Fairs

If you're planning to attend a job fair, it is highly essential to be well prepared before the job fair so you can strategically set yourself apart from the thousands of job seekers who are attending the fair. Akhtaboot provides you with some tips that can help you make a great impression during job fairs.

 

To all the Universities, thank you

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To all the Universities out there who have referred their students to us, wrote about us, or just linked to us, we thank you. Having your support means the world to us.



Ball State University

Baruch College

Becker College

Boston University

Brandeis University

Brock University

Clark College

College of Charleston

Colorado State University

Concordia University

Cornell University

Davenport University

Davis College in Johnson City NY

Denison University

Eastern Washington University

ESADE Business & Law School

Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising

Guilford Technical Community College

Henderson State University

Indiana Tech

James Cook University

Kent State University

Lafayette College

Lock Haven University

Macalester College

Manhattanville College

Massachusetts Maritime Academy

Messiah College

Middlebury Career Services

Middlesex Community College

Milwaukee School of Engineering

Montclair State University

North Dakota State University

Northeastern University

Northland College

Philadelphia University

Radford University

Raritan Valley Community College

Rutgers University

Saint Louis University Madrid

Saint Mary's University of Minnesota

Skagit Valley College

Spring Hill College

St. Cloud State University

St. Norbert College

Sullivan University

Tarleton State University

The Illinois Institute of Art - Chicago

The Washington Center

Trinity University

University of Alabama at Birgmingham

University of California, Los Angeles

University of Georgia

University of Houstoin

University of Houston

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

University of Melbourne

University of Miami

University of Oregon

University of Tennessee Knoxville

University of Texas Arlington

University of Toronto

University of Vermont

University of West Georgia

University of Wisconsin - Superior

Valdosta State University

Virginia Commonwealth University

Watkins College of Art, Design & Film

Xavier University



Photo courtesy of Creative Commons

http://www.flickr.com/photos/27282406@N03/4134166721/

An Emotional Election

Politics and emotions are deeply intertwined. Think of the last political conversation you had and how you reacted to it emotionally. Was your blood boiling with anger? Were you paralyzed with anxiety and worry about what might happen? Were you bouncing with enthusiasm and motivated to go get out the vote?

source

Bigger picture, how do these emotional-political experiences (specifically, of anger, anxiety, and enthusiasm) affect the ways we seek out and interpret political messages and engage in political behavior?

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Why don't people evacuate before storms?

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As a Manhattan resident, this past week my life has been dominated by one event: Hurricane Sandy. Fortunately, unlike tornadoes or earthquakes, hurricanes allow time for people to prepare. In the hours leading up to this hurricane, government officials issued mandatory evacuations for residents of coastal areas that were likely to be hit hardest. Residents were urged to seek shelter with friends and relatives or utilize one of numerous shelters opened (some with transportation included). Despite government officials pleading with citizens to evacuate dangerous areas, many decided to stay.

For some during Hurricane Sandy, the decision to stay had tragic and costly consequences. At least 14 of the people who died in Staten Island were found in evacuation zones. In areas such as Long Island’s South Shore, some people panicked as the storm got worse, putting volunteer first responders in harm’s way. And in the hours after the storm, rescue workers ventured into some of the most devastated areas to retrieve residents who had been stranded.

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