Jury Selection by Caitlin Randall

As outlined in chapter 15, social psychology has no limits – especially not the courtroom. While one would expect everything within the hallowed halls of the legal kingdom to be precisely fair, that simply isn’t the case. We can make choices based on the influence of any of the individuals in the room, and essentially ignore everything we will be told by either side, blinded by any sort of variables. The chapter details how jury selection is particularly important, and most juries are formed with great consideration to any bias by potential jurors. The selection process can get very gritty, and any sort of individual predilection or prejudice can disqualify someone from serving on a jury. However, some people don’t like serving jury duty, and abuse these regulations in an attempt to get out of it – doing anything from faking strange behavior to developing sudden preferences that would inherently prefer either side, without regard to any testimony.

People like Liz Lemon, for instance:

In the above clip, Liz brings out the oddities to get off of jury duty so she can return to work. She acts like a huge Star Wars fan, talking about her planet and how she can’t serve because she’s “actually a hologram”. She was faking some sort of delusion to seem mentally unstable and therefore unfit for jury duty, as if her strange personality would have been unable to clearly decide on a verdict.

 

The Power of Positive Thinking by Caitlin Randall

In reading chapter 14, I was less interested in reading about depression and my mind suddenly lit up when I started to read about Optimism and Health. I remembered a book I had heard about called the Power of Positive Thinking, and was instantly inspired for this post! Positive thinking, or optimism, is just thinking with an upbeat, positive attitude – definitely a “glass half-full” kind of thinking. The book details that circumstances can be changed just through thinking, and especially circumstances between an ill individual and their illness. While the book shares that people with better support systems recover more quickly, there is no definitive link between a patient’s thoughts and their recovery. 

Check out the video below, with Will Smith talking about The Power of Positive Thinking in his life

Sure, we have all heard stories that share what positive thinking can do. Do you believe it? Try it for a little while, and see if your life changes. At the very least, you know you’ll have a better attitude about it all!

My Same-Sex Social Norm Violation by Caitlin Randall

For my Social Norm Violation, I wanted to do something a little more intense than usual, to really get a feel for the people I surround myself with. How would good ol’ Provo react to something they saw as crazy? So, with the help of two friends, we went to Macey’s grocery store, and I can honestly say even I was shocked by what happened there.

Basically, I decided to walk around holding hands with another girl, my friend Becky. This was a norm violation in that same-sex couples aren’t very plentiful around Provo, and certainly aren’t affectionate in public. We didn’t speak to other people or each other, didn’t make eye contact with anyone, stayed out of everyone’s way, etc. We just wanted to be a presence, not a nuisance, and see how people reacted to just the sight of us. Our other friend, Whitney, was a trooper and volunteered to walk about 20 feet behind us – looking like she was alone, and able to observe us without people noticing. Keep in mind, we were doing nothing besides walking with our hands joined. Here’s a list of what happened:

1. A boy and girl couple pointing at us, laughing, and the boy saying loudly “That’s disGUSting!”.

2. A girl busting out laughing at us (nervous laughter?) before ducking into a different row to avoid walking by us

3. 2 different groups of girls following us around, both whispering audibly about “the lesbians”.

4. General stares from 80% of the shoppers – they would look at us, then instantly look at the floor, as if looking at our “sin” was a sin in itself.

5. A few people would walk past us, and then approach our confederate Whitney, saying things like “Wow, can you believe that?” or “So gross, huh??”.

Oh – did I mention we were there for 5 minutes? I was definitely appalled, and felt so ashamed, worrying if I had ever treated anyone like that and made them feel so uncomfortable. I can truly say this was an amazing, eye-opening experience that gave me so much more appreciation for people’s differences and the braveness with which they display those.

“Nice to meet you. Wanna know my secrets?”: Self Disclosure by Caitlin Randall

In any type of relationship, both participants share things at an increasingly personal level over time. This process of revealing information about oneself is called Self-Disclosure. Like all things, there is a balance of self-disclosure, one end being entirely appropriate and the opposite being rather inappropriate. The book mentions that intimate disclosure is “seldom instant”, for good reason. Can you imagine telling a random stranger, like the checker-outer at Smith’s that you and your spouse just had a huge fight and are on the brink of divorce? Exactly. In media, this inappropriate self-disclosure can actually be quite hilarious.

Check out this clip from my all-time favorite movie, Baby Mama.

In this clip, Tina Fey Kate Holbrook is seemingly narrating the opening with details about how her work life has hurt her personal life, and how she is 37 and must have a baby now. Then, the camera cuts to what is actually a first date, and Kate is a bit embarrassed. What does her date do in reaction? Does he reveal intimate things about himself as well? Hardly. He didn’t react well to her disclosure, which leads us to think it was indeed inappropriate and he noticed and felt uncomfortable.

Remember, disclosure is like an onion; peel back one layer at a time, don’t just slice the thing in half!

Post 10: Kanye “Egoism” West by Caitlin Randall

Instead of looking at the good, uplifting aspects of helping and how great human beings are to each other, I decided to focus on one of the negative aspects of the chapter. Although only mentioned briefly, I’d like to explore the topic of Egoism. Egoism is the act of doing things with the underlying motive to increase others your own benefit or welfare. The book also describes it as the opposite of altruism – so it is basically doing things to help yourself. Is that so wrong?!

The first example I thought of was the infamous moment from the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. If you haven’t seen it, check it out below!

In this instance, Kanye decided to rush the stage, possibly to congratulate Taylor before she gets up there? No, because that would be altruistic. Instead, he proceeded to discuss how Beyonce deserved the award. Although that could have been a bit altruistic, he could have mentioned that at another time or in an interview later. Instead, Kanye wanted all eyes on him – doing something to increase his own popularity and thus welfare. Unfortunately, it backfired, and Kanye went on to be hated by the general public for awhile, and Taylor continued to be successful. Oops!

Sorry, Kanye. Maybe help someone else out next time?

Instrumental Aggression by Caitlin Randall

Sometimes, we get angry. Sometimes, we get angry to serve a purpose. Instrumental aggression falls into this second category, and can be described as aggression directed to fulfill a need, or aggression that serves as a means to an end as defined in our textbook.

In the following clip, a woman is waiting in line for services at her bank, and has been there since 5:30 AM. When interviewed by a reporter, she immediately starts degrading the bank officials by calling them names (mature, right?). She is deliberately attempting to hurt the bank workers, because she believes that name calling will get their attention and consequently get her service. Check it out:

I can admit, I’ve done extremely similar things. We all know there are certain situations in which you start saying rude things and you get instant attention, so the aggression is truly only means to a very specific end. Remember – that doesn’t make it okay! Employ the aggression and anger-reducing techniques described later in the chapter to ensure you never look as crazy as this woman.

Blog Entry 8: Racism by Caitlin Randall

While the times certainly have changed, the attitudes of individuals within our society has not. There are so many people that still practice racism, or the act of discriminatory attitudes and behavior towards people of a given race. Racism can lead to exclusion, maltreatment, and all around unfairness towards people based on their skin color alone, which is something you cannot hold another person accountable for! After all, did you choose what color of skin you were born with?

The following clip is a little silly, but gets the point across – it’s from a great movie musical, Hairspray.

As you can see, these kids are the “nicest kids in town”, and they are all white. While that may not be racism, it is certainly discrimination. Later on in the clip (around 2:10), you hear “Nice white kids who like to lead the way, and once a month we have our Negro day!”. This, my friends, is where the racism comes into play. They are blatantly advertising that the white kids are somehow nicer or better, and the only ones worthy of being called the nicest kids in town. Then, they share that once a MONTH they have a day for African Americans? Simply unfair! Granted, this film is set in the 1960’s, which explains how these attitudes could have been culturally acceptable.

These days, racism has no excuse. Get over it!

Deindividuation and Cyber Bullying by Caitlin Randall

In class, we discussed the potential of deindividuation, or the tendency for people to lose their sense of self within a group, I immediately focused on the bad examples I could think of: rioting, mass crime, social chaos, and more – you get the idea. While these instances (read:crimes) can all negatively affect humanity, I consider deindividuation that directly affects individuals as more directly harmful. As we discussed in class, computers, the internet, and technology have made deindividuation a bit easier, as people can now hide behind screen names or at least distance themselves greater than that experienced face-to-face.

Check out the first two minutes of the video below to see an example of the negative deindividuation society battles today:

In the video, a girl is first criticized by her “friend” for having a crush on a certain boy. Then, the “friend” makes a facebook status about the girl and her crush, humiliating the girl (which she wouldn’t have done in person) and then the real deindividuation begins as other people start chiming in on the crush, posting rude and hateful comments that they surely would never say to the main girl’s face, and definitely wouldn’t have said without being provoked by the poster, who can be recognized as the group leader. Because of the distance and relative anonymity of the group’s members as compared to a normal setting, this deindividuation is in full bloom.

Blog Entry 6: Conformity by Caitlin Randall

Conformity is the occurance of someone changing their behavior to follow the norms of a group. Personally, I like to think of conformity as society’s way of keeping us the same – while it isn’t always a good norm we conform to, or even a sensical one, conformity serves as an underlying similarity. At one point or another, we have all conformed to fit in, whether we recognized it or not.

While today’s clips in class were certainly effective, they were a little heavy for my liking. This clip is perhaps silly, but definitely models conformity at its best.

In the above clip, Gretchen Weiners is telling Cady Heron the rules of their group. Cady is a little confused, but intends on conforming to these rules that are quite ridiculous. While this could be interpreted as compliance because Cady is following Gretchen’s request, or even obedience because Cady is following someone she sees as authoritative, it is conformity because these are the norms of a group within society.

Remember, kids, we only wear jeans or track pants on Friday.

Blog Post 4: Classical Conditioning by Caitlin Randall

When we started talking about classical conditioning today in class I got super excited. Not only because this is something I’ve actually heard of before, but because I knew exactly which clip I would use in this post! Classical conditioning has a few different aspects, styles, and components, but it is mainly the intentional creation of a relationship between two previously unrelated stimuli, or in simpler words, making B happen after A occurs (when B and A usually have no relationship). Most people are familiar with Pavlov’s dogs, where dogs were presented with meat when a bell rang, and eventually the dogs would begin to salivate with the sound of the bell alone (even when meat wasn’t there). Thus, a relationship between the bell and salivation was created, and the dogs were classically conditioned to salivate any time they heard a bell.

The clip is from The Office, and you may have seen it before. Check it out!

In the video, Jim gives Dwight a mint every time his computer restarts and makes the little Windows noise. Eventually, Dwight starts to hold out his hand just from hearing the sound of the computer restarting, without even recognizing he is doing it. Dwight has been classically conditioned to respond to the stimulus of the computer noise by expecting a mint.

Still don’t understand? Watch the clip again. You might not get it the second time, but at least you’ll be laughing.

Social Dominance by Caitlin Randall

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Chapter 5, because it was something I could relate to – all girls can agree on what girls do, as well as complain about what boys typically do. When I was reading the section on Social Dominance, or looking at which gender takes more control and is seen as more important in social interactions, I was drawn to the describing words used for each gender. For males, the book used words like adventurous, coarse, forceful, and independent. For females, the book used words like affectionate, emotional, submissive, and weak. Some of these traits are shown in the video below, which is a parody of how girls and boys really act, as played by the opposite sex.

While we can all relate to this videos, we can also see some of the traits above explored. The men (acting as women) are submissive by asking for approval and seeking collaborative answers, emotional as they discuss relationships and feelings, and affectionate as they demand hearing “I love you”. This parody seems to reinforce the idea that males are socially dominant in our culture, as the females here are weaker, less demanding, and certainly not coarse.

Blog Post 3: Counterfactual Thinking by Caitlin Randall (and Taylor Swift)

One of the biggest mantras I’ve heard over the past few years has to be “No regrets”. People want to live their lives to the fullest without anything holding them back, and ensure that they never have regrets (whether it was something they did do and wish they didn’t, or vice versa). Living with no regrets means one wouldn’t engage in Counterfactual Thinking, or the act of imagining alternative choices and outcomes that could have happened, but never did. I personally have been extremely guilty of counterfactual thinking, for several different reasons in my life. Those who call themselves day dreamers may be concocting counterfactual situations all day long! The book gives more specific examples however, and speaks to the fact that the more serious or significant an event is, the greater amount of counterfactual thinking there will be. This explains the pain many are familiar with of not getting to say goodbye to a loved one before they pass away, or causing a traffic accident and replaying all of one’s steps, trying to create a situation in which one would’nt have been there and thus not have caused an accident.

When I was reading about counterfactual thinking, I almost immediately started playing “Should’ve Said No” by Taylor Swift. This song captures Taylor’s counterfactual thinking after her boyfriend cheats on her, and she advises him that he should’ve said no and then he and Taylor’s relationship would still be intact. If you haven’t heard it, check out this live version!

Taylor is thinking counterfactually almost the entire time, reminiscing on the good times and then focusing on how the one negative event could (and should) have been altered to create a much better outcome. Taylor’s imagination of a better scenario, although one that didn’t happen, is counterfactual thinking at it’s best (and perhaps most emotional).

Spotlight on the Spotlight Effect by Caitlin Randall

As you learned in class today, my favorite chapter 2 topic is the spotlight effect. The spotlight effect is an individual’s tendency to assume everyone’s world revolves around them, just as their own does. Thus, people mistakenly assume that people pay more attention to them than is actually true, and one may believe they are always in the spotlight from any individuals point of view. In class, Dr. Lunstad described the spotlight effect as a potential to increase one’s nervousness or errors because they believe everyone is watching them, which I didn’t mention in my brief presentation.

The clip I used to illustrate the spotlight effect is the following sketch from Saturday Night Live:

http://www.hulu.com/watch/124882/saturday-night-live-1920s-party

As the party begins, Kristen Wiig’s character (in the green dress) is basically requesting to sing for the other partygoers as they plead for Jon Hamm’s character to play the piano. She repeatedly remarks “Don’t make me sing….” under her breath, and continues to get louder – a sign that she was assuming they had heard her, but continued to get loud until they certainly did. The partygoers acknowledge that no one is making her sing, and no one asked her to, but she can if she wants – Kristen simply assumed that everyone wanted her to sing, and that her activity and performance was at the top of everyone else’s mind, just as it was on hers. Kristen continues to illustrate the spotlight effect as Jon Hamm finishes playing, by apologizing for missing her cue while others are congratulating Jon on his phenomenal piano skills. Kristen’s overcompensation and concern for others’ opinions are almost embarrassing, when the other partygoers could not have cared less about her and her performance.

What is Field Research? By Caitlin Randall

In chapter 1, we learn that there are several different experiment types and techniques. One of these techniques is field research, which is defined as “research done in natural, real-life settings outside the laboratory.”  Basically, field research can be simple observation of occurrences in everyday life, that do not require a formal laboratory setting. The pros of field research are that participants aren’t necessarily affected and are only observed, and need not be manipulated. The cons are that researchers can’t manipulate too much, because they are in an environment with too many variables to possibly control.

In the following video, two students from Penn State are performing field research by simply observing a real-life setting (McDonalds) and attempting to make claims from what they see. Check out the video, and watch until around the 3:00 mark!

The video above shows the two students observing people using the drive-thru at McDonalds, and they are interested in the gender of drivers that use the drive-thru, their vehicle make/model, how long the drive-thru takes,  and seeing if any of those varibles have any relation to food buyers returning their food or making a complaint. This is an example of field research because it takes place in the real world, and not only does it not require a lab but it couldn’t possibly take place in a lab.

Always remember – field research is your friend.