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15
Mar 22

Can We Really Train Children?

Social cognitive theory is broken down into four processes. Attention, representational process, behavioral production process, and motivational process are all parts to vicarious learning (Gruman, Schneider, & Coutts, 2017). When we learn vicariously, we are doing so because we expect to be rewarded. As described through the processes, one must pay attention to the situation to understand how to model the behavior. The representational process is being able to remember the behavior that was observed in the attention phase. Learning how to perform the behavior is the behavioral production process. Vicarious learning ends with the motivational process which is the behaviors people choose to perform through their own motivation.

Now that you’ve gained a deeper understanding on social cognitive theory, you’re probably wondering why it’s relevant. Let’s work through an example and put this theory into action. A study was conducted on children and physical activity. Vicarious learning would tell us that the first step to this study would be to have children observe others doing physical activity such as running around a track. The second step would be children remembering others running around the track. The third step would be learning how to run around the track. The last step would be for those children to find the motivation to run around the track.

Most often, people believe that children will model whatever behavior they observe, but this study proved that’s not always the case. The outcome of the study was that very little variance was observed between behaviors (Ramirez, Kulinna, & Cothran, 2012). Where did the study go wrong? There’s not necessarily a wrong approach to the study. We have to keep in mind that the last step of vicarious learning is not as easy to manipulate as the others. We can force children to observe behaviors. We can help them remember by continuous observation and reinforcement. We can also teach them the behavior, so they know how to do it. What we cannot do is force them to have the internal motivation needed to perform the behavior on their own.

Having an understanding of the motivational process can help alleviate any frustrations when people aren’t performing as expected. This is especially important in children for parents and caregivers because we have to understand that children are in control of their own behavior and all we can do is help them learn. We cannot force children to do things they don’t want to do. They have to be willing to find their own motivation. Our best approach to using the social cognitive theory with children is to encourage the behaviors we want them to exhibit and hope they’re motivated to perform them.

 

References:

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

Ramirez, E., Kulinna, P. H., & Cothran, D. (2012). Constructs of physical activity behaviour in children: The usefulness of social cognitive theory. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 13(3), 303-310. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2011.11.007

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23
Sep 21

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Have you been in a situation where you experienced an unpleasant event that left you traumatized for the rest of your life? Well, that is considered post-traumatic stress disorder in which an unpleasant event or incident happened that might cause life threatening injuries to a person. Although some are not life-long, many might be for a while and cause a person to fear his life. Symptoms, like nightmares, irritation, anxiety, depression and many more, should be shown before giving a person this diagnosis. An example of PTSD is riding a roller coaster in which I give an example explaining it more in depth below. Some treatments that would help with PTSD are cognitive processing theory and medications. PTSD is a psychological disorder that relates to other mental health disorders that we discussed in class like anxiety and depression.

Post-traumatic stress disorder is a psychological disorder in which an incident or event happened that caused a person to constantly stay afraid or traumatized afterwards. Some reasons that a person might experience post-traumatic stress disorder is either experiencing an unpleasant event or going through something. For example, if someone has a fear of roller coasters and rides it one time or even sees on the news that a roller coaster stops midair for hours this would cause a person’s anxiety levels to increase causing a person to develop PTSD. It would also cause a person to fear riding a rollercoaster ever again. Not only does it cause a person to stress about it, but it might cause a person to have other symptoms. Other symptoms are like not being able to sleep, causing mental health problems, hyper vigilance, depression, nightmares and many more.

This might even cause a person to stress about it while only thinking and talking about remembering the bad experience. Some might experience it for a long time while others might only experience it for a short period of time. There are treatments that a person can go through which would help them with solving the problem. An example is cognitive processing theory in which the process changes the way that a person might think by changing their attitude resulting in a change in their feelings. Another treatment is medications in which stress relievers are given to a person to help calm down their nerves. As well as exposure therapy is a beneficial treatment because it helps with “Repeated confrontation of traumatic memories, often through detailed recounting of the traumatic experience” (3 Jonathan). These are only a few treatments for PTSD. Connecting it to the example of a roller coaster, PTSD is considered as a rollercoaster because of the ups and downs that it causes a person to go through. Consider yourself a psychologist or even a student pursuing psychology, how would you approach a person with PTSD? 

Post-traumatic stress disorder connects to the textbook reading in which it connects to different psychological disorders like anxiety and depression. PTSD is a form of anxiety in which as the levels of PTSD increases, more anxiety is caused. PTSD is considered a psychological disorder and to find treatments for these disorders, “social psychologists who work in this area study factors that might bias the process of identifying the nature of a client’s difficulty. They also study the impact on the client’s welfare of giving a diagnostic label to a client” (Gruman 99). Many disorders can be treated after researchers’ work with patients and finding the reason behind the diagnosis. An issue that is present in most physiological disorders is the labeling effect in which a person’s identity might be influenced by words that describe a person. There are other issues in psychological disorders which are present in the textbook like stereotypes, anchoring, and the confirmation bias (Gruman 124). Even though there are issues related to PTSD, it can be treated through different formats. 

Experiencing a traumatic incident or event that might cause a person to injure themselves is considered as post-traumatic stress disorder. There are many symptoms in which a person goes through to consider themselves having PTSD like constant fear, anxiety, lack of sleep, mental health problems, and many more. After diagnosing someone with PTSD, there are some treatments in which a person can go through to help with their mental disorder like cognitive processing, medications, and exposure therapy. Post-traumatic stress disorder connects to other psychological disorders discussed in the textbook like anxiety and depression. Even though there are treatments for PTSD, I think there should be more treatments and solutions to post-traumatic stress disorder. One question to keep you thinking is, how would you approach a person with PTSD?

Here is a link to another example of PTSD if you are interested.

https://youtu.be/YMC2jt_QVEE 

References:

Bisson, J. (2007, April 12). Post-traumatic stress disorder. Retrieved September 23, 2021, from https://www.bmj.com/content/334/7597/789

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

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27
Sep 17

Acrophobia Be Damned!

Over the past several years I have had the unpleasant experience of acrophobia (fear of heights). My first experience occurred during a much-anticipated trip to Italy. I was walking up the circular steps of the Duomo Climb to the Top of Florence’s Duomo to the cupola when all the sudden an intense fear overcame me. My excitement in viewing the frescoes and Florence were overcome with a sense of doom and panic. This intense fear filled me with angst, as the only way to exit was to walk around the entire circular cupola to reach the exit on the other side. The large crowds propelled me forward as I held onto the wall for support. Eventually, I did make it to the other side and began the quick descent down the stairs. It has been two years since this episode and I have experienced quite a few similar incidents that has altered my lifestyle. However, recently I learned of a possible cure for my acrophobia through a technique called observational learning.

Observational learning is a concept Bandura (1986) observed from his Social Cognitive Theory of learning. This theory believes learning is achieved through observations and processes to stimuli and responses (Schneider, Gruman, & Coutts, 2012). More specifically, Bandura’s (1986) observational technique focusses on four processes that coincide with learning: attention, retention, reproduction, and motivation. Attention is the ability to learn the observed behavior as its occurring. Retention is the ability to remember the learned behavior that you witnessed. Problems with attention and retention have been demonstrated to take a longer time to cure phobias (Yarwood, 2017). Reproduction is being able to perform the learned behavior. However, one must have the motivation required to engage in the learned behavior. To be cured of this phobia, I will have to focus on all four of these processes and perform the same behaviors exhibited by someone modeling the desired behaviors. However, before I can perform these behaviors I need to have self-efficacy.

Self-efficacy is the belief that one has the confidence to exhibit control over a desired behavior (Schneider, Gruman, & Coutts, 2012). Obviously, I lack self-efficacy because I am extremely fearful of heights and do not have to skill set to overcome this phobia. My hope is that with the observational technique, I will overcome this fear and once again be able to explore all the wonderful landscapes of my environment.

Unbeknownst to my family members, I tried to incorporate this technique while on a hike near an overlook. I watched as my family members climbed rocks on an overlook and it proved to be a challenging task. My children and husband have no fears of heights and I tried to just watch as they sat on the rocks of the overlook and marveled at the canyon down below. This proved ineffective because my attention was not focusing on their behaviors. I would close or cover my eyes as I watched them get closer and closer to the edge of the canyon. Obviously, this exercise proved to be a challenging task and I will be seeking professional help in the hopes of curing my acrophobia.

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

Schneider, F., Gruman, J., and Coutts, L. (2012). Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems. (2ed). Washington D.C., Sage Publications.

Yarwood, M. (n.d.). Psych 424 Module Lesson 5: Health and Clinical/Counseling – Part 2. PSU World Campus. Retrieved from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/1867078/modules/items/22915541.

 

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08
Apr 17

Applied Social Psychology in Our Daily Lives

Social psychologists agree that the research findings in the field can be very helpful when they are applied to our own lives (Nelson A., 2017). Social psychology can be used in different areas of our lives such as, our way of thinking, relationships (personal and professional), physical and mental health etc. At the center of all these, it’s human social cognitive system interacting with everyday situations. What are some ways that we can use applied social psychology to better our everyday lives? I am sure that we all can work on ourselves and improve different areas of our lives. Some of us have relationship issues, whether personal or professional and we can always use findings from applied social psychology research to improve the said relationships. I had mentioned Social cognitive system initially and how it interacts with our everyday real situations which brings me to the question of what is Social Cognition?

Social cognition means the process of thinking about ourselves and other people. According to Allport (1985) social cognition is a major idea in social psychology attempting to understand how our thoughts, personal feelings and behavior of individuals are all influenced by the actual, imagined and or implied presence of others (Nelson A., 2017). Our minds are designed for hot action-oriented cognition rather than cold. What that means is that, it’s better to think less and act quickly in an emergency rather than analyzing the situation and risk the consequences of not responding swiftly. The “hot and “cold” action-oriented cognition is another example of a basic characteristic of human cognition that I personally find very interesting. It has been proven that applied social psychology can be used to better our relationships with others. Some of us have issues with our personal relationships, whether it be with our significant others, siblings or our boss and associates at work.

Given how critical our personal relationships are to our happiness, how we can improve the quality of all our relationships? Based on research evidence five practices can be used to nurture our personal relationship with our significant others. According to research listening to our partner we validate their importance to us and increasing the relationship bond with him or her. Compliment is also very important in our relationships, and it increases the closeness of our relationship with our partner. It is very important to notice our spouse and telling her or him what we have noticed shows our interest and can enhance our relationship bond. One thing that we want to steer clear of is social comparison. Social comparison can be very toxic to our happiness, so when we see someone excelling at work for example, we would want to celebrate and congratulate them on their achievements. Lastly, we need to unplug and spend more time with our partner. According to research we spend average of 53 hours a week plugged in to some sort of device (Holder M., 2017).

According to social psychology jealousy is a major issue in our personal relationships and one thing that causes jealousy is attraction. While we have learned that opposites attract, that is only true in short term relationships. In long term relationships, we tend to look for a partner that is like ourselves. In social psychology that is explained as similar-to-me-effect. An example of this effect can be seen not only in our personal lives but it is evident that it also exists in our workplace as well. The “Similar to Me” effect refers to a well-researched tendency of interviewers and supervisors to favor those individuals who are similar to them. Put simply, people are attracted to candidates with similar senses of humor, similar conversational styles, even similar physical appearances (Cliff H., 2011).

In conclusion, it is safe to say that applied social psychology is used in our everyday lives. According to Social Cognition our thoughts and personal feelings and behavior of individuals are all influenced by the actual, imagined and or implied presence of others. Moreover, we tend to use social psychology to better our personal relationships in our personal and professional lives. For example, the evidence of similar-to-me-effect can be seen almost everywhere from workplaces to our personal individual lives. when people must think about how to communicate with another person it becomes a cognitive drain or overload that makes the relationship more work than it is possibly worth. It is more common than not to see those with knowledge of applied social psychology use what they’ve learned from research and studies to better their personal and professional lives.

References

Allport, A. (1985). The historical background of social psychology. In G. Lindzey & E. Aronson (Eds.). Handbook of social psychology (Vol. 1, 3rd ed., pp. 1-46). New York: Random House.

Cliff H., Weddedness, (2011, October 7). Similar to Me. Retrieved April 8, 2017, from www.weddedness.com

Holder M., Psychology Today, (2017, February 5). Five Simple Steps to Better Relationships. Retrieved April 8, 2017, from www.psychologytoday.com

Nelson, A. (2017). Lesson 12. Applied social psychology: Relationships / Everyday life. Presented on the PSYCH 424 course content site lecture at the Pennsylvania State University.

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25
Oct 15

My love/hate relationship with reality television

What makes sane people do insane things? Why would people want to sit in a chair and watch videos of other people walking and talking in “unscripted” ways? That doesn’t sounds very appealing to me. I want to spend my evenings reading about practical things like new medical advances that can help me, my dad with Parkinson’s, and my brother with clinical depression. I’d also like to read more about all the alternative healing modalities I’ve yet to explore, learn more about quantum physics and parallel universes, and make time to organize my closets and drawers. But what do I do instead? Sometimes I turn on the Real Housewives. Why on earth would I do such a thing?

Most people in my family despise reality shows, some friends unabashedly own their addiction, and others like me watch consistently but don’t advertise it. Is it a guilty pleasure? What draws hundreds of millions of people all over the world into this swelling phenomenon? Does the appeal lie somewhere in our human nature or is it more specific to the current zeitgeist? The soaring popularity of reality television undoubtedly speaks to a collective fascination we have with one another. It’s both captivating and baffling that we seem to relish such a one-directional anonymous scrutiny of other people the way that scientists study animals in their natural environment. I wonder if it ties into a universal curiosity of the separateness or otherness we subconsciously feel. Or perhaps it’s our insecurities that lead us to social comparison where we are gratified to see everyone else’s flaws exposed, equalizing us. It could be that because we naturally pigeonhole people (as a cognitively efficient way of interacting with the world) as rich or fat or beautiful or old or spoiled or conniving or perfect, that it becomes incredibly refreshing to see that everyone else is as multi-dimensional and human as we are. But then, it’s the gossip and arguing that leads to good ratings, so does that mean we’re all secret sadists?

According to the recent literature, my conflicting emotions towards this new type of entertainment are consistent with the masses: research indicates that although many people claim to dislike reality shows, most people watch at least one on a regular basis. Studies show that people gravitate to the voyeuristic nature of reality television mainly for escapism and vicarious membership (Riddle & De Simone, 2013). This makes sense when many of the shows feature beautiful and wealthy characters living out extravagant, albeit often dysfunctional, lives. According to the social–cognitive theory, reality television audiences may model the self-disclosure behaviors that the characters display in their confessionals, since viewers are more likely to be very active on social media sites sharing intimate aspects of their own lives. Alternatively, the cultivation theory explains that heavy viewership of any entertainment genre makes viewers more inclined to overlap the TV world with the real world, often believing that the TV reality is real. For instance, people who watch shows with violent themes tend to view the world as more violent, those who watch romance-themed shows believe real life relationships should mimic the frequently unattainable levels of romance in the programs, etc. Pertaining to reality shows, the research suggests that viewers tend to believe that women in general behave more poorly than men with regard to verbal aggression and spreading rumors. In addition, the audience has a skewed perception of romantic relationships with the prevalence of both sex and dysfunction (affairs or divorce) being erroneously overestimated (Riddle & De Simone, 2013).

Many people are unaware of how powerful the media’s influence is on us. Studies suggest it’s the media who are often responsible for establishing the public agendas, and framing is a major tool they use. Story framing involves highlighting some dynamics while understating or eliminating others entirely to create a certain picture or send a message (Schneider, Gruman, & Coutts, 2012).  Reality television achieves this by taking hours and hours of boring footage and editing it down into eight-minute titillating segments that weave into interesting, hour-long storylines. The producers have the power to remove or include any second of filming they captured. Can you imagine if someone did that to our lives – edited it all down to portray us as angels or monsters? We all have our moments and the good reality shows like to reveal both good qualities and flaws when humanizing their characters in an effort to make them relatable.

The research is beginning to present patterns which suggest a causal effect of reality television on people’s attitudes and beliefs (Riddle & De Simone, 2013). This is a somewhat mindboggling notion: edited, often scripted movies about people presented to us as authentic snapshots of their lives are changing the way we think and feel about ourselves and the world? It almost too absurd to be true that these shows could be shifting social norms, but perhaps it’s simply a difficult truth to face. Much like everything else before it I believe the reality television market will eventually become saturated, interest will wane, and the pendulum will swing. But which novelty will it swing to next – back to a previous format or some new level of voyeurism? Reading some of the literature explaining the fascination of reality shows gives me pause to examine my own motives and gratification for watching, and consider whether it has reshaped any of my own cognitions.

References

Riddle, K., & De Simone, J. J. (2013). A snooki effect? An exploration of the surveillance subgenre of reality TV and viewers’ beliefs about the “real” real world. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 2(4), 237-250. doi:http://dx.doi.org.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/10.1037/ppm0000005

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

 

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22
Mar 15

Toilet Etiquette – Vicarious Learning with Daniel Tiger

“If you have to go potty, STOP and go right away.  Flush and wash and be on your way” a catchy tune courtesy of Daniel Tiger (Hamburg, et al., 2012).  Daniel Tiger is somewhat of a celebrity in households across the United States, including mine.  Daniel is a cartoon, preschool-aged tiger and the main character of Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood on the Public Broadcasting Station (PBS) (2015).daniel tiger Episodes of the popular show teach children life lessons about sharing, conflict resolution and even toilet etiquette using familiar characters from Mister Rogers Neighborhood (PBS).  The purpose of this post will be to describe how the show uses the applied social psychological principles of vicarious learning and social cognitive theory to instill valuable lessons of toilet hygiene and restroom etiquette in its preschool audience using my own experience in potty training my oldest son.

If you have ever tried to potty train a toddler (especially a boy), you can understand why you would take all the help you could get in teaching them proper potty hygiene, manners and most importantly, to stop and use the restroom right away when the urge strikes even if it means interrupting something enjoyable.  Daniel Tiger was an unexpected, but essential player in potty training my now four year old son.  Episode 111 of the latest season features Prince Wednesday and Daniel Tiger learning lessons about toilet training including one of our favorite songs that reminds my son that as fun as it is to play,  it is important to stop and use the bathroom when needed (Hamburg, et al., 2012).  In each episode, Daniel and Prince Wednesday are both encouraged and rewarded for using the bathroom to avoid accidents and following proper restroom hygiene by adults around them.

daniel_potty

Throughout our potty training adventure my son would imitate the bathroom etiquette he learned while watching Daniel Tiger and sing his potty song reminder.  In fact, I occasionally still hear him singing it when he has to leave playtime to use the bathroom over a year later.  According to Ewoldson and Roskos (2012) my son is experiencing vicarious learning which involves imitating a behavior because one has seen that behavior receive rewards.  Bandura utilized the concept of vicarious learning in the development of the social cognitive theory of mass communications which in our text was applied to the imitation of violence (Ewoldson & Roskos).  However, here I place the concept and theory in a more positive light as it helped to make potty training less of challenge.

Bandura’s social cognitive theory has four facets that are required for vicarious learning: attention, representational process, behavioral production process and motivational process (Ewoldson & Roskos, 2012). The subsequent paragraphs will define each facet and how they have been established by Daniel Tiger’s life lessons.

Attention involves whether or not the viewer notices and shows interest in a behavior (Ewoldson & Roskos, 2012).  In the case of toilet etiquette, attention was garnered by Daniel using a catchy song and my son’s curiosity with the all things potty.  The second facet of social cognitive theory, representational process involves the ability to remember an observed behavior (Ewoldson & Roskos).  Ewoldson and Roskos point out that this step is often characterized by rehearsing the desired behavior.  For example, my son would often sing the potty song to himself although he was not reliably potty trained and often needed reminders and prompts to avoid accidents.  Next, social cognitive theory defines the behavioral production process.  Behavioral production allows generalization of a given behavior to different contexts (Ewoldson & Roskos).  Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood set the stage for this process by first teaching toilet etiquette in the familiar setting of a school in one episode then following up in the next episode with Daniel applying what he had learned in the preschool setting to the music shop while out running errands with his dad (Hamburg, et al., 2012).  The final dimension is motivational process which involves establishing the factors that motivate individuals’ behaviors (Ewoldson & Roskos).  The motivational process involves imitation of desirable behaviors with consideration given to factors that influence motivation like rewards, justification, realism, and identifying with the behavior modeler (Ewoldson & Roskos).  For example, my son was able to identify with Daniel Tiger and Prince Wednesday as preschoolers who were learning to use the bathroom, just like him.  Additionally, we learned that a reward as small as a sticker was enough to coax my son to try the toilet.

Our younger son just turned two in January so I will again be looking to my friend Daniel to help me along the way in our next adventure in potty training.  New awareness established through the principles of applied social psychology including Bandura’s social cognitive theory and vicarious learning will make things even easier.  This time around I will also enlist the help of his big brother since the little guy learns vicariously through him every day, for better or for worse!

-Windy Alonso

 

References

Ewoldson, D. & Roskos, B. (2012). Applying social psychology to the media, in Applied Social Psychology Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems (2nd ed.) Schneider, Gruman, & Coutts (Eds.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Hamburg, J., Santomero, A. & Friedman, B. (Writers). (2012, September). Episode 111: Prince Wednesday goes to the potty. Daniel goes to the potty [Television series episode]. In A. Santomero, K. Morrison & V. Commisso (Producers), Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood. New York, NY: The Fred Rogers Company.

Public Broadcasting Station. (2015). Daniel Tigers Neighborhood. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/parents/daniel/

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27
Oct 14

It’s All Fun and Games

My nephew Jasen is 12 years old and is in 7th grade. He loves (some would say is obsessed with) video games. He lives with his grandparents and they monitor his “electronic time” very closely for precisely this reason. Recently, they caught him playing “Assassin’s Creed.” Since this video game had not been assassins-creed-deathblowpre approved by them, he was “grounded.” His response to the punishment was, “that’s not fair, it’s only a game.” Is that true? Do they have a reason to be worried? Who is right? Applied social psychology may help provide an answer.

It is proven that violent media increases aggressive behavior (Schneider, Gruman, & Coutts, 2012, pg 140). How likely is it that Assassin’s Creed will help my nephew learn to be violent? I will use Bandura’s social cognitive theory as a measuring stick. According to Bandura’s theory there are four processes that need to happen before this can occur: attention, representation, behavioral production, and motivation (Schneider, Gruman, & Coutts, 2012, pg 142). The more “Assassin’s Creed” helps to facilitate these processes, the more likely it is to teach my nephew Jasen to be violent. We will begin by taking a closer look at each process and then I will see how this video game impacts each before I render a final judgment.

So, the first process that must occur for vicarious learning is attention. Mostly, this has to do with how salient and attractive the behavior is (Schneider, Gruman, & Coutts, 2012, pg 142). The second process is the representational process. This involves mentally rehearsing the behavior. The third process is behavioral production. This is learning how to take the observed behavior and apply it to related but novel behaviors. The last process that must occur is a motivational process. How bad does a person want to imitate the behavior? This is influenced by whether the behavior is punished or rewarded. Rewarded behaviors are more likely to be imitated. It is also motivating if the behavior is seen as justified. Yet another factor that motivates one to imitate violence is whether it is realistic. The last thing I will mention is whether or not the perpetrator of the violence is liked.

Now that we have a better idea of how this theory works, how does Assassin’s Creed stack up? Lets look at the first process, attention. Being that Jasen is playing the game, in other words he needs to be an active participant; it is clearly very salient to him. It is not in the background while he is doing something else. Also, it is a very exciting and action packed game. Thus, it is easy to attract and keep his attention. So the game scores high on the first process needed to facilitate imitation.

The second process, if you recall, is a representational process. I know for a fact he remembers the game because I asked him about it after he got into trouble. He emphatically recounted the “mission” he had to complete. To go along with the story, he acted out several of the solutions he had figured out along the way. He would tiptoe around the living room and jump onto the couch while he stabbed the air to show me how he snuck up and killed a guard. He was clearly mentally rehearsing what he had seen. Overall the game scores high for the second process as well.

We then move on to the third process of behavioral production. This involves taking the observed behavior and applying it to novel situations. I actually did not think much of it at the time (this incident took place before he got in trouble) but there was something that could apply to this process. I was in another room when I heard Jasen yell boo and then I heard his grandpa give a fright. Jasen then walked out into the room I occupied and told me with a big grin how he had scared his grandpa half to death. He had hidden behind the door and waited for his grandfather to pass. As his grandpa did this, Jasen leapt from his hiding spot and screamed at his bewildered grandpa. This sneaking around and pouncing is eerily familiar to the tactics used in the game. Now I am not sure how long Jasen had been playinAssassins-Creed-Fightg the game. I am also not sure if this episode was a result of having watched the game. It would not surprise me in the least if both were true however. So overall the evidence for the third process is not as strong as I would have liked but it is possible.

The last process we will examine is motivational. In the game the player is rewarded for successful assassinations by receiving new weapons and points. The next question is whether or not the violence is justified. In the game, the main character Desmond Miles is trying to stop an organization called Abstergo (who also kidnapped Desmond) from taking over the world. So clearly, Desmond is supposed to be justified in his actions. The violence is also extremely realistic as you can see from the screen shots above and at the top of the page. I would also say that Jasen definitely liked and identified with Desmond the assassin. He “is” Desmond when he plays the game. Also Desmond is a shadowy, rugged individual that seems to be an ideal in our culture.

Putting this all together, Jasen’s grandparents are wise to not let him play such a game. There is strong evidence that he would try to imitate this behavior. There is strong evidence for almost every part in Bandura’s theory. I would be especially worried because of his burgeoning cognitive abilities. A few years ago, he was not able to think in abstract terms and now he is. I feel like these new abilities make him very impressionable. Playing a game like that, at the age he is, does not seem like a good idea. Applied social psychology and the chapter on media can help explain why.

References

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

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27
Oct 14

#2aday

Myfitnesspal, Mydailyplate, Sparkpeople. These are just a few examples of several social media applications/websites that are utilized to gain control over ones health by serving as a platform to record food and exercise. It is not uncommon to hear about the growing trend in obesity that is plaguing the United States. The growing waistlines have spurred application and website developers to create something to help the masses find their health. It is the era of preventative medicine. But what happens when something meant to influence the population positively does just the opposite?

According to Ginny Graves’ Huffington Post article titled, “How to Know If You’re Addicted to Exercise”, young women are developing unhealthy obessions with exercise, sprouted from the influence of social media, such as fitspo photos touting near perfect fit bodies and #2aday tweets bragging about daily workouts. Dr. Jordan Metzl, M.D., a sports medicine doctor for the New York hospital for Special Surgery confirms that while daily is helpful and even recommended, “it is possible to take exercise too far.” (Graves, 2009).

Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory (1986, 2009) argues that much of what we learn is done vicariously through media via four processes: attention, representational process, behavioral production process and motivational process (Schneider,Gruman, Coutts, 2012). Applying this theory to the issue of over exercise tells us that one can be influenced by viewing fitness photos in social media, remembering the figures of fitness viewed, figure out how to perform and practice fitness activities such as dieting and exercise and lastly, are motivated by the athletic figures viewed and the goal of obtaining the same.

However, Social Cognitive Theory can also be applied in order to prevent addictive exercise behavior. Similar to Nathanson and Cantor’s (2000) study on reducing reward value in order to reduce desensitization on subject matter, social media can be used to reduce the reward value placed on exercise. Since young women are over-exercising in order to achieve the often unachieveable fit bodies represented in social media, interventions should include promoting realistic figures, diets and exercise plans that include rest. Also, if social media were to post stories of the fitness models describing how extreme and unrealistic their fitness schedules are to reduce the reward value on over exercise, this woud lead to more realistic ideas of what fitness truly is.

There are many approaches to evaluate the impact of this intervention. Social media websites and applications can use metrics to compare before and after rates of views on fitness and exercise themed photos. Gyms can use statistics to track the number of women partaking in back to back classes, or to track the average time spent in the gym during a visit, or how many same day repeat visits occur.

References

Graves, G. (2014) How to Know if You’re Addicted to Exercise. Retrieved from www.huffingtonpost.com/self

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.

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