What Would You Do?

(blog 6)
I remember watching a feature on ABC Primetime awhile back called "What Would You Do?" It is a show in which hidden camera are set up while actors set up scenarios to see how people react.

Here is one particular scene that I remember, which reminds me of the discussions we have had about bystander intervention in emergencies. In this clip, an interracial couple is seen in a public park and the man is verbally abusing the woman. It looks as though he could get physical, and the woman looks scared and helpless. It is interesting to see how bystanders react:



I find it interesting that more women stopped to help the victim and stand up to the man. In class we learned that men are likely to stop to help a woman in need. However, I think that in this situation, women will put themselves in the victim's shoes and realize that they need help, while men might not think it's as big of a deal. Another reason that men may have not stopped is because they didn't want to start a fight with the angry man. I think that a man is more likely to help a woman in an emergency if there isn't another man involved.

Impulse Control

(blog 5)
In the 1960's Walter Mischel conducted an experiment about impulse control in children. A group of four-year-olds were given a marshmallow and told that if they waited twenty minutes that they could have another marshmallow. If they ate the marshmallow than then would not get another one. Some children were able to wait and some couldn't resist eating the marshmallow.

This experiment was recreated recently. I found the video amusing!




This experiment studied impulse control, which is considered to be an important part of emotional intelligence. Mischel later followed the progress of the children in the experiment and found that children who had resisted eating the marshmallow were more dependable and had higher SAT scores.

I think that impulse control is very important in everyday life. A person without impulse control it may choose to sleep in rather than go to work or school, get drunk instead of studying for an important test, or cheat on their significant other. They don't seem to think about the consequences of their actions and may live in the moment and forget about the future. It seems to be part of what people refer to as self control.

stress

I think its interesting how a little stress can help you study and allot of stress can make you shut down. So i propose a study involving brain scans(i assume that stress can be seen on an fMRI)to look at exactly what point that threshold is breached, and what parts of the brain are active. This relates to social psychology.

terror managment theory

My brother turned me on to an interesting theory called Terror Management Theory. The basic outline of which is that "when people are confronted with their own demise they strengthen their own world view, religion politics etc.", these views being their in-group it makes sense that they lash out at out-groups. Its an interesting read.

Smieja, M, Kalaska, M, & Adamczyk, M. (2006). Scared to death or scared to love? Terror management theory and close relationships seeking. European Journal of Social Psychology, 36, 279-296.

explicit vs implicit

I think that there are very few thoughts which can be thought of as either explicit or implicit. For the most part when I think random things just pop into my head. After that there is a period of explicit thought where the idea is usually shot down through a process of rationalization. So i propose that all thoughts are a mix of the two. Except for the implicit thoughts i don't notice because they never actually break the surface of consciousness.

Adolescents, Abandonment, & Aggression

Our recent talks about children with aggression problems got me to thinking about other things that cause children to become aggressive. An adolescent close to me has serious aggression and anger management issues. He has never been a receiver of corporal punishment, but is being raised by his grand-parents because his parents were divorced and neither wanted to raise him. According to this study, children with abandonment issues have higher levels of aggression, depression, anxiety, and dysfunctional thinking.

The 2000 Census reported 4.5 million children being raised by grand-parents. That was 6.3% of all children under the age of 18. This number is on the rise and is undoubtedly significantly higher now. This is a disturbing trend that I was not able to find much concrete research on. Guidance counselors need to be aware of the background of the kids. The guidance counselor that my friends son has was not even aware he was being raised by his grand-parents. Schools should develop programs for grand-parents and guardians that are not the biological parents, to attend to help these children increase their self-esteem and reduce the abandonment issues as much as possible.

There are so many issues in this world today that can cause aggression in children and all people. While one day corporal punishment may become illegal, we cannot govern other situations, such as abandonment, that cause aggresion. It seems as though teaching coping mechanisms to students should be implemented in the classrooms as a regular curriculum through high school graduation. This area needs continual research to find solid and keep up to date programs that can be implemented that will counteract these abandonment issues. Schools and guardians need to be coninuously upgrading their skills to handle these problems.

Griersmirh, D., & Galligan, R. (2003). Adolescent depression and associated psychological distress. Australian Journal of Psychology, 55183.

Quiz 10: Aggressive Driving Results

Methodology
My research on aggressive driving consisted of having participants fill out a 10 question survey about what they would do in certain driving situations. Here are a few examples of the questions that I included:

1.You are late for school or work, and the person in front of you is going 10 mph below the speed limit. You…
a.Get annoyed, but maintain a safe distance behind.
b.Don’t mind, at least they are driving safely.
c.Honk, scream out the window, use rude gestures, all possibly while tailgating them.
d.Drive dangerously close to them, aka “tailgate” them, hoping that they will get the hint and speed up.

2.The stoplight has turned green and the person in front of you has not accelerated after 5 seconds. You…
a.Wait, while swearing or complaining to yourself or the other person in your car
b.Lay on your horn while using rude gestures and swearing.
c.Honk your horn gently to get their attention
d.Wait patiently

3.You are at Wal-Mart on a busy Saturday afternoon and the parking lot is full. You see a nearby parking spot become available and you pull forward towards the spot and put your blinker on, clearly intending to pull in. A black sports car speeds around the corner from the opposite direction and parks in the same spot. You…
a.Stay calm. He got there first, so no big deal.
b.Swear or complain to yourself or the other person in your car, saying how rude that was.
c.Get out of your car and confront the person.
d.Honk and give them a dirty look

Each question has answers that I rated from 1 to 4, as follows:
1. low aggression
2. low to medium aggression
3. medium to high aggression
4. high aggression

I asked 20 college students to fill out this survey, ten of which are males and ten that are females. I then determined their results by adding up how many of each rating each person had picked.

Results
I predicted that males and females would have similar habits of aggressive driving. In this survey, I found that males are slightly more likely to be aggressive drivers, as many previous studies have found. However, most drivers fall into the middle categories. On the extreme ends, females tend to be less aggressive and males tend to be more aggressive.


The above graph shows that the ten males chose a total of:
18 "low aggression" answers
23 "low to medium aggression" answers
32 "medium to high aggression" answers
27 "high aggression" answers

And that the ten females chose a total of:
24 "low aggression" answers
35 "low to medium aggression" answers
31 "medium to high aggression" answers
10 "high aggression" answers

Discussion
Most college drivers that I surveyed tend to choose low-to medium or medium-to-high reactions to frustrating driving scenarios. This means that if another driver makes them angry or if they are in a hurry they may complain or curse to themselves or their passengers, get annoyed, and possibly honk their horn or drive somewhat threateningly. Less claimed that they would be completely calm or that they would risk a serious accident or confront a person directly. It seems that most drivers do show some signs of aggression, but it's usually not extreme.

When I originally decided to do this study, I thought about driving around Butte and being the person who annoys other drivers and taking note of their actions. However, I decided that that could be very dangerous and I wasn't going to risk getting into a wreck. However, I think that it may have been a more accurate study because the reactions that people gave would tell the truth.

Aggression, Age, & Alcohol Results

Results: During the concert 3 people in front of where I was sitting decided to stand, for the whole concert. They were the only people in the bleachers standing so this was very frustrating for those sitting directly behind them. These people were asked to sit down at least 3 times by security. They refused. They were asked to sit down on numerous occasions by a variety of people sitting behind them. They refused. This refusal signified their actions were deliberate and prompted frustration-aggression and the Batson study (2000) to come into play.

The male and female behind me began throwing beer can tops at these ‘standers’. This progressed to some loose change being thrown by the male only. The female refused to participate in this activity. Then the male began throwing empty beer cans…probably 6 of them total. Lastly, he threw a semi-full beer can. After that another male and female in his group told him to stop it, which he did. There were still a few verbal jabs at the ‘standers’ behind their backs, but the verbal and physical aggression towards them stopped. After the concert almost everyone returned and joined their respective groups. This gave me the opportunity to let them know I would like to ask them some quick questions about themselves and these events for this project. The data on those that agreed and had time to participate is as follows:

Gender Age Drinking Fight /past yr Aggressive Acts Passive Acts Cathertic?
Male 53 No No None None
Female 49 No No None Letter No
Female 17 No No None Left seat Yes
Female 34 Yes No None Left seat
Male 36 Yes No None Left seat
Male 38 No No Asked to sit Left seat
Female 35 Yes No Asked to sit Left seat
& talked to security
Male 36 Yes Yes Asked to sit
Female 31 Yes No Talked to security
Female 27 Yes Yes Threw things, yelled Yes
& talked to security
Male 26 Yes Yes Threw things & yelled Yes

Of those that took some type of action to get the ‘standers’ to sit down, the 2 individuals that threw things at them felt the most satisfied. Those that asked security to do something to no avail felt no resolution and were still frustrated. Interestingly enough, the 2 people sitting directly behind the ‘standers’ showed no aggression. These 2 people represented the oldest of the group. They were not drinking. They realized early on that these ‘standers’ were pretty drunk and they just had to put up with it, putting into effect the Gelles study. They were still quite frustrated as it was over $100 for the tickets for them and their daughter, who left the scene as soon as she realized the ‘standers’ would not sit. This woman planned to write the hosting venue to suggest that security offers future ‘standers’ the opportunity to sit down or be seated elsewhere. This will make her feel better (cathartic) while turning this aggression into a proactive positive action. On a side note, one of the women I didn’t get the chance to survey after the concert knew one of the 'standers'. She felt because one of this person works with handicapped people their behavior should be tolerated.

Discussion: This observation study and following survey proves my hypothesis to be true, as well as many of the other things discussed in class on 12/2/09. Men are generally more aggressive than women. Younger men who have been drinking are the most aggressive as compared to men who are older or women of any age. It also appears the older a person gets, the less physically aggressive they get but may still be verbally aggressive. Lastly, from this, I learned the more seasoned in age we get and the less seasoned with alcohol we are, the less aggressive we may be. Perhaps this is an example of getting older and wiser. Now I would like to research how people like the ‘standers’ feel entitled enough to exhibit rude and thoughtless behavior.

Quiz 10

RESULTS –
My hypothesis was greatly supported that women are indeed more aggressive when faced with acts of infidelity than men. There were a total of seven females and five males in this experiment. Every woman who was survey displayed an act of aggression, and only three of the five men showed acts of aggression. Woman were rated as follows, two acts of murder, one suicide, seven acts of physical aggression, four verbal acts of aggression, and one act of passive aggression (spreading rumors and/or taking pictures then showing them to other people). Men were rated as follows, zero murders, zero suicides, one act of physical aggression, zero acts of verbal aggression, and two passive acts of aggression.

DISCUSSION –
In doing this study, Men seemed to show more acceptance in that the relationship was over. They had more statements suggesting grief, opposed to woman who made more statements suggesting anger. For women it was a complete insult, and revenge is something that came as second nature to them. Men showed more strength in walking away as if the interest they had was lost. This supports the theory that men are more aggressive during the relationship and not during infidelity because they are protecting themselves against infidelity. Once infidelity has occurred the male has no reason to continue to have aggression. This also supports that women are becoming more aggressive. In this study there were women who’s first initial response was “I will kill him” and with men their first initial response was “I would be out of there” or “I would leave them a note on the table and leave for good”. It would be interesting to take this study a step further and survey people who have actually experienced infidelity.

We Only Hurt the Ones We Love cont...

Results
I spent 2 hours walking through Wal-Mart to gauge reactions of aggression towards me in strangers and in acquaintances. Out of the ten strangers that I used in my study only four out of ten responded with an aggressive type action. However, when answering my questions afterwards nine out of ten reported feeling angry and wanting to react. Among the group of acquaintances used seven out of ten reacted in an aggressive manner and nine out of the ten reported feeling angry and wanting to react aggressively. These findings support my hypothesis and are in line with my personal experiences.
Method
For the purpose of this study strangers are defined as people that I have had so little interaction with that they would not recognize me. Also, acquaintances are defined as people that I easily recognize due to seeing them repeatedly in the same place or people that I actually do know and just happened to run into at Wal-Mart.
First I would try to cause aggravation in the participants by standing in the middle of an isle that is hard to fit two carts through and make no attempt to move when they obviously wanted to get by. In order to get more participants I also used the method of walking in front of where they were obviously looking and stand there pretending to take my time deciding on what I needed. Their reactions were gauged on a scale of 1-5 as follows:

1=absolutely no reaction
2=said, “Excuse me” but upon being ignored walked away
3=Said, “Excuse me” repeatedly but eventually walked away
4=Said, “Excuse me” and upon getting no response turned around and very firmly placed their next item in their cart
5=Said, “Excuse me” and upon being ignored, either pushed their way in to get whatever item they needed or made some attempt to forcefully get around me.

Ratings of four and five are considered aggressive responses. A rating of five is considered behaving in an aggressive manner towards me specifically. (Note please that they did not all necessarily say “Excuse me” but for the purpose of this I took clearing the throat in an obvious manner or any other verbalization of asking me to move as an acceptable response in my gauging.)

After the exchange, when the person started walking away, depending on which level of action I had experienced with them I would approach and debrief them and ask my survey questions. If they seemed to be heading toward a level four grading I would let a little more time pass before approaching them to see if they did indeed place their next item in a firm manner into their cart. When I approached them first I apologized, then I explained that I was doing something for a class (but at this time did not reveal specifics to try and avoid leading them to giving me the answers I was looking for) and asked if they would help me out and answer three questions for me. I narrowed my questions down to three so that they did not think it would take much time and would be more willing to do it. My questions were as follows:

1) Did my blocking your path/grocery selection make you feel aggravated?
2) Did you want to make me move?
3) Why did you not try harder to make me move?

The first two were either a yes/no answer and the third question gave me an opportunity to see if they noted their reason as something to do with that they knew or did not know me based on which group they belonged to. After they had answered my questions I thanked them for helping me with my assignment and went on my way.

Tables of my results:

For answers to the third question five out of ten in the stranger category reported that it was because they did not know me. Two out of ten reported that it was because they felt it was inappropriate to react when angry and the last two said they did not know why they didn’t try harder that it just wasn’t in their nature. One person actually did try to just get around me to get what they wanted and they weren’t kind about it.
Answers to the third question for the familiar group were the following: the two of the three that ranked three or lower reported that they did not try harder because I looked intent in whatever I was looking at and they didn’t want to disturb me. The third person ranking three or lower reported that they were not in the mood that day to fight with anyone so they thought it would be best to walk away. The remaining four participants did try to make me move.
Discussion
The findings mostly support my hypothesis, but the sample size was relatively small so it is hard to determine if my results would be wide-spread. I believe that the results would show up over and over though, based on my personal experiences. I draw my experience from watching my four boys interact first within their own little brother group and then in larger groups full of kids they don’t know. My boys are more likely to haul off and hit each other, even knowing they will get in trouble for it, than they are to hit another kid in a group that they do not know. Another reason I believe that this hypothesis is correct is because taking our aggression out on people we label as “safe”, we can pretty much gauge how they will respond to our aggressive behavior; we also know that in most cases they will still be there after we have cooled down and our aggression is lessened.

Quiz 10

Verbal Aggression in Video Games
Introduction
Video games today have been the subject of many studies on aggression. In Craig Anderson’s and Karen Dill’s article "Video Games and Aggressive Thoughts, Feelings, and Behavior." They hypothesized that even brief exposure to violent games can temporarily increase aggressive behavior in all types of participants. From this I formed my hypothesis that those who frequently portray themselves as violent characters in video games may lose their sensitivity towards violence and may automatically find themselves acting more aggressive in game settings than they do in reality.
I first defined verbal aggression as threatening behavior with intent to psychologically hurt or damage such as teasing, taunting, threatening, and name-calling.
To find verbal aggression I began by looking at in-game chat and the verbal aggression used there. I decided to remain impartial and act merely as an observer; therefore I didn’t interact at all with those involved in messaging. I first began with a game that has received heavy criticism for its violent content: Grand Theft Auto. I found that although this game’s chat was littered with verbal aggression, it was not necessarily directed towards other players as often as it was used to describe the actions carried out in the game. There was however, more profanity, name-calling and teasing from one player to another. After more consideration, I decided that this wasn’t a legitimate example to determine if violent games truly cause aggression among the players. This is because those who choose to play violent video games are probably more inclined towards violence initially. Those who chose to play non-violent games most likely make that choice based on a dislike for violence. Therefore, a violent and graphic game like Grand Theft Auto wouldn’t make a good sample for the purpose of this experiment.
Methods
Instead I chose to go with World of Warcraft. World of Warcraft has about 11.5 million players currently. With participation that vast, I think that the average player is more likely to be more of an average citizen without either extremely violent or non-violent tendencies. Although the violent events are not as graphic or realistic as other games, they still served as a better indicator than games that may appeal to just aggressive personalities.
I looked at in-game chat for an hour for both violent and non-violent game events. I had absolutely no participation in the dialogue, I was only a spectator. Out of these messages, I took note of every time teasing, name-calling and threats occurred and calculated a percentage out of the total number of comments. As an interesting side note I also noted profanity use, which isn’t necessarily related to aggression but seems to show up much more in violent and stressful situations. I took the total percentage of comments that were aggressive and dissected them to show the percentage of certain types of aggressive comments made during messaging.
Results
I took a violent game event and watched as the players completed the quest. I don’t play video games so I couldn’t honestly give much of an account of the quest, but I do know that as the fight escalated and the situation became more frustrating and stressful, the instances of name-calling and swearing increased. Teasing was more present during the earlier stages of the quest when things were moving slowly and it was just beginning.

The non-violent quest I used to study verbal aggression was a get-together among player’s characters. Here, there were equal incidents of teasing, less name-calling and no verbal threats.

This shows that verbal aggression is more present in games where violence is used versus where it is not used.
Discussion
Although the results did match my hypothesis, there are several points I would like you to consider. The events weren’t as violent as other games, therefore, I doubt if gamers are influenced as much by a fantasy game that they can’t connect with reality as they would be by a game that is made to imitate modern life in real-life settings. The samples of in-game messaging I used were limited to an hour of time worth of messaging. This is a very small sample; therefore it might not be a good representation of W.O.W. in-game chat in its entirety. Also, as I found the stress in the situation increased, so did the verbal aggression, so verbal aggression could be attributed more to stressful situations than violence in the game.
For the future, I think it might be interesting to have random groups play a more violent game and a non-violent game and determine the presence of verbal aggression in that setting so that I could ensure it was not merely the players with violent tendencies playing violent games and acting aggressive.
For the purposes of this quiz, I think the results supported the hypothesis, but a sample of participants taken at random and given two separate games to try might be a better way to test the hypothesis.

Quiz 10: Results

My hypothesis was that people would help more attractive people than those who were dressed grungier. I dressed in nice clothes on day and walked through the sub throughout the day. I dropped my papers by a table that was men and women; I repeated this 10 time to different tables. I recorded how many times I was helped. A day later I dressed grungy and performed the same task. I recorded how many times I was helped. The results are below.

The results are:
When Nicely dressed: I was helped 8/10 times
When Poorly dressed: I was helped 3/10 times
I tried to insert a chart, but it will not allow it.

Discussion:
The results matched my hypothesis of which was that more attractive people (being dressed nice) would be helped more than poorly dressed people. This is similar to the studies that I read about which discusses how people are hesitant to help those who do not look like they have money, dressed well, or nice. People judge people based on their looks, every one does it whether they mean to or not. People were nicer to me when I was better dressed. People tried to ignore me when I looked grungy, they really wanted nothing to do with me. Some helped out of pity almost. When I was nicer dressed people started conversations with me when they helped me. When I looked grungy, if I was helped, people just helped me pick up the papers but didn't say much. I am glad that my results proved my hypothesis, but I wish people would help others no matter what they look like.

Results for quiz ten

Results

Have you ever been broke down on the highway and had someone stop to help you?Has having someone stop and help you influenced your decision to stop and help another person who was broke down?
Does the sex of the person in need make a difference in whether you will stop?Does the type of car make a difference, if the car is new or old?

All five couples had at one time or another had someone stop and offer assistance when they had car troubles.

I asked each of the women if having someone stop and assist them would influence if they stopped to help someone else.

All of the women said they would not stop; it was not that they did not want to help it was a matter of safety.
All of the men said they would stop but it would depend on if they felt it was safe.

When asked if the sex of a person would make any difference.
All five men said that if it was a woman that appeared to be alone they would stop.

Does the kind of car make a difference, if the car is new or old?
Not one of the five men I asked said it would make a difference.

Discussion:
Everyone I talked to felt that since people had stopped to help them they felt that they should return the favor. However, what I failed to take into consideration was the safety aspect. The very reason that women did not feel it was safe to stop and assist someone.
All five of the men said they would stop for a woman goes along with what we learned in class. I should have included the question of if the women were alone. The five men I talked to said that if there was already another man there they may not feel it would be safe to stop.

Prosocial behavior in Adolescents (Quiz 10)

Results: My associate and I arrived at Whitehall High School around 10 in the morning and told the principal that we would be performing a social experiment on the students. We were given visitor name tags, which we had to cover up with coats to lessen the suspicion of the students. When the bell rang at 10:13 am I began walking down the freshman hallway and while a group of students were watching I pretended to trip and spill books and papers all over the hall. At first a few of the students chuckled and told their friends "how retarded" I was. Then I moved on to the sophomore hallway where the students simply ignored my predicament. Then in the junior hallway I had the same basic reaction from a group of students walking by. While I was in the high school my associate was walking through the middle school (7th and 8th grade) halls where he said the students laughed out loud and made a slight mockery of him.
Discussion: While the experiment hadn't proved the hypothesis like I had hoped, that adolescents will become more pro-social as they age. There was a slight difference in pro-social activity between the sophomore/junior group and the freshman/middle school group. While it is an improvement, going from mocking to ignoring a person in distress, I still wouldn't classify either as a pro-social behavior and the data isn't significant enough to prove the hypothesis. I think one problem with the experiment was that we weren't in the subjects' in-group. I believe if we had students participate and drop their books, students would have been more likely to help, as in the Tabor study. The other problem with the experiment is that we were only able to run one test on each hall, any more and the students would be even more suspicious.

Quiz 10: Limiting Resources As a Cause For Aggression

Results: I asked the unwitting participants how many pizzas I should order. Once I got the total number, 4 large pizzas, I told my pizza delivery friend beforehand to only have 1 pizza delivered. Once I received the pizza, I tried to act out to my friends why we only got one pizza. The pizza delivery friend said that it may take several hours to get new pizzas since they are so busy. I brought the pizza in and the participants were visually angry. Over half had audible responses to the situation (‘Only one pizza?! What the hell?!’, ‘Do I have to go down there and kick their asses’, ‘This is bs’). The most interesting part is when I noticed the participants becoming angry over two in the group hogging three slices a piece. There was a very heated exchange between a person who had no pizza and one of the guys who had three slices. The guy who had none actually took a slice off the guy’s plate that had three slices and there was some heated screaming. I ended the experiment and told everyone that I ordered only one pizza on purpose and more was on the way. I stopped it because I didn’t want my friends to hurt each other and then told everyone the nature of my experiment. Afterwards I asked everyone one-on-one if they were upset over just one pizza and each said yes and 6/10 said they were ‘very pissed off’ or something similar at the guys who hogged all the pizza and were either willing to get food for themselves elsewhere, or ready to confront the two guys themselves if there wasn’t pizza anytime soon.

Discussion: In a very short amount of time, one pizza divided some very close friends. If the rationing of a simple resource, such as a pizza, can bring about the aggression I witnessed between my friends, how worse could it be with true starvation? There have been many times in human history where there have been riots, violent uprisings, and war over limited resources. These were two guys that were very close to hitting each other over some pizza. Both were having a great time watching the football games just before the delivery came. I think when there was an expectation of a basic need and it is cut off unexpectedly, aggression can arise. I don’t know these two individuals’ personal aggression levels beforehand but as a character witness I believe that they were good friends until one of them tried to take advantage of more pizza than his share. I think individuals can be very prone to aggression under circumstances they feel are outside of their control. Once power is taken away, they feel they have been taken advantage of. Almost everyone in the experiment was visually upset, over half spoke up about it, and two nearly came to violence. This clearly shows to me that limiting resources can cause acts of aggression.

Should the U.S. rely on altruism for organ donatios or should people be allowed to sell organs?

People are born with two kidneys but only need one to survive; which means that a living donor can save someone’s life and still lead a normal life. That may be true altruism.

In 1983 a doctor by the name of Barry Jacobs wanted to enact a pay-for- organs plan. His company, International Kidney Exchange, would bring people from the Third World to the U.S and harvest one kidney then send them back home. His idea of paying for kidneys was not well received.

Congress in response to Jacobs passed the National Organ Transplant Act, which made it illegal “for any person to knowingly acquire, receive, or otherwise transfer any human organ for valuable consideration for use in human transplant.”

In Iran there was so much worry about a kidney shortage that it put in a program to pay people for a kidney. The Iranian Government pays $1,200 for a kidney. Iran does not have a waiting list for people to receive a kidney transplant.

So, how has altruism worked out for organ transplant? In the U.S. 80,000 are waiting for a new kidney, but only about 16,000 transplants are performed each year. Some 50,000 people on the list have died in the last twenty years, with 13,000 dying because they are too ill to receive a transplant.

If altruism worked there would not be a shortage of organs. Should people be allowed to sell their own organs? A noble prize winning economist Gary Becker thinks so, he wants a regulated market, where a person could sell an organ and be compensated in cash, a college scholarship, or even a tax break.

Levitt, S., & Dubner, S. (2009) Super Freakonomics. New York: HarperCollins.

Segregating Children by Age: Contributes to Bullying?

(blog 4)
Since we have been discussing bullying, I thought this topic would be relevant. I came across a three-part article on Psychology Today called Why We Should Stop Segregating Children by Age by Peter Gray. The part that I will be focusing the most on is part two.

Gray suggests that our modern way of grouping children together by age is not effective. In today's world, children are grouped together by age starting when they are babies. Babies are grouped together in daycares and play groups, and toddlers often have their own separate areas and activities. In school, children are usually put into classrooms with other children that are their same age. ( first grade, second grade, and so on) Beyond that, children are sent to different schools based on their age (pre-school, elementary, middle school, high school). This means that many children are primarily exposed to children their own age.

The same thing often happens outside of school. For example- sports teams, clubs, and churches usually group children by their age.

According to Gray, children who are in groups with other children their own age are more competitive and aggressive. They fight for dominance because they see each other as a threat. He also mentions that in these settings children are expected to develop, learn, and mature at the same rate, which obviously does not happen.

On the contrary, children who play in groups that have different age groups get along better and have an easier time finding their place in the group. They also learn a lot from each other and tend to be more creative.

I know that in previous centuries, schools were often one room school houses with students ranging in age from kindergarten to high school. This is because areas were more rural and there weren't enough teachers or students to justify having different classes. This practice has gone away in more urban areas though, and even in rural areas, many students have to travel because the schools are bigger and there are less of them.

In Gray's first section of this article, he claims that when given the opportunity, children often interact with children who are older or younger than themselves. He gives the example of a school called Sudbury Valley School which has 170-200 students ranging from 4 years old to 18. The children are mixed together and mixed-age activities are encouraged. A study of the school found these results:

"In our quantitative study we found that more than 50% of students' social interactions at the school were with other students who were more than two years older or younger than themselves, and 25% of their interactions were with other students who were more than 4 years older or younger than themselves [2]. Age mixing was especially frequent during play. Active play of all sorts was more likely to be age mixed than was conversation that did not involve play."

What do you think? Would mixing age groups decrease bullying?

No Such Thing as a Selfless Good Deed?

(blog 3)

I am a big fan of the tv show Friends. Today when we were discussing pro social behavior and the difference between "egolistic helping" and "altruistic helping," I thought of a particular Friends episode that discusses this topic.

As we have learned, egolistic helping is when a person does a good deed but expects something in return. Altruistic helping is when someone does a good deed but doesn't expect anything in return.

In the Friends episode "The One Where Phoebe Hates PBS", Joey and Phoebe debate as to whether there is such thing as a selfless good deed, or what we would call altruistic helping. Joey claims that if you do a good deed, it makes you feel good. Therefore, it is not selfless and is in fact selfish, or egolistic as we would say. Phoebe argues that altruistic good deeds do exist, and is determined to prove it to Joey.

You can see part of the episode below. The poster of this video is analyzing the same topic.



Later in the show, Phoebe calls Joey to tell him that she finally found a selfless good deed. It goes like this:

Phoebe: [on phone] I have found a selfless good deed. I went to the park and let a bee sting me.
Joey Tribbiani: How is that a selfless good deed?
Phoebe: It makes the bee look tough in front of his bee friends. The bee's happy and I am definitely not.
Joey Tribbiani: Uh, Pheebs, you know the bee probably died after it stung you?
Phoebe: [stares blankly] ...Dammit.
[hangs up]

I believe that the Friends characters are right about this in some ways. I do think that when a person does a good deed, it makes them feel good inside. Even if someone does not expect anything in return, knowing that they did a good deed makes them feel better about themself. Therefore, even altruistic helping is egolistic to an extent. The reward that a person is getting in return may not be external, but internal.

So the difference between the two is that egolistic acts are done with the expectation that they will receive recognition or a reward, and altruistic acts are done knowing that it will make you feel better about yourself, but you don't expect anything from others.

Some people may be addicted to the feeling that they get when they help others, and this might be a motive for performing altruistic deeds.

What do you think? Are altruistic behaviors done because they make the person feel good inside, or are they purely selfless? Is there such thing as a selfless good deed? If so, can you think of an example?

Beating The Bullies: Changing Real-World Behavior Through Virtual Experience

I came across this article today and stopped to read it because of its relevance to what we've been studying in class. The article talks about a new school program developed by a group of European teachers in 2006. The idea was to create a virtual world for children to run through scenarios of helping people who are the victims of bullying. Two programs came out of this idea, one known as FearNot! and the other called ORIENT. In FearNot! the characters actually adapt to the child using it so that if they tried a method once before their character in the game wouldn't allow them to try it again. While the long-term effects of the program are uncertain, tests have shown that it does help with short-term victimization. While FearNot! has a more cartoony/childish feel to it and was made to fight victimization caused through bullying, ORIENT was designed for older children to learn what it feels like to be a newcomer. In ORIENT three children are placed on a planet inhabited by an alien race with a completely different language that they players must figure out. The hope is that this will allow students to better empathize with new faces or people who come from a different cultural background.

I think this is a great way to help children become more empathetic. It also seems as though the creators of this program are fighting fire with fire, since violence and aggression in video games is a hot topic. I feel that by using video games like this children will be able to relate to their character and see the benefits of helping someone who has been bullied, or see why it is so important to understand how it feels to be new to an environment. While the two programs haven't been statistically proven to work wonders I think it is a good first step to solving the bullying problem in our schools.

ICT Results (2009, June 23). Beating The Bullies: Changing Real-world Behavior Through Virtual Experience. ScienceDaily. Retrieved December 7, 2009, from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090622194231.htm

Results from my Aggression Study

I went to Walmart and observed parents with their children. I found a couple different senarios in the behaivor of the children, parents, and of gender.
First
I observed three different cases of a child asking there guardian for a toy they really wanted. There was two girls and a boy in this selection. Each of the three asked if they could please have this toy because they had always wanted it. Two of the adults sat and explained to the child, one girl and one boy, that they did not have enough money to purchase the toy at this time. They then continued explaining that the next time they take a trip to Walmart and money is better than they would buy him/her a toy. These two children put the toys back and continued on with no aggression at all. The next young girl asked her mother for a barbie doll and stated she wanted it really bad. The mother explained to the little girl she should ask Santa for the toy, because if she buys it now she wont get anything for Christmas. This child also put the toy back and showed no frustration or aggression. This finding is similar to Fumito, Shunsuke, and Hironori's findings. Similar in the way that teaching children problem solving skills can lower aggressive outcomes.
Next i observed many children, 4 boys and 3 girls, who stood at their parents feet saying over and over they wanted candy or a toy. The parents ignored them until about the sixth time, on average, that the child asked. When the guardian finally responded their response was a simple no. These children then started getting frustrated throwing there arms in the air, screaming and yelling, and 5 of them started crying. Six of these adults gave into the childs uproar after approximatley 4 minutes. Two of these children were girls and the other four were boys. Only one adult stood strong and stuck with no until the child, a young girl, gave up trying.
I believe a childs aggression strongly depends on the way the parents teach them. A child needs to be told why he/she can or cant have something. This would help to get rid of some of the aggression in young children. If a child throws a fit to get what they want, then they will continue to throw fits everytime they want something. In my study I found that the boys were more aggressive than the girls when throwing a fit. The boys seemed to get more violent, throwing things to the ground and some even hitting. These results shared the same outcomes as did the studies from Martin and Ross.

Quiz 10: Results and Discussion From My Study

Results: I found some interesting things after I got my surveys back to see how the participants felt about how much the signs of aggression has changed in the past decade. As far as the participants' answers about how much violence in video games, a possible cause of aggression, has changed in the past decade, eight of the ten participants said that it has increased a lot or little bit over the past decade. When it came to the question of how much violence in movies and in television shows changed in the past decade, the answers were relatively similiar to the answers that they said about violent video games. Once again, eight of the ten participants said that it has increased in some sort of fashion, while the other two participants felt that it hasn't changed at all. As far as the participants' answers about how much poverty in the world has changed, only two of the participants said that it has increased. Even though, one of these participants that answered this way actually came from an African country. Seven of the other participants said that it has stayed the same, while one participant said that it has decreased a little. When it came to talking about indirect aggression this decade, five of the participants said that indirect aggression hasn't changed. But, the other five said that indirect aggression has either increased a little or a lot. When it came to the participants telling about their opinions about how much signs of aggression have changed in the past decade overall, more than half of the participants said that this has increased in the past decade. The other three participants said that this has actually stayed the same the past decade. One of the most interesting things about this study was that there was only one time when the one participant put down an answer where something that has to do with aggression has actually decreased the past decade. For all of the rest of the answers, all of the other participants either said that something having to do with aggression either stayed the same or increased in some sort of way.


Discussion: Looking at the answers to the questions of all of the participants, it looked like that the participants really agreed with my hypothesis that signs of aggression in people has increased in the past decade. My questions on the surveys had to do with the possible causes of aggression and the different effects that can occur when someone has aggression in which most of the participants' answers said that certain things having to do with aggression has increased. It would be interesting to hand this same survey out to possibly hundred people or even more than that to see what their answers might be. If those hundred or so people actually put the same answers like my ten participants did, then this would probably prove my hypothesis even more. One additional question that would be interesting to ask the participants on the survey would be which country were you born in. I think that it would clarify some things about how much poverty has changed in the past decade. Most of the participants from the United States would probably say that poverty in the world has stayed the same or has decreased, while most of the participants coming from other countries would probably say that poverty in the world has increased in the past decade. With video game violence, it would possibly be vice versa compared with poverty especially with video games being more prevalent in the United States. It would probably be most of Americans saying that video game violence has increased, while most people from foreign countries would say that video game violence has stayed the same. With how the answers to my surveys ended up turning out, I feel that my hypothesis was proven to be right.

The glass ceiling affect

Baxter, J. & Wright, E. (2000) The glass ceiling hypothesis a comparative study of the United
States, Sweden, and Australia. Retrieved December 07, 2009 from http://www.ssc.wisc.edu/~wright/GenderGap.pdf
This article gives a really good definition and examples of the glass ceiling effect.

The glass ceiling affect is the term used to define the way most women are treated in the
managerial hierarchies. Most women make it into the position that they are hired for, but when a promotin is on hand the males are priority over females.
I work for a hospice here in Butte as a CNA. A new job position had just opened up for a medical records director and office manager. This job is first open in house meaning one of us already employed can apply. Our entire office is employed with women and just one male. This male's job description is to deliver medical equipment to all our clients when they need it. Therefore he has no prior experience in medical records or being manager of any business. The other two CNA's and I have been training to do medical records for four months now to help out the previous office manager. I think everyone can see where this is going, but last week they posted the results. The male with no prior experience got the job. This is a perfect example of the glass ceiling effect that I experienced.

Study Reveals the Angriest Americans

Study Reveals the Angriest Americans
http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20091203/sc_livescience/studyrevealstheangriestamericans

This study suggests that anger is more likely among young people than older people. It discusses how anger is a normal human emotion, but if someone holds onto it too long, it can cause harm. People who express their anger may live longer than those who keep it inside and to themselves. The study did a survey of Americans 18 and older, asking how they feel when they are angry. This was conducted to get a larger range of a social portrait of anger in the US.

The study found that people under 30 experienced anger in all forms or intensity more frequently than older adults. This was because younger people stress more over time pressures, economic hardship, and interpersonal conflict, triggering angry feelings. People with children reported encountering more stress and anger, along with people with limited education. The study suggested that these were all triggers of angry emotions due to stress.

I would have to agree that stress is the main cause of anger. The more pressure a person has on them, the more they might have aggressive tendencies. We have been studying aggression in class and I thought this article could relate. Although anger may not always be aggressive behavior, I think it can lead to that. People who are frustrated and angry can lead to frustration aggression. I thought the age factor was an interesting insight to anger because young people these days do have a lot more stress on them, a big one being money with the poor economy. I like the idea about that if a person holds in anger it could harm them later. I would have to agree. When I hold a grudge for too long it takes a toll on me. I am not saying that to release the anger a person should yell at people or become aggressive. People have to find constructive ways of dealing with their anger whether it is working out, participating in a hobby, time to themselves, etc. What do other people think? How do you release your anger? Or do you bottle it up?

Reacting to negative justice in modern media.

Justice is seen as being held together by the courts, by law, and the law enforcement officers that go by the rules. In recent years there have been many TV shows that deal with a typical anti-hero. The most prominent ones that come to mind are characters such as Dexter Morgan, Jack Bauer, and Vic Mackey in Dexter, 24, and The Shield respectively. I'm choosing TV as an example but you can even see it in books such as "The Count of Monte Cristo". Each has a sort of vigilante justice that act when others are bound due to laws or a basic majority on morality and justice.

Do they act because the system is unjust, or do they act for their own selfish reasons? Each has a sense of right and wrong but no one can define what right or wrong is. Most modern law comes from common law where the majority of people speak up for the justice in society. Is it more dangerous with these shows to show that when the law falls short that it is ok to act if an injustice goes unanswered? Is revenge a dish best serve cold, or as a society have we accepted that there are people that will act when everyone else has their hands tied because of the law or even a majority opinion of what justice is?

Another question to ask is that when you see people in authority that are supposed to bring about justice act with injustice, does that blur the line in what the public can trust as justice?

Spanking and aggression

CBS News Health. (2005, November,9). Can spanking cause aggression? Retrieved from http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/11/14/health/webmd/main1042550.shtml.

We had talked in class about spanking causing aggression in young children. I found an article that makes a lot of sense to me. Spanking can cause aggression in children because it causes them to be more anxious and angry. This only holds true though when these children live in countries where punishment is seen to be uncommon and bad. For instance, in Thailand discipline and punishment are bad and looked poorly upon therefor spanking causes high aggression in kids. Kenya on the other hand, is a country where punishment is acceptable therefor spanking causes little aggression if any.
Spanking also depends on the children' s feelings. If the childs friends are also being spanked no aggression is caused. If a child thinks they are the only one being spanked then it does not seem fair, and aggression rises.
This study asked the mother's of children ages 6-17 how often they physically abused their children. The aggression of the children was then measured. This was done in five different countries therefor using five separate cultures. I think this study should have been done also with younger aged children, like age 2 and up. I believe this because it is said that children start learning aggression at a very young age. If there had been a lot of aggression before the age of 6 then the children are more likely to be aggressive by six years of age.

Bullying, is fighting back NEVER the solution?

After reading Selekman's reading on bullying, there is one source of contention I have with the reading, not encouraging a kid to fight back. This isn't to say that this should be the first avenue travelled by a bullied student. They should tell their parents, friends, teachers, and principals. This is all well and good for support but this doesn't exactly stop the bullying when the bully is the most popular kid in school and he gets to keep acting out with impunity.

In my own personal experience a kid had bullied me for many years. He would run the gamet from insults to rumors but he never physically hit me. One bad day I took out my aggression on my brother. My dad told me that my actions were misplaced and if I really need to hit someone it should be the bully. Now, my dad isn't a child psychologist but it made more sense to hit the kid that deserved it then to bully my undeserving brother.

One day the bully assaulted me by shooting a spitwad point blank at my face. I started hitting him several times and gave him a black eye and bloody nose. I was punished for it but I don't think I've ever felt a better sense of justice in my life. Looking back there was probably a better way but afterward the bullying stopped by that kid completely. Is it so wrong that after all avenues have been taken that a bullied kid is told that he can fight back? I never got to the point of hurting myself or suicidal thoughts but are there some circumstances that a kid is better off hurting a deserving bully than themselves? These are just my opinions and statistics may be against me but I know that in my own personal experience fighting back helped me in my life.

Conformity

Dindo M, Whiten A, de Waal FBM (2009) In-Group Conformity Sustains Different Foraging
Traditions in Capuchin Monkeys (Cebus apella). PLoS ONE 4(11)
http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0007858

In this study an alpha male chimp is given a learned task to complete, such as opening a foraging device.. After opening the device the alpha male returned to his group. The researchers let some time go by, then gave each of the members in the group a foraging device. There was two groups with an alpha male in each. About 90% of the other group members mastered the opening of the device. This happened because the alpha male went back to the group playing with his device so the rest of the group wanted to do the same. I found this article very interesting because it shows conformity in animals. Even though chimps are the closest thing to humans they still have their own ways of becoming part of the group.
This study would be very interesting to do over with a group of chimps and a group of humans. We would then be able to distinguish the likes and differences between human and animal conformity. Would humans follow another human because they are looked at as superior or does this only happen with animals?

Prosocial Behavior in Adolescents (Quiz 9)

Within our class we have been studying aggression and how individuals become aggressive. The flip side of this is when an individual acts out to help others, known as prosocial behavior. I believe that prosocial behavior will develop over late childhood and adolelscence, and have found evidence to support it. The first article I found was one by Carole Tabor and David R. Shaffer in 1981, which examines children betwen the ages of 5 and 10 and how they interact with others prosocially. The other was a twin study done by Jane Scourfield, Bethan John, Neilson Martin, and Peter McGuffin using parent and teacher reports of 89 female and 74 male monozygotic (MZ) and 50 female and 52 male dizygotic (DZ) twins. I then divised my own method for testing this hypothesis, which will be described later on.

The first experiment by Tabor and Shaffer had 3 hypotheses that they wanted to test: 1) "Older children wil share more of their valuable resources and be quicker to assist a distressed peer than will younger children," 2) Chilcren will share more valuable resources with and be quicker to assist and attractive as opposed to an unattractive peer. Moreover, the impact of the per;s atractiveness on prosocial behavior wil be greater for older than for younger children," and finally, 3) "Children wil be quicker to assist a peer whose need for assistance is substantial as compared with a per whose ned for help is minimal. Moreover, the impact of the peer's need for assistance on helping behavior will be greater for older than for younger children." The method they decided to use to test their hypotheses involved 20 male and 20 females elementary age students, organized by grade level; first, second and third graders. The children were then randomly placed into groups of attractive vs unattractive peer and high vs low need for help along with being split by age and sex. Each child is told that they are to be in a drawing contest and their partner is of the same age and sex as them but they are either really good and they will win for sure or really bad and there is no chance for them to win, they are also told that there is a prize at the end. For participating each child is given 5 pennies and then told that they don't have enough for their partner so if they want they may give some pennies to their peer. Then an accident is staged in the room where their partner supposibly is with a recording of either a child getting hurt a lot or not very much. Finally the child is told that they will play a game and get a surprise at the end, when the game is actually a test of the child's empathic abilities and role-taking skills.

Once the experiment was finished the results found by Tabor and Shaffer mostly supported their hypotheses with only a few exceptions. The study found that the peers with a high need for help were percied as hurt much worse and in need of more assistance, but peer attractive only had a weak correlation to the time it took for a child to respond when they were hurt. Also, the older children (3rd grade) shared more of their pennies on average with their peer than 2nd graders who, in turn, shared more than the 1st graders. This however did not provide support for hypothesis 2 becuase attractiveness did not play a role in sharing. The children responded faster to peers who they thought were hurt more however, helping patterns didn't change with the older children. The final test found that all three age levels were reasonably good at reading other's emotions and children who showed more empathic ability shared more pennies with their partner. In each test the older children were shown to be more prosocially developed than the younger, Tabor and Shaffer argue that this is because they have had more time to learn prosocial behaviors and using them has more of an impact on their lives than the younger children. While this study did not test adolescence I still feel that it is helpful in showing that my hypothesis may be true.

The second study I read, by Scourfield, John, Martin, and McGuffin, was simply based on parent and teacher reports done on twin, monozygotic and dizygotic. The aim of their study was to study genetic and environmental factors on prosocial behavior. The study was done on a group of 89 MZ females, 74 MZ males, 50 DZ females, 52 DZ males and 115 opposite-sex DZ pairs between the ages of 5 and 17. Each pair's parents were sent a "Strength and Difficulties Questionanaire" that measured abroad range of behaviors and emotional problems of each child using 25 items with 5 subscale scores: conduct problems, prosocial behavior, hyperactivity, emotional symptoms and peer problems. Our authors also took into account any biases that a teacher or parent may have in rating their child's prosocial behavior and factored it (as best as they could) out of the data. Both reports turned out higher prosocial scores in females, rather than in males, but in younger children (ages 5-11) the sex differences were more based on teacher reports. Mean scores for MZ pairs were the same as those for DZ pairs of twins in both reports. From parent reports they found that older children's influences were more genetic and younger children's influences are more environmental, while there is a trend here, it is not significant enough to be measured when equaled throughout age groups. The same pattern emerged for the teacher reports as well, but remained significant after constraining the influences to be equal across age groups.

Both studies seem to show that as children age they become more prosocial, which is consistent with my hypothesis that as children and adolescents develop they become more prosocial. The method I have chosen to test this hypothesis is an observational study. My associate and I will go to WHitehall high and middles school during an average school day. Between classes we will walk through each grade's designated hall of lockers and drop and armful of books and papers. We will be looking for how many individuals attempt to assist us, to what extent we recieve assistance, and how long it takes to achieve a response, along with any other interesting behaviors that occur. The age groups that will be studied include ages 14-15 (freshman), 15-16 (sophomores), 16-17 (juniors), and 17-18 (seniors. Unfortunately the senior class knows us personally, so it may be more beneficial to study 13-14 yr olds in 8th grade and maybe even 12-13 yr olds in 7th grade. Hopefully my findings will match those of Tabor and Shaffer.

Citation:

1) Tabor, C., & Shaffer, D. (1981). EFFECTS OF AGE ON BENEFACTOR, ATTRACTIVENESS OF THE RECIPIENT, AND THE RECIPIENT'S NEED FOR ASSISTANCE ON PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOR IN CHILDREN'S DYADS. Social Behavior & Personality: An International Journal, 9(2), 163

2) Scourfield, J., John, B., Martin, N., & McGuffin, P. (2004). The development of prosocial behaviour in children and adolescents: a twin study. Journal of Child Psychology & Psychiatry, 45(5), 927-935

Spare the Rod, Spoil the Child?

Hicks-Pass, S. (2009). Corporal Punishment in America Today: Spare the Rod, Spoil the Child? A Systematic Review of the Literature. Best Practice in Mental Health: An International Journal, 5(2), 71-88.

Our discussion on spanking and aggression sparked an interest to research this heated topic further. The article discusses both sides of the issue and is quick to point out further research is needed. This archival study researches and summarizes articles dealing with detrimental, positive, and negative effects of corporal punishment on children.

The decision and reason to spank or not to spank is different for everyone. This article points out spanking and corporal punishment, frequency and severity can be interpreted differently. For most people, there is a difference between spanking (an occasional swat on the bum), in a disciplinary measure as compared to regular beatings for no reason. Some might argue both are child abuse and will have long-term detrimental effects on the child.

This article made an interesting point. If in 1999, 94% of parents spanked and spanking causes aggression, suicidal tendencies, and psychiatric symptoms, then what factors account for the fact that 94% of the population is not suicidal, aggressive, or depressed? The article then points out that “if spanking is done in a context of strong emotional support for the child, it does not appear to contribute to a significant increase in behavior problems.” The quality of parental involvement is another contributing factor to spanking not having a long term negative effect on a child. This supports that one can spank correctly if they choose to use this form of discipline.

How helpful are people?

Introduction:
When a person is walking down the hall and drops their notebook spilling their papers everywhere, do people stop to help? Does it matter if the person is dressed well? What if they are in grungy clothes, doe that affect whether people will help them? My hypothesis is that people who are dressed nicer or are more attractive will receive more help than people who are dressed grungy. Articles I have come across have discussed that people are willing to help complete strangers as long as they are attractive or well put together.

Literature Review:
· Wilson, David W. Journal of Social Psychology: Helping Behavior and Physical Attractiveness. http://web.ebscohost.com.mtproxy.lib.umt.edu:3048/ehost/detail?vid=8&hid=7&sid=9c1c6d90-e888-4533-bef2-cb8c47774341%40sessionmgr11&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=aph&AN=5390916
· Juhnke, Ralph, Bernie Barmann, Mike Cunningham, Edward Smith, Kris Vickery, Jeff Hohl, Joshua Quinones. Journal of Social Psychology: Effects of Attractiveness and Nature of Request on Helping Behavior. http://web.ebscohost.com.mtproxy.lib.umt.edu:3048/ehost/detail?vid=8&hid=7&sid=9c1c6d90-e888-4533-bef2-cb8c47774341%40sessionmgr11&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=aph&AN=5389929

Method:
I will test my hypothesis by dressing really well one day and walking through the sub at various times of the day. I will pass by tables that have both men and women at them. I will do this ten times throughout the day. When I walk by I will drop my papers everywhere and tally if I am helped or not. A day later I will do the same thing, but I will dress very grungy and make myself as unattractive as possible. I will tally to see how many times I am helped. The terms I will be using is attractiveness- pleasing to the eye or mind, charming. Prosociality- beneficial to all parties; being nice to people in a social setting.

Quiz 9: Aggressive Driving

Introduction
Aggressive driving, often referred to as "road rage", is a problem that almost everyone has dealt with, and many people have died as a result.

The best definition I found comes from Wikipedia:

"Aggressive driving is a form of automobile operation in which an operator will deliberately behave with contempt towards other drivers and drive in such a manner as to increase the risk of an automobile accident."

People who drive aggressively often do it as a result of anger, impatience, annoyance, or frustration. They often try to voice their frustrations by how they drive, or by honking, yelling, or using obscene gestures. These actions can easily, and often do, result in an accident.

I am going to conduct a study to find out whether most aggressive drivers are male or female.

Hypothesis
Most studies have shown that men are more aggressive drivers than women. However, I notice just as many female drivers who are aggressive. Also, being a female myself, I often find myself driving aggressively. My hypothesis is that the percentage of men and women who drive aggressively will be about the same.

Methods
I will be conducting a survey that will ask the driver's age, gender, type of vehicle, and number of accidents they have been in. It will also include several "what would you do?" type scenarios, asking the participant how he/she would react in a frustrating driving situation. It will be a multiple choice format, with reactions ranging from calm to very aggressive and possibly dangerous.

I will then add up the responses based on gender. I will not be focusing on age, as I expect most of my participants to be college age.

Literature Review
AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. (2009) Aggressive Driving: Research Update Retrieved December 4, 2009 from, http://www.aaafoundation.org/pdf/AggressiveDrivingResearchUpdate2009.pdf

Harris, P., & Houston, J. (2010). Recklessness in Context: Individual and Situational Correlates to Aggressive Driving. Environment & Behavior, 42(1), 44-60. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database.

Ho, R., & Gee, R. (2008). Young men driving dangerously: Development of the Motives for Dangerous Driving Scale (MDDS). Australian Journal of Psychology, 60(2), 91-100. doi:10.1080/00049530701452095. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database.

Intini, J. (2008). TOM VANDERBILT TALKS WITH JOHN INTINI ABOUT THE LINK BETWEEN CORRUPTION AND DRIVING, AND WHY A LITTLE ROAD RAGE MAY BE GOOD. Maclean's, 121(33), 16-17. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database.

Aggressive driving. (2009, October 19). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 19:28, December 4, 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Aggressive_driving&oldid=320723454

We Only Want to Hurt the Ones We Love

Hypothesis
I believe that people are more likely to exhibit higher outward signs of aggressive behavior when the aggression is focused at someone they are familiar with as opposed to when it is directed at a stranger. For the purpose of this study familiarity is defined as having had several contacts with the other person in which dialogue was exchanged.

Method
I plan to use a combination of previous personal observations, archival research and a small study of my own. I am going to walk through Wal-Mart, where I am sure to run into people I know as well as people I have never had contact with. While walking through Wal-Mart I will cause frustration in random people by stopping directly in front of them, blocking their path or stepping directly in front of whatever they seem to be looking at. I will not apologize for my actions. I will then gage their reaction on a 1-5 scale, rating for how big a reaction I receive. Once I have achieved a reaction from them, I will apologize and give a brief explanation of what I was doing, hopefully this will negate the frustration they have felt and lessen their feelings of aggression. Then I will ask them questions to gage if what they felt was simply frustration or if they were starting to have aggressive feelings. The reaction they display will correlate to their aggression level and if they are familiar with me or not.


Literature Review
Based on studies previously done relating to aggression towards familiar objects it has actually been shown that creating some level of familiarity with the aggressor will lessen the amount of aggression directed at their target. However, I believe that in general people are more likely to act on their aggression if they are familiar with their target. This is not to say that they feel more aggression towards familiar targets but that they are more likely to act out their feelings on them.


References
Ohbuchi, K., Ohno, T., & Mukai, H. (1993). Empathy and Aggression: Effects of Self-Disclosure and Fearful Appeal. Journal of Social Psychology, 133(2), 243-253. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database.

Duncan, L., & Owen-Smith, A. (2006). Powerlessness and the Use of Indirect Aggression in Friendships. Sex Roles, 55(7/8), 493-502. doi:10.1007/s11199-006-9103-2.

Why do people stop and help others

Introduction:
I was reading an article on how people do not stop to help others on the highway anymore.
Are people are more apt to stop and render assistance to a female than a male that has broken down on the highway. Are people more likely to stop and aid a female in a high status car rather than a lower status car? Do people stop because they really care or are they stopping because they feel they have something to gain by helping someone in trouble?

The two articles I found deal with why people help others. Is it because they feel they have something to gain. Also, if economic status is a factor in whether a person would stop and help a female.
Literature Review:
References
Maner, J., & Gailliot, M. (2007). Altruism and egoism: prosocial motivations for helping depend on relationship context. European Journal of Social Psychology, 37(2), 347-358. doi:10.1002/ejsp.364 Retrieved December 2, 2009 from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=24169149&site=ehost-live

References
Solomon, H., & Herman, L. (1977). STATUS SYMBOLS AND PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOR: THE EFFECT OF THE VICTIM'S CAR ON HELPING. Journal of Psychology, 97(2), 271. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database.

Methods:
To test if the sex or economic status of a person is a reason to either help or not to help them I would survey five couples. I would like to know:
Have you ever been broke down on the highway and had someone stop to help you?
Has having someone stop and help you influenced your decision to stop and help another person who was broke down?
Does the sex of the person in need make a difference in whether you will stop?
Does the type of car make a difference, if the car is new or old?

Gender aggression in cases of infidelity

INTRODUCTION-
My hypothesis is that women are more aggressive in cases of infidelity then men. Women are attached to men in the emotional and resources aspect, as men are attached to women in the sexual/reproductive aspect. Women become jealous because they see other woman as a threat to take away the emotional attachment they have with their significant others and the resources they provide. Men become jealous to prevent infidelity. Therefore when a man is faced with an act of infidelity he views the relationship as expelled, opposed to when a woman is faced with an act of infidelity she views it as a loss of resources and emotional trauma. The number of woman murdering their husbands is on the rise and nearly equal to the amount of men who murder their wives.


LITERATURE REVIEW-
Paul, L., & Galloway, J. (1994). Sexual Jealousy: Gender Differences in Response to Partner and Rival. Aggressive Behavior, 20(3), 203-211.

de Weerth, C., & Kalma, A. (1993). Female Aggression as a Response to Sexual Jealousy: A Sex Role Reversal?. Aggressive Behavior, 19(4), 265-279.

Margo, I., & Daly, M. (1992). Who kills whom in spouse killings? On the exceptional sex ratio of spousal homicides in the United States. Criminology, 30(2), 189-215.


METHOD-
I will test my hypothesis by asking the sample to read a short story about a couple who appear to be happy and about to be married. The male copy of the story will end with the boyfriend walking in on the girlfriend with another man and the female copy of the story will end with the girlfriend walking in on the boyfriend with another woman. The participants will be asked to complete the story, explaining in a short essay what would happen next. My operational definition will be how many acts of aggression are performed per participants’ story. My sample will consist of 15-20 participants. The definition I will be using for the term aggression will be, aggression is any physical or verbal behavior intended to hurt or destroy, whether done out of hostility or as a calculated means to an end.

Poverty and Aggression

This study will examine aggressive behavior of people at various incomes and levels of wealth.

Hypothesis: People living in poverty will have troubles fulfilling their needs(affording groceries, paying bills, etc.). This will cause individuals to have high levels of stress and frustration, thus resulting in higher levels of aggression.

Literature Review:
Cunradi, C., Caetano, R., Clark, C., Schafer, J. (2000). Neighborhood Poverty as a Predictor of Intimate Partner Violence Among White, Black, and Hispanic Couples in the United States: A Multilevel Analysis. Annals of Epidemiology, Volume 10, Issue 5, July 2000, Pages 297-308

Santiago, C., Wadsworth, M., Stump, J. (2009). Socioeconomic status, neighborhood disadvantage, and poverty-related stress: Prospective effects on psychological syndromes among diverse low-income families. Journal of Economic Psychology

Method: To test this hypothesis I will create a survey. The survey will include questions about the individuals income, number of dependents, and current financial status. The survey will be given to at least ten participants from various income levels. Along with the survey the participants will be asked to do self reports on their own aggressive behaviors.

Alcohol, Age, & Aggression

Introduction: People drinking alcohol are more prone to aggression. My hypothesis is that age and gender are also a factor in how weak people become when faced with a frustrating situation. My hypothesis will prove that younger males who have been drinking alcohol are the most aggressive as compared to older males or any age of females.

Literature Review
Wells, S. (2006). Differences in predictors of alcohol-related aggression and non-alcohol-related violent perpetration: An exploratory analysis in a sample of young adult drinkers. Contemporary Drug Problems, 33(4), 563-583.

Tremblay, P., Mihic, L., Graham, K., & Jelley, J. (2007). Role of motivation to respond to provocation, the social environment, and trait aggression in alcohol-related aggression. Aggressive Behavior, 33(5), 389-411. doi:10.1002/ab.20193.

Method: I will prove this hypothesis to be true by surveying people attending a concert to be held in Butte. All age groups will be in attendance. Alcohol will be served. At the concert I will watch for a naturally occurring aggressive incident to occur. Following the incident I will survey a variety of ages and genders of people that were involved in this incident. I will ask 10+ willing participants questions including age, if they were drinking, and if they have been in a physical or verbal altercation due to drinking within the past year. If they partake in aggressive behavior I will ask if that made them feel better. If any other pertinent information is disclosed while surveying participants I will note that information as well. This should yield results that confirm younger men will have the most aggressive answers with a background of previous aggression related to alcohol consumption.

Verbal Aggression in Video Games

Introduction
Aggression- Hostile behavior with a purpose to intimidate, verbally abuse or threaten.

Hypothesis- Those who frequently portray themselves as violent characters in video games may lose their sensitivity towards violence and may automatically find themselves acting more aggressive in game settings than they do in reality. In violent games such as Grand Theft Auto and Blood Rayne a gamer puts him or herself in the place of an aggressive character. This makes the player sympathize with aggressors and through the visuals of gaming; they become numbed to the violence and aggression in their interactions throughout the game. As Karen Dill said, “Even a brief exposure to violent video games can temporarily increase aggressive behavior in all types of participants.” Therefore, in-game messaging in violent games may be more verbally aggressive than in non-aggressive games.
Literature Review
1. Willenz, Pam. "Violent Video Games Can Increase Aggression." APA Online. 04/23/2000. Web. 2 Dec 2009. .

2. Anderson, Craig, and Karen Dill. "Video Games and Aggressive Thoughts, Feelings, and Behavior in." 78.4 (2000): 772-791. Web. 2 Dec 2009. http://www.apa.org/journals/features/psp784772.pdf.
Method
To test this hypothesis I will take in-game messaging from a violent game and a non-violent game over a period of several hours. I will see if the interactions between players are aggressive based on what they write to one another. I will remain neutral without contributing to the in-game chat. The number of aggressive comments per game will be counted based on the above definition of aggression. I think it is pretty likely that the violent video games will contain much more outward verbal aggression because of the atmosphere that violent games create.

Children Aggression

Introduction

Anyone who grew up with siblings knows lots of aggression can occur in childhood. I have an older brother and younger sister, so being right in the middle I feel I know exactly what aggression is. From my experiences I believe there is more agression between male and female children rather than between two females or two males. It also seems ligitiment that the way a parent punishes a child could cause more aggression. If the parent shows any aggression towards the child during the punishment, the child will likely follow in their footsteps.

Literature Review

Martin, J., & Ross, H. (2005). International journal of behaivoral development. Sibling

aggression: Sex differences and parents'reactions. 29(2), 129-138. Retrieved from

http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=12&hid=104&sid=ac6a5031-6c96-4dae-8e13-



In this study boys and girls, ages two and a half and four and a half engaged in aggression. This study shows how parents reacted towards this aggression by punishing the boys more than girls, and feeling that the younger children were less guilty. This study also shows the older the boys get the more aggressive they are towards each other.

Takahashi, F., Koseki, S., Shimada, H. (2009). Developmental trends in children's aggression

and social problem-solving. Journal of applied developmental psychology, 30(3), 265-272.

Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=5&hid=105&sid=4f62b28c-

0ad8-4f88-8d8d-5981b9a1fd34%40sessionmgr113&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%

3d%3d#db=aph&AN=37812324

This article gives a good explanation of how a child taught problem solving techniques will not be as aggressive as one who is not. This adds to the point in my hypothesis that a childs aggression depends a lot on parents behaivor. A child who's parent walks through a problem to find a solution will be less aggresive than one whose parent yells to solve everything.

Method

To play out this experiment I plan on sitting in the toy section of Walmart and just observing what I see. I hope to find children fighting over toys, and parents trying to stop the fight. I also am going to look for the children that are nagging their parents to buy them that toy they just can't live without. I will observe how fast the adult replies to the child, how aggressively they tell the child yes or no, and how the adult treats the screaming and crying child that was told no. After I observe the children and adults, I will put all my information together and look for patterns in aggression. I will look at children ages 3-14 with and without adults watching over them.

Quiz 9: Have The Signs of Aggression in People Increased, Decreased, or Stayed the Same in the Past Decade?

Introduction: The signs of aggression in people has increased over the past decade from 1999 to 2009. I think that this is so, because I have noticed about how much violence has gone up in movies and video games this past decade. This can be factor in someone to have aggression or even have increased aggression. I also feel that we are in times where some people have lost respect for others like people talking behind other people's backs which might show indirect aggression. I have noticed this based on me knowing people that have had these experiences even in the past ten years.

Literature Review:

Anderson, Craig A. (2003 October). "Violent Video Games: Myths, Facts, and Unanswered Questions." <http://www.apa.org/science/psa/sb-anderson.html>.


Shin, Grace. (2008 January 4). "Video Games: A Cause of Violence and Aggression." <http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/exchange/node/1723>.

I picked these two articles, because these deal with a factor that could possibly lead people to have aggression which is violent video games. Even the authors agree with me that violence in video games can be a cause in someone to have aggression. This is especially with how violence has heightened up in video games during the past decade leading even more people of different age groups to have some sort of aggression.

Method: How I want to go about proving this is that I am going to put together a survey. This survey will ask questions such as how much has video game violence as well as violence on television and in movies changed in the last ten years and how much has the signs of aggression in people changed in the past decade. The questions will have to do with the different possible causes of aggression and the different effects that could occur based on someone having aggression. I will have ten questions on this survey and I'll have the answers be a scale of numbers from one to five. One will be that it decreased a lot, two will be that it decreased a little, three will be that it stayed the same, four will be that it increased a little, and five will be that it increased a lot. I'll hand this survey out to ten random people and I'll make sure that they will get it back to me. Once I get all of the surveys back, I will evaluate all of the people's answers to the questions to see if how similiar their answers would be to mine. This will help me to see whether my hypothesis is right or not.