Archives

Uncategorized — No Comments
13
Oct 21

What Would You Do?

What would you do if you saw someone get bullied or hurt in front of you? The bystander “ states that people are less likely to help in an emergency when other bystanders are present” (Gruman, 289). There are many reasons why a person might not help in a situation and might consider the bystander effect instead. Some reasons are because the person doesn’t want all the pressure on him or herself, as well as not having any relationship with the person. On the other hand, there are positive aspects to ignoring the bystander effect like not having a guilty feeling and feeling good about yourself. Considering a close person to you is in a difficult incident, how would you want others to react? 

What if someone got into a fight right in front of your eyes would you go to help or would you act like you didn’t see it and move on? Well, there are many reasons why someone might not help if there was a situation happening in front of him or her. One reason someone might ignore the situation is because they do not want the pressure and attention to fall onto them. For example, if someone gets into a minor car accident then they might not help because they see other people around the victim. They would also say something like “why would I help, there are other people here.” They don’t want the pressure of having to tell the police what happened as well as making sure the person in the car is safe and not injured. Another reason why someone might not help is because of the relationship between the bystander and the victim. They might not be related to that person and feel the need to stay away from the situation and not get involved. There are many dangers within the bystander effect that we do not realize. One danger is that if you witness a crime or accident of death, and not speak about being a witness about what happened, that can result in you going to jail for two years. You can become guilty of not stating what you have seen in the accident. If I were in a difficult situation like this I don’t know what I would do, but I would most likely call the police or someone nearby that would be able to help in the situation. 

Although many won’t help in a situation and rather stay within the bystander effect, what are some ways that can be solved. What if you actually take action, how can that help? If a person decides not to be a bystander and help in the situation instead, then that would give the person more confidence. How can we drop the bystander effect? One way is to take action when a situation happens. For example, if a person is in an accident then stepping in the situation would help the person survive. First you would check if the scene is safe to go near, then make sure the people in the car are safe, and finally call for help from others. This situation would help a person feel good about themselves afterwards in which the idea of saving someone’s life is a big deal. Another reason why someone should step in is to not have a guilty feeling. If something bad happened to a person while you were watching that would make you feel guilty and think to yourself “if I helped him or her would that have changed anything?” That is one major reason to help save someone and ignore the bystander effect. Another reason why to ignore the bystander effect is, what if the person in the accident is a relative to you, would you want people to ignore the situation and act like they don’t see it? 

The bystander effect relates to the “Diffusion of responsibility (Darley & Latane, 1968) [that] reflect the notion that as the number of people present in a situation increases, each individual feels less compelled or responsible to help” (Gordon, 843). The diffusion of responsibility connects to the bystander effect because the more people there are in the situation, the less the responsibility is on a specific person. We assume that if there are a lot of people in the situation, then they are helping out in the situation. We can make a person have more responsibility by decreasing the group number and increasing accountability. This way the situation can be helped instead of just being looked at. 

The bystander effect is a social phenomenon in which a person doesn’t offer any help to a situation when others are present. Individuals might use the bystander effect because of the fear of being overwhelmed as well as believing that they don’t have any relationship with the situation and there is no need to help. Others that might ignore the bystander effect would help a person feel good about themselves and not have an after feeling of being guilty. The diffusion of responsibility relates to the bystander effect in which the help is assumed to not be needed with the increased number of people around. This can be solved through the same way as the bystander effect. What would you do if an incident happened in front of you, would you help immediately or would you stay as a bystander? 

References:

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

Moskowitz, G. (n.d.). Crowded minds: The implicit bystander effect. Retrieved October 13, 2021, from https://www.academia.edu/11870091/Crowded_Minds_The_Implicit_Bystander_Effect?from=cover_page 

 

Uncategorized — No Comments
07
Oct 21

The Importance of Communication Skills

Communication skills are a major component in the everyday life that we live in. According to an article, “Interpersonal skills were defined as the ability to work on teams, teach others, serve customers, lead, negotiate, and work well with people from culturally diverse backgrounds” (Parton, 429). We grew up learning communication skills from family, friends, and teachers and continue to expand our knowledge on communication skills as we get older. Since we are young children we learn through school and family the importance of communication skills. Throughout adolescence, skills are expanded and are expected to be better. Careers as well require everyone to have communication skills that build up their work career. Communication skills are like active listening, respect, friendliness, confidence, public speaking, and many more.

Since childhood, we learn many different communication skills that are a big part of our life. Some communication skills are like respect, friendliness, active listening, confidence, etc. According to the textbook, “Semin (2007) suggests that communication is the most fundamental topic social psychologists can address because it represents the foundation of social life” (Gruman 271). communication is a very important aspect in our life. Going to elementary school we learn to develop communication skills like respect and friendliness. We learn how to respect teachers, students, parents, and any person. For example, as I was a child, my school used to require a course in which we learned the importance of these skills in our daily lives. Respecting a teacher helps a student get good grades and have great communication with teachers and faculty. While students, for example, do not respect a teacher and keep talking over the teacher and not listening, it causes communication to become more difficult with each other. Another communication skill is friendliness in which as we are young we are more innocent and we become friends with other students easily. This skill helps students communicate with each other easily and being able to work with groups. If a student is not liked, he or she might be bullied or no student would want to be friends with him or her.

As we grow older, our communication skills expand and relate to our life even more deeply. We continue to learn different communication skills as we grow older. In college, we learn how to develop confidence, independence, and being open minded. Through specific courses, for example, we learn how to speak properly using the proper language, as well as having proper gestures. I took a communication course last semester where I developed more communication skills and learned how to speak more properly through presentations and group work. Through the presentations I was to express my interest with my words of choice but making sure I used the proper language and gestures while presenting. As well as giving me confidence through the presentation and speaking in front of a class. College also teaches a person how to become independent and be open minded through the different courses that we take. Being open minded helps a person think outside of the box.

College allows us to expand our skills and apply them to our work fields which require us to have certain requirements. For example, if a person wants to work as a translator or a teacher then good language skills are required in order to expand on to other students that are being taught. Another job that requires a skill is like a doctor in which confidence in yourself is important because you have to be confident in yourself to have a procedure done on another person. These skills apply to every career there are with many different communication skills. Study “found 49% of entry-level ads included requirements for basic skills related to communication, including reading, writing, listening, and speaking” (Parton, 430). The most important skill in the work field is body positivity and talking skills (whether verbal or non-verbal). Our gestures in the career field are important to have a positive communication set with others. Connecting to the ideas that we learned through the textbook, we notice the importance of verbal, non-verbal through messages that are being coded and decoded.

Communication skills are the process in which we give information and we receive in return through verbal or non-verbal gestures. These skills are being implied to our life since we are children through family, friends, and schools. As we grow older our skills that we learned, like respect, confidence, friendliness, continue to expand on in our lives. Colleges allow our skills to expand and become more prominent in our daily lives. Our communication skills continue to grow with us and fall in the work fields which help everyone in their communication asset with others. These skills are very important in our daily lives, whether in school, home, work, or anywhere. What are some communication skills that you think are most important to you?

 

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

Parton, S. R., & Kinnick, K. N. (2005). Workplace communication: What the apprentice teaches about communication skills – Katherine N. Kinnick, Sabrena R. Parton, 2005. Retrieved October 07, 2021, from https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1080569905282099?casa_token=00lX3YLPq4EAAAAA%3AwIfxspcDV0JV6h8gZyLd38RJkm9QgyuLSZfX7ftXEbrV4qbc1dlBVCtnS_VyTCqPa_nDD-gw_AVN

Uncategorized — No Comments
30
Mar 21

Building Community through the Army’s Better Opportunities for Single Soldiers Program

The mission of the United States Army’s Better Opportunities for Single Soldiers (BOSS) program is designed enhance the morale and welfare of its, generally, youngest, most junior, and potentially isolated soldiers (Army MWR, n.d.). BOSS attempts to provide safe, entertaining, and enriching activities for single soldiers to take part in, beyond the purview of their command team (supervisors), to socialize with the peers (Pacheco, 2013). Whether Army leadership knew it or not, the BOSS program mirrors many of the core values of community psychology.

Through tits socialization efforts the BOSS program aims to build the sense of community that single soldiers feel while at their current duty station, which is often hundreds to thousands of miles away from any given soldiers hometown. Given distances from home, and because these soldiers are unmarried or otherwise lack a family nearby (Pacheco, 2013)., and are typically in their early twenties, some not even old enough to vote, and therefore often the lowest ranking, their demographic is particularly vulnerable to feelings of isolation and depression. All of which, and because Army life is still likely new to these soldiers, it is particularly important to build upon the sense of belonging, membership (Gruman, Schneider & Coutts, 2017, p 412),  and support that they feel within the Army community.

The BOSS program inadvertently provides social justice for young soldiers, though not necessarily in the manner one would think. To the Army’s lowest paid members, a trip to visit a distance landmark, or to enjoy a day at an amusement park, may seem far out reach. Particularly so if the soldier cannot afford, or otherwise does not own transportation of their own. BOSS attempts fill the income void left by the congresses “distribution of capital [military pay scale, approved by the United States Congress) and resources to these, least privileged” (Gruman et al., 2017, p 412) members of the service, by providing free or financially assisted opportunities toward transportation and admittance to events.

BOSS also fosters collaboration and community strengths, citizen participation and empowerment, and social action and activism Gruman et al, 2017, p 412) (to an extent – nothing political – this is the military after all), the three remaining core values of community psychology, by means of providing opportunities for soldiers to volunteer within their new community, or greater civilian communities that reside beyond the gates of their military installation. Moreover, when if properly supported, the program is liable to see former participants (soldiers who eventually marry and/or exceed the local rank requirements upon promotion) volunteer their time conducting fundraising efforts and helping with the programs events, giving back to the program and helping to enhance the community of younger soldiers in-kind.

In my anecdotal opinion, and experience as soldier that has lived in Army barracks before, even if all of the BOSS program’s correlations with community psychology values are an unanticipated by-product, is still of the right mind in its attempting to get its quartered soldiers to emerge from their barracks room when not in uniform. To socialize with their peers, and meet new faces, beyond the dormitory-style units often plagued by too much alcohol and testosterone, whose volatile mixture heightens poor decisions. As well, it provides enticing opportunities for young minds to get away from their televisions, computers, and video games, to conduct socializing activities which, according to research conducted by Kraut et al. (1998), can reduce the loneliness and loss of community that can occur in association with excessive reliance on such technologies for entertainment and interaction (Gruman et al., 2017 p418).

Community psychology aims to foster sense of community, wellness and prevention, diversity, social justice, and collaborative efforts (Gruman et al, 2017, p411-412), and while Army leadership may not have set out to build a program that touched on all of those points, at least in theory, it they seem to have done just that. While the BOSS program did not exist when I was a young-single soldier, and I have often heard of the program referred to as [sic] “an afterthought” or a “half-hearted attempt by senior leadership” on platforms like Redditt, I believe that BOSS has a blueprint toward building and enhancing feelings of community, at least insofar as community psychology is concerned, amidst its members that likely need it the most. Though the program is not command-driven, (i.e. commanders do not run the program), like anything in the Army, it requires the support and encouragement of commanders, officers, and noncommissioned officers alike, in order to obtain single soldier buy-in and reach its full potential.

References

Army MWR (n.d). Better Opportunities for Single Soldiers. https://www.armymwr.com/programs-and-services/boss/about-boss

Gruman, J., Schneider, F., and Coutts, L. (Eds.) (2017). Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. ISBN 978-1-4833-6973-0. P 411-412, 418

Pacheco, S. (2013). Program promotes fun, safe activities for single Soldiers. United States Army.https://www.army.mil/article/108519/program_promotes_fun_safe_activities_for_single_soldiers

 

 

Uncategorized — No Comments
06
Nov 18

Snap-Community-Chat

Community Based participatory research is described as a partnership between the researchers and members of the community being researched, and its aimed at creating positive community change. One technique that has been used successfully in this type of research is called Photovoice. Photovoice is when community members take photographs to document their experiences and by sharing their photographs and explaining why they chose  particular images these individuals are able to communicate important aspects of their experience. Our textbook informed us that Photovoice is particularly well suited to document the experiences of ethnic minority groups since it allows community members from these groups to overcome language and cultural barriers in communicating.

A big topic of conversation currently is the “caravan of immigrants” that are making their way across Mexico towards the United States. So much of what we hear on the news is opinion based, or just very vague and uninformed. It is very hard to actually know who these people are, why they are traveling, what their background story is, and to try to understand the hopes and dreams that are driving them north. I think it would be an amazing thing if someone could supply these people with cameras and give them a voice. To see who they are, what they are experiencing, how they feel. I think it would be wonderful for those in the United States who are living in fear to be able get a better understanding of these people.  Im actually surprised Photovoice is not used more often as a means of breaking down barriers between communities, or at least as a catalyst for future dialogue that can stimulate community change.

As a side thought writing this blog made me wonder if  a collaboration between the concept of Photovoice and a mainstream app like snapchat is actually feasible as it would be a very interesting way of educating people on diversity.

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

Uncategorized — 2 Comments
31
Mar 18

The Technological Community

Today’s communities aren’t the same as what they were 25 years ago or more.  In today’s technological environment along with the newest generation that is taking over is more deeply involved in the online world than anywhere else.  As a “90’s child”, that is, someone who was born well before the 1990’s and spent my childhood and teenage years through the 1990’s I have had the both the burden and gift in seeing what the world was before the implementation of the internet and technology and seeing how it has changed our communities.

As child going out and spending time with friends was always a priority, mainly because it was the most interesting thing to do.  Supporting this was always a communal environment supporting this.  Whether it was activities that brought children together, such as sports, group events like scouts, or parents working together to get their kids out of their hair, there was always something going on outside the house and in a direct person-to-person interaction to arrange these events.

While I am not saying that scouting, sports, and parent collaboration doesn’t exist anymore, the communal environment that it takes place in has changed drastically.  Instead of going door-to-door, posting up flyers on the billboard at the grocery store, or putting an article in the newspaper, now events and news are shared among electronic message boards such as Facebook.  The place an environment of our community has changed, some may say for the worse, others for the better.

Looking at what the internet has to offer and the Community Values that are viewed as important it isn’t surprising that this would occur though.  The internet offers a high amount of the sense of community that people are seeking, by being able to seek out others that share their viewpoints and offer quick and encouraging responses that increases our sense of belonging.  This also plays an impact on our sense of Ecological Perspective, the perceived fit between the person and their online “community”.  By seeking out websites, forums, groups, chats, and other online applications that are parallel to our interests we achieving that perfect fit we all desire and thanks to the unlimited variation in website types we are all able to find that perfect fit we all desire (Schneider, Gruman, & Coutts, 2012).

Other major factors on our sense of belonging to community are also fulfilled through the internet.  Such as our ability to cause social action through the click of a mouse or a tap of the finger.  Previously, if someone was hurt and a fundraising campaign was started there would be forms to fill out, bake sales were planned, flyers put up, phone calls were made, and articles taken out in papers, nowadays we just start a gofundme page.  It used to be if a journalist said something we didn’t agree with letters were wrote, angry phone calls were made, and general griping among friends occurred over drinks or dinner, nowadays journalists are fired because a tweet is trending or a Facebook post receives a large amount of likes.  While I’m not saying that our newfound community is necessarily a bad thing, I am saying that it has changed.  Instead of going out and directly interacting with others in our proximal community face-to-face, instead our community is more indirect, over a vast distance, and to a degree less personal all while achieving the psychological fulfillment that we crave.

 

Schneider, F.W, Gruman, J. A., & Coutts, L. M. (2012).  Applied Psychology (2nd ed.).  Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.

Uncategorized — 1 Comment
15
Apr 17

Pseudo-Participatory Researchers and the #BlackLivesMatter Movement

Written 4/15/2017 by Lia Stoffle

This week we learned about social change research and its two subsets: participatory research and activist research. The origins of participatory research are credited to Paulo Freire (Schneider, Gruman & Coutts, 2012). He believed that “authentic education” involved “working with…oppressed groups rather than providing information for or about the group” (Schneider et al., 2012, p. 290). Based on his theories, he worked with Brazilian peasants to incite social change and life improvements. His takeaway: unsuccessful social and political change was due to designs not based on the people who would be affected by the change, but rather based on the ideas of “educators and politicians” (Schneider et al., 2012, p. 291). In 1977 Hall, Marino, and Jackson cofounded the Participatory Research Project in Toronto Canada (Hall, 1992). Their work, and the general focus of participatory research, involves a bias for people of “dominated, exploited, poor, or otherwise ignored” origins, with focus on the interaction or power and democracy, and attention to various social factors (Hall, 1992, p. 16). Having these roots established, my mind immediately went to the #BlackLivesMatter movement. I thought between the thousands of articles and studies at my disposal there must be some literature on social change research involving the Black Lives Matter movement. What I found was far less than I imagined. As I searched through “most recent” and “most relevant” filters I was still getting articles that either had to do with the Black Lives Matter movement OR participatory research. I thought “how in the world could this movement be so prevalent in American society that I see it all over the news and social media, yet the scholarly research be so scarce?” That’s what cued me in to discover that, in a sense, people from different walks of life ARE engaging in participatory research, but they probably aren’t in a position to write a scholarly article about the movement and the connections to the participatory research itself. Social media has made it possible for ordinary people to involve themselves in participatory research without necessarily realizing it. Continue reading →

create an entry — 2 Comments
14
Apr 17

The Kinder & Braver World Project

The Kinder & Braver World Project portray participatory action research as, “a process through which people investigate meaningful social topics, participate in research to understand the root causes of problems that directly impact them, and then take action to influence policies through dissemination of their findings to policymakers and stakeholders (Powers & Allaman, 2012).”  The goal of the research is to expand their social movement into youth communities and encourage leadership.  Schneider describes social action as, “by organizing you can stimulate collective action in the community that generates power to create change (Schneider, 2012).”  Various programs have been designed to add value and promote positive change within communities.

Everyone has their own perspective on how they feel about a particular problem.  Relatively, it is necessary to customize programs that define unique qualities among young people and adults.  After engaging with individualized concerns, a plan for social change may be created.  The plan should clearly define a purpose and identify goals for addressing change.  By involving youthful communities in the developing a plan for social change, young individuals will learn how to address diverse communal issues.  They will learn how to relate to others from various backgrounds, cultures, and opinions.  Youth engagement models are effective for improving issues surrounding a common goal, as well as promoting relations that will motivate involvement.

Youth United for Change (YUC) is a veteran-based organization established in Philadelphia.  The group aims to meet the wishes and needs of young individuals within the community.  Generally, group activities and meetings take place in schools in order to reach out to the youth population.  Organizers promote relationships and address any ideas or worries that the young community may have regarding the world around them.  YUC wants to make sure that juveniles feel like their heard, and their needs are important.  Additionally, the process positively impacts leadership skills and relationships.  Conclusively, the program is an effective way for children to voice their opinion and propose any questions about social reform.

 

Powers, C.B., Allaman, E. (2012, December 17). How Participatory Action Research Can Promote Social Change and Help Youth Development – The Kinder & Braver World Project: Research Series. Retrieved April 14, 2017 from http://cyber.harvard.edu/sites/cyber.harvard.edu/files/KBWParticipatoryActionResearch2012.pdf

Schneider, F. W., Gruman, J. A., and Coutts, L. M. (Eds.) (2012). Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. ISBN 978-1412976381

 

Uncategorized — 1 Comment
16
Nov 16

Social Change: Action research

 

quote-no-research-without-action-no-action-without-research-kurt-lewin-136-14-90Not all of us will become professional scientists, but most thinking persons are lay scientists. For example, we all make predictions about the outcomes of various choices at our disposal in our daily life through an informal and largely unconscious process. Similarly, those of us who are personally invested in (any pro-social) career outside of basic research nonetheless conduct informal action research in the pursuit of successful outcomes. By definition, action research occurs when individuals seek to influence the community they are a part of, and therefore have a vested interest in (Lewin, 1946, in Scheider, Gruman & Coutts, 2012).

In order to become a better doctor, for example, one must not only stay on the cutting edge of medicine, but must also learn how to achieve greater patient compliance with medical directives. If patients aren’t compliant, a physician might dig deeper to find out why individuals don’t act in accordance with medical advice. He or she might wonder, are patients confused about instructions, unable to afford prescribed medications, or embarrassed to discuss side effects, fears, or other concerns? Could they disagree with or distrust the physician’s goals? These types of questions exhibit more than simple curiosity—they indicate an underlying desire to improve health outcomes more effectively through heightened awareness of patients’ personal and cultural needs.

If we want to systematize this informal process of examination so that our own findings may contribute to broader understanding, participatory action research is an avenue that capitalizes on the insights tharcat can be gained through being on the front lines of a pressing social concern. This iterative cycle of inquiry and reflection (Kolk, n.d.) allows us to—to paraphrase Paulo Friere, author of Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1970/1993)—both educate, and be educated by, the very people we study (Brydon-Miller, 1997). At the core of this approach is the fundamental belief that authentic knowledge cannot be generated without the participation and perspective of the communities investigated.

People in various careers participate in action research, not the least of which is education. Dick Sagor, former high school principal and current Director of the Institute for the Study of Inquiry in Education, encourages teachers to collaborate with each other as action researchers (Kolk, n.d.). By pooling their experiences and results, he says, teachers became more invested and successful, boosting teacher satisfaction as well as school culture. Melinda Kolk, editor of Creative Educator lays out a template for would-be action researchers in the classroom environment to follow if they wish to formalize their informal processes (Kolk, n.d.). By progressing through the action research cycle, they can reap the benefits of promoting effective change in their own classrooms, while potentially benefiting students and teachers in the broader community should their research be published.

I can’t help but think that adopting an action researcher mentality, regardless of one’s career, would provide a greater sense of fulfillment and purpose to daily tasks. A sense of ongoing inquisitiveness, paired with a commitment to the greater good, would particularly enrich those whose career choice puts them into frequent contact with disadvantaged or marginalized groups.

Brydon‐Miller, M. (1997). Participatory action research: Psychology and social change. Journal of Social Issues, 53(4), 657-666. doi:10.1111/0022-4537.00042.

Kolk, M. Embrace action research. Retrieved November 17, 2016, from Creative Educator, http://www.thecreativeeducator.com/v07/articles/Embracing_Action_Research

Kolk, M. K. M. Interview with Dick Sagor. Retrieved November 17, 2016, from http://www.thecreativeeducator.com/v07/articles/Interview_Dick_Sagor

Retrieved November 17, 2016, from http://www.azquotes.com/picture-quotes/quote-no-research-without-action-no-action-without-research-kurt-lewin-136-14-90.jpg

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

 

 

Uncategorized — 4 Comments
06
Nov 16

Adolescent Suicide – Can We Prevent It?

Having grown up during the development of the internet and all it has brought us, I’ve experienced the gamut of online experiences.  From the screeches and binging of logging onto the internet, connections so slow that I would go to a website expecting to make some tea or a sandwich before the site loaded, to our current world of endless information at the click of a button.  It’s truly amazing how much things have changed in the last 20 years.

Along with these advancements come some major pitfalls.  The internet has opened up a whole new medium for a myriad of social interactions, many positive, but at least as many are negative.  Bullying has taken on a whole new meaning, having moved from the playground to the internet.  Bullies can now torment their victims without the need to taunt them face-to-face.  This has opened up a host of opportunities for bullies to psychologically abuse victims.

According to a recent study released by the US Centers for Disease Control, the suicide rate for children between the ages of 10 and 14 has doubled since 2007.  This is a disturbing statistic.  The fact that children, who have barely lived at all, have found life too unbearable to continue, is saddening.  The fact that the suicide rate has doubled in less than a decade is alarming.

I recently learned that my thirteen year old niece was put on suicide watch. Thirteen.  I couldn’t believe it.  I wondered what could drive this lively, young, quirky, cool girl to contemplate taking her life.  After speaking with my sister, it was a combination of factors.  Mean girls, depression, coming out, bullies, etc.  My niece had come out of the closet and had experienced some backlash from friends.  On top of that, she was/is depressed and was being bullied online and at school.  It’s scary to think that all of this drover her to want to kill herself, which begs the question: How can we prevent this?

An number of studies have been conducted regarding online bullying and the effects it has on children.  In addition, there have been many cases in the news of kids being harassed and bullied to the point of suicide.  Ultimately, the solution, or prevention, rests on the shoulders of parents and teachers.  Being aware of what’s going on in your child’s life, picking up on key phrases or feelings “I wish I could go to sleep forever” or “I wish I were dead” would be queues for parents and teachers to start opening communication and begin prevention efforts.

The true cause remains foggy.  It’s relative to the individual and their personal experiences.  Because of this, it makes adolescent suicide very hard to study, but not impossible.  Ultimately, more effort needs to be put into studying the problem so we can come up with a solution.  Until then, prevention is key.  Awareness and action on the part of parents and teachers is essential when it comes to targeting at-risk kids and intervening before tragedy strikes.

 

Middlebrook, H. (2016, November 03). Suicide deaths on the rise in kids. Retrieved November 06, 2016, from http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/03/health/kids-suicide-deaths-increase/index.html.

Uncategorized — No Comments
04
Apr 16

A Sense of Community

One of the interesting aspects of community and social psychology is the idea behind a sense of community. Our text describes a sense of community as the factors that determine whether people view their community in a positive or in a negative way (Schneider, Gruman, & Coutts, 2012). My husband and I have moved several times throughout our marriage and as a personal observation, I am much more adaptable to communities than my husband is. There have been several communities that I felt comfortable in, but he could not settle into. Part of his difficulties stem from being raised in a small town, while some of his other difficulties come from his PTSD.

According to McMillan and Chavis (1986), there are four elements that help someone to develop a sense of community. The first element is membership. Membership is easy to gain, as it is simply the idea that you can determine membership based on boundaries. However, my husband doesn’t feel membership in our current community. We lucked out and made friends with someone who happened to be preparing to rent out their home that was two blocks from my parents. This put us into a neighborhood that had people who general come from a higher income bracket. So although we live in this community, my husband struggles to feel membership because of the disparity of income between the majority of our neighbors and ourselves.

The second element is influence. This refers to how much the individual feels they have an impact on their community. There are ways to get involved in my community, but it is difficult. We have put our children into a charter school, so our children go to a different school than most of those in our neighborhood. We are not members of the Homeowner’s Association (though our landlord is), so we cannot recommend or have much impact on any change through that association. We have a very anal retentive Homeowner’s Association, and have already received notices for little things like leaving our trash bins out an extra night. This adds to us both feeling as though we have little control within our community, which makes this element very difficult to have.

The third element is the integration and fulfillment of needs. This relies on the members of a community being interdependent. Our community is full of large houses with attached garages. Most of our neighbors come and go through their garages. Because it is in the desert, there isn’t much as far as gardening, so we don’t see our neighbors outside. Most of the kids in our neighborhood are involved in extra-curricular activities, so we don’t even see them out playing. This makes integration difficult. There are events that the Homeowner’s Association has to help create opportunities to develop that sense of community, but unfortunately, those are few and far between. The only place where I have felt a sense of community is through social media. There is a Facebook group for my community that allows people to communicate about events, post business ads for local businesses, post about crimes, and for people to rant about things in the neighborhood. It is through this format that I have developed a small sense of integration. My husband doesn’t pay attention to these, and therefore has missed out.

The final element is a shared emotional connection. There is a cohesive bong between members of a community. As I described with the integration, it is difficult to build that bond with the limited interaction between community members.

I have found a community connection within my work place. There I have a membership, I feel as though I have an influence, we share values and integrate well with each other, and we often share emotional connections. My husband struggles with relationships. He struggles to find these communities. When we lived in California, we were in a very strong community. It was easy to feel member ship because everyone used the same grocery store and saw each other there. Everyone was able to make an impact in the community. I was able to make my impact by working at the local school. My husband made an impact in the ranching community by breeding ducks and rabbits. There was a lot of interdependence within our community. People shared “hand-me-downs” as well as home-grown fruits and vegetables. When a young girl was killed within our community, the community drew together and mourned, even those who did not know her. It was during that event that I saw how tight the community was, but we were part of it.

A sense of community is important. Research suggests that finding a place that develops that sense of community helps a person to develop their identity. The place that we live can affect our identity through effecting whether we feel unique in our living space, in control of our living space, if our living space makes us feel good about ourselves, and if where we live is consistent with our ideals of our own personality (Anton & Lawrence, 2014). These four principles of identity that our living space can effect are guiding principles of the identity process theory.

References

Anton, C., & Lawrence, C. (2014). Home is where the heart is: The effect of place of residence on place attachment and community participation. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 40, 451-461. doi:http://dx.doi.org.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/10.1016/j.jenvp.2014.10.007

McMillan, D., & Chavis, D. (1986). Sense of commmunity: Definition and theory. Journal of Community Psychology, 14, 6-23.

Schneider, F. W., Gruman, J. A., & Coutts, L. M. (2012). Applied Social Psychology (Second Edition ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE publications.

Uncategorized — 1 Comment
09
Nov 15

Online Communities

Does social networking damage or improve our sense of unity in a modern world?

It is no longer realistic to expect to get through a typical day without some interaction with your preferred social media site. Internet use is so fundamental to daily life that asking others to cut down on their Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram activity in favor of physical contact or face-to-face conversation is seen as an unreasonable request. Naturally, this saturation of online socialization begs the question: should we be worried? Some would say that virtual interactions lack the quality of traditional companionships. But can social networks actually be used to improve genuine emotional support in an isolating world? Perhaps there are advantages to being connected through social media that outweigh the negatives. Psychological research can help us understand how online communities can be healthy complements to face-to-face communication.

According to a study by Pew Research Center, social media is not as socially isolating as previously studies would have us believe. Despite worries that new technologies have left Americans alienated and with fewer ties to neighborhood communities, the data suggests that modern Internet and cell phone use is actually associated with increased and more diverse social interactions (Hampton, Goulet, Her, & Rainie, 2009). Tang, Zheng, and Fan (2015) additionally found that social support from online communities improves the quality of life of people living with chronic diseases – a group who often faces social exclusion. The researchers discovered that, in addition to providing information and companionship, emotional support from online health care communities had a significantly positive impact on the psychological and the physical well-being of medical patients suffering from chronic disorders (Tang, Zheng, & Fan, 2015).

On the other hand, research does show a connection between psychological disturbances and problematic Internet usage. Casale, Lecchi, and Fioravanti (2015) found that overall, there is evidence to suggest that low psychological well-being is associated with culturally inappropriate use of Internet communicative services. This seems to indicate that, rather than causing psychological problems such as social isolation, the Internet is sometimes used as a tool or coping mechanism by individuals who already exhibit troublesome or adverse psychological tendencies. If used in an unhealthy way, time spent online can exacerbate those already existant symptoms (Casale, Lecchi, & Fioravanti, 2015). In other words, the Internet does not cause normal, healthy individuals to become unhealthy, psychologically-unstable individuals. Those suffering from psychological issues may have an increased tendency to use the Internet in problematic ways, but the Internet itself is not the problem – the underlying psychological issues that already exist are.

The bottom line is that informed social media users who are aware of the dangers of the Internet can use social networking to complement and enrich their social lives. Interweaving online and face-to-face interaction allows us to develop a broader range of contacts through access to new networks and local businesses or activity groups. For example, research shows that Internet users are more likely to visit cafes and coffee shops than people who don’t use the Internet, and since people are no longer restricted to using the Internet exclusively at home, time spent online does not necessarily have to detract from activities taking place in public spaces like libraries, bars, and restaurants (Hampton, Goulet, Her, & Rainie, 2009). At the end of the day (and as with anything else), moderation is key. Social networks do not have to replace traditional interaction; used properly, the Internet can be an effective tool that aids us in adapting to a changing society in a way that provides more, not less, human contact. Meeting friends through new avenues, learning about opportunities in your local area, and deriving social support from people all over the world are just some of the ways online communities can strengthen our sense of unity.

 

References

Casale, S., Lecchi, S., & Fioravanti, G. (2015). The association between psychological well-being and problematic use of internet communicative services among young people. The Journal of Psychology: Interdisciplinary and Applied, 149(5), 480-497.

Hampton, K., Goulet, L. S., Her, E. J., & Rainie, L. (2009). Social isolation and new technology. Pew Research Center.

Tang, Y., Zheng, Q., & Fan, X. (2015). The impact of online social support on patients’ quality of life and the moderating role of social exclusion. Journal of Service Research, 18(3), 369-383.

Uncategorized — 1 Comment
06
Nov 15

Part of A Community

Earlier this week, I took my mother grocery shopping, and there was this lady that couldn’t start her car. She asked a man if he had jumper cables and he said no. I knew I had some in my car, so I approached her and asked if she needed a jump. I pulled my car around and helped her. After, letting her car run for a little, I told her she should really get her battery checked out, just to make sure that everything else is okay with her car. She thanked me and asked if she owed me anything. “No, not at all,” I said. On my drive home, I kept thinking about what she said to me. Here was this woman who thought that she may owe me something just because I helped her out. Was she used to people always wanting something from her? I thought about the community we were in. Yeah, we didn’t live in the same area, but she is a part of my mother’s community by geographical association. (Both women live in a small town called Conyers.) By helping her, I felt like I was helping someone from my global community-a human being. We should be able to rely on one another for help without there being a “one-hand-washes-the-other” situation.

This situation made me re-examine the global community that I believe in. According to our textbook, a positive sense of community is established by people if members feel that: a) they have membership, that they are valued and a part of the bigger picture; b) they are influenced by their community and/or have influence on their community, which fosters responsibility; c) their needs are met by the other members; and d) they share an emotional connection, which helps us to build lasting relationships and to discover our own thoughts and feelings. These 4 aspects combined is what makes us feel like we have a positive experience. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. There are too many young people who don’t feel like they are a part of our global community and feel that taking their lives is the only way to become part of a community. Is there a way we can make everyone feel and believe that they are wanted?

 

Uncategorized — 1 Comment
02
Nov 15

Communities and Vaccines

Community Health and Immunizations

            The idea of vaccination has been around for thousands of years. There are records of the ancient Chinese people inoculating themselves against the smallpox virus4. Vaccination has helped communities around the globe become healthier and stronger. Thousands of outbreaks occur each year along with epidemics, most of which could be eliminated with vaccination. If a vaccination is available and is within means to be gotten then it should be received. It should be obtained not only to keep the individual healthy, but their families, and their communities. There are already many interventions in place to keep children and all other age groups vaccinated against common diseases.

In 2015 a large news story was the Measles outbreak, 189 confirmed cases were reported which were linked to an amusement park in California. Most of the cases that were reported the infected individual was not vaccinated2. Most vaccinations are covered somewhat under health insurances which now a lot more Americans have health insurance. The measles outbreak was only considered an outbreak because of its rapid increase in a generally close geographical area; epidemics are usually spread throughout areas3. A pandemic is when a disease has spread through several countries and infection is through a large amount of people3.

Community health can be improved by increasing the amount of individual vaccinations against basic diseases such as the flu, measles, polio, and diphtheria (there are many more). When a community is physically healthy it allows the community to strengthen its relationship, and quality of life. More events are able to take place, and people are able to come together in a safer environment. Schools have a chance to improve education because their students aren’t getting ill, and companies have a change of increasing their productivity because their employees are healthier.

Most interventions are considered preventative because when a disease becomes a pandemic it is almost impossible to save as many people as a preventative plan can. Schools, stores/pharmacy’s hold vaccination clinics, education is also being spread through social media. Learning about health and vaccination can help an individual help them selves, which will lead to the community being helped. Small steps to any plan can lead to large, beneficial results.

 

Works Cited:

 

Community Immunity. (n.d.). Retrieved November 2, 2015, from Vaccines.gov website:

http://www.vaccines.gov/basics/protection/

Measles. (2015, February 23). Retrieved November 2, 2015, from Centers for Disease Control and      Prevention website: http://www.cdc.gov/measles/cases-outbreaks.html Principles of Epidemiology. (2012, May 18). Retrieved November 2, 2015, from Centers for Disease      Control and Prevention website: http://www.cdc.gov/ophss/csels/dsepd/ss1978/lesson1/      section11.html The History of Vaccines. (n.d.). Retrieved November 2, 2015, from http://www.historyofvaccines.org/      content/timelines/all

Uncategorized — 2 Comments
20
Sep 15

Why Our Environment Does Not Change

In my family group, we attempt to leave as small of a carbon footprint as possible. Teaching lessons in conservation and protecting our resources is rather important.  With this said, I found myself in quite a dilemma the other day while driving to the store with my seven-year-old son.

The conversation went like this:

Son: Mommy, what is the black stuff coming from that truck?
Me: Well, it depends on the truck as if it is a diesel truck, it is the “normal” exhaust. If it is a gasoline truck, it could be an issue within the engine.
Son: Is it bad?
Me: Yes, it is bad for our air.  It is called pollution.  Remember?  We have talked about pollution and you learned in class.
Son: I remember. Why can’t we tell the person they are wrong and to stop?
Me *can not form words*

How does a parent explain to their child that you cannot simply walk up to another and inform them they are polluting the air we all have to breathe?  Life does not work in that manner nowadays.  However, when you think about it the way my son did, someone should in fact make a comment to the individual.  Too many individuals today are so nonchalant when it comes to the limited resources we have on Earth.  I am not sure if it is simply for the reasons they do not care or if they are not informed.  It reminds me of trying to persuade an individual to be energy conscious or to recycle.  One cannot be forced, they must understand the benefits and have desire to make a change.

The social dilemma here is too many individuals are not venturing to make a change.  Many times an electric car limits the individual to short driving, i.e. staying in the town they reside as there are not areas for them to charge.  When it comes to recycling, all too often smaller towns do not have a recycling program (such as the town we reside) therefore if an individual desires to recycle, they must drive a few towns away.  Whether it is simply for the reason that electric cars are not feasible or implementing a community/city wide recycling plan is too costly, the problem will not change until someone or group begins the process.

Many groups have come forward over the years to inform the public of the many issues we can face down the road if change does not happen soon.  At times, individuals hear what is being said and decide this is something they want to do, although they are unsure how much time, effort, or even money it will take to contribute to the campaign.  If they do make the decision, they may begin the campaign, stick with it for some time, but then stop as they are becoming overwhelmed with the extra effort they are giving when they do not see others doing the same.

Our environment has given the individuals of this world so much bounty; however, this bounty will not last forever.  It is time to stand up and make a change.  It is election time in many local communities, therefore, make the issue known and see that change is made.

Uncategorized — No Comments
09
Nov 14

The Red Cross

Communities have always been a constant factor in our everyday life, something that we come into contact with everyday and are involved with even when we are unaware. Even though communities are prevalent in our society there are some communities that can be considered as more important than others. In this term I mean the work done by the Red Cross. The Red Cross is an organization that is dedicated to helping others not just in the United States but world wide. This organization was founded by Clara Barton in 1881 during the Civil War and assisted in helping the war-injured as well as disaster relief efforts (Our History, n.d.).  

There have been many circumstances in the past where the Red Cross has brought together a group of people in order to help fight for a better cause, in this effort they formed communities of volunteers who were willing to help. These include natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Sandy, tornado devastation in the Southeast and Midwest United States, and most recently the Ebola break out to name a few. In 2012 it has been recorded that the Red Cross responded to 2,328 fires, building collapses, blackouts, floods, and other emergency situations (Disaster Response, n.d.). They also assisted 12,172 adults as well as children with shelter, food, and counseling following these disasters (Disaster Response, n.d.).

With most aspects of a community several people wish to focus more on the negative aspects that arise from the presence of a community. The Red Cross is an example that not all communities experience the bystander effect and other subjects related to the matter. There are some in the fray that go out of their way to help others who are need although the numbers are low. With the recent Ebola outbreak in West Africa as well as the United States, there have been about 8,000 volunteers who have been trained that have been prepared to help an estimated 39 million people (West Africa, n.d.).

m38940093_763x400-ebola-protective-gear

As well as services for those in need and emergency reliefs, the Red Cross provides information as well as training and certification to help in emergency situations. With these available services they wish to spread educational information that will hopefully reduce the inactivity that is found among others during an emergency situation.

 

 

References:

Disaster Response Statistics & Map. (n.d.) American Red Cross. Retrieved from http://www.redcross.org/ny/new-york/about-us/disaster-response-statistics

Our History. (n.d.) American Red Cross. Retrieved from http://www.redcross.org/about-us/history

West Africa: Ebola Outbreak. (n.d.) American Red Cross. Retrieved from http://www.redcross.org/ebolaoutbreak

Uncategorized — No Comments
29
Jun 14

Stimulus Poverty In Deed

”Are We Living in Sensory Overload or Sensory Poverty?,” by Diane Ackerman

Milgram’s concept of stimulus overload is quite intriguing. As was cited by Schneider, Gruman, and Coutts (2012), stimulus overload is the idea that our society today is much too much for our hunter-gatherer nervous systems. We weren’t ancestrally prepared to deal with booming cities, overly crowded schools and the bombardment of the world at our swiftly moving thumb tips. So what did we do? Did we adapt and overcome? Of course we didn’t! We developed apps for that. We have cell phones, I pods, I pads, mp3 players, wireless headphones, and Google glass. There is no need to feel overloaded because we have found ways to take the world in at moderations that we (at times) can control. However, Diane Ackerman wrote to the New York Times proposing a very fair question. Are we today still facing stimulus overload or are we subjecting ourselves to stimulus poverty? If you have taken a psychology course, you may be familiar with concepts such as conditioning, and if you have taken any courses in anthropology, you may be familiar with concepts about evolution along with learned behavioral traits. Basically, we see, we learn, we pass it on. Do it often enough and it becomes second nature. So why did we as a species not adapt to the growth of stimuli in our surroundings? Was it growing faster than we could to evolve in order to handle it? Darwin could argue that technology has allowed for the survival of the weak. Perhaps the generations of watching our elders swoon in fascination over fast past technologies has led us to be the monkeys that saw and now do. I often catch my son happily sitting next to me, Mario game in hand while I myself am playing a game. But are we hurting ourselves by using stimulus overload as an excuse to continue living socially withdrawn? Is this what we are going to use for the answer to, why don’t we talk anymore? Maybe if we looked up at the world with our hands devoid of any devices and our ears free from plugs, we would find by the end of the day that the world isn’t all that overwhelming after all. We just might like it.

References

Ackerman, D. (2012, June 10). Are we living in sensory overload or sensory poverty?. New York Times. Retrieved June 27, 2014, from http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/10/are-we-living-in-sensory-overload-or-sensory-poverty/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0

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

Skip to toolbar