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Motion: THR the rise of pop-psychology Proposition: When people turn to pop-psychology content, they tend to establish diagnoses about themselves based on scientifically groundless claims. This can be mainly put down to the superficial nature of, for example, pop-psychology books that offer surface-level understanding of their subjects. TikTok videos about OCD or anxiety are no better. This leads to a distorted understanding of psychology. Psychologically speaking, people are prone to hold to their pre-established beliefs about themselves and their environment. They can inadvertently cling to irrelevant beliefs related to specific cases, which don’t lead to overall improvement in their mental health. Thus, they cannot make informed decisions on how to move forward from one point to another. Pop-psychology content doesn’t offer them scientifically plausible explanations for certain psychological phenomena or behaviour, and thus, they overrely on information. They don’t necessarily ta...

Motion: THR the increased popularity of sex work based social media (e.g., OnlyFans) Kiara Lord (pornstar) with her husband Proposition: Social media rewards engaging content. Sexually explicit content is very likely to generate a lot of views, comments, shares, subscriptions, etc. Media like these are the ones that get caught up and reach higher visibility online. On these sex media platforms, content creators will eventually realize that more sexualized content will lead to higher engagement. This creates competition for customers. As there are growing expectations towards content creators, it will encourage them to make their videos more extreme so as to continue their business. Content creators will post more frequently to interact with their fans and reach a wider audience. This may eventually blur the line between their private and public life. They can easily become dependent on the ones they get their income from. Content like this will normalize extremist sexual behaviour a...

Motion : THBT media representation of performative male competitions is an effective tool to tackle gender stereotypes of males Proposition: The primary objective of performative male competitions is to expose gender stereotypes in a satirical way. For example, contestants who decide to actively take part usually wear clothes or bring accessories with themselves that are simply absurd: drinking matcha tea despite its awful taste, reading multiple feminist novels upside down simultaneously (e.g., The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, or Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf), wearing soft-male clothing, listening to feminist music (e.g., The Fate of Ophelia by Taylor Swift, Manchild by Sabrina Carpenter). What these performative activities all share is that some males deliberately use them as a means to impress their environment (typically women), sometimes in a hypocritical way. Whereas, in reality, their actual belief systems might not reflect the idealised persona they want to show to other people...

Motion : THBT video games promoting aggressive behaviour should be banned for children under 16 by the government. Source:  https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/nov/10/video-games-violent-study-finds Proposition: It is the government that can ensure the safety of children by passing policies through the legislative board. The government is accountable to the people they receive their mandate from and thus is subject to public oversight by watchdogs, ombudsmen, etc. They can check and make sure that universal standards are enforced. Thus, it is in the interest of the government to pass laws and make its policy transparent for everybody. By changing macroeconomic legal circumstances, these video game companies are forced by the government to accept and implement these measures. The government, as a legitimised entity, has the legal tools to maintain these standards in the long run: age-verification, fine these companies, and regulate video game distribution. Individually, pa...

Motion: TH, as an undecided voter, would see Tavaszi szél. Infoslide: Tavaszi szél is a newly released political documentary film that aims to sum up the journey of the Tisza Party from emerging into the political landscape to becoming a dominant party in Hungary. The release of the film is about 30 days before the upcoming Hungarian elections in 2026. Proposition: Democracy is when people actively participate in the decision-making process in the life of a country. By watching Tavaszi szél, uncertain voters seek out an opportunity to get information based on which they can make informed and responsible decisions. They can learn more about the emergence, leadership and narrative techniques of the Tisza Party. Ignoring major political figures actually weakens democratic participation. In fact, the film democratises information. As the stakes are very high, it is crucially important that voters get to know various perspectives, making up a wholer picture, and decide which one they...

This proposal purports to outline a case study examining how IKEA capitalizes on the story of a 7-month-old male macaque, Punch. By blending psychological analysis and marketing theory, the paper briefly explores how IKEA managed to construct an emotional narrative that proves to be an effective advertising tool today. My brand-new monkey Psychological perspective: Firstly, through the lens of psychology, Punch’s case is emotionally compelling. Punch, born in a Japanese zoo, was rejected by his mother, after which he developed separation anxiety as he had nobody to cling to. According to Bowlby (1980), at this stage of life, primates are in dire need of a primary caregiver, usually the mother, as a means of survival. Based on Bowlby’s attachment theory, zoo workers gave him a stuffed plush toy, resembling an orangutan, to provide him comfort. His story attracted international media attention when videos emerged on the internet of Punch forming a bond with his stuffed toy as his sur...