Social Psychology Perspectives

       Mental illness is something that is becoming more and more common – especially depression. It is something that is diagnosed in a majority of people seeking therapy. However, with new forms of technology, it is allowing us to view and experience the new ways in which MRI scanning can recognize many different, distinct brain characteristics to reveal the brain’s symptoms of depression (Paddock, 2019). According to the article, “New MRI Scans Reveal Brain Features of Depression”, written by Catharine Paddock, she states that researchers have found that their observations of the brain with using this new technology will aid in finding deeper knowledge on depression and how it affects one’s brain (Paddock, 2019). In addition, they are also hoping to find out more about the proper treatments that can help to cure someone with depression (Paddock, 2019). Specifically, one of the newest MRI’revealed differences in the blood barrier (BBB) and the other MRI found many other differences in the brain’s strategic network of connections (Paddock, 2019). BBB is a set of distinctive properties in the brain’s blood vessels that permit them to control the movement of molecules and cells between them and the tissues that they serve (Paddock, 2019). Similarly, depression is more than just a feeling of sadness in someone’s day-to-day life  (Paddock, 2019). It can actually turn into a serious issue for someone, leading to self-harm and even suicide (Paddock, 2019). Suicide is the most severe form of depression that can hopefully be reduced by the new MRI techniques (Paddock, 2019). A recent presentation, founded by RSNA 2019, concluded that depression affects more than 264 million people worldwide (World Health Organization, 2019; as cited in Paddock, 2019). The most common type of depression is Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) (Paddock, 2019). Typically, someone with MDD tends to feel hopeless, fatigue, and loss of attentiveness to certain activities that were once easily performed (Paddock, 2019). Kenneth T. Wengler, a researcher who works in the Department of Psychiatry at Columbia University, examined connections between MDD and changes to BBB (Paddock ,2019). His research resulted in the finding that current treatments for MDD have a high relapse rate (Paddock, 2019). Therefore, this result being the reason why utilizing this new technology is pertinent. We would be able to use this new technology as a tool to find better treatments for depression – ones without a high relapse rate. 

       After reading this article, you may be thinking about the sense of motivation that is being exhibited by the researchers for those with depression. How can someone be so motivated to do something with no favor in return? An explanation for this would be altruism. Altruism refers to the idea of being determined and motivated to grow the well-being of another person without thinking about oneself and how you can benefit from it. In this instance, the researchers are exhibiting altruism. With this new technology, their immediate response to it was to use it to help find more effective treatments for people with depression. No where in the article did they mention how this new technology can help advance their careers as researchers; although it can, the researchers are not aware of it as they are too focused on and motivated as to how it can help those with depression. 

       Another concept that relates to this theory is the idea of having a superordinate goal. A superordinate goal is defined as a goal that is shared across multiple people that requires cooperation and ignores the differences between the multiple people working on this same, shared goal. The idea of having a superordinate goal can relate to the conversations being had and the discoveries in this news article. Between the researchers, doctors, and medical professionals working and researching on this new technology – they all share a superordinate goal. They do because the work they are doing requires cooperation amongst all of the members of the research team. If cooperation is not present, they would be unable to continue to find the benefits of this new technology and the advancements that come with it. In addition, this news article also exhibits evidence of a superordinate goal because no matter the amount/kind of education, gender, or race of each research member – they are all sharing a common goal. That is, finding new treatments that are more effective and helpful to people with depression. Therefore, since they share such motivation towards this common goal already, their levels of status and differences do not individually or collectively matter to them. For example, the author of this article is a female and she included information and advancements for this new technology founded by men. Although they are of different genders, Paddock did not pay attention to this gender difference due to the motivation and cooperation that all three of them have to help find better treatments with the new technology. 

References 

Paddock, C. (2019, December 4). New MRI scans reveal brain features of depression. Retrieved December 5, 2019, from https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/327220.php#1.

Carmela Piccolo

Johnny G.

On the week of November 20th, it was announced that Gabrielle Union and Julianne Hough would not be returning to judge America’s Got Talent. Whether they were fired or quit depends on the article you read, but the reason behind them not coming back has roots in prejudice and discrimination towards women especially. Prejudice is defined as a negative judgement towards a group and its members and discrimination is taking an action based on those judgments. It has been reported that coworkers at America’s Got Talent have made hurtful remarks towards Union and Hough which lead to them leaving the show.
Union reported that the work environment of AGT was “toxic” and was made to feel uncomfortable by the “excessive notes on her and Hough’s physical appearance, as well as a racially insensitive joke made by Jay Leno.” (Goldstein 2019, People.com) It seems apparent that the people at America’s Got Talent have a history with prejudice and sexism towards women, because comedian/former judge Howard Stern has released a statement defending Union and Hough. After calling AGT ‘the ultimate boys club,” Stern stated, “He (Simon Cowell) sets it up that the men stay. No matter how ugly they are, no matter how old they are, no matter how fat they are, no matter how talentless they are.” (Nakamura 2019, thewrap.com) It has been well documented that, especially in Hollywood, men are judged based on their talent and women are judged on how long they can stay young and attractive looking. With that comes a pattern of discrimination towards women as they get older, and in order for true equality to be reached, this idea needs to stop.

RESOURCES

-Reid Nakamura. “Howard Stern Calls ‘AGT’ the ‘Ultimate Boys Club,’ Blames Simon Cowell for Gabrielle Union Ouster”, The Wrap. December 2nd, 2019.
-Joelle Goldstein. “Gabrielle Union Complained About Racism at AGT Before Being Fired Alongside Julianne Hough: Reports”, People. November 27th, 2019.

-Photo: https://www.thewrap.com/gabrielle-union-julianne-hough-agt-americas-got-talent-ratings-drop-nbc/

Sanub Sinclair(G5)

In 2016, Colin Kaepernick began kneeling during the national anthem before the start of football games as a protest against social injustice. He started a trend over the National Football League where other players joined, and even full teams staying inside the locker room to support Kaepernick. This event started an uproar in the NFL and branched out into national news. Many people agreed and followed in his footsteps, others like Donald Trump did not, who said that it was “unpatriotic and disrespectful.” Which led to him becoming a free agent after the 2016 season and still to this day, remains unsigned. After 3 years, the NFL has finally agreed to give Kaepernick a tryout or workout where all 32 teams are welcomed. Invited to observe if Kaepernick is still capable of league play. The NFL had arranged the tryout at the Atlanta Falcons training facility, but at the last minute the quarterback’s representatives moved the workout to a high school stadium so media could be present. It is believed that not all 32 teams showed up for the workout, however people that showed up were not against him joining the league again. However, nobody wants to take the chance on signing him and having that backlash from those who do not agree, politics. 

One concept that I chose to incorporate with this article was conflict. Conflict is when you come into collision or disagreement with an opposing party, a perceived incompatibility of actions or goals. To relate it back to the Colin Kaepernick issue, first look, the conflict is between Colin and the NFL but if you look into it deeper, it is a conflict between him and society. Not everyone is against Colin and his beliefs, but a large amount of society does not agree with his actions. With the fans who love America and everything it stands for, Colin’s actions is a “spit in the face” to them, so therefore the NFL has to listen. It’s like the saying “customers are always right”, they can’t ignore the fans comments because that is how the NFL makes their money and if that one player is getting in the way of their money, something must be done in anyway to preserve money and keep fans happy. Even though it was for a good cause, and behind closed doors most people agree then out loud in public, how would an organization look for having an athlete on their roster who disrespects the national anthem?

Another concept that I choose to relate to the article is mediation. Mediation is a form of alternative dispute resolution resolving disputes between two or more parties, it can be used to resolve disputes of any magnitude with communication. To relate it back to the Colin Kaepernick story, the mediation in it is getting Kaepernick that workout. After years of fighting society and the NFL and all there criticism he has always been in the picture someway, somehow. Whether is it being in a nike ad or social media, or the NFL giving hope that he will return just to shut it back down with no teams signing him. It has been 3 years since Kaepernick has been on an NFL team, and the longer the delay, the least likely chance he will get signed. However, the National Football League and Kaepernick and his representatives came to an agreement where both parties agreed, by offering a workout where teams can see the former San Francisco 49ers star display his talents in hopes of getting signed and re entering the league. 

Works Cited Page

Cherry, G. (2019, November 17). Colin Kaepernick ‘ready to play anywhere’ after NFL tryout. Retrieved from https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/us-sport/national-football-league/colin-kaepernick-nfl-tryout-video-moved-protest-roger-goodell-racism-donald-trump-a9206071.html.

Basketball star Dwayne Wade has a son, Zion, who is 12 years old and has come out as gay a few months back. Him and his wife, Gabrielle Union, have been openly supportive of their son by attending pride parades for example. Dwayne Wade made a statement to Variety Magazine saying, “I think as a family we should support each other. That’s our job. And my job as a father is to facilitate their lives and to support them and be behind them in whatever they want to do.”

A few days ago, the family took a photo and posted it to social media. The photo shows Zion wearing a cropped shirt and long, painted nails. Many people online started to criticize Zion for his feminine appearance because he is a boy. They also started to criticize his parents’ parenting because they “allow” him to have this appearance. According to Allure, some of the comments include, “why does his son have his nails done and dressed like a girl?” and “I’ve lost all respect for D Wade.”

The comments that were made about Zion are a form of cyberbullying and prejudice. Cyberbullying occurs when someone is bullying or harassing somebody using some type of electronic platform. People are saying harsh things about him on social media since he’s very open about his sexuality and because he chooses to dress more feminine. Prejudice is shown when people have unfavorable opinions about a person or a group of people. In this case, people are sharing their negative feelings about people who are gay. Since Zion is 12 years old, they believe he shouldn’t have this sexuality at a young age and should be dressing like a “normal boy.” Although these comments are harsh, Zion and his family remain unbothered and happy.

Boren, Cindy. “Dwyane Wade Shuts down Internet ‘Stupidity’ over Son’s Look in Family Photo.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 2 Dec. 2019, www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2019/12/02/dwyane-wade-shuts-down-internet-stupidity-over-sons-look-family-photo/.

Haller, Sonja. “Dwyane Wade Details Supporting Son at Miami Pride, Tells Parents: ‘Get to Know Your Kids’.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 18 June 2019, www.usatoday.com/story/life/allthemoms/2019/06/18/dwyane-wade-opens-up-supporting-son-zion-miami-gay-pride-parade/1487457001/.

Robin, Marci. “Gabrielle Union and Dwyane Wade’s 12-Year-Old Son Wore Fake Nails, and Some Idiots Got Upset About It.” Allure, Allure, 2 Dec. 2019, www.allure.com/story/dwyane-wade-gabrielle-union-zion-son-nails-thanksgiving-photo.

Kiara B.

  Ya Vape? Ya Lose. 

 (Ridao, 2018)

       The dilemma of young adolescents recently investing not only their money, but potentially their life in vaping has swept the nation – leaving healthcare professionals concerned. In an article written by Aimee Cunningham she describes this recent phenomenon, specifically focusing on eight adolescents residing in Wisconsin who were recently hospitalized (Cunningham, 2019).  The hospitalization was in relation to these teens experiencing shortness of breath. Medical professionals were unclear about the direct cause of this shortness of breath. (Cunningham, 2019). However, they did find one common trend amongst each of the eight teenagers – vaping (Cunningham, 2019). 

       “It’s not surprising” said pediatric pulmonologist, Sharon McGrath-Morrow, in relation to this issue (McGrath-Morrow, 2019; as cited in Cunningham, 2019). She disclosed her findings of recent increasing cases of adolescents developing lung ailments (Cunningham, 2019). In addition, chief medical officer, Jonathan Meiman, even mentioned that these eight, hospitalized teens needed to be put on ventilators to help them breathe (Meiman, 2019; as cited in Cunningham, 2019). So, the important question to ask is: why do these adolescents engage in vaping behaviors despite the health risks associated with it? 

       The answer to this question is a term commonly known as “ingroup”. The term “ingroup” refers to a group of people who all have a sense of membership and belonging to the group by sharing similar identities. Therefore, more and more teens are taking up vaping because of the belonging they receive from an ingroup as a result of being a part of the world of vaping. In relation to the article, the hospitalized teens probably took up vaping due to the influence of peers around them who were also smoking – vaping being the identity everyone in the group shared. In order to be associated and accepted by the group, each of the teens conformed to a similar identity the group members shared thus, creating an example of the ingroup (Cunningham, 2019). A term that can also be related to this idea is ingroup favoritism. This is when an ingroup favors the ideas of their own group as opposed to the ideas of an out-group. In this case, the ingroup that shares the similar idea of vaping and using e-cigarettes probably favor this behavior over an out-groups non-vaping behavior. When there is an ingroup with teens using e-cigarettes, there is also an out-group, a group that doesn’t belong or doesn’t think the same. The out-group in this situation would be the people who think that e-cigarettes aren’t good for your health, and how they shouldn’t be used by adolescents. 

       In a peer-reviewed article entitled, “Vaping in Context: Links Among E-Cigarette Use, Social Status, and Peer Influence for College Students” written by Lacey N. Wallace and Michael J. Roche, they discuss a study that involved college students being influenced by the use of e-cigarettes (2018). The study looked at whether or not the amount a student vaped was dependent upon the number of friends they had in their social group and the social roles possessed in the group, such as being either quiet or outspoken (Wallace & Roche, 2018). In the study, the participants included 175 college students who were all asked a variety of questions about their past vaping behavior and interpersonal relationships (Wallace & Roche, 2018). The results of this study ended up showcasing that evidently, the number of friends someone has and the kind of role they have in a group does not have an effect on whether or not a person uses an e-cigarette (Wallace & Roche, 2018). Although, the study did also conclude that people who have more than one friend in a group who vape are more willing to accept and try an e-cigarette in the future (Wallace & Roche, 2018). This is in opposition to when a group only has one group member who vapes, the odds of a new group member vaping are not as strong (Wallace & Roche, 2018). Therefore, the results of this peer-reviewed article does relate to our overall topic and concept (Wallace & Roche, 2018). It does because the article is portraying that when someone has multiple group members in their ingroup who vape, they are more likely to vape themselves (Wallace & Roche, 2018).  This is due to the sense of belonging and group association that comes with being a part of an in-group (Wallace & Roche, 2018).  In this case, the more group members who vape, the better the likelihood new group members are to vape themselves (Wallace & Roche, 2018). Part of this can also be due to ingroup favoritism. This is because since new group members favor the ideas of their own ingroup over the ideas of other outgroups, they are even more likely to engage in the behaviors and interests shared amongst their ingroup. 

References 

Cunningham, A. (2019, August 27). Vaping may have landed eight teens in the hospital. Retrieved November 23, 2019, from https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/vaping-may-have-landed-eight-teens-hospital.

Ridao, R. (2018, June 21). Photo by Rainier Ridao on Unsplash. Retrieved November 23, 2019, from https://unsplash.com/photos/4I2QhSrvW1A. 

Wallace, N.L., & Roche, J.M. (2018). Vaping in Context: Links Among E-cigarette Use, Social 

Carmela Piccolo

Should college athletes get paid? This has been an ongoing question that many would agree with because the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) is making billions off of these athletes. The Fair Pay to Play Act is a bill that gives businesses the right to use an athlete’s identity for advertisement and lets the athletes receive compensation for it. According to The Washington Post, the new law has created a ton of publicity and has raised questions as to what other states would follow down the road. Professional athletes are in high hopes to see this act be put in effect because this is something that they wish that they had in college. The NCAA has considered working with the state of California to change the way they support athletes and make improvements on a national level through the NCAA’s rule-making process. 

While reading about athletes and the struggles they will overcome to pass the bill, this introduced the concept of bargaining which is pursuing a compromise to a disagreement using direct consultations between the parties, while athletes were trying hard to get the NCAA attention, the governor of California Gavin Newsom took matters into his own hands and signed the act because he stated that “Collegiate student-athletes put everything on the line — their physical health, future career prospects and years of their lives to compete. Colleges reap billions from these student-athletes’ sacrifices and success but, in the same breath, block them from earning a single dollar”. The changes will let athletes sign endorsement deals and hire agents to represent them which helps them get more exposure and will create a financial balance between the NCAA and the student-athletes. When the bill becomes effective the colleges in California won’t be able to compete in the NCAA because they will be breaking one of the rules by receiving money and getting endorsement deals, even though the bill will affect the colleges in California, if the NCAA does not change the rule for all schools they will then be violating one of there rules. The student-athletes work very hard and expect more due to their workload and are focused on making sure the NCAA changes there rules to help their need of providing for themselves by paying for food and shelter. The NCAA and student-athletes working together to come to a fair agreement introduce the concept of the integrative agreement which is creating an agreement with both parties that will benefit them long term. Both the NCAA and the student-athletes will benefit from the act because the NCAA will still receive its money from tv endorsements while the athletes will get money from jersey sales, video games, and their likeness. The NCAA will feel like they are losing if they allow the bill to go through because they won’t make as much money as they are now but there views to the general public they will have a better image and will be seen as an organization that takes care of their athletes and wants to see them succeed on and off the field by letting athletes get money from deals which can convince more athletes to participate in collegiate sports. The act is scheduled to be on January 1st, 2023 and will assist in altering the NCAA rules. This law has definitely opened up a ton of new opportunities for athletes to achieve success while being a student-athlete, and has also gained a lot of recognition and has broken barriers to finally begin the process of improving fairness between the NCAA and athletes. 

Several massive colleges roughly make 40 million dollars from sports game ticket sales, merchandise sales and tv deals and the athletes don’t benefit from any of it; most of that money is acquired by the school. Although the school isn’t required to pay their student-athletes money when the bill becomes effective they cannot restrict them from getting money from endorsement deals and status. While the head coach makes about 8 million dollars a year the assistant coaches are making about six figures, which creates controversy because the players are the ones who are performing each week and aren’t benefiting from the profits. Many think that just because college athletes are given scholarships that it’s enough to compensate for the amount of work that they do.