PSYCH 424 blog

For generations upon generations, there has been bullying. Kids enter school and soon enough they begin to fall into their place within the school’s social hierarchy. This unspoken hierarchy includes the most popular kids and the most isolated, and everyone else in between. The smallest differences in behavior or appearance can be enough to initiate a social isolation that follows one through their schooling. Typically, the lower one falls in this social hierarchy, the more people will consciously and unconsciously distance themselves from them. While few kids are clear bullies directly targeting specific kids, there are many more bystanders who keep their distance and do not make strong enough efforts to make these kids included and accepted among their peers.

Researchers have identified three normative social processes that may help explain how this unspoken hierarchy begins to form in such young, well-meaning kids. These social processes include descriptive norms, injunctive norms, and norm salience. In a school setting, descriptive norms are what a child perceives as typical behavior at their school. Injunctive norms are how that child is expected to behave at school, and what will happen to them when they do or don’t comply. Norm salience refers to the extent in which the norms are carried out at their school (Gruman et al., 2017). When examining a school’s social hierarchy, and the subsequent bullying that comes with it, we begin to see how these social processes may take form in schools.

When starting out in school, children become exposed to an entirely different world that they were once unaware of from the bubble of their homes. They are shown all sorts of different kinds of people and situations. During this time, they are also learning and absorbing the new information now presented to them. This is when we start to see the social processes take form. When put in a classroom full of kids their own age, a child begins to see similarities and differences between their peers. They see how the majority of their classmates look and behave, and they also begin to take note of the individuals who deviate from this norm. When a child sees one of these children who are different than the majority being left out, they then learn that it is bad to have those differences. They also begin to learn how people treat those who are different. Once they repeatedly observe that the children with differences get treated less favorably, this is when they begin to distance themselves as they don’t want to be associated with the kids who are different. By making these realizations and acting in their own self-interest, the social hierarchy gets strengthened. This child may not want to be a bully themself, but they also don’t want to face the same treatment as the children who are different.

Schools are notoriously tough places to be for those who fall outside of the social norms. The normative social processes of descriptive norms, injunctive norms, and norm salience help to shed light on how such young children can unintentionally create a toxic learning environment for some of the other children. While these social processes are human nature within social situations like schools, adults can be more informed of these processes happening within our children in order to lead them in the right direction on how to best handle the new information they are learning in kind and empathetic ways.

Reference:

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

Racism is an epidemic in America. There are so many different ethnicities, religions and skin colors, that sometimes it confuses me to why it is such a problem here. It is unfortunate that I have seen many of my family members go through it, including myself. I have even experienced it through my own family.

My mother comes from an Irish Christian family. My father comes from a Jordanian Muslim family. I have always heard from both sides’ racist comments. It was hard for my parents to even get married; they struggled a lot because their families didn’t accept it. My grandfather on my mother’s side cut ties with her because of this. My dad’s side was more accepting of my mom, but they wanted her to act like the typical Arab wife.

Racist people are often closed minded. My father’s family loved my mom but made sure she was always reminded that she was not one of them. My mother’s family was upset that she converted to Islam. They thought that the religion was filled with hate and violence. They believed that women were treated badly and were not looked at as equals. This was all taught, the first Muslim they ever met was my father, the only time they heard about Muslims was through the news. In an article that I read it states, “The researchers also found that US newspaper coverage of Muslims was “significantly more negative in tone” than overall coverage of African-Americans, Asian-Americans, Latinos, or Jewish people, although they observed that the average tone of Muslim articles had become less intensely negative over the previous five years.” (Iftikhar) The news outlets paint out Muslims to be the villains. People are closed minded and it’s hard to change their mind when even the media is putting a negative light on entire group of people.

Muslims are not perfect, but Islam is. We can’t control what people do in the world, but we should not think an entire group is bad based off what some do. Islam promotes peace, it is a way of life. Islam teaches we must treat others with respect and not cause harm to anyone. I leave you with this quote from the Quran, [2:190] “You may fight in the cause of GOD against those who attack you but do not aggress. GOD does not love the aggressors.”

Reference:

Iftikhar, A. (n.d.). Report: Muslims most negatively portrayed minority in US media. Retrieved October 27, 2022, from https://bridge.georgetown.edu/research/report-muslims-most-negatively-portrayed-minority-in-us-media/

It is too often today that we see kids and even still many adults who are too shy, scared, or nervous to do things they want because we often see so much discrimination because of one’s gender, sexual orientation, sex, and religion among other things as well. It is so unfortunate that this is something we are still seeing but I so strongly believe that if we let others know what we have experienced they are more likely to help someone else deal with what has happened to us.

This is why today I am sharing a story that happened to me that I have never, and will never forget happened to me. However, I am stronger for it now even though I should not have had this occur in the first place. In my middle school, once you were in the eighth grade you had an opportunity to run for school president. Of course, I jumped on the chance to represent my peers in this leadership role! Running through a speech was to be delivered in front of not only your fellow students, teachers, and staff but also any parents who wanted to attend. I had no problem doing this, or so I had hoped.

As I walked up I felt my nerves break off and were ready to begin. I stood at the podium ready to begin but, before I could somebody’s grown-up, white father stood up and yelled for everyone to hear “you don’t belong here. no spic woman should ever have any place here let alone in politics.” I had never left so quickly from something as I felt my insides sink to my stomach and my mind wander. For years to come, I was so embarrassed by my beautiful Puerto Rican ethnicity and nervous to speak out about it because I was a girl. Then came the day when I encountered this same man, berating a friend’s mother mine who only spoke Spanish and I decided that enough was enough.

I formally spoke up for her as she was here legally, did everything she needed to do, and educated him that not only do I, someone who was born here belong here but, so does this woman who sacrificed more than he ever would be somewhere where she and her family could be safe. This woman was doing so much more in her life than he ever had. That is not the point though. I knew what my friend’s mom was feeling and I knew that I never wanted to feel that way again I promised myself that nobody would ever make me feel so small or belittled about who I am because I am different. My hope here is that you will educate yourself and all the amazing things that make us different and speak out for someone who is having trouble doing so for themselves.

References

Karlsen, S., & Nazroo, J. Y. (2011, October 11). Relation between racial discrimination, social class, and health among ethnic minority groups. American Journal of Public Health. Retrieved October 27, 2022, from https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/full/10.2105/AJPH.92.4.624

There is a growing debate in this country that is divisive and full of fear and discomfort. Free healthcare? No not that one. Equal Rights? No, not that one either. Well, actually, sort of. Sex Education. Yes, I said the word, SEX! While you pick yourself up off the floor and sniff your smelling salts I would like to explain why I feel this is one of the most important discussions we can be having, even if it seems a super low priority to many.

Before we go to college, we spend the majority of our time learning within the school system and it is a “medium for social and emotional development”, the connections made in school are where social, cognitive, and emotional skills are grown that will be taken throughout the rest of life (Gruman, 2016). But what happens when the majority of this country is severely lacking in being taught many of these skills? You may be wondering what in the world this has to do with sex ed and you may be surprised to know that sex ed is so much more than condoms and bananas (if you were even lucky enough to get that much information). There is no federal mandate for sex education in this country, leaving the states and school districts and ultimately the big cash donors and vocal parents to decide what kids learn in school. Most curriculums are what is called Abstinence only, or some variation. This means that at best, kids are learning about HIV, condoms, and not having sex, period. On the other spectrum, there are people, like me, who advocate for what is called Comprehensive sex education. Yes, this still has the word sex in it, because sex is such a large part of our lives as humans, but many of you may understand that sex is way more than just sex.

The Guttmacher Institute, a leading organization in the study of and advocacy for Comprehensive Sex Ed (CSE) recommends that CSE include the following medically accurate components taught throughout K-12 learning at age-appropriate times: gender, sexual and reproductive health, and HIV, sexual rights, and sexual citizenship, pleasure, violence, diversity, and relationships (Guttmacher, n.d.). They also recommend that learning environments foster peer-to-peer learning, role-playing, and preparatory conversations, as well as the teachers receiving extra training or being taught by an outside professionally trained CSE instructor. The skills learned within a CSE go far beyond what you do with your body, they extend into how you see and treat others, it combats prejudice and racism, it teaches interpersonal skills that are applicable across every relationship you’ll have for the rest of your life, and it teaches personal physical and emotional safety and how to recognize what feels good to you. The Guttmacher Institute contends that this information is equal to every individual’s sexual rights and that lack of receipt is a harmful disservice to our youth.

There is a lot of pushback for these types of interventions, parents feel these components should be taught by parents and not in school, but also admit parents aren’t doing so (Robinson et al., 2017), there is also a lot of moral and religious push back and expressions of sex being dirty and taboo and that teaching kids about sex at all will cause them to be more curious and promiscuous. But thankfully, there is also a lot of research to dispel these ideas. The research shows that CSE delays the onset of sexual debut, decreases teenage pregnancy, decreases sexual risk-taking, decreases the number of sexual partners, and decreased sexually transmitted diseases and infections (Kirby et al., 1994; Stanger-Hall & Hall, 2011). On the other hand, abstinence-only programs have been shown time and time again to be ineffective and even harmful to adolescents, leading to teenage pregnancies, STDs/STIs, and more sexual risk-taking behavior.

The theory of planned behavior tells us that our perceived control over the situation as well as our actual capabilities have a large effect on our behavioral outcomes. It is nice to think that kids will just abstain from sex, but when in the moment, with hormones and lust flying all over the place, theory and expectations of chastity go right out the window. In the moment, with their first boyfriend, a young girl may be pressured into engaging in something that does not give her pleasure and be unprepared in how to disengage. An abstinence-only curriculum in this instance will instantly make adolescents feel like an immoral failure and unprotected whereas CSE curriculums give adolescents the power to understand and better control their outcomes rather than being a victim of them.

With all of the benefits of CSE, things no parent could possibly complain about, why would parents still be ok and even advocate for these harmful abstinence-only curriculums? These are all things people can learn about once they are of legal age but Cognitive Social Learning theory tells us that youth is a powerful force in our learning and the earlier we learn these valuable tools the better off we may be. Combining these theories with certified and trustworthy instructors, CSE interventions are the obvious path, if we can just get past the word SEX. It’s a no-brainer of an intervention to me and should be every adolescent’s right to receive this information.

References:

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

Guttmacher Institute (n.d.) A Definition of Comprehensive Sexuality Education https://www.guttmacher.org/sites/default/files/report_downloads/demystifying-data-handouts_0.pdf

Kirby, D., Short, L., Collins, J., Rugg, D., Kolbe, L., Howard, M., Miller, B., Sonenstein, F., & Zabin, L. S. (1994). School-based programs to reduce sexual risk behaviors: A review of effectiveness. Public Health Reports, 109(3), 339–360.

Robinson, K., Smith, E., & Davies, C. (2017). Responsibilities, tensions and ways forward: Parents’ perspectives on children’s sexuality education. Sex Education, 17, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/14681811.2017.1301904

Stanger-Hall, K. F., & Hall, D. W. (2011). Abstinence-Only Education and Teen Pregnancy Rates: Why We Need Comprehensive Sex Education in the U.S. PLoS ONE, 6(10), e24658. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0024658

John is a 13 year old in middle school struggling with his academic performance. His parents have had multiple parent-teacher conferences trying to figure out where the poor academic performance comes from. John has the resources like staying during after-school hours with his teacher reviewing the school days material, an outside of school tutor, and his parents help him out with school work as soon as they get out of work. John’s parents have hit a wall and don’t know where to go from here. What his parents haven’t heard about yet are other factors and social psychological theories that can impact academic performance positively or negatively (Gruman, et al., 2016). 

Something that John’s parents have noticed about John is that he does believe he needs to pass algebra to pass the eighth grade, however the behavior he is displaying is that he would rather hang out with his friends at the park than study. This shows how John’s behavior is contradicting his attitudes. The theory of planned behavior can explain this phenomenon as it considers many reasons for a behavior that conclude an individual’s motive to behave in a way that the behavior predicts the future behavior (Gruman, et al., 2016). In John’s situation, he is putting the subjective norm of hanging out with his friends ahead of his work. This puts him in a sticky situation where his academic performance can be negatively affected. 

Another factor that could be potentially affecting John’s academic performance in school is the academic self-concept. The academic self-concept refers to the emotions, attitudes, and perspective that individuals hold against themselves when it comes to academic ability and comparing themselves with other students (Gruman, et al., 2016). This could be a predictor of the situation occurring with John because his parents remembered that he has brought up that the other students just “get it” right away and John has to put in the extra work. 

Lastly, procrastination is most likely the most familiar concept people are with. This is another factor that could be affecting John’s academic abilities. Procrastination as defined in the textbook is known as putting off finishing an assignment that can be a flexible or non flexible coping mechanism reliant on an individual’s reasoning for doing it and the type of student it is (Gruman, et al., 2016). Procrastination can potentially be seen in John’s situation because he does tend to push away his school work until the last minute. When John’s parents ask him questions on why he waits until the last minute, he does not come forward and say its a coping mechanism, however he does admit that he likes working under pressure because he feels like he does better on that assignment. Although it may seem counterintuitive some individuals brains do work this way. Overall, John has a couple of factors that have been affecting his academic performance negatively. Maybe there are some adjustments that need to be made to fix how he learns and completes his work!

Reference:

Gruman, J. A., Schneider, F. W., & Coutts, L. M. (Eds.). (2016). Applied social psychology : 

Understanding and addressing social and practical problems. SAGE Publications, 

Incorporated.

At one time or another in our lives, we have all had an experience that created a handicap to maintaining our self-esteem in the face of failure. For example, one might make excuses before an exam and take precautions by saying that a cold prevented them from studying adequately. This is called self-handicapping, and it has been found that students with a high degree of this tend not only to have inefficient study habits and subsequently resort to self-handicapping but also to not adjust very well to college (Gruman et al., 2016). How can we minimize these habits?

Self-handicapping has been found to increase when students compete with other students (Gruman et al., 2016), which may indicate that students are protecting themselves from the pressure of evaluation. If we can intervene in the individual’s information processing rules for that pressure, we may be able to reduce self-handicapping.

In a study by Zarshenas et al. (2019), a training course on problem-solving was given to nursing students with the expectation that an approach based on cognitive methods such as problem-solving would play a fundamental role in students’ self-handicapping. The training involved several role-playing problems, practicing the phases of problem-solving, and a questionnaire was used to assess the percentage of self-handicapping immediately after the training session and one month later. Results indicated that teaching problem-solving skills reduced the percentage of students’ self-handicapping a month after the program intervention.

Perhaps students simply do not know how to understand and respond to the situations that surround them. By incorporating lessons such as problem-solving training, students may be better able to understand how to cope, maintain more effective study habits, and increase their satisfaction with school.

References

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

Incorporated.Zarshenas, L., Jahromi, L. A., Jahromi, M. F., & Manshadi, M. D. (2019). Self–handicapping among nursing students: An Interventional Study. BMC Medical Education, 19(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-018-1441-6

The classroom experiment can be used as a example to show how social media has taught society who is considered “superior”. The same way the third graders began to bully each other over the color of their eyes is the same way people bully each other all the time over appearance. It is no surprise that social media has changed the way we look at the world. It seems that now it has also changed the way we look at each other.

These days, you are expected to look a certain way or else you are considered “less”. According to social media, if you are not super skinny with a huge butt, you are not considered attractive. Of course this is not true but this is the way social media tells us we need to look. This goes for everyone, not only women. We, as a society, have been taught an groomed to look a certain way. It seems that a majority of the women on social media all have very similar features- thin build, large butt, and long dark hair.

It is sad to see how many people have gone out of their way to get a Brazilian butt lift just because celebrities are doing it. Having a huge, fake butt is what is considered “superior” right now. What happens when celebrities and social media determine that having a flat butt is what is considered  “cool” or “sexy”? People will run back to their surgeons to remove their insanely large butt implants and/or fat injections.

This is an example of the theory of planned behavior. Both the behavioral beliefs, or “the belief that the action will lead to a certain outcome”, as well as the subjective norms will cause individuals to act a certain way. In this case, the norm and pressure to look a certain way will have everyone running out to get surgeries to achieve that look. If the “superior” look changes, people will also change their appearance to match what they are expected to look like according to social media.

References

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

Frontline. (1985). A Class Divided. 

When thinking of a favorite or least favorite teacher you’ve had throughout your experiences in school, do specific teachers immediately come to mind? I think of many teachers and professors that I’ve had and greatly admired but only one comes to mind that I have truly despised: a high school math teacher. I credit him as the reason I now experience feelings of panic when I have to take a math assessment, despite performing well in all of my math classes even after having him as a teacher. After learning about applied social psychology within school and the education system, I understand now why my experience in his class was one filled with self-doubt and anxiety.

Just as the study completed by Rosenthal and Jacobson in which teachers were told that specific students would likely perform well during the approaching school year, one of my high school math teachers created self-fulfilling prophecies for the students in his classes. I vividly remember feeling terrified as a straight-A student when he claimed “getting an A in this class is like winning the lottery”. He was loved by the smartest kids in his classes because, just like the teachers in Rosenthal’s and Jacobson’s study, he provided them with (a) a warmer climate that encompassed more attention, support, and encouragement, (b) more positive and negative feedback so they could improve, and (c) more opportunity and a longer time to respond in class (Gruman et al., 2017). Thus, self-fulfilling prophecies were made in which the smartest kids excelled while the rest of the students in the class struggled and didn’t receive the attention or support that they needed. In addition, he would constantly make jokes insisting that the “good-looking” kids were smarter, would finish their tests faster, and would perform better in the class. He would always point to the popular and less popular kids in these situations, further encouraging self-fulfilling prophecies.

With such high and often seemingly unachievable expectations, my academic self-concept suffered in this class, though I did end up finishing with an A. I doubt my abilities in math classes to this day despite knowing I am fully capable of doing well. Along with this, my experience in his class led to a complete avoidance of taking any unnecessary math classes in high school and early college. Despite understanding and excelling in the math courses I have taken both before and since having him as a teacher, the horrible experience in that class pushed me away from any college degree that required significant math requirements. I am able to recognize the error in that decision-making now, but it was a major deciding factor in choosing my degree path upon entering college. My experience is supported by Gruman et al. (2017) as they state that teacher expectations can have serious implications both for a student’s academic self-concept/achievement and for the decisions they make in the future such as in their choice of career path.

While the expectations created by teachers will not affect every student in the same way or to the same degree, it seems that it is certainly a worthy problem to be addressed within schools. Teachers have incredible influence over a number of their students and this influence should be made clear to them so they can provide the best educational experience possible. With training in relevant topics, such as the potential impacts of teacher expectations, educators could learn about and implement strategies to create a more supportive, inclusive, and friendly environment for all of their students. The effects of a warmer classroom and school environment can have strong positive impacts as it plays a role in keeping those at risk of dropping out more motivated to stay in school. In fact, “attention from caring adult staff members” is one of the three main factors that lead to success regarding school programs that help students who are at risk of dropping out. Along with this, data reports that “dropout rates are lower in schools where teachers are supportive of students and dedicated to teaching and where the classroom  environment is orderly” (Arnett, 2018).

In all, it is important to consider the immense impact that teachers can have in their students’ lives. While I may have been a student that was more susceptible to these impacts than others, it is crucial to create more effective school environments so better educational opportunities can be provided for all students. Training courses could be provided to teachers so they know what creates the best environments for students and what to avoid that can hinder students’ educational experiences. Interventions that help teachers create a more conducive environment could allow for better chances of success for all students, making educational systems more effective and enjoyable for everyone.

References

Arnett, J. J. (2018). School. In Adolescence and Emerging Adulthood: A Cultural Approach (6th ed., pp. 320–321). essay, Pearson.

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

Math. You either hate it or you love it right? This week’s reading really resonated with me as someone who always struggled with math. My mom is a math wiz and went into a career in accounting, so naturally, she had a daughter who was sub-par at math. I have some fond memories of sitting at the kitchen table with her explaining to me over and over how to do “simple” multiplication. There was nothing simple about it for me. This was hard on my mom and me, because as good as she was at math, she was not a great teacher of the subject. She couldn’t understand why it didn’t just “click” for me.

While our reading focuses heavily on teachers’ impacts on their student’s academic self-concepts, I think it is important to bring to light the effect that parents can have on this as well. Academic self-concept is a student’s perception of their academic ability. Academic self-concept can affect a student’s motivation to complete school work, pursue certain classes/ degrees, and can be further affected by comparing themselves to their classmates. Furthermore, academic self-concept has a direct relationship with academic achievement (Gruman, Schneider, & Coutts).

Before I knew how to properly spell I was repeatedly told that I was bad at math. This became my perception of myself and I went through elementary, middle, and high school believing I was simply bad at math. I placed very little importance on math, often saying things like “who needs geometry, I won’t ever use this in my future.” I didn’t see a point in trying to get great grades in math because as long as I had been adding digits, I had been “bad at it.” Or so I thought.

Not once was I put into a special classroom for assistance in math, given extra time for quizzes or exams, or even recommended for a tutor. Why? Because my grades weren’t actually that bad. I had mainly B+’s in math courses through the years. This is why I think stressing the importance of the impact that parents’ expectations and influence can have on a student’s academic self-concept is imperative.

In my freshman year of college, I took my first statistics class. I was on my own- and oh boy was I horrified by the word statistics. I took the class head-on, I knew that I wanted to get a 4.0 GPA for the semester and that meant getting an A in stats so there I was… determined to fight for my A. I handed in my first assignment, 100%. I took my first quiz, A. Suddenly, maybe I wasn’t so bad at math. Assignment after assignment I was enjoying the class, getting straight A’s and building my academic self-concept back up along the way. Looking back, rather than being told I was bad at math, I should have had a sense of competency instilled in me, helping me to believe in my academic ability. All that to say- I got my 4.0 that semester, and I no longer believe that I am “bad at math.”

Reference

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

Growing up, I was that student whom teachers absolutely loved. I could pick up most things with ease, I was usually the first to raise my hand, and I could be counted on to help tutor the other students when they struggled. If the class was covering something I already knew, I was allowed to read in the corner, and it didn’t take long at all to acquire the gifted label. I was a MENSA kid, I went to the Centre for Talented Youth summer camp, I was in the National Honour Society, you name it. Basically, I was Hermione Granger.

I was also the student who would write a paper, toss the disk it was on into my backpack (this was the 1990s, which will play into the story), and not notice the tear in the bottom of said backpack that was big enough for the disk to fall through. I’d do my homework, but forget to bring it on the day it was due. I needed music playing while studying or doing homework to be able to focus, which my parents brushed off because they didn’t know any better. I was easily distracted a lot of the time, but could then spend four hours practising the piano without a break. I could rattle off a thousand obscure facts and multitask like a pro, but I couldn’t remember where I’d put a book I needed. We won’t even talk about how socially-awkward I am.

For a special education teacher training to be a clinical psychologist, I was shockingly slow to realise that I have ADHD. My brother’s teacher had suggested to my parents that he might have it, but based on what was known about ADHD at the time (you guessed it! the 90s), my parents were quick to disagree because like me, my brother might be easily distracted, but he could spend hours creating drawings of planes and trains and space shuttles that were so detailed, they could have been schematics. Surely a kid with ADHD couldn’t do that? No, he was just bored and needed more of a challenge. I even bought into the argument, and it turns out I was far from being the only one: until the last two decades, even the experts believed that a high IQ argued against the presence of ADHD, the student was merely…wait for it…’bored’. (Antshel et al, 2007) And then things started to change and the inattentive type of ADHD started getting attention and thus research, and the existing knowledge of ADHD exploded. A new label was even created: twice-exceptional (2e), meaning students who were academically gifted and had at least one learning-related disability.

That was how I came to be sitting in my neurologist’s office at 39 getting tested for ADHD, inattentive type. People often assume getting a diagnosis like that is a negative experience, but what I felt was the last puzzle piece falling into place. I finally knew why my brain worked the way it did, and better yet, there were things I could do to help. It meant having to learn how my brain worked all over again as well as confront all the ways I’d been self-sabotaging without realising, like sleep habits and managing my stimulation levels. My first day on Adderall, I broke down and cried because I realised just how bad my ‘normal’ had been. The way I describe it to people is like having my brain defragmented for the first time, that it’s no longer a browser window with 50 tabs open that’s always on the verge of crashing. Then because I had a better understanding myself, I was able to look at the rest of my family and see that 76% heritability at work. (Antshel et al, 2007) Getting those family members on-board…well, that’s been more complicated. The original understanding of ADHD from the 80s and 90s has proven difficult to eradicate when it comes to my parents, as I still don’t think they’re convinced I have it, and this is something I’ve seen in parents of my students as well.

Twice-exceptional students are more likely to go undiagnosed and because of the added expectations that come with being a gifted student, struggles are usually perceived as ‘boredom’ or ‘laziness’. It’s no accident that these students thrive in gifted classrooms: the smaller class size, the additional stimulation, and the less-rigid environment are perfect for a neurodivergent mind. With that access, however, comes the burden of being expected to excel without acknowledgement of the challenges 2e students face. The twice-exceptional label truly is a double-edged sword.

References:

Antshel, K. M., Faraone, S. V., Stallone, K., Nave, A., Kaufmann, F. A., Doyle, A., Fried, R., Seidman, L., & Biederman, J. (2007). Is attention deficit hyperactivity disorder a valid diagnosis in the presence of high IQ? results from the MGH longitudinal family studies of ADHD. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 48(7), 687–694. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7610.2007.01735.x

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

Thankfully we all are able to go to public school in America and get basic education as we grow up. This education is supposed to give each of us the necessary knowledge and skills required to be a productive member of society. Our public education system is meant for the average student and it assumes that everyone learns in the same manor. This is not always the case; there are children with different levels of learning disabilities that need to be taught in a different manor.

Speaking from personal experience, I struggled with school growing up and had a hard time learning and getting good grades. I assumed I was stupid and not as capable as my fellow classmates. In particular English was very difficult for me, everything seemed to take me longer, I had to have things explained to me multiple times, and I did not always understand. The public schools I attended never gave my family the opportunity to test me for any possible disabilities. I eventually got lucky and had an amazing English teacher in eighth grade that took the time and patience to teach me in different ways that helped me understand. Over the years I have still struggled, but I learned that my brain simply works in another way than the average person. It’s not that I am stupid, it’s just that I think and learn a little different. Learning this perspective has also given me a more confidence and positive outlook on my education journey.

Our public education system does have special education, which serve students with mental, physical, emotional, and behavioral disabilities. It seems like special education takes care of those with the most documented disabilities, but what about children who are neurodivergent and slip through the cracks? Renick and Harter did some research on how students with learning disabilities compare themselves to their peers. “A disturbing finding was that the students with learning disabilities’ perceptions of their own academic competence decreased across the grades tested in the study, suggesting that as these students progress through school they become increasingly aware that there is a gap between their own academic performance and that of their peers with normal achievement, a gap that they may never be able to close. According to Renick and Harter, it is this knowledge that may have a detrimental effect on the self-perceptions and feelings of self-worth of children with learning disabilities” (Gruman et al., 2017).

One approach that any public school teacher could take with possible neurodivergent students is peer-assisted learning. Which includes many strategies where students can learn through different types of interaction with other students. This can include peer tutoring, cooperative, or collaborative learning in small groups or one on one. This approach has had a notable impact on student’s motivation to learn, academic achievement, enhanced academic self-concept, and social behaviors (Gruman et al., 2017). These types of strategies could help students that struggle and have not been specifically diagnosed with a learning disability. It would create a more well rounded learning environment and it would also give students better social skills and more confidence among their peers. I know it helped me when I was lucky enough to find a teacher that applied multiple strategies to her classroom environment. Also, teachers are so undervalued and need to be appreciated and paid more.

Reference

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

‘93% of all communication is non-verbal.’ It’s a figure that most of us have heard at least once, and many of us have heard it far more frequently than that, but how many of us know where it comes from? And more importantly, is it even true?

The answer to the first question is easy: it comes from a pair of studies in the 1960s by a body language expert, Albert Mehrabian. The answer to the second one is…well, complicated.

To put the studies in context, Mehrabian was specifically studying what happens in in-person interactions when someone’s non-verbal communication doesn’t match what their words are saying, and the 93% figure comes from what’s known as the 55/38/7 rule: 55% of the communication is non-verbal (body language, facial expressions, etc), 38% is tone and inflection, and 7% is the words themselves. Mehrabian himself is also clear that these figures belong to a specific context, that of communicating like or dislike, and outside that emotional context, the formula doesn’t apply. (Mehrabian, 1981)

But that doesn’t mean there isn’t truth to the idea behind the numbers. For example, we know that non-verbal communication as well as tone and inflection are significant factors in conveying a message, but just how significant are they? Research shows that when the non-verbal communication and the words used don’t match, it’s the non-verbal communication that carries the day, or as Mehrabian put it, ‘a person’s implicit behaviour far outweighs the importance of his words (about four to five times as much) when he uses contradictory messages.’ (Mehrabian, 1981) Body language and facial expressions are the most significant factors, while tone and inflection are also important but not quite as crucial as the visual elements.

The three C’s of non-verbal communication

Now that we have the information, the next question should be ‘what do we do with it?’ That’s where the Three C’s of non-verbal communication come in, as this is how we interpret what we observe from others. The first is context: what’s the situation? This is the who, what, when, where, why, and how, so the context may be that you’re at work and talking to your boss about something that’s gone wrong. Next is clusters: does all the non-verbal communication convey the same message? Your boss may have a pleasant facial expression and tone that match their words, but what if their posture comes across as uncomfortable? We can use the clusters model to deduce that there may be an external factor at play, such as your boss’ back might be hurting as they’ve been on their feet all day, and thus avoid the fundamental attribution error. Finally, we have congruence: do the non-verbal communications match their words? Your boss tells you that the error wasn’t your fault while placing a hand on your shoulder to reassure you, which shows congruence between their words and their non-verbal communication. By understanding how we perceive and interpret non-verbal communication, we can become more conscious of that facet and take steps to make sure that the clues we give match what it is we’re trying to communicate.

The 93% figure and the 55/38/7 rule may not strictly be true outside of their specific context, but by looking at them in a more figurative sense, we get a sense of each aspect’s relative importance in conveying our message. We spend so much time and effort on finding the right words to say something that we often miss what will truly be the most decisive part of our ability to communicate, which ties into our egocentrism in believing ourselves to be more effective communicators than we actually are.

References:

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

Kruger, J., Epley, N., Parker, J., & Ng, Z.-W. (2005). Egocentrism over e-mail: Can we communicate as well as we think? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 89(6), 925–936. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.89.6.925

Mehrabian, A. (1981). Silent messages: Implicit communication of emotions and attitudes. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Have you ever met someone who has a great fear of flying? Perhaps, you happen to be one of those individuals. The dread of taking planes can be due to fearing heights or maybe the anxiety of the plane malfunctioning and crashing. According to statistics, the probability of dying in a car is 1 out of 114 for drivers and 1 out of 654 as a passenger but only 1 out of 9,821 as a passenger on a plane (Executive Flyers, 2022). Surprisingly the fear of riding in cars is less common.  In the U.S., in 2019, there was only 36 plane crashes and only one of them was fatal (Airlines for America, 2021). Now compare that to the number of car crashes happening in a year. Media is said to play a significant role over the coverage of plane crashes. Since they are rare, media reports them frequently and for long periods of time, leading most people to believe they happen more often than naught. This is known as availability heuristic.

Availability heuristic states that events are more likely to be remembered are more probable than events that are not easily remembered. Heuristics allows us to make shortcuts to make decisions faster. We tend to use past experiences to guide us in order to save time and resources on being correct. Most times this mechanism works in our favor but there are moments when errors can occur (Gruman, 2017). In the case with flying, less than half of people think planes are safer than driving when statistics show the opposite to be true. Research has shown that media may be the culprit.

In an article by Wang and others, stated the fear of flying may be due to media coverage of plane crashes. Aside from availability heuristic, they also mention how the cultivation theory explains this. Cultivation theory states that heavy TV watchers are more likely to be influenced by media shaping their belief and attitudes. The media mostly focuses on negative events leading people to overestimate the risk of flying. It was mentioned that 10% of people who have a fear for flying have never even been on a plane! On July 19, 1996, a plane crashed into the Atlantic Ocean killing 230 passengers on board and the coverage lasted for the entire year. Yet, on the same day there were 836 deaths from cars accidents and none of them were reported (Wang et al; 2016).

Since the media plays a significant role with the development of fear of flying, it can also play a role in decreasing fears as well. Luckily fear isn’t a constant mood and can be changed over time. Media reports can stop only broadcasting negative aspects of flying and all things that went wrong in a crashes. Instead, they can provide more information on the safety mechanisms available during a flight. Plane industries can also play a role in advertising safety features on planes. This practice is common with auto makers but rarely done for aviation. Attitude and behaviors can change by promoting positive advertisements (Wang et al; 2016).

References:

Airlines for America. (2021, November 11). Safety record of U.S. air carriers. Airlines For America. Retrieved October 19, 2022, from https://www.airlines.org/dataset/safety-record-of-u-s-air-carriers/

Executive Flyers. (2022, July 18). Are planes safer than cars? (what the statistics say). EXECUTIVE FLYERS. Retrieved October 19, 2022, from https://executiveflyers.com/are-planes-safer-than-cars

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

Wang, Wei; Cole, Shu; and Chancellor, Charles, “Media’s Impact on People’s Anxiety Levels toward Air Travel” (2016). Travel and Tourism Research Association: Advancing Tourism Research Globally. 14. https://scholarworks.umass.edu/ttra/2010/Visual/14

With general elections soon approaching, more and more political campaign commercials are flooding our televisions. While my political views differ in a myriad of ways from the views of my parents, one thing we can agree on is our strong disliking of negative campaign commercials. These commercials do not focus on the positives of the sponsoring candidate, or on the different issues at hand, but instead the focus is placed on vilifying the opponent. These negative campaign tactics have been at play by politicians for centuries, however, political advertisements have gotten far more negative in the last 30 years of the 20^th century, making its effects important for us to understand (Gruman et al., 2017).

Interestingly, as negative campaign ads increase in the United States, the voter turnout rate decreases. Because correlation does not imply causation, a number of experimental studies have targeted this issue to determine what effects these ads do have on voter turnout. In one experiment, real advertisements that were created for Californian elections were used. The results of this study revealed consumption of these negative ads did decrease people’s intentions to vote. Other studies demonstrated that when both candidates use these negative campaign tactics, then both candidates were viewed as less desirable. One explanation for this is that negative campaign tactics give viewers the sense that, when having to choose between the candidates, they are in a lose-lose situation (Gruman et al., 2017). This aligns with a common phrase I’ve heard during election time- having to choose “the lesser of two evils”. Naturally, individuals do not like being placed in these types of situations, therefore furthering their desire to distance themselves from politics and the polls.

Circling back to the cognitive dissonance theory may shed more light onto why many voters want to disengage after viewing negative political campaign ads. The cognitive dissonance theory explains that people want to maintain consistency between their thoughts, knowledge, actions, etc., and that there is a mental toll we feel when we face internal contradictions instead. Further, when we experience this mental toll, we are most likely to ease this conflict in the easiest way possible for ourselves (Gruman et al., 2017). When looking at the instance of decreased voter turnout after viewing negative campaign ads, we can speculate on possible instances of cognitive dissonance in this scenario. One example of this could be the conflicting thoughts of, “It’s important to vote”, “I want to make the right decision”, and “Both options are bad”. When faced with these thoughts, one could either take hours to thoroughly research the candidates in order to be confident of the better choice, or they could simply decide that other people will vote and it’s not really important that they do. According to the theory, people are more likely to choose not to vote in this scenario as it is the option that requires the least amount of work for themselves. Perhaps, given this theory, it could be hypothesized that if people are first educated on the candidates and confident on their decision, then they would be less negatively influenced by the viewing of negative political campaign ads as they would be less likely to believe both candidates are bad options.

It is important for American voters to be aware of these powers at play with elections drawing near. Personally, having these commercials pop up uninvited as I’m relaxing watching the Eagles beat the Cowboys makes me want to shut the TV off and not turn it back on until the elections are over. However, I think it is also interesting that I am more irritated by these general election campaign advertisements than I was during our last presidential election. This may be because I am less exposed to, and less educated on, these candidates which increases my own cognitive dissonance by making me more susceptible to the confusion and mistrust the negative campaign commercials cause.

Reference:

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

Timmy is a ten-year-old boy from Arkansas who has been caught multiple times watching violent tv shows. It’s difficult for his parents to catch him in action because they are busy with work-related stressors and don’t have enough time to implement an intervention to get him to stop watching these inappropriate television networks. His parents have also realized that he displays similar actions to what he watches on television. One example of this occurring has been when he was playing with a friend on the weekend and Timmy hit his friend on the arm because he didn’t share a toy. Another example of Timmy displaying violence was at school when he slapped his friend for not giving him a piece of candy. These aggressive behaviors have to be coming from somewhere, but where?

Communication technologies give us more access to information that has never been seen in decades before and these technologies reinforce recent social actions and demeanors of reasoning (Nelson, 2022). One communication technology can be television. Television displays many behaviors and reasonings that could have nudged Timmy to want to hurt his friends. The way that Timmy has been acting can be credited to vicarious learning which states that an individual performs an action likely because they had already observed it in a way that they were rewarded (Gruman, et al., 2016). In one of the tv shows that Timmy had been watching, a little kid hit his parent on the arm repeatedly to get what she wanted, which was attention in this case. This could be a reason why Timmy believes he can resort to violence to get what he wants. 

For vicarious learning to happen, there are four steps that occur in agreement with the social cognitive theory including attention, representational process, behavioral production process, and motivational process (Gruman, et al., 2016). The first step of social cognitive theory is attention. This step includes when Timmy pays attention to the actions in a violent tv show. He was clearly interested and attracted as violence is exciting. The second step of social cognitive theory is the representational process. This step includes Timmy remembering the action that was shown in the tv show. At this step he is also rehearsing the action, in turn, being able to think about this action at a later time. The third step of social cognitive theory is the behavioral production process. In this step Timmy thinks about the action he observed and tries learning how to apply it to related actions. For example, in the violent tv show when he viewed the little girl hitting her parent on the arm to get what she wanted, this showed Timmy that when he wants something to hit another individual which he displayed when he hit his classmate and friend. The final step of social cognitive theory is the motivational process. This step explains that the reason why Timmy did the action that he did was because he was motivated to do so. 

Overall, Timmy has watched one too many violent tv shows which can be seen in his aggressive behaviors. His parents need to keep a better eye out for what he is watching because it is clearly affecting his schooling and friendships. New technologies open the possibilities for anyone to view inappropriate behaviors and to relay those behaviors in different ways. It’s important to watch as communication technologies bring more information to the table year by year!

References

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

Nelson, A. (2022). Psych 424 – Lesson 9: Media/Communications Technology. The Pennsylvania 

State University, World Campus.

Have you ever looked at a media bias and reliability chart? If not, I suggest doing a quick google search or checking out the link here: Interactive Chart | Ad Fontes Media. When examining charts like these, we can see where different news and media sources fall, and inform our decisions on where we can seek out reliable, unbiased media. At the same time, we can see what sources are best to avoid in searching out factually based information. When looking at the sources on this chart that both score low on reliability and high on bias, some prominent names appear. On the lower left of the chart, we have some well-known sources such as The Young Turks and Occupy Democrats. On the lower right, we can see some more popular “news” sources such as Infowars: The Alex Jones Show, InfoWars, and Fox News: Hannity. Sources that are unreliable and biased are known to cause damage within the community for a variety of reasons. Who should bear the responsibility for the damage caused by the creation and spread of misinformation?

Misinformation is seen abundantly within the media and there is an ongoing debate regarding what should be done to limit the spread of harmful and potentially dangerous misinformation. Back in 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, there were massive amounts of misinformation being spread regarding the COVID-19 virus and the response methods implemented by governments to curb its spread. There was outrage among members of the public, with some arguing that the owners of social media companies, such as Mark Zuckerberg, should be restricting what is allowed to be posted and circulated on their sites. I remember feeling the effects of the plethora of pandemic misinformation when a family member sent me a video through Facebook Messenger that insisted COVID-19 was a type of bacteria. I shut the video off after about 10 seconds but I still wonder what other misinformation was there. Even worse, I think about the potential impacts that the misinformation may have had on the individuals who saw it and believed it.

When looking at data that examines the pandemic, the potential damage that misinformation can cause becomes clear. Specifically, misinformation that was more commonly seen in right-leaning media, such as the danger of vaccines, appeared to lead to vaccine hesitancy among their viewers. While it is important to recognize that there are different variables that can contribute to COVID-19 mortality rates, vaccines play a significant role in reducing the severity of the disease. This can be seen in data presented for the fall of 2021 in which death rates in low-vaccination (less than 40% of the adult population vaccinated) counties were around 6 times as high as death rates in counties with 70% of their adult population vaccinated (Jones, 2022). We can also look at the two graphs below from PEW research in trying to understand how the spread of misinformation can have the potential for serious implications.

The first of two major takeaways from these graphs is that counties that Biden won in the 2020 presidential race are reported to have higher vaccination rates than those that Trump won. Along with this, individuals who were most supportive of Trump in 2020 have experienced higher mortality rates than individuals who were more supportive of Biden in 2020 in the third, fourth, and fifth waves of the pandemic after the vaccine rollout occurred. With these pieces of information in mind, it seems that vaccine hesitancy seems to be more ingrained within those leaning right and/or who are supportive of Trump and it is leading to tragic outcomes for these groups. At the end of the day, should someone be held responsible for these outcomes? These deaths were not inevitable, and it bears considering what could have been done to prevent them. Does the responsibility lie on the individual that states the misinformation initially, the platforms that allow it to be broadcasted or spread, or somewhere else entirely? Will punishing those creating and/or spreading misinformation actually dissuade them from doing so again in the future? Alternatively, a solution may lie instead in teaching and promoting better critical thinking and analyzation skills from a young age.

While we may not have a solution yet to reduce the damages that misinformation can cause, it has made itself clear as a prevalent problem within the United States today. Even though there is not a widespread fix to eliminate misinformation, we can work on an individual level to stay well and accurately informed. One way to do so is by sticking to some of the sources at the top of the chart that I linked at the beginning of this post when doing research. I try to seek out information from NPR and utilize fact-checking websites to help determine if some of the circulating news stories are trustworthy. In the end, there will always be times when we fall into the traps of big headlines. The important thing is to remember that we are not powerless against them, and we can make the negative impacts of misinformation a problem of the past (for the most part, at least).

Reference

Jones, B. (2022, October 7). The changing political geography of covid-19 over the last two years. Pew Research Center – U.S. Politics & Policy. Retrieved October 20, 2022, from https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2022/03/03/the-changing-political-geography-of-covid-19-over-the-last-two-years/

Most people use social media daily to talk to friends, share entertaining content, and learn about current affairs. In the United States, 82% of the population and over 4 billion people uses social media worldwide. It shows a beneficial relationship between social media and networking (Thompson-Markward Hall). 

Social networking is where many people get away from work and their uncertainties. However, using social media for networking is a powerful tool (Thompson-Markward Hall).  It is convenient and resourceful, especially for those far away from home. Using social media for networking is instant access that you don’t need to wait for in-person meetings or events; it allows people to connect and communicate with friends and family worldwide. The benefits are overwhelming because your stay up to date with your connections, allowing you to reach more people, and enabling people to share relevant information with your contacts, for example, swap resume, share content, send job listings, and more (Thompson-Markward Hall).  

Despite of many benefits of using social media for networking, there is also a fundamental attribution that social media impact society. Such as, social media fundamentally changed how we initiate, build, and maintain relationships and the negative impacts that social media have on mental health (Freitag, C.) Aza Raskin, a co-founder of the Center for Human Technology, discussed the “digital loneliness epidemic,” focusing on the rise of depression and loneliness associated with social media. Raskin spoke about the “infinite scroll,” design principle allowing users to scroll through their feeds without deciding whether to continue. But the concern about mental health is linked to social media use and the dilemma we face about when good design becomes inhumane (Freig, C.)

In 2020, researchers found that social isolation is one factor that can cause loneliness. 73% of respondents maintain interpersonal relationships via technology by engaging others through social media, which can contribute to mitigating feelings of isolation (Freitag, C.) Another tendency on experts’ minds is how algorithms influential social media platforms contribute to the increase of extremism and online radicalization. But these platforms are responding to concerns and troubleshooting functionalities that can potentially result in dangerous outcomes. Social media can enlighten and spread messages of doubt. Due to mask mandates and vaccine rollouts that increasingly polarized issues, social media became breeding grounds for spreading disinformation around vaccinations. Meta, Instagram, and other platforms are starting to flag specific messages as false, but the work regulating misinformation during the pandemic will be a permanent problem. Used COVID-19 Vaccine Education platform to promote hopeful educational messages and ensure social media marketing act as a public service (Freitag, C.)

Social media is a great equalizer for large-scale discourse and endless unfiltered content streams. Whether there are more benefits or disadvantages to the world, we agree that social media has primarily changed how society communicates. Everything you do on social media, either viewing, scrolling, liking commenting, or sharing with people, affects how social media impacts how we think, perceive, and see the world. We can’t control the adverse results of the intranet. Still, we can assure the world that every time you click, you must think first to make sure that we the people, spread the right messages and that social media remains reliable and a good influence on everyone.  

References

Thompson-Markward Hall. (2022, September 9). The benefits of using social media for Networking. Retrieved October 19, 2022.

Freitag, C. (2022, January 26). Social Media’s impact on society. Ad Council Org. Retrieved October 19, 2022.

The Internet is a global network of billions of computers and other electronic devices (GCF Global, n.d). The internet contains a vast amount of information that is easily accessible such as social media, electronic mail, mobile applications, multiplayer online games, file sharing, and media streaming services to name a few. Although the internet was first used in the 1960s, the internet became widely used beginning January 1, 1983. Comparing internet usage from the creation of the internet until now, there is a high increase of internet usage. According to Perrin and Atske (2021), 85% of Americans say they go online daily, with 31% reporting going online almost constantly, as well as 48% who say they go online several times a day. More it was reported in 2019 about 95% of children ages 3-18 had home internet access (National Center for Education Statistics, 2022). So, with the internet being easily accessible today and continuously used, we must ask what the positives and negatives of internet usage on someone psychologically.

First, I want to highlight some of the benefits of having internet. For one there is a vast amount of information available online. Before the internet, accessing information meant a trip to the library, picking up a newspaper, or through the TV. Although there was way to access information, it was not easily accessible and often you did not get to pick the information you were receiving (through newspapers and TV). Now at the click of a button and in milliseconds you have almost too much information available at your fingertips. Secondly, communication is an additional benefit of the internet and my personal favorite benefit. Before the internet’s time, communication happened through post mail, share phone lines or in person visits. Now you can communicate with anyone in any part of the world in so many ways such as, video chat, email, social media etc. The internet truly closed the gap on communication as it allows people to connect virtually and even build new relationships. Continuing, because of the internet you can escape boredom with its many ways of entertainment like online gaming and video streaming. Continuing with the list I want to add job opportunities as an additional benefit. Most job opportunities are only available as an online application today. Also, on many jobs search sites they are available resources that allow you to not only connect with future employers but prepare for careers through resume and interview tips. Lastly, an additional benefit of internet usage is online education. Not previously available, online education provides flexibility to those who want to seek an education virtually and are incapable of pursuing an education in person.

Now after highlighting all the benefits of internet usage, it may seem like there can’t be a downside, but there is. There is plenty of research supporting that internet usage can contribute to poor psychological well-being. For instance, a study done focused on the dependency on the internet in Korean adolescents’ and the relationship this has on their mental health, showed that groups with larger than average daily internet usage time had poorer subjective health, higher level of stress, and had feelings of sadness and suicidal ideation compared to the group with less than average internet usage (Kwak et al., 2022). Another study I read was aimed at understanding the relationship between excessive internet use and someone’s personality, loneliness, and social support. Researchers Hardie and Yi found that over-users and addicts both were more neurotic and less extraverted, more socially anxious, emotionally lonely, and gained greater support from internet social networks than average internet users (Hardie and Yi, 2007). Not to mention the internet is now another avenue for media violence that contributes to trolling, cyberbullying, and stalking others which in turns contributing to poor psychological well-being.

Like anything in life, you can either develop a healthy relationship with something or a toxic one. So, the internet is what you make of it. I think it is most important to understand in which ways you are using the internet and how you feel when using. No one knows you better than yourself! So, if at any time you see internet is hurting your psychological well-being, I think it is best to make the decision to cut back on internet usage. I also don’t want to discourage the use of internet as it does provide many benefits and conveniences to our everyday life, I just want you to be conscious of the way you are using it.

References

Hardie, E., & Yi Ti, M. (2007). Excessive Internet Use: The Role of Personality, Loneliness and Social Support Networks in Internet Addiction. Australian Journal of Emerging Technologies and Society, 5(1), 34–47.

Internet basics: What is the internet? GCFGlobal.org. (n.d.). Retrieved September 14, 2022, from https://edu.gcfglobal.org/en/internetbasics/what-is-the-internet/1/

Kwak, Y., Kim, H., & Ahn, J.-W. (2022, March 23). Impact of internet usage time on Mental Health in adolescents: Using the 14th korea youth risk behavior web-based survey 2018. PLOS ONE. Retrieved September 25, 2022, from https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0264948

Perrin, A., & Atske, S. (2021, June 5). About three-in-ten U.S. adults say they are ‘almost constantly’ online. Pew Research Center. Retrieved September 14, 2022, from https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/03/26/about-three-in-ten-u-s-adults-say-they-are-almost-constantly-online/

The mass media provides our society with information and stories regarding political, social, and economic issues both at home and abroad. Consequently, this results in the media having influence over what is most salient in people’s minds and can reinforce which issues are more or less important to the masses (Gruman et al., 2016). This phenomenon is referred to as agenda setting; however, it’s important to note that this does not mean that the media influences what people think but rather what they think about (Gruman et al., 2016). Nevertheless, what is the impact of media’s influence on attitudes and beliefs? Specifically, how does the portrayal of racial minority victims by police violence affect people’s attitudes toward criminal proceedings, the victim themselves, or their killers? (Dukes & Gaither, 2017). How does portraying the victim of police brutality as a “common criminal” affect people’s perspectives? How does the framing of race in mass shootings impact people’s social worldviews?

Research supports that racial minorities experience an overrepresentation as criminals in comparison to the White majority (Dukes & Gaither, 2017). In addition, this stereotype in the media has been shown to foster hostility and bias toward minority groups from the majority (Dukes & Gaither, 2017). This illustrates that the media’s influence can lead to real and dangerous consequences for people of color. This overrepresentation is met with underrepresentation of minority groups depicted as victims (Dukes & Gaither, 2017). This is a recipe for misrepresentation. Minority groups will be placed in a “criminal only” box where their White counterparts will be labeled “victim only” (Dukes & Gaither, 2017). Even when racial minorities are depicted as victims, it’s still to their detriment. Specially, in an analysis of media coverage over the deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown it was found that the media focused heavily on their “criminal” past, their physical attributes, or on the location where they were killed by police, which is described as poor and a breeding ground for crime (Dukes & Gaither, 2017).

Cultivation theory posits that the more media exposure an individual has, the more likely they are to internalize the media content and adopt it into their worldview (Gruman et al., 2016). In other words, media can shape people’s social world (Gruman et al., 2016). Therefore, if negative stereotypes are framed in the media, it would suggest that people will inherently internalize these racial prejudices. This can result in unfair criminal proceedings due to juror bias or overt acts of violence to minority groups. In Dukes & Gaither’s (2017) study, they exposed 453 participants to a scenario of a physical altercation between a victim and a shooter, where participants were randomly assigned to either a negative stereotyped Black victim or shooter, or a positive counter-stereotyped Black victim or shooter. The results found when negative stereotypes were used on the victim, it heavily influenced how the participants viewed them and led them to believe that they were at fault for their own death compared to the positive stereotypes (Dukes & Gaither, 2017). This showcases the breadth of influence that media has on how the masses perceive the victim and how punishment should be handed down (Dukes & Gaither, 2017).

Shooter’s race portrayal in the media is also a factor to consider. For example, news coverage of the Columbine shooting did not include race whereas the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting received a heavy race frame despite the two atrocities being similar in nature (Park et al., 2012). This race frame for the 2007 VT shooting further perpetuated viewer’s mentality on immigrants as “other” and helped the narrative that immigrants are simply inherent criminals (Park et al., 2012). Again, this disparity in representation can cause racial injustice because as the cultivation theory identifies, the population will internalize this narrative into their social world (Park et al., 2012; Gruman et al., 2016).

It’s supported that when the media portrays stereotypes of racial minorities, it can perpetuate an “us” vs. “them” mentality in our society (Park et al., 2012). Again, media is known for influencing what people think about (Gruman et al., 2016). However, if the media portrays racial stereotypes both towards victims and criminals, then those biases can be internalized into people’s realities through cultivation, resulting in racial injustice (Gruman et al., 2016).

References

Dukes, K. N., & Gaither, S. E. (2017). Black racial stereotypes and victim blaming: Implications for media coverage and criminal proceedings in cases of police violence against racial and ethnic minorities. Journal of Social Issues, 73(4), 789-807.

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

Park, S. Y., Holody, K. J., & Zhang, X. (2012). Race in media coverage of school shootings: A parallel application of framing theory and attribute agenda setting. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 89(3), 475-494.

In the example we saw in our text, where people from different countries were placed on an island alone together became friends. All was well until newspapers were dropped off. After reading about hostilities in Europe, the islanders became at war with each other.(Coutts et al., 2016)

If you have noticed anything happening around you the past few years, you could see there is a huge political divide. The media can be at fault for this. A Report by New York University’s Stern School of Business sheds light on the relationship between tech platforms and the kind of extreme polarization that can lead to the erosion of democratic values and partisan violence. While Facebook, the largest social media platform, has gone out of its way to deny that it contributes to extreme divisiveness, a growing body of social science research, as well as Facebook’s own actions and leaked documents, indicate that an important relationship exists. Although Facebook owners deny that they play a role in the divisiveness, a range of experts have concluded that the use of social media contributes to partisan animosity in the U.S. (Barrett et al., 2022)

We can see in our personal lives how the media has created divides among our peers. We see friends feuding and or no longer speaking to each other over their political beliefs. Facebook has even gone as far as “facebook jail” for offenders posting things that go against their political agenda. News stations will broadcast different views and will bash other reporting stations. We now not only do we see our peers behaving unkindly,but we see our leaders doing this to each other as well. I wonder if it will ever end and we will close the divide.

Barrett, P., Hendrix, J., & Sims, G. (2022, March 9). How tech platforms fuel U.S. political polarization and what government can do about it. Brookings. Retrieved October 19, 2022, from https://www.brookings.edu/blog/techtank/2021/09/27/how-tech-platforms-fuel-u-s-political-polarization-and-what-government-can-do-about-it/

Coutts, L. M., Gruman, J. A., & Schneider, F. W. (2016). Applying social psychology to the media. In Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and addressing social and practical problems. essay, SAGE Publications.

After reading chapter 7 and gaining knowledge on how the media influences people’s thoughts, I have realized that although there are positive impacts, there are also negative ones. In my opinion, although social media has helped solve problems, it has also created issues in today’s society. I believe the importance of social interaction to humanity cannot be overstated. It is the means through which humans create their worlds and shape their futures. Over the years, social media has, in various ways, increased human interaction. As a result, the world appears smaller, making connections and interactions much easier.
Gruman et al. (2016) states that in the 1950s and 60s, social scientists argued that the media had little or no influence on how people perceived the world. The researchers also pointed out that the media does not affect people’s thoughts or behavior. Currently, in our society, almost everything is surrounded by social media and caught on camera. Social media affects many people negatively because of how accessible it is and how they are always aware of where people are and what they are doing.
Even though it can be harmful, there are advantages, such as social media assisting in resolving the youth’s diversity awareness issue. Facebook, for example, wants to “give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected” (Baym, 2015). More young people today are aware that there are various world societies based on things like racial identities and class origins. Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube expose young people to multiple cultures, challenges, and realities. Therefore, young people nowadays are more conscious of their physical environment and the realities of the communities around them than in millennia before. Today’s reality of diversity awareness has aided in addressing fundamental problems like racism and other forms of discrimination brought on by a lack of knowledge or appreciation of variety.
When social media is misused, it can be worse than the benefits. “In 2015, approximately 99% of teenagers in the United States had access to one or more of the following media technologies: game console, smart or cell phone, desktop or laptop computer, or tablet” (Gruman et al. 2016). This quote is important because it is unhealthy for people to spend ten hours or more on technology instead of communicating with their peers. In addition, many young people are wasting time scrolling through Instagram and TikTok, analyzing what others are doing, and being envious of others. Therefore, even though social media has benefits, it can cause depression, jealousy, and a lack of social skills.

References:

Baym, N. K. (2015). Social Media and the Struggle for Society. Social Media + Society, 1(1). https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305115580477.

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

One of my other classes that I am taking this semester is social media marketing. Just like social psychology, businesses have also been impacted by the rise in media communications. Throughout the evolution of media, marketing and selling products and services has been right there, adjacent to it. Marketing relies on and applies some psychological concepts to aid in their spread of content and messages. So, it can shed a light on how marketers increase brand awareness on social media through psychological means for consumers. 

Heuristics are imperative to marketers, especially social media ones who are fighting with other content and platforms for the audience’s attention. The availability heuristic is one in which marketers could capitalize on. It is the idea that people judge and make decisions based on the information that is easiest to recall from their memory (Gruman, J. A., et. al. (2017)) page 182). In terms of the buying process, brands that are more in the front of the consumer are more likely to be recalled and then, most likely purchased as opposed to brands that are not. Utilizing this information could influence a marketer’s decision to invest more in social media and its different platforms and channels in order to gain more exposure since there is a large population of potential consumers on social media. 

Social media influencers are also important because they have the ability to endorse and act as representatives for a brand while expressing a desirable persona or lifestyle that can match a target audience. They do this through vlogs (video-blogs) and social media on different platforms, such as Twitter, Instagram, and FaceBook. Positive affectivity and likeability of an influencer can be transferred to a brand and increase the activation of engagement or the likelihood of a purchase (Lo, F., & Peng, J. (2022)). Social influencers carry the capacity for brands to not only gain exposure, but create positive associations that can reinforce a brand’s positive image in the eyes of consumers. And on social media, the posts can be publicized and interacted with to increase both the prominence of the influencer while increasing brand awareness. 

Not only are social media influencers important at conveying a message for a brand, but also brands appealing to social identity. Social identity is how people form a personality around groups they belong to or identify with (Gruman, J. A., et. al. (2017)) page 406). This is a key aspect of target markets or audiences that marketers use to group people into categories that they can cater messages to, also known as market segmentation. When applying it to social media, there are online interest groups that can form as points of reference for a person’s social identity. In doing so, brands that have products that fit the interests of these groups can capitalize and create posts that specifically target the individuals through social media in ways they will be receptive to. This, in turn, allows for brands to interact with niche markets that can increase engagement and exposure while reinforcing an individual’s membership within a certain group. 

Marketing plays a very big role in everyday interactions, and social media has given it a platform that enhances a brand’s message like no other. However, in order for a brand to be successful, they must rise above the noise of other competitors. Social media marketers can use social psychology concepts to effectively reach their target customers and increase engagement. Overall, social media has the power to influence many and it is important to analyze the many different facets it impacts in our lives because it can provide insights on society and ourselves. 

References

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

Lo, F., & Peng, J. (2022). Strategies for successful personal branding of celebrities on social media platforms: Involvement or information sharing? Psychology & Marketing, 39(2), 320-330. https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.21597

Imagine being accused and convicted, spending years of your life behind bars, for a crime you never committed. Unfortunately, that is the sad reality for many individuals within the United States.  Since 1989, there have been 3,250 exonerations in the United States- totaling 28,171 years lost behind bars by innocent individuals, or an average of 8.7 years per person (National Registry of Exonerations, 2022). We as Americans are expected to put our faith in our judicial system. “Innocent until proven guilty” and “the right to a fair trial,” are what we are taught from the time we are young children. Then how come innocent men and women, boys and girls, are being held accountable for crimes they did not commit? Out of the individuals exonerated by DNA evidence, a shocking 30% played a part in their original convictions by providing a false confession (Innocence Staff, 2017). Many may ask, “Why would anyone admit to a crime they did not commit?”

To examine this issue, we can look at the devasting case of the Central Park Five, rightfully now known as the Exonerated Five. During this now infamous investigation, five young African American and Hispanic boys, aged 14-16, were wrongfully convicted of brutally raping and leaving for dead a women jogger in New York City’s Central Park, back in April of 1989. While gaining worldwide attention during the time of the trial, and more recently becoming a Netflix miniseries, this case has shed light on some of the factors associated with false confessions and subsequent wrongful convictions.

Within this investigation, the Reid Interrogation Technique had been used.  This method had been the predominant interrogation method in the United States since the 1960s. While this interrogation method was popular by John Reid, who had a reputation for getting confessions out of criminals, and was taught to hundreds of thousands of law enforcement agents, this method is at fault for initiating false confessions as well (Kozinski, 2017). This technique is characterized by highly confrontational and aggressive suspect interrogation tactics, producing backlash from the social science community for its manipulative nature (Gruman et al., 2017). In the case of the Exonerated Five, all five boys were coerced into giving false confessions after at least 7 hours of brutal interrogations. Based on these confessions, and with no other evidence linking these boys to the crime, they were convicted and sentenced to six to thirteen years in prison. Once these statements were coerced out of these boys, nothing else mattered in this case- not them taking back their statements, not the incompatible DNA sample, or the mismatched details provided within their confessions (BBC, 2019).

Confessions are typically viewed as concrete evidence of a person’s guilt. Who would admit to something they didn’t do, right? The issue with this assumption, however, is the phenomenon known as the fundamental attribution factor. This can be observed when people underestimate the power of external, environmental factors, and instead overestimate internal factors (Gruman et al., 2017). When taking these boys’ confessions at face value, we are neglecting to account for the unimaginable distress these adolescents were put under before finally giving the interrogating officers what they were after.

Fortunately, in April of 2017, Wicklander-Zulawski & Associates, a leading police consultation group in the U.S., announced that they would no longer be teaching the Reid Interrogation Method to police officers. By recognizing and correcting faults within police interrogations, we can hope there will be less people who fall victim to being coerced into submitting false confessions. As for the Exonerated Five, they were awarded $41 million dollars in a civil lawsuit against New York City. However, like the other 3,250 exonerated cases in the United States, they will never get the years back they spent behind bars.

Reference:

BBC. (2019, June 12). Central Park five: The true story behind when they see us. BBC News. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-48609693

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

Innocence Staff. (2017, March 8). Leading Police Consulting Group Will No Longer Teach the Reid Technique. Innocence Project. Retrieved from https://innocenceproject.org/police-consultants-drop-reid-technique/

Kozinski, W. (2017). The reid interrogation technique and false confessions: time for change. Seattle Journal for Social Justice, 16(2), 301-346.

National Registry of Exonerations. (2022, October 3). Exonerations in the United States Map. Retrieved from https://www.law.umich.edu/special/exoneration/Pages/Exonerations-in-the-United-States-Map.aspx

In our text this week we learned a few things that have bothered me for a long time. The first being that, if there is something happening around you that should be reported or needs intervening, most people will keep on walking and not jump in to stop.If there is an audience of a few people, most will assume someone else reported it. The other thing is the Sanford prison stimulation. How did it get so out of control? Why didn’t the subject just walk out? Why did the “Guards” get increasingly violent? And why did they not stop the experiment?

Let’s take a look at why some people may act a certain way, adapting to their surroundings. Social proof may be the answer. The principle of social proof states that one way people determine the proper way to act is by looking at the way others are acting. Social proof kicks in when there are groups of people who are ignoring the accident victim.  It turns out that instead of safety in numbers, someone that is hurt has a better chance of being helped if only one person is present.   Dr. Cialdini notes several studies that support this conclusion.(2010) So when we look at both of the situations I mentioned above, this may be why.

In the prison, the guards got increasingly abusive. This could be not only because of the power they felt but because their “coworkers” were also being abusive. The power may come into play when we see the increase. They want to be the alpha so keep doing more and more to show that.

In the case of not helping when someone is being hurt or in an accident when we see that others are also seeing this, we can also see social proof. If we know for sure someone is hurt we are more likely to step in, as long as it is safe for us to do so. If we are unsure or feel that we will also be harmed, we are not as likely to get help or help ourselves and we assume someone else has already done so.

The problem with this is, if everyone assumes someone else is helping or getting help and they aren’t the victim is suffering longer at minimum or in worse case may even die because help did not arrive fast enough. I would hope that if I saw someone hurt or potentially hurt, that I wouldn’t fall into this group and would help or get help as fast as possible. What do you think you would do if you were in a situation like that?

Why groups of people don’t help accident victims (and what to do about it), part 1. Schuelke Law. (2010, July 8). Retrieved October 13, 2022, from https://www.civtrial.com/blog/why-groups-of-people-dont-help-accident-victims-and-what-to-do-about-it-part-1/

In 1964, at around 2 in the morning, Kitty Genovese was driving home from work at bar, when she was approached by Winston Mosely with a hunting knife in the parking lot of apartment building. She ran towards her front door but was quickly caught and stabbed twice in the back. As she screamed loudly for help, many neighbors woke up, causing Robert Mozar to shout from his window “Leave that girl alone.” This lead the perpetrator to flee the scene. Genovese, badly injured but still alive, tried to make it inside the building but collapsed. Despite this, no one called the police. About 10 minutes later Mosley returned and found Genovese in the hallway where he rapidly stabbed and raped her. Even though many people heard the screams, police were called much later by a friend(Ruhl,2021). This caused many social scientists to investigate what is known as the bystander effect.

The bystander effect occurs when others are present, which discourages others from intervening in an emergency situation. The more people that are present, the less likely someone would help. The bystander becomes unsure of their role in a situation and assume someone should be responsible or someone else has already seek out help.  John Darley and Dibb Latane conducted an experiment to study this phenomenon after the death of Kitty Genovese. They found that when a bystander was alone in the present of crisis, they helped or called for help 70% of the time. When more people were present, it surprisingly dropped to 40% (Academy 4SC, 2022) .

Darley and Latane were able to identify two factors that causes the bystander effect. The first is the diffusion of responsibility, which entails the more people present, people would feel less responsible to take action. Another factor is social influence, which is when others watch the behavior of those around them to determine how to proceed (Academy 4SC, 2022). Other factors can influence such as the effect is more likely to occur when the bystander can remain anonymous, there are only a few victims and also the victim is dissimilar to the bystander(Gruman,2017).

How can we become active bystander? Since then, there has been many interventions of bystanders to solve this issue. In order to overcome this effect, its advised that the bystander behaves as if they are the only ones witnessing the event. Not expecting others to act first, would leave the responsibly on you solely. Being the first person to speak up can change the outcome sufficiently. Even though most of the focus relies on bystanders, there are also ways victims can decrease the effects. Certain situations may not be ideal but as a victim, pointing to a person in the crowd and shouting “Call 911”, could assign responsibility to that person causing them to take action(Psychology Today,2021).

References:

Academy 4SC. (2022, August 19). Bystander effect: Someone will help, right? Academy 4SC. Retrieved October 11, 2022, from https://academy4sc.org/video/bystander-effect-someone-will-help-right

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

Psychology Today. (2021). Bystander effect. Psychology Today. Retrieved October 13, 2022, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/bystander-effect

Ruhl, C. (2021, April 20). Kitty genovese. Kitty Genovese | Simply Psychology. Retrieved October 13, 2022, from https://www.simplypsychology.org/Kitty-Genovese.

Convicting an innocent person has serious negative consequences for the wrongly convicted and their families. It has been reported that in 72% of 325 criminal cases, a convicted person was subsequently exonerated by DNA testing, with eyewitness misidentification being a contributing factor (Gruman et al., 2016). The 72% figure is for those who have been wrongfully convicted, but if their family and friends are included, many more could be psychologically and psychosocially affected. What kind of support could be considered for these people?

According to Brooks & Greenberg (2020), they found that wrongfully convicted individuals report “negative effects on their self-identity, reputation, psychological and physical health, relationships with others, attitudes toward the justice system, finances, and adjustment to life after the conviction is overturned.” Adverse effects on family members have also been reported, with those close to the wrongfully convicted person experiencing stigma and psychological difficulties (Brooks & Greenberg, 2020). Thus, the impact of wrongful conviction is severe, that it is important to identify how best to support them and their families.

Also, Grounds (2004) explains that prisoners and their families need to be informed about the problems they may experience after release, they need to receive psychiatric support in the form of long-term counseling, and they need to receive family support. However, not everyone has access to family support, as many people’s relationships with their families break down during this process. Therefore, support groups may be helpful.

Thus, support for the falsely accused and their families may benefit from long-term counseling and participation in support groups. Educating the public and promoting awareness to understand the stigma associated with false accusations is also essential. Research on the impact on falsely accused persons and their families is limited, and further investigation could explore various coping strategies.

References

Brooks, S. K., & Greenberg, N. (2020). Psychological impact of being wrongfully accused of criminal offences: A systematic literature review. Medicine, Science and the Law, 61(1), 44–54. https://doi.org/10.1177/0025802420949069

Grounds, A. (2004). Psychological consequences of wrongful conviction and imprisonment. Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice, 46(2), 165–182. https://doi.org/10.3138/cjccj.46.2.165

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

When you think about “Human Trafficking,” what comes to mind?  Human trafficking involves using force, fraud, or coercion to retain labor or commercial sex act (dea.gov.) I think about millions of men, women, and children detained against their will in slave conditions, forced labor, and the commercial sex trade.

These victims of human trafficking are deceived by promises of a good job, love, and stable life, and they are forced into situations that leave them no choice but to work under terrible conditions with little or without pay (dea.gov.)  Have you ever wondered if the U.S. government is taking action to combat the issue? I believe they recently released a whole-of-government approach called “National Combat Plan to Combat Human Trafficking.” The Anti-trafficking initiatives to our broad efforts to pledge illegal financing, advance gender, and racial equity by expanding the rights and dignity of working people, and promote safe, orderly, and humane migration (dea.gov.)

We, the people, should be aware of our environment, neighborhood, coworkers, and friends. Because nowadays, we don’t know whom to trust and not to trust. Nothing’s wrong with being cautious and observant and always staying alert. Because victims are everywhere in legal and illegal labor industries, including childcare, elder care, drug trade, massage parlors, hair salons, restaurants, hotels, factories, and farms (dea.gov.)

We, as a community, should work together to prevent human trafficking. We must be aware of many human trafficking indicators.  Such as, Is the person living in unsuitable conditions? Is the person fearful, timid, or submissive? Does the person have any bruises? Has the person had a dramatic behavior change? Has the child stopped attending school, and does the person appear disconnected from family, friends, and community organizations (dea.gov.) However, not all factors listed above are present in a human trafficking situation; the presence or absence of any indicators does not necessarily prove human trafficking (dea.gov.)

These are some ideas to fight human trafficking. Learn the indicators by taking training awareness, volunteering, and supporting anti-trafficking efforts in your community. Encourage companies to help prevents human trafficking in their supply chains and publish information, including supplier or factory lists, for consumer awareness.   Be well-informed, and set up a web alert to receive current human trafficking news. Encourage local schools or districts to include human trafficking in their curricula and develop protocols (state.gov.) If you’re in the United States and know someone who’s a victim of human trafficking, please call the 24-hour National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888 or report an emergency by calling 911.

References

United States Drug Enforcement Administration. (2021, December). Human trafficking prevention. DEA. Retrieved October 12, 2022.

U.S. Department of State. (2021, January 11). 20 ways you can help fight human trafficking – united states department of state. U.S. Department of State. Retrieved October 12, 2022.

Social psychology can be seen in the legal and crminal justice system in a few ways. Some of which include jury decision making and interrogations and investigations. When it comes to jury decision making it is clear that social psychology plays a role in this as humans decide the fate of others through the legal system. The size of the jury plays a role in the outcome of the verdict. Apparently, fewer jurors leads to more biases against the defendent, this is because it is less likely that someone in  asmall gorup will state a different opinion that is different from the majority (PSU Lesson). Where as, in a larger jury group, people are more likely to state different opinions and provide more veiwpoints.

Everyone has prejudices and biases, these can also cause a problem in the legal system as jurors or any one involved in a case is likely to fall victim to ‘generic prejudices’. These generic prejudices typically surrounded cases such as sexual abuse/assault, murder, or cases similiar to these. These types of cases have a higher conviction rate due to the jury typically judging the crime without even listening to the facts. Jurors can be flawed and prejudice which can lead to wrongful convictions. These biases can also be seen in the interogation and investgation process as well.

People who are apart of invesitgations, such as police officers, detectives, key witness can be impacted and require a deeper look from a social psychological view. Confessions can be forced and coerced due to an officer or detectives belief that the person did the crime, based on the need to be correct or prejudices. Interrogation tactis clearly play a role and impact ones confession or lack there of, this is also based on social psychology because it is one’s ability to be interrogated as well as interrogate.

An interrogators goal is to get a confession and do so using techniques that allow for the interrogators to get into the suspects head. They typically use a nine-step approach which allows for them to get the changes in attitudes that they want. These steps include a variety of different languages, making up fake evidence, create a reason the crime could have been committed, dealing with denial, keeping the suspects attention, have a good repore, and symphathy. getting details from the supsect and lastly making those details into a written confession (Hartwig 2005). All of these things and everything we see in the legal system and criminal justice system are all intertwined with social psychology.

#PSCYH424

References:

Hartwig, M., Granhag, P. A., & Vrij, A. (n.d.). (PDF) police interrogation from a social psychology perspective. Retrieved October 13, 2022, from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/248932981_Police_Interrogation_from_a_Social_Psychology_Perspective 

Growing up, I loved watching the television series, What Would You Do? For those of you who may not be familiar, this was a hidden camera series where fabricated social dilemmas would take place and the host, John Quiñones, would be nearby observing and commenting on the behaviors of bystanders. For example, in one episode two women (who were actors) at a gym begin loudly making fun of another woman (again, an actor) about her body weight. Do you step up and defend the woman being berated? Or do you ignore it and leave the woman to her own defenses? Another episode that stood out to me was when a homeless man (actor) passed out in the middle of a street. Do you go up and help the man? Or do you hope that someone else will and you keep walking? Each and every episode of this show exemplified the bystander effect (ABC News Network).

I always wondered to myself why the bystanders so rarely intervened in the situations portrayed in the series. I thought, if it were me in that situation surely I would stand up for the person, confront the bully, or offer a helping hand! I think that it is in our human nature to believe we would do what is right in these situations. To believe that we would act swiftly and honorably. However, as we read in our textbook, in reality, many individuals do not help due to the phenomenon known as the bystander effect.

The bystander effect states that when individuals other than yourself are present and witnessing a situation of conflict, even in emergencies, you are less likely to intervene. There is a myriad of factors that facilitate this bystander effect. Notably, the belief that others will help, so you do not need to, is termed as diffusion of responsibility (Gruman, Schneider, & Coutts, 2016). Additionally, this feeling of “not it!” is further encouraged if the bystander is fearful of being judged for helping out. This is known as evaluation apprehension. Another factor that facilitates the bystander effect is the notion that if no one else is helping from what you can see, then maybe help is not actually needed. This is known as pluralistic ignorance (Hortensius & de Gelder, 2018).

This phenomenon is incredibly heartbreaking as it leaves people in real dire situations such as Yusuf Hizel and Catherine Genovese completely alone in their time of need (Gruman, Schneider, & Coutts, 2016). How do we influence a change of perspective to encourage people to stand up for those around them? Are there certain factors that do encourage helpful behavior? Such as gender, height/ size, or social status? As a 5′ female, I would think that these certainly play a role in a person’s decision to help or not!

Reference

ABC News Network. (n.d.). What Would You Do? ABC News. Retrieved October 10, 2022, from https://abcnews.go.com/WhatWouldYouDo

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

Hortensius, R., & de Gelder, B. (2018). From Empathy to Apathy: The Bystander Effect Revisited. Current directions in psychological science, 27(4), 249–256. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721417749653

Studies show that 4-6% of people incarcerated are innocent. This means that 1/20 people incarcerated are wrongfully convicted (Beneath the Statistics). As citizens we are supposed to have faith and trust in our judicial system. While these numbers are not that high, would you like to be wrongfully convicted of crimes such as rape or murder? To have your face displayed on the news of the crime you were accused of? To have to spend 5,10,20 years in prison? I definitely would not want to either. I will address some problems associated in the judicial system that lead to wrongfully convicting innocent citizens.

The first problem to address are the interviews. Detectives should be encouraged to use the techniques presented in the cognitive interview approach (Gruman et al, 2016, p. 301). This approach suggests to use open-ended, and non-leading questions, to use strategic silence, and use follow-up questions. Applying this principle can increase the amount of information a witness recalls by 20% to 50% without sacrificing accuracy (Gruman et al, 2016, 302). People are wrongfully convicted when detectives use aggressive tactics such as lying about information they obtained when in fact they have not obtained the information. This puts a stain on trust between citizens and the judicial system. 

Another area to address are the eyewitnesses. The judicial system is not completely at fault when it comes to wrongfully accusing individuals. Citizens are the victims and the jurors. The judicial system can be at fault by not displaying a lineup how they should. When engaging in a lineup foils (people in the lineup known to be innocent) should generally fit the description of the perpetrator given by the eyewitness. Witnesses should also be told prior to the lineup that the suspect may or may not be in the lineup. This will guard against the witness feeling pressured into identifying one of the line members (Gruman et al, 2016, p. 305). When it comes to the witnesses they make errors as well. They make fewer mistakes when under low stress, which in the 21st century is hard to come by. Another factor that affects accuracy is the cross-race effect which is a phenomenon that refers to the tendency for individuals to be better at recognizing faces of their own races than faces of another race (Gruman et al, 2016, p. 304). 

Lastly, the courtroom, specifically the jury. There are qualifications to be a part of a jury today but I feel as if there should be more. After all, the jury has a say in whether or not an individual will be sentenced for many years or be put to death. That is a very stressful situation to be put in but this is how severe these situations can be which should be kept professional. The lawyers and judges are supposed to maintain professional standards when it comes to innocence or guiltiness. I think the jurors should also hold some type of professional background and knowledge to even be considered as a juror. By no means am I biased towards individuals with a highschool diploma, but in order to analyze and determine if one is guilty or not, we should ask for more educational background and experience specifically from criminal justice, psychology, and/or forensic science. Another critique that can be applied is a large juror population, more than 12 individuals. Smaller juries tend to spend less time deliberating and tend to recall fewer details of the case. Thus, greater jury size will increase the details remembered from the case (Gruman et al, 2016, p. 307.)

These are just a few critiques we could make at decreasing the likelihood of individuals being wrongfully convicted. The judicial system is a big corporation and has far more authority than the people, however nobody wants to be wrongfully accused. It should be the judicial systems job to maintain a just, truthful, reliable, and fair system to all people. I also think this is why we also need to solely rely on evidence such as DNA. If there is no evidence at a crime scene, then adopting these suggestions may help find the actual perpetrator or atleast lower the likelihood of convicting an innocent person. 

References:

Beneath the Statistics: The Structural and Systemic Causes of Our Wrongful Conviction Problem. Georgia Innocence Project. February 02, 2022. https://www.georgiainnocenceproject.org/2022/02/01/beneath-the-statistics-the-structural-and-systemic-causes-of-our-wrongful-conviction-problem/#:~:text=Studies%20estimate%20that%20between%204,result%20in%20a%20wrongful%20conviction. 

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

An offensive political post appears while scrolling through social media. Taken aback by the content, you decide to comment on the post to correct the mistaken information or right the perceived wrong. However, soon after posting, you are faced with replies from several supporters of the offensive content. After a brief back and forth, commenters begin to wield personal attacks. Deciding that this is a waste of your time, you excuse yourself from the conversation. This scenario probably sounds familiar to most readers and can be explained by social psychology’s deindividuation which can result in minor or more harmful consequences.

The internet closes the gap between different people everywhere. A wealth of information and connection to others is at our fingertips. Yet, this closeness differs from face-to-face interactions. It lacks personal accountability. Social Psychology explains that when people are anonymous their self-awareness is reduced. This lack of self-awareness might lead to inappropriate behavior. Often present in criminal behavior, this sense of anonymity is called deindividuation (Gruman et al., 2016).

Would social media commenters or “trolls” feel comfortable verbally attacking people face-to-face? The answer depends if they are on their own or with a group of like-minded people. When encountering negative social interactions as a single person, there is an individual sense of oneself. Any actions taken will directly reflect the identity of the individual. Additionally, one recognizes the potential vulnerability of this position. Unless one has a brazen disregard for social norms, verbal or physical altercations are kept to a minimum.

On the other hand, in groups whose members share the same beliefs, individuals lose their sense of autonomy and look to the group for normative behaviors (Hinsz & Jackson, 2022). The 2021 U.S. Capitol insurrection demonstrates how serious the consequences of group dynamics can be when faced with escalating emotion. During the insurrection, people came together from around the U.S. for many different reasons. Whatever the reason they made the trek to Washington, those who participated in storming the Capitol became entangled in the rising emotions of the group. In doing so, they lost their identity or individual sense of self (deindividuation) and became absorbed into the group’s identity and norms (Hinsz & Jackson, 2022). As a result, many people were injured, and some died. Hinsz & Jackson (2022) explain that polarizing topics need not breed social divisiveness. While deindividuation is difficult to avoid, correcting how social groups interact such as developing healthy dialogue between social groups can mitigate partisanship and lead to better outcomes.

As individuals navigating our lives, standing up for causes we hold dear, and identifying with groups of people, we need to remain steadfast in our sense of autonomy and appreciation for life. When one of our social groups threatens to harm people mentally or physically, our responsibility is to abandon the path of least resistance and become reacquainted with our personal ethical beliefs. Whether engaging in political protest or a social media debate, reminding oneself that those we engage with are living, breathing, and feeling individuals might help alleviate the temptation to act or speak aggressively and temper the effects of deindividuation.

References

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

Hinsz, V. B., & Jackson, J. W. (2022). The relevance of group dynamics for understanding the U.S. Capitol insurrection. Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice, 26(3), 288-308. https://doi.org/10.1037/gdn0000191.

Girls can’t do that!

Girls can’t do that, is sadly the phrase a lot of us having been hearing our whole lives whether we realized it or not. Since that time, we were little girls about the simplest things like, girls don’t sit like that, that’s not very ladylike, etc. all the way through adulthood in the workplace and in an academic setting.

According to the U.S Census women represent 58.3% of the U.S workforce, while men represent only 41.7 present/ (US Census) According to these statics there are more women than men in the workforce, yet we are statistically paid less and are required to care of duties in the house as well. 23.5 million women in the workforce also have children under 18 and work full time.

Many people when thinking about diversity think race. This is not that only form of diversity. Diversity can include race, religion, gender, socioeconomic status, and academic/professional backgrounds. Gender diversity is just as big of an issue you as race it just might be more in the unconsciousness of our actions.

References

Boskamp, E. (2022, September 14). 60+ incredible diversity in the Workplace Statistics [2022]: Facts you need to know. Zippia 60+ Incredible Diversity In The Workplace Statistics 2022 Facts You Need To Know Comments. Retrieved October 8, 2022, from https://www.zippia.com/advice/diversity-in-the-workplace-statistics/#:~:text=Gender%20Diversity%20in%20the%20Workplace&text=States’%20labor%20force.-,According%20to%20the%20U.S.%20Census%2C%20women%20represent%2058.3%25%20of%20the,of%20different%20races%20and%20ethnicities.

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

How would you define diversity? – UNC gillings school of global public … (n.d.). Retrieved October 8, 2022, from https://sph.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/112/2013/07/define_diversity.pdf

The Working Moms Report for 2022: Breezy HR. RSS. (n.d.). Retrieved October 8, 2022, from https://breezy.hr/blog/working-moms-report

I wasn’t familiar with Tuckman’s stages of team development prior to this week’s lesson, but I’ve seen it in practise more times than I can count. Team-building in education is crucial and occurs on multiple levels: within each classroom/grade level, among teachers and other staff, admin and the front office, and more. Nowhere is this more visible than in special education, where a classroom’s teacher and staff rely on each other to ensure our students’ safety and well-being.

When I began teaching special education, my first classroom was for multiple disabilities, a very medically-intensive classroom that wasn’t for the faint-of-stomach. Not only was I new to the classroom and the school, but so were my three aides, so none of us were familiar with the environment or the students before the school year started. Because I knew we’d have to be a cohesive unit if we were going to make a classroom like that work, I used the week before school begins, a teacher and staff work week, to setting up the room to work for our needs and focus on building a team. This was the getting-to-know-you phase when everyone’s on their best behaviour and with the best of intentions, which matches with Tuckman’s forming stage. (Gruman et al, 2016)

By two weeks in, tensions were starting to rise due to personality clashes, which led to passive-aggressive power struggles, competition between my aides, and pushback when changes were made in how the room was run, even over small ones like switching where the students’ daily folders were kept. Having so many service providers coming in and out of the room and often disrupting our routine certainly didn’t help, especially as they weren’t the most receptive to feedback when this was addressed. I felt like I was playing referee most days and when I’d come home exhausted, I wasn’t sure if it was more from the physical demands of the job or the stress of constantly defusing tension. It was Tuckman’s storming stage and it was a nightmare. (Gruman et al, 2016)

Fortunately, my mum has two decades of experience as an office manager, so when I went to her for advice because I was tearing my hair out, she gave me a veritable goldmine. First, on the first Monday after that talk, I added ‘Mrs F’s joke of the day’ to the morning announcements and I’d deliberately switch between good ones and the worst ones I could find to keep them on their toes, which turned into a guessing game for both staff and students. That same week, I asked my aides to pick an afternoon in two weeks’ time when they were all free to stay a little late so that we could have a group hang-out/check-in with snacks. Then a week before the meeting, I e-mailed them an anonymous Google Form where they could bring up any concerns or other issues they had, along with a yes/no option to have me bring up the concern at the meeting. When the meeting came, I knew tensions were going to be high, so when they came back to the classroom after getting our students out to their buses/cars, it was to me wearing a set of elephant ears and acting completely normal. It got the giggles I was hoping for and it turns out that it’s a lot harder for arguments to last longer than a minute when someone at the table has a set of funny ears. By the end of the meeting, we had talked through all the issues and then some, hammered out compromises, and left the meeting as a very different team. Those meetings became a monthly tradition where we’d fine-tune communication, find common ground, and re-commit to being the best team to take care of our students. Everyone also got their own set of funny ears. Thanks to my mum and her advice (okay, the elephant ears were my idea), I was able to create an intervention that got us into a healthy environment, right in line with Tuckman’s norming stage. (Gruman et al, 2016)

A classroom that intensive is never going to be a stress-free environment and minor conflicts were inevitable, but having collectively improved our communication skills and with a better understanding of each other’s thoughts and feelings, it became a lot easier to talk things out on the spot or at the next available opportunity rather than letting things fester and go back to a toxic environment. We noticed that the change in room energy affected our students as well, that they were more relaxed and generally more co-operative, which only served as motivation to reinforce the changes: those kids were the whole reason we were there, after all, so how could we not be committed to anything that made things better for them? Administration praised us, as did the students’ families, and we all grew as individuals. We started the year with barely the essentials and finished the year having turned the most medically-intensive classroom in the district into a well-oiled machine. When we reached Tuckman’s performing stage, we were truly at the top of our game. (Gruman et al, 2016)

Schools have a built-in adjourning stage as each year comes to an end and students prepare to move on, and it was no different for my class. Two students were graduating, two staff members (myself and one of my aides) were moving to other positions, and it meant a summer away from the classroom, one that would be spent missing our students. The last team hang-out was an emotional one, complete with an ‘official’ hand-over of the elephant ears as my gift to the next teacher who took the classroom, ‘most likely’ awards, and my parting gift to the group was copies of a book of recipes from the team meeting potlucks. (Gruman et al, 2016)

Special education is a small world and our district is an even smaller one, so crossing paths with my old teammates happens on a fairly regular basis: one now heads the autism department for our district, one has taught my younger daughter, my elder daughter’s new teacher is the person who trained me, and the list goes on. When you add the fact that schools share service providers and special education requires more frequent group trainings across schools, what it’s created is a district-wide special education team. My wife jokes that I can’t go to an IEP meeting for our daughters without defaulting to teacher-mode because I’m in the special education in-group; I’m one of the team.

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

In high school I was apart of the women field hockey team for all for years. This team was a very competitive and disciplined group of young ladies wanting to be the best of the best. Many when asked to describe this team stated that boot camp was easier than field hockey summer conditioning to prepare us for the upcoming season. As stated in the textbook my team fell into all the classic roles that were expected from each particular group or person. For example, the position of captain was clearly defined that they were in charge of leading the team in their behavior on and off the field these girls accepted this role that was placed upon them by their fellow teammates and coaches. The roles were also clearly defined by seniority and level of performance. An example would be freshman were in charge of things such as getting the lose balls after practiced moving goal posts (jobs that the older classmates did not want to participate in) versus seniors were in charge of playing the weekly dinners, naming plays, and making playlist for the bus.

These roles made our team very multidimensional. We had this instrumental nature of cohesion because we all yearned for the mutual goal of winning and being the best, we could be. We also had a bond from the training we had been through and the mutual understanding of the sport that we all loved so much. However, it is not easy to get forty girls from all different ages and backgrounds to get along when they are spending 24/7 with each other. This can cause some tension in the relationship, you might had the person at school for stealing your boyfriend or cheating off your test but you had to check all the drama at the gate before you got on the field. There was no room for individual thinking were had to all be on the same page or mistakes were made.

On this team the coaches tour us completely down to build us back up. Looking back, it was not the healthiest mentally for use but it made us grow stronger as a team. I don’t talk to many of the girls from that team, but I knew if any of them ever called weather I liked them or not I would be by their side because of the inseparable bond that was created between us.  Team helps demonstrate are need for belongingness, a desire to work together and a sense of clarity around the role of each member. ( Catarina 2022) This is why as a small child you are put on a sports team or a team in a club or in the classroom and this concept of a team follows us all the way through adult because of this eternal need to belong to something bigger than yourself.

References

Catarina Lino, M. A. P. P. (2022, September 10). Psychology of teamwork: 7 habits of highly effective teams. PositivePsychology.com. Retrieved October 6, 2022, from https://positivepsychology.com/psychology-teamwork/#:~:text=A%20group%20with%20a%20strong,have%20high%20degrees%20of%20loyalty.

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

People experiencing fulfillment for their job is important for each individual and the company they work for. Job satisfaction is a major reason why people choose their job, how motivated they are to produce good work, and why they choose to stay with their company. Job satisfaction is simply how someone feels about their job, their attitude towards the job and predisposition of whether they respond to their work environment in a positive or negative manner (Gruman et al., 2017). We have all experienced a bad work environment and promptly quit a job to find something different and better elsewhere. Hopefully, many of us have experienced good work environments that are engaging and give you a since of purpose and happiness. It is so important for companies to create a healthy setting for their employees to have positive job satisfaction. By making this investment they will have a more productive staff, keep more talent, and recruit more new talent.

In my personal experience I have certainly had non-satisfying jobs. There was a recent one that was a combination of things that made the job bad and negatively affected my attitude. I had a nice supervisor that was not rude or disrespectful, but everything they tasked me with always seemed remedial. There were specific guidelines on how to complete the duties I was assigned. I was not allowed to alter things and every suggestion that I offered to make something better was shot down. A lot of the tasks were monotonous; they did not take a lot of brainpower, which kept me less interested. Overall it was not a toxic work environment, but it was not engaging or empowering. Those combined factors made me feel undervalued and it did not take me long to find a new job and move on.

Some job characteristics that can help to create a positive satisfying work environment are, in general, giving staff members the opportunity to perform diverse tasks and independently control how they complete those tasks. The ability to complete a project from beginning to end and receive feedback on how effective their work is. Also, it is important for personnel to feel valuable because their work is significant and impactful. Hackman and Oldham’s (1976) influential job characteristics model refers to these five core characteristics, skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and job feedback (Gruman et al., 2017). These characteristics affect people’s job experience and can help determine how satisfied someone is with their job.

Communication is fundamental and it includes social behavior between people interacting to give and receive information (Gruman et al., 2017). This was key when I had a different job that was very satisfying and turned out to be a win-win positive work environment. I am grateful that I had a job where I was challenged and my boss encouraged me to take ownership of my position and make it my own. This dynamic enabled me to have the freedom to explore new ways of completing my duties, which made me care more about my work and our company. It also helped that myself and my boss got along on a more personal level and our personalities meshed well together. We were able to have open and honest communication and constructive feedback, about how we both could improve and work together as a team. It is crucial to factor in communication, job characteristics, social, and organizational elements when building a positive work environment; this can give your personnel the opportunity to have high job satisfaction, be happy, engaged, and overall thrive at work!

Reference

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

In today’s blog, we will be discussing how to build a consistent team of rockstars using Tuckman’s (1965) notion of developmental stages to help you build an effective team for any task. For some background, In 1965, a psychologist by the name of Bruce Tuckman developed a model that is representative of effective teams. As we all know from experience great teams cannot always just be thrown together and need extra pushes of help and development before they can become great as teams do not always function well from the jump. Tuckman gets into how teams grow through the stages and how they go from individuals to a cohesive task-oriented groups.

Now I want to emphasize that these stages begin from the moment a group first meets until the end of the project or until the team is no longer needed. Stage one is what is called the ‘Forming Stage.’ This stage is what can be thought of as an introductory or orientation-like stage. This is where you will introduce your team of key players to one another where you will see them being overly kind and find that they are excited to begin a new project, and get to know who they will be working with. It is important that you have your team meet and get to know one another for a great amount of time before they truly begin their project.

This is key because during this stage they will initially have a focus on themselves and one person will reveal themselves as a more mature memeber. This team member is the leader of your group. This means that your leader has been able to move past whatever insecurities they were feeling about this new and exciting project to help their peers help them in completing this project well. The others will then fall in line and look to the leader where they can then discuss everyone’s skills, interests, strengths, weaknesses, the goals of the project, the timeline, and every individual role. This stage is critical because you need the group to familiarize themselves with both their team and the roles and responsibility they play with the team. This stage has a lot of riding on it but know, this stage is more about your team than it will be about the work and that is exactly how it should be so there is no need for panic yet.

Stage number two is known as the ‘storming stage.” In this stage you will find your team bickering, arguing, finding themselves frustrated and annoyed with one another, and that is perfectly fine. Relationships among team members will sink or swim here. Now that everyone has acquainted themselves with one another the reality and weight of the project will hit them and they are now over any initial excitement. They will disagree and argue with one another about how to continue the project or how to move forward. However, it is so important to remember that most teams especially good ones experience conflict. It will resolve.

Stage number three is known as the ‘norming stage’ where everything turns around. Your group recognizes everyone’s strengths, and weaknesses, and starts to appreciate one another and step in for one another when and wherever needed. They have settled differences and have become the cohesive team you knew you selected. There will still be storms but none as rocky as before. The team has trust in themselves as both individuals and as a unit.

The last stage in this version of Tuckman’s notion is known as the ‘performing stage.’ Not all teams make it here, but if you did you will know you have a team of rockstars. You will know you are in this stage if you have confident team members, everyone is working without supervision, they are motivated and all working cohesively to get to their final goal. Now, if you know your team is in the last stage of Tuckman’s notion, congratulations are in order. You selected the right group of people who were able to build on themselves as individuals and as a team to bring to life your project. If you found that you did not make it here, you will one day be with people who want to make it and these steps will come naturally. Now, go find your rockstars.

References

Gruman, J. A., Schneider, F. W., Coutts, L. M. (2016) Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing social and practical problems. SAGE Publications Inc.

Within an organization, there are three kinds of power structures, including role power, relationships, and expertise. French and Raven’s five bases of power when it comes to organizational life and teams include reward, coercive, expert, referent, and legitimate power fit into these kinds of power. These bases of power dictate the power structures within an organization. They can demonstrate someone’s role power, how they like to use their power, relationships that can form within the workplace, as well as how people in places of power guide their team.

The first type of power would be reward power is when a person in power likes to give out positive things such as promotions, compliments, and advancement opportunities. They use their power to reward others and use the rewards in a way to ensure they get the desired results. This is considered a weaker type of power it can run out or the rewards could not have enough value (mindtools). Coercive power in organizational life is usually negative and is done so through threats and punishment. Such as if XYZ doesn’t get finished, you will get fired. This type of power causes struggles in teams, and organizations as it often times gets people to leave, also there is a concern with harassment using this type of power (mindtools). Another type of power that can be detrimental to a team or viewed negatively would be referent power. This power comes from getting respect from people and using their influence to gain power. Something all three of these powers have in common is that they can easily be abused and lack legitimate power and are not a good strategy for leaders.

Expert power is based on actual knowledge and skill, making it a great way to lead, and an extremely positive way to lead. It means this person in power is worthy of their positive and is usually well respected, as well as respects the people that are under their power. The next base of power would be legitimate power. This means that these people can make usually big decisions or make a difference within their organization or team. An example is a president, a CEO, business owner(mindtools). This base of power has limitations as they usually only have power over their direct organization and no power outside of that.

Formal power would be coercive, rewards, and legitimate. Personal power would be expert and referent. Between formal and personal power, the bases of power that is most effective is personal power. Understanding these different bases of power allows for introspection into why teams and organizations might work better or worse than others. It lets the people in these organizations understand different types of people in power so that they can find out if they are fit to be under someone with a certain type of power.

#PSYCH424

References:

Mindtools, ‘French and Ravens Five Forms of Power, Understanding Where Power Comes From in the Workplace,’ https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_56.htm

Joe just started working for a small business firm in Chicago, Illinois. He’s been struggling a lot because he got transferred from Des Moines, Iowa. It’s clearly a different city with very different individuals in his work space. To make matters worse he’s been struggling to make friends with his co-workers and his boss has been giving him a hard time for not catching on to the new work expectations. Joe is frightened he may not be getting the same treatment and advance as his co-workers. In particular, his boss has been displaying perceptual biases in the workplace. Perceptual biases are errors that alter the way we perceive instances that can generate false judgements (Gruman, et al., 2016). This can be seen in Joe’s instance as his boss barely knows him and is judging him based on assumptions due to the lack of information he has about him. 

To be more specific there are two kinds of perceptual biases named selective perception and the halo effect. These perceptual biases affect organizational behavior in Joe’s case. Selective perception is present in Joe’s workplace due to the fact that it’s impossible for humans to mentally absorb everything around them, as any qualities that make up an individual, an object, or an occurrence sticking out increases the chances that it will be seen (Gruman, et al., 2016). When Joe and his coworkers did the bare minimum of signing up ten new clients in one day, Joe’s boss did not notice. When one particular coworker of Joe’s did the same thing, his boss rewarded the individual coworker. This displays selective perception because Joe’s boss didn’t pay attention when everyone else did what they should always do, but when the one coworker did the same favoritism was present.  

In another instance, Joe witnessed first hand his boss praising his coworker. More specifically, his boss said that his coworker was “skillful.” It seemed as though when his boss named his coworker “skillful,” a rose-tinted lens was covered by this individual. Even though the people around this particular coworker knew that he wasn’t nearly as “skillful” as the boss had claimed, since the boss had named him that he was seen in an entirely new light. This situation is an example of the second kind of perceptual bias, the halo effect. The halo effect occurs when individuals make up a general impression of a person based on a singular quality (Gruman, et al., 2016). The single quality “skillful” in Joe’s coworker influences all the other individuals’ perception of that person. 

Overall, this week’s lesson taught me organizational behaviors. In Joe’s workplace two kinds of perceptual biases that affect organizational behaviors are present. These perceptual biases are called selective perception and the halo effect. Selective perception occurred when one of Joe’s coworkers did the bare minimum just as Joe and the other workers and only one coworker got recognition and rewarded for it. The halo effect occurred when Joe’s boss called another coworker “skillful” and now the boss and others have an impression of who that coworker is based on one singular quality. In Joe’s scenario, he is clearly not getting treated the same way as other coworkers.

Reference:

Gruman, J. A., Schneider, F. W., & Coutts, L. M. (Eds.). (2016). Applied social psychology : 

Understanding and addressing social and practical problems. SAGE Publications, 

Incorporated.

Does anyone understand why teamwork is relevant? Well, most of our jobs involve interacting with others. If we can work well with our colleagues, this will be the key to achieving growth and success. Teamwork is a relevant skill to help individuals accomplish organizational goals and objectives (Yale). Why do you think teamwork matters to everyone?

Teamwork benefits allowing individuals to bring diverse perspectives to problem-solving, which increases their success at arriving at a solution more efficiently and effectively. When all team members operate without undue order and encourage everyone to give feedback, people tend to be open about their ideas. In addition, research suggests that a climate of “psychological safety” in teams show’s more engagement, creativity, and innovation (Yale).  Teamwork can improve efficiency and productivity when dividing work within a team, shared responsibilities, and tasks are likely to be completed within the time frame. The excellent partnership will enhance the group outcomes and the organization’s measurable effectiveness, cultivating communication and strong work relationships. Cooperation also brings an expanded sense of accomplishment by fulfilling everyone’s desires for belonging and contributing to something greater than ourselves (Yale).

Seven essential teamwork skills we need in school and in our careers. Teamwork is the most desirable skill in the workplace. According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers, technological advancements allow companies to connect and collaborate with a diverse workforce dispersed worldwide (Herzing University).

The first teamwork skill is communication, which is an adequate teamwork foundation. Open lines of communication promote trust, create a positive team environment, and help resolve issues quickly. Second, time management. Accountability and responsibility are essential to people’s careers and academic life. The third is problem-solving when you can think creatively when challenges or issues arise. It helps uncover inefficiencies that stop the team’s success but works to improve those processes for the future. The fourth is listening and indicating that it’s relevant to be open-minded. These will allow people to be better coworkers and leaders to advance needs and challenges before they arise and respond effectively.

Fifth is critical thinking, allowing people to make better or more informed decisions. Thinking critically about the situation, examining an issue, reflecting on past experiences, and listening to other group members’ suggestions will help teams to move forward in a new and exciting endeavor. The sixth is collaboration. Treating each group project as a learning experience; can help foster a more productive team environment. The seventh is leadership. Someone with a work ethic is willing to share knowledge and resources, mentor and coach new leaders, and contribute to the organization’s success. Leaders can demonstrate strong teamwork skills by promoting teamwork and empowering others to grow, learn and advance (Herzing).

References

Yale University. (2020). We know teamwork is essential, but how important? It’s Your Yale. Retrieved October 5, 2022.

Staff, H. (2020, August 20). 7 important teamwork skills you need in school and your career. Herzing University. You were retrieved on October 5, 2022.

Virtual teamwork and communication are not new within many organizations. In fact, virtual computer-based communication is interwoven within nearly every company or organization as we become more globalized. It’s unavoidable. However, what isn’t new is the physical restrictions in place due to the COVD-19 pandemic from the last two years. It’s changed the way some organizations do business and has placed greater emphasis on virtual work in companies that wouldn’t normally engage in this degree of virtual communication. Given that, I would like to explore virtual communication and how it effects team processes. How do we best design a team in a virtual space?

It is known that any team, face-to-face or virtual, has their fair share of issues. For example, normative influence is when members of team feel social pressure to conform to the groups’ needs or face negative social consequences (Gruman et al., 2016). This is seen as a form of peer pressure. To illustrate, one member of the group may disagree with the majority’s decision or direction but goes along with it anyway to avoid causing friction or being ousted from the group (Gruman et al., 2016). This influence can result in polarization and can lead a group to produce riskier outcomes (Gruman et al., 2016).

Normative influence is just one phenomenon groups face. Other issues could be disproportionate or ambiguous expectations of group members, mistrust, and miscommunication and these problems seem to be amplified in the virtual environment (Prasad & Akhilesh, 2002). Additionally, co-located teams have the luxury of informal communication that can foster and build relationships while also establishing team cohesiveness (Prasad & Akhilesh, 2002; Driskell et al., 2003). Since virtual teams are not exposed to social cues or personalizing information it’s suggested that this leads to weaker bonds among members and translates to a decrease in interpersonal attraction (Driskell et al., 2003). This drop in interpersonal attraction, which is a means of conceptualizing cohesiveness, would theoretically have the biggest impact on a team who is addressing social or persuasive tasks that require affective relationships (Driskell et al., 2003).

The uniqueness of virtual teams requires a unique approach and deserves heavier consideration than it receives (Prasad & Akhilesh, 2002). It’s noted that many organizations feel as though teams mediated by technology do not require a different approach and believe that the issues they face are exaggerated (Prasad & Akhilesh, 2002). However, as noted, that’s not the case. Depending on the types of tasks the group is facing, or the type of communication and technology employed, virtual teams face a unique set of issues that should be addressed. The design of virtual teams should be developed to support the objectives handed to them (Prasad & Akhilesh, 2002). Work characteristics, strategic objectives, and situational constraints should be considered in how to best structure a virtual team (Prasad & Akhilesh, 2002). Dimensions such as “degree of virtual-ness, team processes, alternate/socializing mechanisms, and attitudinal aspects” should be used in structuring a team (Prasad & Akhilesh, 2002, p. 106). For example, attitudinal aspects should be considered because certain team members have a technology preference or can only participate in teleconferencing meetings during certain times of the day (Prasad & Akhilesh, 2002). Additionally, its argued that face-to-face interaction is essential in developing and maintaining trust between members and that there is no substitute (Prasad & Akhilesh, 2002). This presents another unique issue for virtual teams. However, when designing teams and with technologies advancing all the time, innovative trust building can be developed (Prasad & Akhilesh, 2002).

References

Driskell, J. E., Radtke, P. H., & Salas, E. (2003). Virtual teams: Effects of technological mediation on team performance. Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice, 7(4), 297.

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

Prasad, K., & Akhilesh, K. B. (2002). Global virtual teams: what impacts their design and performance? Team Performance Management: An International Journal.

Have you ever worked for a company that sounded like it was a dream come true to be offered a position to soon after find this company isn’t what you expected. What I am talking about specifically is when the higher management in an organization uses its power to control their employees. I’m sure you know someone in this situation even if you have not experienced this.

Our lesson this week tells us Power—the ability to influence other people–can also be a problem, and is sometimes related to the issue of difficult colleagues (and bosses in particular). Kipnis, Castell, Gergen, and Mauch’s (1976) Metamorphic Model of Power states that having power changes people, and many of these changes are not desirable. It goes on to say that “power holders come to devalue other people. They view others as being inferior, incompetent, and deserving of their low status.”

There is a local well known (non profit) business that is known for hovering their power over their employees to not only belittle them but also coheres them into doing some illegal activities. This puts a sense of mistrust, rage, and fear in the employees. They were set up to do these illegal activities with the notion if they did not follow through they would be fired or in some cases lose their work visa. The higher up management’s negative use of power quickly set fire to other management and they also became mean and threatening.

This business did get caught and they did have to pay the price but sadly they have not changed their ways of operations. The higher management still continues their fear tactics to manipulate their employees to do things that are not on the up and up.

Power is contagious. In this case it is the negative power that we see trickle down the chain. You start with a CEO on a power trip to bully those below them to get what they want. In turn you will see those employees doing the same to those under them and so on and so on. You will also see employees that are on the receiving end have less work ethic and less trust in their supervisors. One person at the top started it all and the effects of that one person spread throughout the whole company. What would it be like if they used their power in a positive way to achieve their goals?

Power. Sign in to your account. (n.d.). Retrieved October 5, 2022, from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/2204526/modules/items/35810277

This week’s lessons touched on many aspects of how individuals perform on things such as work and on teams. Teammates go hand in hand when referring to either work or sports teams. I am specifically focusing on the attribution process within the workplace and will provide examples from my own personal experiences and the way I perform. The process of assigning a cause to a behavior is called the attributional process (Gruman et al. 2016, p. 258). The cause of a behavior can either be external or internal. 

When we observe the behavior or performance of another person, we consider whether the individual is responsible for the behavior (internal cause) or whether something outside the individual causes the behavior (external cause) (Gruman et al. 2016, p. 258). Harold Kelley’s covariation model (1973) suggests that, when trying to explain the reasons why a person engages in a particular behavior or performs at a certain level, people rely on three types of information: distinctiveness, consensus, and consistency (Gruman et al. 2016, p. 258-259). 

Within distinctiveness the question is “Does the person behave differently in other situations?” If yes then the individual has a high distinctiveness which is associated with external causes and if not then the individual has a low distinctiveness which is associated with internal cause. In the workplace, I worked in the restaurant industry since I was 17, and worked at this restaurant for five years. I had also given my all and my co-workers and managers saw this. I would constantly receive praise from customers, coworks, and management which made me maintain my effort in the workplace. I do not behave differently in other situations when it comes to effort and performance. Whether I am working, doing school tasks, or household duties such as cleaning I perform and behave the same way in all situations. My behavior revolves around working hard, trying my best, and making those around me happy. I do not desire to slack off or give half effort. Considering I have a low distinctiveness the causal attribution would be internal. This is most likely because I am a high achiever and want to make important people in my life proud. 

The question to ask when discussing consensus is “Do most people engage in this behavior in this situation, or is it unique to this person?” the same rules to responses apply with consensus as it did in distinviness. This depends on the situation being presented. For instance, if a senior citizen fell in front of people, I would think most individuals would run over the senior to help them up. This results in a high consensus and means there are external causes at play. Which would be the right thing to do in this given situation. When it comes to behaviors and effort in the workplace this is different. While working in the restaurant industry I have met a variety of workers. I do not mean to toot my horn but I was a really fast worker. When I was a server my section was always clean, I kept up with my duties ahead of time so I would not get behind. Other servers would purposefully leave their sections dirty so they would not get seated more tables. In this situation there is a low consensus being that not all servers behave the same way while waiting tables. This results in a low consensus and means there are internal causes at play. Which internal causes can be self-efficacy, work ethic, high or low achiever, and job satisfaction. 

The last attribution process is consistency, the question to ask here is “ does the person behave the same way at other times in this situation?”. For the first three years I had a high consistency forsure. Praise from the individuals around me helped my consistency stay high. However, after so many years at the same place, going through so many new managers and co-workers, my job satisfaction steadily declined. I did not have fun at work like I used to and felt like a robot. Almost everyday was the same. I then reached a low consistency in the work environment at this specific workplace. I was still a highly desired worker, however everyday I did not give my best and sometimes felt depressed. The internal causes and feelings resulted in me displaying undesired behavior at work which was sitting down when we were slow and not helping my co-workers as much. When I had nothing better to do I constantly helped my coworkers. After people expected this from me, I no longer displayed the behavior. Internal causes as to why my efforts dropped are because I felt like I was the only one giving my all in the workplace, why should I try my hardest and others not, everyday was very repetitive, and I was bored of the workplace because I had been there so long. However, because I felt this way, a new opportunity was on the horizon and I took it and ran. I am now a behavioral health technician and my work ethic is back on the top. I am now back at a high consistency because of external factors (supervisor, client, clients family). I want to show my supervisor I am capable and also want the families I work with to notice how much I care for them. This new occupation has increased my job satisfaction substantially because I am making a difference in others lives versus serving and handing out food. 

Gruman, J. A., Schneider, F. W., Coutts, L. M. (2016) Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing social and practical problems. SAGE Publications Inc.

While casually perusing the center aisle of a grocery store, you are nearly side-swiped by another cart peeling out of the baking aisle, coxswained by an unapologetic, disheveled-looking woman. In this moment of utter shock, no words come to mind. But after a moment or two, you conclude, “What a rude and unsavory woman! I would never behave as she just did!” This thought and subsequent thoughts echoing these sentiments might be fundamental attribution errors. Perceptions of others’ actions are commonly distorted when making a fundamental attribution error. This error can be entirely innocuous. However, sometimes it can cause serious harm.

According to the covariation model, we judge other people’s behaviors based on internal or external factors. Internal factors are within the control of a person, while external factors are outside a person’s control. Distinctiveness, consensus, and consistency are the three pieces of information we assess to distinguish between internal and external causation. If we determine that people regularly behave in this way (low distinctiveness) then we might decide this is an internal attribution. If other people might also behave this way (high consensus) then we attribute the behavior to external factors. If this person behaves this way at other times (high consistency) then we might also attribute the behavior to external factors. However, when dealing with strangers, there often isn’t sufficient knowledge to determine distinctiveness, consensus, or consistency. Gruman et al. (2016) report that the simplest attribution to make is internal or dispositional (fundamental attribution error) because we cannot always comprehend the complexities surrounding the context of the situation, and we certainly are not omniscient beings!

The consequences of the fundamental attribution error are in many cases benign, such as those associated with our wild cart navigator. But sometimes, the consequences can be deadly. In recent news, another road rage incident led to someone’s untimely demise. In this incident, a man’s car broke down, blocking a road. Another man, evidently enraged by the car blocking the roadway, decided to confront the man in the disabled vehicle and ultimately murdered him (Dickerson, 2022). 

In this instance, the man who came upon the disabled vehicle made a fundamental attribution error. Rather than recognize the external, situational factors causing the car to block the roadway, he misattributed the situation as being internal or within the control of the driver, which resulted in his egregious actions. Luckily, the fundamental misattribution error does not regularly result in acts of violence, but we can do our part to give people the benefit of the doubt.

Our speedy grocery shopper might have simply been running out of time while preparing for her child’s birthday party. She might have been quickly grabbing the ingredients to make a birthday cake. In her frenzied state, she may not have even seen your cart. Had she seen your cart in any other instance, she would have profusely apologized for nearly running you over. In this perspective, her distinctiveness is high because she typically does not run through the grocery store. The consensus might be high because, we too, might also hurriedly roll through the grocery store when late for something. Finally, the consistency might be high because she might always behave this way in a situation like this. All three things considered, we can be confident that her behavior was due to external factors. Of course, there is always the chance that she is rude and unsavory, but no one benefits from that assumption. I would much rather believe that people are good and that negative interactions are just a product of the situation. Moreover, I would also like to be given the benefit of the doubt if I nearly run someone over in the grocery store one day.

So, before proclaiming that you would never behave like the woman in the grocery store, ask yourself if you have ever been perceived unfairly. Yes – undoubtedly, and maybe unbeknownst to yourself, you were once the subject of someone else’s misattributions. In a society plagued by fundamental attribution errors that could potentially lead to tragedy, let us all do our part to be kind and understanding and consider the context of the situations in which we find ourselves.

Reference

Dickerson, B. (2022). Road rage on south side leads to city’s latest homicide. Oklahoma City Free Press. https://freepressokc.com/road-rage-on-south-side-leads-to-citys-latest-homicide/.

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

Last semester I took Psychology 301W and one of our assignments was to design a research study and construct a proposal for an area of psychology. I chose to study group dynamics and the effects of cohesion and discipline. Being an Honors Scholar at Penn State DuBois, I am required to conduct research before I graduate. Though we were not required to conduct our research design, I decided to pursue it further for my honors undergraduate research. Flash forward to the present, my experiment is currently underway and I will be able to collect and analyze the data by the end of the semester. 

Based on this week’s discussion, I touched on the idea that too much cohesion can lead to less productivity in a group setting. In my experience with project groups, when a group gets along too well, we can be less focused on the goals. A study conducted about work groups found that “an inverse curvilinear relationship exists between social network measures (of which group cohesion is one) and team performance” (Wise, S. (2014)). This means that as cohesion increases, performance may go down. Of course, correlation doesn’t equal causation, it does provide interesting insights on how cohesion can sometimes harm the performance of a group. The idea that there can be too much cohesion also led me to think that there can be too much discipline in a group, in which if a member of the group punishes another for falling short or not accomplishing their part of the project, spillover costs can ensue and create a tension that limits effective performance (Levine, D. K., & Modica, S., 2016). Thus, I hypothesized that a balance of the two, discipline and cohesion, can lead to optimal group or team performance. 

When designing the experiment I actually worked with the Professor of this class, Dr. Nelson, to help me hammer out the variables, and statistical analysis of the results. Because it was part of the class, I was able to learn the research process and how to create an effective experimental design. What I was able to construct was a 2×2 factorial design with two independent variables measuring one dependent variable. The independent variables were cohesion, measured through a project group having a team-building exercise or not; and discipline, measured by a group having strict deadlines or not; and combination of the two. Thus, there were four experimental conditions, one group with the combination of the two, one group solely with cohesion variable, one with just discipline variable, and one group with none (the control group). These four groups would be measured on performance which would be operationalized through a predetermined rubric set up by a professor for the quality of the project. 

Moreover, since I chose to pursue this experiment for my honors research, I began to consider how to implement this study. Part of the undergraduate research process on  my campus is to identify an advisor to help guide, provide input, and assist with the study. Fortunately, I found one who was willing to integrate this study into one of her classes. Due to the wide scope of applicability for my research (group projects are inevitable at this point), I was able to incorporate this study into her marketing class, where project groups would be subject to one of the four conditions. I was actually able to get two groups in each condition except the control condition. I feel that this will help amplify and reinforce the performances while being able to identify differences within the groups in the same condition. As of right now I am currently in the process of running the experiments over the semester. The groups are assigned seven marketing worksheets and once they are complete I will be able to gather the data and analyze the individual performance of each single worksheet and the average score of each group combined. 

This study started out as an idea, then a research design project, and now an actual experiment in which meaningful results will hopefully be generated. I think that group dynamics are interesting to study because it is inevitable in today’s society; and in terms of cohesion, can have real life possibilities for intervention. Essentially, my research is a sort of intervention implementation to see what conditions would help project groups optimally perform. The evaluation of the performance will help me measure the effectiveness of the “intervention” and provide insights on how to optimize group performance.  

References

Wise, S. (2014). Can a team have too much cohesion? the dark side to network density. European Management Journal, 32(5), 703-711. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emj.2013.12.005

Levine, D. K., & Modica, S. (2016). Peer discipline and incentives within groups. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Vol 123, 19–30. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2015.12.006