PSYCH 424 blog

Human beings always have a lot of questions, every one of us is no exception, from big philosophical questions like “who am I, where I come from, where I am going” to small life questions like what I eat today, with whom, where to eat, we constantly ask.

Our questions are actually research in a broad sense. The essence or purpose of this research is to find the answer to a question. However, the answer cannot emerge out of thin air, so the way to find the answer is actually through data collection: interviewing friends around to get first-hand data; or the information found on the internet is actually a method of using secondary data. This method belongs to Observation in field work, which is to collect data through field observation. Such research ideas based on data collection are called empirical study, while those not based on data are conceptual study or prescriptive article.

If you look closely, you will find that most articles on social sciences are prescriptive. For example, how to make public policies? “First, transparency, and second, law-based.” Those principles are all right, but where is the data? What variables are analyzed? Are they to be used in any policy and under any circumstances? This kind of empirical study that is not based on data (not necessarily quantitative data) is not empirical study.

Fieldwork is the research model of the 20th century by anthropologists Rodion Malinovsky, and he lived in New Guinea Islands for several years, learning the local native language, and the local people live together, participate in the local party and ritual, and after back to England published a detailed introduction to the local culture and trade patterns of ethnography. Going to a particular site to do fieldwork and record it as an ethnography has been a rite of passage for every anthropologist since he began; familiarity with the local language and close interaction with subjects became essential skills for anthropologists. If you don’t leave school to live with your subjects for a year or two, you’re not an academically mature anthropologist. Scholars like Paul Stoller, who spent seven or eight years in West Africa, are not uncommon, and a lifestyle of long-term fieldwork is crucial for anthropologists.

Is social change research good or bad? In some cases, both are correct. When you need to use research to solve real-world problems, social change research is great. In other words, if you want to know something more basic, more traditional research methods are more appropriate because there is more internal validity.

References:

Gruman, J.A.,Schneider, F.W., & Coutts, L.A. (2017). Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Jealousy in Relationships

Most people tend to look at jealousy as a bad thing, but is it always a bad thing? Jealousy can be viewed as good and bad in many cases during a relationship. Of course, most times it is actually a bad thing to be jealous but in some cases it can actually save the relationship and make the relationship stronger. Jealousy is known as the emotional response to an imagined or a real threat of losing your romantic relationship or something of value (Attridge, 2013). Jealousy in relationships usually occurs when one of the partners feels as if they are going to lose their significant other to another person. Jealousy is actually very natural in a romantic relationship and it is expected when the other partner feels threatened by another potential involvement with the other partner (Attridge, 2013). This can be harmful to the relationship, but it can also make the relationship stronger. 

Many people tend to feel jealous in the beginning of a relationship when they are just getting to know their romantic partner. Sometimes this happens because of how they were treated in their previous relationship, where they were left with trust issues. If the person has trust issues and it is hard for them to trust the partner in their relationship, it can cause jealousy because they will overthink what their partner is doing at all times, and they will question what they are doing and who they are with at all times. This is very unhealthy, and their partner needs to teach them how to trust them and show them that they are faithful in the relationship. When jealousy starts out like this in the relationship, the other partner has to show that they can be trusted and that the other partner should not feel threatened in their relationship. Feeling threatened is one of the negative aspects to jealousy in a relationship and that comes with hurt and bad or negative thoughts about the other partner (Attridge, 2013). This is when the jealousy starts to get worse and it turns into bad jealousy. 

When there is bad jealousy in a relationship it can become very toxic. Toxic meaning that the partners are constantly arguing and they do not trust each other at all, this can lead to violence where the partners are hitting each other and causing physical abuse or verbal abuse within each other. This is not healthy for a relationship. A relationship should not have this type of jealousy because all it will do is cause harm to the relationship and cause the relationship to fail. Now, on the other hand, there is good jealousy. Good jealousy is actually associated with having greater love for the relationship and one another in the relationship (Attridge, 2013). With this jealousy the other partner can see that their partner just fears losing them which will cause the relationship to get stronger. The partners will see that they do not want to lose each other and it will cause a stronger bond between the two of them and will allow for them to get closer as a couple. This is the good jealousy and the jealousy that every couple should practice, and not the bad type of jealousy. 

Jealousy is big when it comes to relationships. It happens in almost all relationships, but depending on which jealousy occurs in the relationship it can be good or bad. Although most people associate jealousy with negative words such as threatened, hurt, and violence, there is good jealousy like it was mentioned before. Good jealousy only means that you have so much love for your partner that you fear losing them. This is the good jealousy that should be practiced in relationships and not the bad jealousy. The bad jealousy can become very harmful in a relationship and can cause physical and verbal abuse. This should automatically be put to a stop and not go any further. Jealousy can either be good or bad, but you and your partner have to choose which one you’ll practice in your relationship.

Work Cited:

Attridge, M. (2013). Jealousy and relationship closeness. SAGE Open, 3(1), 215824401347605. https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244013476054 

Intrinsic in any substantial social change is the destruction of the current social status. Although radical groups may trigger positive emotions because people think they have positive qualities and seek positive goals, they may also trigger negative emotions because they disrupt the current social system.
When pursuing a positive goal, a new group causes more ambivalence than an established group. Consistent with theories that emphasize the maintenance of the status quo, these findings show that attitudes toward radical organizations are not solely based on self-interest.
The core issue in the pursuit of social justice is how to achieve social change in the best way. Any attempt to achieve social change will encounter various challenges: cognitive, attitudinal, and behavioral resistance will reduce the possibility of social change. Even so, it is generally believed that if the goal of a radical organization is affirmed, the public will support it. Many political campaigns clearly emphasized the change of the current social system, such as the “building a bridge to the 21st century” proposed by Clinton in 1996 or the “resultant reformer” proposed by Bush in 2000.
Current research questions whether such an emphasis on change will trigger complex reactions even when pursuing positive goals. In particular, we studied whether even groups pursuing positive goals can trigger ambivalence. The activism of a group involves, to some extent, the destruction of the current state of affairs. This kind of interference itself may trigger some negative emotions, leading to conflicting responses even to groups pursuing positive goals.
The prediction that the destruction of the social system itself will trigger negative emotions comes from theories that focus on the motivation to maintain the status quo. Previous research has proved that there is a strong status quo bias in the decision-making process: in a series of decisions, people prefer the current state of affairs. The ideology rooted in the motivation to maintain the status quo has recently been used to explain people’s attitudes towards a range of social groups and policies. Assume that the individual has a strong motivation to rationalize the current state of society, even if the status quo is not directly beneficial to the individual.

Reference：

“Social Change .” International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. . Retrieved October 26, 2021 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences/applied-and-social-sciences-magazines/social-change-0

I have spent the last four years working on earning a bachelor’s degree in psychology and only have a few more classes left to take. During this time, I have been trying to figure out what I want to do once I finish and I think I may have finally found my path. I have always been fascinated with psychology but it was only after I experienced some major difficulties in my life, that turned my world upside down, that I decided to make it my major course of study. While working through and trying to overcome these problems, I learned about the power psychology has to make a difference in peoples’ lives. This inspired me to become a psychologist so that I could be a part of this important work.

While I have learned many fascinating things while studying psychology and have been exposed to many different psychological fields, I was discouraged to learn that most psychologist are only interested in conducting research and have no interest in sharing what they have discovered with the public, let alone actively using this knowledge to improve peoples’ lives (Stanovich, 2019, pp. 76-77, 132-134). While I understand the importance of research, this reluctance to share the findings of psychological research with the public or use it to improve peoples’ lives made no sense to me and I began to become discouraged. Then, about six months ago, I learned about a field of psychology that actually is focused on using the findings from psychological research to make a difference in peoples’ lives. That field is community psychology.

The purpose of community psychology is to use psychological findings and research to bring about social change in individual communities, as well as society as a whole, in order to improve peoples’ lives (Gruman et al., 2017, p. 323). Some specific areas community psychology is concerned with are encouraging the acceptance of diversity and working toward social justice and equity (Gruman et al., 2017, p. 323). One way that community psychologists accomplish their goal of bringing about social change is through Participatory Action Research, a type of research in which psychologists work with members of a target community to identify problems affecting the community and then help them to find solutions to those problems (Brydon-Miller, 1997, p. 661).

I am almost finished with my bachelor’s degree in psychology and I need to figure out what I want to do when I am done. Since I chose to study psychology because I have had first-hand experience in how it can improve peoples’ lives, I have wanted to find a field of psychology where I can help to make a difference. One field of psychology that seems like a promising avenue for accomplishing this is community psychology. This is because community psychology is focused on using psychological knowledge and research to work for social change. One way community psychologists do this is by working directly with communities to identify and address issues plaguing them through the process of Participatory Action Research. I look forward to learning more about community psychology and possibly pursuing an advanced degree in this field.

References
Brydon-Miller, M. (1997). Participatory action research: Psychology and social change. Journal of Social Issues, 53(4), 657-666.

Gruman, J. A., Schneider, F. W., & Coutts, L. M. (2017). Applied social psychology: Understanding and addressing social and practical problems (3rd ed.). SAGE Publications, Inc.

Stanovich, K.E. (2019). How to think straight about psychology (11th ed.). Pearson Education, Inc.

Each of us has a something in life we care deeply about. Most often this isn’t something tangible, but rather a cause of feeling we hold close to us. It’s because of these beliefs that any type of change ever gets done, whether positive or negative. This has been seen more-so the past few years then possibly ever before. As a 25 year old, I’m constantly wondering if social justice and politics have always been such high topics of debate on a national level and I simply was too young to notice, or if something has shifted in recent years. People have the comfort and accessibility of social media to share their ideas and find those who align with their beliefs. Generating social change has never been easier, which is why there is an influx of people seeking to do so. On paper this is a positive thing, we want to learn and grow as a community, but unfortunately, there is too much divide on what positive change should look like, causing it to turn into disaster instead.

Participatory Action Research is a way to try and minimize this chaos. This approach was developed to help those traditionally oppressed and generate positive social change. The goal is to identify the underlying cause of the injustice, not just the surface level problems. Only when people are able to work together will the inequalities ever be addressed (Brydon-Miller, 1997). Contrasting typical quantitative research, which did not involve the researcher becoming involved, participatory action research wants direct involvement in hopes of addressing social issues. Research, education, and action are all components of participatory action research so that each person can grow and change for the better (Brydon-Miller, 1997). 

Each person has witnessed the power people have when they come together and work towards a common goal. Penn State’s THON is a prime example of how much can be done when thousands of students work towards finding a cure (THON). When using participatory action research, members of the community have a say in which research methods are used and learn how to use them and analyze the results they produce. They can then use the information as they see fit in hopes of addresses the specific concerns. Multiple approaches may also be used to help reach this goal instead of traditionally choosing only one. Each person has to be committed and trusted in order for the project to be successful and reflection is key in determining what worked and what changes occurred in the community (Brydon-Miller, 1997). 

Psychologists have the unique job of always wanting to give back to their community, often through volunteer work or just through the nature of their job. However, participatory action research has begun to gain popularity in the field. Many have realized they need to be creating the change themselves, not just simply trying to teach others to do so. It’s hard to instill empowerment in others when it hasn’t been installed in yourself first (Brydon-Miller, 1997). Being able to take part in the social change not only provides communities with great resources, but allows for an increase in flexibility and reflection across the entire profession. Each side has the potential to benefit, as long as everyone is willing to put forth the effort and commitment that is needed. 

References:

Brydon-Miller, M. (1997), Participatory Action Research: Psychology and Social Change. Journal of Social Issues, 53: 657-666. https://doi-org.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/10.1111/j.1540-4560.1997.tb02454.x

One day we will dance in celebration. THON.org. (n.d.). Retrieved November 18, 2021, from https://thon.org/.

We already know that there are multiple levels and sections to research itself. They can be minimized down to participatory research, social change research and activist research. Specifically, I will be talking about the mix of mental health and the use of participatory research about it. To begin, Paulo Freire was involved in a process of participatory research that has been supported since the 1970’s, that involved conducting a two year institutional ethnography for a participatory research program. “This analysis draws on observations, interviews, and documents associated with 25 research and related projects undertaken from 1995 to 1997 by members and staff of a mental health clubhouse in Atlantic, Canada” (Townsend, et. al., 2000). In addition, the research had also “included in the paper are reflections on participatory research as a form of client-centered professional practice based on a broad view of occupation in everyday life” (Townsend, et. al., 2000).

Budd Hall was a participatory researcher who perfectly described this research, simply stating that its really “a form of action research used by people who, reflecting on their experiences of living on the margins of society, critically analyze their dependence and oppression with the intention of transforming their lives individually and collectively” (Townsend, et. al., 2000). He had also split them in categories, as an example to explain how this research goes about. For example, “people living in poverty are participating in research to investigate their possibilities for survival and empowerment and people with mental health problems are participating in evaluating and reform of the mental health services they use” (Townsend, et. al., 2000). In order to help those in any such way, its really all about collecting the data, getting educated on it or the help we need and taking action/ the next step in the right direction to help us in the long run. Just like when it comes to interventions, participatory research is not the easiest one to deal with, as it does come with its challenges and fallbacks just like every other research technique that may be out there. It all comes down to getting past those barricades and how to overcome the obstacles easily, in order to provide accurate research. Hall also mentions that empowerment is included with research, becoming a “process of learning to critique and transform individual feelings, thoughts, and actions, as well as the organization of society, so that power and resources can be shared more equitably” (Townsend, et. al., 2000).

When it comes to the mental health clubhouse and participatory research, “people with long-term illness have longer experienced marginalization and inequitable opportunities in a wide range of everyday occupations related to living in a home, holding a job, taking part in recreation, and engaging in intimate relationships” (Townsend, et. al., 2000). However, this study had come to the conclusion that based off of the efforts from the mental health clubhouse and the patients within these groups, was that “this ethnography is that power inequities between members, professionals, and outside researchers need to be discussed openly if members’ empowerment is a goal of a research program in a mental health clubhouse” (Townsend, et. al., 2000). Another factor that would make things better is by providing positive encouragement towards others in helping them succeed, therefore by providing that confidence, this can help them make the necessary changes and taking that next step, which is action. If there was a decrease in encouragement, this may hold those back from wanting to move forward which can lead to a decline in this study. “A participatory research unit would be accountable to members as much as to management and would be governed by members and staff whose job is to facilitate members to develop the skills, confidence, and experience, to exert as much leadership as possible” (Townsend, et. al., 2000).

In conclusion, with providing a positive outlook and encouragement to those in the mental health clubhouse, this can promote positive social change and empowerment for them to take action in what they want to do. By simply “reducing power inequities amongst participants and generating social critique are difficult challenges” but also including the most important fact, which states “opportunities lie in organizing a research program, through policies, funding, and other forms of governance, so those clients like mental health clubhouse members are more likely to extend their voice in research and social change” (Townsend, et. al., 2000). If participatory research continues in the field of mental health and helping those overcome a lot of the experiences they have been faced or struggling with, this can develop new opportunities for intervention but also strategies to help those take action to end the stigma.

Reference:

Townsend, E., Birch, D. E., Langley, J., & Langille, L. (2000). Participatory research in a mental health clubhouse: Occupation, participation and health. The Occupational Therapy Journal of Research, 20(1), 18-44. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/153944920002000102

Our brains follow certain patterns that we may or may not be aware of when it comes to relationships. And sometimes it is NOT in our favor. If we can increase our awareness of how our tendencies may be harming our relationships, we can be better friends and partners!

Beauty Inside & Outside?

Ever look at a person that you consider extremely attractive and think, “Wow, they are so perfect. They are kind, strong, confident…” when you don’t actually know anything about their personality? This phenomenon is referred to in psychology as the physical attractiveness stereotype which suggests that we assume attractive individuals have positive qualities while unattractive individuals possess negative qualities (Gruman et al., pg. 424).

Physical attractiveness is VERY important when it comes to relationships, it’s something that certainly is a requirement for the majority of people when considering a future mate. However, are we letting this one attribute hold too much water from the beginning? How many GREAT potential friends and partners are we writing off straight out of the gate just because we don’t find them super attractive. More likely – how much time have we wasted on attractive jerks when we could have invested our time with those with better qualities?

My own personal theory is that unattractive persons are MORE LIKELY than attractive individuals to possess better qualities simply because they’ve had to work harder to be viewed positively. They’re more likely to be respectful simply because extremely attractive individuals can get away with negative attributes being overlooked simply because they have great looks.

Be CONFIDENT in Your Strengths

For those who do not consider themselves to be especially attractive it is easy to become shy, developing a low self-esteem making dating increasingly difficult to manage. After mourning a bad date it’s important to focus on your own positive attributes and to capitalize on them while on dates. Show off your best qualities and you’re more likely to attract a good mate (and get a second date with those who may not have been initially as interested)!

Works Cited:

Gruman, Jamie A., et al. Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems. SAGE, 2017.

The social change that you want to see is really all within the palm of your hand. The thought that you have to look very far to make a difference is not true. Your community alone can make conscience social changes with just a few steps. The community you live in just needs to identify the social changes that they want to see and implement for social reform.

Social change leads to increased awareness and more understanding due to the presence of more information in the community, which enables people to make informed decisions based on the concerns at hand. Social change is the transformation of the social order in the community by making adjustments and variations to social institutions, behavior, and relations. It involves social evolution where the society makes amendments to traditional societal norms leading to the necessary changes.

Positive social change results in the improvement of human and social conditions and in the betterment of society. Such change can occur at many levels, including individuals, families, communities, organizations, and governments. Positive social change is driven by ideas and actions with real-world implications. Social change is ways human interactions and relationships transform cultural and social institutions over time, having a profound impact of society. Relationships have changed, institutions have changed, and cultural norms have changed as a result of these social change movements.

A community outreach center that can provide programs is a great start to bringing social change to the forefront of communities agendas. Community outreach programs are a standard way for groups such as social service agencies, nonprofit groups, and church or other religious groups to identify a certain specific need in its community and provide services to the people who need it. The three main goals of an outreach program are to improve learning, promoting civic engagement, and strengthening communities through addressing their societal needs. An outreach program creates a partnership between the communities and the educational institution (Suresan, 2019).

Suresan, V., Jnaneswar, A., Swati, S. P., Jha, K., Goutham, B. S., & Kumar, G. (2019). The impact of outreach programs on academics development, personal development and civic responsibilities of dental students in Bhubaneswar city. Journal of education and health promotion, 8, 188. https://doi.org/10.4103/jehp.jehp_56_19

Did I choose my husband or were we around each other so much it happened without much choice? Well, I think it was a little bit of the proximity effect, familiarity effect, and the primacy effect. The proximity effect states that being near someone repeatedly will increase their feelings towards you. The familiarity effect leans on this and says that the more familiar you become with someone else the more common ground you may discover which will increase those feelings of liking or disliking even more. This all starts from the primacy effect which is being attracted to someone by the first thing you see which is their looks.

I love shopping at Target it is one of my favorite stores so naturally I am there a lot. That is also where I met my husband. We noticed each other right away. Every time I was there, I noticed we would catch each other’s eye. We then started having small conversations and that led to us finding out that we had a lot in common. After we discovered that we had a lot in common we decided to go on a few dates. The proximity and familiarity effect were playing out. The more we spent time together the more our feelings grew and well, you know the rest.

So as you can see, you may not have full control over who you end up liking or disliking. It is a combination of the primacy, proximity and familiarity effect. They all have the power to contribute to increasing ones good or bad feelings towards another person. The primacy effect relies on our cognitive abilities and what our eyes see first. If we find the person attractive and are in frequent close proximity to them chances are that our feelings of attraction will only grow stronger. Add those to the familiarity effect and you may end up married.

Coutts, L., Gruman, J., & Schneider, F. (2017). Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems. (3^rd ed.) Sage Publications.

As I was reading about the familiarity effect and attractiveness when it comes to relationships my immediate thought was my online dating experience and the show “Married at First Sight” on TLC. The familiarity effect was described in our chapter as “…mere exposure increases another’s familiarity, a quality most people find reassuring and pleasant. Familiar faces are comforting; familiar people seem predictable, even after only superficial contact. And predictability offers a sense of order and control in an age of uncertainty and anxiety.” (Gruman, 534).“Married on First Sight” is basically a social experiment in which the experts try to match two different people based on questionnaires and interviews made. My question is if these couples were matched based on the concept of familiarity how come only 11 couples out of the 13 seasons lasted? According to Women’s Health, a contestant has told them “Experts are able to match personality, psychical attraction, and emotional compatibility through a series of questions. “It was a 500 question questionnaire that goes through your likes, your dislikes, all the intricate pieces of information about you. Your religious views, your political views, what you find attractive, your sexual history, whether you are sexually active..”. This takes me to two questions. Was there a lack of physical attraction in the failed relationships? And do we need to have familiarity in order to have a successful relationship? If you ask me I would say yes to both. But then again people lie in interviews and questionnaires all the time.

In a Northwestern University Journal titled “Familiarity Does Indeed Promote Attraction in Live Interaction” the author stated, “As mentioned above, Norton et al. (2007) argued that “less is more”—that is, that as more information about another person is acquired, the likelihood of finding evidence of dissimilarity in-creases, which will engender decreased liking. As they concluded in their article, ‘knowing more means liking less’”    (Finkel, 559). Maybe the more the contestants discovered about one another the less they wanted to engage? It is hard to really have accurate experiments when people are not always honest. In the journal, Finkel does conclude that familiarity is a strong aspect of liking a person, but I personally feel that although a person can have a lot of familiarity with another person, flaws and different personalities may clash.

When I think about familiarity and attraction I also think about the days in which I was on online dating websites. Those were some rocky days. In the textbook, attraction is studied and elaborated in the “Computer Match Study” which concluded “When the data were analyzed, only one variable predicted whether a given person wanted to see his or her date again: the date’s physical attractiveness! Not the date’s conversational skills, not the two persons’ similarity to each other…, confirming a human preference for looks over other qualities has been reported countless times in psychology texts and classrooms. In the decades since the computer-match study, the power of looks in selecting dates and mates has been supported (e.g., Hatfield & Sprecher, 1986; Sprecher, 1989)” (Gruman, 535). 

When I think about online dating I think about how a lot of the time we have to rely on a maximum of 6 photos ( most of the time). We also only have a short snippet of a biography that a person may or may not be genuine with. If you swipe you are most likely willing to swipe on a person with attractive pictures. And if you’re willing to give this person the light of day, you then have to take the chance to see if you feel that familiarity with them on a date, or two. There have been times when I would meet a person who checks all the boxes, but there was just that one trait about them that I Could not bear. For example, I met a person about two years ago who was a great conversationalist, looked attractive (in my opinion), and was intelligent. The only flaw? Well, he was a pervert. Anyhow, I feel as though attractiveness and familiarity are major aspects of finding your spouse, but at the same time, certain people have really horrendous traits that simply cancel out the good stuff. Sorry, I can’t be with a pervert. 

References:

Chilton, C. (2021, April 30). Yes, the marriages on ‘married at first sight’ are legally binding. Women’s Health. Retrieved November 13, 2021, from https://www.womenshealthmag.com/life/g33292769/married-at-first-sight-couple-rules/?slide=25. 

Gruman, J.A., Schneider, F.W., and Coutts, L.M. (2017). Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems. SAGE Publication.

Reis, H. T., Maniaci, M. R., Caprariello, P. A., Eastwick, P. W., & Finkel, E. J. (2011). Familiarity does indeed promote attraction in live interaction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 101(3), 557–570. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0022885

I am an incredibly anxious person. Because of all of the bad things that I have experienced in the past, I am always worried that something else will go wrong in the future. I am always waiting for the proverbial other shoe to drop. All this anxiety has turned me into a control freak. I am constantly thinking about all the possible things that could go wrong and what I can do to prevent or mitigate them. This outlook has been helpful in areas I have some control over, like school. I know that I need to plan ahead and prioritize studying and working on assignments in order to do well and that if I do not do these things, I will suffer negative consequences as a result. So I act accordingly. But when it comes to things outside of my control, all the worrying and problem solving and planning in the world will not prevent bad things from happening. Unfortunately, because of my mindset, which psychologists (Gruman et al., 2017, pp. 468-469) call defensive pessimism, I tend to blame myself when anything bad happens even when what happened was out of my control and I logically know that there was nothing I could have done to prevent it. I have been struggling with two such tragedies recently.

In the last two months I have lost two beloved dogs to spleen cancer. Unfortunately, this cancer is extremely stealthy, aggressive, and metastatic so that most owners have no idea anything is wrong until it is too late. And despite thirty years of research, vets still do not know what causes it. One day, out of the blue, your seemingly healthy dog becomes extremely weak and when you take them to the vet you are told that they have spleen cancer, the tumor has ruptured, causing massive internal bleeding, and while the vet could perform emergency surgery, your dog’s chances of survival are poor because at this point the cancer has likely spread throughout their body. So you are forced to make the decision to have them put down with very little time to say goodbye. This is what happened with both my dogs, about six weeks apart.

Consistent with my defensive pessimism, I did everything I could think of to try and keep my dogs healthy and safe, and yet it wasn’t enough. Before my first dog died, I had never even heard about this cancer, let alone that the particular breed I have favored, German Shepherds, are unusually prone to developing it. And I never dreamed that the same thing could happen to my other dog, let alone so soon after I lost my first dog. According to psychologists (Gruman et al., 2017, pp. 460-462), the most psychologically healthy way to deal with tragedies like this is to attribute them to external, unstable, and specific causes. So in the case of my losing my dogs, I should acknowledge that I had no control over my dogs developing and dying from this cancer because vets have no idea how it develops and it normally goes undetected until it is too late, that it was just really bad luck that both dogs ended up developing it, and that even though it is common in German Shepherds, they do not all get it. Unfortunately, while I know logically that all of this is true, I have still been struggling with self-blame and fear.

According to psychologists (Gruman et al., 2017, pp. 460-462), I have been making internal, stable, and universal attributions about the loss of my dogs. I keep trying to think of something I could have done to prevent them from getting sick, essentially blaming myself for not being good enough as a pet parent. And the fact that they both died from the same thing makes me feel like I am cursed somehow and that, therefore, the same thing might happen again if I ever got another dog. I have been trying to replace these unproductive thoughts with the more healthy attributions mentioned above, a process that psychologists (Gruman et al., 2017, pp. 464-465) call attribution retraining. While this has been difficult, I know that blaming myself and living in fear are not going to bring my dogs back, are only going to compound my grief, and will make it harder for me to recover from these tragedies, so I keep on trying.

References
Gruman, J. A., Schneider, F. W., & Coutts, L. M. (2017). Applied social psychology: Understanding and addressing social and practical problems (3rd ed.). SAGE Publications, Inc.

My freshman year at the Pennsylvania State University, I lived in Pollock, more specifically, I lived in the building called Ritner. Now as we all know PSU is a predominantly white school with many STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) related major. For any minority who wants to go into this field, it may be harder for them to feel at ease or welcomed since they see less people who seem familiar to them in these fields and this can lead to a feeling of not belonging or imposter syndrome. Well, Penn State was able to see this and decided that Ritner should house minorities who were interested or planned on studying a major in STEM, mainly engineering but also others such as biology or chemistry majors among others. Penn State used the Proximity Effect to encourage minorities with similar interests, in this case their majors, to be around each other and possibly becoming friends as a means to allow the students to be more comfortable with one another and see that there are more familiar faces in your classroom and living environment to create a more comfortable educational atmosphere. As a result, I lived my freshman year with some of my best friends to this day and it was in part due to this strategy Penn State put in place.

My freshman year, I lived with a friend of mine that I went to high school with, while he is not a minority nor was he studying a major in STEM we were able to find a way around it. However, to this day he might have been my least favorite roommate and we talk here and there but I cannot consider him one of my best friends like I do other students who lived on our floor. Many of the students who lived in the building were black, hispanic, native american, and any other underrepresented group in STEM such as women. However, there were still a good amount of students who did not fit these categories and this was so that there was some diversification across the board in the building because a building full of the same people studying the same thing can be a bit odd and diversity anywhere is a great thing allowing the students to expand their horizons. Penn State went ahead and put the students in the dorm building and to our surprise, many of us had a lot in common from our interests to our hobbies, but Penn State had no way of knowing this, to them they hoped we would be similar because of our similarities’ and more similar experiences and the fact that we were STEM majors. The rest of it was pure luck and since then I have made friends for life and even some that I consider family.

This was all due again to the Proximity Effect. In our class book, this phenomenon is defined as “the tendency for physical and physiological nearness to increase interpersonal liking.” (Gruman, pg. 532). This just means, the more time you spend near or with someone, the greater the chances are of you liking each other as friends or more intimately. For me and the group of guys who lived on my floor we spent everyday together whether it was in class, going to the commons for lunch or dinner, going out together on weekends and it even go to the point where we would have groups of us going into the showers, separate ones of course, as groups and have music blasting and we would just act like clowns. It was pure fun and joy. We created a bond like no other and until this day nothing can break it. Even other groups of friends from other floors are the same to this day. Just as we stuck together, so did many other groups and they have all lasted. If it were not for this strategy being put in place by PSU, I do not know if I would have stayed in the STEM field or even if I would have stayed at Penn State. This initial group of friends gave me the confidence to go and branch out as well knowing that I would always have these guys to come back to and laugh about any and everything.

The Proximity Effect is an interesting one because it usually forms positive relationships but it really just amplifies the feelings you have about the person prior. Not having known anything about my friends and vice versa, we had no prejudice and became friends but if you dislike someone and spend an ample amount of time with them, that frustration can grow and your feelings towards them can become more and more negative. So do not think that if you spend time with someone you are bound to like them but as social creatures, if you spend enough time with a person eventually, some bond will be created, and this happens to me with people at my gym. We go around the same times consistently and I’ve become friends with some and its gotten to the point that those I see at the gym frequently and do not talk to, when I see them elsewhere we say hi or give each other the nod as a form of recognition.

All in all, the Proximity Effect is to thank for my college friends since I am not sure with my introverted personality, that I would have gone out of my way to make friends and find friends who have similar interest. I was lucky that my friends loved video games, specifically super smash bros since that’s the game we played daily on my friends nintendo, loved sports from soccer to basketball to football; luckily I love all three, and to other things like similar tastes in music, fashion, and many other things. It is always a pleasant surprise for me to see other applied social psychology at work and how it has affected my life both good and bad. This provides me with the knowledge to take a bit more control of my own life and take steps towards certain attitudes and behavior I like and would want to change in myself even though it will not be a short or easy process.

Reference(s):

Gruman, J.A., Schneider, F.W., and Coutts, L.M. (2017). Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems. SAGE Publication.

People are often used to taking advantage of all kinds of opportunities to escape from reality, escape the pain they need to face, and avoid facing themselves who are “frustrated” everywhere in life. So people like to find sustenance. Some through love, some through family affection, others through star chasing. Whether it is because of loneliness to start a love or fever to pursue stars, it is often a straw that people in adversity grasp. Entering a love relationship because of lovelorn or loneliness has nothing to do with love. The core of this relationship is not loving, but letting someone buffer your pain, ease loneliness and have a clear purpose. Once the pain is relieved, the demand relationship does not exist, and this “love” relationship is easy to terminate. Indulging in star chasing activities is the process of fans’ empathy and self-projection. It is both virtual and real. Some fans regard idols as emotional containers or ideal objects, and establish intimate relationships in reality through interaction with idols; Some fans see the “ideal self” in the packaged almost perfect idol and obtain psychological satisfaction by witnessing the idol’s continuous new achievements, which is similar to playing a game of Sims to escape the frustration in reality. According to Eriksson’s theory of personality development, in adolescence, we need to establish self-identity, under the influence of rapid changes in appearance and high-level hormones, integrate our desires, abilities and dreams into a complete self, and in various Verify our status in the collective under different circumstances. Social challenges and obligations. In early adulthood, we face the conflict between intimacy and loneliness. We are afraid of injury, but we are more eager to integrate our own identity with the identity of others and establish a loving relationship with others, because only this kind of intimacy can make us resist endless loneliness. Some researchers have pointed out that attachment to the stars is a kind of comfort to the “empty self”; “star chasers” tend to have low self-evaluation and low self-esteem. The charm and characteristics of idols just meet many expectations of star chasers. Some studies have found that the dimension of “personal emotional connection” in star chasing behavior is related to a low sense of security and closeness, and has a significant positive correlation with anxiety type and negative correlation with avoidance type. Professor McCarthy interprets this phenomenon as for anxious attachment types, they are always in the fear that the intimate relationship will be broken and ended, so they may take the virtual connection with idols as the “spare wheel” of the real love relationship, which provides them with a stable harbor because this relationship will not leave and will always be safe.  As a result, a “virtual intimate relationship” with the idol was formed. Professor McCarthy further put forward his hypothesis-“absorption and addiction theory”, in view of the formation of the pleasure brought by “fascination”. Absorption refers to the spontaneous and wholehearted devotion and attention to an object, from perception and imagination to all cognitive resources. This kind of dedication and “absorption” does not require subjective effort. It is similar to a peak experience and brings great fun to people. While engrossed, the “realism” of the idol is also invisibly magnified or strengthened, giving people the illusion that they seem to have formed a certain relationship or connection with the idol, and people have strong feelings and happiness.

In fact, jealousy itself has evolutionary value. The scramble for resources is an inevitable thing in human society. Whether it is our ancestors’ scramble for food and shelter, or our current competition for jobs, in the final analysis, they are all competing with competitors for resources. When it comes to grabbing resources, there’s an implicit rivalry with competitors — what psychology calls “social comparison.”
There are two types of jealousy: good envy and bad envy. Both can be motivating, but good envy can make you motivated to improve, while bad envy can lead to the urge in upset or even retaliate against your competitors. Therefore, when we are jealous of unfair treatment and conditions, we are more likely to overreact. The conclusion of psychological research shows that when the vicious jealousy is higher, it is more likely to do some disturbing behavior to the object of jealousy, so disturbing the other party’s behavior will even aggravate their vicious jealousy.
Here are a few ways to put jealousy in perspective.
First, stop comparing yourself to others. Comparing yourself to what others have makes you sad. When you have a nicer car or a better job, this type of comparison feeds your vanity and makes you feel good about yourself, but only temporarily, because it eventually leads you to notice those who have more than you do. At that point, you won’t feel good anymore. A more effective way is to compare yourself. Examine your growth and gains, evaluate your efforts and gains, and think about your experiences and plans. This will make you more positive and emotionally stable as you stop comparing yourself to others and feeling jealous that they have things you don’t.
Second, develop a rich mindset. Jealousy often comes from a “lack” in one area of your life. You feel jealous, perhaps because someone else got the job you wanted or the opportunity you were waiting for, because you’re afraid that if you lose them, your life will hit rock bottom. Comparing yourself to others is a symptom of this “feeling of scarcity.” You’re jealous because someone else got what you wanted. Having this “lack” all the time can mess with your thoughts, feelings, and life. It can cause jealousy, a strong negative emotion, to cling to it and reinforce and perpetuate it. To get out of this mindset of limitation and destruction, you can allow yourself to be free and tell yourself that new opportunities are always around the corner. It gives you inner emotional freedom and makes you more relaxed and positive. I believe that cultivating a free and easy mind is the most important thing in rejecting or overcoming jealousy. When you know there’s plenty of opportunity in the world, there’s nothing to be jealous of. So, whenever you find yourself in the grip of jealousy again, remember to change the focus from lack to abundance, and you’ll be able to handle it with grace.

References:

Coutts, L., Gruman, J., & Schneider, F. (2017). Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems. (3^rd ed.) Sage Publications.

In the song We Found Love by Rihanna and Calvin Haris, the line we found love in a hopeless place describes the intricacies of the beginning of my current relationship. My partner and I shared the same train, to and from campus, for over a year before we had a conversation. I find this to be hopeless because we could have had the conversation within the campus. Thinking about it today, I realize that several sociopsychological factors might have led to this positive encounter.

The power of situational influences, for instance, played a crucial role in this encounter. According to Weber and Dobson (2017, p. 420), people live their life in a social context where they react to conditions and events. In essence, thoughts and feelings are shaped by the context of the environment in which a person interacts. We both knew the situation on the train. We had shared the ride for almost a year, and we were on the same campus, albeit in different departments. Thus, my partner and I were pushed together by the ordinary circumstances of using the same train and being on the same campus. Further, we were pulled together by the mutual interest in knowing and talking to each other, though we were both shies.

Another concept that played a key role is the idea of proximity and familiarity. Having shared the train rides for almost a year while looking at each other with striking a conversation enhanced the aspect of familiarity. Proximity, on the other hand, highlights how close people live or carry out daily activities close to each other (Aron & Lewandowski, 2001). Thus, situational influences besides proximity and familiarity are the core concepts that underpin how my partner and I found love in a hopeless place.

References

Aron, A., & Lewandowski, G. (2001). Interpersonal Attraction, Psychology of. International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, 7860–7862. https://doi.org/10.1016/B0-08-043076-7/01787-3

Weber, A. L., & Dobson, J. (2017). Applying Social Psychology to Personal Relationship. In J. A. Gruman, F. W. Schneider, & L. M. Coutts, Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems (3^rd ed., pp. 417-434). Thousand Oaks: SAGE.

The poet John Donne used to say: “no man is an island.” Humans are social creatures who interact enormously with each other. Back in the 18 century, when romanticism started in Europe, artists and authors focused on the impact of human emotions where artworks do not have to be perfect but express one’s true feelings. Vincent Van Gogh would cut out his ears for his loved one; Oscar Wild was arrested due to his sexual orientation but held their belief about love indicated in his adult fairy book. What is this magic of love, and why is it so hard to say goodbye to our dated partner?

Humanistic psychologist Abraham Maslow (1970) pointed out “belongings” ranked the 3rd essential motivation, which was not distant from the basic needs as food and safety in the hierarchy of needs and motives. (Gruman, 2017, p.420) In most cases, parents are the first people with who we establish a closed relationship which we tend to foster our association with them along the time. The lack of social contact would distress individuals in a way that they might feel isolated. Tronick’s study showed that infants produce a more negative response as less smile and more gaze aversion when the mother ceases to interact with them. (Tronick, 2007) During such young age, we see that humans are sensitive to solitary. Abram and his colleague in 2011 suggest that adults are more likely to be affected by repulsion than children. A breakup triggers the feeling of abandon which results in negative emotions as sadness, frustration, anger, etc.

The course of psychology 100 introduced the five stages of a breakup: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. The complex emotional state is associated with how the brain works. Najib and his colleagues in 2005 applied blood-oxygen-level-dependent function magnetic resonance to detect the woman’s brain activity when grief about their breakup. They found that severe distress was related to the increased group activity in posterior brain regions entailing cerebellum, posterior brainstem, and posterior temporal-parietal and occipital brain regions. Decreased activity occurred in the more frontal area and left, which results in constantly thinking about the negative experience. The hyperactive of the amygdala also increase the thoughts of ruminating about the lost relationship. As the alter of brain activity, the related function of each region will be likely to impact our emotions.

Zajonc’s study suggested in 1968 that “Increased exposure to someone generally enhances preexisting feeling toward that person, whether positive or negative. (Gruman, 2017, p. 423). Being with a loved one constantly stimulates more pleasure, emotion, and good mutual memory, including introducing the friends, living together, traveling experience, etc. As the relationship gradually becomes more close-knit, it is difficult to accept the breakup since individuals can invest time, energy, and money. It could be explained by the endowment effect developed by Knetsch in 1989 that individuals tend to dislike losing something more than we enjoy obtaining them. Several other findings also indicated that having more associations with the ex-partner, such as cohabitating, having the same child, fostering the pet together, or making a marriage plan, will possibly decline life satisfaction. (Stanley et al., 2006) However, it depends more on the quality of the relationship since a high-quality relationship will lead to a smaller decline in life satisfaction after the breakup.

Gruman said in the book of Applied Social Psychology that “as an adult, such choices, you known that every relationship entails risks, to get close to someone else, you must open up, self-disclose, and become vulnerable.” I agree with the tricky part that we might be rejected or betrayed, but I also think the other saying was true about love being a game that belongs to the brave person. Love is unlike science which could be depicted as accurate data or applying the scientific method to approve something is close to the truth. One important thing is not to be afraid of the results not to enjoy the process.

Reference:

Tronick EZ. 2007. The neurobehavioral and social-emotional development of infants and children. New York, NY: Norton.

Abrams D, Weick M, Thomas D, Colbe H, Franklin KM. 2011. Online ostracism affects children differently from adolescents and adults. Br. J. Dev. Psychol. 29, 110–123. (10.1348/026151010X494089)

Najib, A., Lorberbaum, J. P., Kose, S., Bohning, D. E., & George, M. S. (2004). Regional brain activity in women grieving a romantic relationship breakup. American Journal of Psychiatry, 161(12), 2245–2256. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.161.12.2245

Gruman, J. A., Schneider, F. W., & Coutts, L. M. (2017). Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and addressing social and practical problems. SAGE.

Stanley SM, Rhoades GK, Markman HJ. Sliding vs. deciding: Inertia and the premarital cohabitation effect. Family Relations. 2006;55:499–509.

How did you two meet? This question is one of the most commonly asked when couples venture out into public places together. Movies and books depict grand romantic moments where both people fell instantly in love at first sight. But in reality, most of us will never experience that at all. Most often, we meet people based on the situation we are in and the circumstances surrounding it. Situational influences can turn a familiar person into a friend and eventually into a partner (Gruman, Schneider, and Coutts, 2016). The more frequent these people enter into our lives, the most likely it is we’ll find something that attracts us, like mutual interests. During this time, differences or negative traits won’t be as noticeable as we experience the halo effect, idealizing the partner we have found (Förster, Özelsel, and Epstude, 2010). It’s typically not until the relationship has been established, do we begin to understand the whole person we’ve decided to be with. 

My girlfriend and I met only because of the specific situation we were in. Her freshman year of college, she was put into a supplemental room, which is when the university runs out of dorms and common rooms are used to fit 6 or 7 random people. One of her roommates happened to be enrolled in the architecture program, which at that time so was I, and another one attended the same high school I did. Thankfully even though the placement was random, everyone got along and five out of the seven ended up finding an apartment off campus the following year. The apartment they found was previously occupied by one of her roommates siblings and happened to be two doors down from where my older sister had lived and where I was now moving into. Due to our mutual connections, we ended up spending a lot of time together and eventually realized how much we had in common. The biggest attraction was simply realizing how easy the conversation was making it all feel very natural. We were definitely friends first and didn’t initially plan on dating. It took a few years to reach a relationship, but the only reason we even met was completely due to the circumstance we were in.

Aside from experiencing the halo effect at the beginning of the relationship, we also benefitted from living two doors down the hall from each other and living in an environment where we weren’t quite real adults with responsibilities. Our biological desire to meet our social needs and find specific people to be close with certainly came into play, especially once we were both single (Gruman, Schneider, and Coutts, 2016). We thrived on the physical proximity our situation provided and took advantage of being able to be close to each other and feel the comfort of knowing we weren’t alone. It was also nice to be able to spend time with my friends but also have my girlfriend present since our friend group had been established long before our relationship. I didn’t often have to choose between spending time with them and her, which only increased our affection for one another.

Even though our relationship didn’t begin with us starring deep into each other’s eyes across the room, but both admit feeling initial hints of attraction long before we became a couple. The primacy effect took place without us completely realizing and likely caused us to continue to investigate further and find other aspects that we found attractive (Gruman, Schneider, and Coutts, 2016). Once we did, we realized the many of traits we loved about each other and allowed ourselves to build a relationship based on those ideas. Our shared sense of pessimism, the similar way we approach stressful situations, and the never ending level of support are just some of the reasons we fell in love. Of course now that we have been together for years, the halo effect has faded and we certainly are aware of each other’s downfalls as well. However the bond we already created allows us to accept each other and encourage personal growth. I still believe our story is meaningful and worth sharing even if it wouldn’t make it into the movies. An invisible string brought us to each other long before we even knew and hopefully we can prevent it from breaking for a very long time.

References:

Förster, J., Özelsel, A., & Epstude, K. (2010). How love and lust change people’s perception of relationship partners. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 46(2), 237–246. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2009.08.009

Gruman, J. A., Schneider, F. W., & Coutts, L. M. (Eds.). (2016). Applied social psychology : Understanding and addressing social and practical problems. SAGE Publications.

As you have walked through store aisles or driven through parking lots I am sure you have seen countless amounts of people walking with their faces in their phones. The sad but true reality is that many people including adolescents spend a majority of their time catering to relationships that are not real. Online relationships tend to be superficial because peoples emotional investment is low. One of the reasons is because of a lack of trust. In these online communities you have no way of telling if someone is actually who they say they are.

One phenomenon that has become popular in this day and age is catfishing. A catfish is someone who pretends to be someone else online. They use fake photos and create a fake persona to make friends or seek out romantic partners. Sadly, some people will go to extreme lengths to take on this “fake persona”. This is why online interactions have lost their value. There are so many unkowns and what if’s majority of us would be like “why bother?” This phenomenon is becoming so common that numerous movies and TV shows are coming out about people falling in love with a “catfish”. Netflix just released a new Christmas movie call Love Hard that centers around a girl who travels from LA to New York to suprise her online boyfriend only to realize its a complete stranger that she has never seen before.

Face-to-face interactions hold so much more value. This is because there is raw and real emotions involved that you can never get from and online experience. Humans are social beings and we need real life connections to survive. While internet dating is on the rise, you can only get so much out of it. I would take face-to-face over internet interaction any day. This is because it allows me to be in the moment and collect new experiences. Hopefully many of you are on the same page.

Brennan, D. (2020). Signs of Catfishing. WebMD.               https://www.webmd.com/sex-relationships/signs-catfishing

Coutts, L., Gruman, J., & Schneider, F. (2017). Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems. (3^rd ed.) Sage Publications.

According to the United States Census, there are more than 7 billion people currently living in the world (U.S. and World Population Clock). Eight million of them live in New York City and over thirty-seven million reside in Tokyo (World City Populations 2021). If trends continue the way they currently are, the world population is projected to reach over eleven billion at the turn on the century (United Nations). There are a vast numbers of reasons for why this increasing population poses a threat on all human kind. Earth will no longer be able to sustain the growing number and every possible resource will be depleted. All of these things are being considered when people discuss population growth, but no one seems to ever consider another major component of our expanding society, the effect it has on our mental health.

Humans are the strongest animal because of our ability to adapt to a variety of situations each and every day. While this skill allows us to move, travel, and interact with one another, but it doesn’t mean we have the ability to entirely shift the way our brains are wired. We are conditioned to think in the same way our hunger-gather ancestors did. While those communities maxed out at around 200 people, (Conniff, 2005), our societies have moved into the billions. However, our brains haven’t changed at all. We have a desire to socialize and interact with one another, but can often become overwhelmed with the amount of options there are. This can lead to loneliness even in the busiest of cities. In order to combat this issue, many people have taken to the internet and begun to establish virtual communities. Through the use of social media, anyone can contact anyone at anytime. While this may contradict the overwhelming feeling associated with crowed cities, the idea that you can be physical alone but still have someone to talk to seems to balance our need for interaction without causing overstimulation. Many people who live in cities experience stimulus overload. This leads to feeling as though you’re unable to respond to everything that surrounds you and instead you chose specific things to focus on (Gruman, Schneider, & Coutts, 2016). Without realizing it, this may cause us to psychologically retreat and fulfil our social needs with the internet.

There are a variety of apps that currently allow for humans to communicate with anyone else in the world. Social media sites like Reddit, Tumblr, or Facebook gave people the opportunity to seek out those who are similar to them and create an online community that mimics what would normally occur in smaller societies. We reach out to those who we can relate to, it’s how almost anyone becomes friends, and the internet has made this task even simpler. If I want to find others who enjoy gardening or gaming, all I have to do is join a subreddit or Facebook group and I’m instantly surrounded by those interested in the same topics. I no longer have to actively seek out new friends in my daily life, they are simply made for me once I find a common crowd through social media. This instant gratification seems so convenient in the moment but can lead to impatience over time (Samuel, 2017). Plus, even though online societies are multiplying by the minute, research shows people are generally less social and have a harder time forming significant relationships with others (Gruman, Schneider, & Coutts, 2016). Even though many of us subscribe to a number of social media sites, we often simply observe what’s going on, without actually becoming active participants. According to Matook, Cummings, and Bala (2015), this passive use can lead to increased loneliness. It’s not simply enough to be a part of the online society, one has to actually participate in it to reap it’s benefits.

When people make the effort to actively participate in the online communities they have become a part of, loneliness is decreased and there are many benefits one can take advantage of (Matook, Cummings, and Bala 2015). Online self help groups provide those in need with accurate information and support for those suffering from a common challenge (Gruman, Schneider, & Coutts, 2016). Online therapy even exists now allowing people to receive counseling without having to leave the house. These groups and conversations can help many people but also bring anonymity and confidentiality into question. Once something is posted online, it’s there forever, even after it’s deleted or removed. Private groups don’t actually exists and there is always the threat that personal information could be taken advantage of. Unlike telling a few friends a secret and relying on them to remain loyal, anyone can join a group and screenshot an internet post to be uploaded to other sites in a matter of minutes. Active use of social media sites can allow people to feel less alone, but only if they’re used ethically each time.

The more people that enter this earth, the more problems we will continue to see in regards to community socialization. Social media may provide some relief to the overstimulated human brain, but it certainly isn’t the clear answer.

References:

Conniff, R. (2005). The Ape in the Corner Office: Understanding the Workplace Beast in All of Us. New York.: Crown Business.

Gruman, J. A., Schneider, F. W., & Coutts, L. M. (Eds.). (2016). Applied social psychology : Understanding and addressing social and practical problems. SAGE Publications.

Matook, S., Cummings, J., & Bala, H. (2015). Are You Feeling Lonely? The Impact of Relationship Characteristics and Online Social Network Features on Loneliness. Journal of Management Information Systems, 31(4), 278–310. https://doi-org.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/10.1080/07421222.2014.1001282

Samuel, A. (2017, February 7). What’s so bad about instant gratification? JSTOR DAILY. Retrieved November 6, 2021, from https://daily.jstor.org/whats-bad-instant-gratification/.

United Nations. (n.d.). World population projected to reach 9.8 billion in 2050, and 11.2 billion in 2100. United Nations. Retrieved November 6, 2021, from https://www.un.org/development/desa/en/news/population/world-population-prospects-2017.html.

U.S. and World Population Clock. United States Census Bureau. (n.d.). Retrieved November 6, 2021, from https://www.census.gov/popclock/.

World City Populations 2021. World Population Review. (n.d.). Retrieved November 6, 2021, from https://worldpopulationreview.com/world-cities.

It is not difficult for us to find that the content filled in many social media has gradually guided our mental health state, and this guidance direction has gradually begun to move towards a negative state in recent years, which is closely related to all kinds of negative news output to us by social mainstream media. “Trafficking anxiety” is an abbreviated term. It can be explained in detail that business profits can be made by creating anxiety and selling goods or services to offset anxiety. Let’s take an example, a girl’s armpit hair. After the first World War, women’s status improved, and more and more women began to become the main consumer. In 1917, in order to increase the sales of “blades”, a company launched a “axillary hair anxiety” to make women believe that axillary hair is “unsanitary” and “non feminine” As a result, its sales of blades doubled. Creating anxiety is the easiest way to attract attention and trigger consumption. In this era of spreading anxiety, all kinds of anxiety become a matter of course: not going to the gym, not reading, not eating healthy food, not traveling. There is always a voice trying to tell you that you are not good enough , you don’t live well enough! And that’s the idea that contemporary social media wants to instill in us. The Australian reported an incident suspected of violating social ethics: a confidential document on Facebook was leaked, which showed that Facebook provided 6.4 million young users (at least 14 years old) to advertisers Emotional information, especially when they are in a period of psychological vulnerability, such as feeling “useless”, “unsafe”, “stressed”, “frustrated” and “anxious” What’s more, the incidence rate of anxiety and depression is more common among people who are too concerned about Internet social networking platforms, especially in young women. The network social platform can not become the main venue for our social networking after all. Face to face social networking can feel the real emotional bond before anyone.

Robillos, A., Roberto, L., TripZilla, Uy, D., & Conde, T. (2021, April 28). Unpopular opinion: Facebook “mine” wars & live selling trigger buyers’ anxiety! Tripzilla Philippines. Retrieved November 5, 2021, from https://www.tripzilla.ph/live-selling-anxiety-shopping/26903/.

In the world of community psychology in relation to the online world, I would personally say that there are a lot of negative effects, as well as positive ones. If it were not for the media I do not think movements such as MeToo and Black Lives Matter would have become famous. Personally, I have seen social media and the communities created within it come together to aim for a better world. I, as a Muslim, saw this happen this year during Ramadan. In the physical world Muslims, and especially middle eastern Muslims, have known for a very long period of time about the truth of Israeli attacks on innocent lives. During this last Ramadan that occurred in May a lot of truth came to light. I saw protests in Philly and I know there were several across the country from Chicago, to Boston, To NYC. 

These protests erupted from the truth of Israeli attacks being exposed online. People now have phones to record the truth and show their side. This allows for many voices to be heard. According to a CNN post “Protesters rallied in cities across the United States on Saturday in support of Palestinians, days after Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire ending the latest round of violence and bloodshed in a decades-long conflict.” Many Palestinians including myself have been well aware of the violence for most if not all of our lives. But today, with advanced technology and millions of people using social media, others were able to see the truth as well. 

The news site also stated in the same article “Israeli airstrikes, which began on May 10, killed at least 248 people in Gaza, including 66 children, according to the Hamas-run Ministry of Health. Twelve people in Israel, including two children, died as a result of militant fire from Gaza, according to the Israel Defense Forces and Israel’s emergency service.” This was a rough Ramadan for many Palestinians this year. I am personally glad we have Instagram, Facebook, and Tik Tok these days showing the reality of people, places, and issues that many are oblivious to. We should all have a right to have a voice loud enough to raise awareness of any major issue. 

Another thing to note is how powerful hashtags have become. We see this in our own textbook in regards to feminism which is only one of many issues we still face today. The book states “The Canadian nonprofit magazine AdBusters initiated the suggestion for a peaceful occupation of Wall Street to protest growing income inequality, and started the Twitter hashtag #OccupyWall-Street. A loosely organized group of activists had already begun to protest financial austerity measures on the sidewalks of New York, and the #OccupyWallStreet hashtag was taken up as a call to action (Sledge, 2011). Fueled by social media, thousands of protesters congregated in Zuccotti Park and their encampments remained there until they were forced out in late November of that year.” (Gruman, 431). New York is a huge famous city, and when the media is powerful enough I am aware that the voices of New York are raised. 

References:

Ebrahimji, A., & Williams, D. (2021, May 23). Supporters of Palestinian rights hold protests across the United States. CNN. Retrieved November 4, 2021, from https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/22/us/pro-palestinian-protests-us/index.html.

Gruman, J.A., Schneider, F.W., and Coutts, L.M. (2017). Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems. SAGE Publication.

Freudians argue that some people’s “personality problems” origin from the absence of a father role in their life, and the fact that their mother consigned them to another caregiver during childhood. A psychiatrist may prescribe drugs for such people so that they can be better integrated into the school environment and learn social skills. The debate between nature and nurture is still going on.

If we need to address community problems like AIDS, homelessness, school drop-out, teenage pregnancy, drug dependence, and violent crime, we need various and sustained interventions. Unfortunately, in our society, simple intervention seems to dominate. Community psychology aims to solve these problems in a variety of ways. Community psychology looks at social problems, social institutions, and other Settings that affect groups and organizations and the individuals within them. Communities are divided geographically, and we can set different levels of intervention depending on the size of the community institution (McLeroy et al., 2003). The goal of community psychology is to maximize the well-being of communities and individuals using innovative and diverse interventions designed in collaboration with affected community members and other disciplines within and outside psychology.

Community psychology focuses more on prevention than treatment. This is a very important and key concept in the discipline. On the one hand, treatment often comes too late in the whole intervention process, with therapeutic relationships occurring long after an individual has developed a problem, so such treatments are often ineffective. Prevention, on the other hand, may defeat any trauma before it occurs and thus “save” the individual or even society as a whole from developing a problem. Community psychology can play an active rather than passive role.

Prevention interventions in community psychology can be divided into three levels. Primary prevention is to trying to intervene at the earliest moment of a problem, like vaccination (a vaccine against a specific disease). “Keep healthy people healthy” and “prevent predisposed people from developing problems.” Secondary prevention is to address a problem at an early stage, before it becomes more severe and persistent. Tertiary Prevention are attempts to reduce the severity of a problem when it persists.

Reference:

McLeroy, K. R., Norton, B. L., Kegler, M. C., Burdine, J. N., & Sumaya, C. V. (2003). Community-based interventions. American Journal of Public Health, 93(4), 529–533. https://doi.org/10.2105/ajph.93.4.529

In terms of community psychology, we should start from the characteristics of local communities, normalize construction, and meet the needs of community people for psychological counseling. We can consider from the following aspects.

At the beginning, we should pay attention to projects could be developed in community psychological consultation. Community is a place where people live and do activities for a long time. Many people who need psychological counseling prefer to go to community for counseling instead of going to specialized hospitals. Based on the convenience of community psychological consultation, we should provide comprehensive and continuous psychological services for the community. Therefore, we need to pay attention to the national mental health as soon as possible into the scope of community daily work, actively create favorable conditions, and give full play to the positive role of community mental health service in the construction of social psychological service system.

Then, we should pay attention to the mental health needs of people in the community, find out in time which groups of people in the community have mental health consultation needs, understand their psychological crisis characteristics, carry out psychological crisis intervention for them in time, and help people in the community to recover their psychological functions in time. The community needs to have a basic guarantee to ensure the normal development of community psychological counseling. Communities need to establish corresponding mental health services, establish psychological consultation rooms with different functions, such as psychological consultation rooms, psychological relaxation rooms, psychological catharsis rooms, psychological assessment rooms, psychological training rooms, to meet the psychological health consultation needs of different groups of people. At the same time, local community institutions need to establish the organization and management system and assessment system of community mental health services, and form a clear organization and management system.

Lastly, we need to cultivate professional psychological counseling service talents. At present, the number of community mental health service personnel is very scarce, all regions should strengthen the training and introduction of psychological professional services, to ensure that there is at least one professional psychological staff in the community. For example, local communities can cooperate with university psychology departments to complete the work of bringing psychological counselors into the community, training mental health workers and recruiting volunteers. Or it can train the grass-roots staff of the community, actively carry out psychological training, improve the awareness of mental health service of grass-roots staff, promote the mental health service work into all aspects of the community work.

Reference:

Gruman, J.A., Schneider, F.W., and Coutts, L.M. (2017). Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems. SAGE Publication.

This week we discussed the difference between online and face-to-face communities. It is pointed out that whether network community can replace face-to-face community. As most people believe, online communities are hardly a substitute for face-to-face communities. These views mainly come from the way of communication in online communities, which limits the emotions that people may have in the process of communication. Because of these limitations, it is difficult for online communities to completely replace face-to-face communities. In this blog post, I will analyze several shortcomings of online communication.

1. Lack of nonverbal cues in online communication.

Nonverbal communication refers to those behaviors that do not rely on written or spoken language. Nonverbal communication is a huge part of any conversation or communication. People spend more time on non-verbal communication than verbal communication. In fact, nonverbal communication can be more believable in some cases. Nonverbal cues help people understand other people’s emotions better and faster. For example, tears shed when sad, the sound of constant sobbing; A strong tone of voice or angry expression when angry; Happy movements and lots of laughter. These are cues to help us become more empathic with others. Communication between people in online communities is missing a lot of these nonverbal cues, making it harder for us to share our emotions with others.

2. Time lag between messages commenting and receiving

I mentioned the difference between synchronous and asynchronous messages in a previous blog post. Synchronous messages are those that occur instantly and simultaneously — there is no time delay between when you send a message and the other person receives it. Asynchronous message is a message that is not read, heard, or seen at the same time you send the message; there is a time delay between when you send and receive a message(Beebe & Masterson, 2014, pg.23). While both serve the purpose of “communication,” asynchronous messages take much more time. In the process of communication, this time difference will cause people to reduce the desire to communicate.

3. Busy online discussion forums may cause information overload and low efficiency.

Messages in online communities are often very complex. Unlike communication in face-to-face communities, communication in online communities is often not limited to two people. Although in real life, people also face the situation of group discussion, but more communication is usually one-to-one mode. In an online community, you may be faced with hundreds or more users expressing their opinions at the same time. It’s easy to lose the ability to sift through the clues you need.

In general, the above are the shortcomings of network communication in the three network communities. These shortcomings make online communities unable to completely replace face-to-face communities. However, we must also recognize the advantages of online communities. We cannot absolutely define it as good or bad, but should treat it with an inclusive attitude. Despite these shortcomings, most people in the world still exist in online communities. Online communities still need a long time to develop, and we should accept and understand this change.

Reference

Beebe, S. A., & Masterson, J. T. (2014). Communicating in small groups: Principles and practices. Pearson.

As we know, there are tons of online communities all over the world. These groups range to what we like, what common interests we all share, things that we go through in life that we want to talk about, etc. I could go on and on about the list of things we are involved in online communities. To begin, the internet can be a good source of help to some and sometimes we don’t want nothing to do with it at all. In reality, we might not want to look to the internet for help. Some relationships we tend to build over the internet, don’t always turnout to what they seem to be if we happen to meet these people in the real world. “While some expressed the idea that the connections were superficial and not always sincere, there was an overall sense that participation on the sites led to beneficial contact with others, and that members often honored and supported each other” (Gruman, et. al., 2017).

Studies have shown to prove that, in fact, online relationships and communities did have positive outcomes and affect overall. “Their findings showed that participation in these online communities provided benefits to participants in that they were able to acquire useful information and social support from these forums. In addition, participation in these communities led to greater patient empowerment outcomes for these individuals, which was associated with being able to effectively extract useful information from these online sources” (Gruman, et. al., 2017). However, researchers have also found that “positive benefits from belonging to an online community, including a greater sense of community and more positive well-being. Those who were more frequent Internet users were highest in online sense of community, and Internet use was associated with a number of benefits for these older adults, including greater satisfaction with health, more extensive contact with family and friends, and high overall well-being” (Gruman, et. al., 2017).

Online communities are another great source of help when individuals who are unable to attend in person, they are able to still join in on what’s going on, online. Those who may suffer from medical, social, or other problems, still can receive the care they need when it comes to these online communities. For example, there was a study done by Winzelberg, that showed that those who suffered from eating disorders, both men and women still received the help they needed due to these online communities. Another example would be those who are elderly and possibly cannot go out everyday or due to medical reason, they cant truly go far as much as they would like to. This could help them still stay connected with their community online along with still seeing their friends online, even though its not in person as they hoped. “Virtual community support groups can provide a beneficial and usually low-cost alternative to traditional or professional forms of assistance” (Gruman, et. al., 2017). This leads into another thought of mine. Say if someone is suffering from a mental illness and they are afraid to contact a source of help because they are afraid, for example. These online communities may be beneficial to them in someway because they don’t have to pay to see someone, however they are surrounded in a community or a group setting that is also going through the same thing and is being guided towards the right direction and how to handle and deal with their mental illness. While this may not be the best way to take care of someone who may suffer from a mental illness, it’s the second best thing if someone is unable to afford services for this.

In conclusion, “online support group activity was greatest for people with conditions limiting their mobility, such as multiple sclerosis and chronic fatigue syndrome” while also including “that sufferers can, through the use of both virtual and nonvirtual community support groups, escape their usual social networks and that this lessens the anxiety they normally experience in having to deal with the social consequences of their illnesses” (Gruman, et. al., 2017). Furthermore, having online health providers to be on call online, maybe more beneficial to those who are unable to visit in person or are limited due to their financial stability. “It appears that the effectiveness of traditional health services cane enhanced by including health professionals, as well as tother helpers or facilitators as participants in both virtual and nonvirtual support group activities” (Gruman, et. al., 2017). The internet, can in fact, be a source of help to those who truly need it, if the communities itself are designed the proper way and those who are involved, have true and positive intentions to help.

Reference:

Gruman, J.A., Schneider, F.W., and Coutts, L.M. (2017). Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems. SAGE Publication.

Being a social species, we humans have an inherent need to belong (Miller, 2018, pp. 4-6). This need is so important to our well-being that if we find ourselves in a situation where we are unable to fulfill it, this deprivation can seriously impair our physical and mental health (Miller, 2018, p. 5). Psychologists (Gruman et al., 2017, p. 327) refer to our subjective sense of belonging as our sense of community and in order for us to have a positive sense of community, and therefore satisfy our need to belong, four conditions must be met: membership, influence, integration and fulfillment of needs, and shared emotional connection. Unfortunately, those who are different have a much harder time finding a community that fulfills these four conditions and therefore satisfies their need to belong (Hussain & Jones, 2021, p. 63).

The first condition necessary for an individual to have a positive sense of community is membership (Gruman et al., 2017, p. 327). This means that the individual needs to feel that they belong in and are therefore a member of the community (Gruman et al., 2017, p. 327). Unfortunately, as a kind of group, a community tends to foster preferences for homogeneity so in order for an individual to feel a sense of belonging and membership in a community, they generally need to be similar to the other members (Aronson et al., 2016, pp. 273-274; Mannarini et al., 2017, pp. 181-182). Additionally, this tendency of communities to seek homogeneity forms the basis for discrimination in that a community will tend to view those who are different as a threat to the community (Gruman et al., 2017, p. 402). Based on this, it is difficult for individuals who are different from the majority of members in a community to develop a sense of belonging and community membership.

Sadly, without a sense of membership in a community it is difficult for an individual to satisfy the other conditions necessary to experience a positive sense of community. The second condition, influence, is how much an individual feels that they have influence over the community (Gruman et al., 2017, p. 327). If an individual does not feel a strong sense of membership and belonging in a community, they are not going to feel like they have much influence. The third condition, integration and fulfillment of needs, is an individual’s sense that the community represents their values and that they can depend on the community (Gruman et al., 2017, p. 327). Again, if an individual does not have a sense of belonging and membership in a community, it will be difficult for them have a sense of shared values with the community and feel like they can depend on the community. The last condition, shared emotional connections, is an individual’s sense of comradery with the other members of the community (Gruman et al., 2017, p. 327). Without a sense of community membership, it would be difficult for an individual to form relationships within the community.

Human beings have an inherent need to belong and this need can be fulfilled through a positive sense of community. Whether an individual has a positive sense of community is dependent on four factors: a sense of community membership, a feeling that one has influence in the community, a sense that the community shares one’s values and that the community can be depended on, and intimate relationships within the community. Unfortunately, communities can tend to foster a desire for homogeneity and discourage difference, which make it difficult for individuals who differ from the community to gain a sense of membership in the community. Without this sense of membership, it is hard for an individual to satisfy the other three factors that influence a sense of community, in turn making it harder for them to satisfy their need to belong. If an individual is unable to fulfill their need to belong, this can negatively affect their physical and mental health.

References
Aronson, E., Wilson, T. D., Akert, R. M., & Sommers, S. R. (2016). Social psychology (9th ed.). Pearson Education, Inc.

Gruman, J. A., Schneider, F. W., & Coutts, L. M. (2017). Applied social psychology: Understanding and addressing social and practical problems (3rd ed.). SAGE Publications, Inc.

Hussain, M., & Jones, J.M. (2021). Discrimination, diversity, and sense of belonging: Experiences of students of color. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 14(1), 63-71. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/dhe0000117

Mannarini, T., Talo, C., & Rochira, A. (2017). How diverse is this community? Sense of community, ethnic prejudice and perceived ethnic heterogeneity. Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, 27, 181-195. http://doi.org/10.1002/casp.2295

Miller, R. S. (2018). Intimate relationships. McGraw Hill Education.

Recently in class, we have talked about learned behavior and how a lot of the time adapt new behaviors from observing and imitating people around us (pg. 87). So how does this affect our community? Going off of the recent local election I’m going to take this in a political direction. In terms of newly learned behaviors, these can occur from observing and listening to opinions and actions of school board members, local court officers, tax commissoners, as well as any other local public official. These are the people that we vote in (well some of us) so of course, we are going to take to some of their behaviors but is this actually a good thing?

No matter what side you associate yourself with or whoever you vote for has something about them that you like whether it be their actions, values, or beliefs. So voting for them you want others to adopt the same type of things. This causes the community to adopt the same types of behaviors and values. As you listen to them and the things that your local officials vote for you will then begin to adopt certain behaviors as will the community.

People tend to be very impressionable when it comes to politics. We are influenced as a community by others’ behaviors, opinions, as well as local news stations. A lot of the times people will hear an opinion from someone and think to themselves maybe I should think that too and then that person starts to spread that same information. Then we fall into a community where people based an opinion on someone else’s opinion and behavior.

Community is very important and as it would be a perfect world if we all got along but we also need that opposing view. We need people to argue and have their own opinions. As sometimes it is good to learn new behaviors and opinions from others we should be taking them and adding to our own not just adopting that single behavior or opinion. The difference in one another is what makes communities grow and become stronger.

Most people might ask “what is a carbon footprint?” or “why is it important?”, and the answers can be quite simple. The actions we take each day can either effect the environment positively, or negatively. As a community, our goal should be to increase the well-being of the environment, but sometimes it is not that easy. The carbon footprint, which dictates the amount of carbon emissions, depends on us to decrease the amount of carbon that is being emitted into the atmosphere. If interventions are developed to create an eco-friendlier life, then carbon footprints can drastically reduce.

There is a list of factors that contribute to the emission of carbon such as forms of transportation, energy use, and food choices. These factors can vary from individual to individual, but all factors should be considered to successfully reduce the amount of carbon. “The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has found that emissions from fossil fuels are the dominant cause of global warming. In 2018, 89% of global CO2 emissions came from fossil fuels and industry” (Fossil Fuels). The percentage of carbon emissions by fossil fuel is high because the environment is not considered when people take short drives to the grocery store or to a friend’s house. Many utilities such as a washer and dryer, A/C, and lighting are used consistently, which also leads to a higher amount of CO2 emissions.

When relating to carbon footprints, spatial differences are diverse. The size of a carbon footprint can vary depending on location, population size, income, etc. If someone lives in an isolated location, their carbon footprint is larger because they need to travel farther. On the other hand, if someone resides in a busy city, they have easier accessibility and could walk or ride a bike to wherever they need to go. On the downside, the city may have a larger population which correlates to more food consumption and more energy use, and therefore more carbon emission.

After researching how important carbon footprints are and how impactful it is, more people, myself included, should make steps towards reducing the amount of carbon emissions to obtain a healthier environment, and a healthier community. Rather than focusing on what is easier for us, we should focus on what is better for the environment. If more individuals acted with selflessness, more people would use other forms of transportation, such as bikes or walking, for their tasks so less carbon is emitted into the atmosphere. Not only does transportation have a big contribution in carbon footprints, but the use of home energy and waste does too. We can reduce the amount of carbon emissions at home by improving our usual tasks and gravitate towards eco-friendly actions. These individual actions include using energy efficient utilities and lighting, washing clothes in cold water and drying clothes on a clothesline, walking or riding a bike, reducing meat consumption, and recycling. If more households make these small but very impactful changes, then the community’s overall carbon footprint can be reduced. Organizations can be developed to educate communities on how to build a better carbon footprint, and therefore coming up with interventions to reduce the overall amount of carbon emissions. These collective actions can result in mandatory recycling in the community, fundraisers to raise money for eco-friendly models for utilities in public places throughout the community, or interventions that result in more sidewalks throughout the community so more people can use bikes for transportation.

If individual and collective actions are made, it will benefit communities, the country, and the world. Although it may seem that making minimal changes will not make a difference in the environment, it is important to remember that the smallest actions can have the biggest impact. If communities come together and supports interventions to make the environment a healthier and happier place, voices will be heard and the amount of carbon in the atmosphere will decline significantly. Go green!

Reference

“Fossil Fuels and Climate Change: The Facts.” ClientEarth. ClientEarthCommunications.

Accessed September 25, 2021. https://www.clientearth.org/latest/latest-

updates/stories/fossil-fuels-and-climate-change-the-facts/.