November 2017 – Social Psychology Perspectives

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: