Nancy Rodriguez
May 29, 2013
AP Psychology Fire Project Essay
Psychology is not what most people picture it to be with sitting down in a doctor’s office explaining your everyday problems. Psychology is the study of the mind and behaviors in relationship to the particular field of study. The multiple perspectives on psychology revolve around the different types of fields that psychology has. There are multiple types of perspectives of which include Environmental Psychology, Educational Psychology, and Developmental Psychology. Understanding human behavior is essential towards the impact of the myriad of problems in our world. Most people in our world question why people act or do what they do without having and explanation of it. With the help of psychology we get psychological answers for why people behave the way that they do. Having scientifically answers for why people act in certain ways does not justify the person’s behaviors but it helps the world understand that people do not just do things for no reason behind it. My Social Justice education has altered my state of mind from “pre-consciousness” to “consciousness” by showing me the influence that the media has on me and children all across the world. This education has shown me how psychology and the media have a clear connection in relationship towards our actions and behaviors. Through this education I am able to see how our behaviors and actions can be shaped at our earliest years of development. With the education I have acquired at Social Justice high school I learned that there needs to be justice for everyone. Todays generation of children are too young to be aware of how the things that are being advertised to them is shaping them and cannot do anything about it to change it. It has made me conscious of the problem going on and that there is a need for action to be done for the children's sake.
Psychologically subliminal messages in the medias falls under the category of human behaviors. Famous psychologist Albert Bandura is a famous well known contributor to the behaviorism field of psychology. Bandura conducted an experiment in 1961 to further examine if our behaviors can be picked up simply through imitation. According to Simply Psychology “Bandura arranged for 24 boys and girls to watch a male or female model behaving aggressively towards a toy called a ‘Bobo doll’. The adults attacked the Bobo doll in a distinctive manner they used a hammer in some cases, and in others threw the doll in the air and shouted Pow and Boom.” Bandura also had a control group that was not exposed to any type of aggressive model to compare and contrast results. According to his results “Children who observed the aggressive models made far more imitative aggressive responses than those who were in the non- aggressive or control groups” (McLeod 2011). The results of this study relate to my issue because the purpose was to determine if behaviors can be imitated and it was clearly shown that it can be just like how children can pick up certain behaviors by the things they watch on tv.
The media has affected the developmental way that a young girl views her body image with the help of peer influence. According to Developmental Psychology in a study conducted “The thin ideal is transmitted and reinforced via a number of different mechanisms, primarily parents, peers, and the media.” Psychologically it is proven that the media is not the only one influencing young girls now it involves their mothers and friends and everything around them. In another study conducted my Dohnt and Tiggemann in 2006 found that “They found that girls who looked at women's magazines had a greater dissatisfaction with their appearance. In addition they also found that watching music television shows and reading appearance-focused girls’ magazines predicted dieting awareness.” This demonstrates how the media's influence can cause a young girl to mentally and physically change in a way to try to fit into what society calls beauty and distort the image of a young girl. These body image issue connected to the media and other peer influences have also been linked to other issues including depression, obesity and eating disorders. The subliminal messages that the media and other peer influences portray are not just causing low self esteem in young girls but as well as psychological and physical problems.
A main cause for why children fall into the medias advertising trap has to do with their age. At the young age that they are in their comprehension is not compared to someone who is much older. According to Global Issues “The American Psychological Association (APA) reports that children under eight years old are not able to critically understand advertisements and that they regard them as truthful, accurate, and unbiased.” This evidence should make parents more concerned toward their children's minds, because they find the media and it’s messages a reliable and trustworthy place for them when in reality it is what is harming them. According Advertising Today “Many researchers argue that advertising is the most powerful art form on earth.” With this being stated parents should be more cautious of everything shown to their children and if they are playing a role by not letting their children be manipulated by not doing anything.
A solution for this issue can be seen through a behaviorist perspective point of view. We can use peer groups to our advantage by advertising models in a positive angle for example instead of only having thin models advertised there should also be a plus sized models so that young girls will not get the wrong image of what beauty is. Parents need to comprehend that their children are a developing point in their life where their children’s cognitive, emotional, physical, social and educational growth are fragile and that the media plays a big role in that development and that everything they see impacts each child differently. The essential thing that can be done to solve this issue is education. Children and parent’s both can help solve this problem if they are educated on what the media is doing to the children so that they do not get lured into the subliminal messages shown to them.
Psychology can be used to positively change the world through applying many behaviorist theories into problems faced in society like subliminal messages in the media. Using psychology we can help make a better living for people around the world if the media thought like psychologist Albert Bandura and did not glorify violence because as we can see through his bobo doll experiment children see aggression they act aggressive. Classical conditioning can be used to help shape the behaviors and thoughts of children specifically girls when it comes to body image, the media can help by promoting healthy models instead of helping promote eating disorders in adolescent girls. Psychology can help by making many people throughout the world be conscious of the things they watch rather than just allow themselves to suffer the mental and physical consequences.
The major takeaways that I acquired from my experience in AP Psychology was the knowledge I gained about my self and other people around me. This class not only helped me understand the psychological problems in the world but also how the environment people are in can affect how a person will develop psychologically. This class has given me an inside of why people do the things they do and how people really do not do anything for no reason and are not born evil. Also this class has given me the knowledge that people need help and that many end up in mental institutions or other institutes because the help that they need is not provided or sometimes can’t be seeked. I would recommend this class to anyone in high school, because it is a great class to be take to be conscious of the psychological issues going on in the environment and within the person.