Social Psychology Perspectives – Page 6 – Applying social psychology to the world around us

Trump’s America

Throughout President Donald Trump’s rise to fame and power, he’s proven, again and again, the terrible influence he has on his citizens. Under the Trump Administration, there has been a rise in conformity. Author David Myers explains conformity as a change in behavior or belief as the result of real or imagined group pressure. United States history shows us how extreme cults have formed out of conformity. Cults such as Manson Family, Heaven’s Gate, Peoples Temple ended many lives because they believed everything their leaders told them. It’s as if these cult leaders put their followers under a spell, mesmerizing people, whether willing or unwilling, to do harmful things to others and eventually end their lives. The followers were very compliant in that they would publicly act in accord with an implied or explicit request, all while privately disagreeing.

This football season, Trump has continued to tweet negativity about players taking a knee on the field during the national anthem. The movement was started by NFL player Colin Kaepernick to bring attention to the injustices suffered by people of color, particularly black individuals, following the unjust killings of several innocent black men by the police (#BlackLivesMatter). Trump has criticized many players who have kneeled since the movement started. A tweet by President Trump stated, “If a player wants the privilege of making millions of dollars in the NFL, or other leagues, he or she should not be allowed to disrespect our Great American Flag (or Country) and should stand for the National Anthem. If not, YOU’RE FIRED. Find something else to do!” Trump has also condoned this movement during many of his speeches, stating comments such as, ’Get that son of a bitch off the field right now, out. He’s fired. He’s fired!’. As President of a great country that has values and amendments, he believes that someone should be fired for peacefully protesting gross injustice. President Trump is demanding conformity by not approving of Kaepernick and other players’ actions. Trump is demanding that the citizens of the United States abandon any opinions that are not in line with his, rather than supporting freedom of expression.

As Trump continues his “trail”, many religious rights groups have begun to form and showcase the conformity that Trump is looking for. The Alt-right movement and the rebirth of the Nazis Party have been popular and very open to the media since the beginning of Trump’s presidency. They are no longer afraid to be vocal because the president supports their evil ideologies. Alt- right and Nazis joined forces and made national headlines in Charlottesville in August when they held a public “freedom” march at the University of Virginia. They chanted, “Jews will not replace us”, “Death to Antifa”, “White lives matter”, “One people, one nation, end immigration”, “blood and soil”. These “messages” immulate the president’s same hateful rhetoric. Trump encourages division, making discriminatory promises such as “building the wall”, so Mexicans can’t enter the country and “destroy it” and banning Muslims to stop “terrorist attacks”.

White Nationalists Use Tiki Torches to Light up Charlottesville March.

Trump has his ways of persuasion that leads to emersion of hate groups who believe and thrive on conformity. These groups believe in one thing and persuade others to believe in it without questioning anyone. These groups are heavily influenced by Trump and what he promised his followers.

-Sami Dhital

Colin Kaepernick .thenypost.files.wordpress.com/2016/12/161208-admiral-speech-kaepernick-embed.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&strip=all.

Lind, Dara. “Nazi Slogans and Violence at a Right-Wing March in Charlottesville on Friday Night.” Vox, Vox, 12 Aug. 2017, www.vox.com/2017/8/12/16138132/charlottesville-rally-brawl-nazi.

Obeidallah, Dean. “Trump’s NFL Comments Prove He Doesn’t Get American Values.” CNN, Cable News Network, 25 Sept. 2017, www.cnn.com/2017/09/24/opinions/trump-nfl-american-values-opinion-obeidallah/index.html.

White Nationalists Use Tiki Torches to Light up Charlottesville March. cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/170812092920-03-charlottesville-white-supremacists-0811-restricted-super-tease.jpg.

It Ends Now!

IT ENDS NOW!!

Oprah Winfrey had a hard childhood which led to her being abused and raped at the age of nine years old. While living with her mother she was sexually abused by her 19 year old cousin who raped, took her out for ice cream, and told her to keep it a secret. She kept the secret but the abused didn’t end there. But what she didn’t know what that she would soon face more abuse from a family friend as well as an uncle. She kept silent about all of it for years. She was unable to talk about her abused with her mother. As a result, Oprah started to act out such as skip school, dating boys who were a little older than her, steal money from her mother, and even run away.

Oprah was 14 years old when she realized that she was pregnant. She was able to hide this news from her parents until she became seven months along and was showing more. She went into early labor on the same day she told her father about the pregnancy. She delivered a baby boy, who died within two weeks. She felt ashamed and was in so much pain. Winfrey often worried her career would be damaged if people found out about the pregnancy. she said “she imagined that every person on the street was going to point their finger at me and scream, ‘Pregnant at 14, you wicked girl”. Oprah learned that holding the shame was the greatest burden of all.”Most raped victims feels the shame, self-disgust, self blame and low self esteem that comes with a traumatic experience.

Evaluation Apprehension plays a huge part in this case. Evaluation Apprehension is when an individual is performing a task in front of others or is being judged by others which causes their anxiety level to rise. When Oprah became pregnant at the age of 14 she felt as if people would point finger at her and judge her. When she became older she felt that her Career would be damaged if people found out that she was pregnant at an early age. This shows that she was ashamed of what happened to her. She was afraid that her secret would get out so she hid early parts of her childhood. It wasn’t until a few years ago she finally told her story and the reason why she never told anyone.

Another concept that can relate to Ms.Winfrey is Self awareness. Self awareness is when one focuses on oneself which make them more sensitive to their own attitudes. When she got pregnant all she felt was shame and hurt because of her situation and the outcome it might later have on her career. She was so afraid to talk about it or let anyone know her childhood which led to her holding her guilt and pain in for so long. It took her years for her to realized that it wasn’t her fault and she is good enough and is worth being loved. When she finally make peace with her past her life changed for the better. The thing she was most afraid to talk about help her become a successful, strong and independent woman she was meant to be. She became more aware of herself and her inner strength.

-Kayan Petgrave

Fry, Elizabeth. “Did Oprah’s Childhood Shape Her Career?” ThoughtCo, www.thoughtco.com/childhood-biography-of-oprah-winfrey-2535832.

Resource:https://www.thoughtco.com/childhood-biography-of-oprah-winfrey-2535832

Ads Persuade Us More Than You Think

Pop star and actress, Selena Gomez, signed a contract with Coach to design her own line and become the face of the brand. She has a very large fan base and is the most followed account on Instagram with 129 million followers. Coach has seen a spike in sales and social media interaction. Whenever Selena posts a photo of her with a Coach bag, the brand’s social media pages have shown a dramatic increase in activity. An analysis by assessment management firm Piper Jaffray, reported that since partnering with Selena, Coach has seen an increase of roughly fifty percent in followers. Her promotion of the products has helped increase sales; on the same day Coach and Selena launched their fall collaboration collection, the brand’s stock rose by 2%. It is a marketing tactic to have celebrities promote products in order to influence the consumer’s mind about it. The goal is to convince consumers that the merchandise is worth buying. This is persuasion, the process by which a message induces change in beliefs, attitudes, or behaviors.

Celebrity endorsements and promoting products on their social media page is a peripheral route to persuasion. This occurs when people are influenced by incidental cues like a speaker’s attractiveness. The audience/consumer was able to focus on the very famous pop star/actress who has a huge following on social media which triggered automatic acceptance without much thinking involved. Associating a product with celebrities and their fame and attractiveness allows these visual images to become peripheral cues. Peripheral route processing builds implicit attitudes, through repeated associations between an attitude object and emotion. This means that people unconsciously formed attitudes through the repeated connection between their

feelings and judgement of Selena Gomez in the ad. This is different from central route to persuasion where the audience focuses on the content of the message. If the ad or photo had facts about the kind of material used for the Coach bag and said the quality was the best, then the audience can be convinced by the arguments presented and not by peripheral cues.

Credibility of the speaker in an advertisement is important in the persuasion of the consumer. Selena Gomez has the perceived trustworthiness and expertise necessary to make her promotion of the merchandise believable. A lot of times celebrities get caught up in scandals like inappropriate behavior and drug abuse. Selena Gomez has never been involved with any kind of scandals and is seen as a person with a good reputation. She’s worked with many charities and foundations and rose to fame due to her starring role in a popular kid’s television show. Gomez is very involved in the fashion world so she has lots of experience with clothing brands. It makes sense why there are so many athlete endorsement deals. There’s more credibility if an Olympic gold medalist were to be in a sneaker advertisement than if it were just any ordinary person. A credible person makes consumers believe that they can trust the speaker because they are experts in what they are promoting. So, next time you see an ad, ask yourself did you really like that product or did you like who was promoting it?

References

Velasco, P. (2017, October 09). Did Selena Gomez Boost Coach’s Insta-Popularity? Retrieved November 06, 2017, from http://people.com/chica/selena-gomez-boosts-coach-instagram-success/

– Hilary Concepcion

The Impact of Minority Influence on Current Gender Roles & the Harvey Weinstein Accusations

Over the course of the last few weeks, it seems that every major newspaper, tabloid and television network has been splashed with headlines pertaining to Harvey Weinstein’s accusations. Since the first allegation against Weinstein was pronounced in mid October 2017, 77 other women have come forward to state their claims of harassment, sexual assault or sexual abuse against the renowned Hollywood producer (Bennett 1).

Today, these women’s claims are met with support, tolerance and overall acceptance. This likely would not have been the case if these same allegations were made only a few decades ago (Bennett 1). For most of American history, straying outside of expected gender roles was met with discomfort and disapproval. Gender roles are behavioral expectations of males and females, which are largely affected by cultural values. As time progresses, our culture becomes persistently less rigid in our assigned gender roles (Myers 146). The definitive expectations of women in the kitchen and men in the office become less and less substantive with each passing year. With that, the expectation of men’s aggression and dominance, paired with women’s femininity and submission diminishes as well (Bennett 1).

In the article, “The ‘Click’ Moment: How the Weinstein Scandal Unleashed a Tsunami,” published by the New York Times, the author laments on the changes in gender roles, expectations and acceptance within our culture. In 1977, the term sexual harassment had not been legally defined. In that same year Mrs. Magazine published a magazine cover with puppets portraying sexual harassment; it was banned from grocery stores. Women during this time period were often sexualized, and expected to remain submissive during their objectification (Bennett 1).

The Mrs. Magazine front cover portraying sexual harassment.

Since then the expectations of male and female behavior has changed drastically. Women have a far stronger presence in business and men as stay-at-home figures. These changes are taking place across nations, and over a notably short time span. This indicates that the changes seen in gender roles and expectations may not be a result of evolution or biology, but simply time and human influence (Myers 148). One contributing factor in this development is very likely the influence of minority influence.

Within the concept of minority influence, it is evident that cultural situations mold us, similarly to the influence of defined gender roles. If one individual strays away from the common norm, many others may follow suit (Myers 235). Slowly we find that the minority may evolve into the new majority. Thirty years ago a woman who came forward with claims of sexual assault was often dismissed, today it was met with not only support, but a large battalion of women who had faced a similar battle. Two main factors of minority influence are consistency and self-confidence (Myers 236-237). When a minority remains steadfast in their stance, it becomes far more influential. Consequently, consistency and persistence convey self-confidence. Any behavior by a minority that conveys self-confidence raises self-doubt among the majority (37).

In the case of Harvey Weinstein, women, in particular those speaking out against sexual assault, were once firmly in the minority. Through self-confidence, consistency and persistence we have seen women (and men) overcome gender roles and evolve from minority to majority. While cultural appropriation may normally be slow, there is one factor that greatly attributes to this. Minority slowness effect- the concept that it takes people with minority views far longer to express their thoughts than those in the majority (Myers 236). This likely attributed to why it took women years to come forward when revealing their stories of sexual assault.

Gender roles often define the ways in which people are expected to conduct themselves in a work environment, in the household and, ultimately, in the midst of an unwanted sexual advancement (Myers 89). These expectation and presumptions have diminished greatly as we progress into a more accepting society. This is likely the result of minority influence, further proof that the minority may eventually overwhelm the beliefs of the majority when persistent and confident. Perhaps with the assistance of minority influence, the disparagement of those who wish to expel their gender roles and expectations will cease to exist.

Fraternity Drinking Ritual

At Louisiana State University 10 Phi Delta Theta fraternity members were arrested because of the death of an 18-year-old freshman Maxwell Gruver. Two students took Mr. Gruver to the hospital were he was pronounced dead with an alcohol content of .496% which is 6 times the legal limit. He died due to vomit that was in his lungs referred to as “acute ethanol intoxication with aspiration”. According to the article the Fraternity members sent a text to the pledges demanding that they come to the chapter house for a bible study on September 13, 2017. Bible study is when pledges are forced to drink a “pull” from an alcohol bottle when they give the wrong answer to a question. Up to 20 pledges arrived to the chapter house for Bible study. The pledges were ordered into a dark room with a strobe light flashing, and music blasting. The pledges were told to put their noses and toes’ against the wall. One member told the police that Maxwell messed up frequently on the Greek alphabet and that one of the fraternity members Mr. Naquin forced him to drink every time. According to another member he mentioned that he told Mr. Naquin he was being to aggressive and that he should “cut it out”. Another member came forward stating that he believed Maxwell was targeted because he was often late to fraternity events. The police concluded that out of all members Mr. Naquin was responsible for the hazing event because he was the most aggressive out of all other members. The police charged Mr. Naquin with a felony charge of negligent homicide and a misdemeanor charge of hazing. The other members are being charged with misdemeanor of hazing. The case is still on going while police and investigators collect more evidence. The school temporarily closed Greek activities, but on October 4, they were allowed to resume activities with new enforced limits with a task force. The article goes on to talk about other similar reports of deaths because of hazing and drinking rituals at Pennsylvania, and Baruch College.

Culture is a group that shares common ideas, behaviors, attitudes, and traditions. Each culture has norms which are social expectations for the way people of that group should act. In this case the university is a culture which comes along with its own norms and expectations. Greek life norms definitely has a role in this situation. Every university has fraternity’s and sorority’s and it’s the norm in the university to join a fraternity and sorority. Having life long friends, being a life long member, attending and throwing activities and events, and partying are all expectations and norms of joining Greek life. Maxwell Gruver along with the other 19 pledgers wanted to be apart of this cultural experience, Gruver attended “bible study” and kept drinking when he gave a wrong answer because he wanted so badly to be apart of this Greek life and participated in it because it is a norm associated with Greek life.

The concept of conformity can also be seen in this article. Conformity happens when an individual feels the pressure of others which result in the individual changing their behavior or beliefs. Maxwell Gruver stood against the wall along side 19 other pledgers, he had 10 members demanding them all to answer questions. Gruver was under the pressure of his peers and future fraternity, he could have chosen to walk away or not to drink but instead he went along with the “bible study” because of the others. Group size also plays a huge part in this situation. It has been proven that when there is 4 or more people it will influence a person’s behavior and the individual is more likely to conform with others. The fraternity group which consisted of 10 individual members and the other 20 individuals’ pledgers were all in the situation. The pledges were going along with what other pledges were doing because they didn’t want to back out and not become a member of the fraternity. The members of the fraternity went along with the process of hazing and demanding individuals to drink even if some new it was wrong to do. This is all because of how big the group was and the influences from others.

Obedience is when an individual complies with another person’s authority and this concept can be seen in this situation. Gruver already had the expectations that joining Greek life which consist of having to go through a “ritual and rush period” in this case a hazing period which forced individuals to do things such as obeying the other members, drinking, and studying the history of the fraternity. Gruver was obeying the members and agreeing to a small commitment by coming to bible study. This also represents the foot in the door phenomenon which is when an individual first agrees to a small or modest request which leads to agreeing to larger request. Gruver knew he wanted to be apart of Greek life, he was chosen by the fraternity to go through the rush period before becoming a member. Gruver has already committed to this fraternity so showing up to the “bible study” could be considered a small request, he than is demanded to answer questions and drink when he gives the wrong answer which can be considered the “big request”. Gruver agrees to drinking and therefore resulted in his obedience. If Gruver was not interested in Greek Life or was sent a text that said come stand on a wall and answer questions and if you give the wrong answer you will be forced to drink, Gruver would probably be more inclined to deny the request because he hasn’t made any minor commitment yet.

-Nikki Jock

References:

Saul, S. (2017, October 11). 10 Arrested in Death of L.S.U Student After Fraternity Drinking Ritual. Retrieved November 02, 2017, from https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/11/us/lsu-hazing-arrests.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FHazing&action=click&contentCollection=timestopics&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=3&pgtype=collection

Myers, D. G. (2012). Exploring social psychology (seventh ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.

The NFL and Taking a Knee

Before last year, if a football player was taking a knee it would be because they were tired and needed to get off their feet for a minute or two. That was, until Colin Kaepernick decided to take a knee during the national anthem in the the 2016 season. When asked why he took a knee he told reporters that he did it to protest social injustices toward people of color in America, specifically black people. He did this at a time when police brutality against black people dominated the news headlines. Last year, Colin Kaepernick took a knee by himself to start the conversation about the injustices toward black people that happen on a daily basis in our country. Fast forward to 2017 and we have whole teams and executives locking arms and taking knees during the national anthem, while some teams went as far as not even leaving the locker room at all, as stated in the article by the NY Times. In 2017 though, majority of players are kneeling in protest to the president who gave some harsh remarks about the players of the NFL, going as far as calling anyone who kneeled a “SOB” and that they should be “fired” according to the article by the NY Times. The article also states that the players want to make it very clear that they are not kneeling to disrespect the flag or the military but are simply using their platform, in a peaceful way, to shed light on a subject that would otherwise not be talked about.

I think that the players in the NFL are conforming to what the majority of other players are doing. Since so many other players are kneeling players will conform to not feel left out of the majority and looked down upon by their peers. Conformity is a change of behavior by an individual to fit in with a larger group. One of the things that we know influence conformity is group size. For example, when it was only Colin Kaepernick kneeling nobody else was inclined to kneel but when the number got to about four of five people on a given team, the rest of their team would have been more likely to conform and kneel. Now that we see whole teams starting to kneel and even stay in the locker room, it has become easier than ever for players to conform because of the large numbers of other players who are deciding to kneel. I also think that there are examples of social facilitation in regards to what the players are doing. Social facilitation is the tendency to perform easy tasks better and more difficult tasks worse with the presence of a crowd. Since kneeling is a rather simple task social facilitation can explain why players are more inclined to do it because of the large crowd backing them up. With these large crowds, players feel more comfortable kneeling and get more amped up when it comes time to kneel because they know the reaction they will receive when they do. Realistically, if there was no audience there would be no reason to protest because nobody would see it. So if they were alone in their living room they probably wouldn’t take a knee. This change in behavior due to the mere presence of others is a textbook example of social facilitation.

References:

A Life for A Life: A Health and Science Social Psychology Blog

What would be your first priority, your health or your unborn baby? The common motherly instinct would be to always put the child life’s first, no matter how high the risk. That is what Carrie DeKlyen, wife and mother of five, did when she was diagnosed with brain cancer while carrying her sixth child as reported by Fox news on September 22nd, 2017. She was in a

stage where she was in dire need of chemotherapy but it would interfere with her pregnancy.

Some could imagine in this situation, her close family and friends might’ve suggested for her to go through with the chemotherapy and choose to live. Her declining the treatment puts her at risk

of leaving her husband and her five children behind. But Carrie DeKlyen didn’t care to put her life over her baby and strongly didn’t believe in abortion due to her religious beliefs. Unfortunately three days after giving birth to her baby Carrie DeKlyen passed, and her baby

being born premature also ten days later died in the hospital.

The Just World Hypothesis states if you’re a

good person, good things will happen to you. If

you’re a bad person, bad things will happen to you.

Some can view this tragedy and think that Carrie

DeKlyen was a selfless person to give up her own

life her baby to have a chance to live, and those who are against abortion could view Ms. DeKlyen as a hero. Those who would view Carrie DeKlyen as a good person could seek the positives in the situation, like that her story has been spread throughout the world and now have

touched the lives of many people. Some could also try to paint Carrie DeKlyen as a bad person, and say she was selfish for declining the chemotherapy being that she has five other children and

her husband. Some can say that she is bad for risking her own life and leaving her family, and would use that as justification or reason as to why she and her baby both passed. People often feel uncomfortable when the Just World Hypothesis comes to be untrue, so they may try to find

the karma in the situation, because it’s hard to think that maybe bad things can happen to good people and that good things can happen to bad people. At the end of the day, not in all cases will

there be a happy ending.

Confirmation Bias is where people look for evidence to confirm their views and beliefs. Carrie came from a religious background of the Christian faith and there are many beliefs that Christians have based on what they are taught in church and what they read in the Bible. The New Testament reads “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18, The New King James Version) which encourages Christians that there is a purpose to their pain and it all will be worth it in the end when the

purpose is revealed. Sonya Nelson announced her sister’s fate on Facebook Thursday September 21, 2017 and posted “’Carrie is now rocking her baby girl. I have no explanation of why this happened, but I do know Jesus loves us and someday we will know why” (Fox News, 2017). This is a clear example of confirmation bias, where Carrie DeKlyen’s sister is using her faith to make justification of the tragic events that occurred within her family. Christians also believe that there is life after death, and that the Earth is not their homes but Heaven is, and if they believe in their faith’s teachings and live a good life they will be in heaven. When Carrie’s sister said that she was “rocking her baby girl”, that was her using confirmation bias to confirm her beliefs that there is a heaven and her sister’s suffering led her to a place of eternal happiness. 

Concepts like the Just World Hypothesis and Confirmation Bias both play a role at times in people’s situations, and can have a big effect on how some people decide to view their situations and cope. Whether it is used positively or negatively, both bring a sense of comfort

and a sense of control. The DeKlyen’s story is a tragic one but also is a positive story of a woman of faith choosing to be selfless for her baby to have a chance of life, and inductive reasoning proves as a way of coping and bringing light into any dark situation.

Written by Stamyr R.

References

T. (2017, September 22). Baby whose mother chose to give birth over chemotherapy dies [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://www.foxnews.com/health/2017/09/21/baby-whose-mother-chose-to-give-birth-over-chemotherapy-dies.html

Trump Critiques Football in the Name of Politics

This week politics has crossed over from the white house to the sports field. Politics have started to infiltrate sports: especially football. The Washington Post wrote an article about how recently, several football teams have taken a knee during the national anthem. The president has told the American people that it was disrespectful to do such a thing despite the amendment right to do so. In the article he says, “That’s a total disrespect of our heritage. That’s a total disrespect of everything that we stand for. Okay? And I know we have freedoms, and we have freedom of choice and many, many different freedoms, but you know what? It’s still totally disrespectful.” The Washington Post then talks about how football has increasingly become more and more diverse and that athletes feel as though Trump is silencing their rights as well as taking them away. Should athletes have the right to voice political views? Should people perform outside of their designated roles in america?

Trump often ridicules athletes for performing outside of their roles. Often times when people step outside their roles they are chastised or shown repercussions. Roles are a set of standards that outline how people should behave in a social position. Let’s first define the role of a football player. Football players play football, recieve interviews, have practices and most importantly avoid politics. The other role that a football player has is being an american citizen. American citizens have pride in their country and often show that pride by standing during the pledge of allegiance. That’s a norm that anyone who is an american citizen follows. Trump criticizes players when they perform outside their roles but is it possible that Trump is performing outside his presidential role by chastising them? As a president he should worry more about the states of the United States as suppose to sports. The president fails to recognize that as people we have other roles to fill such as mother, father, brother and so forth. The reason the football players kneel is because they recognize their families and friends are in danger especially if they are a person of color. They also are not given the same rights they should be given as an american citizen.

In the same light, many people judge these football players based on assumptions and their own inner biases. Trump views these football players as disrespectful when they kneel instead of stand during the national anthem. This can be somewhat explained by the fundamental attribution error. The fundamental attribution error can be defined as the propensity to explain someone’s behavior by attributing a cause to his/her behavior. We either attribute it to dispositional aspects or situational aspects. The negative behavior according to Trump is the football players kneeling during the national anthem. The dispositional attribution is that they are being disrespectful to this country. This makes Trump and other americans believe that they are being disrespectful and that they behavior is linked to their personality. The football players view their behavior differently by looking at the situation attributions: racial tension is building, they have been treated unfairly or racially in america, and that they haven’t been given the same opportunities and rights as the typical white American. The football players believe that they are exercising their rights as americans.

President Donald Trump continued his Twitter war with the National Football League on Saturday, this time taking aim at Commissioner Roger Goodell for permitting players to protest by kneeling during the national anthem.

Li, D. K. (2017). NFL team owners blast Trump in solidarity with players’ protests. Retrieved from https://thenypost.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/170925-nfl-protest-trump-feature.jpg?quality=90&strip=all

Scott, E. (2017). Analysis | Trump’s problem isn’t with athletes being political. It’s with athletes speaking out against racism.. [online] Washington Post. Available at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/09/25/trumps-problem-isnt-with-athletes-being-political-its-with-athletes-speaking-out-against-racism/?utm_term=.62a9684afd8b [Accessed 27 Sep. 2017].

Zilber, A. (2017). President Donald Trump continued his Twitter war with the National Football League on Saturday, this time taking aim at Commissioner Roger Goodell for permitting players to protest by kneeling during the national anthem. Retreived from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4914090/Bruce-Maxwell-baseball-player-knee.html#ixzz4ttGFV8mY Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook. Retrieved from http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/09/24/04/44A52F0200000578-4914090-President_Donald_Trump_continued_his_Twitter_war_with_the_Nation-a-6_1506225216291.jpg

Kendra L.

She Got Out

Elizabeth Smart

Age when abducted and now

Elizabeth Smart was only 14 when she was kidnapped from her home by Brian David Mitchell. The 52 year old man along with his wife kept Elizabeth captive for over 9 months and police could not locate them because they were holding her at a location in the woods. Now 15 years later she is 29 years old and is married with two children. Her kidnappers are in jail Mitchell is serving a life sentence for abuse, while his accomplice and wife, Wanda Barzee, is serving 15 years for aggravated kidnaping. Smart recounts her times while she was taken by them.

Mitchell aggressively raped her everyday she was held captive by them. She said when he had first taken her she had contemplated suicide since she came from such a religious neighborhood and being raped made her feel devastated. She said “I felt like it would be better to be dead than to continue living being a rape victim, being a rape survivor.” This was only in the beginning, for nine months Mitchell forced Smart to watch pornography and then he repeatedly raped her, aggressively. Finally, she became accustomed to it. What she does believe is that pornography lead Mitchell to be so aggressive. There is no proof on this but she believes watching Pornography led him to raping her more than usual which was already a lot.

Brian David Mitchell and Wanda Barzee

Husband and Wife and the Kidnappers

Learned helplessness seems to play a huge roll in this case. Learned Helplessness is when the person eventually believes they cannot be helped due to the fact that all these outside characteristics play a part and they are told nothing will work so they believe it. Smart was held captive for 9 months being raped repeatedly. She even said “I felt in the moment if there had been an easy way out, I probably would have taken it.” This shows that she eventually thought she would not be helped and thinking that she eventually came to terms with the fact that she believed she would not get out.

The second concept that relates to this a great deal is Locus of Control. There is both internal and external locus of control. For internal locus of control it is believed that we have control over what happens to us and for external we believe that outside factors have control over what happens to us. We believe in this situation Smart could have thought she had an External locus of control due to the fact that she could not help what was happening to her; all the way from being kidnapped from her own bed to being raped repeatedly. She probably believed it was all out of her hands; even her escape which is why she had contemplated suicide.

Smart went through a great while being held captive for over nine months. Thankfully she did not let it run her life once she was rescued from the situation but instead embraced it and made the best of her life. Because of that she is married and has two beautiful children. She now has control over her own life.

This is the movie created about this story:

https://tubitv.com/movies/387029/the_elizabeth_smart_story

Citations:

Maryse Godden. (2017). Elizabeth Smart Contemplated Escape “Porn Addict” Rapist. NY Post. http://nypost.com/2017/09/19/elizabeth-smart-contemplated-suicide-to-escape-porn-addict-rapist/

~Yesim Ekici~

Business or Personal ? Lebron & Kyrie

When Kyrie Irving decided to leave the Cleveland Cavaliers for the Boston Celtics, it stuck a great controversy due to the fact that he didn’t talk to his teammate Lebron James about his decision. Lebron James is known as one of the best basketball players of all time and is basically the head of the Cleveland team. In multiple interviews, Irving said that it “wasn’t anything personal” and said he didn’t have to talk to Lebron about it. In a recent article, Kyrie Irving explains how playing with other unbelievably talented players has increased his growth process in the NBA, and that he is simply ready to move on.

There are two psychological concepts that tie into this situation and they are self concept and individualism. Self concept is a belief or concept about oneself and Individualism is the way people identify themselves. Irving wanting to move on to another team is an example of individualism because he identifies himself as a good player and is focused on how well he is playing and what he can do. Self concept ties into this situation because Irving believes that he is better than he was when he first started and is now ready to leave and be better for another team.

In a statement made by Kevin Durant of the, Golden States Warriors, to yahoo sports he said:
“It’s just a regular NBA problem, right? A lot of teams have gone through this before,” Durant told ESPN. “They’ll figure it out. That’s a great organization, a championship organization. They’ll figure it out.”

These situations tend to happen a lot within the NBA, which leads many to think that this is a business issue. Meanwhile others say that it is a personal issue.

References

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/20745983/nba-kyrie-irving-explains-trade-request-mo

https://sports.yahoo.com/kevin-durant-kyrie-irving-lebron-181540667.html

Genesis Carpio