discrimination

The other week in my Abnormal Psychology class Madison Equality came in to speak to us students and allow us the opportunity to ask questions about their sexuality. Madison Equality consists of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered people.  The people on the board that day ranged from gay, lesbian, bisexual, as well as gender queer. It was a very eye opening experience for me and I am grateful to have had such a class. The people that made up Madison Equality were answering questions that hit a broad spectrum of topics but one that shocked me was the extent to how negatively they were treated by the public.  I must be naïve because I thought that in today’s day and age people were a little more accepting of the fact that not everyone is heterosexual. People are more than entitled to have their own personal beliefs and views on such topics as homosexuality but for them to make it known to others is not something I think highly of. This brings me to the topic of the day…DISCRIMINATION! Discrimination can be defined as groundless negative behavior towards a particular person simply because they are in a specific group that the other is not in. The main part of this definition that I feel needs to be emphasized is groundless because to discriminate against a whole race or a whole sex is unnecessary. The people of Madison Equality told us about how a few of them from the group went out to a couple bars downtown and ended up leaving every single one of them. They were not leaving because they were bored or tired like most people would; they left because of other people’s behaviors toward them. The bouncer at one bar didn’t want to let them in, but had no real reason not to so he heatedly let them in. After leaving because of the looks and whispers they were being target by people even went so far as to throw cups at them as they left. This type of negative behavior due to something as little as a person’s sexual preference is definitely discrimination. I think it should be known to everyone that discrimination is not just concerning race, and it is still an issue today.

altrusim

The idea of altruism is all around us all the time. Altruism can be defined as being selfless or the concern for others. Altruism is most common in social structures that contain complex social atmospheres. My thoughts on altruism are on the fence because it is difficult to tell if someone is acting generous towards you due to a true care, or just their need to not been seen differently by the social group. A real life example of altruism to me is when romantic relationships are involved. When emotions and romantic feelings are being expressed between two people things can get sticky. A nice girl could get so wrapped up in a relationship with a guy and betray her best friend. I think in general humans are a race that will look after themselves before others, although there are exceptions. So coming back to a real life example of altruism. A very close friend of mine was seeing this guy for quite some time and saw a future becoming of them. Another friend of ours (lets call her girl B) was approached by the guy seeing girl A. Girl B knowing how much girl A liked this guy didn't give him the time of day. Girl B knew that if she acted flattered by this guy's behavior, and gave into his offers it would very much upset Girl A. This guy is a good looking guy and some girls would accept his offer but due to altruism and the care for other people Girl B chose to be respectful and put her own wants to the side. Altruism is a very complex thing especially in social situations, but it is also a breath of fresh air to know that people really do care and will do the right thing simply for the good of others.

conformity

When thinking about conforming I had a different idea than what has been graciously taught to us in social psychology. My concept of conforming was all negative and led to much unified groups such as a clique in high school. Now I have learned that conforming doesn’t necessarily have to be trying to fit in it can also be because you think people know information that you are not aware of. This is formally known as information social influence. After learning about this type of conformity I saw it everywhere! An example in which I was guilty of information social influence consisted of the JMU bus system. The apartment complex that I live in has two buses that pick people up from Godwin, bus seven and bus thirteen. On the bus schedule the two buses come at different times, one obviously coming before the other. When walking to Godwin to catch my bus home after a long day of classes I am never sure which bus stop I will be standing at. The stop with the majority of people is where I end up going because I think in my head that all of those other people must know which bus is coming first. There is definitely some normative social influence happening here because I don’t want to be that one girl that is out of place. It is funny to me that even the bus drivers are conforming in this situation. If all of the students are standing at bus seven stop and bus thirteen comes the bus driver will switch his number on his bus and pull up to bus seven stop. Conformity doesn’t have to be following the crowd because of a weak personality but rather because the majority of people have the same idea and it could potentially be a more effective method.

Reactance Theory

     I’m sure we can all come up with a time when Mom, Dad, Grandma, or teacher told you not to do something and of course all we want to do is that forbidden behavior. It seems like human nature if someone tells us no, that we feel controlled and want to rebel. This is formally known as the reactance theory which states that the more you restrain a person from their freedoms, the more they are going to want to do that activity to lessen the feeling of being threatened. This can be a crucial theory for parents to be aware of. When dealing with their kids parents should know that the more they emphasize not to do something, the more their child will want to do it.

      Millions of examples pop into my head when referring to the reactance theory but the one that sticks out is telling my younger brother NOT to touch my project.  A little background information to this story is that I got assigned a project in high school for my final project weeks in advance to make sure the project was well done. I had planned out my project since the very beginning and had a vision in my head. It was going to take a lot of work, but it was worth it. I slowly started gathering my materials, researching my facts and laying out the groundwork for the project. The whole house knew what I was working on and how big of a deal it was to me at the time. I set up my work station in my room knowing that if I left it in the living room it would get trampled on by my dog. After hours of working on this project is was coming together and was turning out pretty good. I told my younger brother to stay away from my project and if anything at all happened to it he was going to pay. He laughed and I should have paid more attention to that devilish look in his eyes. It was the next day when I got home from school that I walk into my nightmare. My project was missing half its roof! Who could do such a thing?! It took me only a few short moments to know who could have done it, my younger brother. He just had to do something to my project because he knew he was not allowed anywhere near it, and that feeling of restrain was eating at him. By ripping off half the roof it lessened the tension he was feeling but it created more than just tension in me. If I had been aware of this reactance theory at the time I would have used psychology to my advantage and not said a word about my project, but unfortunately I was half a roof too late. 

Misattribution of Arousal

     Most of us would like to think that we know ourselves better than anyone else does. I mean we are the ones that are thinking what we are thinking, and feeling what we are feeling, right? The more I learn about social psychology the more my opinion of what I thought I knew is changing. The Misattribution of Arousal is such a fascinating idea and is hard to disagree with. The definition of this phenomenon is when people make incorrect implications to what is making them feel the way they are. It can be difficult to correctly place why our bodies are feeling the way they are, and often times this difficulty can rear its ugly head.

      A personal example of when I misattributed my arousal dates back to when I was a young girl about the age of twelve. I went to the carnival with a bunch of my friends and my brother was there with his friends as well. As the night got later, and the sky grew darker things started to get a bit more fun. I got on my first ride of the night, and it was a wild one. Just looking at the ride in motion made my palms sweat, but nevertheless me and the others were excited. All the friends were in line giving the worker our ticket and two by two we got strapped in. I got paired up with Ray, a neighborhood friend of many years. My heart rate was going wild with anticipation and I could feel the perspiration on my hands and brows. The ride started and off we went spinning and flying so rapidly I felt as if I was going to fall out of my seat. And then there was Ray sitting next to me taking the intensity of the ride so well, I could just feel myself looking at him with big eyes. I remember getting off the ride and wanting to stand a little closer to Ray, maybe have him want to stand close to me too. Going home that night it was hard not to replay the overwhelming emotions of the night and the rides we went on. Ray was what I thought of as I brushed my teeth and hit the hay. Waking up the next morning I was pleasantly surprised that Ray was at the door ready to play in the neighborhood. We started playing kick ball like we normally would with the neighbors, and this time Ray picked me to be on his team! Standing next to each other in line he was up to bat and I was in the hole. There were a lot of us kids playing that day and the heat was on. I watched Ray kick the ball so far and run, yes a homerun! He can running down the street passing third base and tapping home plate. I was next, my heart going wild ready to kick that ball to Mars. My kick wasn’t nearly as good as Ray’s but still it worked, second base I go. Later that afternoon Ray asked me to be his girlfriend. I thought I was the luckiest girl in the world. Ray must have felt the connection I was! Several days passed by and my hyped up feelings for Ray suddenly were no longer and I had to break the news to him that we would no longer be a couple. He looked crushed but I couldn’t help thinking what was it I saw in him?

     Looking back at this memory and being able to recall is so vividly is amazing to me. It is even more amazing to me that my question is now answered. I simply thought that it was Ray making me feel so excited and pumped up when in reality it was the situation we were in. Now for future reference I can be more aware of what is going on around me that could potentially play a role in how I am feeling.

Blog one!

It really amazes me how relevant social psychology is to my own day to day life. Coming into the class I had an idea of what social psychology was and the importance of its concepts to comprehend and be able to apply to future contexts but the appealing part of the course is that I don’t need to go out of my way to apply the concepts to my life, they already exist and now I am just giving a title to them.

The topic that really caught my attention was the self fulfilling prophecy. Having the knowledge that you as an individual can really manage the outcome of a potential situation is empowering and in some ways scary. My thoughts were what if I am the cause of my own unhappiness? The most prominent example of self fulfilling prophecy occurs in my relationship with my boyfriend, Mark. There have been numerous occasions where I think that he will have a bad attitude about where we are going that night, or that he will be angry if I bring something up to him and indeed that is what happens. It wasn’t until reading the text on this concept that I realized I was guilty in the first degree. I see now that me, going into the night worried about him being something besides excited was setting myself up and our night for failure.

Awkward is a term that is frequently used in my relationships vocabulary bank, and although I feel I try to avoid situations in which I feel awkward the more I try the more it shows up. I have now come to terms with the fact that by me anticipating something being off with my boyfriend it is more likely to really happen. This could honestly be a huge breakthrough for my relationship with Mark and allowing for some less awkward nights. Thanks social pscyh!