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.

NFL team owners blast Trump in solidarity with players’ protests

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

A Surge in Internet Suicide Searches Brought on by “13 Reason’s Why”

When Selena Gomez, decided to produce the Netflix’s adaption of the novel 13 Reason’s Why, she set out to create a show that spread the awareness of the dangers of suicide.  Although she was successful in making suicide a more talked about subject, suicide has now fallen into the realm of reality of some youth.  The series followed a teenager named Hannah Baker, and her journey throughout high school which was seemingly filled with turmoil and chaos.  Following the many obstacles she faced throughout her life, Hannah committed suicide which was graphically depicted towards the end of the season.  There was no trigger warning for those who were sensitive to such material.  The very vivid depiction of suicide was intended to illustrate the severity of suicide.  Instead, youth seemed to respond to the show under a false consensus.

A false consensus is the idea that individuals have the tendency to follow a belief they believe the majority also shares, in other words it is when an individual believes their belief to be conventional and common.  This was a concept prevalent amongst viewers of the show in that it is likely that since suicide was portrayed in the show as the most practical solution by a very relatable character, young viewers going through a similar situation may have glorified suicide.  This possibly drove viewers to deem their urges for suicide as the norm.  It is feasible they jumped to the notion that other views may share similar beliefs and they’re probably also taking after the main character, Hannah Baker.  This is a very practical reasoning for the strong correlation between the airing of the series as well as the upsurge of searches on how to commit suicide.  According to the Huffington Post, researcher found that Google searches pertaining to phrases such as “how to commit suicide” increased by a frightening 26% along with similar Google searches also increased following the airdate of the series.  This sudden growth of Google searches that followed the airing of the series was perchance due to young teens falling victim to the false consensus effect.

In a report conducted by Florian Arendt and Sebastian Scherr, examined the aftermath and effects that followed the suicide of celebrity, Robin Williams.  According to the report, although the suicide of the actor spread awareness for suicide, it also proved to have several risk elements to it as well.  In the report, search engines were monitored ad examined both before and after the publicized suicide and it was discovered that following it was an increase in harmful searches which included “commit suicide”.  It was noted that the amount of query shares, or the total volume of harmful searches divided by the number of queries in the region which including “commit suicide”.  It was show that it had rose drastically and doubled from the ten days prior to the ten days that followed.  The conclusion drawn from this study was that the highly publicized suicide of Robbin Williams seemed to cause a rise in the amount of searches on suicide and commit it.  Much like the series, it is possible that since many seem to form connections with celebrities and characters, they seem to feel the inclination to also follow in their footsteps and solve their own problems the way the person they look up to would.  It is evident that the discussion and/or depiction of suicide in shows or in media has the ability to influence people in a negative manner which raises the question, why aren’t there more trigger warnings?

 

References:

Ahsan, S. (2017, August 01). Did 13 Reasons Why lead to a rise in suicide rates? Retrieved September 27, 2017, from   http://nationalpost.com/entertainment/television/did-13-   reasons-why-lead-to-a-rise-in-suicide-rates

Holmes, L. (2017, August 02). ’13 Reasons Why’ Led to A Major Increase in Suicide Internet Searches. Retrieved September 27, 2017, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/13-    reasons-why-suicide-search_us_5980808be4b0d6e28a107dbe#

Arendt, F., & Scherr, S. (2017). The impact of a highly publicized celebrity suicide on suicide-related online information seeking. Crisis: The Journal Of Crisis Intervention And Suicide Prevention, 38(3), 207-209. doi:10.1027/0227-5910/a000455

 

Shannon Luke

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