28
Feb 15

Groupthink Among Angry Men

It’s inevitable…we will all be a part of a group at some point in our lives. This can happen in school, work, and even in social lives seen through your predetermined and chosen peer groups. A group is formally defined as a number of people or items that are classified or categorized together. There is one theory in psychology that outlines the potential hazard of working with a group.

Groupthink theory describes the need for the group to have unanimity (Schneider, Gruman, & Coutts, 2012). This influences the members of the group to “go with the flow,” and not bring up their own ideas to the group. The feeling of needing to be cohesive can be seen as a driving factor of groupthink. You want your group to work together to accomplish a goal, but you may feel that your contributions may not suffice or benefit the group. In other cases, one person who is not influenced by groupthink, and contributes their own thoughts without folding to the pressure to conform, may be able to get others to change their minds.

The movie Twelve Angry Men revolves around a jury, which must reach a verdict in a murder trial. In order to deliver a verdict, every member must reach a consensus about the defendant being guilty or not guilty. This is a typical example of groupthink: having one common goal, and following what you think everyone else thinks. You do not want to be the one person to stand out. However, in the movie, juror number 8 is the only one to believe the defendant is not guilty. As the storyline unfolds, the groupthink theory, once again, takes over. As juror 8 defends his verdict of not guilty, people start questioning their own thoughts, ethics, and prejudices. Spoiler: as more people change their minds, there is an increased pressure for the others to change their minds.Screen Shot 2015-02-28 at 1.32.58 PM

Groupthink can also occur in groups that have less strain than a murder trial. For example, groupthink is common among groups that are created for group projects. Thinking about Tuckman’s 1965 developmental stages of a group, the first stage of forming, and the second stage of storming can greatly influence groupthink. Forming and storming are the beginning stages of a group, where members learn about one another, and work through conflict (The Pennsylvania State University, 2015). However, it is easy to understand that groupthink and pressure to conform is strong at the beginning of a group life cycle: you’re trying to make everything fit together, while working on the relationship with everyone involved. Usually one person emerges as a leader, and takes on the role as mediator for the rest of the members, which also promotes groupthink.

For all groups, both real and imagined, groupthink is a relevant term, and a potential problem. At one point or another, or for our whole lives, we will all be involved in groups. This opens our lives to pressures of other people to suppress our thoughts and actions to be in accordance with the majority of others’.

 

–Orlena Riner

References

IMDB. (n.d.). 12 Angry Men- Plot Summary. Retrieved Feb 2015, from International Movie Database: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050083/plotsummary?ref_=tt_stry_pl

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

The Pennsylvania State University. (2015). Lesson 7: Organizational Life and Teams. Retrieved Feb 2015, from Psych424: Applied Social Psychology: https://courses.worldcampus.psu.edu/sp15/psych424/001/content/08_lesson/01_page.html


27
Feb 15

Find a Job You Like You Better Keep it

We have all been there at some time or other, you know, that dreaded “someone” in the workplace who makes life a misery for everyone around them. In reality, it is very rare to not have a problem child in the workplace. You have your prima donnas, bullies, selfish, self-centered people everywhere, and the list goes on and on. So when you are actually fortunate enough to find that job you like in a work environment that is pleasant and harmonious, you should probably keep it.

However, it is particularly frustrating when the leadership in an organization is ineffectual in handling these toxic co-workers, or don’t do anything at all. Even worse than doing nothing at all are those times when poorly behaved coworkers are rewarded for their behavior with praise, raises, or promotions. It is extremely demoralizing to watch someone gain reward and prestige for their poor behavior that management very often doesn’t see or just looks the other way. For example, say you work with someone who is the boss’ pet and the office tattletale. This person gets people in trouble to make themselves look better and when they don’t get their own way, they run off to the boss who makes everything better by giving them what they want.

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An organization is only as strong as it’s leadership, without strong leadership, there is nothing to steer the car, so to speak.  Leadership “occurs when particular individuals exert influence on the goal achievement of others in an organizational context” (Johns and Saks).  Leaders have many different styles of leading; they can be supportive, provide good direction, actively participate in the work at hand; all of these things can have a major impact, whether positive or negative on how employees are motivated to behave (Coutts and Gruman). Motivation in the workplace is a key component to a well run organization and equity theory (Adams) explains how unequal treatment  amongst employees can instead motivate employees to attempt to regain equilibrium often through negative methods and behaviors.

So how do we ensure that leadership is providing the right kind of motivation to maintain equity in the workplace? It seems like a reasonable question, although certainly not black or white; there are many nuances of gray. Communication is key in providing open, pleasant working conditions, as long as it’s good communication. It may be necessary to remove barriers of distrust or other long pent up frustrations before communication can be good and effective.

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In order to improve the issue of workplace inequality, and perhaps at the same time minimize the effects of the workplace tattletale, equity theory says employees need to see themselves being treated the same as others who are at the same level as they are. We can implement a communication policy that will improve workplace relations and help employees see equal treatment in action. We can achieve better success with a monitoring committee or task force overseeing the process as well as continue to follow up and make adjustments in the communication network as needed. With open communication, it is less likely that employees will perceive that others are getting better treatment than themselves and overall workplace morale goes up. And after all in the end, it’s not important to just find a good job, but that you enjoy getting up in the morning and going to work.

References

Adams, J. S. (1965). Inequity in social change. In. L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in     experimental psychology (Vol. 2, pp 267-299). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.

Coutts, L. M. and Gruman, J. A. (2012). Applying Social Psychology to Organizations. (Chapter 10, pp 217-244). Sage.

Johns, G., and Saks, A. M. (2001). Organizational behavior: Understanding and managing life at work (5th ed.). Toronto: Addison Wesley Longman.

 


27
Feb 15

Social Identity in the Military

USMC B-Day 235During my last year in High School I received acceptance letters to three Universities—I threw every single one of those letters away.

I joined the United State Marine Corps in 2002.


Regardless of who you are, how smart you are, or what job you have, you are molded, formed, and presented as a uniform character of like resemblance to both the brother to your right and to your left. Through discipline, uniformity was pervasive.

This mentality is explained simply as their definition of discipline reads: the instant willingness and obedience to all orders, respect for authority, and self-reliance. You might ask why?… simple, because in combat, decisions are made that often counter survival tendencies, defy logic, and are time sensitive—no time to ask why.

The next question is how.

Social identity theory posits that an individual’s self knowledge is made of both personal identity—intrinsic characterizations such as personality traits, and social identity—the sense of identifying with whichever group the individual belongs (Tajfel & Turner, 1986). Such extrinsic participation is both foundation and supporting in the development and maintenance of self-image and self-esteem Tajfel & Turner, 1986).

Within the construct of the military, this idea, the fostering of social identity, is largely used as a mechanism to reduce individualism, support obedience, and nullify all occurrences of non-uniformity.

If you ask any Marine what they love about being a Marine, they’ll likely respond with organizational loyalty and the brotherhood for fellow Marines—social identities—positive ones at that. Conversely, the structure, formality of uniformity, belittlement, and pressure are profoundly important in defining, and instituting the following of a larger social identity that depresses personal identity. Though positive in some cases, it is ultimately the standard used by the military to depress individualism.

This is developed from day one at boot camp: first names are gone, rank is given, uniforms are worn, standards are high, regulations on presentation, grooming standards, and conduct are significantly regulated and enforced. This, in sum, is foundational to instituting social identity that removes individualism to best support military functions, movement, and to win wars.

 

Research has shown that groups who collectively experience pain, turmoil, catastrophe, or significant life events tend to form stronger social bonds and become more cohesive (Durkheim, 1912; Whitehouse, 1996; Whitehouse, 2012). I would agree with this, as I continuously speak with those that I went to war with and has also been suppored by research that states the same—those who go to war together tend to form stronger bonds due to stress, hardship, and events (Elder & Clipp, 1989).

Interestingly enough, social identity theory states that people strive to have a positive social identity for which they enjoy, like, and see as good (Tajfel & Turner, 1986). Within the military, this notion is often blurred between the positive idea of supporting the United States—country—freedom and pressure from military power and influence to conform—which, in turn, is not a positive social identity so much as it is an assumed or molded social identity as a requirement. Such conformity is regulated by military authority in the form of rank—which trumps all other forms of social identity formation because military members are held by law to obey and follow such orders from those appointed to ranks above them—regardless their position, experience, or reputation. This, in sum, departs from an academic explanation of power—in that it does no require a capacity to produce behavior change in others and it demands obedience that supersedes influence (Bass, 1990). Additionally, French and Raven (1959) explained power in terms of influence whereby power has a source. To this end, military power is sourced through coercive power—whereby any failure to obey is prosecuted and punished by law (French & Raven, 1959). As such, the position of power, influence, and authority within the military is markedly different than civilian organizations and bolsters their formation of a social identity that supports the greater good of conformity, uniformity, and war fighting.

Ultimately these disparities exist which conflict between intrinsic personal identity and socially built identity. In my experience, this is the leading cause of negative opinions, retention problems, and reduced moral in military units and is detrimental to positive leadership outcomes, efficiency, and performance in both a military unit and organizations.

The use of military power and influence to mold social identity clearly produces changes in myriad perceptions, attributions, and motivation. By changing the sense of identity heavily towards a collective social identity (while negating the personal identity), the individual is lost and subsequent environmental perceptions are changed. I have personally seen this in various forms throughout my career. For instance, when social identity depresses personal identity, one’s needs hierarchy—what motivates people as determined by satisfying their needs—changes and alters their perceived needs (Maslow, 1943). To this end, I’ve seen military members assume the military to be far more important than their family, friends, life goals, education, and personal well-being. It has also been very evident in their perceptions. When social identity rules, attributions—assigning a cause to a behavior—end up being a product of their identity, whereby producing perceptual biases towards the support of their in-group or social identity (Roccas & Brewer, 2002).

Ultimately, this notion can most likely be applied to any organization that seeks to value social identity to the point that personal identity is inferior, worthless, or substandard. I would posit that some form of modulation between the two could stand to produce the best product or outcome. In that, I do believe the military is a unique case that truly benefits, macroscopically and apart from ethics—for the support of our freedom, towards using the theory of social identity to optimize war fighting, and for the betterment of the world. It just comes at a cost of identity.

References

Bass, B. M., (1990). Bass and Stogdill’s Handbook of Leadership. 3rd ed. New York: Free Press.

Bastian, B., Jetten, J., & Ferris, L. J. (2014). Pain as social glue: Shared pain increases cooperation. Psychological Science, 25(11), 2079-2085. doi:10.1177/0956797614545886

Durkheim, E. (1995). Les formes élémentaires de la vie religieuse [The elementary forms of religious life]. New York, NY: Free Press. (Original work published 1912)

Elder, G. H., & Clipp, E. C. (1989). Combat experience and emotional health: Impairment and resilience in later life. Journal of Personality, 57, 311–341.

French, J., & Raven, B. H. (1959). The bases of social power. In D. Cartwright (Ed.), Studies of Social Power. Ann Arbor, MI: Institute for Social Research.

Maslow, A. H. (1943). A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review, 50, 370-396.

Roccas, S., & Brewer, M. B. (2002). Social identity complexity. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 6(2), 88-106. doi:10.1207/S15327957PSPR0602_01

Tajfel, H., & Turner, J. C. (1986). The social identity theory of inter-group behavior. In S. Worchel & L. W. Austin (Eds.), Psychology of intergroup relations. Chicago, IL: Nelson-Hall.

Whitehouse, H. (1996). Rites of terror: Emotion, metaphor and memory in Melanesian initiation cults. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 2, 703–715.

Whitehouse, H. (2012). Ritual, cognition, and evolution. In R. Sun (Ed.), Grounding social sciences in cognitive sciences (pp. 265–284). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Written by: Morgan L. DeBusk-Lane


26
Feb 15

First impressions say it all? Is your BMI weighing down your career?

In the United States it is illegal for employers to discriminate against an employee or potential employee on the basis of many physical attributes.  However, weight discrimination is only illegal in one state (Michigan) and six cities: Binghamton, NY, Washington, DC, Madison, WI, Urbana, IL, San Francisco, CA and Santa Cruz, CA (Minnesota Department of Human Rights, 2010). Weight discrimination in the workplace is becoming more of a problem as more of the population is considered overweight or obese (Wilkie, 2012).  In fact, the CDC reports that almost 35% of American adults are obese (CDC, 2012).  Weight discrimination in the workplace could be the result of two applied social psychological principles: the halo effect and fundamental attribution error (Coutts & Gruman, 2012).  This blog post will address these concepts and how they relate to discrimination of overweight and obese people in the workplace.rs10_2weightmap

Evidence has shown that overweight and obese people are at are a disadvantage in the workplace in terms of pay, hire-ability, perceived desirable traits, complexity of assignments, opportunities for advancement and on the job disciplinary actions when compared to average-sized counterparts (Fikkan & Rothblum, 2005).  These discrepancies could be related to the halo effect.  According to Coutts and Gruman (2012), the halo effect is our tendency to draw a conclusion about an individual on the basis of a single characteristic, in this example, physique.  The halo effect has been previously reported by Lowenberg and Conrad as the most common source of bias in employee performance reviews (Coutts & Gruman).  According to the halo effect, an overweight or obese employee could potentially be viewed by their supervisor or colleagues only in terms of their physique leaving their other qualities to be overshadowed even if those qualities are enthusiasm, dependability, intelligence, and so on.  Additionally, the halo effect may be more pronounced in cases where the employee and supervisor have few things in common as per the “similar-to-me effect” (Coutts & Gruman, 2012, p. 221).  In the example of weight discrimination among overweight or obese people, an overweight employee could be judged less competent by their average-sized supervisor and contribute to biased performance assessments.

Not only do we have a tendency to judge others based on our first impressions we also seek to understand why a person may have certain characteristics or why they choose to behave in a certain way.  This is referred to as attribution (Coutts & Gruman, 2012).  Attribution is essentially a way to understand underlying factors that contribute to a behavior. According to Coutts and Gruman, these factors can be internal or external.  Internal factors are controlled within the individual versus external factors in which the behavior is attributed to something out of the individual’s control (Coutts & Gruman).  When defining the causal relationship between internal and external factors we tend to more easily establish a relationship between internal factors and causation compared to external, situational factors which is called fundamental attribution error (Coutts & Gruman).  In the example above, we are more likely to attribute an obese person’s weight problems to laziness or lack of motivation as opposed to looking at situational factors that may contribute to the issue like an inability to fit on the seat of the recumbent bike at the gym or undiagnosed depression despite multiple contacts with healthcare providers.  When the assumption is made that weight is a caused by an internal, thus controllable factor, the obese person is subjected to judgment from others including prospective employers and colleagues.

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Recent reports have suggested that the American public supports laws to prohibit discrimination on the basis of weight (Suh, et al., 2014); however, it remains unclear how effective laws are at preventing discrimination on the basis of size since very few complaints are filed even in places where laws protect against weight discrimination (Minnesota Department of Human Rights, 2010).  For me, I believe that laws may help, but the more significant issues at hand are the halo effect and fundamental attribution error.  Although in some cases being overweight or obese is centered on choices made by those individuals that is not always the case.  It may not be possible to teach individuals to gather their first impression of someone from a broad view of all qualities; however, in the workplace assessment tools could be fitted to assure a supervisor is confronted with multiple facets of skill assessment to potentially avoid bias related to weight.  The obesity epidemic will only get worse if we do not provide resources for healthy alternatives to everyone like gainful employment (Ross, 2013).  Interestingly, recent evidence suggests that those that fall victim to weight discrimination are MORE likely to be obese at follow up contrary to the viewpoint that weight discrimination would serve as a motivator for weight loss (Puhl & Heuer, 2010; Sutin & Terracciano, 2013).  In 2009, Lillis and colleagues reported success with acceptance and mindfulness training among patients in a weight loss center to cope with weight stigma.  Although I believe it is important for these patients to cope, I think the mindfulness and acceptance training might be better suited for the average-weight persons placing blame on these obese and overweight individuals.  Specifically aiming these programs at executives and other company leaders may help to improve workplace discrimination on the basis of weight by making hiring managers more aware of the halo effect and fundamental attribution error.

The obesity epidemic in America is not going away.  As a culture we need to change our attitudes toward the epidemic so that discrimination does not further leach into our workplaces.  Addressing the halo effect and fundamental attribution error is the first step in mitigating the issue of workplace discrimination of the overweight and obese.  The assumption that one physical characteristic tells all is setting our capitalist society up to miss out on a multitude of strong, conscientious workers.  Personally, I have to wonder, is my BMI weighing down my career?

 

References:

Batalion, N. (2010). Obesity: Bias, Stigma, Discrimination – Image Retrieved from http://www.healingtalks.com/natural-health-2/weight-problems/obesity-bias-stigma-discrimination/

Centers for Disease Control. (2012). Adult overweight and obesity. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/adult/index.html

Coutts, L. & Gruman, J. (2012). Applying social psychology to organizations, in Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems (2nd ed.) Schneider, Gruman, & Coutts (Eds.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Fikkan, J. & Rothblum, E. (2005). Weight bias in employment, in Weight Bias: Nature, Consequences and Remedies.K. Brownell, R. Puhl, M. Schwartz & L. Rudd (Eds.) NY: Guilford Press.

Lillis, J., Hayes, S., Bunting, K. & Masuda, A. (2009).  Teaching acceptance and mindfulness to improve the lives of the obese: A preliminary test of a theoretical model. Annals of Behavioral Medicine. 37(1): 58-69.

Minnesota Department of Human Rights (2013). Weight bias laws: Tipping the scales against prejudice? Retrieved from http://mn.gov/mdhr/education/articles/rs10_2weightlaws.html

Puhl, R. & Heuer, C. (2010). Obesity stigma: Important considerations for public health. American Journal of Public Health. 100(6): 1019-1028.

Ross, C. (2013). I see fat people. Real Healing. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/real-healing/201308/i-see-fat-people

Suh, Y, Puhl, R., Liu, S. & Milici, F. (2014). Support for laws to prohibit weight discrimination in the United States: Public attitudes from 2011 to 2013. Obesity. 22(8): 1872-1879.

Sutin, A. & Terracciano, A. (2013). Perceived weight discrimination and obesity. PLoS ONE. 8(7): e70048 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0070048.

Wilkie, C. (2012). Obesity discrimination on the job provokes dispute over best remedy. Huffington Post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/04/obesity-discrimination_n_1939385.html


26
Feb 15

Generic Prejudice

Social psychology can be used in the criminal justice system such as jury decision making (The Pennsylvania State University, 2015). On the basis of evidence submitted to them, jurors are sworn to give a verdict in a legal case.  They “decide the guilt or innocence of individuals accused of crimes and in some jurisdictions they also decide the punishment in criminal cases” (The Pennsylvania State University, 2015). However, jurors return guilty verdicts in certain cases even when it may not be judicious to do so such as in the case of sexual abuse (Wiener, Arnott, Winter, & Redmond, 2006). This type of prejudice, “that can biases jurors’ decision making”, is referred to as generic prejudice (Lieberman & Krauss, 2009). The cognitive resource theory, which states that stress impacts the ability to make decisions, may be an explanation for this specific type of bias.

Generic prejudice “involves the transfer of pre-existing prejudicial attitudes, beliefs, or stereotypes about categories of persons, entities, or events to the trial setting in a legally inappropriate manner” (Vidmar, 2003, p. 1152). According to Vidmar, “generic prejudice is different from other types of judicial bias as the nature of the crime or the type of parties involved cause the juror to classify the case as having certain characteristics, thereby invoking stereotyped prejudices above any defendant accused of the crime” (Vidmar, 1997, p. 6). Therefore, by merely listening to a defendant at a trial being accused of a specific crime, “a set of biases are triggered in the mind of jurors due to the nature of that crime regardless of the case facts” (Lieberman & Krauss, 2009). Some case examples include Casey Anthony and Orenthal James “O. J.” Simpson. Both defendants were viewed as guilty before knowing all of the facts simply because of the nature of the crimes. Unfortunately however, generic prejudice is not easily identifiable. Furthermore, it may have a substantial effect on the ability for the judicial system to enter in a list of impartial jurors (Vidmar, 1997).

In an example to illustrate generic prejudice, “849 prospective jurors were asked under oath whether they could hear the evidence, follow the judges instructions on the law, and decide the case with a fair and impartial mind,” regarding 25 criminal trials involving charges of sexual abuse, and approximately 36% of the jurors specified they could not be impartial (Vidmar, 1997). This demonstrates that the issue was not objection or revulsion of sex abuse but simply the attitudes and beliefs that stand on the speculation of innocence when a suspect is accused of sexual abuse. According to one juror, “I guess in certain situations I consider people are guilty until proven innocent; I know it’s not the way it is suppose(sic) to be, but that’s the way it is sometimes” (Vidmar, 1997). As mentioned above, many people are culpable of this. The nature of the crime absolutely influences a person’s thought process and thus their decision-making.

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Cognitive resource theory may be a process underlying the influence of generic prejudice (The Pennsylvania State University, 2015). According to Wiener et. al., under cognitive resource theory, “people are more likely to make decisions based on stereotype-like information, such as generic prejudice, when there cognitive resources are limited” (Wiener, Arnott, Winter, & Redmond, 2006). To test this theory, Wiener and his colleagues showed participants mock sexual abuse trial summaries “by varying the amount of time participants had to read them and make verdict decisions, either providing ample time for the task or rushing them to limit their cognitive resources” (Wiener, Arnott, Winter, & Redmond, 2006). They found convincing evidence of generic prejudice in the cases. The study found backing for cognitive resource theory because generic prejudice was persuasive or significant when participants were hurried in their decision-making. According to Wiener et. al., the participants “were more likely to rely on general attitudes about sex offenders in their decisions than they were to rely on case facts” (Wiener, Arnott, Winter, & Redmond, 2006).

There is no denying the possibility for biases to occur in jury decision-making. Even though jurors are sworn under oath, biases can still arise. Generic prejudice, just one of the many types of biases that can occur, may be more influential in some types of cases and under particular situations such as sexual abuse cases. The cognitive resource theory “which states that stress reduces rational decision making by over using a person’s ability to think” may be an explanation as to why this type of bias occurs (The Pennsylvania State University, 2015). So although the explanation for generic prejudice may be attributed to the cognitive resource theory, is there a way to prevent it?

Works Cited

Lieberman, J., & Krauss, D. (2009). Psychology in the courtroom social aspects of trial processes. Farnham: Ashgate.

The Pennsylvania State University (2015). PSYCH424: Applied Social Psychology. Lesson 8: The Legal System.

Vidmar, N. (1997). Generic prejudice and the presumption of guilt in sex abuse trials. Law and Human Behavior, 21(1), 5-25.

Vidmar, N. (2003). When all of us are victims: Juror prejudice and “terrorist” trials. Chicago-Kent Law Review, 78, 1143.

Wiener, R.L., Arnott, L., Winter, R.J. & Redmond, B.F. (2006). Generic Prejudice and the Law: Sexual Assault and Homicide. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 28, 145-155.


22
Feb 15

Understanding Hate Crimes

A recent Alternet article reported the striking statistic that six trans women of color have been murdered in the first seven weeks of 2015. [1]  The article quotes trans activist LeSaia Wade as observing that the murders point to “systemic failures at government and community levels that have pushed trans women—especially women of color—to the margins of society,” citing specifically employment discrimination, lack of government programs and services, and anti-trans violence as mechanisms which reinforce this marginalization.  According to the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs, trans women experience violence from police at six times the rate of other assault survivors, which largely explains why they are less likely to seek help in the first place. [2]  Sadly, Wade also states that trans women often even face exclusion from within the LGBT community for being a minority amongst minorities.

Though the article notes that a march to raise awareness has been planned in response to the violence, two theories of social psychology suggest that visibility are not the problem.  Social Identity theory introduces the concept of in-groups and out-groups, the former being a social category to which one commits oneself and from which one gains self-esteem, and the latter being everyone else, against whom one’s in-group is in competition.  Social Dominance Theory expands on this idea by arranging these groups into hierarchies based on status and power, and observing that dominant groups can maintain their positions by derogating or attacking out-groups, thereby reinforcing the hierarchy.  Social Dominance Theory also observes that low-status groups will often work to reinforce the hierarchies subordinating them, because they often view the hierarchy as a ladder by which to advance themselves – even though this contributes to the same circumstances of their marginalization.

These theories explain the marginalization of trans persons (i.e. as an out-group), the discrimination they face (even within the LGBT community, who may see an opportunity to advance their status through derogating trans persons), and the violence against them (as a means of protecting the hierarchy by which heterosexual, cis-gendered people benefit).  More importantly, the theories also indicate how we can resolve these conflicts.  Social Dominance Theory identifies one category of hierarchy as an “arbitrary set,” or set of beliefs about how the world should operate.  Isa Noyola, a program manager at the Transgender Law Center in San Francisco attributes transphobia to our collective understanding of gender norms – “We are very much conditioned and trained from an early age to think about gender in very basic ways, which is male and female … So those two boxes inform everything.” [1]  Delegitimizing this dichotomy as artificial and incomplete would undermine part of the rationale for a hierarchy which places cis-gendered people at the top.  More controversially, attacking the (deeply American) legitimizing myth of meritocracy – specifically as the assumption that people of low economic or social status must deserve to be there out of a lack of merit – would have the same effect.

More concretely, the power dynamic at play in these hate crimes can be addressed by redefining the groups participating – specifically, by promoting the idea that all minority groups who are marginalized by these hierarchies – rather than having an opportunity to advance by attacking other minority groups – instead face a common struggle and have common objectives, which can be better achieved by combining their power and resources than by in-fighting or fracturing into identity politics.  Ultimately, we can aim to redefine the power and resources which are in contest to be the security, strength, and status that come from living in a just and safe society, valuing mutual aid and respect.

References:

1.  Starr, T. (2015, February 21). Living on Borrowed Time: 6 Young Trans Women of Color Have Been Murdered in America This Year. Retrieved February 22, 2015, from http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/living-borrowed-time-6-young-trans-women-color-have-been-murdered-america-year

2.  Ahmed, O., & Jindasurat, C. (2014, January 1). Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and HIV-Affected Hate Violence in 2013. Retrieved February 22, 2015, from http://www.avp.org/storage/documents/2013_ncavp_hvreport_final.pdf


22
Feb 15

Mean Girls: Mean World

Inter-group relations have a great impact on the actions that people partake in each day. While many when first asked to think of groups and hierarchies may first think of race to be a distinguishing factor, all one really has to do is think back to middle or even high school. Remember those days when the most important part of your day was not to get a good grade on a test, but rather to get a compliment from the coolest person in school. I for one, remember spending hours each week picking out my outfits in order to find something that would set me apart and bring attention to me. Using hind sight, I see now that all the actions I took part in then were really only for one reason, to make myself one of the “cool” kids. It is always desirable to be part of the superior social class, because it brings with it high social regard and admiration.

One of the best examples of inter-group relations is from the all familiar movie, Mean Girls.The first clip demonstrates the different hierarchical groups in the movie.

The below clip exemplifies how the high societal regarded group know as “The Plastics” is admired.

Below is what happens when someone breaks the “rules” of the group, “The Plastics”.

Social dominance theory explains the behaviors that I participated in and experienced in middle and high school as well as the behaviors in the above mentioned move, Mean Girls.

The theory states that people all belong to groups and members protect their group and act to maintain their hierarchical groups. The last clip demonstrates this principle in how a member of the group did not follow their standards and therefor, in order to protect the group, she was dismissed. The top group has high social value which motivates and maintained the hierarchical status. Such social value leads out group members to have out group favoritism towards the high status group due to hopes of joining and also acquiring high social value.This is also viewed in the movie Mean Girls in how everyone admires the members of the plastics (PSU WC, 2015).

This movie was a great example as to the social dominance theory and how it has affects on real life. Looking back the behaviors that I did in order to achieve positive social value look absurd now, but at the time the benefit of high social value was more than enough. Social dominance continues to persist in our world, not only in a school environment, but in many aspects as well. So not only can the influence of desire for positive social value lead to mean girls, but in turn a mean world.

References

Pennsylvania State University World Campus (PSU WC).  (2015). PSYCH 424: Applied Social Psychology. Lesson 6: Intergroup Relations. Retrieved from https://courses.worldcampus.psu.edu/sp15/psych424/001/content/07_lesson/05_page.html

 


22
Feb 15

My Dad

I realize that I may be ‘a day late and a dollar short’ as the old saying goes, but I wanted to reflect on some of the material from Lesson 5 Health AND Clinical/Counseling; specifically looking into health psychology (Schneider, Gruman, & Coutts, 2012). Growing up, my father had an emotionally challenging childhood. Although he won’t go into much detail about what happened exactly, the ramifications of those events are clear. When I was growing up, the earliest memories I have are of visiting him in psych wards. Still to this day, he has monthly visits with countless numbers of psychologists who keep adjusting his medications to try to find the perfect balance. Official diagnosed as a severe case of bipolar disorder, I think there is more to his mental health than what bipolar disorder can account for.

Now don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I’m calling his psychologist’s liars; there is definitely a case of bipolar disorder present. Coupled with the disorder, are also signs of social anxiety, or social phobia. As anyone with bipolar disorder would, he gets either really excited to talk to people, you can’t get him to stop talking and he has no idea what he’s even talking about. On the other side of things, he just completely shuts down and can’t handle the situation at all. No matter what he is doing he has to listen to some sort of music or noise; in my opinion this is to drown out voices (not confirmed). He has vivid, almost hallucinogenic dreams, some of which are nightmares where he screams, fights, or numerous other things during his sleep. He is too mentally unstable to hold a job and emotionally unstable more often than not.

I hope this illustrates the importance of finding the correct diagnoses of a patient. With so many illnesses out there, it has to be difficult to be able to exactly pinpoint which is which. Most illnesses also share certain traits with other illnesses therefore creating even more difficulty when trying to accurately diagnose a condition. An issue arises if a condition is diagnosed as being something else. This is known as either a positive negative or a negative positive (Wurman, 2004). This becomes even more problematic if and when medications are prescribed. The prescriptions can either do nothing, or exacerbate conditions leading to more serious results. The textbook does a good job illustrating how to approach someone who is dealing with depression (Schneider et al., 2012).

I am also not writing this next section for a ‘pity parade’ or any type of sympathy, but hope to convey the importance of one important aspect that is often forgotten about. Undoubtedly, it must be awful to live with any form of mental disorder; I am not attempting to downplay that whatsoever. But, more often than not, the treatment stops at the patient themselves. Little to no attention is paid to the family living with the mentally ill individual. Speaking from experience, both my mother and I often find it difficult living in such a condition. We rely on each other for the most difficult situations when they arise, and would probably be lost without each other. Having to deal with sometimes childish behaviors have to have long lasting effects on both my mother and I. Yet, there are never therapy sessions for either of us.

Because I am a criminal justice major, I have to at least mention a tidbit about that in here (otherwise I wouldn’t be a good CrimJ student). Unfortunately, it is becoming more difficult to receive proper treatment for these, and other, mental conditions. Mental health facilities are shutting down at an alarming rate, and prisons/jails are becoming filled with those mentally ill (Barkan, 2012). Most of these individuals have committed crimes because of their mental conditions. Instead of being given the proper treatment to actually treat their disorders, they are then released once their sentences are over. Without proper treatment, the destructive behavior continues, which often leads to more imprisonment. This is a reason why prisons are said to have a revolving door (Barkan, 2012).

Works Cited

Barkan, S. E. (2012). Criminology: A Sociological Understanding. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall.

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

Wurman, R. S. (2004). Understanding Healthcare. Newport: TOP.

 


22
Feb 15

intergroup relations

I used to work for a mortgage company. A big one. I won’t go into which one, but suffice it to say it was one of the ones seized by the Federal Reserve back in 2008 when the refi bubble finally popped and gangland assassinated the mortgage industry. The office that I worked for was roughly 90% some minority group or another, and about 80% female. The loan center had a rather effective policy for mitigating discrimination in hiring practices, ensuring diversity, and assuring effective intergroup relations: they employed several temp services as manpower providers, and hired the people who performed and grasped the concepts effectively pursuant to a “probationary period”. Additionally, this lent an extended opportunity to embrace Allport’s (1954) contact hypothesis effectively. Over the period of the temp employment contract, typically six months, candidates were assessed and familiarized with, and by, management personnel based on their merits, effectiveness as employees, and suitability for joining the specific corporate environment as a permanent member of the group. During my six years and some change there, I thoroughly abhorred the job even though I was at least somewhat good at it. But despite that, everyone generally got along splendidly with everyone who worked there from the mail clerks to the senior VPs and many of us, seven years after going our separate ways, remain friends and, in some cases where the employees chose to remain in the mortgage industry, professional colleagues.

I think implementing this type of strategy in many forms of social groups could be beneficial to reducing in-group tension and expanding not only diversity but also overall discrimination. By distilling applicants to completely undisclosed biometrics and merely a list of background competencies or qualifications / experience, and taking the inclusion process (be that an admissions process to a college, a hiring policy for a place of employment, etc) down to, it’s almost sad to say, a dehumanized process by which numbers are selected based on metrics rather than candidates based on interviews and resumes, a great deal of the conflict over polarizing policies like Equal Employment and Affirmative Action could be effectively mitigated. Since the hiring process would not be a hiring process in the classic sense but rather essentially a random selection of appropriate metrics, qualifications, and experience, it would be theoretically impossible to segregate or discriminate candidacy based on biometrics because they are left completely out of the equation. This is one company, however, at one location, neither of which even exists any more.

The sad fact is that discrimination still does exist but I think it would be worth investigating formally whether practices which eliminate the corporation as a direct hiring entity could mitigate Milgrom’s and Oster’s (1987) invisibility hypothesis, which addresses how job skills of disadvantaged or minority candidates but that getting them into the mainstream or providing the opportunity, as in Allport’s (1954) contact hypothesis, allows them the opportunity to show their worth and thus be evaluated on their relative merits as opposed to being pre-judged based purely on their biometric data.

REF:

Allport GW (1954). The Nature of Prejudice. Reading MA: Addison-Wesley

Milgrom P & Oster S (1987). Job Discrimination, Market Forces, and the Invisibility Hypothesis. The Quarterly Journal of Economics 102:3. Oxford University Press.

keywords: diversity, intergroup relations, equal employment, discrimination, contact hypothesis, invisibility hypothesis, hiring practices


21
Feb 15

Will bisexuals catch up in acceptance?

Oregon has a new Governor in Kate Brown, sworn in this week. No, you didn’t miss an election season, the Secretary of State for Oregon was sworn in Wednesday when then Governor John Kitzahber resigned the office after being engulfed in an ethics investigation.

The alleged violations of the outgoing governor may be substantial, but when the rumors of his resignation started swirling, the sexual orientation of his successor (bisexual) was one of the most talked about aspects of the change. I wondered, how can a state that prides itself on diversity tolerate a press that leads with stories titled “Kate Brown becomes first openly bisexual governor”? (Headlines found on ABC News, PBS, USA Today, NY Daily and of all things Times of India)

As noted by the Christian Science Monitor (Knickerbocker, 2015), bisexual persons still experience a level of misunderstanding that is not receding at the same pace it is for homosexual persons. While I was initially disappointed with the press coverage of her sexuality, Mrs. Brown has given me hope that this will work for the good when she was quoted in the Oregonian (Parks, 2015) that she is receiving support from the “B’s” in the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) Community and says that it is a “really wonderful and exciting thing.” I hope this focus on her sexuality will lead to another step in our society’s acceptance of all persons sexual orientation.

References

Knickerbocker, B. (2015) Kate Brown, Oregon’s new governor, boosts the “B” in LGBT community. Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 2-21-15 from:         http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2015/0215/Kate-Brown-Oregon-s-new-            governor-boosts-the-B-in-LGBT-community

Parks, C. (2015) Governor Kate Brown’s bisexuality draws national commentary. The Oregonian/Oregon Live. Retrieved 2-21-2015 from:          http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/02/governor_kate_brown_bisexual.ht           ml

 


19
Feb 15

Social Identity as Americans

For many people social identity can be considered a variety of things. Social identity refers to a sense of identity based on the social groups that an individual considers themselves to belong to. These social groups that many of us identify with can be many things such as race, religion, profession, economic class, etc. There are also other social identifying categories that may not seem as prominent among society at large. Groups such as male, female, being a mom, being a father, being a college student, having a favorite football team, living in a certain region, and being an American are all examples of groups in which people identify themselves with which give many people a sense of who they are based on their membership of these groups (Bergeron, Kaushal, & Kwantes, 2012).

When thinking about social identity we can think about identifying with groups on a smaller scale such as our family or college we attend, all the way to a larger scale of what country we identify with whether it be where we grew up or where we live now, or both. Identifying with a certain country or countries gives many people a sense of pride and self-esteem which allows us to feel a part of the social world at large. As Americans, many of us feel a sense of pride to belong to the U.S. in some way. For some it may be a new country that they are excited to be a part of, for others it may be somewhere they have migrated to from hardships in their home country many years ago, and of course those of us who were born and raised in America. Being born and raised here gives people an important sense of pride but also birth given rights of this country.

Meet 19 year old Alecia Pennington says that she cannot prove her American citizenship because she was born at home, her parents never filed for a birth certificate or social security card. There are also no medical or school records for her because she had never been to the hospital and was home schooled. She cannot be an active member of society because of this. She cannot get a job, go to college, open a bank account, vote or get a driver’s license. She says she has contacted the local government officials of the county in Texas she was born in but they have denied her any assistance (Freeman, 2015). She is now reaching out to the public for any help or information that could be useful in her situation. Watch her video here:

Typically I do not think about my rights and how they differ from other people’s struggle to obtain those same rights who were not born in America and are not citizens or are new to America. Many of us think about these rights as a normal activity or routine such as renewing our driver’s license and presenting our social security cards to a new employer in order to be hired. That is something to realize on its own. But what if you were a citizen, born and raised in America and did not have any such rights? To some her story may seem far-fetched but considering her stated circumstances and reasons, it is possible for this to happen. This social identity of belonging to this country and the rights that come with it are more important to our functioning lives in the U.S. than many of us think about on a daily basis.

References:
Freeman, M. (2015, February 11). Girl Can’t Prove American Citizenship, Victim Of Identification Abuse. http://socialnewsdaily.com/48320/girl-cant-prove-american-citizenship-victim- of-identification-abuse/

Pennington, A. (2015, February 9). 19 year old girl can’t prove her American citizenship. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPtpKNyaO0U

S. Bergeron, R. Kaushal, & C. Kwantes. (2012). Applying Social Psychology to Diversity. In F. Schneider, J. Gruman, & L. Coutts (Eds.), Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications.


18
Feb 15

When Sex Becomes More Than Sex

In our lesson 6 we learn about gender and sex, and how easily these are mistaken for the same thing. “The term sex refers to a biological distinctions of being male or female, while the term gender refers to the social or learned characteristics that are associated with being male or female (Schneider, Gruman, & Coutts, 2012)”. What this tells us is that sex is a characteristic one is most likely born with, for example being born with male gentiles or female gentiles. This differs from gender in the sense that society and social norms dictate what is male and what is female. Males are socially designed to be tough and hardy, while females caring and understanding. These two references get confused with each other all the time, due to lack of knowledge.

gender-bread-man

These certain characteristics proposed by humans to fit the social norms can also support these traits. “When a male baby cries, everyone will say that he is angry, but when a female baby cries everyone will say she is frightened (Schneider, Gruman, & Coutts, 2012)”. This is wrong on numerous levels, but lets attempt to scratch the surface. Why is it that we as a society correlate a baby boy crying to him being angry? Perhaps because we view most of today’s societal problems and massacres on the shoulders of men, making them inherently angry at birth? Or is it because we label males with traits such as being strong, therefore a baby boy cannot cry because he is scared, but only because he is mad? This is an enormous dilemma that we face as a society because it appears we are already labeling babies, which should never be the case due to personality and physical instabilities. I am not a father yet, but I am fairly certain that boys can be scared into crying and girls can be angry and feel the need to cry.

All-Gender-Restroom-Sign

With these traits comes an unfortunate drawback such as sexism, which is differential and often-detrimental treatment of a person based on that person’s sex (Schneider, Gruman, & Coutts, 2012). When sexism comes to mind the first thing I consider is a man not giving a woman fair treatment. Why do I think this? Perhaps its due to the everlasting stigmas that our society portrays, such as women still fighting to be equal even years after the Women’s Rights movement was passed. It scares me that I do not see a scenario where a man is being mistreated due to sexism in the workplace, or at home. These feelings are called hostile sexism, which refers to negative attitudes towards women specifically (Schneider, Gruman, & Coutts, 2012). The perceived antithesis of this is called benevolent sexism, which refers to sexism in a positive manner, but still adheres to stereotypes about women in limited ways (Schneider, Gruman, & Coutts, 2012). There is seemingly no type of “good” sexism, as the root of the meaning is to cause bias. We as a society need to make more of an effort to delete sexism from our workplace, and even more importantly our hearts. It baffles me that we blindly put stereotypes on children and babies and even adults that adhere to what we think they should be like. Sex and gender may be two entities in their own right, but they should not be discriminated upon.

 

 

Schneider, F. W., Gruman, J. A., & Coutts, L. M. (2012). Applied social psychology: Understanding and addressing social and practical problems. Los Angeles.

 

 


16
Feb 15

The crusade against water bottles: in the name of conservation

The idea of water being a limited resource can be a bit controversial. This question may arise. How can a resource that is almost completely recycled by nature via the “Water cycle” become such a limited resource to necessitate conservation efforts nationwide? Especially, to the extent of considering a ban or limiting the sale of plastic water bottles.

wc

(National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 2015)

Another question, isn’t plastic water bottles more of an issue of recycling plastics than conserving water? After all, if you were drinking water from another source like regular tap water. You would still be consuming about the same amount of water. If it is sourced from a public water fountain there could be an increase in the amount used due to waste. The portion that is not captured and goes down the drain. Arguments from some of the stakeholders, the bottling companies, bring up the point that bottle water is healthier than soda and that it follows standards set by the FDA. Additionally, in the case of purified water, it has to meet the definition set in the US Pharmacopoeia (IBWA, 2015).

Counter to the bottling companies, As noted in the applied social psychology lesson concerning the environment, “The production of bottled water often involves removing millions of gallons per week from natural watersheds, thus depleting local water supplies and harming ecosystems that depend on natural water flows.” (Pennsylvania State University, 2015). Unfortunately, a good portion of water bottlers reside on the West Coast where there tends to be frequent droughts and water shortages.

Thus begins a resource dilemma involving the local citizens consuming water and bottling companies consuming local water. Typically, a resource source dilemma is defined as when an individual is faced with making a decision regarding the consumption of a limited resource. He will decide whether or not to put his needs or desires ahead of his communities (Schneider, Gruman, Coutts, 2012). In this instance, one could consider the separate bottling companies acting as individuals through the decisions made by their management.

Now imagine what happens when a new group of stakeholders enters into this equation. The oil industry uses a relatively new technology known as hydraulic fracturing or commonly known as fracking. The EPA is currently in the midst of doing multiple studies on how the different fracking stages affect the water supply. The first stage of fracking typically requires large amounts water to be sourced locally. This competes with the existing local users and creates a concern regarding the impact to the quality and quantity of local drinking water. In the next stage, water is combined with chemicals to create fracking fluid and injected deep into the ground. The high-pressure injection creates fissures in the rock formations, releasing natural gas. Releasing the pressure allows the natural gas and the fracking fluid to rise back up through the well. The natural gas is then captured and the used fracking fluid or wastewater is either treated chemically and released on the surface or in some cases recycled to be injected again (US.EPA, 2015).

frack

Typically, the East Coast does not experience the severity of droughts and water shortages that the West Coast does. One might expect their attitude towards banning water bottles to be less than favorable. This could be explained through Bandura’s theory of triadic reciprocal determinism where behavior, environment and personality influence each other (Pennsylvania State University, 2015). People on the East are exposed to a different environment, less water shortages, then people on the West and should have a different attitude towards banning plastic water bottles. However, once there is a change in one of the three factors there is the possibility to influence one of the other two. A change in environment in the East Coast may influence attitude or behavior. Fracking is widespread and oil companies are looking to extract natural gas from non-traditional areas such as New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, eastern Ohio, and western Maryland (US.EPA, 2012). This change in environment would have the potential to influence attitude on the East Coast.

Fracking stakeholders greatly out number plastic water bottle stakeholders. Users of fuel and all that are affected by fuel prices should be counted in the fracking stakeholder group. For this reason, implementing a change to the use of plastic water bottles would have a negative effect on the smallest group of stakeholders and might be the most practical to help alleviate some of the water shortages.

 

Resources

IBWA. (2015). Types of Water-Bottled. Retrieved Feb 14, 2015 from http://www.bottledwater.org/types/bottled-water

NOAA. (2015). National Weather Service Jetstream project retrieved Feb 15, 2015 from http://www.srh.noaa.gov/jetstream/atmos/images/hydro.jpg

Pennsylvania State University. (2015). Lesson 4: The environment. Retrieved from https://courses.worldcampus.psu.edu/sp15/psych424/001/content/05_lesson/03_page.html

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

United States Environmental Protection Agency. (2015). EPA’s Study of Hydraulic Fracturing and Its Potential Impact on Drinking Water Resources. Retrieved Feb 12, 2015 from

http://www2.epa.gov/hfstudy/potential-impacts-hydraulic-fracturing-drinking-water-resources-progress-report-december

United States Environmental Protection Agency. (2015). EPA’s Study of Hydraulic Fracturing for Oil and Gas and Its Potential Impact on Drinking Water Resources. Retrieved Feb 14, 2012 from http://www2.epa.gov/hfstudy/hydraulic-fracturing-water-cycle


15
Feb 15

More Than Just Love Lost

Divorce has become an increasingly common phenomenon around the world. Its causes, dynamics, and socioeconomic impacts have been widely studied, but little research has addressed its environmental effects of divorce on children. Anywhere from 52% to 62% of all first marriages will end in divorce, according to data from the National Stepfamily Resource Center (Wallerstein, Lewis, & Blakeslee, 2014). Divorce is a major life transition that will affect just about every aspect of your child’s life. In fact, it’s hard to find a single aspect of a child’s existence that is left untouched by divorce.

Divorce often harms children significantly. The effects of divorce are frequently more universally hurtful and long-lasting than other types of maltreatment  (Wallerstein, Lewis, & Blakeslee, 2014). Many kids carry the scars of divorce well into adulthood. Some may never fully recover, and can continue to suffer negative effects as adults. This is an environmental effect that continues into the life of the child when becoming adult and making adult decisions. The influence of the parents divorce is with the child for life because it causes such a traumatic episode in their life. Divorce often affects a child’s entire life trajectory. As the article point out, “For children, divorce is not a one-time event but a continuous process. Over time, it shapes and reshapes their lives and perceptions of the world” (Wallerstein, Lewis, & Blakeslee, 2014). I can see the effects of my divorce on my kids, at the time my daughter (19 yrs.) and son (10) were devastated. Had I know what I was in for with my pending divorce, I would have suffered longer for the sake of my kids. I wasn’t in any way prepared for the torment that can within the last four years. Divorce, although it can be extremely traumatic, is sometimes the lesser of two evils. There are many undesirable situations that can arise in family dynamics, and maintaining a dysfunctional household isn’t exactly ideal for the children either. After reading this and other articles on this subject, it breaks my heart for mine and other children of divorce.

Divorce is one of the leading causes of behavioral problems and emotional disturbances in children (Wallerstein, Lewis, & Blakeslee, 2014). Although my son was diagnosis with ADD early in his life, this situation magnified it. Along with additional situational variables from my ex-husband in which manipulation with the kids was involved. There are just some things that kids, especially during a divorce, do not and should not hear. Harm occurs because of specific elements and circumstances within the situation. It is this type of emotional disturbances that aid in behavioral problems during a sensitive adult situation such as this.

Divorce affects a child’s living arrangements and physical environment in more ways than one. Not only does their home become divided, but it leads to a number of other environmental changes such as parents typically become poorer after divorce, since they each have bigger expenses with (at best) the same amount of income to go around. This can impact what types of resources they have to devote towards their kids, and may mean downgrading to a poorer neighborhood with poorer schools, each of which comes with its own set of risks. It also creates an environment of regular, ongoing transition as children split time between parents and have to shuttle from one home to the next. Although each residence has adequately compensated for the child in that their room stays the same or even an upgrade of paint, furniture or even extra curricular toys. But such things are just a Band-Aid on their emotional turmoil and as I have experienced, produces a child that is not only riddled with guilt of their own over their parents’ divorce but quickly learns that acting up can get them a reward out of the parents’ own guilt.

Remarriage and stepfamily situations and the process of rebuilding one’s life often ensures that children continue to experience change and instability in their family environment throughout childhood. A child’s stability is the only thing that they have in their young lives. When that is taken away from them for reasons that are unimaginable to them and they see their families split up and other moving on into other relationships, they are confused beyond belief. This in itself will take on many environmental issues throughout the child’s life and well into adulthood.

 

References:

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

Wallerstein, Lewis, & Blakeslee. (2014). Children & Divorce Understanding What’s at Risk. Retrieved 2 13, 2015, from Keep Your Child Safe: http://www.keepyourchildsafe.org/divorce/children-and-divorce.html


15
Feb 15

There’s More To It Than You Think

Nobody likes being sick. Having a cold or the flu is something that most of us go through seasonally and do our best to simply get through it. When our children catch strep throat or the chicken pox, or goodness forbid … LICE … it can throw off our entire schedule. Luckily, for the majority of people, a quick visit to the family doctor and a few days of antibiotics can do the trick and have us back on our feet in no time … but what if your symptoms aren’t that simple to explain and there’s more to it than you know how to explain?

What if you get anxious about going into work everyday because you’re scared of making a mistake in front of your co-workers? What if a gloomy day makes you feel like you can’t get out of bed no matter how hard you try? What if driving in morning traffic causes you to have a panic attack in the middle of the freeway? And what about the people who can’t hardly look into the mirror in the morning because they can’t stand what they see looking back at them?

Being sick is more than just having ‘the sniffles.’ For many people being sick involves symptoms of depression, anxiety, social dysfunction, and even physical pain or disturbances. Luckily, in today’s modern medicine, doctors have what is called the bio-psycho-social model. “This model expects the doctors to be an effective communicator and an ethical practitioner of the art and science of medicine who trains himself in the study of the psychosocial aspects alongside the biological determinants of health and disease” (Dogar, 2007). Basically, it teaches medical practitioners to open their eyes to more than just the aches and pains of the physical body and see that illness can come from psychological and social elements of a person’s environment just as much as it can come from biological factors.

The bio-psycho-social model can be of extreme help when it comes to disorders and illnesses of the mind. While many of these diseases can be considered genetic or passed down through generations before (NIMH, 2013), it is also very important to look at the non-biological attributes. The surrounding environment of an individual mixed with their current or modified mental status can also be very large contributors to becoming ill.

Telling a doctor you have a cold is relatively easy, but saying your mind is not quite right or your mood feels funny, that can be quite difficult. It’s important to remember that doctors today can understand that illnesses are very diverse and there can be more than just the physical symptoms and the biological attributes. Sometimes there is just a lot more to it.

References

Dogar, I. A., 2007. Biopsychosocial Model. Annals of Punjab Medical College, 1. Retrieved from http://applications.emro.who.int/imemrf/Ann_Punjab_Med_Coll/Ann_Punjab_Med_Coll_2007_1_1_11_13.pdf

(NIMH) National Institute of Mental Health, 2013. Five Major Mental Disorders Share Genetic Roots. Science Update. Retrieved from http://www.nimh.nih.gov/news/science-news/2013/five-major-mental-disorders-share-genetic-roots.shtml


15
Feb 15

Smoking cessation…a never ending battle of change!

When attempting to find a topic to talk about in this blog and knowing that I wanted to discuss the stages of change model, I found relating this to something that I am actively involved in right now in my life.  Schneider, Gruman, and Coutts ( 2012) discusses the stages of change model and notates the example of smoking, but what better than a real life application of the process than my own struggles with this?  I thought of the several attempts which I have unsuccessful been through and found that I was not effectively going through the process, maybe this time will be different.  That by participating in each step of the process, I will have a higher potential for success.

When looking at the process of quitting smoking, some would say when you are ready, you just will quit.  In comparing this with the stages of change model, one key component is missing from this statement.  There is no process within this idea about change.  Until reading about the stages of change theory and learning about how one has to work themselves through the process, I thought that it would just come to me…sort of as an epiphany.  I found myself trying to put patches on, throwing out many half-opened packs of cigarettes, and making valiant attempts to go “cold turkey”.  None of these worked…there was no preparation.

The first few stages of the stages of change model involves the pre-action.  It involves precontemplation (no intent to change at all), contemplation (acknowledgement of the need to make a change), and preparation (beginning to take action and preparing to make the change) as noted by Schneider, Gruman, & Coutts (2012).  When I was attempting to quit in the times past, I would jump straight from contemplation to action, with little regard for preparation.  Looking back, I was missing a key component to ensure that I would be able to change my behavior.

As I type this blog, I am actively involved in the preparation stage.  I have chosen a quit date: February 18, 2015 and I have begun to think of my life as it would be without cigarettes.  Mentally, it is important to plan how you will do things without a habit and reconstructing your actions throughout the day is important to making a change.  Self-efficacy is an important aspect to change as well and involves belief in ourselves as to whether or not we have the skills to make the change (Schneider, Gruman, & Coutts, 2012).  Mentally I am preparing and training myself to believe that I will be able to accomplish the goal of quitting smoking, that I will be able to change my actions to achieve this goal.   The two final stages as noted by Schneider, Gruman, and Coutts ( 2012) are action and maintenance and will involve completely abstaining from smoking.  The action stage will move into the maintenance stage after six months of being smoke free.  That is a long way away when thinking about quitting smoking, and I will have to take it one day at a time.

I found it interesting to give this theory some real-life application and from my recent experience, the beginning stages are of the utmost importance.  One cannot successfully make a change without engaging in some form of all of the stages.  Another thing to be noted is that I feel better about my unsuccessful previous attempts.  As indicated by Schneider, Gruman, and Coutts ( 2012), because of this change model, one is more likely to see change as a process rather than a do or don’t or a be-all, end-all.  I don’t necessarily feel as though I have failed but rather made smaller relapses in my process of smoking cessation.

Smoking cessation is a process and in order to make a change, one must go through the steps of change.  They must be willing and prepared for the action in order to change to be effective.  I have wanted to make this change for a long time and I have battled it several times unsuccessfully by not using the complete process.  Using the information of the stages of change model, I am more able to see how this is a process and how to complete the process.  I must give it time and effort, and most importantly, go through and accept the process of change.

Schneider, F., Gruman, J. & Coutts, L. (2012). Applied social psychology: understanding and addressing social and practical problems. Los Angeles: Sage.


15
Feb 15

Hopefulness

Lesson 5 discusses health as a part of psychology. According to the lesson, “a plethora of recent research has made the connection between mental states and physical health in areas as diverse as the connection between mental fatigue and sports performance” (The Pennsylvania State University, 2015). Social psychology, clinical psychology, cognitive psychology, and biological psychology all make up the field of health psychology (The Pennsylvania State University, 2015). Health psychology is defined as the “science of understanding psychological and social influences on how people stay healthy, why they become ill or injured, and how they respond to illness, injury, and treatment” (The Pennsylvania State University, 2015). Fortunately however, applied social psychology theories can be used to enhance and preserve people’s physical well-being (The Pennsylvania State University, 2015).

According to Collingwood, people who suffer from depression typically have worse physical health, than those without depression (2010). There is a certain risk associated with people with both depression and physical health problems. The physical problem can worsen depression’s assessment and treatment by concealing or imitating its symptoms. This can also occur the other way around. For example, people with any lasting physical illness typically feel more psychological pain than do healthy people. Essentially, “poor physical health brings an increased risk of depression, as do the social and relationship problems that are common among chronically ill patients” (Collingwood, 2010). In a study that was conducted in 2009 with patients who had severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, it was found that 22 percent of the patients had at least mild depression according to the Beck Depression Inventory, which measures the severity of depression. The study also found that 17 percent of the patients were take antidepressants, medications to relieve symptoms of depressive disorders. The researchers of the study state that, “depression is an independent determinant of health-related quality of life,” for the patients (Collingwood, 2010).

The rate of depression in patients with a chronic disease is approximately three times higher than normal according to Professor David Goldberg of the Institute of Psychiatry in London, United Kingdom (Collingwood, 2010). Goldberg states, “depression and chronic illness are in reciprocal relationship with one another: not only do many chronic illnesses cause higher rates of depression, but depression has been shown to antedate some chronic physical illnesses” (Collingwood, 2010). He further states that physical illness and depression are typically seen more often than depression by itself. Goldberg says, “depression among those with chronic physical illnesses is likely to be missed by professionals why care for physically sick patients because health professionals are understandably concerned with the physical disorder which is usually the reason for the consultation, and may not be aware of the accompanying depression” (Collingwood, 2010).

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There is no denying this serious concern with the rate of depression in patients with a chronic disease, however, specific theories of applied social psychology can help. The hopelessness theory of depression in particular which “suggests that depressive symptoms are most likely to occur when two factors are present at the same time: (a) a vulnerable person and (b) negative environmental circumstances” (Schneider, Gruman, & Coutts, 2012) just might be the help. This specific approach can help to treat depression in patients with a chronic disease such as what was discussed above because it “has implications for therapeutic intervention” (Schneider, Gruman, & Coutts, 2012). This theory has moved away from hopelessness to hopefulness which is defined “as expecting god things to happen in the future” (Schneider, Gruman, & Coutts, 2012). Essentially, instead of the antidepressants that were discussed above as an invasive method to relieve the symptoms of depression in people with a chronic illness, the idea behind hopefulness suggests “that people recover from depression by becoming more hopeful” (Schneider, Gruman, & Coutts, 2012). To achieve this, counselors should “engineer their clients’ social environments in such a way as to increase the frequency of occurrence of positive life events,” and they should also “encourage clients to think differently and to use an enhancing attributional style” (Schneider, Gruman, & Coutts, 2012).

The mind and body are joined systems according to health psychology. Basically, “whatever happens in the brain (or mind) can affect physiological processes elsewhere in the body, and what happens in the environment is mediated by the brain (mind) and can also influence physiological processes” (The Pennsylvania State University, 2015). Since applied social psychologists “draw on social psychological theories, principles, methods, and research evidence to contribute to not only the understanding of social and practical problems but also the development of intervention strategies for improving the functioning of individuals, groups, organizations, communities, and societies with respect to social and practical problems” then the applied social psychology theories can certainly be applied to the instance above (Schneider, Gruman, & Coutts, 2012). Applied social psychologists “are in a unique position to broaden the context in which illness, injury and treatment are viewed, giving a more holistic picture of health processes that offers many advantages by the examining the mind-body problem as one” (The Pennsylvania State University, 2015). So in the case above, applied social psychology, specifically being “hopeful” is the key to success.

Works Cited

Collingwood, J. (2010). The Relationship Between Mental and Physical Health. Psych Central. Retrieved on February 15, 2015, from http://psychcentral.com/lib/the-relationship-between-mental-and-physical-health/0002949

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

The Pennsylvania State University (2015). PSYCH424: Applied Social Psychology. Lesson 5: Health AND Clinical/Counseling.


15
Feb 15

Fear Factor! Is “The Luck Plan” Right for You?


Does the Luck Health Plan work in Illinois?  Using fear appeal tactics, it would indicate that relying on luck is both naive and dangerous.  According to Get Covered Illinois, today is the last day to enroll!  Tick Tock!  By scaring Illinois residents with the implications of failing to enroll, this plan states that the Luck Plan definitely isn’t Obamacare.  Throughout this advertising campaign, Illinois residents see people who are ‘at peace’ and happy with the Luck Plan.  The vivid imagery, shows people, without sufficient coverage and the high risk of not being covered.  Enroll now!  Without this care, you could be at risk, too!  Without a ‘quality’ plan, available through the Health Marketplace, through The Affordable Care Act, you could end up having to rely on “Luck.”

This message is aimed at making the idea of healthcare insurance coverage obvious.  It is crystal clear.  We all want to be covered!  Don’t we?  You know that you are taking a big chance, by not having health care, so click here to get started, today!

luck_health_plan

 

According to the most recent research, fear approach works best when it was used with strong efficacy messages and one time only behaviors (Tannenbaum, 2013), the message is clear, it grabs the person’s attention, and the path is laid out on what the individual needs to do (Schneider, 2012). Furthermore, the individual needs to have the intention to change (Schneider, 2012). Another unique way this advertisement works, it definitely persuades the consumer that you need to have more than luck, and you need to be insured. Plus, there are penalties if you don’t have insurance (that scares me!).  And, the commercial is so ridiculous that you will remember that dumb luck will not protect you if you get hurt. So, you better get the insurance ASAP. Finally, the State of Illinois does a nice job at working the fear appeals, one of the parameters with fear appeals is that it needs to come from a credible source (Schneider, 2012). What could be more credible than the State of Illinois and the Federal Government?!

References

Schneider, F. W. (2012). Applied Social Psychology Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems. In F. W. Schneider, Applied Social Psychology Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems Second Edition (pp. 3-16). Thousand Oaks: Sage.

Tannenbaum, M. (2013, May 26). Do Scare Tactics Work? A Meta-Analytic Test of Fear Appeal Theories. Retrieved from Association for Psychological Science: http://www.psychologicalscience.org/index.php/video/do-scare-tactics-work-a-meta-analytic-test-of-fear-appeal-theories.html

 


15
Feb 15

The Land of Lost Hope

When someone mentions New Mexico, what image comes to mind?
Classic-New-Mexico-magnet The Land of Enchantment

Do you envision romantic endless, lonely stretches of rugged roads, seeing nothing but the occasional wild coyote or rattlesnake? Or, do you summon images of towering mesas soaring up meeting shadowy storm clouds as you speed along a windswept highway? I see this as I drive across the state: beauty, isolation, grandeur, yet occasionally, the scenery is interrupted by a structure, organic yet out of place in the remote arroyo. It is a hogan. Some are a rickety arrangement of sticks reminding me of the three little pigs waiting for the big, bad, desert coyote to come huff and puff. Some hogans are built of stronger foreign materials attempting to beat back the harsh elements. They all speak of desolation and extreme isolation.

images   Hogan

My trek has taken me through one of the most inaccessible parts of the United States. I am in the Nation. I turn on the radio and pick up a Dineh language station and quickly fall into the rhythmic spell of Navajo punctuated with English. This reminds me of my hometown, where we speak a mixture of English and Spanish, whatever word comes to mind first; you use. It is inelegant, but a cultural bridge I happily walk across. This journey takes me to remote towns with names like Ya-ta-hey and Nageezi. I hear my family using words like lonely, secluded, sad and breathtaking all in one conversation as we traverse endless roads. I am on a quest, a quest for knowledge… and yarn. Yes, yarn. I learned to weave Navajo style and visit towns across the state, admiring antique moth-worn Navaho rugs and talk to their creators. I am not shy, and it is easy, for me, to get to know people who minutes before were strangers. I want to chat about spinning sheep wool, dyes of alder bark and rose hips or the traditional patterns of the Spider Woman. However, most of the people I encounter all want to speak of one thing, their health and why they gave up on receiving adequate care. Clearly, not my quest, but I understand, to them I am an outsider and, therefore, can take their story beyond their wall of seclusion and tell it to others they will never reach.

images (3) Spider Woman Cross Pattern

Tribal health concerns are the similar to ours, diabetes, tuberculosis, cancer, mental health and unfortunate, ubiquitous alcoholism. I swiftly understand their health care woes are a multi-headed hydra impossible to unravel. Where do you begin? Poverty, isolation, discrimination along with cultural barriers all comes into play when untangling the mess of their substandard health care system (USCCR, 2007). Initially, our government set up the infamous Bureau of Indian Affairs, calling it a poorly run, corrupt organization shows undeserved kindness (Henry, 1994). The BIA quickly delegated the government’s headache to the Indian Health Service, otherwise, known as the IHS. The IHS is charged with the responsibility of elevating the Native American’s health care to the highest level possible. One of the problems the IHS faces is how to implement health programs for a myriad of tribes with diverse problems. Most of the Native people live in extremely stressful environments, deserts in the south, ice in the north, rural, isolated areas and the programs implemented need to be as diverse as the people in need.

images B.I.A.

Recognizing the critical necessity of the Native Americans the American Psychological Association in 2006 asked Congress for $30 million dollars to answer for high incidences of suicide, drug and alcohol abuse, PTSD and mental health issues for the Native Americans (Psychology, 2000). The various programs implemented by the BIA, and IHS run into the billions (G.P.O., 2012). The IHS recognizes the disparity of the health conditions of the Native Americans. They cite poor education, social conditions, poverty, discrimination and economic adversity as substantial contributors to the declining health situations facing Native Americans in the 21st century (IHS, 2015). Where is this aid going? According to the statistics on the IHS website it goes to programs designed to help with heart problems, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, liver disease and suicide (IHS, 2015). According to one man I spoke to, Harold Littlehorn, proprietor of a decrepit, rural elote stand, and diabetic, he has no idea.

images (4) Elote

We have traversed the desert arriving at the foot of a rugged mountain chain stopping in a one-road village in the Nation. I find myself in a tiny run-down trailer where rugs are sold. Running my fingers across the weft and weave of scratchy woolen rugs with spider woman cross patterns, someone burst in the door and yells FIRE! The tumbledown shop’s occupants pour outside, and we stand, mesmerized by the fire rapidly burning its way down the close mountainside toward us. No one leaves; no one evacuates, instead we all sit on the front steps of the shop, talking and watching the burn. My children go next door to buy ice cream for themselves and the shy local kids following them. The blazing dry air turns acrid, slightly scorching our lungs, but instead of relinquishing our view, we sit, and we talk. The conversation turns as most do in this part of the world to sickness. They murmur sad news of a neighbor who had his foot removed earlier in the week because of “the diabetes”. As we sit, hopelessness becomes a palpable emotion threading through my soul. I begin to recognize how despair leads to learned helplessness, a feeling of absolute depression and misery. These people I am listening to, respect, and am barely beginning to understand, feel abandoned. They do not have answers, and the IHS is not helping them in any tangible way. The fire is racing closer, the air is clouding black with smoke, and it is time to move on. The only ones that take action are my family members as we are not helpless and know we have a way to escape. Everyone else sits, hypnotized, not moving and making no effort to figure out what they need to do.

imgres Mountain fire

Native Americans deal with a history of learned helplessness historical in perspective, a history of despair well documented (Brave Heart, 1996). The people I encountered apparently feel nothing will change, so why bother? I hate to write of a vast wide sweeping dismantling of current programs in place. However, sometimes when a system is broken it is impossible to fix again we need to start over. Yes, I read about the programs implemented by the IHS such as health care facilities, hospitals, and dental services but clearly they are not reaching all the people in need. This is not a foreign country I am writing about; these are our countrymen, our people, our brothers and sisters in need (IHS, 2015).

nrw03 Woman weaving

 

Resources

Henry, D. (1994). Stealing from Indians: Inside the Bureau of Indian Affairs: An exposéof corruption, massive fraud and justice denied : Advocating freedom for American Indians and federal government reform. Billings, Mont.: Thunder Mountain Press.

Psychology American Indians Alaska Natives in Health Careers. (2000). Retrieved fromhttp://aianhealthcareers.org/page6/page6.html_br

Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2012, Analytical Perspectives(Washington: Government Printing Office, February 2011), Table 33-1. The number of employees is from Department of the Interior, “Budget Justification: Indian Affairs,” Fiscal Year 2012, Appendix 1. – See more at: http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/interior/indian-lands-indian-subsidies#8

United States Commission on Civil Rights. (2004). Broken promises: evaluating the native American health care system. Retrieved February 9, 2015 from http://www.usccr.gov/pubs/nahealth/nabroken.pdf

Yellow Horse Brave Heart, M. (1996, January 1). Historical Trauma. Retrieved February13, 2015, from http://www.historicaltrauma.com/


15
Feb 15

Health and Social Psychology: Making Healthy Food Choices

The United States of America keeps getting bigger everyday, and I don’t mean the country, I mean us, it’s inhabitants. Obesity is turning into a runaway epidemic, and is it any wonder; there is food everywhere. Go to the mall and you have any number of deep fried, pickled, breaded foods to choose from, not to mention the sweets, ice cream, cinnamon buns, cookies, the list is very nearly endless. According to the Obesity Action Coalition the number of fast food restaurants has doubled in the past 45 years to 300,000. Some argue there is a link between the growing number of fast food restaurants and fast food chains and Americans ever expanding waist lines. So, how can we address this issue? And whose fault is it that Americans are fat and getting fatter all the time? Is this a question of individual responsibility or of social responsibility?

Here are a few statistics on obesity from the Obesity Action Coalition. It is estimated that around 93,000,000 Americans are obese, those living in poverty are more affected than those who don’t, and obesity increases the risk of many diseases such as heart disease and diabetes. Obesity is probably a combination of attitude, genes, and our surrounding environment. I remember growing up as a child and being inducted into the “clean plate club”; you better eat all that, children are starving all over the world, was the mantra of the day. And the cost of obesity in the United States in reference to insurance and medical care reaches into billions of dollars spent.

It’s pretty easy to point the blame at others, and in this litigious society in which we live, it makes it even easier to place the blame on the fast food industry, and media in general, than to just put the fork down and step away from the table. I know this may be over simplifying things, but in reality it could be that easy and it is likely going to take a combination of personal and social responsibility to elicit behavioral changes. What this means is this is an issue that needs to be addressed at every level, macro to micro and from individual to fast food chains and the food industry itself.

So far we have discussed the obesity epidemic, we have pondered, or contemplated if you will, a few questions about the wherefores of the issue, and we have presented a few facts about obesity. Now it is time to explore a solution. Here are a few things to think about. Overeating and lack of activity are probably the biggest contributors to obesity and to change attitudes surrounding these two issues individuals need to make lifestyle changes that are easily attainable, realistic, and fun. The old tried and true solution that does work, is eating healthy and exercising, seems simple, and yet we still have this growing epidemic. It is encouraging to see some of the changes that are being made such as schools offering healthier lunch options and fast food chains making the nutritional value of their menus available, however, it seems like this is still not enough. In reality, something as important as being healthy does take work in this day and age. Times have changed so much with invention of the microwave, which birthed all those highly processed foods you can just pop in the microwave and presto, instant gratification. Let’s think about baking an apple pie in 1950. There was no other way to make that pie other than by scratch and by the time that pie was on the table for dessert, everyone around the table had put in a full day of activity and a piece of pie was probably not going to make them fat. Now we can just buy a frozen pie and put it in the oven, or go to the local bakery and buy one. The point here is this is a different world we lived in 30 or 40 or 50 years ago, we were more active then, we ate smaller portions, and none or very little of the food we ate was processed.

The conundrum remains then, how do we stop this epidemic? I think it will take a many pronged approach, including parenting, schools, social messages, a complete over haul of how we think about food and activity needs to happen. However, a good start is working changing how we think about food and exercise, or as the Obesity Action Coalition says it, behavior modification and physical activity. It should be noted that it is understood now that losing weight isn’t as easy as just eating less and moving more, it is still the most effective way to control weight. Some helpful ways to do this include, tracking what you eat, eating mindfully, and cutting out processed and junk foods. As for moving more, we need to keep in mind to choose activities we enjoy and will be more likely to maintain.

Social cognitive theory would hold that obesity isn’t just a behavioral problem, but cognitive as well. It is how we perceive ourselves in comparison to those around us and media bombarding us with images of impossibly thin and perfect women, is it any wonder we become discouraged and reach for another cookie or pint of ice cream. It is our individual responsibility to care for ourselves and attain the knowledge we need to be healthy, as well as make those lifestyle changes to eat healthier and move more. On the other hand it is also the responsibility of social media to show more realistic images of what women really look like.

To conclude then, the problem is obesity, the question is how can we reduce obesity rates in the United States. We theorize that if we eat mindfully and move more we will have better control over our weight. To date we have concluded that losing weight is more complex than we originally thought, but to date, this method is the best we have.  And as to where the fault lies, the answer begs that this is social and individual responsibility; we are all responsible.

 

http://www.obesityaction.org/educational-resources/resource-articles-2/nutrition/fast-food-is-it-the-enemy


15
Feb 15

It’s all Love & Roses until someone gets hurt

February 14th brings to mind love and romance for many married North Americans, but some 800,000 couples will divorce this year in the United States. (CDC, n.d.) What happened to the love that these couples thought they had? Can counseling psychology help them keep it?

Love and marriage go together in our modern, western culture but we tend to focus on the wedding part of the marriage thinking that the love has arrived and will remain static if it is “real”. Robert Sternberg, a Psychologist and Professor at Cornell University has developed what he calls the Triangular Theory of Love to explain that love will change over time. (Atkins, 2003)

images

The Triangular Theory posits that romantic love can consist of up to three components, forming a triangle.

Passion is the love that many westerners believe is the basis for falling in love. This is the physical attraction and desire one has for another. It is sexual attraction, excitement and “love at first sight.” Intimacy is defined as a closeness and trust with another person. This takes time to develop and involves sharing experiences, dreams and goals. Commitment is that decision to stay connected to that other person. It is the “’til death us do part” vow in a marriage.

What goes wrong in the marriages that end in divorce? Possibly one or more of the components of the love triangle are missing. A marriage consisting of passion and intimacy (described as a romantic love) alone might break if it is hit by hard economic times and one or both partners decide to move on. Passion will tend to fade over a short time and if a companionate love (intimacy and commitment) has not developed, commitment will not likely be strong enough to hold a modern marriage together. (We do however hear of some longer marriages where people are only together for religious reasons, possibly society’s definition of commitment has changed.) A combination of all aspects of the love triangle may be more likely to succeed and Sternberg has called this a Consummate Love.

This theory can be used by a counselor as a tool to help a couple evaluate how their love started and what it has evolved into. It can be a visual model of how love changes and potentially help some couples keep the love that has developed and grow it to a deeper lever.

References

Atkins, R. (2003) A review of Sternberg’s article A triangular theory of love published in Psychological Review . Retrieved 2/15/2015 from: http://langleyt.people.cofc.edu/217triangulartheoryoflove.html?referrer=webcluster&

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Vital Statistics System. 2000-2011 Divorce and Annulments. Retrieved 2/14/2015 from: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/marriage_divorce_tables.htm


12
Feb 15

Cross-cultural Differences and Social Anxiety

When we think of our daily lives we usually think of ourselves and perhaps a small group such as our immediate family for day to day needs. For most of us we think of waking up at a certain time to do school work, our jobs, while thinking of our significant other, our family, and any other plans we can squeeze in due to our busy days. For me during the week is strictly what assignments I have to do that day and work commitments while trying not to skimp too much on my rest. As many of us know, working while attending college is not easy. It is not easy mentally or physically. In our American culture we have this strong mindset of our individual goals and what we need to do to reach them. However, many people in other countries do not have this independent driving force for one’s self to get ahead.

In addition to religion, Eastern and Western cultures have been very different in this aspect. Westerners (example: United States and Canada) put more importance on individual rights and Easterners (Asia, Middle East such as India, Africa, etc.) emphasize social responsibly. Easterners are more inner (self) world dependent by searching inside one’s self and concerned with behavioral ethics. Westerners are more outer world dependent by searching outside one’s self for answers through research for example, and are more concerned with self-dedication to a goal.

These cross cultural differences are known as individualism-collectivism in relation to social anxiety disorders. Vulnerability to social anxiety may be influenced by the range between a culture’s social practice of individualism (personal identities independent of others) and of collectivism (connected to others collectively as a society) (Schneider, Gruman, & Coutts, 2012). Our textbook gives an example of a typical Japanese woman seeing herself as more connected to her community and family, whereas a typical American woman might see herself as more independent and self-sufficient. As a result of a collectivistic culture sharing a common identity with others, these types of societies may experience social anxiety more often (Schneider, Gruman, & Coutts, 2012).

A personal example that rings true of this for me would be my father’s situation. My dad was born in the 50’s in Italy where our ancestors originated and also lived in Lybia – Africa (Muslim region) during part of WWII. He came to America around the age of 9 if I remember correctly. His first language was Italian and he even picked up some Arabic while in Africa. As you can imagine it was very difficult for him to identify with the American culture. Not just because of the language but also certain values that he says seem to be more important in his previous cultures such as strong family connection, loyalty, and emphasis on enjoying life without focusing so much on money or big goals. As for the social anxiety aspect, because of these differences in his experienced cultures, I have noticed that he is very much an introvert. It is uncomfortable for him to meet new people, he doesn’t have many friends, and he doesn’t really like to go out and interact socially very often even with people he does know. He would rather be by himself or with my mom or the family. I think it is almost like a safeguard for him.

Many people that come from collective cultures carry themselves this way in society. I have noticed in different areas where I live of this to be true of people from different countries, not just one in particular. Although I was born and raised here in America, I think some of my father’s mentality has rubbed off on me. I am more of an introvert like he is and my brother is more outgoing and extroverted like my mom is who was born in the United States.

Reference:

Hart, P. Ianni, & D. Ledgerwood. (2012). Applying Social Psychology to Clinical and Counseling Psychology. In F. Schneider, J. Gruman, & L. Coutts (Eds.), Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications.


12
Feb 15

Shhh, don’t say it: Climate Change

by Cynthia Roebuck

What a dilemma we find ourselves — shortages of water (USDA, 2014a), depletion of fish (main source of protein for billions) as a result of overfishing and ocean acidification (World Health Organization, n.d.), elimination of natural forests at alarming rates (Discovery, n.d.), large numbers of species on the critical endangered lists (IUCN, 2014), and land loss from rising sea levels and sinking lands (IPCC, 2008, p. 20).  These problems are not just in remote African villages or an island in the Philippines.  We are experiencing these tragedies here in the USA now, and it is irrefutably proven by thousands of global scientists working independently that human beings are largely to blame for the cause of these conditions through the excessive amounts of carbon input into the environment (IPCC, 2014).  It is also important to note the federal government made a firm stand on the recognition of climate change being a reality with the USDA (2014b) opening seven Climate Hubs for Risk Adaptation and Mitigation to Climate Change with two additional sub-hubs in the Southeast and Midwest to assist farmers and researchers to find ways to mitigate the changing environment.  Our Central Intelligence Agency as far back as 2009 has considered climate change as a national security issue, but all countries with resources do this also.

The problem is so vast and so serious that it should be considered a public health risk and interventions should be considered on this merit.  This is why the stages of change model that is usually used to address addictions may be able if applied to this problem help in sorting through the confusion of people’s addiction to behaviors that are harmful to the environment they live in, e.g. not recycling.  According to Lafreniere & Cramer (2012), the five stages are precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, and maintenance with each stage being interchangeable (p. 181).  This post only considers one pro and con example for each stage as it has been experienced in the USA with specific attention given to efforts at Pennsylvania State University (PSU).

The first stage is precontemplation; and, looking at the surrounding communities around University Park in Pennsylvania or any area in the USA, it can be realized not all communities have decided to be guided by scientific proof of the need for reducing individual household’s carbon footprint.  The second stage involves contemplating the problem and considering how to mitigate and adapt to these changes.  This contemplation is currently facilitated in American institutes brought about through drought that is so severe in eight states that specific areas were declared disaster areas last year (USDA, 2014a; USDA, 2014b).  Also prompting research and contemplation is the 80% reductions in oyster populations in Oregon and Washington (Barton, Hales, Waldbusser, Langdon & Feely, 2006), extreme weather causing devastation across the nation (New Jersey and New Orleans), and red tides at Florida beaches (Stein, 2014) to name a few specific areas of scientific research; but, there are also segments within society refusing to contemplate the future beyond their lifetime.  How do you reach this niche?  This is when contemplation needs to consider enacting penalties to bring about compliance, e.g. emission tests.  The third stage of this model is preparation.  This is when communities have made a commitment to lessen their carbon output; but, then, there are those industries that cannot or will not lessen their carbon release without sanctions.  The fourth stage is action.  This is happening now with new standards for electrical suppliers requiring an accountability for their carbon emissions.  It is also happening in national businesses developing national recycling programs.  But, without the right resources for implementing these programs some communities discontinue their environmental services of this nature, and some branches of a business will ignore the national policy.  How can you change this attitude?  A whole new set of schemas need to be introduced so that new social norms can be established.

This may be happening right now through Pennsylvania State University’s Sustainability Institute’s zero waste campaign conducted through the green team, Mobius, at the University Park campus (PSU, 2013).  This program has the possibility of fulfilling the fifth stage of the stages of change model — maintenance.

The reasoning for viewing Pennsylvania State University’s Sustainability Institute at having possible success in the maintenance stage is because the recycling program enacted on PSU’s University campus targets changing students’ behavior that may possibly change students’ social norms off of campus.  This is attempted through recycling and composting programs introduced on campus that utilize peripheral routes to persuasion through placing signs and recycle and compost bins in all university buildings.  Central routes to persuasion have also been developed through Mobius introducing sound reasoning and facts to students to help with an understanding of how a thrown out pizza box consumes energy.  This knowledge should help students comply with recycling to relieve dissonance that may occur when recycling is ignored, and it has potential for staying with the student when they graduate because of the years of practicing this routine while they are at school.

Of course, it cannot be known if Mobius’ sustainability efforts can alter social norm without a way to measure it.  But, we do know students at University Park are embracing recycling.  In 2013, PSU generated 14,204 tons of waste at University Park with 60% of it recycled, and it was 1,248 tons less than in 2012 (PSU, 2014a).  It should also be noted composting efforts implemented last year resulted in 850 tons of food waste being turned into 2,305 tons of mulch for campus grounds (PSU, 2014a).  This tells us Mobius is effective in the here and now at changing students’ behavior, but will students carry this behavior with them off of campus as their implicit attitude?

Given these points of its success, there needs to be evaluations to determine the effectiveness of Mobius’ platform in bringing about an attitude change.  This type of an evaluation will also provide quantitative data that other institutions can consider in creating programs of similar design.  Now is the time to do this.  It can be accomplished with administering a questionnaire to incoming freshman students’ to gauge their attitudes on recycling and energy consumption, and it does not have to involve costs of the whole student body.  It can be done with a good stratified sample of the student body.  Questionnaires should be completed at the beginning of incoming freshmen’s first semester, repeated each year before graduation, and ideally two years after graduation.  This could document if intrinsic attitudes will change when students interact with Mobius’ sustainability programs at University Park, and it can reveal what the length of time it takes to effect attitude with this approach.  But, the real test of Mobius’ effectiveness will be revealed in the administering of the same questionnaire two years after graduation to the same sample.  I believe because the students are immersed in an environment that considers recycling in all areas of professional and personal life during their four years on campus that it will have an impact on their implicit attitudes resulting in recycling and sustainability considerations becoming second nature.  But, we will have to wait to see for this, but we do know that it is effective in the here and now.  And, it is exciting to consider the large student body of international and rural American students taking these healthy practices home with them and changing the behaviors of their hometowns.

References

Barton, A., Hales, B., Waldbusser, G.F., Langdon, C. & Feely, R.A. (2006). The Pacific oyster, Crassostrea gigas, shows negative correlation to naturally elevated carbon dioxide levels: Implications for near-term ocean acidification effects. Limnology Oceanographer, 57(3), 2012, 698-710. DOI: 10.4319/lo.2012.57.3.0698.

Central Intelligence Agency. (2009). CIA Opens Center on Climate Change and National Security. Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved from https://www.cia.gov/news-information/press-releases-statements/center-on-climate-change-and-national-security.html.

Discovery. (n.d.) Threats to Biodiversity. Curiosity, Discovery. Retrieved from http://curiosity.discovery.com/question/deforestation-biggest-threat-biodiversity.

IPCC. (2008). Chapter 2 Observed and projected changes in climate as they relate to water.  International Panel for Climate Change. Retrieved from https://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/publications_and_data_technical_papers.shtml

IPCC. (2014). Organization. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Retrieved from http://www.ipcc.ch/organization/organization.shtml.

IUCN. (2014). International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, Red List of threatened Species. Retrieved from http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/4967/0.

Lafreniera, K.D. & Cramer, K.M. (2015). Applying Social Psychology to Health, in Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems. (2nd ed.) F.W. Schnedier, J.A. Gruman, & L.M. Coutts (Eds.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. ISBN 978-1412976381.

Pennsylvania State University (2013). green.psu.edu. Retrieved from http://www.green.psu.edu/.

Pennsylvania State University. (2014a). Recycling and Waste Management. Retrieved online at: http://www.green.psu.edu/ or http://sustainability.psu.edu/live/faculty-researchers/recycling-waste-management/recycle#stats.

Stein, L. (2014). Massive red tide bloom washing off Florida’s Gulf of Mexico coast. Reuters. Retrieved 7 February 2015 from http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/07/us-usa-florida-redtide-idUSKBN0G72FG20140807.

USDA. (2014a). Disaster and Drought Information. United States Department of Agriculture.  Retrieved from http://usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome?navid=DISASTER_ASSISTANCE.CC.

USDA. (2014b). Office of the Chief Economist. United States Department of Agriculture. Retrieved from http://www.usda.gov/oce/climate_change/regional_hubs.htm.

World Health Organization. (n.d.). Global and regional food consumption patterns and trends. World Health Organization. http://www.who.int/nutrition/topics/3_foodconsumption/en/index4.html.


11
Feb 15

Fear appeal backfire?

February 1, 2015 marked the date of the annual Super Bowl which is hallmarked by the best television commercials of the year.  The average cost for a 60-second spot was $8 million this year (Siltanen, 2014).  What companies chose to do with their time ranged from horses helping a lost puppy get home to a baby eating chips on a plane.  However, what one company did has been widely discussed on national news networks and social media sites.  Nationwide Insurance’s “Make Safe Happen” ad is being debated across the country for its attempt at what Lafreniere and Cramer (2012) call “fear appeal” (p.171).  The focus of this post will be the concept of fear appeal and its benefits and costs in attempting to change health-related behavior in the context of the Nationwide Super Bowl Ad, “Make Safe Happen.”

Persuasion is a type of social influence whereby a message, delivered via a medium such as television, newspaper ads, social media campaigns, etc. attempts to change beliefs or attitudes by appealing to a target audience (Lafreniere & Cramer, 2012).   In health psychology, persuasion is used to elicit behavior changes that foster a healthy and safe lifestyle (Lafreniere & Cramer).  Two types of persuasive appeals were identified by Lafreniere and Cramer: informational and fear.  The focus of this post will be fear appeals, which according to Lafreniere and Cramer, serve to draw attention to a particular subject matter by activating fears.  In the case of the Nationwide commercial (2015), an attempt was made to attract attention to the issue of preventable childhood injuries and deaths, and the safety concerns in the lives of children by drawing on fears of childhood death.

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC, 2012), 1 in every 5 child deaths is the result of an injury.  The image below depicts the startling statistics of child injuries and deaths in the United States including a comparison to other industrialized nations (CDC).  From these statistics, it is apparent that Nationwide was attempting to attract attention to a legitimate health and safety problem. Yet, the commercial was not well-received by all viewers as evidenced by responses of condemnation (Eliason, 2015) and applause (Krugman & Cumpsty-Fowler, 2015) on social media and in the news.  These mixed results are not uncommon to fear appeal attempts (Lafreniere & Cramer, 2012).   Recent evidence from two meta-analyses revealed different results when assimilating evidence with one analysis reporting such inconsistent results the authors were unable to draw a definitive conclusion (Peters, et al., 2013) and the other suggesting alternatives to fear appeal in the face of insufficient evidence of efficacy  (Ruiter, et al., 2014).  These results seem contrary to those from Devos-Comby and Salovey as reported by Lafreniere and Cramer which concluded that the greater the fear response, the more likely the intention to change behavior will occur.  Large scale documentation linking fear appeal to actual behavior change is unclear (Lafreniere & Cramer; Ruiter, et al.; Peters, et al.).childinjury_580px

Lafreniere & Cramer (2012) caution that fear appeal can be risky as it may elicit a response of sadness from some.  Evidence of the sadness induced by the Nationwide commercial is all over the internet, including the LinkedIn blog post by Frank Eliason (2015), “Nationwide is More than a Downer” where Eliason discusses how the commercial provoked painful memories of his own experience with childhood death.  When negative emotions are activated by fear appeal the intended message can be blurred and not received as intended.

Lafreniere and Cramer (2012) suggest methods for ensuring optimal message delivery including: clearly conveying the link between unhealthy or unsafe behaviors and poor outcomes and healthy, safe behaviors with good outcomes, emphasizing the reality of the situation and that poor outcomes could happen to anyone, inclusion of a specific recommendation for behavior improvement to avoid negative consequences, emphasizing ease of making a behavioral change to reach intended goals and timing of the message. Nationwide (2015) adhered to some of these recommendations like making the message that unsafe practices could lead to child death very clear and emphasizing the truth of the situation.  However, other suggestions could have helped Nationwide obtain their goal of childhood health and safety awareness.  For instance, it is questionable whether the Super Bowl was the appropriate venue for such a serious ad.  With that being said, Nationwide knew it would have the attention of a huge audience and took advantage of the ability to reach the multitudes which leaves the topic up for debate.  According to Lafreniere and Cramer, when consequences seem more immediate fear appeals are more likely to elicit change.  However, when is the best time to raise awareness of preventable childhood death?  It would seem that with the statistics as they are, the sooner the better.  Additionally, Nationwide fell short on explicitly sharing ways to prevent childhood accidents aside from linking to their website on childhood health and safety.

Fear appeal is something that clearly has pitfalls and benefits when attempting to change behavior.  Caution is essential when attempting to use fear appeal as a tactic to improve health and safety. Whether the country loved the Nationwide commercial (2015) or thought it was tasteless, one thing is certain, it got America talking about a huge problem impacting those nearest and dearest to us, our children.  Fear appeal backfire? Maybe, maybe not.

-Windy Alonso

 

References:

Centers for Disease Control (CDC) (2012). Vital signs – Child injury. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/VitalSigns/childinjury/

Eliason, F. (2015). Nationwide is more than a downer. Retrieved from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/nationwide-more-than-downer-frank-eliason?midToken=AQE2FWFUp4O03w&trk=eml-b2_content_ecosystem_digest-recommended_articles-172-null&fromEmail=fromEmail&ut=2BQ8XxKKDL3CE1

Krugman, S. & Cumpsty-Fowler, C. (2015). Nationwide: on kid’s side. Retrieved from http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bs-ed-nationwide-commercial-20150210-story.html

Lafreniere, K. & Cramer, K. (2012). Applying social psychology to health, in Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems (2nd ed.) Schneider, Gruman, & Coutts (Eds.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Nationwide Insurance (2015). Make safe happen.  Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKUy-tfrIHY

Peters, G., Ruiter, R. & Yok, G. (2012). Threatening communication: a critical re-analysis and a revised meta-analytic test of fear appeal theory. Health Psychology Review. 7(Suppl1): S8-S31.

Ruiter, R., Kessels, L., Peters, G. & Yok, G. (2014). Sixty years of fear appeal research: Current state of the evidence. International Journal of Psychology. 49(2): 63-70.

Siltanen, R. (2014). Yes, a Super Bowl ad really is worth $4 million. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/onmarketing/2014/01/29/yes-a-super-bowl-ad-really-is-worth-4-million/


11
Feb 15

Recycling as a Habitual Behavior

UntitledRetrieved from: http://charlesduhigg.com/how-habits-work/ from Duhigg’s (2012) book titled, The Power of Habit – Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business.


 

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.” – Aristotle

We all exist through some form of consistent flow of events—events that unfailingly drift from one to another through some form of frequency. We all wake up, eat, go about our day, sit at a desk, check our email, eat again, maybe go to an appointment, drive somewhere, eat again, and eventually lay our heads down in the same manner for which we did the night before. In sum, a good amount of our behavior is seen habitually and has been characterized as, “learned dispositions” (Pascoe & Wood, 2007, p. 407) that are repeated.

Motivation gets you started. Habit keeps you going” – Jim Rohn

Interestingly enough, from the world of cognitive psychology, habits are typically comprised of implicit and procedural memory functions that are supported by either explicit or episodic memory. In that, we repeat things because we’ve done them before or remembered from past information or experiences (Goldstein, 2011). Neurologically, the more we repeat a behavior the easier and more efficient it is for our brains to process that information—neural response patterns are structured and formed that support the rapid recovery of what is required to neurologically support the action behavior (Job, Kubota, Connelly, Hillegaart, & Graybiel, 1999). So, how do we change essentially hardwired brains to behave differently, how do we, as practitioners of applied psychology, change behavior to support positive social change?

Simple; rewire the brain.

Departing from the hardwired notion, the brain is extremely plastic—it is able to rewire, learn, adapt, and form new pathways for which information can easily travel (Kolb, & Whishaw, 1998). This may sound familiar to many psychology students as it generally supports the notion of heuristics—mental shortcuts that are used to piece things together to solve problems or make decisions (Goldstein, 1999). In short, research has demonstrated that heuristics, and habits alike, utilize encoding specificity and the mapping of neural pathways that produce stronger memories that are easily recalled for particular events and information (Evans, 2006). As research has demonstrated, we must rewire our brains—update the pathways, for which we have formed in the place of habits (Jog et al., 1999). Additionally, habits can be seen as the underlying information for which drive heuristics in situations where we must derive information and piece things together—thus, if our habit is to perform X then we will likely rely upon that information in unfamiliar situations.


In our everyday lives only about 25% of what we throw away makes it to some form of recycling (EPA, 2012). Collectively, researchers have found that changing perceptions, cognitions, norms, and motivations work towards altering habitual behavior towards pro-social environmental support (Holland, Aarts, & Langendam, 2006; Knussen, Yule, MacKenzie, & Wells, 2004; Stern, & Gardner, 1981; White, & Kyde, 2012; Wood, & Neal, 2007). This, as mentioned earlier, alters the neurological pathways for which we draw our behavior from and ultimately display.

This, for many, was started a long time ago with exposure to recycling efforts in elementary school. As research has seen, particular antecedent strategies have been used throughout schools to increase the likelihood of recycling efforts that ultimately produce habitual behavior—discussions about the purpose, need, and importance of recycling, motivational efforts towards recycling, and ultimately school-wide drives that are predicated by competition between classrooms and ultimately driven by rewards or prizes (not exactly an antecedent) (Hamad, Cooper, & Semb, 1977). Within this study, and as we’ve all seen, researchers or teachers have utilized Festinger’s (1954) social comparison theory, general social priming, and competition to drive recycling efforts. Thus, such social psychology theories, in application, drive us to accurately portray ourselves through the analysis of others, implicitly drive behavior, and cumulatively produce competition that supports positive social change (all respectfully). Not only do these methods change behavior they also lay foundational neurological pathways for the creation of habitual behavior in the form of recycling.


In my own experience, the likelihood that I will recycle greatly depends upon the availability to recycle. If there are recycle bins, than I will likely recycle. If not, I’m certainly not going to walk around until I find a place to recycle my plastic cup away—this exceeds my allowable transaction cost for recycling. The easiest way for me to recycle is to make it easier to recycle or more available. I have understood, through years of priming and education that recycling is advantageous for the environment; however, the consequence of not recycling does not outweigh the transaction cost of taking all of my trash to some far away recycling bin. I believe, as a function of this, that though the environmental need to recycle exceeds society’s stance, it is truly a matter of changing society as a whole that will drive individual recycling efforts. Once society as a whole fully understands the consequences (though it may be too later) a great effort towards availability, technology, and sustainability will be made. Until then, driving efforts towards collectively changing individual habits, opinions, perceptions, and cognitions will only better serve the environment and quicken the pace towards adapting large scale societal understanding of the environmental need to recycle. This concept is at the heart of unsupportive social design (areas or buildings that make it more difficult to recycle) and our natural fight with the social dilemma of recycling versus our own time and effort Schneider et al., 2012).

I have personally seen this in action with just about any effort for the environment—from waste recycling to driving less. In that, I was apart of a small study that calculated the environmental impact alongside the economic cost of travel for a military unit. This travel, from the Eastern part of the United States to Western Europe, was to reposition a military unit for training alongside various foreign forces. Though the ultimate economic cost to travel via ship was far less than the cost to travel by aircraft, the environmental cost for airfare exceeded that of a ship and ultimately defined the means of travel. This, as with most every decision in today’s world society, depended more so on economics than the environment. Unfortunately, this is the norm, well supported by society in general, and is also another example of a social dilemma that must be overcome to truly focus on the environment. Like I mentioned earlier, this will most likely only occur once the environment has had enough of us and alters something drastic and supplies us with a real resource dilemma or environmental catastrophe so large that it requires definitive change for the existence of the human race to continue. Until then, the human race will characteristically proceed to prioritize particular comforts and luxuries at the future expense of our species and environment.

As I’ve explained, a strong process of pro-social environmental change can be generally applied by changing habits through altering the cognitive make up of our perceptions, norms, attitudes, and motivations to recycle—thus making it a common heuristic or habit that is intrinsically supported. However, without broad societal influence or environmental necessity that exceeds current transaction costs, the pathway to rewire our brains is left to miniscule pro-social environmental interventions. We can try all we want to rewire our habits towards recycling, however, until it is easier to recycle and more socially common, recycling will be mostly out of convenience than necessity.

– Morgan L. DeBusk-Lane


 

References

Duhigg, C. (2012). The power of habit – Why we do what we do in life and business. New York, NY: Random House.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). (2012). Municipal solid waste generation, recycling, and disposal in the United States: Facts and figures for 2012. Retrieved February 9th, 2015 from: http://www.epa.gov/solidwaste/nonhaz/municipal/pubs/2012_msw_fs.pdf

Evans, J. S. B. T. (2006). The heuristic-analytic theory of reasoning: Extension and evaluation. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 13(3), 378-395. doi:10.3758/BF03193858

Festinger, L. (1954). A theory of social comparison processes. Human Relations, 7(2), 117-140. doi:10.1177/001872675400700202

Goldstein, B. (2011). Cognitive psychology: Connecting mind, research and everyday experience (3rd ed.). Wadsworth, Inc.

Hamad, C. D., Cooper, D., & Semb, G. (1977). Resource recovery: Use of a group contingency to increase paper recycling in an elementary school. Journal of Applied Psychology, 62(6), 768-772. doi:10.1037/0021-9010.62.6.768

Holland, R. W., Aarts, H., & Langendam, D. (2006). Breaking and creating habits on the working floor: A field-experiment on the power of implementation intentions. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 42(6), 776-783. doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2005.11.006

Jog, M. S., Kubota, Y., Connolly, C. I., Hillegaart, V., & Graybiel, A. M. (1999). Building neural representations of habits. Science, 286(5445), 1745-1749. doi:10.1126/science.286.5445.1745

Knussen, C., Yule, F., MacKenzie, J., & Wells, M. (2004). An analysis of intentions to recycle household waste: The roles of past behaviour, perceived habit, and perceived lack of facilities. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 24(2), 237-246. doi:10.1016/j.jenvp.2003.12.001

Kolb, B., & Whishaw, I. (1998). Brain plasticity and behavior. Annual Review of Psychology, 49(1), 43-64. doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.49.1.43

Pascoe, A. M., & Wood, W. (2007). Habits. In R. F. Baumeister & K. D. Vohs (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Social Psychology (Vol. 1, pp. 407-409). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CCX2661100245&v=2.1&u=psucic&it=r&p=GVRL&sw=w&asid=ebf95df4750cb6ae628178e5ed533b75

Stern, P. C., & Gardner, G. T. (1981). Habits, hardware, and energy conservation. American Psychologist, 36(4), 426-428. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.36.4.426

White, K. M., & Hyde, M. K. (2012). The role of self-perceptions in the prediction of household recycling behavior in australia. Environment and Behavior, 44(6), 785-799. doi:10.1177/0013916511408069

Wood, W., & Neal, D. T. (2007). A new look at habits and the habit-goal interface. Psychological Review, 114(4), 843-863. doi:10.1037/0033-295X.114.4.843

 

 

 


08
Feb 15

Sustainability in the Asia-Pacific

When you think of the Asia-Pacific region, a vision of tropical islands, mai tais, sunshine, trade winds, crashing surf and palm trees comes to mind, doesn’t it?Hawaii-3 Asia-Pacific, or in military terms, the Pacific Area of Responsibility, is the largest geographically military area of responsibility in the world. In the center of this region lies the Hawaiian Islands; these tropical islands have become my home. I have grown to know this region well, travelling, studying, and working throughout it for the past 6 years. Unfortunately, this region of the world is also a target for countless natural disasters. As we discuss the environment, the topic of sustainability is one that resonates closely to my work.

FR3ADY Asia-Pacific is an organization that was initially founded in 2011 at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit as a vision of the Asia-Pacific Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience (APDR3) Network in response to the natural disasters that were “outstripping the capacity of governments”. (R3ADY, 2015) As one of the original members, I can attest that the vision of our founding members was to bring together and collaborate with members of the military, academia, government, business, philanthropy, Centers of Disease Control, Army Corps of Engineers, Agriculture, private business, civil society and leaders of nations throughout the Pacific to bridge gaps, promote innovation, and develop solutions in the areas of sustainability, resiliency, and risk reduction. The goal of the program was to pre-emptively target critical areas of need to build resilient nations, promote economies, and reduce the risk of disaster through innovative and strategic partnerships throughout the Pacific.

In recent years the Asia-Pacific has seemingly become a target for some of the most catastrophic disasters in history.DisasterWhether it’s the Philippines, which recently experienced the strongest storm recorded, or Japan, which was devastated by the tsunami and earthquake in 2011 – the tragedies affecting these countries serve as a call to risk-prone countries throughout Asia and the Pacific to build and vigilantly maintain resilience to catastrophes.” (Infographic, 2013) Captured in this graphic below the death tolls demonstrate the harsh realities of this fact. (Infographic, 2013)Screen Shot 2015-02-08 at 11.37.01 PMHow does this relate to applied social psychology?  Resource dilemmas is a topic that comes to mind.  As we examine the issues of sustainability throughout the Pacific we must find the balance between self-interest and the availability of our natural resources such as fish, water, land space.  It is equally important to discuss social design in this region.  Hawaii has transitioned, with limited energy resources, to promoting solar energy providing significant tax breaks to individuals opting for solar panels to be installed in their homes.  In the past few years our beautiful horizon has been polluted with wind mills, although an eye sore, these wind mills are helping us compensate for the low energy supplies to help sustain the growing population on the island while additionally giving people hope of driving down our astronomical energy costs.  With such limited space on the islands throughout the Pacific trash is yet another growing concern that has large-scale effects on our environment.  Currently trash is stacked on barges sitting in our harbors with no where to go.  The land fill is overflowing without any alternate solution.  Something needs to be done to address this resource dilemma.  Strategies must be devised to promote pro-environment behavior throughout the Pacific.  We need to examine ways in which we can educate, shape, and influence cultures and communities throughout the region to implement change in order to address these resource dilemmas.

As we lean forward into the future it is critical that we address the issues of sustainability, resiliency, and risk reduction. We need to gain a better understanding of what is occurring in nature to trigger disasters of such colossal magnitudes. Much as R3ADY is aimed at bridging information and knowledge gaps through innovation and experimentation, we need more individuals with diverse and expansive backgrounds to join the party. We need solutions to address the hard questions on how to do this better, more effectively and efficiently. The Pacific Disaster Center (PDC) is a “leaning forward” agency that has tackled the challenge of warning and reporting, knowing a disaster is about to strike and when to adequately prepare is a huge piece to this puzzle, but how effective is this tool if only a small percentage have access to it? How do we expand this capability throughout other regions?

sustainability-impact We must come together with a common goal and mission to invoke change to a region of the world that is in desperate need. disasters are overlooked or carry little weight if they are not in our purview, this attitude needs to be altered, we need to start focusing on environmental concerns as a global issue, not just when they touch our individual “worlds”.

 

Citations:

R3ADY Asia-Pacific. (n.d.). Retrieved February 5, 2015, from http://r3ady.org/

Infographic: Recent Significant Disasters in the Asia and Pacific Region. (2013, December 26). Retrieved February 5, 2015, from http://reliefweb.int/report/world/infographic-recent-significant-disasters-asia-and-pacific-region

New co-ordinated approach for Pacific disaster & climate concerns | Pacific Beat. (2014, June 4). Retrieved February 9, 2015, from http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/international/radio/program/pacific-beat/new-coordinated-approach-for-pacific-disaster-climate-concerns/1321490

Pacific Disaster Center. (n.d.). Retrieved February 4, 2015, from http://www.pdc.org/

Reducing Vulnerability Disasters and Conflict. (n.d.). Retrieved February 4, 2015, from http://www.unep.org/roap/Activities/DisastersandConflicts/tabid/6056/Default.aspx


08
Feb 15

Are we spoiled by our abundance of clean water?

Everyday I look to people all around me carrying water bottles, especially because I work in a gym. It is a growing trend to not only carry water bottles with you, but to purchase water. Just as I got myself a glass of water moments ago, as I poured it out of a store bought jug, I stopped and thought, why am I doing this? Does our tap water really taste that different? The real answer is no. I know that it is drinkable and that it will not kill me, if anything I may experience a half second of an ever so slight metallic after taste. My store bought glass of water is the product of a spoiled nation. If we want water that taste like crystals, you get it, for an over expensive price. The point is, we are surrounded by perfectly healthy water, all throughout our homes, and a lot of it. American water is considered one of the safest water sources in the world (Water Quality & Testing, 2009). There are millions of people in other countries who have to travel hundreds of miles to get their water, only for it to be dirty and polluted, and even scarier possibly not even there. In a nation where water is so prevalent, we really should focus on preserving our water and being thankful for what we have readily in front of us.

First off the water we drink is not bad water. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sets high standard as to what constitutes as safe drinking water. The EPA also says on its website that bottled water is not necessarily even safer than water from your tap at home. While the EPA sets the standards for tap water, bottled water standards are set by the Food and Drug Administration. Some bottled water is treated less than tap or even not at all. It is suggested that consumers read labels on the bottles they buy (Is bottled water safer than tap water, 2014). It is just as good for you and much more cost effective to purchase a reusable water bottle and drink from a tap.

This leads to how sad it is that we take water for granted when approximately 769 million people go without any access to water worldwide. The women and children that walk for miles to get water around the world will walk 140 million hours total a day. Much of the water that they do come across is contaminated. Roughly 502,000 people die every year caused by poor drinking water, 280,000 from inadequate sanitation, and 297,000 from inadequate hand hygiene, all caused by preventable cases of diarrhea. The fact lists go on and on about how many people die due to poor drinking water or lack of (Millions lack safe water, 2015).

http://water.org/water-crisis/water-facts/water/

Applying social psychology is necessary in order to change people’s ideas about water and make them more aware of the struggles that millions face each day. I can say for one, my store bought glass of water isn’t tasting so special right now. This is a resource social dilemma that needs to be addressed on a broad scale. The more we change people’s minds and educate them, the more lives we save.

References:

Is bottled water safer than tap water? (2014, April 4). The Environmental Protectin Agency. Retrieved February 9, 2015, from http://safewater.supportportal.com/link/portal/23002/23015/Article/18873/Is-bottled-water-safer-than-tap-water?_ga=1.127550925.1721065705.1423453353

Millions lack safe water. (2015). Retrieved February 9, 2015, from http://water.org/water-crisis/water-facts/water/

Water Quality & Testing. (2009, April 10). The Center for Disease Control. Retrieved February 9, 2015, from http://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/drinking/public/water_quality.html

 


08
Feb 15

Intervening on Environmental Choices

Sociobiologist Edward O. Wilson observed, “the constraints on the biosphere are fixed.” (Wilson, 2002) His meaning was that we are at or above the earth’s carrying capacity for sustaining human life, and change is moving in the wrong direction. Our growing population and expanding use of resources cannot be sustained by the planet, and a change will happen, whether through an intervention by human beings on their own behavior, or by the environment intervening on us. The only acceptable solution begins with changing our beliefs and attitudes about resource consumption and economic activity; and ends with a reform of the institutions that are causing ecological harm.

Given that we can’t accept a restoration of balance through some sort of collapse, an intervention on our own behavior must address one or more of the factors involved. Firstly, we could aim to reduce the human population, which must mean reducing birth rate, since the other options of increasing the death rate or reducing life span are not acceptable. Secondly, we could reduce consumption of resources. Thirdly, we could try to change carrying capacity, either through technological intervention on the earth’s ecosystem, or by terraforming another planet like Mars to be like earth (Fogg, 1995) – two ideas that seem more like science-fiction than a present-day possibility.

To effect real, lasting change in people’s behavior, we must understand the factors the influence that behavior. One such theory, called Triadic Reciprocal Determinism, states that behavior, environment, and personal factors such as knowledge, beliefs and attitudes, all influence one another. (Bandura, 1968) This suggests that lasting behavioral change should result from a change in beliefs and attitudes, and/or a change in people’s environment.

Educational programs to reduce unintentional pregnancies, and to reduce environmental impact (i.e. through recycling or water conservation) already exist, but could be expanded. For example, voluntary reduction (or non- expansion) of birth rate could be promoted as a moral issue, in the same way that recycling now is. Programs to educate people about environmental impact, such as independent labeling of products according to their environmental impact, could also increase people’s knowledge and result in positive behavioral changes.

Environmental changes, in the sense of Bandura’s triangle, are also possible. Urban planning to create cities that do not require cars (e.g. to get from home to work) could make fossil fuel consumption the exception rather than the norm. Garbage taxes, though arguably radical, could change economic incentives by causing people to consider tomorrow’s costs of resource consumption when making purchasing decisions today.

Environmental sustainability is a real and pressing concern which requires action. Yet many of our beliefs and attitudes, as well as our institutions, are not aligned with this goal – perpetuating the problem. We have the opportunity and responsibility today to reframe conservation, population growth, and economic activity as moral concerns, so that people’s behavior today does not jeopardize our future.

Wilson, E. (2002). The Future of Life (p. 33). New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

Fogg, M. (1995). Terraforming: Engineering Planetary Environments. Warrendale, PA.: Society of Automotive Engineers.

Bandura, A. (1986). Social Foundations of Thought and Action: A Social Cognitive Theory. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.


08
Feb 15

Water Scarcity

Water use is one resource concern that is undoubtedly associated with overpopulation. Human demand for safe water is growing, yet the actual water itself is not. In order to survive, all forms of life must have water. However, unlike other forms of life, humans use water for other purposes above and beyond survival. For example, “humans use water for cleaning, waste disposal, agriculture, manufacturing, and even playing” (The Pennsylvania State University, 2015). The longer humans continue on this path, the risk of its depletion increases. “There is enough freshwater on the planet for seven billion people but it is distributed unevenly and too much of it is wasted, polluted and unsustainably managed” (Scarcity, Decade, Water for Life, 2015).

Water scarcity is defined “as the point at which the aggregate impact of all users on the supply or quality of water under prevailing institutional arrangements to the extent that the demand by all sectors, including the environment, cannot be satisfied fully” (Scarcity, Decade, Water for Life, 2015). Every continent is affected by water scarcity, some more so than others. According to the United Nations, “approximately 1.2 billion people live in areas of physical scarcity” (Scarcity, Decade, Water for Life, 2015). To assess the scarcity of water, hydrologists, those who “apply scientific knowledge and mathematical principles to solve water-related problems in society: problems or quantity, quality and availability” look at the population-water equation (Perlman, 2014). “When annual water supplies drop below 1,700 m3 per person, that particular area is experiencing water stress” (Scarcity, Decade, Water for Life, 2015). “If the annual water supplies drop below 1,000 m3 per person, the population faces water scarcity, and below 500 cubic meters absolute scarcity” (Scarcity, Decade, Water for Life, 2015).

map

As a result of water scarcity, many initiatives have been implemented to assist. For example, The Water Project, a non-profit organization, “works to provide access to clean water to people in developing nations who suffer needlessly without it” (Give Water – The Water Project, n.d.). The World Wildlife Fund is also helping by “promoting water stewardship,” as they call it (Krchnak, n.d.). Specifically, they work on initiatives at the global level to “establish an international water stewardship standard through Alliance for Water Stewardship” (Krchnak, n.d.) Additionally, the World Wildlife Fund also conducts initiatives on a local level that “measures water use and river basin impacts and demonstrate solutions for reducing [those] impacts” (Krchnak, n.d.).

From a psychological stand point, changing people’s beliefs and behaviors regarding water use is another strategy than can be used to tackle water scarcity. Unlike using the strategies discussed above or even engineering strategies such as water treatment and desalination, changing how people feel or behave towards water can be very effective if implemented the right way. The example that was provided in Lesson 4 was regarding the excess use of bottled water. This is an excellent example, especially considering “more than half of all Americans drink bottles water” (Olson, 2013). There are the countless advertisements that state that bottled water is better regulated, purer, or safer than say, tap water, but they are unfounded. Therefore, just as Lesson 4 suggests, perhaps changing a person’s beliefs about tap water, might be a good place to start, as a psychological strategy to tackle water scarcity. If more people believe that tap water is just as “regulated, pure, or safe” as bottled water is, than they might stop buying bottled water and thus help out the environment.

There is no denying that most people who have access to water take it for granted. We waste it; we pay an exorbitant amount for it in bottles, etc. However, there are many other people who do not have the access to safe water like we do. Whether you live in the U.S. or in Africa, water is still the foundation of life and is a must to survive. Engineering strategies to tackle water scarcity are good, but psychological strategies might be better. If we can change people’s beliefs, it is quite possible we would tackle the problem. Even if we start with bottled water, which is a good place to start, it “would in turn reduce water use generally and would additional consequences for pollution, oil depletion, and environmental harm” (The Pennsylvania State University, 2015).

 

Works Cited

Give Water – The Water Project. (n.d.). Retrieved February 8, 2015, from http://thewaterproject.org/

Krchnak, K. (n.d.). Water Scarcity. Retrieved February 8, 2015, from http://www.worldwildlife.org/threats/water-scarcity

Olson, E. (2013, July 15). Bottled Water. Retrieved February 8, 2015, from http://www.nrdc.org/water/drinking/bw/exesum.asp

Perlman, H. (2014, May 30). What is hydrology and what do hydrologists do? Retrieved February 8, 2015, from http://water.usgs.gov/edu/hydrology.html

Scarcity, Decade, Water for Life (2015). UN-Water, United Nations, MDG, water, sanitation, financing, gender, IWRM, Human right, transboundary, cities, quality, food security. (n.d.). Retrieved February 8, 2015, from http://www.un.org/waterforlifedecade/scarcity.shtml

The Pennsylvania State University (2015). PSYCH 424: Applied Social Psychology. Lesson 4: The Environment.

 


06
Feb 15

Environmental Blog

The first topic from which I will be drawing upon is that of structural design. I took an Architecture class last semester which left me with one specific quote forever engrained in my mind; “form should follow function.” This quote directly relates to the term defensible space; “. . .a way of fighting crime through careful arrangement of the physical aspects of communities, retail buildings, and residences” (Schneider, Gruman, & Coutts, 2012, pp. 298-299). Many times, retail owners, building owners, and the like, team up with applied social psychologists to create architectural features to deter crime. As I have learned from a private security class, security personnel team up with scientists to perform a “. . .risk analysis (or risk assessment), which is the process of identifying potential areas of security problems and loss, and the development and implementation of effective measures or countermeasures to deal with these problems” (Dempsey, 2011, p. 58).

For example, as many of us are aware, the Superbowl was on Sunday. Sure, the “big game” was played in a football stadium; but that stadium was not ready for the massive volume of people who were about to crowd the seats and surrounding areas. Although I am not 100% sure because I wasn’t there, I’m almost certain that security forces would have had to team up with applied social psychologists to devise security strategies to deal with this. For instance, portable fences, bathrooms, and other moveable objects can be placed in certain arrangements wherein to make people avoid certain areas, deter them from other areas, while at the same time avoided unnecessary crowding. This would allow for security to keep a better eye on the crowds. Lighting can also be implemented in certain areas as to brighten up dark places where potential crime could occur.

The second topic that I will be discussing today is one that I learned about living in Seattle through an environmental science class; this particular topic will be an example of resource dilemmas. “These are situations in which individuals must choose between self-interest. . .and the interests of the community or the environment. . .”. (Schneider et al., 2012, p. 298). As we are well aware, our natural resources are being consumed at an alarming rate. Our populations continue to grow, while our food sources seem to get smaller and smaller. This calls for the need to use alternative products when available. “. . .genetically modified organisms (GMOs), by taking a bit of DNA from here, a bit from there, and even synthesizing artificial sequences to create desired characteristics in engineered organisms” (Cunningham & Cunningham, 2011, pp. 172-173).

With the use of GPOs, scientists can change the DNA of resources such as wheat, and even genetically change poultry to grow faster, therefore creating more food. This seems all fine and dandy, but the long term effects of GPOs are not really known. Although we are creating new forms of food and creating food faster, scientists are more or less playing the role of God. The 2008 film Food, Inc. makes a compelling argument, According to Eric Schlosser “. . .now 70% of processed food in the supermarket has some genetically modified ingredient [GMO]” (Kenner, 2008). The film depicts how some chickens have been made to grow so fast, that they cannot even stand under their own weight. Conditions in slaughter houses are laughable at best; imagine what kind of horrific toxins we are consuming. Relating back to resource dilemmas, I must ask, in this case, what’s more important, our self-interest or our environment?

Works Cited

Cunningham, W. P., & Cunningham, M. A. (2011). Principles of Environmental Science. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Dempsey, J. S. (2011). Introduction to Private Security. Belmont: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

Kenner, R. (Director). (2008). Food, Inc. [Motion Picture].

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


06
Feb 15

The Resource Dilemma

Over recent years, there has been an incline in social campaigns to promote green living to help keep the Earth’s environment healthy. Water conservation, recycling, and electric cars seem to be an appealing practice within American culture today. In America, we do not experience the lack of useable water as people experience in developing countries. Some women must walk 3.7 miles every day to have drinking water for their families (Schneider, Gruman, & Coutts, 2012, p. 303). With nearly 7.23 billion people in this world, as noted through the US Census Bureau, who is in charge of dividing the world’s water supply?

The growing population, and the insufficient availability of clean drinking water is a part of a resource dilemma, or a commons dilemma. Resource dilemmas are situations when an individual must choose between their self-interest and more of a resource, or the interest of the community and sharing the resource so everybody has a portion (Schneider et al., 2012, p. 298). Other resource dilemmas can be seen in science fiction movies concerning food, as well as real-life problems, like those concerning over-fishing or taking countless fish faster than the fish population can reproduce.

When thinking about resource dilemmas and how some people take more than they allow others to have, it can be seen as a sense of entitlement. Recent research has indicated that leaders can develop a sense of entitlement, and claim a disproportionate amount of the resource for their self (Baumeister & Vohs, 2007). A simple example of this is seen within the book, and movie, The City of Ember. This story line is set 200 years into the future, while the inhabitants of an underground city are suffering. The issue is that the city had only been stocked with enough food rations to last 100 years. However, the instructions to leave the city after those years were lost, until the main characters find them. Since there were only a limited supply, and the rations were dwindling, the Mayor implements a food ration. Spoiler alert, Mayor Cole feels entitled, and hides the best food for his self. He even has a private room stocked with food that could feed multiple families. In the dilemma of food rationing, he chooses self-interest over community interest. Because he is Mayor, he feels that he is entitled to more and better food.

Additionally, the idea of resource dilemmas is common around the world today. Overfishing the world’s waters is a growing problem. Commercial fishing is taking more and more fish faster than the fish population can replenish itself. It is estimated that the total edible fish supply will collapse by the year 2048, creating a tragedy of the commons, if humans continue to overfish and illegally catch fish (National Geographic, 2015). The top five countries of fish consumers, in ascending order, are Japan, China, the US, Indonesia, and Russia (Alshalabi, 2014). These are countries that support large fish markets, and take the most fish by any means necessary. Market driven and commercial fisheries add to the resource dilemma of over fishing.

overfishing-infographic

These problems can be seen in movies, and real life, alike. With recent findings about how detrimental human behaviors and markets can be on the environment, the recent push for more eco-friendly behaviors and products is understandable. To change the grim outlook concerning the world’s fish populations, humans can only change their views about this resource that does not replenish itself as fast as people believe. Creating social interventions, like green and eco-friendly campaigns, possibly even vegetarianism, helps reinforce the ideas that humans can destroy Earth, as well as keep it and living organisms alive.

Resources

Alshalabi, A. (2014, Aug 29). Stop Overfishing. Retrieved Feb 5, 2015, from fishfishme- Everywhere Fishing: http://www.fishfishme.com/blog/stop-overfishing/

Baumeister, R. F., & Vohs, K. D. (2007). Encyclopedia of Social Psychology. Sage Publications.

National Geographic. (2015). Overfishing- Plenty of Fish in the Sea? Not Always. Retrieved Feb 5, 2015, from National Gepgraphic: http://ocean.nationalgeographic.com/ocean/critical-issues-overfishing/#?1#?1#WebrootPlugIn#?1#?1#PhreshPhish#?1#?1#agtpwd

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

United States Census Bureau. (2015, Feb 5). U.S. and World Population Clock. Retrieved Feb 5, 2015, from United States Census Bureau: http://www.census.gov/popclock/

–Orlena Riner


04
Feb 15

Can Population Increase be our Downfall?

 

There is a theory called the triadic reciprocal determinism that states that the environment that people live in both influences human behavior and personal factors as well is influenced by those Bandura (1986). What this theory means is that the environment directly influences people’s behaviors and their cognitive and biological factors. As our population increases rapidly, resources that we need to survive will soon dwindle because they’re simply will not be enough for everyone. It is becoming a slow reality because our population has reached more than 7 billion humans (United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs; Population Division, 2009). This number is not decreasing any time soon, and if looked at previous decades, it is increasing at a very fast pace. An example of an environmental issue that could pose a threat would be our oil consumption. Oil is a very slow reproducing resource that once used it cannot be used again. This is a staple of our society because without oil we simply cannot drive our cars nor operate most of our industries. This is an example of a resource dilemma which are situations in which individuals must chose between self interest, and the interest f the community or environment (Schneider, Gruman, & Coutts, 2012).

A growing population (environment) would lead to more family’s having more than one car (Personal behavior) which would lead to oil price increase and competitive consumption (behavior) which could lead to the depletion of oil. This could lead to a population decrease due to jobs being cut because oil industry’s and most industrial company’s are now out of business. This vicious cycle would not end until the population has decreased to a number where the current oil could sustain them, however many that would be.

This general idea could be used to create a positive effect on the world, because everyone who inhabits it must take a stand and realize that it is our job to prevent something like this from happening, and could result in a “humanity unity” so to speak. We would all understand the problem and actively find solutions such as all electric cars that are being produces now, but at a miniscule rate. Not only could it be oil consumption but also water consumption and distribution. We could encourage the masses to drink more tap water, whether it is raising the price of bottled water or simply showing data that bottled water is the same as tap water.

The biggest resource we have on this planet is liquid water, which unfortunately is mostly salt water. We as humans need clean water to survive, and without this our race would surely face extinction. What this means for our population today, is to make wiser decisions about water consumption, and attempt to cut back on the unnecessary usage. The reason for drinking so much bottled water could be that it is convenient and we should essentially drink a certain amount of water per day. To cut back on this trend we can take a stand and start refilling water bottles from the tap, cut back on the plastic consumption and buy gallons in one container. This is a great start to reducing the amount of plastic we waste that pollutes our earth even further.

We as humans are the only ones who can kill or save our earth, and thus our future. If we chose to irresponsibly reproduce and consume our rarest resource to the fullest, we will not have enough sustainable resources to continue on with our race. So many people decide that it is not their problem; they will probably never see the day when the earth doesn’t have enough water. That may be true but it is no longer a futuristic theory, it is eerily creeping upon us until sooner than later it will be a reality.

 

Bandura, A. (1986). Social foundations of thought and action: A social cognitive theory. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Schneider, F. W., Gruman, J. A., & Coutts, L. M. (2012). Applied social psychology: Understanding and addressing social and practical problems. Los Angeles.

Anthony Ferrono


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