Situational Influence

Journal 4-2

Last month I asked what happened to Heather Artinian after the Sound and Fury ended. I learned that she eventually did get the cochlear implant at the age of nine. All of the other members of her immediate family also received implants. Heather adjusted well to the hearing world and says she is a part of both; she uses sign language and speech to communicate. She had a very successful high school career academically, athletically, and socially. She recently finished her freshman year at Georgetown University and hopes to become a lawyer.

This past week in class we have studied the Asch, Milgram, and Stanford psychology  experiments. The Milgram experiment began in 1961, shortly after the start of trials of Nazi war criminals. Stanley Milgram wanted to test humans' obedience to authority, because many Nazis claimed they were just "following orders" even if the heinous crimes they committed compromised their morals. The experiment involves a experimenter, teacher, and learner. The learner is supposed to memorize word pairs, and the teacher quizzes them on the word pairs. For every answer the learner gets wrong, the teacher gives them an electric shock with voltage that increases every question. The learner is not actually receiving any shock at all, but the teacher is in a separate room and believes they are harming the learner. If the teacher gets uncomfortable or cannot continue, the experimenter is there to goad them to keep asking questions and administering shocks on purpose.

The Asch experiment deals with the power of conformity. In it a group of volunteers were asked to take a vision test, but in reality only one is actually taking the test while the other five to seven people know the true aims of the experiment and are answering incorrectly on purpose. Even though they give answers that are clearly wrong, the subject will often agree with them even though he knows they are wrong.

The Stanford Prison experiment was conducted by Philip Zimbardo. In the basement of the Stanford pyschology building a mock prison was constructed and 24 students were randomly divided in prisoners and guards. The experiment was supposed to last two weeks, but was ended after six days. The prisoners guards had surpassed Zimbardo's expectations as to fulfilling their roles and the situation had become dangerous and psychologically damaging. Zimbardo concluded that the situation, rather than the personality of the participants, had caused the participant's behavior.

I enjoyed studying these experiments. I have always been interested in psychology and intend to minor in it in college. At the same time, the results of the experiments slightly freak me out, especially the Milgram and Stanford experiments. It is strange to think people would knowingly inflict harm on another person and not take blame for it, because they were just doing what they were told. I believe that everyone is responsible for their only actions; the only person who can live your life is you. Only you can control what you do, and when you do something wrong you should take blame for it. Growing up we are constantly told to obey authority like our parents, teachers, police officers, and et cetera. Even if those authority figures abuse that power and the things we are forced to do compromise what we think is right, these experiments prove that many people will follow orders anyway.

I agree that the results of these experiments were caused by the situation. The guards in the Stanford prison experiment were not evil or sadistic people, but when they were given the power to do with the prisoners as they pleased, they abused that power. Not to mention it was a group of eighteen to twenty something males. Any guy that age given that much power over a group of his peers would abuse it and mess around with them a little. The Milgram experiments also reflected the influence of the situation. If teacher had the choice i doubt they would have continued to administer shocks. But the offically looking scientist is sitting in the room forcing you to continue, and few people would have the courage to defy them. Why that is I don't know. The outcome of the experiment is unsettling, but at the same time I understand (even though I don't condone it) why many of the teachers continued. I can also understand why the subject of the Asch experiment would choose obviously wrong answers. I think it comes down to the confidence of the subject, not their intelligence. Once you pick an answer you believe to be correct, only self doubt will cause you to change your answer. If you are confident in your abilities you would pick the right answers despite everyone else choosing wrong answers.

The Asch experiment reminded me of high school. Especially the need teenagers feel to fit in with their peers.  I know many people who will do something they know is wrong and/or stupid and/or illegal just so they can fit in with everyone else. No one wants to stand out, especially if it means doing something deemed "uncool." So they will do whatever is considered cool, even when they know it is wrong. If everyone else is doing it, why wouldn't you?



Works Cited
1) Where is Heather Artininan Today?. (n.d.). Cochlear Implant Online. Retrieved May 1, 2012, from http://cochlearimplantonline.com/site/where-is-heather-artinian-today/
2) About Us. (n.d.). http://www.umaihealth.com. Retrieved June 7, 2012, from http://www.umaihealth.com/images/AboutMe.html
3) Asch conformity experiments. (n.d.). www.wikipedia.org. Retrieved June 7, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asch_conformity_experiments
4) Milgram experiment. (n.d.). www.wikipedia.org. Retrieved June 7, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment
5) Stanford prison experiment. (n.d.).www.wikipedia.org. Retrieved June 7, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_prison_experiment

Sound and Fury Made Me Furious

 Journal 4-1

Last month I asked if incarceration rates vary by race. In doing some research I found out that race is a huge factor in high incarceration rates. In a survey collected in 2004 of 100,000 Americans, 393 of those incarcerated are Caucasian, 957 are Latino, and 2,531 are African-American. That means more than 6x of Blacks are incarcerated than Whites, and rough 3x more Blacks are incarcerated than Latinos. 

Last week in class we watched a documentary called "Sound and Fury." It follows the story of a deaf family with a five year old daughter who wants a cochlear implant. The entire family, including the mother, father, and three children are all deaf. When the oldest daughter, Heather, announces she wants a cochlear implant, a debate involving their entire family ensues over whether or not she should get an implant. Meanwhile, Heather's has twin cousins born and one is deaf, and her aunt and uncle decided to get an implant for her cousin. Heathers family visits a school with children who all have implants, and two families who have gotten their children implants. heather's mom even goes to see if she could get an implant. But after all their research, they decided not to get Heather the  cochlear implant, despite the fact her grandparents and aunt and uncle advocated strongly for it. They believe that Heather's parents are choosing a limited life for her, because she will never have as many opportunities as her hearing counterparts in our dominantly hearing world.

I really enjoyed this movie. Heather was adorable, and after listening to her reasoning for wanting an implant I really hoped she would get one. At five years old it was already obvious she is extremely smart, and if she could hear, her future would be limitless. It not that deaf people are unsuccessful, but the world is dominated by hearing people. Heather's father even said herself he is limited on the corporate ladder because of his deafness. If Heather got the implant the possibilities for her life are endless. So when her parents decided not to get her an implant, I was really upset. I think that they were afraid that if Heather was able to hear, it would tear apart their family. But in actuality Heather will always be deaf even if she does have the implant. But she also has the option of turning her implant on and being functional in the hearing world. I hated that her parents took that opportunity away from her because of their own fear and jealousy.

I sided most with Heather's grandmother, who witnessed what her son went through being deaf. She saw the isolation and hardship he went through, and she didn't want that for her granddaughter. But Heather's parents have clearly forgotten what it was like growing up deaf in a hearing world, and choose a life of limits for their daughter.  They even end up moving to a deaf community in Maryland. That clearly illustrates them isolating themselves and their children from the hearing world that is so frightening to them, when Heather and her brothers have an opportunity to thrive in the hearing world if they got a cochlear implant.

The situation in Sound and Fury did not specifically remind me a certain event, but just the eternal struggle between parents and their children. Parents believe they always know what is best for their child, even when is differs from what the child wants. I don't doubt that parents are super intuitive when it comes to their kids and I don't doubt that they know what is best for their children. But it becomes a slippery slope when parents can only see what they want for their child, not what their child wants.

My question for next week is what ever happened to Heather? Did she eventually get the implant, and if not, how is she doing now?

Works Cited:
1) U.S. Incarceration Rates by Race. (n.d.). www.prisonpolicy.org. Retrieved May 1, 2012, from http://www.prisonpolicy.org/graphs/raceinc.html

2) Where is Heather Artininan Today?. (n.d.). Cochlear Implant Online. Retrieved May 1, 2012, from http://cochlearimplantonline.com/site/where-is-heather-artinian-today/

3)Retrieved May 1, 2012, from http://www.posteritati.com/jpg/S4/SOUND%20AND%20FURY%201SH.JPG

Journal 3-3

Last week I asked what inspired Patience to start the Guerrilla Goodness Campaign. In doing some research on her Guerrilla Goodness website, I found that it all started with her sister. Back when Patience was poor and had no health insurance for her baby, her sister would pay bills and send her anonymous L.L. Bean packages. Even though she never confessed, Patience's sister's acts of kindness always came at the right moments. Patience soon realized that "kindness came in all forms and I didn’t have to be rich to spread love and joy in the world." Thus Guerrilla Goodness was born. Patience took it to the streets (and the internet) and a movement of kindness and compassion began. Completing small acts of kindness for strangers and friends alike included chalking sidewalks with messages of love, leaving Starbucks gift cards in books for the next reader, ding-dong ditch kindness, and many more. 

Last week in class we watched the "Jail" episode of "30 Days." In it Morgan spent twenty-five days in the East and West branch of a Henrico County Jail. The first jail was extremely overcrowded and once Morgan went through registration he was told to find a place to but his mattress. Prisoners stay in different Day Rooms, and their cells are all in that Day Room. They are not required to do anything all day, they don't even have to leave their cell. But when Morgan was transferred to East, prisoners woke up at six a.m.and had full schedules all day long. They attended group therapy, personal therapy and workshops on how to live life on the outside.

I thought the episode was very interesting; it educated me on something I did not even know was an issue. In 2007 3.1% of the American adult population was in jail. This does not take into account underage citizens in juvenile detention.  We also  learned that one out of three prisoners end up back in jail within six months. It was disheartening to learn at the end of the episode that Travis and George, prisoners who Morgan befriended in jail, were back in jail in two months and two weeks, respectively. The episode that our currently incarceration system is a revolving door. Not all prisoners are rehabilitated in prison, and when they get out they keep making the same mistakes and get in trouble with the law again. 

For next week I am wondering if incarceration rates differ by race. 

Works Cited:

1) 30 Days TV Show. (n.d.). www.tv.yahoo.com. Retrieved March 12, 2012, from http://tv.yahoo.com/30-days/show/36835/photos/1

2) Guerrilla Goodness Homepage. (n.d.). guerrillagoodness.com. Retrieved March 12, 2012, from http://guerrillagoodness.com/images/layout_01.png

3) Salgado, P. (n.d.). The Story. guerrillagoodness.com. Retrieved March 12, 2012, from http://guerrillagoodness.com/

Guerrilla Goodness!

Journal 3-2

Last week I asked why there so many Muslim Americans populating Dearborn, Michigan. I found out that the world headquarters of the Henry Ford Motor Company is in Dearborn. Many years ago Muslim immigrants were attracted to the relatively high paying jobs associated with the auto industry in that area. Dearborn now has the highest concentration of Arab Muslims in North America with 32,000 Muslims from Lebanon, Yemen, and Iraq. There are also high concentrations of Muslims in the New York metropolitan area and Minneapolis-Saint Paul. 

Last week in Ethics we planned and executed Valentine's Day Guerrilla Goodness. We were inspired by Patience Salgado, aka Kindness Girl at www.kindnessgirl.com. There were tons of projects that happened, and they were all successful. The "take what you need, give what you can" post-it notes in the hallway, "you are loved" post-its on everyone's car, sidewalk chalk messages of love, valentines for children at a local oncology ward and a super mushy playlist blasting over the intercom. It was awesome. Being sneaky is fun, but its even more fun when you're being sneaky for the forces of all that is kind and lovable! 

I'm not gonna lie, when we were first assigned a guerrilla goodness mission last fall, I thought it was kind of obnoxious and just another thing I had to do for Couillard's class. I didn't think we'd be able to reach the level of awesome that Patience has with her guerrilla goodness. But I was so wrong. Although my guerrilla goodness mission was not necessarily a success, i was inspired by the success of my classmates. But I didn't think we'd have the chance to do it again. But in January, a small "take what you need" poster appeared in the Quad one Monday morning, and we again started thinking about guerrilla goodness. To this day we have no idea who put it there, but it inspired us all that week. I myself took a little "Understanding" for the road. I absolutely love that path that guerrilla goodness has taken in our class. I wish we could do it more often, but the element of surprise is a huge part of what makes it so awesome. All the things that happened on Valentine's Day made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, because the message of love is relatable to everyone. I felt so good to let everyone know they are loved, because I'm sure there are some of us who don't hear it enough. Moral of the story, Guerrilla Goodness is an fantastic idea and I encourage everyone to try it.

For next week, I am wondering what inspired Patience to start the Guerrilla Goodness Campaign.

Works Cited:

1. Dearborn, Michigan. (n.d.). Wikipedia. Retrieved February 19, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dearborn,_Michiganhttp://

2. Islam in Dearborn, Michigan. (n.d.). www.30-days.net. Retrieved February 19, 2012, from http://www.30-days.net/muslims/muslims-in/america-north/islam-in-dearborn-michigan/http://

3. Retrieved February 19, 2012, from http://azizaizmargari.wordpress.com/2008/12/http://

Journal 3-1

The current Republican frontrunner is Mitt Romney, but Newt Gringrich has risen up int he ranks due to his second place win in the Florida primary and win in South Carolina. Romney has been popular because his conservative stance on many issues. Voters in Florida think he is conservative yet still able to beat Obama as far as electability goes. Romney has swept almost every state to have a caucus so far with wins in Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire. He has already stated himself to be the de facto Republican candidate to fight it out with Obama. The other candidates with any chance (Paul, Santorum, and Gringich) will have a hard time beating Romney.

Last week in class we discussed what it means to be part of a community. We all drew diagrams of the communities we are a part of and discussed how they differed and were related. Many people included their families, friends, sports teams, school, jobs and other activities as communities they participate in. We realized that we act differently depending on which community we are with at a certain time. For example we may act professional at work and form good relationships with our co-workers and bosses, but we act differently at sports practice or at school. We also discussed how people from differently communities can overlap. For example, you have some friends from school, some from work, and some from sports and those friends all form one community even if we know they are from different communities.

We also watched an episode of  "30 Days" a show created by Morgan Spurlock which puts people in a lifestyle that is completely unfamiliar to them. (e.g. working for minimum wage being in prison, a Christian living as a Muslim etc.) We watched an episode in which a Christian husband and father from West Virginia moved in with a family of Muslims in Dearborn, Michigan and practiced Islam for 30 days.

I thought the "30 Days" episode was really interesting. Putting a West Virginian practicing Christian in a Muslim home was really a fish out of water experience. There were so many things Dave didn't know about Islam, and by watching that episode I learned with him. I never thought that all Muslims were terrorists, but it shocked me to know most of the people Morgan interviewed on the street did. I realize that there are extremist Muslims just like there are extremist Christians, and that mujahideen are no different from KKK members. I was kinda strange to know that so many Americans are that ignorant when it comes to Islam.

Watching "30 Days" this week reminded me of the show Wife Swap. If you've never seen it, two wives swtich families for two weeks. More often than not, the two families lead dramatically different lifestyles, for example a neat freak mom switching places with a messy mom. In the first episode the moms would be completely disgusted with their new families, but warm up to them as the weeks go by. They would institute their way of doing this into the new household and it was interesting to watch the families reactions to that. It is different from "30 Days" in that their is only one person switching lives, and that person cannot make the new families live their way, it is the other way around.

My question for next week is why are so many Muslims populated in Dearborn, and are there any other cities in America heavily populated with Muslims.

Works Cited:

1. 30 Days (TV series). (n.d.). Wikipedia. Retrieved February 5, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/30_Days_%28TV_series%29http://
2. Fouhy, B. (2012, February 5). Analysis: Romney win leaves rivals few options. Assoicated Press. Retrieved February 5, 2012, from http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hCfjc3GycHG6wY8t1pMS6PN_q4aQ?docId=d4e68887ab4d40c7b0fc4bfe668fea61http://
3. Those Protestant Muslims Next Door. (2011, December 15). www.patheos.com. Retrieved February 4, 2012, from http://www.patheos.com/blogs/blackwhiteandgray/2011/12/those-protestant-muslims-next-door/http://

The Republican Race for President

Journal 2-3

 In my last journal I asked what the "nine shift" meant. It is a phrase used to describe the great changes taking place in our life right now. The term derived from belief that nine hours of our day will be spent completely differently in 2020 then they were spent in 2000. There are 24 hours in each day and about 12 of those hours are spent eating, sleeping and other necessary tasks crucial to our existence. The way the other 12 hours are spent varies by person, but they are used mostly for work, play, and family time. About 75% of those 12 hours, or 9 hours, will be spent differently in a few years than they are now. That means 75% of life is in the process of changing. The nine shifts are described in a book called "The Nine Shift: Work, Life and Education in the 21st Century" by Julie Coates and William Draves.

Last week in class we have discussed the many Republican candidates for president. In groups of two we were assigned a candidate and did research on them. We found out information about their childhood, education, career, campaign funds, and their stance on major issues. I was assigned Rick Santorum, and found out I agreed with about zero of his views. After we had gathered information, we exchanged it with our classmates and copied all the information they had about their candidates. We also watched a GOP debate between the candidates. Through this we learned who was and was not apt at debating and formed our opinions of th canididates apart from what we thought about what was written down on our sheets. We also had a discussion about each candidate after their stance on the issues had been presented to the class. We discussed whether or not a persons GPA or personal life has anything to do with their ability to run the country.

I thought watching the debate was interesting. We were able to judge a person character apart from what we knew about them on paper. What they said told us a lot about them and helped us to establish how we felt about them. For example Rick Perry seemed the most friendly and personable, but sounded kind of ignorant when he used Tim Tebow as a metaphor to describe himself in the presidential race. Rick Santorum seemed extremely uppity and like he knew better than everyone else. For younger voters, I feel like the Republican candidate and the presidential election itself is kind of a popularity contest. Who looks like they could be president, who sounds like they could be president. Most kids my age don't really know or care much about the actual qualifications of a candidate. It was also interesting to research a specific candidate.We learned a lot about them and became a pseudo expert about them.

 We also assessed our own political views by taking a couple of online tests. We read a series of biased  statements and had to decided whether we agreed or not. The statements ranged all across the left-right spectrum and covered a number of issues including privatization, gay rights, education, and immigration. I had already taken a similar test in AP US History, and already suspected my results. I have moderate views but lean more to the left and I am more libertarian than authoritarian.  This is were I stand on the Politcal Compass. My results were similar in the other political quiz.

 They way I feel about younger Americans and voters when it comes to elections remind me of 5th grade class elections at my elementary school. It was never about who was qualified to pass out papers or organize our "Friday Folders" or be line leaders (all of these equated to secretary, vice president, and president respectively). It was about who we liked the most and who we were friends with. The "weird" kids or loners would never win, even though they would probably be more qualified than the cutest boy and bossiest girl in the class. I remember the latter won the position of president and vice president in my class, and I also remember they did horrible jobs. The whole class regretted voting for them. Since we so young we were unable to see beyond our own superficiality and look at the actual qualification of each candidate.

I wonder who will be the frontrunner by the time I write my next journal, and how their campaign techniques or platforms contributed to their position in the race.

 Works Cited:

1. Book Contents. (2007). nineshift.com. Retrieved January 10, 2012, from http://http://www.nineshift.com/contents.htm

2. Nine Shift. (n.d.). www.amazon.com. Retrieved January 10, 2012, from http://www.amazon.com/Nine-Shift-William-Draves/dp/1577220307http://

3. my presidential campaign. (2010, February 12). http://ronrik.wordpress.com. Retrieved January 10, 2012, from http://ronrik.wordpress.com/page/2