Aggressive behavior&online aggression - Essay Example

? Psychology Assignment1 Aggressive Behavior Human beings tend to behave in different ways when put in different environments and under different scenarios from what they are used to or what they would expect to find. This is what is exhibited in the Stanford Prison Experiment. In this experiment, Dr. Philip Zimbardo wanted to find out what happens when students are assigned the role of prisoner and guard in a real prison that was located at the basement of Stanford University psychology department. One of the things that can be learned from the study is that people can do things that are against their normal ethics when placed in different environments. For example, as per the video, one of the people participating in the experiment was asked to administer electric shocks on some subjects under study who were prisoners. He went on to do just that despite the fact that he knew it was lethal. On the other hand, the other prison guards just looked on yet they knew that it was not proper to do so. This is an example of what the environment in which we are in can affect us. Some of the situational factors that may have triggered the aggressive behavior in the people involved in the experiment in the influence of authority. When people are in different environments, they tend to behave differently. Another situational factor is the area where one is placed. Prisons are generally bad places where there is a lot of aggression and bad treatment. Thus being in that environment may have triggered the occurrence of the aggression that was witnessed. In addition to this, the fact that the other guards were aggressive may have influenced the rest to be so (Krahe, 2001). On the other hand, the guards may have been influenced by personal factors to act the way that they did. Childhood encounters of aggression may have triggered them to be hostile on the inmates. Apart from that, any other problems that they may be having may have made them behave the way they did as a way of relieving the stress that they had. According to the social psychology perspective aggressive behavior may be prevented by proper counseling, this will especially solve aggression exhibited by those who had problems during their childhood (Krahe, 2001). Putting the people in the experiment in individual situations would also have reduced the aggression that they exhibited. References Video: BBC (n.d) Stanford prison experiment [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.personalgrowthcourses.net/vijdeo/stanford_prison_experiment Krahe, B. (2001). The Social Psychology of Aggression. New York: Psychology Press. Class #1 Assignment #2 Dehumanization and Online Aggression The use of online communication is one of the ideologies that spread all over the world with the advent of technology. This has enabled many people to pass messages instantly to areas that are miles apart. The use of media such as facebook, twitter and other instant message technologies are on the increase. One online medium that is most commonly used is facebook. However, it has led to an increase in online aggressive instances due to the dehumanization attribute that it has. One of the factors that might have led to dehumanization is the idea of anonymity (Tsikerdekis, 2012). People make friends with people that they do not know, thus, while communicating, the parties concerned are not wary of the feelings of the people that they talk to hence they may tend to get aggressive in their communication. Furthermore, they have reduced concerns about being positively evaluated by others (Tsikerdekis, 2012). Another factor that may trigger aggression on this site is the use of aliases and pseudonyms, which are names that are not really the true identity of a person. With such, people tend to be free to say what they want even though they may be aware that it is inappropriate because they know that they will not be identified. There is also the aspect of dissociation that comes with pseudonyms which is an aspect of dehumanization (Tsikerdekis, 2012). Lastly, communication may occur between people that are miles apart, therefore, one may get aggressive towards others knowing that they will probably never be found. All these instances create a situation whereby there is dehumanization of other human beings. The idea that one might not meet the person that they are talking to tends to make them feel that the other person is not human (Tsikerdekis, 2012). Moreover, using a name that is not someone’s makes them devoid of their true human aspect. The social psychology perspective argues the fact that online aggression can be reduced by engaging in activities such as sports other than chatting on the social media, this way aggression is channeled to appropriate activities. This way, there is a release of drive energy known as the catharsis (Baumeister et al., 1999). Since most people that engage in this aggression are children, exposure to things such as media games should be reduced since it has a great influence on aggression. References Tsikerdekis, M. (2012). The Choice of complete anonymity versus pseudonymity for aggression online. Vol.11 No. 8 Baumeister et al. (1999). Catharsis, Aggression and Persuasive Influence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Vol. 7 No.3 Class #2 Assignment #1 Research Design Drug addiction is a factor that is rampant in most societies and people are struggling to deal with this problem. To sensitize people on the dangers of drug addiction, there are various studies that have been carried out outlining the consequences of drug addiction, various drugs that are abused and why people may find themselves addicted to drugs. However, one aspect that is often neglected yet it is of equal importance in addiction issue is the role of family issue in addiction. A qualitative method of research can be employed to answer the question, do family issues have an influence towards drug addiction? Qualitative research methods are used when statistical procedures are not used to arrive at the findings of the research. This method is used to access social movements and cultural phenomena (Miller, Strang & Miller, 2005). This will be a proper orientation to the study of addiction due to the fact that qualitative research describes the social meanings that participants attach to drug use and the social processes by which such meanings are created. The details of people’s life’s experiences are observed, this way, the researcher will be in a position to achieve his or her objective which is establishing whether the experiences that people have in their families may influence them towards drug addiction. Since the whole study is on the way of life people within the community, a qualitative study will be proper for conducting a research on whether the family has an influence on drug addiction among people in the society (Neale, Allen & Coombes, 2005). This is an area that has been neglected when studies on addiction are done. Therefore, this would be a perfect opportunity for this area to be explored and proper implementations made. References Neale, J., Allen, D. & Coombes, L. (2005). Qualitative Research Methods within the addictions. Oxford: Oxford Brookes University. Miller, P.G., Strang, J. & Miller, P.M. (2005). Addiction Research Methods. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Class #2 Assignment #2 Qualitative and Qualitative analysis The debate on qualitative and qualitative analysis is based o the differences that the two fields have based on the psychology field. This is based on the question of whether psychology is relevant in these fields that are considered scientific. Nastasi and Schensul (2005), argue that this debate is propelled by extremists from each side. Scientists argue that qualitative research is open to a lot of belief thus researchers beliefs may interfere with the process of the research. With the possibility of bias as a result of this, quantitative research methods are dominant in most fields of study (Nastasi and Schensul, 2005). Based on the fact that qualitative research focuses on the study of human and the conditions that surround them, it is more formidable in truly understanding the population, since it is highly involved in the research process. This is another point of contention between the people that advocate for quantitative and those that support qualitative research. With this idea in place, some quantitative researchers argue that there may be right and wrong answers to life, thus, there is the possibility of wrong answers from the section of the population that is involved in research by qualitative researchers (Patton, 2002). On this, qualitative researchers argue that there is no better answer that can come from a person other than the one that they give when they are questioned about something. To solve this problem, many researchers decide to incorporate both quantitative and qualitative methods of research in their studies. This is in a bid to cover up for the inadequacies that are in one research method as opposed to the other. However, in my opinion I feel that qualitative methods of research are better. This is because they involve human beings and the social surroundings that inhabit. This ensures that the responses that are gathered to be used to arrive to conclusions are true since people will have aired out what they truly encounter. References Nastasi, B.K. & Schensul, S. L. (2005). Contributions of qualitative research to the validity of intervention research. Journal of School Psychology, Vol 43 pp.177-195 Patton, A. (2002). Reconceptualization of the division between quantitative and qualitative research methods. Cognition, Brain & Behavior: An Interdisciplinary Journal, Vol. 11 No.4 pp.337-343 Read More