PSYCH 424 blog

Our opinions on the world around us and situations we see can be impacted by many factors. The media is an important part of people lives. Unfortunately, viewing the media does not always have a positive effect on people’s lives. Violence in the media not only can be followed, it can also have an effect on how people view the world around them.

People around the world are able to view television. Television is a common source of education about the world and different cultures (Schneider, 2012). This learning and understanding can be seen as the cultivation theory. While viewing television, people become aware of the world and the violence that may be happening.

With the understanding of the violence, fear begins to strike. When viewing media violence, the cultivation theory says that people may then become fearful that the world is dangerous (Schneider, 2012). If the violence is viewed more than once, then the fear will be worse.

As I think about violence in the media, I think about what fear I have due to this. Recently, I have been watching the news about a man that is on the run after killing a state police officer. Due to the fact that he has not been caught, I am fearful that he will be in a different location and close to where I live. With this fear, I have begun to think of the world and some people living in it as mean and dangerous. If people are able to kill our police, then I fear that we are not safe as well.

While media violence can be imitated, it is also a way to learn about the world and what goes on in it. When violence is viewed on the television, people are becoming aware of how dangerous situations can be. If media violence is continued to be viewed, people will be more likely the fear the world they live in.

References

Schneider, F. W., Gruman, J. A., and Coutts, L. M. (2012). Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

In a world such as ours today with troubles overseas, environmental hazards, political issues, and deficit crunches that frighten individuals to worry about another Great Depression, do we need media hyping violence and bloody killings viewed by our youth and adolescents via the social media?  The media is a powerful tool to influence the way in which people cognitively breaks down issues and behaves as a result of what they are visually being exposed to.

I recently viewed a program where two girls, age 12, in Waukesha, Wisconsin were charges as adults for attempting to murder their friend in an effort to prove loyalty to a fictional character on the Internet.  “Slender Man” is a faceless creature who talks and terrorizes people, especially children.  To most youngsters, they are not sure if he is real or fictional.  However, these two girls were convinced that he was a real person and they wanted to prove their loyalty to him by killing their best friend.  They took her into the woods and viciously stabbed her 19 times this past summer.  They showed no remorse, and both girls were absolutely numb and desensitized by the violence that they had performed.  Miraculously, their friend survived the brutal stabbings.  This behavior is directly linked to the media that encourages such violence via the Internet.

Not only can violent exposure by viewers create deviant and aggressive behaviors and thoughts, but more crucial than this can be the impact it can leave on the audience.  A desensitizing effect, which can reduce empathy towards others, can supersede all this exposure from television and movies.  Media violence can create havoc and a downward trend on qualities that lie within an individual to cause them to become blind sighted by the feelings of others (Stampler, 2014). As in the case of these two 12- year olds, their violent behaviors did not have any impact on their feelings or actions.  There was no remorse whatsoever.  They became numb and desensitized to the brutality that they displayed.

Increased aggression is the framework of social cognitive theory by has individuals view media violence.  Also, it can involve an individual to view aggression as an acceptable tool, which will ultimately reduce empathy for a victim who is suffering   (Bushman & Anderson, 2009; Huesmann & Miller, 1994).

Regarding our children and adolescents, the mental maturity of the child depends on different stages of his cognitive development regarding media violence.  These factors regarding the cognitive development can depict how the violence is perceived and interpreted, along with the exposure and consequences of it.  The exposure to media violence such as movies, video games and television can present a major risk to their health, both physically and mentally.  Evidence has proven that media violence can encourage and instill desensitization to violence in children, as well.  They can become violent; suffer from nightmares, and exhibit and aggressive behavior.

Interaction needs to play a role in the violence that is portrayed and exonerated by social media.  Children need more literacy interaction, and a medium that leans toward sound educational programs that will be useful and effective.  Exposure to interactive media that encourages violence can lead to negative effects regarding the mental and physical health of children.  Not only does it encourage violence, but it leads to pro-social behaviors in children.    Video games allow the player to become the aggressor who in turn is rewarded by successfully performing violent behaviors.  This type of interaction cam encourages children and youth to demonstrate patterns of pathologic actions through their playing these types of games.  It also encourages the violence through this type of media interaction (Funk, 2004).

Interactions for children and adolescents need to be taken whether it be by the pediatricians or parents who deal with the children.  Pediatricians can entertain children in their waiting rooms through educational video games and television networking, and promote education.  At home parents need to supervise the timeframe that their children spend on the Internet, forms of media, and videos that encourage violence.  More educational and soothing forms of media should be encouraged.  Parents should supervise more activities and programs that their children become involved with.  Hopefully in time, the scale will be heavily geared toward media that instills learning and caring qualities that allow adolescents to function as righteous, sympathetic human beings to others and themselves in the real world as opposed to individuals become numb, desensitized and lacking empathy towards others..

References

Bushman, B., & Anderson, C. (2009). Comfortably numb: Desensitizing effects of violent media on helping others.  Psychological Science, 20, 273-277.

Funk, J. B., Baldacci, H. Pasold, T. and Baumgardner, J. (2004). Violence exposure in real-life, video games, television, movies, and the internet: Is there desensitization?” Journal of Adolescence. 27(1) 23-29.

Huesmann, L. R., & Miller, L. S. (1994). Long-term effects of repeated exposure to media violence in childhood.  In L. R. Huesmann (Ed.), Aggressive behavior: Current perspectives (pp. 153-168). New York, NY:Plenum Press.

Stampler, L. (2014). ‘Slender Man’ Internet Meme Inspires Two 12-Year-Olds To Attempt Murder.  Time. Retrieved October 20, 2014: http://time.com/2817624/slender-man-murder-charge-waukesha/

While the media has shown how useful and positive it can be in out lies, it also comes with a lot of negative aspects that can be brought into our lives. Adolescents specifically spend a large amount of time using on or more forms of media. In 2009, adolescents spent close to eleven hours a day being exposed to media (Schneider, 2012). Some of this media is informational and educational. Others are exposing adolescents to violence, sex, and health while changing their thoughts on these points.

Media violence is seen in many different programs. While it is not uncommon to go through the television and see people fighting or even shooting other people, these situations are also played out in video games as well. Unfortunately, many parents are unaware of the consequences it has on their children. These facts are important to know especially because about 85% of television shows have violence in them (Schneider, 2012 ).

In studies, it is found that the cathartic effect does not happen with TV violence. With this being said, viewing the violence on television does not relieve stress and help with aggression (Schneider, 2012 ). While watching television shows with violence, it is likely that those watching it are learning how to imitate the violence. This is supported with the social cognitive learning theory. This theory had four different processes that help with the imitation of violence. Attention, representational process, behavioral production process, and motivational process are those that are seen in this theory. This is because often, we learn what we watch through the media (Schneider, 2012 ).

While learning this, I think about my older brother’s son. He is a five year old boy that loves to watch wrestling. Although we try to explain to him that he cannot do what he sees on television, he often tries to do the moves that he has seen the wrestlers do. Unfortunately, wrestling gets his attention. With the representational process, the behavior is being remembered and modeled. As I think about my nephew, he does remember everything he watching on wrestling and attempts to model what he views. While my nephew watches the wrestlers hit each other, he then generalizes this to do the same to his dad and sister. This is the behavioral production process. While watching him wrestle my brother and niece, he often does a few of his favorite moves. This motivational process allows him to perform the moves that he is most motivated to perform.

As children are viewing the media, they are learning violence and changing how they think about the violence. While parents are not always aware of how this can hurt their children, it is important for them to be educated about it. The social cognitive theory allows people to understand how children watching violent media are learning how to imitate it. Unfortunately, this can result in others getting hurt when the violence is imitated.

References:

Schneider, F. W., Gruman, J. A., and Coutts, L. M. (Eds.) (2012). Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

April 20, 1999 – two teenagers walked into their high school in Littleton Colorado armed with guns and killed 14 of their fellow students, and wounding 21 others before taking their own lives (A&E Television, 2014). The gunman – Fylan Klebold, and Eric Harris – were believed to have been a part of a social outcasts group that called themselves the “Trenchcoat Mafia” which is why they committed the crimes. However, during this time mainstream media including music, television, and video games were to blame. In particular – during this time shock rocker Marilyn Manson was made the scapegoat for the murders because of his music, and the way he presented his art. It was later shown that the two gunman never listened to Marilyn Manson.

School shootings have continued through the years after the massacre at Columbine. The worst school shooting topping Columbine in United States history happened April 16, 2007 at Virginia tech where 33 people including the gunman were murdered (A&E Television, 2014). The school shootings following Columbine have created, in my mind, the question of whether or not the students that are engaging in these acts are imitating those that came before them through vicarious learning.

Vicarious learning (performing a particular behavior because one observes the behavior being rewarded) is the principle of Bandura’s social cognitive theory of mass communication (Schneider, Gruman, & Coutts, 2012). Rewarding behavior? How were the school shooters rewarded, and how can this influence future school shooters? When extreme violence occurs, such as a school shooting, the media flocks to the story and continuously replays the details over and over. It becomes nearly impossible for anyone to not know who the suspects are in the situation. All of a sudden within a few hours – two kids from Littleton Colorado – have gone down in United States history as conducting one of the most heinous crimes. They are now celebrity. People will always know who they are. If that is not one of the biggest rewards for this unfathomable act of violence, than I do not know what is. Meanwhile the victims remain unknown for the most part. Children see this reward system and may become motivated to do it bigger and better because they know if they top the last guy, they will become even more famous. People will know them forever.

The media in part aids in the desensitization of violence through video games, television shows, and the news (Schneider et al., 2012). Desensitization of violence only increases people’s tendencies to act aggressively and violently due increasing their tolerance of violence while decreasing their desire to not act aggressively (Schneider et al., 2012). Desensitization along with the rewards of being violent – are a recipe for disaster.

In closing, I would like to leave you with the following quote by Marilyn Manson when he addressed the topic of Blame and Violence (videos can be found on YouTube for those interested in listening to the entire 12 minute speech). I feel this quote asks a very important question that each of us adults sincerely needs to sit and ponder.

“Is adult entertainment killing our children, or is killing our children entertaining adults? And I think that is the kind of question we need to ask ourselves today. And you have to ask yourself that every time you watch the hungry cameras at the crime scene, or at the funeral, or at the plane crash, interviewing the victim. You know, 24 hour footage watching the guy blow his brains out on the L.A. freeway.” – Marilyn Manson

References
Columbine High School Massacre. (2014). Retrieved October 26, 2014, from http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/columbine-high-school-massacre
Schneider, F.W., Gruman, J.A., & Coutts, L.M. (2012). Applied Social Psychology Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems (Second ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

Media in today’s society is our life line. It comes in many different forms to match your personal pleasures. There is magazines, newspapers, internet, television, news, radio, and of course social media sites. I am sure I missed many examples but I think we all get the point. Every day we are connected to media through technology whether it be our televisions, radios in our car, and probably the most common in today’s society our cell phones. Through these advancements in technology we are able to consistently check media and see and hear it at a moment’s notice. There are many issues that arise with this. Media can affect relationships, consume our time and most concerning influence our opinions and thoughts.
Most often we see the influences that media has when we see news reports on legal cases or tragedy’s such as bullying and natural disasters. When we hear or see negative media about a specific subject we have already formed our own opinions or thoughts about we may become swayed but information the media provides that is not always accurate. Also we may conform to social norms and begin to change our opinions based on what society believes acceptable behaviors to be (Schneider, Gruman, & Coutts, 2012). A perfect example of this is Jurors in a legal case. Twelve men and women are chosen to decide the fate of an individual who may have committed a crime. These jurors in severe cases are directed not to speak to anyone from the media they are not allowed to read newspapers or watch the news or discuss the case. This is solely to make sure their opinions are not influenced by media.

Schneider et al (2012) give a great example of this when they discuss how drugs in the 1980s became a big concern because of the media’s coverage of it. This is what is called agenda setting meaning that the media will influence what we feel is important in society. According to Schnieder et al (2012) “The media did not influence weather people thought the use of drugs was wrong , media coverage of the drug issue resulted in people thinking that the drug issue was an important one.” Issues such as these were distributed through media which has developed as technology has developed.

A perfect example of how media can influence our opinions would be social networking. Facebook is a great example of this. In this week’s lesson in PSYCH424 from Penn State we learned about how affective Facebook has been on influencing society. According to this weeks lesson “People who were once isolated due to their beliefs or interests not fitting into their local community/culture can now find others who share those beliefs or interests and reduce their own loneliness.”(PSYCH424, PSU Lesson 9, Page 3). This seems great, right? Not always sometimes we become so lonely that these people can influence our thoughts and opinions. Facebook used to be just a site to catch up with friends and family however as it has grown it has now become a site to share other media sites, pictures, and opinions. For myself when scanning Facebook posts more than 50% of them are now ‘you may be interested in” or advertisements or links that people post about news, natural disasters and information from news outlets that are sometimes not credible sources. Many people take these links and articles seriously even though they are incorrect and will form opinions about a situation based on that.

Recently there was several attacks on Canadian military. Several service men were killed, the media right away insisted that the attacks were in the name of Islam. This alone became a dangerous influence on the community the attacks occurred in as well as on those who worship as Muslims. This is much like when the attacks of September 11th occurred in the United States. We needed someone to blame someone to be held responsible so of course when they media begins to plant ideas we right away attach to them. The media solely has been responsible for the opinions we have formed of Muslims in today’s society and sadly we have conformed to their influence and without knowing much about the religion we group those who are Muslims together treat them different than others and for negative opinions of them. In a media article published by CBC news in Canada the National Counsel of Canadian Muslims denounced and denied any involvement in the attacks and indicate they to as Canadians felt attacked and that anyone performing acts of violence is not a representation of Islam (CBC News 2012). However why is it that we choose to believe others who speak about these individuals rather than those representing the religion? Often we need to detach ourselves from media and others to form our own opinions.

References
Ottawa shooting: Canadian Muslims denounce attacks. (2014, October 23). Retrieved from CBC News Ottawa: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ottawa-shooting-canadian-muslims-denounce-attacks-1.2810489
Pennsylvania State University World Campus (2014, October). PSYCH 424 Lesson 9:
Media/Communications Technology. Retrieved from
https://courses.worldcampus.psu.edu/fa14/psych424/001/content/10_lesson/01_page.html
Schneider, F. W., Gruman, J. A., & Coutts, L. M. (2012). Applied Social Psychology. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, INC.

I found this an interesting subject due to the fact this week we are centered on the media. There was a lot of mention of how the media affects peoples health, self-perception, and social status so I thought to myself could this be an addiction? The only (non-substance related) behavioral disorder listed in the new DSM-V is gambling addiction. This is because there is not yet enough scientific evidence to show that they truly are an addiction or disorder. So as of yet we do not classify internet or social media overuse an addiction or a disorder. But many psychologist believe that it fits under the criteria of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Either way it is something that has shown increasing popularity with the media enough to be considered a definite issue. What has spurred increasing interest has been the growing popularity with such social media starting with Myspace and now such social media sites as Facebook and Twitter.

The big question is why do people seem to get so hooked on social media and why do they feel the need to keep buried in their smart phones and computer screens on these sites? Some statistics have shown that people spend more than three plus hours a day on social media sites and seemly much more in some cases. Some psychologists believe that people who spend such a significant amount of time on social media are trying to fill a psychological void that they are lacking in their normal lives. Is it that we are for some reason lacking a connection or intimacy in our relationships that somehow is being or is trying to be met through social media?  Another hypothesis given for the compulsion to use social media is given by Dr. David Greenfield, the director of the Center of internet and technology addiction which he notes that “social media is the first time in human history where we have the opportunity to broadcast to everyone on the planet.” Which he describes can be very intoxicating and pleasurable experience. Although the internet and social media is not considered an addiction currently I could see how replacing it for a substance in the DSM-V  how many of the criterion could be met with the over use of social media. Lets take look at them:

The DSM-5 defines a substance use disorder as the presence of at least 2 of 11 criteria, which are clustered in four groups:

1. Impaired control: (1) taking more or for longer than intended, (2) unsuccessful efforts to stop or cut down use, (3) spending a great deal of time obtaining, using, or recovering from use, (4) craving for substance.
2. Social impairment: (5) failure to fulfill major obligations due to use, (6) continued use despite problems caused or exacerbated by use, (7) important activities given up or reduced because of substance use.
3. Risky use: (8) recurrent use in hazardous situations, (9) continued use despite physical or psychological problems that are caused or exacerbated by substance use.
4. Pharmacologic dependence: (10) tolerance to effects of the substance, (11) withdrawal symptoms when not using or using less.*

Although it could not meet all of these because of it being a behavior and not a substance it does make one wonder. On the obsessive compulsive side of the social media as a possible disorder argument it does seem that people who over use social media obsess over viewing it and it is a very anxiety relieving activity to check on there “choice of site”. Either side of the argument you want to be on it is somewhat scary that our society is so drawn to it seemingly many times over normal social interaction. I don’t think that we will begin opening social media treatment centers anytime soon but if you do feel you use social media excessively and you see it as causing some sort of negative issues you may need to take some necessary steps. It is suggested to build support and let others know this is causing an issue, find other activities that replace the time on social media, and limit times to curtail social media use. If all else fails you may need to go the complete abstinence route and get rid of those accounts!

Rhea, D. (2009, Nov 24). Social media magnifies internet addiction. Journal Record Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/259556501?accountid=13158

American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and
statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Washington, DC:  Author.

With the rise of technology, society has become increasingly “media dependent” (The Role of Mass Media in Society, 2010, Para. 1). The media has become societies leading source of communication and entertainment. Readily accessible, the media provides a dependable source of limitless information and entertainment. With societies increasing dependency, the media maintains an extraordinary amount of authority by censoring and controlling what the public hears and determining how the information is processed.
News broadcasters are notorious for shaping society’s perception by deciding the content of focus and determining how it is communicated (Schneider, Gruman & Coutts, 2012, P. 160). Throughout the years, there has been an “increasing tendency for news broadcasters to ‘emotionalize’ their news, and they do so by emphasizing any potential negative outcomes of a story no matter how low the risks of those negative outcomes might be” (Davey, 2012, Para. 3). Broadcasters commonly practice a concept known as “negative sensationalism” to intentionally “emotionalize the impact of a news story” (Davey, 2012, Para. 3).

When the media emotionalizes news stories, it can elicit a wide range of emotions that can have a direct impact on perception and behavior. In one study conducted on the effects of viewing negative news, researchers created three different fourteen-minute news bulletins. One of the bulletins consisted of entirely negative news headlines, another included positive news headlines and the third had neutral news headlines. Prior to showing the videos to three separate groups, researchers asked each participant to list one worry. After the video, researchers conducted a structured interview in which they asked each participant to reflect on the worry that they listed prior to watching the video. During the interview, researchers found that people who had watched the negative news bulletin “spent more time thinking and talking about their worry and were more likely to catastrophize their worry than people in the other two groups” (Davey, 2012, Para. 8). In addition to excessive worrying, participants reported being significantly more anxious and depressed after watching the negative news headlines compared to those who watched the neutral or positive news headlines (Davey, 2012, Para. 6).

News broadcasts provide an efficient means of acquiring information and staying up-to-date on current affairs. Though, it is important to understand the methods that the media uses to convey information and how it can influence one’s perception and behavior. Understanding how the media communicates information can help viewers listen critically and evaluate the information that is being stated.

References
Davey, G. (2012, June 19). The Psychological Effects of TV News. In Psychology Today. Retrieved October 25, 2014

The Role of Mass Media in Society. (2010, June 13). In Media and Society . Retrieved October 25, 2014

Schneider, F. W., Gruman, J. A., & Coutts, L. M. (Eds.). (2012). Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems (Second ed., p 160). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.

The definition of media is a rather simple explanation yet the effects of  media are rather complex. Media can be described as a means of communication that reach or influence people (Media, n.d.).

Our means of communication and media have changed dramatically over the years and have given rise to a field of psychology dedicated to studying its effects (Luskin, 2012). With the increase in availability of media with the use of the internet, there has been a rise in what has recently been validated as a disorder, the Internet Addiction Disorder (Luskin, 2012). Within this disorder it is common for a person to stay glued to a screen for hours on end and neglect their work and social relationships and even sometimes their own needs. People suffering from this disorder have the ability to go through withdraws and will experience anxiety, nausea, tremors and even shivers (Luskin, 2012).

One of the main refuges of internet dwellers would be the website called Facebook, which has been found to have over 1 billion users (Williams, 2014). With the rise of an internet addiction there is no surprise that the use of Facebook has given way for negative psychological states to arise from its frequent use. It has been found that those who use Facebook are more likely to suffer from anxiety, narcissism, and low self-esteem. Although there are also people who have incredibly high self-esteem that are found on Facebook as well (Williams, 2014). In the research that was conducted it was found that about 12% of Facebook users reported the site made them feel anxious; about 30% reported feeling guilty for rejecting a friend request; others reported feeling a sort of pressure to come up with witty statuses as well (Williams, 2014).

Being a young adult who actively uses the internet for educational and recreational purposes, I can admit that I have felt the pressures in the use of the internet for a long period of time as well as the rising addiction to the internet and Facebook. Often through the day I find an urge to check my email as well as my Facebook to see what my friends have posted about their day or anything of the sort. It is for this specific reason that I don’t own a high-tech phone that will allow internet access and I try to restrict my time on the computer as much as possible. There have been several instances when I thought about deleting my Facebook to avoid the pressures and negative aspects but I always find reasons to keep it such as the social connection with my friends in family. I will admit that the site is helpful in my situation since I live a few states away from my family and it has become a good way for us to keep in touch on our off time. This reason was also given in research conducted by Dr. Charles about why the users of Facebook continued to use the site even after the feelings of anxiety and stress (Williams, 2014).

References:

Luskin, B. (2012). Brain, Behavior, and Media. The Media Psychology Effect. Retrieved from http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-media-psychology-effect/201203/brain-behavior-and-media

Media. (n.d.) Dictionary.com. Retrieved from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/media

Williams, R. (2014). How Facebook Can Amplify Low Self-Esteem/Narcissism/Anxiety. Wired for Success. Retrieved from http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/wired-success/201405/how-facebook-can-amplify-low-self-esteemnarcissismanxiety

All of us have heard about the struggles that women go through with their self-image and the mass media is to blame. However, did you know that there are an ever-growing number of men that are suffering from dysmorphic disorder?  This disorder involves belief that one’s own appearance is unusually defective, while one’s thoughts about it are pervasive and intrusive, although the perceived flaw might be nonexistent. With our Western society’s need to have perfection it was only time that this issue would spill out into the male population.  The mass media is now to blame however, they do not take the blame for this disorder’s spread to the male population, and how could they when the majority of the population is eating up these unrealistic images that are placed in front of us on television, the internet, video games, magazines, comic books, etc. like a never ending buffet. I would like to talk about how these messages are getting to men both straight and gay along with their struggles in a world that wants only perfection.

Mass media is striking at men at an early age as they did with girls through the toys they play as Poncelet (2014) points out that in the past 20 years action figures like GI Joe have become more well-built and their muscles are more well-defined. This has gotten to the point where if the action figure were a real person it would be impossible for anyone to have the same proportions. Sound familiar? Girls were exposed to the idea of what women should look like through the image portrayed by Barbie dolls. Now the boys are being exposed in the same manner. Even when boys enter into their teens they are bombarded with images of celebrities such as Channing Tatum, who is muscled, good looking, and surrounded by men and women who want them. These messages of ideal body types are being heard loud and clear by teen boys across America.

As men, most people will think of their dads with a relaxed look and wearing mismatched colored tops and bottoms and baseball caps.  That was then and now thanks to the creation of the “metrosexual man”, men spend money on wax jobs, pedicures, manicures, and even makeup. As mentioned at the beginning about the gay man in all of this new way of thinking, gay men can be the worst of all, trying to keep up with all of these new trends and ideals of perfection.  As a 21 year old, Russell from Male Body Image-TheSite.org  (2014) states that there are considerable demands within the gay community to look good, because the gay media only presents one type of man as the “ideal gay man” to the whole gay male population. Also, not to mention to live the ideal gay lifestyle of a trendy gay man can leave many of these gay men in considerable debt.

As with bulimia, it is a growing concern in the male population, but has not gotten the attention that the news has given to the female population. It is estimated that 15% of eating disorders are predominate in the male population in the United States alone. With all of this pressure, it is no wonder that men are experiencing depression that could lead to drinking and the taking of potentially harmful substances to put on muscle mass. All of this can and will lead to some severe health issues, not to mention some reckless behaviors both professionally and personally, all in the pursuit in obtaining the idealized vision of perfection.

As adults we need to subject our kids to real role models and explain that the people on television, movies, and other forms of media are not the only way to look. We are all-different and must be happy with what we have and if we want to get into shape, then do it for ourselves and not for others perceived idea of what we should look like. Self-esteem is the key that we need to keep, like a treasure and never let some magazine try to tell us what to be. As for the adults in our lives, we need to give our support for the way they look and not support a modern destructive vanity that is trying to replace reality.

References

Male body image – TheSite.org. (2014, August 7). Retrieved October 24, 2014, from http://www.thesite.org/mental-health/body-image-and-self-esteem/male-body-image-5953.html

Poncelet, B. (2014, March 30). Male body image: Your son and his body. Retrieved October 24, 2014, from http://teenhealth.about.com/od/bodyimage/a/malebodyimage.htm

In today’s society, the media seems to have a bigger influence on people than it ever has in the past.  I recently read somewhere that Americans check their phones on average 150 times per day.  Obviously phone calls, text massages, and e-mails are included in that number, but the rest are mostly to check social media sites.  Take that number and combine it with the time people spend on their actual computer and you realize that a large portion of someones day is taken up browsing social media, most times with no purpose at all.  With that much time spent on social media, it is inevitable that it has some affect on peoples personalities and lifestyle choices.   Some people are influenced by the posts of celebrities while others are entertained with the lives of friends and acquaintances. The variety of posts found on social media can promote everything from drugs and eating disorders, to positive subjects such as charities and current events.  No matter what the popular topic is at the time, the media is influencing people everywhere, about one hundred times every day.

As a college student in the spring of 2012, it was not uncommon that I could be found browsing Facebook at least once a day. It is also not uncommon to come across a few videos within the stream of posting by your online friends. On one particular day, while browsing this social media website, it was impossible to ignore the multiple reposts of a bland, red video that read “Kony 2012”. At least twenty of my online friends had posted this. Out of curiosity, I clicked “play” on the video. My initial thought was “Holy cow, thirty minutes long?!” My attention was quickly gained as a man named Jason Russell described his life’s work of saving invisible children in Uganda and set fourth a manhunt for a reportedly horrid man named Joseph Kony. Like the millions of other young adults featured in the video, I immediately felt a shift inside of me, along with the inspiration to become an advocate for these unfortunate people suffering in Uganda and help to capture Joseph Kony.

Upon sharing the video, I had no idea that I was one of 3.7 million people who had pledged their support in the arrest of Joseph Kony. This video was reportedly viewed 100 million times over the span of six days in 2012 (KONY 2012). Knowing this information two years after the fact really opened my eyes as to how much influence the media can have over the population. Kony 2012 is hardly a blip on the radar screen of current of events, which can largely be attributed to agenda setting, or “the idea that the media can shape what issues we think about or what issues we think are important” (Schneider, Gruman & Coutts, 2012, pg.157).

Throughout the video it can be seen that Jason Russell strategically framed his story to present Kony from a terrible angle and the United States at a heroic angle in order to shine a light on advocacy and the changes young adults can make. Russell also showed the process of political priming, or “the idea that issues that the media are covering influence the information that people use to judge the president” (Schneider, Gruman & Coutts, 2012, pg. 158). He did this by showing how at first the politicians of Washington, D.C. did not listen to the Kony advocates, but then once the video went viral, they were all ears. The video then went on to show how various politicians, including The President of the United States, became advocates themselves.

It can be assumed that Barack Obama used the availability heuristic when budgeting security officials to Uganda because so many advocates of Kony 2012 were in his face. Obama was unable to escape the social issue because his own citizens were begging him to take care of it, rather than issues affecting our own country that can be assumed were put on the backburner at the time. The same can be said for recent events involving ISIS. The rebel group has gone viral throughout online media, causing advocates to flood into Washington, D.C. demanding the president’s help to bring justice to their victims. It may be possible that ISIS is just another example of Kony 2012 agenda setting.

References

KONY 2012. (2012, March 1). Retrieved October 23, 2014, from      http://invisiblechildren.com/kony-2012/.

Schneider, F., Gruman, J., & Coutts, L. (2012). Applying Social Psychology to the            Media. In Applied Social Psychology (Second ed., pp. 157-158). New Delhi:   SAGE Publications.

More and more I am quite happy to see the “business as usual” attitudes being challenged in the arts and sciences. The close-minded ideas of “this is how we’ve always done it” or “this is how its done” seem to be giving way to more broadminded and culturally open scientists, researchers, administrators, artist-practitioners, and politicians. Elements, ideas, and methodologies borrowed from Chinese, African, Native American, Japanese and many other non-western type cultures are now being considered for their obvious value. Also the fact that the methods we’re currently using are failing us as a society. One could wonder what took the “western mind” so long to embrace what was outside of it, when the question itself is its own answer. The other groups were outside groups and on the whole were not welcomed nor recognized, but often had positive aspects of their cultures stripped, assimilated then white washed for public consumption without proper credit being given. This is an entirely separate topic on its own, but what positive aspect I would like to speak briefly about is what I call an underlying harmony that seems to be rising up to positively affect what’s happening in applied social psychology and in our social institutions. Two of these institutions by example would be Sentencing Circles and Therapeutic Communities.

Sentencing Circles are community-based legally sanctioned entities that take a holistic and restorative approach to settling grievances and righting the wrongs between the offender and victim of a crime (Schneider, Gruman, & Coutts, 2012) The basic idea of these circles, borrowed from North American aboriginal cultures, is not one of punishment but restoration. It attempts to make all parties affected by the situation whole again. And this approach then extends to the greater community, as it would have most likely been affected too. There seems to be an understanding of the connectedness and continuity of all life that is at the foundation of this approach. Perhaps one could call it a universal harmony, a Tao (Chinese for ‘Way) if you will, that contains a wisdom that leads humans in how to best live their lives and deal with problems and upheavals in the most harmonious way possible. It is a way to restore things, not control and dominate things. Many Asian, African and Native American cultures embraced this type of living philosophy, which permeated all of their lives from birth to death and beyond. And to me it seems this more humane approach to justice would go a long way in making society more harmonious as it helps both parties to heal. The business as usual approach often crushes both sides of a dispute or an injustice. The offender is often punished with jail and harsh treatment, but yet even the victim if they have not had a chance to deal directly with their pain and grief is left wanting, lessened by the experience and not made whole. The possibilities of bitterness, anger, resentment, fear and other negative outcomes would be salient and could color this person’s thoughts, behaviors and emotions for the rest of their lives while they interact with family, friends and the community at large affecting those whom they must interact with.

Similar to sentencing circles, the approach of prison-based therapeutic communities seems to take a page from the same book. These communities are focused on making the prisoner whole, meeting his very human needs of self-restoration, of self-esteem, self-efficacy, and personal responsibility. The idea of these types of communities is that they would be more focused on rehabilitation over punishment in order to treat prisoners humanely (Schneider et al., 2012). The structure of engaging prisoners, after a humane and comprehensive induction, in group seminars, group and private counseling, community based activities, and day-to-day interventions designed to make the prisoner a better person instead of treating him like a piece of garbage has had impressive results. (Schneider et al., 2012) Unlike the old school way of punishing prisoners, and even shortsighted interventions like prison juvenile boot camps which have been proven not to work, therapeutic communities seem to have tapped into the that same harmonious knowing that compassion, respect, love, and a desire to make whole and restore a harmonious flow to the various aspects of life tend to create better outcomes. Although the therapeutic community doesn’t contain the intimacy and immediacy of connection between the varies parties like sentencing circles, still it is light years ahead in rehabilitating prisoners and by extension making society better. Perhaps these two approaches can somehow be blended depending on the situation and the willingness of all involved to go deeper to the core of repairing the transgressions that have been committed? I think that would be really cool and I can just imagine someone making that a reality at some point soon.

This new “humane-ness” is refreshing. And over the years in various pockets of places in America, and in various disciplines we have seen this attitude arise more often. The social and environmental crisis’ we all face have surely been a catalyst for us to find real solutions that produces real results. I feel that a societal adjusted focus on how we are all more similar than different, how we are all connected, and how we all very literally need each other can help to stir some hearts and minds to approaching our collective social ills with an increased intent of restoration, rehabilitation, wholeness and harmony versus punishment, humiliation, control and vengeance.

References

Schneider, F., Gruman J., & Coutts L. (2012) Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems. Los Angeles, CA: Sage

This week we have been reading about the law and its problems. The legal system and laws that we follow surround us every day, but for some of us the law recently has been directed at me as an American gay man.  There are laws that are in affect to punish us for being gay.  In this week’s blog, I would like to share some personal thoughts and feelings on this matter and tell you some laws in this country and other countries that have been put into place to punish gay men and women.

When I was young, I knew that I was different from other boys, but could not figure out quite what was different until I was in middle school. I realized that I liked boys and I discovered what this was called, being gay. With this discovery, I also found out that society for the most part in the 1980’s deemed it wrong and punishable.  I watched at school how feminine boys were beat up listened to adults talking about how a “fag” was beaten for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. To add insult to injury the police did nothing to stop this. Therefore, at an early age I learned to hide myself from the laws of the schoolchildren and the legal system that hated us.

Legal Entity of the Gay Community

As time passed I looked into the laws, in particular the ones dealing with gays and I would like to share some of the information that I have learned. Homosexuality and American Law, treatment of homosexuals by the law has increasingly suggested that discrimination on homosexuality employees a “suspect classification” subject to “strict scrutiny” under modern Fourteenth Amendment Jurisprudence, with judges and scholars employing language to equate discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation with already forbidden racial discrimination practices (Karlan, 2004).  Not too long ago the state I live in, Texas lifted their law banning sodomy and this past year a video was posted on Facebook that was removed showing two men in the Middle East being hanged for their acts of homosexuality.  When I looked into this issue, I discovered that seven countries Iran, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, and Nigeria put gay and lesbians to death. I am deeply troubled by this matter and could not believe that such barbaric methods were being used against people whose only crime was being who they were born to be.

As of 2014

Out of bitterness can come some sweets.  As of this year, 32 states have legalized same-sex marriage and with public support, the rest of the states will surely follow allowing the right to marry whom they love. For more information please visit the Freedom to Marry website.  With this new openness across the United States, more celebrities are coming out of their star-studded closets to support the gay community and help change laws that have kept them locked in the dark.

Jim Parsons
‘Big Bang Theory’

Sir Ian McKellen
‘Lord of the Rings’

Sarah Paulson
‘American Horror Story’

Laws are slowly changing and will continue to change for the gay community as it did for the African American community but we still have miles to go to reach an equal level as other Americans.  Changes take time and we need to educate those in our community, but in order to reach the rewards it will take hard work and one day we will have new laws to protect the gay community and the old laws abolished that have hurt the community.

Karlan, P. S. (2004). LOVING LAWRENCE. Mich. L. Rev., 102, 1447-2001.

About a month ago, two mentally disabled half-brothers were finally awarded their due process.  After spending more than 30 years wrongfully incarcerated, the “system” decided an error had occurred.  Superior Court Judge Douglas Sasser in North Carolina released them on September 2, 2014.  Henry Lee McCollum who is now 50 years old had spent the longest time in North Carolina history on death row.  His brother, Leon Brown, 46, was serving a life sentence.  The two men were convicted of raping and killing an 11-year-old girl in 1983.  After lengthy interrogations by police officers who pressured them to admit guilt, the two men confessed to the crime.  They were led to believe by the officers during questioning that if they admitted to the crime they would be released (Drew, 2014).  The men tried to rescind their statement more than 226 times, but to no avail.  This is a case involving two Black Americans who are mentally disabled.  Recent DNA evidence has proven that the men were, in fact, innocent.  McCollum and Rice were children at the time of their convictions and were not given their due process.  This could be a case of stereotyping individuals and basing decisions on explicit bias attitudes.

Social psychology finds relations between bias factors and decisions in courtrooms that play an important a role in determining whether a person is guilty or innocent.  After reviewing the circumstances surrounding this case, these two men were accused purely on the investigative interrogation performed by the officers on initial intake.  They were inclined to charge these two teenagers regardless of the facts.    It has been shown that the justice system holds salient racial issues and behaviors.  Psychology has demonstrated that research on prejudice regarding minorities holds a very strong racial bias, especially against Black Americans.  Whites tend to appear non-prejudices, however they remain strong to their stereotypical attitudes and belief .  In regard to courtroom proceedings and criminal cases involving minorities as defendants or the victims, a background factor boils down to the race of the party (Devine, 1989).

Study results that were conducted by Samuel R. Sommers and Phoebe C. Ellsworth, researchers at the University of Michigan determined that race is a key factor in courtrooms. Results portrayed problematic inclination revolving around racism and white jurors.  This could lead to distorting the judicial process.  Another theory would be to have a diversity of juror members.  This might affect racial bias by having fellow jurors that are not the same ethnicity (Sommers, 2007).

Social cognition shows that even today, race is still an issue.  The Implicit Association Test has proven that our perceptions and behaviors are greatly influenced by the race of another individual without even being aware of it.  Through this form of testing, whites have proven to carry beliefs of implicit racial bias against Blacks.  Implicit racial bias and racial stereotypes have proven that in cases of self-defense most individuals perceive violent and dangerous actions to be committed by a Black rather than a White.  Blacks are looked upon as armed and dangerous, and this mindset influences judges and juries when a defendant is Black.

Another factor is that explicit bias and overt discrimination tend to determine a verdict regarding minorities, but these intentional biases can ruin an individual’s life.  The case regarding McCollum and Rice has proven these theories.  Implicit biases can influence how officers, jurors, judges and litigants interpret evidence presented.  It can also interfere with cognitive thinking and reviewing the facts and legal principles that are involved.  Researchers have found that racial attitudes of jurors and their verdicts regarding black defendants and more likely to find a Black defendant guilty than jurors who are not racists (Dovidio, Kawakami, Johnson, Johnson, & Howard, 1997; Dovidio, Smith, Donnella & Gaertner, 1997).

Racial prejudice has been reduced to some degree, however racial bias aimed at Blacks is still common in the legal system today (Schuman, Steeh, Bob, & Krysan. 1997).  Black defendants receive longer terms of incarceration as opposed to white defendants.  Also, black defendants are more likely to be given the death sentence as opposed to whites.  In the case regarding McCollum and Rice, McCollum was given the death penalty sentence for a crime that he did not commit.  This verdict was possibly due to his ethnicity and racial bias attitudes that he was confronted with.

I strongly believe that interventions should take place in regard to our police officers and employees of the judicial system.  Individuals should be trained to recognize their decisions or attitudes when leaning toward a racial bias determination or a stereotyping indication as it unfolds.  Cognitive correction should be made aware of as people will be able to control and reduce their biases as they engage in decision-making for whether an individual is innocent or guilty.  Many states have begun training program to encourage judicial systems to reduce implicit bias in both policing and the judicial system (Gove, 2011).

All in all, our legal systems has failed many minorities, some of whom have been innocently been put to death as a result of implicit and explicit bias attitudes, salient racial issues, and stereotyping individuals due to ethnicity by White jurors.  In the case of these two half-brothers, their lives were stolen from them because of their racial background.  The time has come to put our prejudices down and base our judgments in the courtroom on facts and not be influenced by the color of someone’s skin. We should no longer as a society, or juror in a courtroom deviate from our standards of good judgment or rationality due to cognitive biases.   In other words, we must stop jury verdicts that have the underlying message that implies,  “We the jury find the defendant…not the same ethnicity…guilty on all counts. ”

References

Devine, P.G. (1989). Stereotypes and Prejudice: Their automatic and controlled components. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56, 5-18.

Dovidio,  J.F., Smith, J.K., Donnella, A.G., & Gaertner, S.L. (1997).  Racial attitudes and the death penalty. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 27, 1468-1487.

Drew, J. (2104). North Carolina Judge Overturns Convictions of Two Men In 1983 Killing. Huffington Post.   Retrieved October 14, 2014 at:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/02/north-carolina-convictions-overturned_n_5755904.html

Gove, T. G., (2011) Implicit Bias and Law Enforcement. The Police Chief. International Association of  Chief of Police.

Schuman, H., Steeh, C., Bobo, L., & Krysan, M. (1997). Racial attitudes in America: Trends and interpretations. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Sommers, S. R. (2007). Race and the decision-making of juries. Legal and Criminological Psychology, 12, 171-187.

Following years of incarceration, transitioning back into the community is challenging for many ex-convicts. Lack of housing, finances, employment and positive social support are some of the leading issues that prevent a successful transition for many ex-convicts. As a way to ensure fair opportunity and a successful transition, the Wisconsin correction system provides prisoner reentry services to inmates in the prison system and to offenders that are under community supervision. The Wisconsin prisoner reentry program is unique in that the program is not designed to address offender needs after they are released from a correction facility but instead the onset of the program occurs once an offender enters the prison system.

The prisoner reentry program identifies multiple elements involved in the process of reintegrating an offender back into the community. The program stresses the importance of “communication, coordination and information sharing among and between the institution, community corrections, offender, victim(s), and the offender’s community formal and informal support networks” (Carmichael & Bauer, n.d., P. 6). With individualized case planning and risk assessment, the program addresses critical success factors such as employment, housing, and education, treatment strategies and the facilitation of healthy social support network.

An inmate enters the beginning phase of the Wisconsin reentry program once they are admitted into the prison system (Carmichael & Bauer, n.d., P. 6). After sentencing, “corrections conducts an assessment and evaluation to identify the offender’s program and treatment needs, including education, clinical, medical and social needs” (Carmichael & Bauer, n.d., P. 8). Institutional placement is then determined after the offender’s initial assessment is completed. Following the entrance evaluation and assessment, the offender is reassessed at least every twelve months to determine the effectiveness of the proposed treatment plan (Carmichael & Bauer, n.d., P. 8).

During the second phase of the program, the offender undergoes various treatments that are determined during the time of their initial assessment. It is estimated that approximately forty-six percent of adult inmates lack a high school diploma, so the reentry program provides extensive education and vocational training (Carmichael & Bauer, n.d., P. 8). The education and vocational program grants inmates advancing academic opportunities, career counseling, specialized employment training and parenting classes. It is estimated that the reading and math ability of over half of the adults incarcerated is below a ninth grade level so the educational program strives to equip inmates with basic skills to extend academic and employment opportunities (Carmichael & Bauer, n.d., P. 8). Next to education and vocational training, an offender may also participate in anger management and domestic violence programs, individual and group counseling and cognitive intervention. The second phase of the Wisconsin reentry program demonstrates a strong emphasis on rehabilitation (Carmichael & Bauer, n.d., P. 9).

Similar to the second phase, the third phase of the program stresses recovery but also begins to concentrate on reintegration.  During the third phase of the Wisconsin reentry program, offenders are provided with employment training services. During this phase of the program, individuals are urged to create a resume, participate in job search training and begin job development and placement. Offenders are granted work release opportunities and subsidized employment prior to their release (Carmichael & Bauer, n.d., P. 10). The primary goal during this phase is to ensure that offenders can secure employment before their release.

The fourth phase of the program focuses on the actual transitioning period. During this phase, offenders are transferred from a correction facility and placed into community-based residential facilities (Carmichael & Bauer, n.d., P. 10). The supervised residential facilities provide offenders with a structured living environment while they begin to transition back into the community. While living at the facility, the offender is required to maintain employment and continue to participate in treatment programs that are outlined in their assessment and evaluation. During this phase of the program, the offender is encouraged to work on establishing healthy interpersonal relationships and developing an extensive formal and informal social support network.

Wisconsin’s prison systems reentry program is aimed at reducing recidivism by ensuring that every offender is offered an opportunity to reintegrate back into the community. Since 1993, Wisconsin has seen a steady decrease in recidivism rates. Between 1993 and 2009, the recidivism rate in Wisconsin dropped by over thirty percent (Wisconsin Department of Corrections, 2014, Para. 1). The Wisconsin reentry program closely follows Maxwell Jones core principals of a therapeutic community approach as it, clearly, strives to “bring about changes in attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors that lead to a healthier and more adaptive lifestyle on return to the community that the lifestyle that led the person to be admitted into the facility in the first place” (Schneider, Gruman & Coutts, 2012, P. 269).

References

Carmichael, C., & Bauer, J. M. (n.d.). Wisconsin Prisoner Reentry Programs . Retrieved October 18, 2014

Recidivism. (2014, June). In Wisconsin Department of Corrections. Retrieved October 18, 2014

Schneider, F. W., Gruman, J. A., & Coutts, L. M. (Eds.). (2012). Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems (Second ed., pp. 269). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.

A couple of years ago I was summoned to jury duty for a criminal case. Prior to this experience, I had little knowledge of the process. I had always thought that a jury is selected randomly with the only limitation being as to whether or not an individual has knowledge of the case. To my surprise it is quite a process.
A criminal case requires 12 jurors, a civil case needs 6. There is a jury pool is selected randomly, however the selection of jurors from the pool is not random. The process that each prospective juror must go through is a procedure called a voire dire, which in French means to speak the truth. Voire dire is the process of examination of prospective jurors which determines their suitability for a particular case, in order to ensure a fair and impartial jury (www.americnbar.org). The men and women are individually screened, asked questions about their interest in the trial, their age, sex, occupation, and education. The attorneys on the case will examine the prospects as well; looking at body language and race. Even details in how a person is dressed can influence whether or not you’re selected to be on the jury.

During this process the lawyers have the opportunity to use “strikes” to disqualify a prospective juror. There are two types of strikes that can be used. First there are strikes “for cause” which can be used if a juror expresses a bias that can he or she can be disqualified for. There are several juror prejudices that can interfere with a fair trial if not eliminated from the jury panel. First there is interest prejudice, which is whether or not the juror has a particular interest in the outcome; the juror may be a relative to a witness, or knows the defendant. Specific prejudice refers to beliefs and attitudes which would interfere with the juror’s ability to be impartial and generic prejudice are more general attitudes which can also interfere, such as racist or sexist attitudes (Schneider, Gruman, & Coutts, 2012). Also a lawyer may us “peremptory” strikes which can be used for any reason, with the exception of race.
At any rate, I was eliminated from the jury pool. The reason I was eliminated was because my step mother’s son is the police officer that arrested the defendant. I was relieved, though a bit curious about what it would have been like to go through the entire trial.

Information on jury selection process retrieved October 13, 2014 from the World Wide Web: http://www.americanbar.org/groups/public_education/resources/law_related_educ ation_network/how_courts_work/juryselect.html

Schneider, F., Gruman, J., Coutts, L. (2012). Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems (2nd ed.) Los Angeles: Sage.

Since the creation in 1952 of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM), the go to book for the classification and diagnosis of mental disorders in the fields of Psychiatry and Psychology, there have been issues with its content and use. The main problem, and it’s a HUGE problem, is the reliability and validity of the text. As it stands it seems not to be a consistent reliable measure and it doesn’t seem to measure the intended variables or constructs accurately as well. In fact, Thomas R. Insel, M.D., Director of the NIMH has recently stated the agency would no longer fund research projects that rely exclusively on DSM criteria due to its lack of validity (Insel, 2013). The treatment of symptoms versus making sound diagnosis’ has been the modus operandi of most therapists due to this serious flaw in the text. The inability to determine causality of symptoms is also a serious issue and would seem to greatly shake the legs that support the claim of psychotherapy to be a true science in the classic sense. How, if possible, can these issues be resolved within the framework of the scientific method? And are there possibly any answers that may lie outside this framework that could help? It would seem that at the end of the day the healing of hurting and unhappy people is more important than trying to shore up an academic ideology that is clearly failing in its attempts to play a role its not suited for

In April of this year I sat on a discussion panel at Long Island University in Brooklyn, New York with four PhD psychologists, a Licensed Mental Health Counselor, and a Registered Nurse/Massage Therapist to speak to graduate students and currently practicing psychotherapists on the subject of “Spiritually, Mental Health and Well-being.” This was the title of the event. Even though I am just an undergrad student in psychology at Penn State, the facilitator of the event knew of my eastern medicine background in psychology that I have been practicing for 15 years now. It seems that there is a crisis especially in the realms of clinical and counseling psychology where things are just not going right when trying to psychotherapeutic work “by the book.” Students and therapists spoke of frustrations with diagnosis’ and assessments when using the DSM, they had issues and concerns with objectivity and subjectivity in dealing with their patients, and they were just plain lost, untrained and unprepared to deal with issues of spirituality that arose in their sessions. Their textbooks and teachers had very little to say about this most elusive of unquantifiable variables. This situation, I have heard from speaking with many practicing professionals, is wide spread. And the ever increasing disappointing and damaging results of pharmaceutical-based psychiatry are more and more troubling. This practice parallels the drug cartel like proliferation of pharmaceutical medicines fostered on the American public by drug companies and physicians to treat both major and mundane conditions regardless of the side effects.

So what do we do then? If we are going to be scientists and work within the realm of the scientific method we must create interventions based on experimental models that feature variables we can actually operationalize and measure. We also need to be as far removed from our experiments or our presence will “contaminate” the results and we won’t get good data, good information, or what’s considered to be the scientific “truth.” No one seems to have an idea of what should be done. There’s no other book or guide, no other standard that is academically respectable to the western view of healing and knowledge to turn to. So therapists seem to focus on treating symptoms only while not understanding the casualty of what they are treating, and are “winging it” to fill in the blanks. I must say at this point that I am speaking in broad generalities. There are plenty of sensitive and hard working therapists that do the best they can with what they have, but they often come up on the short end using the tools they’ve been given to help people heal. Also I happen to be a lover of science. Before getting into psychology I worked in engineering and am considering, after getting my master’s in psychology, to return to school to study physics just for fun. But when it comes to treating the “study of the soul” like other sciences we run into serious trouble. We also run into trouble when we ignore history and other cultures that have hundreds and thousands of years on us in the healing department.

I feel a big part of the problem with the DSM and a general lack of understanding of causality in mental disorders, is the fallacy that the fields of psychiatry and psychology make an attempt to be sciences in line with physics or chemistry when in fact they are actually more art than science. The late philosopher Alan Watts in a lecture before a group of psychotherapists in 1969, spoke of “the amazing superficiality of it all” in referring to western psychotherapy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wz_wiaTe5ug He went on to say a great many thought provoking things including that psychotherapists were not scientists so much as they are artists. Healing artists. And this is something from my years of personal experience I highly concur with. Being an artist would feel, I suppose very daunting and complicated to one trained in objectivity and logic like scientists generally are. The artistic spirit is one of self immersion into ones art in order to create a satisfying end result whether that’s a great piece of music, an inspiring painting or helping a person heal integrally on all levels of their being, This artistic or dare I say spiritual or transcendent aspect that Watts speaks of is, I feel, the complex situation spoken of in the following quote by DSM-III chief architect Robert Spitzer and DSM-IV editor Michael First in 2005, “little progress has been made toward understanding the pathophysiological processes and etiology of mental disorders. If anything, the research has shown the situation is even more complex than initially imagined, and we believe not enough is known to structure the classification of psychiatric disorders according to etiology” (Spitzer & First, 2005).

Unlike the western method of psychotherapy and medicine in general, eastern medicine and specifically Chinese medicine takes a much broader view of life and has a different more inclusive scientific method. For those who have never looked, eastern medicines 3,000 year history is replete with experiments, case studies, tons of empirical tests and data, volumes and volumes of books, lots of clinical data, and famous medical practitioners that were lauded for their skills, insight and for moving the healing arts forward. Chinese medicine has an etiology for a myriad of conditions physical, emotional and mental, and this is due in great part because unlike western medicine, eastern medicine has a working definition of health, that being in short, the smooth and natural movement of Chi or life-force energy within the body, which though it cant be quantified in western terms can be observed, felt, experienced, qualified and documented in very empirical terms (Hammer, 2012). The best resource on this topic is a book called Dragon Rises, Red Bird Flies by Dr. Leon Hammer, who is both an M.D. Psychiatrist and Doctor of Chinese medicine (Hammer, 2012). Although there are fundamental differences in the approaches, both eastern and western medicine and psychotherapy can live quite harmoniously with one another to great healing effect. I have seen this many times and have used this blending approach if you will myself. In fact I always use it. We are already seeing more and more signs of traditional psychotherapy opening up to meditation, awareness practices, focused breathing and other methods of therapy that were once given the cold shoulder, but I think foundationally there needs to be a shift in how academia regards what psychotherapy really is. As far as I can see most of the new openness in embracing eastern concepts hasn’t necessarily been by the curious and open minded, but has been born more and more out of necessity. It seems nature is trying to tell us something about healing if we would just listen.

What is to become of the DSM? Where will classically trained psychotherapists go for an understanding of etiology that is in harmony with symptomology? What will therapists do with clients that need to deal with the unmeasurable aspects of their lives and experiences that are “transcendent” but are subjectively a very real part of themselves? There are ways to do this. There is information that exists. There is an overwhelming body of knowledge that exists on dealing with these very questions. Again my knowledge only extends to Chinese medicine and by further extension Japanese medicine. The Indian auyervedic traditions and other medical traditions around the globe have a lot to offer if the leaders and policy makers in academia would care to look. Until then it seems that small pockets of individuals and groups are piecing together their own workable fusions of east and west in order to help their clients and patients. Maybe in time this will produce a text or a methodology that may replace the DSM. But if the academic powers that be insist on continually squeezing psychotherapy into the scientific method mold, even if they throw out the DSM, whatever new guide comes of this will still go the way of the DSM. It’s time for new, fresh thought on the subject and an opening up to what’s right before our eyes. Fear, ignorance, and pride need to be put on the side which can be a tall order! Spirit, if you will, has way too many intangible variables to quantify. The nebulous playground of spirit and energy is where eastern medicine lives and does its thing. It seems to me that a practice, culture or method that has a proven track record over millennia and tons of empirical data to back it, and that is expert in dealing with such complex intangible variables should be given an honest critical look on it’s own terms (not necessarily the scientific method!) as to how it might solve some of the problems troubling traditional psychotherapy today. Jus’ sayin’!

References

Hammer, L. (2010). Dragon Rises, Red Bird Flies. Barrytown, NY: Station Hill Press.

Insel, Tom. “NIMH Director”. Director’s Blog. NIMH Website. Retrieved October 12, 2014.

Spitzer and First (2005) Classification of Psychiatric Disorders. JAMA.2005; 294: 1898-1899.

Diversity can be seen in all aspects of life.  Every person is different.  The differences in people’s culture, gender, and background can be seen as a way to define who people are.  In order to understand each other and get along, intergroup relations should be positive and equal. 

When people are different from each other, stereotypes can be formed.  This is the beliefs about behaviors and attributes of people in certain groups (Schneider, Gruman, & Coutts, 2012 ).  Often times, stereotypes are formed and are not an accurate belief of who people really are.  This type of miss judgment can cause people to be discriminated against.  Discrimination is when there is an action directed toward a person or group based on their membership (Schneider, Gruman, & Coutts, 2012).

Although stereotypes and discrimination can happen to many different types of people, African Americans are one group of people that find themselves discriminated against.  When thinking about this, schools do not always make it easy to prevent discrimination. 

Although I have been out of high school for a few years, my oldest nephews go to high school. Since this school is from a small town, we only graduate about 40 people a year.  With that being said, there are few African Americans in the school.  Last week at my nephew’s football game, there was one African American on the team.  While most of the players seemed to have a close relationship, this child was only talking to a few of the other players.  When questioning my nephews about this, they had informed me that some player’s parents did not want their child being friends with hi, because his family may be involved in violence and drugs.  This type of stereotype is often seen when referring to other races.

Unfortunately these parents were stereotyping this child and allowing their children to discriminate against this child just because of his race.  The parents should have encouraged contact hypothesis, or the group work of people from different backgrounds. To do so, the children would be equal.  This would allow them to play better together and be able to share a goal of winning.  With this contact hypothesis, the children would also be able to get to know each other and decrease the discrimination since they would know how the child really behaves.

References

Schneider, F. W., Gruman, J. A., & Coutts, L. M. (Eds.) (2012). Applied Social

Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems (2nd ed.).

Job satisfaction is an integral part of who I personally am. In 2001 I enlisted into the United States Marine Corps for an opportunity to play the flute and piccolo with the 2d Marine Aircraft Wing Band. For three years that was my job. At first I enjoyed the job, but it became more of a chore versus a love. When that happened, I knew it was time to move on.

In 2005 I had three options in front of me as my military contract was coming to an end. I could reenlist and continue to be miserable doing something I no longer wished to be doing, I could separate and return to the civilian sector (we jokingly call it 1st Civilian Division (Civ Div for short), or I could attempt a lateral move into something that I had a passion for. Fortunately, despite a few mountains that needed to be climbed, I was given the opportunity to lateral move. For the past ten years I have been a Career Planner (counselor) for Marines currently serving (both active and reserve). For seven of those ten years I thoroughly enjoyed what I was doing – until I realized one day that there was something far more greater that I wanted to achieve. Since 2009 I had a new goal in mind – get my Doctorate in Psychology and become a practicing psychologist with the Department of Veterans Affairs and help our nation’s heroes who are currently suffering from Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. While I still enjoy my job per say – I did find myself slipping into the same feelings as before where my job started to become more like a chore day after day.

Two of the biggest approaches currently used for job satisfaction are global approach, and facet approach (Schneider, Gruman, & Coutts, 2012). If I were to analyze my thoughts with job satisfaction from the standpoint of the global approach (consideration for overall job satisfaction) I would answer the question, “All things considered, how satisfied are you with your job?” I would answer around a 3.5 (Schneider et al., 2012). I am still satisfied – just not highly satisfied.

However, if I look at it from the facet approach (more sophisticated since job satisfaction is determined by feelings and attitudes regarding different key facets of the job) it would look differently (Schneider et al., 2012). I am highly satisfied multiple aspects of the job that include benefits, relationships with coworkers and supervisors, and the quality of supervision. I like standardization and structure and my supervisors give me just what I need in that area. Where I am currently struggling with job satisfaction is with promotion opportunities, and pay. For me personally – I will never see another promotion due to my own actions (I refused to extend/reenlist for orders as my plans are to exit the service next year at the conclusion of my contract so that I can continue my education at the graduate level), but that is not what is bothering me. What bothers me about promotion opportunities is seeing my fellow junior brothers and sisters miss out on promotion opportunities because of the current policies and procedures set in place to regulate the military drawdown. Good people are being sent home and released from active duty that want to remain Marine. The same principle applies to the pay. Personally, my pay is fine enough for me, however I do think the pay at the lower levels is way too low for the amount of work that we ask of the junior guys. When I hear about bill proposals to cut military pay, stop pay raises, etc – it creates the job satisfaction that I feel. As senior leadership we should be doing everything we can to help and assist the junior guys and I just feel that it is not happening – especially when bills are being proposed to lower their already low pay.

In conclusion, as I stated before, for me job satisfaction means a lot. If I am unhappy doing something it often means that it is time to move on. At this stage – the politics of the job – as explained above – are creating and adding fuel to the fire for my lessening of job satisfaction. With lower job satisfaction, I feel as though I am only hurting the Marines I am trying my best to take care of. There just comes a time when the reigns need to be passed, and I fully believe my time has come.

References
Schneider, F.W., Gruman, J.A., & Coutts, L.M. (2012). Applied Social Psychology Understanding and
Addressing Social and Practical Problems (Second ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

Friendships, winning, leadership, and excitement are what sports seem to be about.  The reality is, sports teams have dynamics that go together in order for a team to succeed.   Communication, cohesion, and team building are ways applied social psychology can be seen in sports teams.

While sports teams are working together for a goal, they are also looking for a satisfaction from the sport.  While becoming satisfied and sticking together, cohesion is being formed (Schneider, Gruman, & Coutts, 2012).  In order for a team to be able to successfully bond and work toward a goal, they must talk and interact.  When doing so, a communication is happening.  This is when information is being exchanged.  For most sports teams, this is important because the way they call plays and help each other out is through communication.

Team building is also another important aspect of sports teams.  This is when the internal social dynamic of the team is improved by interventions (Schneider, Gruman, & Coutts, 2012).  These interventions allow the team to relate to each other and form a bond.  This interaction will help them play better as a team.

I played softball, basketball, volleyball, and cheerleading throughout my high school years.  With that being said, my traveling softball team is where communication, cohesion, and team building was used the most.  Since each player was from different areas around my city, we did not know each other when we first joined the team.  This caused us to have trouble with cohesion.  We found that even though we all wanted to be better players and win, we had trouble sticking together as a team when we needed each other.   Our coaches used partner techniques that focused on allowing us to get to know each other.  At the beginning of the first practice we introduced ourselves and told the other players about ourselves.  They would also have us partner up with different team members to throw at the start of every practice.  This gave us time to work on our skills while socializing with each other.  With these techniques, our internal social dynamic improved.  As we started to bond, our cohesion also improved because we communicated better with each other.  As the team formed a better understanding of each other and our skills, we stuck together and had a common goal of winning.

While it may seem that playing sports is all about skill, it is not.  Communication, cohesion, and team building allow teams to play better together which is what sports is about, playing as a team.  Without a common goal and social dynamic, sport teams would have trouble playing well as a team.  Each player may be great, but there is no I in team.  It takes a whole team to win a game.

Schneider, F. W., Gruman, J. A., Coutts, L. M. (Eds.) (2012). Applied Social Psychology:

                                     Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems (2^nd ed.).

While entering my last year of undergraduate coursework, I have been tirelessly preparing for graduate school. Mulling over an endless list of graduate programs and carefully considering all options, I compiled a list of programs that best fit my academic and career objectives. Excited about the prospect of advancing my education and taking the next step in achieving my career goals, I selected the school at the top of my list and began the task of completing the application.  After a long journey of piecing together all the application requirements and composing well-reflected essays, my efforts paid off, and I was selected for an interview. Prior to attending, I dedicated time towards researching and preparing myself for possible questions that may be asked during the interview. Although, unbeknown to me at the time, there was little I could do to prepare myself for what I was about to encounter.

The interview was on a Friday and scheduled to last all day. Selected candidates were asked to check-in at eight-thirty in the morning and were not expected to finish until about three o’clock in the afternoon. The interview began with all candidates and committee members gathering in a large room. During the first half hour, prospective students and committee members did a formal introduction. After the initial introduction, candidates were divided into three groups and taken to separate rooms to be evaluated during a prearranged group activity. The group I was selected to be in was paired with another group so, including myself, there were a total of four candidates. During the group activity, we were presented with a box that was filled with various objects and asked to use the materials to construct a presentation. After being provided with a topic, we were given thirty-minutes to arrange a presentation and fifteen minutes to present it to the committee. Once we completed the presentation, we were then required to participate in a thirty-minute long group discussion.

During the process of creating a presentation and maintaining a group discussion, the committee was sitting nearby and assessing our performance. Aware that our performance was under close evaluation, we would often look to the committee in search for some type of feedback. The evaluating committee, however, would not provide us with any feedback and throughout the entire process they steadily maintained an emotionless expression. From time-to-time, members would jot down notes but that was the extent of the feedback we received throughout the entire evaluation.

After finishing the first half of the interview process, we took a break for lunch in the cafeteria. While sitting in the cafeteria, candidates from the other group also came down for lunch. As I began talking with candidates from the other group about the morning events, I quickly discovered that their experience was entirely different from what my group had encountered. The other group was required to create a presentation and participate in a group discussion but, instead of being unresponsive, the evaluating committee members provided the group with feedback. According to one of the candidates, the committee members were asking questions and even engaged in their group discussion.

The variation in experience immediately grabbed my attention. After learning about the difference in experience, I sat back and began to observe the candidates. While observing, I noticed a significant difference in attitude and perspective. The group that received feedback appeared much more enthusiastic and hopeful about being accepted into the program. They looked relaxed and even optimistic about moving forward with the rest of the interview process. The group that I was in did not appear to share the same level of enthusiasm as the other group displayed. My group spent a lot of time questioning their performance and was much more doubtful about gaining admission into the program. There was an increased level of anxiety, and we were all, including myself, nervous about what the rest of the interview process was going to entail.

The second half of the process was, thankfully, not nearly as stressful, but the morning events seemed to set the tone for the rest of the day. Towards the end of the interview, candidates outside of my group exhibited a similar level of enthusiasm and members within my group continued to express some uncertainty. I cannot explain why there was such a difference in the committee’s approach, but I am certain it was not a negative reflection of the candidates’ performance. There did, however, appear to be a direct relationship between the committee’s approach and the candidate’s behavior and perception. This particular experience explores several different theories. Although, in relation to theories in organization, the committee’s approach and the influence that it had on the candidate’s behavior serves to illustrate the effects of communication and nonverbal feedback.

Blog 2 – Organizations

Organizations can come in many forms, whether it be religious organizations sports or work. The most common would be work as it is something that drives us all and allows for us to become financial stable as well as use our education and form relationships. When it comes to organizations they can sometimes be difficult to navigate and overwhelming to enter into. According to French and Raven there are five bases of power;

1. Reward – the ability to influence by providing a pleasant outcome
2. Coercive – the ability to influence by punishment
3. Expert – the ability to influence through skilled knowledge and/or experience with a subject
4. Referent – the ability to influence through admiration
5. Legitimate – the ability to influence through official position in an organization
(Merchant 2014)

When it comes to organizations often we think of Coercive and legitimate. These two make us think of bosses and supervisors. This in positions of power who are worried about staying in control or moving forward and less concerned about the advancement of those who work under them other than to use them to get ahead themselves.

According to this week’s lesson of PSYCH424 from Pennsylvania State University, “Organizations are virtual minefields when it comes to interpersonal relations. It is often the case that people who do not know each other, are not compatible, or who do not even like each other are thrown together in organizations and expected to work together harmoniously and productively. That is a lot to ask, but that is how many things get done in our society” (PSU, Psych424 L7, P.1). This is often true however this is also how relationships (professional and personal) are formed. Something common that organizations have begun doing is using testing during interviewing or applications to get a better understanding of a candidate’s personality. If you have taken previous Psychology courses you have most likely learned about the Big 5 personality traits. Organizations use this to determine if the person is compatible with their organization and current workers which may lower chances of conflict or bullying. You can find the test at; http://www.outofservice.com/bigfive/.

Another element that plays a large role in organizations id teams. Team are groups of people that work together to complete a task that will benefit the organization. Often we do not see the full team we simply see the person heading the team such as the supervisor, manager of CEO. These people are often in power and often rewarded for the work of the whole team. These teams often consist of people who all offer different specialty’s to the organization. This week’s lesson gave a perfect example of how groups or teams have developed overtime. For example in the past a farmer may have sold his good directly to merchants or store owners. However as time and society has developed and organizations such as farming and goods has increased in size the farmer would take on a chain of individuals who work on his behalf to sell his goods. In today’s society larger groups are required in order to complete a task successfully.

References
John, O. D. (2009). The Big five Personality test. Retrieved from Out of Service: http://www.outofservice.com/bigfive/
Merchant, P. (2014). 5 Sources of Power in Organizations. Retrieved from Chron, Small Business: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/5-sources-power-organizations-14467.html
Pennsylvania State University World Campus (2014, October). PSYCH 424 Lesson 7: The Environment. Retrieved from https://courses.worldcampus.psu.edu/fa14/psych424/001/content/08_lesson/05_page.html

While reading the chapter on applied social psychology and organizations, I kept going back to my experience working part time as a secretary over this past summer at my father’s manufacturing company.  It was just twelve weeks.  I had to fill in for a secretary that was on maternity leave.  Part of my job was to sit in on meetings and take notes.  Sometimes the meetings would be with prospective customers, employees, or lawyers in regards to various business affairs.  As I read over the parts in chapter 10 about nonverbal communication my observations in this one particular meeting kept coming to mind.

The meeting was with a group of employees from the manufacturing plant.  The goal of the meeting was to discuss with the employees the overall sense of unity in the workplace and the work ethic.  The idea was to improve these, thus improve production.  There were six employees in attendance; the plant manager, the head of production, the shipping manager, and three general laborers.  As the employees entered the meeting room and greeted my father the nonverbal communication was evident.  My father, the president, was welcoming.  His body language was open and he made a point to make eye contact with each of his employees and greeted each one with either a handshake or a pat on the back with a brief and friendly conversation.  The vice president on the other hand offered them a minimal verbal greeting with a stern face and voice to go with.  She made no attempt to converse beyond a hello and her arms were either crossed or on her hips and she made very little eye contact.  My father covered all the bases of nonverbal behaviors that are considered the mark of good leadership.  His vice president definitely missed the mark.

When the meeting opened the president took a seat at the head of the table, his vice president to his right, and all of the employees sat on one side of the table.  None of them sat next to the vice president.  She actually prompted the employees to spread out a bit, and asked two of them to change their seats to be seated next to her.  As the meeting moved forward the employees engaged in sharing their ideas in regards to improving the work ethic and team work in the shop.  As they spoke my father leaned forward, focused on them.  He was listening and attentive to what they had to say.  Anyone could easily tell that the employees felt respected and returned that to my father.  The vice president was sitting back with her hands clenched together on the table.  When she did speak she often challenged what the employees were talking about, but not to be the devil’s advocate.  It was more like she was giving them the third degree, rather than seeking further thought and feedback from them.  Her facial expression didn’t change much from the stern look that was on her face when they had entered the room.  The employees did not engage with her as they did with the President, and I feel strongly that it is because of her nonverbal cues.  I’m not sure if she was having a bad day, or if this was her way of letting her employees know who is in charge.

In addition to the nonverbal communication styles, there was a conversation that happened before the employees arrived for the meeting.  The vice president was filling me on this one employee’s life story that would be attending the meeting.  She told me all about his struggle with alcoholism, how he went to rehab, and painted a very negative picture of his performance as an employee.  However, I know that before he had gone to rehab he was one of the employees that my father raved about.  He went to a rehabilitation clinic on his own accord, and has been sober for just over a year.  It seemed that because of his struggle with alcohol that she thought of him as a terrible employee.  The way she spoke of him was very negative and to me extremely unprofessional.  This impression she has of her employee based only on his struggle with booze is the perfect example of the halo effect.  The halo effect is a general impression of an individual based on a single characteristic (Schneider, Gruman, & Coutts, 2012).

Needless to say, it was an interesting experience to sit in on some of my father’s business meetings.  I got to experience a lot of different group communication styles, and now feel compelled to get my father’s vice president a book on nonverbal communication skills.  I think that my father showed a tremendous amount of leadership, and the employees admired him and are undoubtedly more motivated to work productively.  I’m not certain why his vice president doesn’t follow suit.  I would imagine that her style of communication throws a wrench in what works well for the company.

References

Schneider, F., Gruman, J., Coutts, L. (2012).  Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems (2nd ed.) Los Angeles: Sage.

“Holier than thou” was the way my former boss described me to the company owner behind my back. When this comment finally made its way to my ear, I had no idea why she would say such a thing about me. In light of my recent promotion, my relationship with my boss seemed great. Unfortunately, the power of my new position had gone to my head and I was the last person in the office to notice. This event in my life can also be interpreted as Kipnis, Castel, Gergen, and Mauch’s (1976) Metamorphic Model of Power, which is otherwise known as the idea that having power changes people and many changes are undesirable such as my attitude in this situation.

Working as a designer of vinyl wall decals, inside of a small family-owned business was a dream. I was able to wear what I wanted and had positive relationships with my coworkers. We worked as a team, in a joint effort, in order to complete tasks effectively and in a timely manner. When my boss was offered a promotion, she came to me to offer me her position as the lead designer. This meant that I would be in charge of two junior designers and I graciously accepted her offer.

With this new position, I felt more confident than ever. I got such a sense of importance when I was asked questions. Little did I know, this was the first effect of power in Kipnis, Castell, Gergen, and Mauch’s (1976) Metamorphic Model of Power. Eventually, when I was asked what I perceived as a simple question with a widely-known answer, I became annoyed. I often offered a short response that was dripping with sarcasm. Some days I would notice that I had poor attitude, but most of the time I did not. This represented the second part of Kipnis, Castell, Gergen, and Mauch’s (1976) model as I was devaluing others. It later came to my attention that other people were noticing, too.

On top of forfeiting my positive working relationships, I was also not fitting my relationship role within the company, which affected the task roles of others. This made tasks difficult to finish and an overall inefficient company. As a solution, I apologized to my coworkers and thought more about my responses before I said them. This was not the easiest solution, because the power still tried to creep into my head, but eventually we were able to form a stable workplace again.

Kipnis, D., Castell, J., Gergen, M., & Mauch, D. (1976). Metamorphic effects of power. Journal of Applied Psychology, 61(2), 127-135.

            When we think of inter-group relations, we might think our job, friends, or what we see on television.  When I think inter-group relations, I automatically go back to high school. What better place to pull examples of prejudice, discrimination, social identity theory, and social dominance theory. It is all here under one roof, now keep in mind when I was in high school it was the height of the 1980’s and fashion played an important role in the a fore mentioned theories that we will discuss.

Let us start with inter-group relations that tell us that we size a person up when we meet them.  Evolutionary psychologists say that our ancestors used this theory to see if they would welcome a stranger into the tribe.  They based this on eye and skin color and similarities to themselves.  This served a purpose as to keep diseases that would wipe the tribe out (Applying Social Psychology to Diversity, 2012). This practice was still being used in my high school with the same foundation as our ancestors. When a new student would show up to school, they were instantly sized up, first by what they wore, such as Espree, Polo, Swatch, etc. Secondly, their social skills were observed.  Finally, their demographics were looked at such as how much money their parents had and what kind of car they drove.  Once this assessment was done, the new person was placed in a group and the other groups treated like you did not even exist. You really had no choice at our school in these matters.  Therefore, we can see that appearances were very important much as they were to our ancestors.  This leads us to prejudice and discrimination.

The definition of prejudice given to us by Webster’s dictionary is an injury or damage resulting from judgment or action of another in disregard of ones rights.  In our high school, there were only two students of non-white descent. They were treated fairly but were not included in any of the groups in the social hierarchy, nor were they ever invited to any social gatherings. The definition of discrimination given to us by Webster’s dictionary is the practice of unfairly treating a person or group of people differently from other people or groups of people.  For my high school, this meant the groups in which you did not belong discriminated against you and the lines of social hierarchy were rarely crossed.

Allport (1954) argued “that people put together and working to a mutual goal would form a bond or reduce tensions between groups” (Applying Social Psychology to Diversity, 2012). I am afraid that he would have been poorly disappointed in our school.  We were placed in classes together and had to work together toward an academic goal but no bond was formed. In extracurricular activities, a show was put on for others that we were getting along but boundaries remained untouched.  Therefore, for Gordon’s hypothesis it failed like a cement balloon at our school.

What does Social Identity Theory mean?  It means that we act one way when we are in a certain group or environment than when we are alone.  An example of this is, when in school we all put up a front to be the person that our groups want us to be.  One of my close friends, when she was alone, liked to not wear makeup and lounge around in sweat pants and read, but in our school setting, she played the pretty, silly, typical blonde cheerleader.  For myself when I was in high school I was in the closet and maintained the illusion of being straight by dating many girls in high school so that my social group would not ostracize me. Within Social Identity Theory, there is the idea of personal identity and social identity.

Personal identity is simply defined as “the factors such as age, race, and sex that places us into groups” (Brewer & Gardner, 1996).  It also involves “characteristics of people so the bio-social markers also create a personal identity including also all of the aspects of the self that are unique to the individual and which are used to define the individual” (Brewer & Gardner, 1996).  The best way to match this with an example from our school would be the athletic department. If you were a guy with skills, football would be the top choice, basketball would be the second choice and therefore classified as a “jock” and looked up to by the school to put us on the high school map. If you were a girl who was peppy and flexible, you would try out for the cheerleaders, and if you were very pretty and flexible, you tried out for the school dance team, which was considered a higher social status than cheerleader was.  Both groups were considered athletic but designed for the different sexes and talents of the students.

Social identity as translated by my classmates and myself is what group you belong to, defined who you were.  If you were popular and beautiful, you ruled the school. If you were athletic you gave pride to the school, however if you stood on the sidelines and did not wear what was in style you were considered an outcast. Now the groups have grown to encompass many other types therefore creating a more diverse selection of groupings. For us we had the less complex groupings, such as jocks, nerds, and popular kids.

The last theory to be discussed is the Social Dominance Theory.  What this means is that there is an indication that “society is arranged by a system of group based hierarchies and that people within those groups are typically motivated to behave in ways that maintain these hierarchies” (Pratto, Sidnaius, & Levin, 2006; Sidnaius & Pratto, 1999). In our school this defined the hierarchy as the “popular” and their duty was to maintain the popular borders of the school and all lower social structures within the school. A good quote that comes to mind for this comes from “The Fellowship of the Rings” when Gandalf says, “You Shall Not Pass!”

Some of you might think our school was mean and unjust, but it was the 1980’s at a private school in Utah and things were done differently and we dealt with it. Things are better but the social structure of inter-group relations is still at work on high school campuses all over.  These types of structures will always be in existence at high schools, however it is our job to help teach the younger generations to be proud of whom they are and not allow themselves to put into a mold and conform to the social norms.

References

Allport, G.W. (1954). The nature of prejudice. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.

Applying Social Psychology to Diversity. (2012). In F. Schneider, J. Gruman, & L. Coutts (Eds.),Applied social psychology: Understanding and addressing social and practical problems(2nd ed.). Los Angeles: Sage.

Brewer, M., & Gardner, W. (1996). Who is this “we”? Levels of collective identity and self-representations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71, 83-93.

Pratto, F., Sidanius, J., & Levin, S. (2006). Social dominance theory and the dynamics of intergroup relations: Taking stock and looking forward. European Review of Social Psychology, 17, 271-320.

Sidanius, J., & Pratto, F. (1999). Social dominance: An intergroup theory of social hierarchy and oppression. New York: Cambridge University Press.

The social dominance theory can affect all walks of life, not just individuals of different ethnicity or low socioeconomic conditions.  I am a survivor of such a hypothesis.

Attending a private high school did have its advantages, but on the downside, challenges regarding status and competitions were fierce.  Instructors, faculty, and coaches had a group bias mentally when it came to choosing students for certain sports, activities, and positions.  The group-based hierarchies included students who came from very affluent families, some with political ties and others with professional parents.  These students were looked upon as “special,”  the in-group, while the others, like myself, were considered the out-group.

Having friends and other students who fell into the same status level as I, created a support system within our group.  We did not allow the dominance of the wealthy and professional families hurt our ego or challenge our efforts to strive, or resort to legitimizing beliefs.  The social dominance theory demonstrates how subordinate groups will struggle to keep things at a status quo as opposed to joining a dominant group.  This is where the concept of legitimizing myths come into play (Sidanius  & Pratto, 1999).  The social hierarchies can force a person to desire high power and status.  This social dominance motivates individuals to keep themselves in those hierarchies  (Pratto et al, 2006).

Regarding the social value of group members of the dominance theory, favoritism and comfort zones are important for the in-group.  People who are surrounded by wealth and prestige remain in a circle to retain their power and status.  Others, the subordinate group, like myself and others who did not fall in that category felt the impact but did not allow themselves to become devastated or defeated.  Social dominance theory is a prejudicial determinant marker that can be positive, or, in some cases, it can have a negative effect.  Parameters can be altered through human behavior to allow groups to have shared goals and equal situations.  Individuals must cognitively draw on the abstract reasoning involved that needs to be regrouped to establish goals for breaking down the barriers (Piaget, 1930, 1952).

I feel that this type of segregation of power and status is not only found in the private school settings that I attended, but it is found in many other types of industries and businesses.  There are always struggles for status, power, and wealth.  Society should become more vigilant about its reasoning and implications in conjunction with its sources, effects and boundaries.  If this type of theory was kept in check, there would much less political stress factors, bias attitudes, and unfair competition in businesses and society.  People should learn to engage in the practice of intermingling with others more.  If individuals utilize the foundations of the intergroup relations that include the contact hypothesis theory and social identity theory, the more prejudicial issues and struggles for powers could be minimized.  Rich, poor, professionals, and laborers should work together in committee programs, social meetings, campaigns, and neighborhood funding in an effort to understand that the wedge created through society’s group-based hierarchies can be narrowed.  Life would be made easier for everyone involved, and more than likely, the in-group and the out-group would become happier.

References

Piaget, J. (1930). The child’s conception of causality. New York: Harcourt Brace & Company.

Piaget, J. (1952) The origins of intelligence in children. New York: International Universities Press.

Pratto, F., Sidanius, J., & Levin, S. (2006). Social dominance theory and the dynamics of intergroup relations: Taking stock and looking forward. European Review of Social Psychology, 17, 271-320.

Individualistic and Collective Societies

Being a great fan and admirer of eastern cultures, I have for most of my life had many varied interactions with the cultures of Thailand, Japan, China, the Philippines, and other Asian countries to a lesser scale. As wonderful as my experiences have been there have definitely been some difficult and uncomfortable social lessons learned due to my individualistic styled American upbringing and my ignorance of the collective orientation of most Eastern societies. In addition some of these difficulties manifested because of the power distance state of a particular culture and the fact that I wasn’t aware of this social convention. Having even a basic knowledge of whether a culture is more individualistic or collective, and what its powder distance position is can help so much in understanding the people of that culture and in being able to interact with them properly from an applied psychological point of view and in just plain old getting along.

My experiences with Asian/Eastern cultures have been many. I am a martial artist having studied Muay Thai from Thailand, Karate from Japan, and Kali form the Philippines. I’m also a practitioner of Chinese and Japan medicine as a Shiatsu practitioner using healing skills and methods from both countries. I have been to Japan three times in my life, I read, write and speak Japanese, and my ex-wife Takako is Japanese and we were married in a Thai Buddhist temple. As a musician I have worked with many Japanese musician, singers and dancers. As a practitioner of Taoist Meditation I have had deeper interactions with Chinese people and culture and my two primary doctors in Chicago and New York are both Chinese acupuncturists. You can imagine that through all of this, and other accounts too numerous to mention, there have been plenty of times I’ve come to face misunderstandings, hurt feelings, and straight out confusion in dealing with people from these collectivist cultures. Collectivist cultures are those where the individual puts the needs and desires of the group they belong to ahead of their own needs. Those in collectivist culture who sacrifice their personal goals, passions, and desires for the good of the group are seen as people having ideal character. As an American dealing with people on American soil I tend to expect people to have roughly the same communication style, values, sensitivities etc that I do. In dealing with Japanese people, the culture I know best, their strong collectivist stances really informs their thinking processes and behaviors. Ideas of not shaming family members, employers or “higher ups” is very strong and I have found superseded even one to one personal loyalties and intimacies at times. This as you can imagine can lead to actions and behaviors that people in individualistic based societies would consider betrayals and quite maddening. Individualistic cultures are those where the individual puts his needs and interests first before whatever group he’s attached to, if indeed he’s even attached to a group. Individualism of character is the hallmark of a successful person here.

I have also noted that a high power distance usually accompanies collectivist styled cultures. Power distance is defined as, “…the extent to which people in a society accept inequalities based on social status, wealth, power, laws, and/or physical characteristics “ (Schneider, Gruman, & Coutts, 2012). For instance in Japanese society, your status is very important to how you are treated and how you treat others. What doors are open to you and which are closed. And what’s expected and not expected of your behavior. As a “gaijin” (slang word for foreigner) I can escape the oppressive collectivist system they have there that many working class Japanese actually find intolerable but they endure for family and society. Even their language has a complex level of hierarchal speech known as keigo. In keigo your language will tell where you stand in society and it informs how you are to behave and speak to others in society. As a gaijin learning the Japanese language this is one of the hardest parts to master. But this language along with various societal and familial behavioral rules denotes a high power distance in this culture where people recognize their level or place and they accept it as the norm, in contrast to a low power distance society like we have in America where we try to think of everyone on roughly the same level more or less. And that standing up for yourself against someone on a so-called higher level like a politician, millionaire etc is looked as a very admiral act.

Having a foundational knowledge of whether a culture or society is individualistic or collective, or what their power distance is, is crucial in planning applied psychology interventions. Its also crucial in developing hypotheses for experimentation in that you will have a better idea of how people may behave if you are informed as to their particular societal stance. Getting to know other cultures even on a superficial can be of great benefit to the researcher. If he were to design experiments or interventions based on his own societal stance, he could theoretically spend and waste countless hours of planning, research, writing on to find that the individualistic, collective, or power distance orientation and become a major confounding variable that has skewed all of his data.

References

Schneider, F., Gruman, J., Coutts, L. (2012) Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems. Sage Publications, Los Angeles.

I have put a lot of thought recently into the fact that mental illness has had a bad stigma attached to it for a very long time. Not too long ago the United States used to lock up thousands of people with severe mental health issues in state hospitals for long lengths of time sometimes for life. Although times have changed from that I think there is still a great deal of stigma which inhibits change for the individual with a mental health disorder. Most surprisingly I have noticed that individuals that work in the field of mental health treatment hold a large amount of stigma as well. Stigma is defined as a “spoiled identity” which is either turned internal by the person receiving the stigma or is external meaning the perception of others (Goffman, 1986). The main problem with this in regards to mental illness is that people who are experiencing problems will not want to seek treatment or will not stick with treatment. This is simply because of how they will view themselves or how others will view them for it. There are enough things working against someone with a mental illness it is not fair for society to make it any more difficult.

Research is showing that mental health stigma has three parts. Stereotypes such as people with mental illness are violent and dangerous. Prejudice is how much people are willing to interact with a person with mental illness. Both of these aspects of stigma lead into the last aspect being discrimination which includes social exclusion and treating people with mental illness differently. This all leads to negative emotional states and less well being for people with mental illnesses. In a 2006 study over 60% of adults reported unwillingness to work closely with a person diagnosed with schizophrenia and almost 50% said they were unwilling to work closely with a person diagnosed with depression (Collins, 2012).  Most of them also described that they believe that these people with mental illness were more likely to be violent or aggressive. This shows that the stigma of mental illness is very real. One research states that an intervention to help curve the stigma needs to include levels of individual change, social change, and policy changes to really have an impact on the stigma as a whole (Collins, 2012). I am going to mention one intervention strategy I found interesting and was surprised at its supposed effectiveness.

Although there are many idea’s on intervention strategies for curving mental illness stigma such as educational strategies, Mass media campaigns, and training interventions, I found the contact strategy most interesting. This strategy simply includes people having interpersonal contact with people with mental illness. This intervention is being linked with behavioral changes for people as well as long term attitude changes toward people with mental illness (Collins, 2012). One way of facilitating this is having a group led by people with severe mental illness and share their experience of learning they have a mental illness, the struggles associated with it, and overcoming it. Although the measurement of success with this type of intervention is only showing success on a small scale currently I think it is something we will see being attempted on a larger scale soon. The main success they are seeing out of these studies are that people are remembering the more positive things about the possibility of overcoming the illnesses rather than the negative things people say about mental illness.

Collins, R., & Wong, E. (2012, January 1). Interventions To Reduce Mental Health Stigma and Discrimination. Retrieved September 29, 2014.

Goffman, Erving, Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity, New York: Simon and Schuster, 1986.

I had never before heard of the Rosenhan research study demonstrating the existence of a false negative (a diagnostic label inappropriately given to a client) until reading about it in our text recently. It was disturbing as I have a brother in law and a daughter that have been through clinical psychiatry and psychology processes in hospitals and medical offices and have suffered by being stigmatized to different degrees because of being in the system. The so-called clinician labeling effect is clearly a real and disturbing fact because of the possibly life damaging course it can take in a person’s life. The labeling effect is defined as “…a tendency to perceive clients in ways that are erroneous owning to the reactive effects of an existing psychiatric label.” (Schneider, Gruman, & Coutts, 2012). It’s disturbing but its not surprising from where I sit. By this I mean this effect is due to the very structure and methodology of the western approach to medicine and psychology that births its very existence. Compared to eastern medicine and psychology it can be said that this western defined term does not exist, but as every one is human eastern practices can suffer from their own unique biases. However keeping to topic I’d like to contrast the western clinical approach to diagnosis and assessment versus the eastern method in light of the labeling effect to hopefully broaden your minds about the possibilities of healing by looking outside the box.

The “science” of psychology and psychotherapy in general is one based on the scientific method, which the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines as “principles and procedures for the systematic pursuit of knowledge involving the recognition and formulation of a problem, the collection of data through observation and experiment, and the formulation and testing of hypotheses.” http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/scientific%20method This scientific method includes by necessity the isolating of variables and complete objectivity to the subject in order to tests its hypotheses’. This climate has given rise to a focus mainly on pathology when treating a person, which the existance of the DSM-V attests to. The methodology of diagnosing and assessing seems to focus on a negatively skewed view or “what’s wrong” with the individual and then attempts to “fix you”. Younger and newer forms of psychology are moving away from this approach like Positive Psychology for instance where the definition of Positive Psychology is stated as “… the scientific study of what goes right in life, from birth to death and at all stops in between. It is a newly christened approach within psychology that takes seriously as a subject matter those things that make life most worth living.” (Peterson, 2006, p. 4) The very unfortunate net effect of having a category based tool like the DSM-V and a focus on pathology instead of wider universal view is that you attempt to pigeon hole the various phenomena and data you are exposed to. It has been said in various places regarding fixing problems or in our case diagnosing patients, “If you only have a hammer in your tool box you will always be looking for nails. “ I submit to you that by using fairly inflexible tools like the DSM-V, focusing on pathologies, and interacting with patients objectively and not subjectively, the labeling effect will remain as a very real problem in western psychology. The eastern approach to clinical psychology via Chinese medicine takes a different more subjective and inclusive approach that greatly reduces bias and all but eliminates diagnostic stigma.

Most don’t realize it but the definition of the scientific method given above happens to fit the field of Chinese Medicine perfectly as well. The Chinese take a different approach to empirical evidence and observation that is based on a foundational understanding of the harmony of all things and not an approach that focuses on taking apart, mastering and controlling. Control being the last item in what the purpose and function of what science is supposed to be about. Much can written about this but unfortunately time and space do not permit. An excellent resource on the methodology of eastern clinical psychology via Chinese Medicine can be found in Dragon Rises, Red Bird Flies by Dr. Leon Hammer, a psychiatrist and practitioner of Chinese medicine. What makes this eastern approach unique in offsetting the problem of the labeling effect are three items that I will explain very briefly. The first is that in the eastern system clinical diagnoses are not given names like bi-polar or borderline, but are spoken of according to their energetic quality and its presentation. For example a person could be suffering from “Wood Yin Excess” which speaks of a qualitative state of disharmony in the mind/body affecting the liver organ system which when corrected or balanced will bring relief to the patient. There actually is no label to put on the patient. Second, eastern clinicians use a methodology called “The Four Examinations” to assess their patients. Broadly these four methods are called Mon Shin (Question and Answering), Bo Shin (Looking and Observing), Setsu Shin (Touch and Palpation) and Bun Shin (Listening and Smelling). The first two methods seem to line up with traditional western psychology assessments but they are really much deeper and more subjective. These techniques require a great deal of subjectivity and personal awareness that help to mitigate and preclude most biases. They also serve as checks and balances in that various patterns are sought where these four examinations come into line to make sense of an overall picture of the patient. And third is the subjectivity of the approach itself. It is key to the formulation of diagnosis and assessments that the practitioner be highly aware of his internal and external state as he works with a client. In Chinese medicine health is described as a healthy free flowing of Chi (life force) energy, and to work with this qualitative substance one must be present, open and sensitive. The practitioner is an actual part of the healing process in Chinese medicine, so labels that would stigmatize the patient and would separate him from the practitioner would be clearly counter-productive.

The labeling effect in a western setting seems to feed on the fact that diagnosis often use names of conditions that can carry a stigma with them, that are measured using often times a single measure like a questionnaire or interview, and are highly objective separating the “sick” person from the “well” person. Eastern clinical diagnostic methodology, by referring to energetic states of disharmony, using multiple types of measurements, and being a subjective part of the healing greatly reduce the presence of the labeling effect. Newer disciplines like positive psychology are looking more towards eastern approaches of focusing on positive attributes of a patients rather than needing to confirm that a patient is indeed sick which could bias a clinician towards false negative diagnosis’. As time goes on, more freethinking and open-minded academics should consider what other types of medicine, therapy, and healing exist on the planet. Especially from cultures that are far older than European culture like those of China, India and Africa. There are some very surprisingly well-documented, clinically tested psychotherapeutic wisdom to be had if one only dares to look.

References

Hammer, L. (2010) Dragon Rises, Red Bird Flies. Barrytown, NY: Station Hill Press

Peterson, C. (2006) A Primer in Positive Psychology. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Schneider, F., Gruman, J., Coutts, L. (2012) Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems. Sage Publications, Los Angeles.