A study by Samuel Sommers and Phoebe Ellsworth (2001) concluded, white jury’s’ demonstrated racial bias against defendants even when race was not the preeminent focus. The research found that “when race is a key issue, societal expectations are elicited and jurors heed popular egalitarian ideals. Yet when the “race card” is not played, whites are more susceptible to making prejudiced decisions.” In other words, non-diverse white jury’s convict African American, Hispanic, and other ethnic minority defendants at a greater rate than white defendants for similar crimes. Contrarily, some studies have indicated that a defendant’s race has no consistent affect on white jurors (e.g. Mc Guire & Berman, 1977; Skolnick & Shaw, 1997), and a handful of studies have found that white jurors are actually harsher towards same-race defendants than out-group defendants are (e.g. Mc Gowen & King, 1982: Poulson, 1990).

In actuality, the supremacy of studies substantiates the legal system is biased against minorities (Jones 2000) and the poor. A 94-page study found that “minorities in the United States face discriminatory treatment at every stage of the judicial process, from arrest to incarceration” (Jones 2000). The first words Officer Darren Wilson ever spoke to Mike Brown before he killed him were “Get the fuck up on the sidewalk” (Halperin 2015). The myriad of You Tube videos aside, I doubt those type of exchanges are commonplace but the path to the jury begins with the first encounter with a police officer and there is a different approach used for different people. The sex, age, income, and degree of neighborhood disadvantage of suspects were also useful predictors of police reaction toward suspects (Mastrofski 2002).
The jury selection process and eventual verdict is simply part of the justice system or “just-us” system as some refer to it. African Americans are systematically excluded from jury’s to increase the probability of guilty verdicts for the prosecution. When jury’s are rigged, white jurists are typically non-empathetic toward minorities and racially prejudiced against minority defendants. This practice is not uncommon in the U.S. and is most common in the southern states. During a two year study by the Equal Justice Institute, it found Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Tennessee were the most egregious offenders of unfairness in the prosecutorial phase. In the south, some district attorney’s offices explicitly trained prosecutors to exclude racial minorities from jury service and taught them how to mask racial bias to avoid a finding that anti-discrimination laws had been violated (EJI 2005). Moreover, prosecutors in Dallas, Texas, maintained a decades-long policy of systematically excluding African Americans from jury service and codified it in a training manual. Similar efforts to avoid detection while excluding people because of race have continued in many jurisdictions, resulting in the ongoing underrepresentation of people of color on juries. Another example is that prosecutors in Houston and Alabama routinely removed 80 percent of the qualified African Americans for jury service (Stevenson 2010).

One method to rectify the situation is to require or mandate (because nothing will be done if voluntary) a better representative of community members on juries. A jury should reflect the makeup of the citizens of that community. Recently Judge Olu Stevenson of Louisville Kentucky, dismissed an entire jury because the lack of black jurors. In this case, the defendant was black, the trial was in an overwhelmingly black district but the prosecutor had removed all eligible black jurors leaving only whites on the jury. The judges concern was that the panel was not representative of the community therefore; the defendant could not get a fair trial. Of course, the backlash was immediate. The common wealth prosecutor, Tom Wine, requested the higher court remove judge Stevenson from all criminal cases. The Tom Wise request was denied.
Apart from the Judge Stevenson stand for more inclusive juries, the Equal Justice Institute proposed several changes to the judiciary. For instant, “prosecutors who repeatedly exclude people of color should be subject to fines, penalties, suspension, and other consequences to deter the practice. Community groups can hold their district attorneys accountable through court monitoring, requesting regular reporting on the use of peremptory strikes, and their voting power” (EJI 2005) to name just two.
The results from racially diverse jury’s are more thorough and competent than homogeneous groups (Sommers 2006). According to a 2006 study, “ethnically diverse jury’s’ made fewer inaccurate statements about the case than their peers in the all-white groups” (Sommers 2006). The diverse group took longer to decide a case and did not dismiss race as a component to their deliberations. Without much cogitation, all white juries have consistently lowered the threshold to reach a conviction on all defendants but especially minority defendants. To benefit all the citizens of the US it is imperative changes be made to lessen the overall burden on society.

Reference

Halpern Jack, “The Cop: Darren Wilson was not indicted for shooting Michael Brown. Many people question whether justice was done” www.newyorker.com. (August 2015) http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/08/10/the-cop
Jones Shannon. “Study finds widespread racial bias in US criminal justice system” www. wsws.org (May 2000) http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2000/05/bias-m16.html
McGowen, R., & King, G. D. (1982). Effects of authoritarian, anti-authoritarian, and egalitarian legal attitudes on mock juror and jury decisions. Psychological Reports, 51, 1067-1074.
McGuire, M. V., & Bermant, G. (1977). Individual and group decisions in response to a mock trial: A methodological note. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 7, 220-226
(n.a.) “Illegal Racial Discrimination in Jury Selection: A Continuing Legacy” www.eji.org http://www.eji.org/raceandpoverty/juryselection” (Accessed Feb 28 2016)
NPR Staff. “Study: Blacks Routinely Excluded From Juries” www.npr.org (June 2010) http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127969511 (accessed 2-28-16)
O’Conner. E. Study results show white jurors still demonstrate racial bias. (2001) American Psychological Association, Vol 32, No. 3. (Accessed Feb 28 2016)
Stephen D. Mastrofski; Michael D. Reisig ; John D. McCluskey. Police Disrespect Toward the Public: An Encounter-Based Analysis. Criminology Volume: 40 Issue: 3 Pages: 519 to 552 (August 2002)
Stevenson Bryan. Illegal Racial Discrimination in Jury Selection: A Continuing Legacy American Bar Association Vol. 37 No. 4 (Accessed Feb 28 2016)
Sommers, S. R. PhD., Kim “On Racial Diversity and Group Decision-Making: Identifying Multiple Effects of Racial Composition on Jury Deliberations,” Samuel R. Sommers, Tufts University; Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 90, No.4. (April 1, 2006

Team cohesion is an important aspect of success amongst groups. It is the embodiment of unity and togetherness that acts as the glue within a group to keep them happy and functioning towards shared goals. The Group Environment Questionnaire or GEQ is a commonly used measure for determining team cohesion or unity. It is broken down to four categories reflecting both social and task oriented cohesion (Schneider, Gruman & Coutts, 2012).

In an article for The New York Times, Martha C. White discusses the rise in corporate retreats. Specifically, how new companies are incorporating the more laid back corporate retreats tailored towards team building, rewarding hard work, and brainstorming new ideas (White, 2016). In many ways these retreats can be seen as furthering all four categories of cohesion. The first factor of team cohesion is group integration-social (Schneider, Gruman & Coutts, 2012). In the article, White discusses how corporate retreats are focused on the group being able to get together socially. By allowing teams to interact socially and take part in fun activities as a group, companies are able to maximize feelings of group integration on a social level (White, 2016).

The retreats also improve group integration when it comes to tasks. This factor of the GEQ refers to the way groups perceive task cohesion (Schneider, Gruman & Coutts, 2012). Because these retreats offer the opportunity for work shopping and brain storming, groups are able to come together to discuss goals. The retreats therefore further the group perception of task cohesion as they are able to come together as a team to determine how best to move forward (White, 2016).

These concepts also work on an individual level to promote individual attraction to the group socially and in terms of task orientation. By encouraging coworkers to socialize together outside of the office, companies are able to improve how individuals within that company perceive the people they work with. This could potentially lead to individual employees feeling a stronger sense of an emotional bond with the people they work with on a day-to-day basis. Furthermore, by being able to witness how other members of the team participate in brain-storming and other task related activities during a retreat, they are likely to find greater satisfaction with their team’s commitment to task completion (Schneider, Gruman & Coutts, 2012).

As companies continue to transition away from more traditional corporate environments to more relaxed settings, one could imagine that corporate retreats will become increasingly popular. Not only does it provide a way for companies to reward hard-working employees without making the financial commitment of a fixed pay raise, it allows employees to have a stronger sense of unity and cohesion. Retreats are a way for corporations to provide a healthy culture while improving team dynamics.

References

Schneider, F. W., Gruman, J. A., & Coutts, L. M. (2012). Applied social psychology: Understanding and addressing social and practical problems. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.

White, M. C. (2016, January 11). In retreats, start-ups find a way to recharge workers’ batteries. The New York Times. Retrieved February 26, 2016, from http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/12/business/hotels-company-retreats.html?_r=0

The idea of working in a group with people from all over the world was probably thought of as an impossibility twenty years ago. How would they communicate and how could we effectively share our ideas? Though we think of an interaction like this as normal with the introduction of the internet, these same questions continue to plague us. How does group interaction vary online compared to in person? What creates these differences?

The process of group interactions follows a series of steps that evolve the group into a successful ‘well oiled’ machine. These steps outlined by Tuckman (1965) show how a group forms, storms, norms and performs. The first step being forming allows teams to get to know each other, figure out roles and learn how to communicate. Let’s stick with this stage and dive into it a little deeper. In a face to face group interaction is instant; forming opinions about people is done through gestures, facial expressions and of course verbally. So how does this work online? A study put different groups online and had each member rate their experience. A common complaint, “I think that the most frustrating part for me was the inability to interact face-to-face with my group members (Tseng, 2013).” The inability to see each group member makes it difficult to advance from the forming process, or the group does but without effectively knowing each other. The remedy for this may be hard in an online setting, the best thing to do would be voice chat or video chat. This could possibly allow for the interaction a group needs, and progress the group past the forming process.

What creates the differences we see in an online group setting? The most obvious thing is the lack of face to face contact. That impersonal feeling makes interacting in the group harder, which makes it easy to slack off. The diversity of any group setting is challenging, but online this challenge is hard to overcome. As the members in our research groups said, if each individual is accountable than they are “ok with group activities” (Tseng, 2013). This step can be called the performing step in Tuckman’s process, the part where the group works and gets the task done. Online, this may be difficult to accomplish with the slacking members and some may even have to work harder just to get the goal done. Though the online process can be successful, it is largely influenced by the individuals in the group.

Every group is different, and challenging in its own way. The group interactions we face may ultimately follow the steps Tuckman lists, but successfully completing these stages is harder in an online setting. The impersonal nature of online communication makes it hard to understand each other and for ‘instant gratification’ that is so important in a group setting. Only if the group members hold themselves accountable, and overcome the challenges, can an online group be successful.

Online Materal. Pennsylvania State University, Psych 424.

Tseng, H. W., & Yeh, H. (2013). Team members’ perceptions of online teamwork learning experiences and building teamwork trust: A qualitative study. Computers & Education, 63, 1-9.

As discussed in our textbook, job characteristics may influence job satisfaction negatively or positively (Schneider, Gruman, & Coutts, 2012). A job characteristic may be understood as what an occupational task contains, as well as its “nature”. An individual’s view of his or her occupation and the features of the job may be considered the degree of satisfaction with his or her job. Now, Schneider, Gruman, and Coutts (2012) did not directly mention work passion, which may feature similarities to job satisfaction. According to Lautongmeesakun and Wichian’s (2016) research, work passion involves 5 aspects (with 4 aspects listed in their research) which include passion for: organization (desiring to remain for the longest possible time and eagerness to work with optimal potential), duty (displaying responsibility, eagerness to work with optimal potential, effectiveness, and carefulness), growth (developing new methods in order to expand career, participating in behaviors that will benefit the growth of their occupation and occupational environment), and profession (pride, confidence, and gratefulness for career).

Moreover, work passion may be related to job satisfaction in that passion for one’s occupation may be a form of satisfaction with one’s job. Additionally, while job characteristics may impact job satisfaction, the aspects of a job may also influence work passion, as indicated in some studies (Zigarmi et al., 2009; Zigarmi et al., 2011; Joubert, 2005; Obi-Nwosu et al., 2013; Kangure et al., 2014; Lee, 2010; Ozturka et al., 2014). On the other hand, Lautongmeesakun and Wichian (2016) found contrastive results in their examination of the impact of work resilience, social support, and job characteristics on Thai teachers’ work passion. Self-report questionnaires were utilized to evaluate the participant Thai teachers’ work passion, work resilience, social support, and job characteristics. In addition, a 4-point Likert scale asked the participating teachers questions that may or may not have applied to them (from “absolutely true” to “absolutely not true”).

As a result of Lautongmeesakun and Wichian’s (2016) study, job characteristics showed no significant influence on Thai teachers’ work passion. This finding differs from the studies mentioned in the previous paragraph, which displayed that job characteristics may impact work passion (e.g. Zigarmi et al., 2009). Instead, Lautongmeesakun and Wichian (2016) found that with work resilience, social support indirectly influenced Thai teachers’ work passion. According to the researchers, this may suggest that the participant teachers’ perceptions of school associate support was a more powerful influence on work passion compared to job characteristics. With increasing support from other school associates, the more the teachers’ resilience and passion for work would increase. Lautongmeesakun and Wichian (2016) concluded that with their findings, programs may be developed to train and encourage work passion in teachers.

Conclusively, job characteristics may or may not affect work passion, possibly depending on culture, cultural values, and how certain studies are conducted. For example, Lautongmeesakun and Wichian’s (2016) research found no effect from job characteristics on work passion, however, this study was limited to Thai teachers. Other studies such as Ozturka et al. (2014) and Kangure et al. (2014) may have discovered results that differed from Lautongmeesakun and Wichian’s (2016) findings due to potential contrasts in who was studied (e.g. hotel workers in Turkey or employees in Kenya) and how variables were studied. More research is needed to explore the possible effects of job characteristics on work passion in different cultures and areas.

References

A. B., Ozturka, M., Hancerb, & J. Y., Im, “Job characteristics, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment for hotel workers in Turkey,” Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management, vol. 23, no. 3, pp. 291-313, 2014.

D. Zigarmi, K. Nimon, D. Houson, D. Witt, and J. Diehl. (2009). From engagement to work passion. [Online]. pp. 1-11 Available: http://www.kenblanchard.com/img/pub/Blanchard_From_Engagement_to_Work_Passion.pdf

D. Zigarmi, K. Nimon, D. Houson, D. Witt, and J. Diehl. (2011). Employee work passion. [Online]. pp. 1-3. Available: www.kenblanchard.com/img/pub/Blanchard_Employee_Passion_Vol_4.pdf 

F. M. Kangure, W. Guyo, and R. Odhiambo, “Relationship between job characteristics and employee engagement among state corporations in Kenya,” International Journal of Innovative Research
& Studies, vol. 3, no. 5, pp. 326-350, 2014.

H. Obi–Nwosu, J. A. O. Chiamaka, and O. M. Tochukwu, “Job characteristics as predictors of organizational commitment among private sector workers in Anambra State, Nigeria,” International
Journal of Asian Social Science, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 482-491, 2013.

J. H. M. Joubert, “Job characteristics, engagement, burnout and organizational commitment of management staff at a platinum mine in the North-West Province,” M.Com, thesis. Dept. Industrial Psychology, North-West Univ., Potchefstroom, South Africa, 2005. 

Lautongmeesakun, S., & Wichian, S. N. (2016). Path Analysis of Work Passion Model of Thai Teachers in Municipal Schools. International Journal of Information and Education Technology, 6, 949-953. doi:10.7763/IJIET.2016.V6.823 

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

W. S. Lee, “The relationship between job characteristics and job satisfaction toward affective commitment: The case of engineers in Sapakat Setia Perunding SDN BHD,” MBA thesis, School of management, Universiti Sains Malaysia, George Town, Malaysia,
2010.

When you hear the word organization what do you think of?  A business, team, non-profit, household, or even a social group all fall within the scope of an organization.  By lose definition an organization is a collection of people sharing similar purpose or structure.  How organizations function or better how well performing an organization can be in meeting end goals is dependent on endless variables and assets.  It is my opinion that the individuals within an organization are the most valuable assets, most promising investment, and key to success regardless of organizational or team purpose.  I am reminded of Douglas McGregor and his originally published 1960 book, “The Human Side of Enterprise” and the point he makes in bringing attention to theories of organizational leadership: theory X- authoritarian, theory Y people are the investment and motivation behind any good structure or leader.

Schneider, Gruman, and Coutts point similarly to such ideals in identifying team cohesion (pp. 116) as being a dynamic current in driving toward identified objectives or goals both long and short term.  No one is better alone, but collectively, when the team or organization works well, things will be prosperous.  Appreciating that each individual brings a unique perspective hence unique asset to a group function adds to the importance of properly assigned and accepted group roles.  If you have a well spoken person who enjoys meeting and leading debates as opposed to a shy person who reports anxiety in leading debates we can easily see the contrast in having the “right” person for each job is critical in success of winning the debate.  Equally important in assigning roles within an organization is the need for people to actively accept and participate in their role (pp. 119).  One can be excel in multiple areas, if the group lacks skill in one area, regardless of individual wants people need to be prepared to put their personal preference aside and accept the “lesser role” needed for organizational success.

Interestingly, organizations can have in place all the right people at the right time but one skill that can not be lacking in any successful organization is the ability to communicate effectively and broadly.  The better informed a “team” is the better the performance.  The importance of communication covers every functioning aspect of an organization from the bottom to the top regardless of size, structure, or purpose.  Team members who report more motivation and satisfaction indicate higher degrees of understanding their defined part within the organization (pp. 219).  Subsequently it is also communication that can control how organizations can be successful, is their fluidity within communication form department to department or member to member, does the communication relay the needed information (pp. 239) for success, is it influential, motivating, or challenging the norms within the organization?

Organizations that function with high inclusion of its members are more likely to experience sustained success.  Organizations with fluid and concise communication lead to improved positive outcomes.  The importance for members on all levels of an organization to appreciate the structure and means supportive to not only them but the larger objective is important to reduce attrition and allocate resources on the continued development of improving outcomes for the benefit of everyone associated with the organization.

McGregor, Douglas. “The Human Side of Enterprise”. 25th Edition. 2005. McGraw-Hill Publications.

Schneider, Frank W., Gruman, Jamie A., Coutts, Larry M. “Applied Social Psychology Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems”. Second Edition. 2012. Sage Publications.

What is a stereotype? In social psychology, a stereotype can be defined as a belief or thought that has been given to/ or about a specific group of individuals (Hilton & von Hipple, 1996, p. 240)

(W. 337). These thoughts or beliefs may or may not accurately reflect the reality of these individuals, but these stereotypes are not always seen as negative. Some stereotypes are meant to come off as a positive and an encouragement to that specific group. An example of a stereotype that is meant to seem positive is the, “All black people can dance/ have rhythm,” or the “All Asian are good at math.” While these two example do not seem like they can cause issues because of their positive tones, they can also hurt those affected by this stereotype.

Being a Black male, I have been constantly stereotyped throughout my life. While most people tend to focus on the negative stereotypes that are out there, I like to think about the “positive” stereotypes and the affects they have on those in that specific group that don’t quite fit into the stereotype. Stereotype threat, which is the fear or thought that you will be an example that confirms that specific stereotype for that specific group (Steele & Aronson, 1995), can be used to describe how people are affect by both the positive and negative stereotypes.

Not only did I struggle with trying not to live up to the negative stereotypes about Blacks, I also struggled with not being able to live up to certain stereotypes that many see as a “part of being Black.” In high school, I was stereotyped as the athletic Black kid before even stepping on a court or field, only listens rap music, and a good dancer. Not bad to have those stereotypes applied to you, unless you do not fulfil those stereotypes. Out of those three examples given, I only fulfilled one, being athletic. So naturally, when people began to notice I didn’t fall into those stereotypes, I got reactions like, “You’re black, you’re supposed to have rhythm and be able to dance” and “You don’t listen to rap? You’re not black.”

There are certain stereotypes that are associated with different ethnic groups, and for me, when I did not live up to those associated with my ethnic group, I felt as though I was not apart of the group. As if I did not belong. Even though they are meant to be positive or seen as good, “positive” stereotypes can still have a negative affect on those associated with that stereotype.

References

(W. 337) W., Schneider, F., Gruman, A., Coutts, M.. Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems, 2nd Edition. SAGE Publications, Inc, 10/2011. VitalBook file.

(W. 338) W., Schneider, F., Gruman, A., Coutts, M.. Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems, 2nd Edition. SAGE Publications, Inc, 10/2011. VitalBook file.,

When thinking of discrimination, we often think of the behavior between different races or gender but there is another group facing discrimination, those who are disabled. People with disabilities are often discriminated against when looking for work or in the workplace itself. Although it is illegal by federal law many people with disabilities still face discrimination.

People with a disability have an unemployment rate that is at 12.5% in 2014 which is twice the per cent of the 5.9% unemployment rate of people without a disability the discrimination seems obvious. (Sola,2015) In an article in Forbes magazine this problem was looked into. They found an experiment by the National Bureau of Economic Research. The researchers sent out 6,016 fake application for junior or senior positions at different accounting firms. In these application one third stated that they have Asperger’s Syndrome and another third stated they had a spinal cord injury in the cover letter. Each application also stated that they would still be able to perform their job. The remaining one third of the application did not mention any disability. (Sola,2015) This study proved that the application without any mention of disabilities were 26% more likely to see interest from the company than those who mentioned a disability.  (Sola,2015)

Many employers use the excuse that they think they will have to provide for expensive accommodations for disabled workers. However, when looked into, people with spinal cord injuries who require a wheelchair only require a different desk size, larger pathways and accessible bathrooms. Since the bathrooms in modern buildings are already meant to be wheelchair accessible and a new desk is not expensive and widening a pathway comes at no cost these are simply excuses. As far as an employee with Asperger’s Syndrome the only accommodation they may need is some flexibility in their schedule. What this article found was that it was the stigma of having to look at a disabled person in the office every day that kept people with disabilities from being hired. (Sola,2015)

This is concerning since it is costing perfectly abled people from finding work and it is discrimination that can cover any gender, social class, race or ethnic background. One solution for this problem could be through education. Helping employers learn about what accommodations would be needed for employees with disabilities would be a start. Employers also need to learn about the benefits of these employees. In some cases, the disability the employee has in actually a help to their chosen profession as opposed to a hindrance. Like any time there is a problem with discrimination, educating those who are discriminating is a great place to start.

Penn State World Campus (2016). Lesson 6: Intergroup Relations/Diversity

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

Sola, Katie. (Nov 3 2015). Discrimination Against Disabled Applicants Sadly ‘Not Suprising”: NDRN Director. Forbes. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/katiesola/2015/11/03/discrimination-disabled-job/2/#390751495397

Diversity, prejudice and discrimination have many ways of showing themselves in our everyday lives. One form of prejudice that we do not normally think about is when we have an attitude about someone based solely on whom they hang out with. Popularity in high school is social threat on who we actually are.

It has been many years (20 to be exact) since I have been in high school. However, one thing still remains clear, that during this time of growth of our personalities we are judged more severally then any other times in our lives. The amount of stereotypes that are believed at this age is the worst in our lives. We have yet to know who we really are. We are afraid to be who we are and we are afraid to be different then the others around us. We each think we have an idea of who the people are around us. We believe that the characteristics, attributes, and behaviors of certain groups at our school are who these people are. (Schneider, 2012) For example, you might believe that all jocks are not smart, only care about themselves and have a need to be popular. However, what we think we know is probably furthest from the truth.

These mistaken beliefs of stereotypes are a form of prejudice that can effect how we treat people. Many teenagers have the fear that someone will determine that their behavior and personality does not match the same as others around them. That they are not who they say they are.

When I was in high school I was not the stereotypical cheerleader. Most people were under the assumption that as a cheerleader I was popular, only hung out with popular kids and was not smart. While I was defiantly not the smartest in my class I choose not to be what people thought I should be. Even though I knew the popular kids I never really hung out with them. I had my close personal friends and I knew they liked me for who I was, not what they thought I should be.

Many teenagers start to have conflicts within themselves about whom they are. Personal identity reflects who we believe we are and the personal qualities and characteristics that identify us to the outside world. (Schneider, 2012) If our personal identity is questioned then they start to believe or give in to the stereotypes that others put them into.

As a parent of any child it is important that they understand they should always be comfortable with their own personal identity. Teaching them to be tolerant of others and teaching them to respect everyone for who they are. Stereotypes can be hard to get around in life but teaching tolerance of others can help. Teaching your children about the diversity of others and how prejudice and discrimination can affect everyone’s lives is important to social changes.

Schneider, F.W., Gruman, J.A., & Coutts, L.M. (2012). Applied social psychology:
Understanding and addressing social and practical problems (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, California: SAGE Publications, Inc.

In 2015, ABC launched a new TV series called ‘Fresh off the Boat”. Although it’s not the first show on prime time television with Asian Americans, it is the first where the story centers on Asian Americans.  This was not only a huge step for Asian Americans; it is also a breakthrough of the glass ceiling that minorities have always been challenged with in any industry. In an interview with the writer of the show, Nahnatchka Khan he states,” This show isn’t about me, nor is it about Asian America.  The network won’t take that gamble right now…. “  Characters were exotized and urbanized so it caters to the current viewers.  It is also a sad fact because it shows the level of diversity the general public is willing to accept.

Los Angeles may be considered one of the most diverse cities in the US.  Growing up in Los Angeles I have accepted diversity very naturally because it’s like a melting pot in this city.  However, there are still many diversity conflicts and issues and surprisingly they are mainly coming from new immigrants or minorities.   I was 4 when my family moved to Los Angeles from Asia; I grew up in a White/Hispanic area.  Twenty years later, Denny’s have been replaced by Boba shops, Albertsons have been replaced by 168 supermarkets and Bank of America is so Shanghai Bank.  The city is now an Asian oriented area and is even known to many as the “New Chinatown”  What baffles me is that there was a recent complaint by non-Asian groups that all of the retail signs are only in Chinese and they propose it should be in bilingual (English/Chinese).

As much Asians feel there’s a glass ceiling hindering their way, they are also the ones contributing to this glass ceiling.  We stay within our community.  Keeping others outside so we can feel safe and comfortable is this little bubble we created.   FOB stands for “Fresh off the Boat” is a term created by Asian- Americans to make fun of other Asian who have recently immigrated to the US.  They may have stronger accents or their behavior is very Asian.  When we think other people are social categorizing us we are social categorizing other ethnic groups and sometimes even social categorizing ourselves.

Fortunately, I am happy to say that many second generations such as me are stepping out of this bubble.  Allport’s “contact hypothesis” states that “equal status contact between majority and minority groups in the pursuit of common goals” and “sanctioned by institutional supports” should reduce intergroup tensions and promote perceptions of common interests and common humanity. (2012) Second generations are working towards this direction as they are more active in presenting themselves in the involvement of different activities with different majority and minority groups.  This helps everyone to see the functionality in diversity as every person can bring different strengths and talents.  In a way, we are all FOB in some ways, it is important for us to open our hearts and accept ourselves and all the wonderful differences that people has to offer.

Reference

Schneider, F.W., Gruman, J.A., & Coutts, L.M. (2012). Applied social psychology:
Understanding and addressing social and practical problems (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, California: SAGE Publications, Inc.

What are some of the impediments of out-group and in-group assimilation? Is it obstruction from within the out-group or is it from the larger dominate group? The in-group members can hinder the out-group based on the idea that the out-group has a preponderance of undesirable characteristics. Surprisingly, a common factor is out-group members trying to assimilate undermining their own standing within both groups. Optimal distinctiveness theory states that in-group distinctiveness must be equalized by assimilation, which is an independent yet opposing motive for group identification (Brewer, 1991, 1999, 2003). By trying to assimilate into the dominate in-group the out-group self cannibalizes. They subvert their own character to ingratiate themselves in an attempt to be accepted.
For acceptance, out-group members confirm negative traits of their group members. This affirms negative stereotypes held by members of the dominate in-group. This also alienates the out-group members from their own group. There are constant examples of out-group members, as part of assimilation, undercutting members of their own group. According to Tajfel and Turner (1986), this group membership alone is enough to induce favoritism (or positive bias) towards the in-group at the expense of the out-group. This sense of in-group favoritism was coined “positive distinctiveness” (Tajfel & Turner, 1986) and argued to lead to increased self-esteem. The out-group members are rewarded with acceptance into a small circle of the majority group. Once he or she steps outside of their confines of that circle, they are simply an out group member again and required to constantly reiterate their alter-identity and position with the in-group further damaging the out-group.
“The American exceptionalism, Manifest Destiny, the United States as a beacon, and the American Dream, are powerful stories through which current and past events are framed. From the viewpoint of subordinate groups, America’s legitimizing myths are debilitating, and create a situation where both dominants and subordinates act in concert to maintain majority domination over institutions, wealth, income, and items of positive social value” (Rock 2011).
Individuals in the subordinate group can achieve success without self-immolation however; there are often consequences for subordinates that access resources of positive social value. There is a simple answer but complicated process. Out-group minorities should invest in capitalistic ventures that collectively build their group profile, thereby increasing their social status in America. The out-group should capitalize on the 1.1 trillion dollars of buying power in the country. Let’s face it, in American status and finance are interlinked.

Brewer, M.B. (1991). “The social self: On being the same and different at the same time”. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 17, 475-482
Brewer, M.B. (1999). “The psychology of prejudice: Ingroup love or outgroup hate?” Journal of Social Issues, 55, 429-444.
Brewer, M.B. (2003). “Optimal Distinctiveness, Social Identity, and the Self”. In M. Leary and J. Tangney (Eds.), Handbook of Self and Identity. (pp 480–491).
Tajfel, H. & Turner, J.C. (1986). “The social identity theory of intergroup behavior”. In S. Worchel & W.G. Austin (Eds.), Psychology of intergroup relations (pp. 7–24). Chicago: Nelson-Hall.
Rock RJ. “Social Dominance Theory: The U.S. Minority Experience” www.journey24pointoh.com (September 2011) http://journey24pointoh.com/2011/09/04/social-dominance-theory-the-u-s-minority-experience/

Reverse discrimination, as defined by Merriam- Webster  is the practice of making it more difficult for a certain type of person (such as a white man) to get a job, to go to a school, etc., because other people who were treated unfairly in the past are now being given an advantage.

We hear about it online in social groups, through the media or talked about it amongst peers or in the classroom setting. How many of us have actually seen it in first hand, been a victim of it or participated in it? How do we define it? And, is it really real? The hierarchy of the United States has historically benefited whites and in a lot of ways, that has never changed. But as a Hispanic minority, I know that discrimination extends beyond the borders of white vs. black. As a female and a minority, I have experienced racism and discrimination. But I have experienced it from other minorities. Groups that I thought should and would feel my pain. This is where it has become confusing for many.

Because cultural diversity is now a part of all of our lives and places that were not as culturally diverse before are now increasingly diverse, one would think that the barriers we have faced for a long time would begin to crumble. Now, it seems that new barriers are forming as new ethnic groups begin to perceive their group as higher than another or seeking retribution against another group. Schneider et al., states that in North America modern forms of racism are often difficult to measure because most displays of bias or negative attitudes are subtler. It isn’t “socially acceptable”. However, what happens when one group feels they have been wronged and their internal feelings are displayed in a non-verbal way through, body language, facial expressions or tone. What about the white woman who chooses to date black men and the negative reaction she receives from members of the black race, or the Hispanic woman who is treated unfairly at the DMV by the black receptionist? Is this considered “reverse discrimination” or simply….discrimination? What are the criteria?

Many will argue that discrimination from one minority group to another minority group does not exist. Discrimination is defined as the behavior directed at others on the basis of category membership (Schneider et al., 2012). And perhaps while some of what I experience as a minority is prejudice, it certainly can feel like discrimination.   When I am treated differently in a public establishment, not allowed to do the things that other minorities of a different race/ ethnicity are being allowed to do or talked to in a way that is very different from others in this establishment, to me, this is discrimination. Here is a race that has been at a historical disadvantage and in some cases, holds a certain negative attitude towards the white race because of this but because I look like I am part of the white race, although my name says otherwise, I am treated differently. I am a Hispanic female with two bi-racial children- African American and Hispanic. Clearly, there is an internal conflict of “I am not sure what you are, but you look like someone that has done me wrong.”

So how do we overcome?

Utilizing the contact theory to overcome this type of discrimination can be useful but it is necessary during this process to tease out the negative associations from the positive associations with one group.  We must try to understand where the negative thoughts and feelings come from. Allport (1954) argued that if people with different group characteristics could get to know each other and work together, prejudice, stereotypes and the impulse to discriminate would decrease dramatically. However, there are certain criteria to meet in order to be successful- equal status contact, common goals and support by relevant institutions. Let’s use the very small example of the DMV. In this case, every person that walks through the door has a common goal- to take care of something related to his or her driver’s license. The government can support the agency’s diversity by requiring training of employees on diversity. The agency can also require that each receptionist ask a few preliminary questions of those in the agency seeking help- this opens the door for conversation and the potential for one group or individual to identify similarities between the group or individuals. By allowing those employees of the agency to hold on to their perception of races outside their own, the barriers are perpetuated by those meant to help tear them down.

Racism, discrimination, prejudice and stereotypes will forever exist in our society. What we need to be better at is extending this across all groups in a two-way manner so we can break down the barriers that exist as a result of historical knowledge. We cannot overcome the terrible acts of racism on blacks if we allow the same acts to go that we are trying to eliminate between two different groups of minorities.

(n.d.). Retrieved February 21, 2016, from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/hierarchy

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

Penn State- Lesson 6. Intergroup relations/ diversity. Psych 424.

The trick to understanding the relationships between groups in an isolated paradigm is to understand the psychological makeup of each one. There are the obvious answers, and then the answers that are less so. Blacks and whites will, I am fairly certain, dominate a good portion of the answers to the diversity conversation questions on a regular basis, since the modern world can’t seem to distinguish the “d” word and racial tension from one another anymore.

Today, I’m going to write about something that must be addressed in our troubled times; how the inter-group contact hypothesis affects two diverse groups that often come from very different backgrounds, and both generally suffer as a result. There is tension between these groups; In passing, it is rare for any greeting or other general olive branch to be extended, and when it is, it’s terse, typically when waiting in a line, or waiting on a bench. When these two groups clash over terrain, it can become brutal, often devolving to melee conflict, even now, in 2016.

Earlier today, at about 11:30 am MST, I was a victim of this dichotomy; I, a snowboarder, was shoved aside by a skier at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort.

For any readers chuckling, rolling their eyes, or looking longingly at the hyperlinks on the right, think again; skiiers and snowboarders have a rich history of tension and poor to non-existent co-habitation skills on the slopes. From the time the “Snurfer” was invented in the late 1960s (Snow Surfer, mashed together), a rift has continued to fluctuate in a continuous cycle of narrowing and spreading, nearly a half century later.

It’s valuable to note that despite being a sport of European origin, skiing (and its younger brother, snowboarding) has been enjoyed by people of all ethnic groups, genders, sexual persuasions, and ages. In fact, ski slopes are one of the most likely places on earth to find that commercial-perfect blend of all demographics at any given moment, all laughing and slicing through the powder together.

Yet take any skier on the hill, and drop him next to a snowboarder on a steep slope, and chances are high that a few notable things will happen. The two will likely not acknowledge or greet each other (outside certain scenarios), they will both assume that they have the right of way, and consequently ski or ride into each others’ preferred flight paths. Internally, there is a good chance they glower at the other (provided they are of the same gender) and think nasty thoughts about the other individual’s clothing or general unpleasantness, to be scoffed about later, with friends, over a cold ale at “apres.”

But then that’s where the magic is happening.

It began like the Civil Rights movement; large, loud, and blatantly in need of reform. Ski resorts across the United States banned snowboarders, first from using their lifts, then from even hiking up the mountain themselves. A snowboarder’s only recourse was to go into the back country to ski, where, though trendy today, they were forced to risk the elements and the danger of avalanches to enjoy their sport.

Eventually, intergroup contact hypothesis proved itself to be at least somewhat right; as skiers figured out that the boarders were not, in point of fact, all simple ruffians or fiends, and that their boards did not damage the snow conditions as had been previously thought, they began to relax on the topic. Really, the two groups came together, and learned that the other side wasn’t actually so bad.

One by one, the resorts lifted their restrictions on snowboarders being allowed to enjoy their facilities. Today, there are only three resorts left that still tell snowboarders that their “kind” aren’t served there- Alta Ski Resort, Deer Valley Resort, both in Salt Lake City, UT, and Mad River Glen, located in Vermont.

This is a tremendous victory in equal rights for those who choose to ride one plank instead of two. And this is not a satire piece. Imagine if we were having this conversation around motorcyclists pitched against car drivers. The level of controversy that would ensue were the government to tell bikers that they were unsafe for other drivers, and therefore were no longer allowed to ride on the freeway, would be astronomical. There would be cries of “nanny state,” and “martial law,” and generally speaking, it would be an outrage at most, head-scratcher at least. Yet no one but the boarders complained when the boarders were banned from the hills across the country. That we have changed that perception speaks volumes, and it is largely due to the inter-group contact hypothesis.

That all being explained, there remains a great deal of work to do. Every winter, I see skiers pushing snowboarders, snowboarders slugging skiers, and there seems to be very little that can be done. I wondered, as I read back through the course text on the lift to the top of Rendezvous Mountain this morning (it’s a long tram), if it’s acceptable to simply allow the slow burn of the group contact to continue its work; the truth is, whether on one plank or two, we all wear alien googles, bulbous helmets, and awkwardly bright clothing that we wouldn’t be caught dead wearing in any other context. We can only see that so much before we realize that our judgment would be just as withering if our own doppelganger rode by on the wrong slope apparatus. One can only spend so much time on the slopes before getting to know people that ski as well as they board, and vice versa, leading to a further blurring of the lines that have existed between the two sports for so very long.

Overall, I don’t know that it’s feasible to simply drag the rift on the resort’s slopes back together. It was forced apart a half century ago by two sides of a coin whose behavior and choices led us to the quiet, unacknowledged, still slightly uncomfortable silence we have on the subject today. Yet every time a skier rides the hill with a group of boarders, every time someone nods their head on the mountain to one of the other breed, we progress a little more. Eventually, we may get there, but we must let our groups intermingle, and see through contact that really, we’re all wearing the same color of orange snow pants on the inside, too.

Society is becoming more and more comfortable with the idea that we all just might not be created equally.  We all have our differences.  Some of us are black, some of us are white, some are tall, and some are short.  Some of us may have even been born into the wrong body.  But should we all be treated equally?  This is where the lines seem to blur.

The lives of LGBTQ individuals are becoming more and more mainstream in the United States.  Alternative lifestyles are gaining acceptance more and more every day.  Our society is growing to accept the idea of gay marriage, albeit slower than it should be.  Caitlyn Jenner has introduced herself to the world, and is celebrated for her bravery.  These moments in history are all paving the way for younger individuals to realize their own personal journey, and to find the strength and courage to be who they truly are; to announce the truth of their identity.  They are receiving messages from all walks of life to stand up and be who they are, unapologetically.  So why do the freedoms stop at which bathroom they use?

Many editorials have surfaced as of late regarding the growing issue of transgendered elementary and high school students utilizing the designated bathroom for the gender that they identify with.  Some non-transgender students and their parents have voiced concern about the supposed impropriety of the situation, referring to the vulnerability of the students who suddenly find themselves sharing a semi-private space with a member of the opposite sex.  To address the issue, we can look at a district that has been successfully integrating transgender and typically developing students since 2004.  The Los Angeles Unified School District has been allowing students to utilize bathrooms and locker rooms according to their gender identity, with minimal complaints, over the course of the past 12 years (Bosman & Rich, 2015).

According to Judy Chiasson, coordinator in the Human Relations, Diversity and Equity Department for the Los Angeles Unified School District, the current generation of students tend to be more modest, tend not to undress in public areas, and use the private stalls in bathrooms (Bosman & Rich, 2015).  She further explains that because of this modesty, most students don’t even know whether a fellow student is transgender (Bosman & Rich, 2015).

So why all the fuss?  Many of us continue to operate based on our stereotypes of various different groups.  Perhaps a way to address these prejudices would be in the form of conflict resolution to diminish the discrimination.  There seems to be a blanket acceptance in the Los Angeles school district, but how can we address the issue in more conservative regions of the country?

Schneider, Gruman and Coutts (2012) illustrate the concept of coalition building for breaking down barriers to increase contact as a means of decreasing conflict.  These coalition building exercises create opportunity for interaction between opposing groups, for learning about specific individuals belonging to the groups, and introduce cooperative tasks and reward systems for working together (Schneider, Gruman & Coutts, 2012).  A well-known practice, typically referred to as the Ben Franklin effect (as it was originally coined by Benjamin Franklin), posits that an effective means of establishing a positive relationship with another is to get that person to do you a favor.  Creating these moments for relying on a person from the opposing group may prove to be the perfect opportunity for breaking down the stereotypes.  Given time, these opportunities may allow not only students, but everyone, to shed their prejudice and coexist in cooperation.

Bosman, J., & Rich, M. (2015, November 03). As Transgender Students Make Gains, Schools Hesitate at Bathrooms. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/04/us/as-transgender-students-make-gains-schools-hesitate-at-bathrooms.html?_r=0

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.

There was once a time in America when children were raised to respect their elders. Elderly were seen as very wise individuals that deserved the uttermost respect. However, in today’s society respecting one’s elders has decreased dramatically. Children do not listen to what the elderly have to say. They disrespect them and abuse them financially, physically, and psychologically.

According to the National Center on Elder Abuse (NCEA), majority of abuse towards elders were committed by family members. Most of the time the abuse came from adult children, spouses, partners, and others. The ones who were most likely to abuse either had an addiction problem, mental/emotional illness, or felt it was a burden to care for them (NCEA, 2016)

Abuse in nursing homes is also a factor in today’s society. One study was conducted in 2000 that involved interviewing 2,000 nursing home residents. They reported that 44% of the residents reported abuse. 95% of them also reported feeling neglected or have seen others being neglected (NCEA, 2016)

Those who experience abuse had a 300% higher risk of death compared to those who were not abused. There is an increase on psychological distress and lower perceived self-efficacy (NCEA, 2016) Abusing elders also results in additional health issues such as, bone and join problems, high blood pressure, heart problems, and depression or anxiety issues

Looking at the social dominance theory, it may explain the change of why the elderly are disrespected. This theory represents that all individuals belong to a group and that each group provides much needed resources for those within the group (Schneider, et al,. 2012) Therefore, people are always willing to protect the group. Social dominance also includes the presence of hierarchy. Those with in the group maintain their hierarchy by their behavior. The most common forms of these hierarchies are age, gender, and arbitrary set (Schneider, et al,. 2012).

Through these hierarchies, the older an individual is, the better. This reflects positive social value. This means that high status group members are motivated to maintain the hierarchy (Schneider, et al,. 2012) However, in this particular situation it does not seem to be the case. The elderly are unable to defend themselves. Many are disabled, unaware, or incapable. Their abilities to kept their high status is no longer existent. Therefore, the arbitrary set comes into play. This is created by beliefs about the world and how it should be operated (Schneider, et al,. 2012) This allows for change to occur. The youth once held a negative social value. This means that they are motivated to attempt to move up to the social hierarchy but had lack of resources and powers (Schneider, et al,. 2012). However, the youth has found a way to take over the elders hierarchy by being their care provider and controlling their finances. The elderly were once wise and admired but now they are pushed aside and disposed of like a piece of trash on the sidewalk.

Reference

Of all the types of diversity, one that is arguably one of the most prevalent in American society is gender; specifically, sexism. Benevolent sexism is probably the sneakiest type, as it is often disguised as a compliment or some form of chivalry. In terms of the contact hypothesis, contact between men and women (in-group and out-group) would not currently meet the requirements for improving stereotyping on a large scale; the fact that women are still not seen as complete equals demonstrates just that (Schneider, Gruman, & Coutts, 2012). Through a couple of examples, I will show how the contact hypothesis could possibly resolve conflict in terms of sexism, and suggest interventions in certain areas of life that may actually produce change.

Imagine a young college woman rushing out of a classroom. She is running downstairs to get across campus to her next class, which starts in ten minutes. As she is swiftly moving toward the exit to the building, a young man zooms ahead of her in order to open the door for her. As he is holding it open with a smile, the young woman stops in her tracks and says “Please don’t ever do that again.” The young man asks her why, as he was just trying to be nice. The girl responds to this with yet another question: “Well, would you have rushed ahead of me to open the door if I were a man?” The young man looked confused for a moment, then replied with, “Hmm…I see your point.” The woman says thank you, and walks outside to her class.

The above example, based on actual events, is a prime demonstration of benevolent sexism. The woman was more than capable of opening the door herself, which she was about to do before the young man opened it for her. Even though he was “just trying to be nice,” his actions implied that women need to be taken care of and catered to—the oldest form of sexism. If most of society inherently feels that women are not equal to men, how could having contact between the two groups (contact hypothesis) change society as a whole? Well, the aforementioned contact between one member from each group ended with more mutual understanding between the two; in this sense, the “perceived equality” between the two individuals seemed to resolve conflict (Schneider et al., 2012). However, this only applied on a microscopic scale. To have it apply on a larger scale, attitudes would need to be changed, possibly through social psychological interventions.

Unfortunately, negative attitudes within groups can perpetuate sexism as well; that is, women and men are both part of the problem. A study demonstrated that when women and men were both informed about, and encouraged to pay attention to, modern and benevolent sexism in their own lives, only the women’s attitudes changed (Becker & Swim, 2014). Men only developed negative attitudes toward sexism when they were encouraged to show emotional empathy toward women (Becker & Swim, 2014). It is possible this difference could be caused by the in-group, out-group mindset; women did not need to be encouraged to have empathy toward themselves, as they already feel that way about their own group (but they had no issue feeling hostility toward sexist men in the study). Similar interventions could be applied to important areas of life such as the workplace in order to encourage equal treatment of both genders, and achieve equality, shared goals and organizational support as outlined by the contact hypothesis (Schneider et al., 2012).

In typical workplaces such as offices or schools, women still fight against that glass ceiling (they can only climb so high in their jobs). An intervention to reduce sexism, and maybe even help equalize pay, could be done very cost-effectively via the internet. Both men and women could receive information about sexism via a website or emails. An experimental group could also attend workplace meetings about sexist attitudes, perhaps with videos demonstrating the harm that sexism does to society as a whole, not just individual women. If the group that receives both internet information and attends the meetings has more improved attitudes than the internet-only group, then such a combined plan could be applied to many workplaces. Over time, as sexism decreases, bigger changes such as equal pay could happen as a result. Participants in this plan could be monitored over time, and hopefully men and women would come to see themselves as part of one group working toward similar goals.

Unfortunately, it is human nature to not get along. There are in-groups and out-groups everywhere, and not just in terms of the gender barrier. As Schneider and Lesson 6 outline, there is a lot of understanding of why there is so much conflict among groups of people, but more still needs to be done in order to end it (2012). Regardless of whether we are men or women, and no matter how much we exclude members of the “out-group,” we are all still human beings.

References:

Becker, J.C., & Swim, J.K. (2014). Seeing the unseen: Attention to daily encounters with sexism as way to reduce sexist beliefs. Psychology of Women Quarterly. 227-242.

Schneider, F.W., Gruman, J.A., & Coutts, L.M. (2012). Applied social psychology:
Understanding and addressing social and practical problems (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, California: SAGE Publications, Inc.

Diversity, what does this word mean to you?  What does this word mean in a world where we tend to look the other way if we see things that create personal discomfort especially if it does not affect us.  Diversity particularly in the field of psychology as described by Schneider, Gruman, and Coutts (2012) required us to reach beyond the common definition of racial, ethnic, religious affiliation and look inward toward ourselves seeking to understand our level of acceptance in relation to diversity in that have we learned to accept differences or do we expect people to assimilate into our cultural norms?

Regardless of the answer to this genuine diversity is allocentric (Schneider pp. 326) in that the best for the group may not be assimilation but acceptance of diversity and embracing others as they are for who and what they are without expectations or ideals on behavior or roles to be assumed.  Socially we have come to accept cultural distrust of different religions, racial tensions raise high when there is an encounter between officers and the population of different ethnicities, everyone points fingers but no one seems interested in long term sustainable solutions.

Bias takes many forms and is not exclusive to white middle class males but spans broadly across the globe.  Individual ideas are shaped by what we are exposed to and our interpretations of potential risks, benefits, or motivations for our well being.  Individuals who tend to stray beyond our norm are labeled (intentionally or unintentionally) and we often avoid “those people” or do our best to ensure their conformity with our expectations of them, either way it is bias, racist, or sexist if we expect others to change for our benefit or comfort.

Building intergroup respect and relationships is key to avoiding the assimilation assumption and should be based on broadening the scope of social norms, community outreach and collaboration, and showing that mutual respect for “all” people can slowly change imbedded preconceptions about others.  Thus improving cultural diversity, social acceptance, and reducing stigma and bias.

Schneider, Frank W., Gruman, Jamie A., Coutts, Larry M. “Applied Social Psychology Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems”. Second Edition. 2012. Sage Publications.

Normally, it’s the other way around- “Is Your Job Stressing You Out?” but I think if we look at it the other way, we might find that outside influences are actually causing you to stress at work, and you could have it all wrong. We are trained to think that when something is stressing us out, perhaps we aren’t disconnecting from work enough or our co-workers could be driving up our stress levels, or the boss is breathing down our back and it’s totally stressing us out.

But what if we looked it in reverse?

According to a Gallup poll released in 2014, the average work week has grown to 46.7 hours per week which is almost another full day of work over what we traditionally have grown to think is the “normal” work week. Does that stress you out just reading it? And if you are salaried, well you might as well conclude that you’re almost never really “off work”. While this data is discouraging and can produce some negative feelings among some, there is hope.  The hope that just because we spend most of our time at work, doesn’t necessarily mean it is the only cause of stress or even the cause of stress at all. We have to work so we can meet our needs and survive so unless you win the lottery, your job isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. It’s probably a good idea to deal with your outside stressors to reduce your stress.  We have more control over them and sometimes can even eliminate them. Now let’s look at how the science in psychology fits in.

The Biopsychosocial Model

Does just reading that term stress you out? It’s actually quite simple and a good way to put things into perspective. The biopsychosocial model sees your health as being determined by a few factors- biological, psychological and social (Schneider, 2012). It is different than the biomedical model in that it not only looks at the factors that can affect your health that you’re genetically tied to, like high blood pressure but it also looks at what social factors affect your health (religion, family, children, spouse or significant other or your socioeconomic status) and the psychological factors (how well you cope with certain situations). If we begin to evaluate our stress based on this model, it is possible you might find that your job is not stressing you out but rather you are stressing out at your job.

Let’s evaluate. You are diabetic and have to check your blood sugar everyday. Biological. The media, your provider and your insurance carrier bombard you with information about your condition and scare tactics. To add insult to injury, your significant other has different beliefs in religion and how to raise your children. You are a full time student with a full time job. Social. And you tend to over analyze things and have never been good at making final decisions once you do. Psychological. How many times did your job come up? Zero. But, by the time you make it to work you are so stressed you don’t even know the difference. And why not put the blame on your job? After all, you’re there more than anywhere else.

A Different View

Let’s look at the health belief model. After all, stress directly affects your health in many ways. According to the American Psychological Association, stress affects your musculoskeletal, respiratory, cardiovascular, endocrine, gastrointestinal, nervous and reproductive systems. Pretty much every system in your body. Which is why once you arrive at work, you’re feeling like your health is declining and you cant keep up. Is it the amount of work? Type of work? Probably not. Before we continue with the health belief model, let’s cover some tips for reducing stress. Psychology Today (Long, 2013) lists several tips for coping with stress:

• Muscle relaxation
• Diet- make it healthy
• Exercise- move more
• Sleep- get enough

Sound easy? It might not be the cure for it all, but it will reduce your stress and make you a happier employee and co-worker. Now let’s look at the health belief model as it pertains to stress. Once you achieve these items, chances are your stress about your condition will decrease as well. The health belief model is concerned with cognitive factors that include beliefs about how likely it is to become ill, and how likely our actions are to prevent illness (Schneider, 2012). Your doctor and your insurance company will thank you for it. And don’t forget your body!

The following are components of the health belief model:

General Health Values– do you have interest in maintaining your health?

Perceived Susceptibility to Illness– How likely is it that you’ll develop an illness. Specifically, one as a result of your stress if you don’t get it under control.

Perceived Severity of Illness– How serious is the threat of an illness? If we continue to allow ourselves to stress, what are the consequences and how serious are they?

Expectation of Treatment Success– if we change a behavior, is it likely that we will reduce a specific threat to our health? If we take control of our stress, will that reduce the threat to all the systems listed above?

Self- efficacy– Do we have what it takes to stop the behavior? Can we stop stressing at work by reducing the amount of stressors outside of work?

Perceived Barriers and Benefits– Cost benefit analysis. Is the benefit of reducing stress going to outweigh what it takes to get there? Consider your behavior at work, your productivity and interactions with co-workers.

If we begin to recognize what is stressing us out, how to identify those stressors and maintain a positive belief on reducing our stress, you’re well on your way to becoming more productive, happy and healthier.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/on-leadership/wp/2014/09/02/the-average-work-week-is-now-47-hours/

Long, J., Psy.D. (2013, August 25). 5 Quick Tips to Reduce Stress and Stop Anxiety. Retrieved February 11, 2016, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/finding-cloud9/201308/5-quick-tips-reduce-stress-and-stop-anxiety

Stress effects on the body. (n.d.). Retrieved February 11, 2016, from http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/stress-body.aspx

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

We all want to live in a nice home surrounded by pleasant neighbors, within a charming neighborhood in a reputable city in a great state. How and where we live is just part of the science of psychology and understanding psychological and social influences. There are scientific measures that define and interpret happiness.
Education level, employment, family, social support and community safety are all factors in personal health. The inequities in these categories can play a major role in a person’s prosperity and psychological well-being or lead to hopelessness and poor health. Many problems can be thwarted by wealth but wealth in and of itself does not translate to happiness. In fact, the demarcation of seventy-five thousand dollars annually is the point that happiness becomes less relative. A Princeton study reported happiness was not commensurate with wealth. Princeton professors Alan Krueger and Daniel Kahneman (2006) stated, “The belief that high income is associated with good mood is widespread but mostly illusory. People with above-average income are relatively satisfied with their lives but are barely happier than others …(and) tend to be more tense, and do not spend more time in particularly enjoyable activities” (Krueger , Kahneman 2006).
People born poor, will probably stay that way (Mencimer 2014). A child’s life bearing and outcome is essentially that of the parents. Karl Alexander, a Johns Hopkins sociologist, found after a thirty year study that “family determines almost everything, and that a child’s fate is essentially fixed by how well off her parents were when the child was born” (Mencimer 2014). Children who had a stable environment, whose parents were married typically stayed equal to their parent’s financial accomplishments or better. Children from distressed backgrounds of single parenthood or poverty stayed impoverished.
Intriguingly despite the socio and economical constructs of the world, surveys report poor people are happier than rich people are. This would incline a person to believe, poor environments and lack of a livable wage and do not negatively affect those outside socio economical help. If those beliefs acquiesce to greed, then the policy-makers who decide major economic and political decisions will base their decisions from a skewed narrative.
The truth is, surveys that attempt to validate the wealthy, poor, happiness narrative may not be foolproof. The international polling firm Ipsos 2013 Global Happiness Report (GH) concluded the popular position that poor people are happier then rich people. Such surveys have fundamental weaknesses with the survey methods. One question is who are the people selected in the survey? Often the most distressed individuals are not the ones who actually take the survey. The Ipsos survey sampled 24 of the 193 countries thus; the survey size is problematic (Douglas 2014). Even within the surveyed countries, the people surveyed were not the ones at the lowest end of the economic spectrum. The respondents were people with internet access, and by this fact, were relatively prosperous residents. The poorest people did not have the means to buy a computer therefore unable to respond to the happiness survey. When questioned about the survey methods, Ipsos research manager, Karen Gottfired, stood by the findings but admitted the results measured “only the happiness of people she called educated, urban upper-deck consumer citizens” (Douglas 2104). Another factor of the Ipsos survey was the question format; the respondents were asked to rate themselves on four levels, from “very happy” to “not happy at all.” John Helliwell, a British Colombia University economics professor who co authored the findings on a similar world happiness survey and report, stated the Ipsos survey “mainly measured a fleeting emotion” (Douglass 2014).
Ipsos’s survey that purported to gauge a person’s mental and physical health should be a better-designed attitude scale. For example, the UN World Happiness Report asked respondents “Life satisfaction” questions. The design of the UN survey revealed whether people felt they had a livable income, resources to support their physical and mental health, a sense of social cooperation, along with freedom from corrupt officials and communities governed by the rule of law” (Douglas 2104). Moreover, the UN Happiness Survey had distinctly different results compared to the Ipsos survey.
The design of an attitude scale is critical, a poor person might report being emotionally happy at any given time but also report and feel a much lower sense of happiness with life as a whole. In general, people living in extreme poverty do express low levels of happiness with life as a whole. (Douglas 2104)
With the perception that life is fine for those at the bottom of the socio economical scale allows a collective denial of their circumstances. An honest depiction that people are not happy living a subpar existence is another reason to change. The Princeton and the Ipsos studies are specious. According to Helliwell, the ten riches countries in the world are not the happiest. The most economically viable country, United States, rated 26 on the UN survey. I can only imagine the unhappiness health conditions of the bottom ten.

“If the misery of the poor be caused not by the laws of nature, but by our institutions, great is our sin.”
Charles Darwin

References

Quiñones Eric. “Link between income and happiness is mainly an illusion” www.princeton.edu. (June, 2006) http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S15/15/09S18/index.xml?section=topstories
Mencimer Stephanie. “If You’re Born Poor, You’ll Probably Stay That Way” www.motherjones.com (June, 2014) http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2014/06/the-long-shadow-poverty-baltimore-poor-children

Todd Douglas. “Rich or Poor: Who’s Happiest”. www.thevancouversun.com (February 15, 2014). http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2014/02/15/rich-or-poor-whos-happiest-and-why-it-matters/

Self-presentational motivation may play an influential role in online social media and networking behavior (e.g. posting on Facebook). This form of motivation can be described as the level at which an individual worries about other individuals’ perceptions of him, how necessary it is for him to project a certain self-image to others, depending on the consequences (Schneider, Gruman, & Coutts, 2012). Individuals with strong self-presentational motivation believe it is extremely important to display oneself in a specific way to others. This behavior and way of thinking may be observed in online social networking environments such as Facebook, in which users are provided with tools (e.g. posts, profiles, avatars) for sharing personal information about themselves. Thus the focus of this blog is to explore how self-presentational motives may be influenced by personality, and whether self-construal can predict self-presentational motivation in an online social networking environment.

In a study conducted by Seidman (2012), the influence of personality on self-presentational motives were examined through assessment of subjects’ Facebook usage. One hundred eighty four undergrads participated in the study for extra credit, which consisted of one hundred thirty three females and fifty one males. The method Seidman utilized to evaluate subjects’ self-presentational use for Facebook included 6 Likert scales, with 7-points for measurement: 2 self-presentational behavior scales, 1 attention-seeking motivation scale, and 3 scales for self-aspect expression on Facebook. In addition, Goldberg’s Big Five was studied in subjects, utilizing 5-point Likert scales for trait ratings. As a result of the study, self-presentation’s greatest predictors were lower conscientiousness and higher neuroticism. Seidman concluded that Facebook may be utilized as a protected zone for self-presentation (e.g. ideal and hidden self-aspects) by neurotic people, whereas people that are conscientious present themselves online with more caution.

In addition to how self-presentational motives may be influenced by personality, studies have been conducted on self-construal’s potential for predicting self-presentational motivation in an online social networking environment. For example, Long & Zhang (2014) studied online social networking subjects from Britain and Japan (to examine differences in individualistic vs. collectivistic cultural values) in order to find associations between online social networking behavior and self-presentational motivation, as well as the differences in motives based on self-construal variation. British participants included twenty seven men and eighty two women (ages ranging from fifty seven to sixteen years), whereas Japanese participants included fifty five men and seventy nine women (ages ranging from sixty three to sixteen years). Participants were asked regarding their gender, age, and patterns of online social networking use (amount of social network friends, log in frequency, and amount of time each week). Owe’s scale (includes measurement items such as self-reliance, uniqueness, and self-determination) was utilized to measure independent and interdependent self-construal, with ratings based on a nine-point Likert scale. Participants were also questioned regarding their motivations for posting behavior, as well as their reasons for possibly refraining from posting specific things.

Long and Zhang (2014) found evidence that most of the motivations (3 in Japanese group, and 4 out of 5 in British group) were predicted by variables of self-construal. However, since self-presentation is the focus of this blog, we will observe the results related to this type motive. As a result of the study, Japanese subjects highly regarded retaining a privacy through information withholding, however, these participants recognized that evoking replies from other individuals was a powerful motivator for sharing info online. Additionally, interdependent British subjects were more motivated by the expectation of a reply from other individuals than independent British subjects. Long and Zhang provided a possible explanation for the differences in motivation in British and Japanese participants. Japan does not take personal self-construal into account, but still focuses on the potential for online networking to offer “social connections”. On the other hand, in the United Kingdom, significance of “reciprocity” varies based on the person’s own approval the significance of “social relationships”.

In conclusion, self-presentational motives can be present in online social networking environments such as Facebook. Based on Seidman’s (2012), we observed that personality may influence self-presentational motivations in OSN activities. Additionally, in Long and Zhang’s (2014) study we observed that self-construals may predict motives and cultural contexts may influence self-construals and self-presentational motivations in OSN behaviors. These studies provide interesting information regarding self-presentational motives in an OSN environment, however, as Long and Zhang (2014) pointed out, research focusing on self-presentational motivations for online social networking behavior and other factors influencing why individuals participate or do not participate in online social activities is lacking. Some studies have shed light on the association between self-presentational motivation and online social networking behaviors and preferences, but more exploration in OSN is needed in order to gain a better understanding for the reason and motives behind individuals’ OSN activity.

References

Long, K. & Zhang, X. (2014). The Role of Self-Construal in Predicting Self-Presentational Motives for Online Social Network Use in the UK and Japan. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 17, 454-459. doi:10.1089/cyber.2012.0506 

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.

Seidman, G. (2012). Self-presentation and belonging on Facebook: How personality influences social media use and motivations. Personality and Individual Differences, 54, 402-407. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2012.10.009

I was sitting in the break room a couple days ago, the television was on and as I was eating I heard a reporter talking about a man who died as a result of being stabbed. The man called 911, police officers arrived but no ambulance. The reporter did not say how long the officer and man were waiting, however the officer ended up calling for backup and requesting an ambulance. The response was “There are no available ambulances near you. It should be about 20 minutes.” Getting to the point of this post, this man lost his life.

How would you feel if you called for an ambulance and it wasn’t available for you?

Washington D.C has been experiencing a shortage of Emergency Medical Services (EMS) for the past year. The required paramedic number for the District of Columbia is 300 and there are currently only 245 (Novak, 2013). Current paramedics have been working overtime shifts daily in an effort to compensate for the shortage of employees. To make matters worse, only one third of D.C’s operating ambulances have a paramedic on board.

This lack of paramedics is hampering the efficiency of EMS for the district. Response times, patient care are suffering and the number of vacancies continue to grow because of the amount of stressed placed on current employees. This shortage of workers

Imagine how of an impact this shortage has on EMS needed situations. This reduces the amount of help that can be provided at emergency scenes. Lives can be lost because the appropriate help was not able to get there on time (Wagner, 2015). The District of Columbia grows in population by nearly 800 people monthly. The District is also a very popular tourist area and a lot of people come in for work. During the time of 8am-7pm are times where there are peaks in the need of emergency services.

What type of intervention or program would you suggest in order to better accommodate this health concern in Washington D.C?

World Socialist: Washington DC faces shortage of emergency response vehicles (Trent Novak, 2015)

WTTG: DC struggling with ambulance shortage in the city http://www.fox5dc.com/news/local-news/16443467 (Paul Wagner, 2015)

Throughout history, opinions about what makes a person healthy has evolved as more information has become available. People have gone from strictly believing that health simply meant the absence of sickness, to seeing that the body and mind are connected (Schneider, Gruman, and Coutts, 2012). We know that physical health can impact our mental health and vice versa. It is clearer now that social psychology can really do something to improve this body-mind relationship. Someone with anxiety or depression can have improved symptoms through counseling and talk therapy, and the female population of a college can be convinced to practice safer sex through interventions (Schneider et al., 2012). Clinical psychology and the treatment of psychological disorders is interesting on a social level, as the stigma of such disorders is still affecting the ways they are treated. Changing stereotypes associated with psychological disorders could help in the treatment of mental health, specifically post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety; such changes could also help to improve understanding of the relationship between the mind and body.

One would not expect to go into a therapist’s office to receive treatment for anxiety, depression, or otherwise, and come out feeling worse. However, that is sadly still a possibility in today’s world. Schneider, Gruman, and Coutts note the nature of an anchoring effect, which happens when a therapist bases treatment of a client on the impression of a first encounter (2012). This is particularly true in the case of veterans who have been diagnosed with PTSD; they are judged not only by others, but by their therapists as well. Post-traumatic stress seems to give sufferers a “crazy” stamp on their foreheads, wrongfully branding them as unfit to function in society. I have several friends and family members who are veterans, and they, too have been stigmatized by doctors and friends. Such stigma actually reduces the likelihood that a soldier returning from war will seek help for PTSD, and even disorders such as depression and anxiety (Britt, Greene-Shortridge, & Castro, 2007). Social psychology can help improve the therapist-client relationship, and help to eliminate any bias or stigma that a doctor may hold over a client. This also applies to depression and anxiety.

Despite the fact that they are very common, and that they often accompany PTSD, people are still sometimes embarrassed to seek treatment for depression and anxiety. I have dealt with them myself, and I have known many others who have as well. While interventions to change faulty though processes and boost self-efficacy have been effective for patient treatment, I would also argue that such interventions could improve the therapists’ understanding of the patient’s issues (Schneider et al., 2012). If interventions are designed to alleviate depression and the anxiety that often comes with it, it could give therapists certainty as to the nature of the patient’s psychological disorder. It also shows the value of applying social psychology to treating peoples’ minds and improving their quality of life. Just like the body and mind are inseparable entities, so are social psychology and all areas of life.

As Bandura has showed us with his exposure therapy on people with severe phobias, psychologists can truly help people if they only have the right methods (Lesson 5 Commentary). The question is, how can social psychology be applied to improve the lives of sufferers of other psychological disorders? Let us take PTSD as an example. To start with, a simple intervention can be conducted in order to educate veterans about how their minds and bodies are connected, a chief principle of health psychology. They could be given pamphlets and online access to information that pertains specifically to their own psychological disorders. Secondly, interventions between client and therapist would assist in reducing stigma and improving their mutual understanding. The therapists could receive training in how to treat PTSD in all its forms, and could even have “practice” therapy sessions with veteran volunteers. If the client understands himself, and the therapist can accurately assess treatment needs, then there will ultimately be more success with treatment and mutual trust.

Of course, the aforementioned example can easily be applied to any psychological disorder in a clinical or counseling setting. Seeking to improve such services can allow people to make more informed decisions about their health while increasing self-worth and reducing the stigma that follows mental illness. Whether a person has depression, anxiety or PTSD, she should understand how her disorder affects her body as well as her overall quality of life.

References:
Britt, T.W., Greene-Shortridge, T.M., & Castro, C.A. (2007). The stigma of mental health
problems in the military. Military Medicine. 157-161.

Schneider, F.W., Gruman, J.A., & Coutts, L.M. (2012). Applied social psychology:
Understanding and addressing social and practical problems (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, California: SAGE Publications, Inc.

The theory of planned behavior states that the way to get someone to change their behavior is to alter their behavioral intentions (Schneider, 2012). Behavioral intentions are decided on in advance of the actual behavior and are the best predictors for what a person is actually going to do (2012). Behavioral intentions are influenced by three factors: attitude toward behavior, subjective norms and perceived behavior control (2012).

Picture this: An overweight boy, ten years old. He decides he wants to play sports. This kid never played sports before and spent his last ten years doing what he was told and eating what he wanted. However, this boy always made comments about his weight and wanting to eat healthier to lose weight. He was always met with peers and family members telling him he was fine. All of the sudden, this boy is surrounded by older children (10-14 years old). They are all sports players and all in shape. Will this help the boy stop eating unhealthy things and start eating what he should to get healthy? According to the theory of planned behavior it might.

The boys intentions are to eat healthier and lose weight. This intention is going to be influenced by three things, as I mentioned before: his attitude toward the intended behavior is that he will be healthier and more fit to play sports if he eats better. He also knows this will help his self esteem and help him feel better about himself. The subjective norms for this behavior are that others (his peers) expect him to be fit and healthy and that all his new sports friends are eating healthy to be healthy. This boy’s perceived behavior control is that he is in control of what he puts in his mouth. He is in control of making healthy choices, even if that means eating a lot less of the junk food his parents eat. He knows he can do it.

Because this boy altered his behavior intentions to lose weight and eat healthy, according to the theory of planned behavior, we can now say that this boy will change his eating habits and behavior so that he can fit in and be fit and healthy.

In a study done in China, it was found that eating habits could be changed and was changed, by looking at the intention of the young kids to perform the behavior. The three influences on the behavior change was big. It was found that the child’s attitude toward the behavior, the norms of the people around them and their perception if they could eat healthier or not, had a huge impact on if healthier eating for these children was successful. The children that perceived they could do it and had positive attitudes toward healthy eating did better than those who did not think it was important to eat healthier and were not around people who ate healthy. (Chan, K., 2016)

This study shows the significance of influences on behavior in children and adolescence and also the big influence peers have on your perception of self and your intentions to behave or perform in a certain manner.

References:

Have you ever gone to Times Square New York, or Las Vegas, Nevada and thought about how much lights and energy is being used for tourist attraction? Have you ever thought about how much of an impact this has on Earth? Have you ever even thought about how much the things you use have an impact on Earth? Do you unplug things you aren’t using, or take shorter showers to cut down on consumption waste? There are so many questions and so much controversy with topics like this. Let’s take some time to examine the impact that human behavior has on the environment.

Triadic reciprocal determinism, a theory introduced by Albert Bandura states that human behavior is influenced by both personal and environmental factors (Bandura, 1986) An example of this theory is if a news report instructs people to evacuate the city because of a severe hurricane (the environment). Most people will listen and evacuate but some will want to stay and protect their homes (Behavior) (Cardenas, 2016).

The purpose in explaining this is because if people had any idea of how much they were causing harm on the environment which will eventually have an impact on them; would they change their behaviors? Overconsumption of Earth’s resources can result in resource shortages and rises in environmental costs. When resource shortages occur we have to be more cautious of the amounts of resources we are using to make sure they remain available. Resource shortages include but are not limited to, inflation, air and water pollution, and radioactive waste (Cone and Hayes, 1980), (Siero et al., 1996).

There have been many attempts to control overconsumption of Earth’s resources, but without the effort from others not much progress can be made. A lot of companies, schools, and cities invest money in energy consumption projects. How effective are these investment if the students, residents and employees are not using the products appropriately (Siero et al., 1996). As I’m sure you imagined, not very effective. But it is a start.

I think that one of the most effective ways to get people involved in these types of projects is to make them aware. I took an environmental science class two semesters ago where the professor had us find out our ecological footprint. If you would like to measure yours, you can go to http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/calculators/

During my time in the class we were also required to do an Earth day project that presented an idea to make people aware of how hard it is to manage damaged resources. Below I will attach photos of my project. The project presented “polluted water” and required participants to purchase tools that would best help them clean the polluted water. Students realized that it is not as easy as a job as they once thought.

To conclude, I think that if people were aware of the harm of overconsumption, they would be more open to changing their behaviors.

Siero, F.W., Bakker, A.B., Dekker, G.B., & van den Burg,M.T.C. (1996). Changing organizational energy consumption behaviour throughcomparative feedback. Journal of Envirionmental Psychology, 16. 235-246.

Dickerson, C.A., Thibodeau, R., Aronson, E., & Miller,D. (1992). Using cognitive dissonance to encourage water conservation. Journalof Applied Social Psychology, 22. 841-854.

In our world today, everything must always be bigger and better. Especially bigger and better than our neighbors. I have been aware of our state of consumerism for most of my life, however, the last couple of months have really brought the American way of life to the forefront of my concerns. We had a foreign exchange student from Italy come to live with us just before Christmas. It has been a very interesting experience to try to explain why we do things the way we do, and why we have so much “stuff” in our country. Even a trip to the grocery store is overwhelming for this seventeen-year old girl. In the stores where she is from, they have very few choices in what to buy, and very little of what they buy is processed.

I was walking through Walmart with her yesterday and she was noticing all of the Valentines Day merchandise. She commented on how important Valentines Day is to us in America. It was very difficult to try to sound intelligent when I explained that it really isn’t, but the stores sell all of these things so that we think it’s a big deal and that we need to buy all of the stuff so that our kids have the best Valentines at the school party, and we have something cute to post on Facebook. I finally just stopped trying to explain and said it’s because we’re suckers. It’s just that simple. We are so afraid of not keeping up with the people around us that we buy and buy and buy things that we don’t need and probably don’t even want.

There is a major problem with this way of life. We squander our resources on frivolous goods, while so many of our neighbors are trying to survive without the basic necessities. We don’t spend enough time looking at how the money we throw away could be used to help sustain life for others. The average amount of money spent on Valentine’s Day in the United States is $13,290,000,000 and more than 50% of that will be on cards, and more than 40% on candy (Institute, 2016). Think of how many people we could feed and clothe for $13 billion. There has to be a way to get through to the American people, that your significant other does not need to buy you a card or chocolates, or flowers, or any kind of gift on Valentines Day. Stop the madness!! Look them in the eyes, and let them tell you they love you. Let them cook you your favorite dinner, or do extra chores around the house. We can be more creative than this!

Valentines Day is just one example of how we spend just for the sake of spending. Think of the last time you upgraded your cell phone. Was there anything wrong with the one you had? Or was it simply that you wanted to have the latest model? These companies are very crafty! We have to be stronger than they are. Start looking at what you spend and find ways that you could put those extra dollars to use in your community to improve the lives of others, rather than adding to the mountain of “stuff” you already have.

Resources

Institute, S. B. (2016, February 7). Valentines-Day-Statistics. Retrieved from Statisticbrain.com: http://www.statisticbrain.com/valentines-day-statistics/

We have become a world of consumption.  That consumption has forced globalization.  As we become dependent on one another for resources and aren’t self-sustained, conflicts over those resources and goods lead to war and abuse of power.  The leverage political power begins to demonstrate is normally abused and the conflicts spill over beyond the fossil fuel resources.  You can see what Bandura (1986) constructed in this global quagmire.  Although all three concepts in Bandura’s triangle will always impact one another, personal factors at this point in history are a main driver.  We are becoming a planet of self-fulfillment and individualism.  Even eastern concepts of life are being altered by Western Europe and the United States (individualistic cultures).  With that in mind the abuse of fossil fuels and the interdependence does not look as though it will be reduced in the near future.  It has been projected that current fossil fuel reserves with our current technology to obtain them will last less than 100-200 years (conserve-energy-future) if the rest of the world begins to mirror the usage of the United States.

The question then becomes how to alter the personal view through one of the two remaining factors in bandura’s concept.  I suggest doing so through the environment.  I have often heard that people don’t really change, their options (environment for this example) do.  If we were to pass legislation surrounding the reduction in fossil fuel use and mandate the use of solar energy there would be no reason for continued conflict over oil and other fossil fuels.  This has obvious global warming impacts as well.  To put things in perspective, the sun produces enough energy every second to power the earth at our current needs for 500,000 years (Boston.com).  The current road block is the cost of building a new infrastructure based around solar.  We are a species of convenience.  We choose the path of least resistance not only consciously; it is built into our DNA, by doing so we preserve our species.  With proper legislation and mandatory compliance, the behavior and the personal portions of the triangle have no choice but to come along.  You can see that movements surrounding alternative forms of energy have become a sign of intelligence and progression.  They have not completely taken off because they are harder to produce currently and initially cost more money to establish.  This is obviously a summation of what the book defines as policy (Applied Social Psychology pg. 292).  The authors discuss why many researchers attempt to influence policy and it is in the end for the concepts I have addressed above.

The concept is simple, change the environment through policy and the mass will have to change their behavior and personal aspects.  It is unfortunate that it is more than initial costs that stand in the way.  Those with the greatest impact on policy normally have the largest funds.  It would be hard to find a group with more political weight than the groups involved with the production, transportation and suppliers of fossil fuels.  The issue becomes that there is not a big enough counterweight fighting for sustainable energy resources.  There are mostly surely economies that would crash if the US stopped buying fossil fuels from the rest of the globe.  It is just another form of progression though.  Not to sound heartless, but it would probably reduce an overcrowded planet as it is.  Renewable resources have no downside unless a massive climate change occurs.  With that in mind the current method is creating massive climate changes as well.

To bring the concept full circle, the increase in solar power usage creates a massive environmental change.  That change forces compliance and alters personal and behavioral factors.  The benefit of this idea for change is there is nearly no counter argument against the need for a massive reduction in fossil fuel usage.  Everything from pollution and health impacts to continued conflicts in areas of the world where fossil fuel production is the largest.  Although many of the conflicts in the middle east have nothing to do with fossil fuels, they are seen s the cause.  The shift would bring about a healthier planet, reduced international conflict, cheaper energy alternatives, etc.  As I just describe there are few counter positions to the shift which leaves people in a position of cognitive dissonance.  Any smart, dedicated, emotionally sound person would have to conclude the benefits of energy shifts.  I liken the shift very much to the campaign against smoking.  There are nearly no upsides to the counter argument…

http://www.conserve-energy-future.com/various-fossil-fuels-facts.php

http://www.boston.com/news/science/articles/2005/09/05/how_much_energy_does_the_sun_produce/

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., and Coutts, L. M. (Eds.) (2012). Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems (2nd ed.).

In April 2015, Governor of California, Jerry Brown, issued an executive order to protect the state from the impending severe water drought. All counties were mandated to cut water usage by 25 percent. (California Water Board) This declaration was made due to what was being called “the worst drought in over 100 years.” (Green, 2016)

Water is considered a fast regenerating recourse. However, only 5 percent of the earth’s water is fresh. Since fresh water is the only water resource we can use to drink, cook, and water plants with, this makes it a very limited resource. (Schnieder et al., 2016)

For those of you who live on the east coast, you may not understand the problem of a drought, but let me enlighten you. One of the biggest lakes in California is the Folsom Lake. This lake provides water for homes in several counties in the Sacramento region. Over the four years, the water level has gone down so significantly they are telling farmers in certain areas to find their own water resources to water their crops. This is a major problem.

To save our water, the executive order was set in place. However, many people want to know what this means to them: If I make changes at home, do they help?

How do we at-home make changes? The answer is yes. Your resource dilemma can be a mater of life and death. (Schnieder et al., 2016) For example, the average home in California uses 360 gallons of water a day. In order for us to do our part we need to reduce our daily average by 72 gallons a day to meet a 20 percent reduction. More then 190 gallons of the 360 is used for watering landscaping.

If you choose not to help you are forcing your neighbors and friends to make up your very large part of the difference. (Schnieder et al., 2016) In the end, your city, county, or state may choose to bill you more if you don’t start making changes. If we all do a little, it makes everything better for all, especially our children since they will have more of this valuable resource.

Here are a few things you can do to start making a difference. These don’t take much effort and the savings will benefit everyone.

• Follow your water schedule the city gives you. In my town, we are only allowed to water lawns on Monday and Wednesday and NEVER the day after a rain.
• Place a bucket in your shower to catch the water while it is heating up. You can water up to three plants with this excess amount.
• Instead of washing your car yourself and wasting water, take it to a car wash that recycles their water.
• Stop cleaning your driveway and house with the hose and use a broom instead.
• Find out about how to report people who are not following the law. Sacramento County “has an app for that”.
• Only wash dishes and clothes with a full machine.
• Turn the water off when brushing your teeth.
• Turn off water features, especially if the water does not recycle the used water.
• Check water pipes for leaks; or if you see a leak, report it to whomever you think can fix the problem.
• While you are cleaning veggies and fruits, don’t let the water run. Turn it off if the water is not being used at all times.

There are many more water savings ideas and information on the web, so find out what you can do. One of the most important things you can do is get your kids involved in the water-saving activities. It will help them better understand how our water system works and kids make great “water police.” My own son has noticed our neighbor is terrible; she cleans her house with the hose, even after a rain. She also runs her sprinklers every day, rain or shine. This is only the water wasting we can see. What about what we can’t see? My son has started to tell her the things she can do to save water. When this information comes from kids, people have a harder time being mad. If that doesn’t work, don’t be afraid to report them, but a little education on why they should save water might help first.

Resources:

California Water Board. (2015). Emergency Conservation Regulation Implementing 25% Conservation Statewide [Brochure]. Sacramento, CA

Dickerson, C.A., Thibodeau, R., Aronson, E., & Miller, D. (1992). Using cognitive dissonance to encourage water conservation. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 22. 841-854.

Exec. Order No. B-29-15, 3 C.F.R. 7 (2015).

Green, M. (2016). How Much Water Do Californians Use and What Does A 20 Percent Cut Look Like? Retrieved February 06, 2016, from http://ww2.kqed.org/lowdown/2014/01/23/how-much-water-do-californians-use-each-day-and-what-does-a-20-reduction-look-like/

Schneider, F. W., Gruman, J. A., & Coutts, L. M. (2005). Applied social psychology: Understanding and addressing social and practical problems (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.

Recycling has been around for such a long period of time we often forget about the importance of it. However, even though the importance of recycling is understood by the public that does not mean that people are participating. It is easy to drive down a street on trash day and see how few houses actually set out the orange tubs meant for recycling materials. So if people understand how important it is to lower the amount of trash being sent to landfills and the solution is as simple as putting appropriate items into a separate bin the question has to be asked of why this is not being done as a habit in more households. According to David Uzzel, a professor at the University of Surrey, one of the problems is that people do not believe that it is their problem, (England, 2010). Having been told that they are preserving or saving the environment for their grandchildren they often feel as though the problem is removed from them and placed on another generation. This prevents them from taking ownership of the problem of the trash they produce each day. Another problem is the belief that their recycling habits, the habits of just one person, are not enough to make a difference in the overall problem.
These problem can be improved with an intervention. It is known that there is an environmental pollution problem that the excess of trash is one problem of and that it is in need of help. There could be many solutions for this problem beginning with education of how each person can individually make a difference and by letting people see the reality of the amount of trash produced. Since it is not possible someone to go to each household and show them the amount of trash they are using and how much can be recycled, it would make more sense to find a way to display the amounts in a public area where many people can see the display. By using actual trash instead of pictures it would give people more of a realistic idea of the problem. In a similar example, Kings Island, has clear containers full of broken cell phones near the entrance of each adult ride to show people the importance of securing any loose objects. By displaying actual broken phones instead of just a picture of a phone falling people realize the reality of losing their phone and that it will not be in one piece if they are lucky enough to find it after the ride if over. By showing actual objects instead of pictures it is easier to understand the depth of the problem; it becomes more real and personal. A goal could be set for each neighborhood where an increased amount of recycling and decreased amount of trash could be monitored. This could help people with the idea of taking ownership of the problem. There could also be incentives put into place for each neighborhood, from something as simple as a thank you sign placed in neighborhood parks to a discount on trash collection bills for neighborhoods with certain amounts of recycling compared to trash.
Another way to help the problem is to do more to educate students in schools. For many students the only day the environment is considered is Earth Day celebrations. In the school where I work each classroom is set up with a recycling bin for paper or plastic materials. These bins are then collected by students who have the fun of getting a little time away from class, this would be a great incentive for students to perform well during the week. The students then separate what is in the bins to send on to the recycling plant. In this way they see how much can be saved and in what way it can be saved. Since this is a school project, which is the equivalent of a neighborhood for students, they can understand the importance of recycling in a way that directly effects them and they can continue this practice at home.
Evaluating this intervention could be done by looking at the amount of recycling and trash each neighborhood has before the intervention and compare that to the amount of recycling and trash after the intervention to see if there is a positive difference. This would only be a small way to remind people of the importance of recycling but could be a start of making it a real problem for the current generations instead of being a problem for the future. Society has seen so many pictures and hears so many slogans that they no longer seem to be effective in gaining attention. By making the problem something that can be seen in reality the importance may just be understood better.
References
England, Rachel.(2010, Nov. 10). Unravelling the psychology of recycling. Resource. Retrieved from: http://resource.co/article/Futurevision/Unravelling_psychology_recycling

We all know that there is a shortage of fresh water. Our earth is made up mostly of water, but only a small percentage of that water is actually potable. We have billions of people on our earth. The ratio of fresh water to people is very small. Figure 1 shows the water bubbles, the biggest bubble is earth’s total water. The smallest bubble, which is right around Georgia, is the total amount of water that is potable (Perlman, 2010).

The fact that there are ways to make more potable water is true. However, it is extremely costly and will consume a lot of energy to use these methods, that it may not be worth the cost (PSU, 2016). But it has been found that it isn’t the energy being consumed or the amount of money it would cost to make more potable water, there is also a psychological reason it is not being done.

Would you drink water out of your septic tank? How about out of a sewage pipe? Disgusting, right? Right. But what if it was possible to filter this water to the point it would have less microbes and bacteria in it than your own tap water? In a study done by Rozin, Haddad, Nemeroff and Slovic in 2015, it was found that approximately 13% of the sample refuses to try recycled water, 49% are willing to try it and 38% are uncertain if they would or not. This isn’t because it costs too much or consumes to much energy but because of the stigma attached to drinking waste water. No amount of filtering can clean the ”spiritual contagion” that is in that water (2015).

Spiritual contagion is the stigma attached to what was in that water. If one uses a cup to clean out a toilet, would one drink out of that cup, even after it has been washed? This a psychological problem with cleaning waste water, drinking what is known as “reclaimed water” (Rozin et. al., 2015). Spiritual contagion is the belief that even though something is not there anymore, the psychological understanding of what was there at one time makes people reject the idea of turning that into drinking water.

What if they just did this without the knowledge of the people? I mean, really what is the difference if they get the water from a lake or reservoir where people are swimming, bathing, fishing, defecating or urinating in the water versus getting water right from sewage plants? Framing has a lot to do with this. If we look at a beautiful lake or reservoir, we do not think of these things, the water looks clean and a reservoir is there to use for potable water. Our minds then tell us that this water is actually clean. Waste water, is dirty, full of microbes and bacteria, and not to mention, our waste. For example, I live on a lake which is attached to the reservoir from which my water comes. I filter my tap water, but it has been deemed safe to drink. However, I just explained what goes on the lake and/or reservoir from which the water comes. This is a part of framing, making people think a certain way, mostly biased, because of the way we explain things to them.

Framing and contagion are the reasons for people to be against drinking reclaimed water (Rozin, et al., 2015).

References:

We’ve all done it.  We’ve all gone to the park and fed the ducks.  It’s a harmless way to pass the time, right?  We get to see how cute they are, and laugh when they fight over the sad, stale heel of white bread that wasn’t edible enough for our own meal.  When did we decide that feeding wildlife food that they would never consume in nature was a good idea? Surely there can’t be anything wrong with it.  These ducks are used to humans, they live at the park, and it is just part of their new existence.  So what could possibly be wrong with feeding them?

This is what social psychologists refer to as a resource dilemma.  A resource dilemma presents itself when individuals must choose between their own self-interest and the good of the environment (Schneider, Gruman, & Coutts, 2012).  You may ask yourself, “What could feeding the ducks possibly have to do with the environment?” Quite a lot, as it turns out.

There is a city in Southern California called Huntington Beach, that is seeing extensive damage to its local parks and wildlife population because of the problem with residents feeding the ducks and other water fowl at the city’s parks.  Because the residents are feeding the wildlife massive quantities of bread, peanuts, chips, and other scraps of food, the birds have stopped eating bugs and worms from the trees. Huntington Beach’s Central Park alone has lost 80 trees to bug infestation as a direct result of the human food problem (Epting, 2015).  Additionally, because the ducks have developed a trust toward humans, they have begun following them out to the streets to beg for food, only to be hit and killed by passing traffic (Epting, 2015).

The excess food is also attracting other predatory wildlife, like coyotes, which are now praying on the domesticated birds in the parks.  And, as if the killing of trees and ducks wasn’t bad enough, feeding the wildlife also has the potential of introducing diseases like rabies, avian flu, and salmonellosis because of the animals remaining concentrated together in a small area (New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, 2016).  They no longer have a need to venture out beyond these parks for food or migration.

Who could ever have imagined that feeding the ducks would harm the environment so badly?  History has shown that it is the self-interest of humans that has been the catalyst for most of the problems with our environment.  We don’t have the resources to patrol every park and wildlife refuge on the planet, so education can be our best chance at saving it.  We should all have safe and respectful access to wildlife; it is a wonder to behold indeed.  However, it’s time to rethink that harmless piece of white bread intended for the cute selfie with the ducks.

References

Epting, C. (2015, February 25). In the Pipeline: Feeding wildlife has dangerous repercussions. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved from http://www.latimes.com/socal/hb-independent/opinion/tn-hbi-me-0226-pipeline-20150224-story.html

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. (2016). Feeding Wildlife. Retrieved from http://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/74763.html

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

When we consider our well being too often we only perceive the physical ailments.  Is it something we can feel, hear, and touch.  Does it “look” bad, is it terminal, how long do I have to take this medication?  Rarely in general terms do people consider their mental or emotional wellbeing as part of their overall health.  After all we can not directly “see” depression, anxiety, or PTSD.  We can feel these things and may or may not be aware of how our mental wellbeing relates to our overall wellbeing.

Schneider and company (pp.168) point out the traditional biomedical model of health and wellness.  I do not think anyone would argue that this concept is invaluable and indispensable but in only looking at health from a micro standpoint we lose track of how our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors all play a role in our wellbeing.

Health psychology is the discipline that correlates physical well being, prevention, behavior adaptation, and integration of mindful or thought based coping mechanisms to improve our overall health both mind and body (pp. 169).  This more all encompassing model is referred to as the biopsychological model.  Specifically in that our physical health is related and directly affected by our mental, emotional, and social wellbeing and vice versa, hence the unseen lions, tigers, and bears lurking behind the scenes we can not see.

Health psychologists can work in a variety of settings with a core principle of education and awareness to improving health promotion and prevention.  Evaluating methods for educational efforts targeted for audience specific criteria, one message to discourage substance use in grammar school age children may not have the needed fear tactics to be as effective for a group of teenagers.  Additionally health psychologists evaluate how individuals respond if and when they do become ill to develop improved clinical and social interventions for more positive patient outcomes.  Physical illness can be a result of mental instability, health psychologists place considerable attention into the etiology of disease origin or process to gain improved understanding on the effects of such to each.

Health psychology though relatively new experienced improvement as an accepted discipline in the 1980’s (pp. 168) helping support the clinical shift toward the biopsychological model.  The concepts of health psychology is not elusive but emphasizes the importance of risk factors beyond physical means as well as patients comprehension of disease.  This expanding field will continue to grow aiding providers of all disciplines to gain improved understanding on the effects non physical elements can have on health.

Schneider Frank W, Gruman James A, Coutts Larry M  “Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems”2nd Edition” (October 2011) SAGE Publications Inc. Washington, D.C

Water, it is a resource that Americans have at their fingertips. In a matter of seconds, we are able to receive gallons of clean fresh water right within our own homes. During the summer months we love to use it to cool off, as do many others in the surrounding countries of the world. What we don’t realize is, this water will not last forever.

Applied Social Psychologist have strategies for inducing pro-environmental behavior. They first determine which behavior they would like see changed to improve the quality of the environment. The second step is to examine the factors that are causing this behavior. Third, an intervention needs to be established in order to change the behavior. Lastly, the effects of the intervention need to be evaluated, as well as the quality of the environment and human life. (Schneider, Gruman, and Coutts, 2013)

A social design may be effective to encourage our water theme parks to conserve their amount of water usage. According to Schneider, a social design is working with the people instead of doing it for them. Providing them with the proper education may bring the awareness that the environment needs to survive.

According to Disney Water Parks, the Typhoon Lagoon has 2.75 million gallons of water that is used for their wave pool, 362,000 gallons of water is in the saltwater pool and 80,000 gallons of water is in the surf pool. This does not include the rest of Typhoon Lagoons 12 attractions. In order to fill up their wave pool it would take three hours to reach its 2.75 million gallons of water! (Disney Water Parks, 2015) Now, according to Hadhazy, a swimming pool loses about 1,000 gallons of water a month from evaporation. This does not count water leaking from the pool through cracks in the foundation after age, liners tearing, and pipes leaking. Now it does not say how many gallons of water the pool size has that would evaporate 1,000 gallons a month. So lets say that a pool size of 14X28 and 5 foot deep holding 14,000 gallons of water and a 1,000 gallons of water evaporate on a monthly basis. That would be 12,000 a year. Now if the attractions mentioned above at Typhoon Lagoon holds a total of 3,192,000 gallons of water that means 228,000 gallons a month and 2,736,000 gallons a year are evaporating! As you can see, a huge amount of water is being wasted by evaporation alone. Can you imagine how many gallons are lost to other issues and how many are lost within water parks around the world all together!?

First, educating the water parks about this great lose and how it is important for the environment to not over use our water sources. Inducing a new way and allowing the companies to decide for themselves may result in saving water. For instance, instead of refilling the pool with tap water, it may be beneficial to use water from a rain-catcher system. The holding tank for the rainwater can be treated with chlorine and then distributed to the pools. This would take a large holding tank and a large amount of water fall to with-stand the demands of the water lost within the water parks but it would cut down the usage of our water.

Please Note: My math is not the correct way to determine the amount of evaporation. I attempted to determine the correct amount but Physics is just too flipping hard! : )

References:

The signs are all around us. The climate is changing; our Earth is evolving and we control it all. Our problems are obvious, record breaking droughts, temperatures, and storms are all evident in the last decade. When will we pick up these hints and create a plan? What is the solution and how can we help slow this process of climate change? The future depends on us finding a solution as soon as possible.

What started this problem? As we know, the Earth is at is largest population, ever. We have more people now than at any other time in history, with more modern needs than ever which means more consumption (Lesson Commentary). The beginnings of our climate change crisis begin with the industrial revolution. As our society evolved into electricity, oil drilling and mining coal became the main power source. Coal was a dirty source of power that polluted cities and the air, to the point of making people sick (Water and Air Pollution, History). From this, regulations were put in place to cut down on the air pollution and regulate factories. Though these regulations are good bad behaviors transferred generations to get us where we are today.

Bad behaviors transcend generations. Not recycling, littering, using a lot of energy and water are all habits that can be broken or altered. These behaviors are taught and learned through interactions with others. A ‘normal’ person in the fifties was probably less aware of the environment and his/her affects on it. Today, we have unlimited information and things like water or energy usage can be monitored. These old behaviors and not knowing about something should be long gone.

The fact is, people have to want change. Forcing people to cooperate can only go so far, and in the end each individual has to alter their behavior for the greater good of the planet. As we see in California, the drought has caused severe water shortages in the entire state. But who is to blame? Is it the rich people with fertile lawns, or the millions of everyday people who consume a ‘normal’ amount of water? The truth is everyone contributed to the problems faced in California, and even the smallest person, using the least water, is living in a desert using water. Eventually, it runs out. This problem can soon be widespread, if we do not learn how to conserve our water and reduce our energy consumptions.

The solution is not simple, and in this short paragraph I will not try to solve all of our Earths problems. But, the truth is that it is possible and simple Psychology can tell us that behaviors can be altered and changed. Like we learned, intervention programs can help influence behaviors for the better of a specific group (Lesson Commentary). Implementing intervention programs in different parts of the world would be helpful to target the problems that specific part is facing. In California, for example, intervention programs can be created for those in mansions using too much water and then other programs can be targeted at the middle class and lower class to teach them how to conserve. Places in the North can be taught ways of reducing heating costs and consumption, and interventions in the South could focus more on cooling energy consumption. Intervention programs can help to solve many of these problems by targeting specific issues and helping solve them one problem at a time. Even though this is a start, it takes each individual to make an impact and change to make a difference.

Our Earth we live on has taken constant abuse from generation after generation. Sadly, this abuse takes its toll and reflects on our weather patterns. We can only continue so long ignoring our problems and this generation should be the one to change it. I’m hoping that in three generations the Earth will still be here, so change has to come now through interventions and personal awareness of usage. We can only change if everyone is on board.

Water and Air Pollution. (n.d.). Retrieved February 06, 2016, from http://www.history.com/topics/water-and-air-pollution

Schneider Frank W, Gruman James A, Coutts Larry M  Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems 2nd Edition” (October 2011) SAGE Publications Inc. Washington, D.C

As I read Robert Gifford’s, “Apply Social Psychology to the Environment” I could not help but think that most of the answers to the environmental dilemma were right at my fingertips, right there in the chapter. It is expected that if we, citizens of the world, had a resource dilemma we would rally around one another to solve the problem, right. The optimist in me tells me the pragmatic whole of civilization will choose a viable solution and we will do what needs to be done. Unfortunately, the pessimist in me cannot be mollified.

The humanitarians among us have for hundreds, even thousands of years, looked out for all of us. For example, William Booth founded the Salvation Army. “In 1865, Booth and his wife began, The Christian Revival Society. This was an organization committed to helping the poorest, it involved giving food, shelter and clothes, but also seeking to save people spiritually” (Tejvan 2014). Booth once wrote, “Let the business of the world take care of itself … My business is to get the world saved” (Booth 1884). Fabien Cousteau, son of renowned oceanographer Jacque Cousteau founded “Plant a Fish”, a non-profit dedicated to repopulating sea life in areas such as the Florida Keys and the Maldives. Booth, Cousteau and countless others, mostly anonymous, have helped us and this planet along as best they could without a coalesced effort from the masses. In their own ways, they attempted to help and support humankind and the planet. To them we should all be grateful.

However, the pessimist in me sees an ever-increasing perilous, environmental condition and the fissures that divide people. For example, last summer wealthy people in California gave the local government the middle finger when asked to reduce water usage by not watering their lawns during a mandatory water use reduction because of a severe drought. Despite the request, water usage actually increased in the affluent areas. Stephanie Pincetl, who worked on the UCLA water-use study, said wealthy Californians are “lacking a sense that we are all in this together. The problem lies, in part, in the social isolation of the rich, the moral isolation of the rich” (Governing 2015). There were other instances where people made public statements that they should be excluded from the water restriction because they paid more in taxes. Regrettably, many California residents participated in tragedy of the commons. Whether it was apathy or selfishness, they fostered a public goods problem. I can see this type of scenario play out more often as resources become scarcer. A grounded theory analysis approach is needed to best levitate the situation in the United States, and the world.

Along with the water predicament, recycling should be addressed as well. The pessimist in me sees my neighbors’ garbage cans regularly overflowing with recyclable items but the optimist in my sees the recycling center I use busy the days it is open. One approach used in Tacoma Washington was the feedback condition. It was done by mailing residence informational pamphlets and indicating which neighborhoods recycled the most the previous quarter. This approach stoked the competiveness between neighborhoods and increased the overall recycling totals. Washington State is the sixth best recycling state (360.2015) in the US. The Seattle mandatory recycling law for residents and businesses helps bolster that standing. Recycling in Washington State is now an injunctive norm to the degree that neighbors are likely to notice if another neighbor does not recycle. Contrarily, in Georgia, recycling by residence is only thirty-eight percent despite having a recycling program since 1990. Georgians with recycling and wealthy Californians with water restriction may be linked by the boomerang affect. The boomerang affect is caused when people reject conformity and increase the undesirable behavior when normative information, a standard of correctness through prescribed norms, is provided (Schneider et al 2012).

In the pattern of William Booth and Fabien Cousteau but with earnest, we must heed the warning of how the world has changed. It will not only be the world’s water commons that will strain but other natural resources as well. Eighty-three million people are added to the planet each year and the world’s global environmental “footprint”, or depletion rate, now exceeds the planet’s capacity to regenerate by 30 percent. The countries with the biggest impact on the planet are the US and China, together accounting for some 40% of the global footprint” (Savage 2008).

The optimist in me believes we are not too far down the road to make substantive changes to save ourselves and save the planet. The pessimist in me whispers the earth has been here more than four billion years and will be fine; it is all of us who are doomed.

The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and keep it.”         -Genesis 2:15-

References:

Pettinger, Tejvan. “Biography of William Booth”, Oxford, UK – www.biographyonline.net . (August. 2014) http://www.biographyonline.net/spiritual/william-booth.html

Benge Geoff “William Booth: Soup, Soap and Salvation” (Aug 2002) YWAM Publishing, Edmonds Washington

 Shyong Frank. “California’s Rich People Pretty Bad at Water Conservation” www.governing.com (April 8, 2015) http://www.governing.com/topics/transportation-infrastructure/californias-rich-people-pretty-bad-at-water-conservation.html

(n.a.) “The 10 Best and Worst States for Waste Diversion, Reduction” www.waste360.com (May 7, 2015) http://waste360.com/recycling/10-best-and-worst-states-waste-diversion-reduction#slide-6-field_images-193911

8Savage Sam “Reckless Consumption Depleting Earth’s Natural Resources” www.ewdorbit.com (October 2008) http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1594776/reckless consumption_depleting_earths_natural_resources/#8rGAi8G7RQr0XZvk.99

Schneider Frank W, Gruman James A, Coutts Larry M  “Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems” 2nd Edition” (October 2011) SAGE Publications Inc. Washington, D.C

   Colleges spend a large amount of money accommodating college students with the newest technology and cozy couches for a new lounge, but no one keeps in mind the lack of funds spent preserving resources such as water or paper. Water fountains, vending machines, and printers are used daily by college students, faculty, and staff. Most printers have paper bins next to them to throw out any unneeded paper, but does anyone think about the amount of paper that is being wasted everyday by going in the garbage? What about the amount of water bottles being bought and disposed improperly from vending machines? If a students opinion is included in the process of preserving resources through social design their is a higher chance of decreasing the wastefulness of resources.

     Social design is a process by which any building (e.g., office, school, residence, factory, and retail store) may be designed in collaboration with those who will actually use that building so that it is more user-friendly, as opposed to being designed solely by an architect who will never use the building. The use of social design will influence the college students to encourage their peers to participate in saving resources. Colleges should involve the students whom wish to offer their opinion in designing ways to use less resources while on campus. Colleges can complete this by sending a mass email addressing the students whom wish to give a helping hand. This email will attract the students who care about the environment and are able to provide helpful opinions towards decreasing the wastefulness of water and resources. After the college gathers the students who wish to provide insight they should form a group meeting and come to an agreement on an intervention that will work throughout the college.

After holding a group meeting between staff and students an intervention strategy has been agreed upon, which includes education about the importance of the resources, the usage of resource dilemmas that will make a student or staff member think twice about using resources, and installing new equipment that will help prevent the wastefulness of resources. Resource dilemmas are situations in which individuals must choose between self-interest and the interests of the community or environment. The education of the importance of resources will help an individual decide which route to take during a resource dilemma. Require all professors to educate the students about the importance of water and preserving paper. Many individuals do not realize the most important resource in the world is freshwater, and it is bound to become more important in the future. In terms of an individual’s needs for their own body water is a necessity over food. Worst scenerio your body can survive off of water longer than it can over food. Everyone knows we breathe, because of the oxygen from the trees. Have you ever thought about what happens when their isn’t any trees? How would we breathe? This idea alone should motivate individual’s to decrease the wastefulness of paper while printing unnecessary documents at school.

The goal is to implement and use new equipment to reduce and change the behavior of staff, faculty, and students wasting resources. In order to save water implement water fountains that can only be used by putting your own water bottle underneath it while it automatically refills your bottle. This new equipment will encourage students and staff to save water, by reusing water bottles after they are finished and prevent students from re-purchasing water bottles that they may not finish completely. In terms of paper, implement a specific number of print a semester on every students account. A limited number of prints will decrease the amount of unnecessary documents printed. Water and paper are a resource that could easily be saved by implementing the two strategies.

In 1986 Dr. Albert Bandra coined the theory of triadic reciprocal determinism AKA causation with relation to human activity, population and the environmental impacts being observed. The idea that human day to day action impacts the environment is an idea argued on many levels, in part lack of conclusive evidence to support this theory yet a theory we can not ignore as having plausible foundations. In particular as scientifically we have evolved; extending life expectancy, engineered farming, industrial advances, and expanding our infrastructure are some of the larger actions when even individual decisions such as participation in community recycling, use of air conditioning, pesticides, even disposable bottled water leaves some imprint on our environment.
We are socially inclined to place our needs or wants above those around us, how can we save the world if we don’t save ourselves? This dilemma places us into a situation where we need to choose between our own comfort or instant gratification to the larger good of the community, and ecological resources available. Do our actions negatively impact our environment, if so how and to what degree? These questions are mulled over by environmental psychologists looking to understand or lesson our negative impact on the world around us. Their research can include working with community or developmental planners on more sustainable features in designs (from green roof tops, to water sheds, and protection of biodiversity.
It is impossible for us to reverse much of the damage done. Moving forward we can identify effective ways individually we can change or reduce misuse and abuse, encouraging behavior modification of those around us and future generations. Simple adjustments can be identifying one or two things we do routinely and decreasing the negative footprint we are leaving. An example is that of the bottled water bottle, convenient, healthy, and easy to grab and go. Converting from a disposable plastic bottle which ends up in a landfill, ocean, or other litter can be inexpensively replaced with a reusable filtered bottle. Not only saving us individually money in the long run but diminishing our waste if not tapering our use of freshwater to a more conscious degree in that now we have to “fill the bottle” versus grabbing and going. This simple outline identifies a potential behavior of improvement, defines why we elect to participate in the behavior in the first place, includes a simple cost efficient intervention we can implement and use as a discussion piece to encourage others to make similar transitions.
Ultimately, it will be the small steps taken on by each of us to improve and better understand our impact in the global environment. Sustainability is not an infinite potential, but finite in resources and ability to continue at our current pace in many areas. Evaluation of our habits and implementing changes is crucial to prolonging the resources we will be able to pass along to future generations.

Vanessa L. Gambone 2/1/2016