4. Illustrating Concepts: Dr. Phillip Zimbardo's The Secret Powers Of Time

Psychologist, Dr. Phillip Zimbardo delivered a speech at the RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce) on The Secret Powers of Time (2010), in which he discusses the concept of time and how it can demonstrate how we socially live our lives. Zimbardo states that individuals are past, present, or future oriented. Furthermore, how we view time can reflect our work, life, health, and relationships. I would say that I am a more future oriented individual. I am always thinking ahead because there are some many things that are going on in my life and if I didn't have some sort of plan I would feel like my life would be in disarray. 

I would say that the animated video that was created by the RSA was easier to understand for the mere fact that I am more of a visual learner. As for the content of the video, the implementation of visuals and the dialogue from the initial discussion truly captured what Zimbardo was trying to say. The video very much reminded me of the The Story of Stuff series, which through visuals and narratives discusses how products are made and the excessive consumption that takes place. I found that the ten minutes of visuals summarized and reinforced what Zimbardo was trying to demonstrate in the duration of over a half an hour. The conference was more so a platform to share many examples from his past research and other examples to reinforce what he was trying to say. Secondly, when he was trying to reinforce what he was trying to say in the initial discussion he would show PowerPoint slides to the audience, and it’s hard to read all that in information in a brief moment. I think both videos are equally important, but I thought the animated video successfully conveyed what Zimbardo was trying to demonstrate. 

Sources: RSA, Zimbardo's The Secret Powers of Time (2010), The Story of Stuff