Phillipines Sex Scandal

A sex scandal in Phillipines between a cosmetic surgeon, Dr. Hayden Kho, and a few of his celebrity patients, has recently emerged. Sex videos of the doctor and his patients have been leaked out onto the Internet. The only identified woman involved in the scandal as one of his sex partners is up-and-coming actress, Katrina Halili. When asked about it, she said, “I fully gave my heart and soul to a man who is doing his own movie.”

This is an example of how a Qualitative approach of Interpersonal communication went totally wrong.

Before Ms. Halili went to Dr. Kho for his surgery services, they shared an impersonal relationship as doctor and patient. But as Halili and Kho drew closer to each other, and Halili eventually got seduced by Kho, their relationship became interpersonal. From her statement above, we can tell that Halili adopted a mindset during their interaction, that perhaps Kho was a man she could trust and love.

One reason they even hooked up together in the first place was because they were both similar to each other in certain ways, one example being they are both celebrity figures, rich, and good looking. This is an example of stimulus generalization.

Another reason they hooked up was because each was also rather special in their own ways. Kho is well known for having an ideal well-toned body for a man. Not only that, he is also an educated doctor. Halili is Philippine’s sex symbol, voted FHM 2006’s sexiest woman, and has graced the covers of such magazines over and over. This is an example of stimulus discrimination.

Using non-verbal communication, particularly objectics, the Philippines media communicated their disdain towards Halili by pulling her posters and advertising billboards down from all over Philippines. Film and modeling companies have also retracted jobs they have previously offered her.

I feel that stimulus generalization plays a bigger part in attracting one to another in an interpersonal communication. This is because both parties need to be similar to a decent extent in order for them to take an interest in each other. If both parties were too different from each other, they probably would not even take notice of each other in the first place, just like how a basketball jock would probably never notice a punk rock musician, if we put superficial interests aside. Stimulus generalization emphasizes the proverb, “Birds of a feather flock together.” So one will often notice that couples almost always have many things in common, whether they are similarities in terms of status, wealth, career, mindsets, or interests.

Kris Allen Wins

This video demonstrates both Verbal and Non-verbal communication. Lets watch the reactions of these people as the winner of the latest American Idol is announced.



As the winner is announced, we see the viewers jumping up and whooping, communicating to us non-verbally that they are happy with the results. As they whoop and rejoice, they also communicate verbally to each other, saying things like “Yeah!” repeatedly.

Speaking of the word, “Yeah”, it is amazing to know how this simple one-syllable word can convey so much meaning along with the nonverbal cues. In this video’s context, by just simply shouting the word “Yeah” many times in that particular tone, while jumping around and throwing punches in the air, it means, “I am completely overjoyed that Kris Allen won!”

As the person is jumping around shouting “Yeah!”, we see a girl attempting to hit him with a cushion. This is a nonverbal way of saying, “Shut up and sit down already!” A moment later, another girl hits another screaming guy with a cushion, also indicating the same meaning.

Because language reflects its users, we can gauge to a certain degree what kind of people these kids are from the way they reacted to the video. Some of them are obviously extroverted and rather loud-mouthed, whereas there are more introverted ones who express their emotions in a milder manner. These kids are also possibly very closely related, maybe either close friends or relatives, for them to bother gathering together just to watch the results of an ongoing reality show.

On the other hand, we have a girl who is completely devastated that Kris Allen won.



The nonverbal cues that indicate this include the way she looks, as if she is about to cry, and the hysterical tone of her voice. The verbal cues are obviously the content of her speech, such as the introduction of the video, “I HATE LIFE! KILL ME NOW!” We can see that this girl is a very dramatic person and expresses her emotions very freely.

As meaning is attached to language by humans, there are many differing opinions from Youtube viewers on her reaction to the results. Below are some of them.


Nedsdag (27 minutes ago)

You need prozac.

LifeWithoutNick (3 hours ago)

Again this is horrible acting, as for her friends saying it's real, if you really were her friends you would have advised her to take comedy classes before making this attempt at "humor" Are you really doing her favors by encouraging this kind of behavior? Shame

TheEvilPuppy (9 hours ago)

My thoughts exactly. Last American Idol episode I will ever see. I swear on my soul NEVER AGAIN will I waste a second of my life on this piece of SHIT overglorified Kareoke Contest.


Plainly, due to different personal construct, different people interpreted her reaction differently, with some people thinking that she is just over-emotional, some people believing that she is acting it all, and some people understanding why she is behaving this way.

At the end of this analysis, we know that it does not take a rocket scientist to communicate successfully, because with every little body movement and word formed, a message is being communicated.

The Aware Saga

30 years ago, homosexuality was not a very well-accepted way of living in conservative Singapore. Our more traditional elders perceived homosexuality to be “unnatural” and maybe even “wrong”. This was due to many different factors, some of which include religious beliefs, and also the old-fashioned perception that families should be formed with a heterosexual man and woman to maintain the “balance”.

30 years from then in present times, homosexuality is widely accepted in a more liberal Singapore. This is again due to perception. As Singapore embraces the cultures of other countries, Singaporeans also mould their perceptions around these newly embraced cultures, such as accepting homosexuality as a possible way of life.

This then brings me to the topic of The Aware Saga. I must say that The Aware Saga was a pretty good example of a psychological perspective of communication. Before I begin, let me give you a brief summary of this case.

Josie Lau, DBS bank executive, was appointed head of women’s rights organization, AWARE, despite disapproval from her boss. It was later discovered that 5 other women from the same church also joined the new team leading AWARE. The drama was started when these women made statements that hinted at them being anti-gay, and also when Dr Thio Su Mien, senior lawyer and also another member of the same church, spoke up to say that she had been mentoring these women to “take over” AWARE so as to “re-direct” AWARE “back to its original cause. These discoveries sparked off much displeasure among both the homosexual community, and also people who felt that homosexuals had a place in our society and should not be discriminated in any way.

In the early stages of this saga, members of the public learnt about the case through the news. They then processed the information they received with their individual perspectives, and formed different conclusions about the case. This is when the psychological perspective took place, because whatever conclusions these people formed in their heads might not be the most accurate of conclusions, since they do not even know Lau and her croonies personally. The only information they received was passed through the media, which also might not be 100% accurate due to the media’s tendency to over-sensationalize trivialities.

Armed with all their different conclusions formed, people seek for both interactive and transactional ways of sharing their thoughts with the rest of little Singapore. Therefore they flood their thoughts on various forums on the Internet, and also share their thoughts with friends and family face to face. They either discuss or debate, and either influence or be swayed. All kinds of sentiments among Singaporeans were naturally induced what with all the hype generated.

The social constructionist perspective comes into place as these people communicate their opinions to one another. People who had no opinion about the saga initially, were gradually drawn into it as others with opinions communicated their ideas to them. For some of them, they even start to feel so strongly about it that they join other like-minded ones in voting for or against Josie Lau's exco during the EGM. These people turned from having no clue, to actually having a part! As the people who were influenced to be against Josie Lau was significantly more than those who supported her, her exco was naturally ousted out of place, where they lost drastically by 700 votes.

It is interesting to see how communication weaves its web via so many different means to form one great story. Another point to note is that if any of the participants in this great story had employed a slightly different form of communication to share their ideas, the whole situation might have turned out differently with a different ending.