As we have learned in previous lessons, everyone uses varying forms of scripts to forecast certain actions they may need to take. A script is just that: a set of actions we will need to execute in order to complete a task (Goldstein, 2011). This could be as simple as going to the grocery store (parking the car, getting out of the car, finding a shopping cart, etc) to giving a detailed presentation on an opinionated topic. However, what happens when the scripts we follow are being demonstrated because we are trying to “fit in,” or when we have never preformed such task before? Normative social influence occurs when someone’s behavior will be publicly accepted in order to fit in and be viewed upon positively by society. People that act in this respect typically may show an obvious level of public compliance, but an internal private disagreement with the topic at hand (Aronson, 2016). This blog post will discuss a relevant problem, where the power of scripts paired with one’s desire to exhibit normative social influence can directly impact the safety of others around them: protesting our most recent presidential election.

As we’ve seen in the news, cities across the nation have been protesting our most recent election results, such as those in New York, Oakland, Atlanta, Chicago and Oregon (Haynes, 2016). Though many of us may not have actively participated in a protest before, we more than likely can create some type of script to help us understand what our role would be if we were peacefully protesting: make a sign, wear comfortable shoes, be prepared to walk long distances, and be vocal. Typically, the most empowering factor when one protests is their genuine desire to voice their concern and feelings to spread awareness about a topic they are passionate about.

All political affiliation aside, I think many of us can agree that some protests can become quite dangerous when violence, or other means of destruction, has taken place. Relating to scripts and normative social influence, a city in Oregon has been experiencing large amounts of violent protests since the election results were declared. With many different protests having occurred, the most concerning occurred when over 71 people were arrested in a single night, mainly for disorderly conduct in the second degree (Butler, 2016). Interestingly enough, many of those arrested had never been arrested before, pointing to the power that scripts and normative social influence may play in deciding how and when to act during a protest against a very outspoken president-elect (of course, not in all cases). As well, in a separate protest in Oregon, 79 out of the total 112 protesters actually didn’t vote at all during the election, again – a possible sign of social influence in protesting (Iboshi, 2016). These conclusions go hand-in-hand with the impacts of group polarization – a term that describes how individuals can act in extreme manners and loose individual responsibility while in a large group (Aronson, 2016). Both normative social influence and group polarization, however, start with the beginning fundamentals of “accepted” scripts.

The power that scripts have, and the ability for someone to watch another’s actions, can directly relate to normative social influence in negative ways. If bottle throwing, shooting, looting and violent rioting could subside, hopefully protesting ideals can become more peaceful and promote respective attitudes.

References

Aronson, E., Wilson, T. D., Akert, R. M., & Sommers, S. R. (2016). Social Psychology (Ninth ed., pp. 189-222). N.p.: Pearson Education, Inc.

Butler, G. (2016, November 13). 549 shares 71 people arrested during Saturday’s violent protests in downtown Portland. In www.oregonlive.com. Retrieved November 16, 2016, from http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2016/11/71_people_arrested_during_satu.html

Goldstein, E. (2011). Congitive Psychology (Third ed., pp. 24-76). N.p.: Linda Schreiber-Ganster.

Haynes, C. (2016, November 12). Damian Lillard on Trump protests: ‘Tearing apart your own city just isn’t the place to begin’. In www.espn.com. Retrieved November 16, 2016, from http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/18031369/damian-lillard-questions-violent-protests-portland-oregon-following-donald-trump-election

Iboshi, K. (2016, November 15). Most of arrested Portland protesters are from Oregon. In www.kgw.com. Retrieved November 16, 2016, from http://www.kgw.com/news/local/more-than-half-of-arrested-anti-trump-protesters-didnt-vote/351964445

When learning about content from our past lessons, I became more and more interested with the capabilities of the serial position effect. In simple terms, the serial position effect states that we remember what occurs at the beginning and at the end of scenarios more than what occurs in-between. I found this to be true when remembering what happened during movies, recollecting on presentations from peers or even when remembering short-encounters seconds later. In all of these scenarios I found one common denominator: I really could never remember what happened in the middle. But is there a connection between the serial position effect and businesses? Are companies using the serial position effect when I’m watching an advertisement on television? This blog post will briefly discuss how the serial position effect works and its role in advertisements.

The serial position effect was first found by conducting a series of experiments that tested how well participants remembered a series of words given over a certain period of time. The experiment firstly revealed that participants remembered more of what occurred at the beginning of the experiment, known as the primacy effect. The primacy effect works because the words or concepts first understood can be rehearsed more, as there is no other information needing to be remembered. This allows long-term memory to be accessed; thus, further reinforcing each word or concept. On the other end, the recency effect occurs when words or activity are remembered at the end of a scenario. This happens because information has just been understood and is still active in short-term memory when being immediately recalled. The display of these findings are shown by the serial position curve; highlighting the low-points during the middle of presented information (Peterson, 2011).

Furthermore, how the findings of the serial position effect play into marketing and advertising are astonishing. Since we are aware that information in the middle of a list or scenario can be forgotten, advertisements deliberately put more crucial information at the beginning and end of commercials; scaling and presenting their key points in a manner that will benefit them the most. As well, the time-frame of when information is revealed to viewers plays a heavy role in whether companies will place the most important information at the beginning or end (Hamm, 2012). For example, if there will be a longer delay in a decision from a customer after exposure to an advertisement, companies tend to place the most important items first (long-term memory/primacy). However, if asked to make a decision or recall information almost immediately after exposure, companies place the most important items last on the advertisement (short-term memory/recency).

In addition, priming and product placement both play a role in marketing and advertisements with respect to memory and recollection. According to studies, if a customer is viewing an advertisement and sees the price before processing the benefits of the product (pricing primacy), they are more likely to be very aware, articulate and analytical about said item using the price as an anchor. This is true because the primacy effect captured and rehearsed the price before any previous information. However, if the reverse occurs and the benefits of the product are shown before the price (product primacy), customers tend to be more sympathetic to the benefits of the product and the price becomes less critical in making a decision to buy (Birkett, 2016).

In summary, the way our short-term memory and long-term memory work together when rehearsing and recalling information retained semantically or episodically greatly impacts how marketers strategically gear advertisements for the benefit of their company.

References

Birkett, A. (2016). Serial Position Effect: Why Order Matters in Optimization. In  www.conversationxl.com. Retrieved October 15, 2016, from http://conversionxl.com/serial-position-effect/

Goldstein, E. (2011). Congitive Psychology (Third ed., pp. 24-76). N.p.: Linda Schreiber-Ganster.

Hamm, T. (2012, September 6). The Primacy and Recency Effect and Your Next Purchase. In www.thesimpledollar.com. Retrieved October 15, 2016, from http://www.thesimpledollar.com/the-primacy-and-recency-effect-and-your-next-purchase/

In my experience, habitually perceiving the world negatively can become very draining, entirely inaccurate and can make us feel pretty poorly about ourselves. But who is to say that we are actually doing this, and not our pre-existing neural pathways we are so accustomed to unconsciously following? From the material in our lessons, and much else of our brain’s function, we can conclude that we have neurons everywhere. With each neuron eventually comes a neural pathway, and these pathways happen to play a very large role in the way we perceive the world around us, and ourselves individually (Walker, 2014). This post will focus on the brief science behind neurons and pathways, the actuality of pre-existing pathways, and their undeniable ability to reshape themselves.

Scientifically, individual neurons each have a cell body that encompass many dendrites, or “touch receptors.” These touch receptors have an ability to connect, or electrically synapse, with another cell body in the form of an action potential (Goldstein, 2011). With billions of neurons in our brain, and the many complex and detailed ways in which our brain operates and processes information, it is without a doubt that we also have billions of neural pathways. Within our body we have many varying types of neurons; however, the main types are sensory neurons, motor neurons and interneurons. Each type of neuron is extremely important and powerful, and does synapse and create respective pathways. In respect to the power of our brain and mind, interneurons become the focus as they exclusively are within the spinal cord and brain (Neurons, 2013).

Though this post could be much more in-depth, the power of pre-existing neural pathways are substantial. These pathways are created at a very young age; thus, continuously reinforced and strengthened, as the same information is being used and reaffirmed (Tassell, 2014). Cognitively, these pathways serve as the habitual “tape-recording” we play, which may help define us, dictate what obligations lie ahead, or how well we are doing them. Additionally, we can recognize heuristics and their ability to magnify the power of neural pathways, by proving how our brain can pull preconceived information forward like a shortcut (Goldstein, 2011). Since we can clearly see the power of strengthened and existing neural pathways, we can conversely ascertain their disappearance if we do not access such data often. If there is a long-term period where certain neural pathways are not used, they can completely dismantle (Tassell, 2014).

Thus, we are brought to the powerful capabilities of neuroplasticity – the resiliency and creativity our neural pathways have to re-route and re-create potentially more fulfilling, new and applicable pathways that may suit our unique age, interests and culture. Based on environment, some of us may have a disposition to pain, trauma or negative neural pathways. To a certain degree, both hemispheres of our brain have the ability to overcompensate for the other. In simple form, the way this works is by changing thought patterns, training our mind to maybe add a positive to a negative, take a new route home from work or simply gain knowledge (Liou, 2010).

By investigating this topic, it is visible that the way we think is somewhat solidified and unconsciously guiding much of what we do. Luckily, we do have the ability to change the way we perceive, if we choose to. This topic directly verifies how apparent and important neurons are, the role they play in our ability to simply exist, and how we may enjoy our existence.

References

Goldstein, E. (2011). Congitive Psychology (Third ed., pp. 24-76). N.p.: Linda Schreiber-Ganster.

Liou, S. (2010, June 26). Neuroplasticity. In web.stanford.edu. Retrieved September 9, 2016, from http://web.stanford.edu/group/hopes/cgi-bin/hopes_test/neuroplasticity/

Neurons, . (2013, May 6). Neurons. In www.biology-pages.info. Retrieved September 9, 2016, from http://www.biology-pages.info/N/Neurons.html

Tassell, D. V. (2004). Neural Pathway Development. In www.brains.org. Retrieved September 9, 2016, from http://www.brains.org/path.htm

Walker, A. (2014, July 1). How Your Thought Pathways Affect Your Life. In www.drwalker.com. Retrieved September 9, 2016, from http://www.drawalker.com/blog/how-your-thought-pathways-create-your-life