My top artifact is the module where we were determining what actions would be considered signs of aggression. I enjoyed this assignment because I felt as if I was looking at it through a different lens and that this topic can be very subjective. When I think of aggression I think of dominance, force and even a form of defense. I chose this over the module that talked about whether or not certain people I know are happy or unhappy and if that correlates with how selfish or selfless they are because I felt as if the topic of aggression was a more challenging subject and can even produce a form of bias as to what form aggression takes place. If I were to see a dog attack someone or defend itself in any way, I would personally deem it as a form of aggression, but yet when I think the example used of a spider eating a fly, I don’t find it aggressive. And this made me think that I minimize and overlook the aggression of things I find non threatening. The process a spider has to go though before being able to eat a fly, is a cunning and aggressive process. This expanded my knowledge because aggression can take many forms, even if the thing or person exhibiting it isn’t necessarily threatening themselves. Even gossiping can be aggressive when having ill in hostile intent, which is even more interesting because I mainly link aggression in my mind to physical force.

I chose this image because you see different characters and emojis for aggressive behaviors towards the model. Aggression isn’t assigned to a specific gender, or action but can manifest itself in many forms.

Top Artifact 2

Stereotyping, Prejudice, and Discrimination is my 2nd artifact. I liked this artifact the most because these are touchy topics, I feel as if nobody wants to say the wrong thing. This was a very insightful practice, because it brings a magnifying glass towards the stereotypes we project onto the world. I liked it because it did magnify the uniqueness of each ethnic group. Sadly we live in a world where we condemn each other for our differences but more so, this practice showed me that we have so much to learn from one another, and we can all learn somethings.

This expanded my knowledge of the topic because of the personal biases I hold myself, for example. I’m black, and because of that I wanted to represent my group, and choose the most positive and empowering adjectives because my people are great and I’m part of beautiful diverse ethnic group. I’m aware of our imperfections but I noticed their was a bias because with the other ethnic groups I didn’t use the same level of zeal when attaching their adjectives. I still chose very positive ones, but being black, I naturally wanted to show a level of pride. No ones gonna go harder for you then you!

I chose this image because despite your ethnicity, you have the ability to dream

Despite your ethnicity, your capable of much good and evil

Despite your ethnicity, you have a origin, a story, and a message

Despite your ethnicity, you have talents, gifts, purpose, and ideas that can radically change the world.

Top Artifact 1

Self Enhancement

For my first artifact, I chose self enhancement, because most of the world is trying to almost control the way their being viewed. It’s almost like when we first meet someone we’re romantically interested in, we show the most attractive aspects of our personality, maybe even wear nicer clothes then we’d wear on an average day. We enhance our image so an emotional connection will be reciprocated. It’s only over time where you begin to see that this person also has some undesirable traits, maybe even bad enough to over turn the positive ones. I learned that as much as we like to say that what other people think doesn’t matter, it’s obvious that others perception of us does matter. When meeting parents, we portray a more charismatic version of ourselves, when we have job interviews, the the immature humor we hold inside seems to be lost. Although different scenarios call for different actions, this artifact showed me how many masks I wear on a regular basis. It also made me wonder if no matter where I show up in life, will I always be operating as a split person, and if so, can I blame others for being more attached to a character they met me as.

A reference I can think of, is UFC fighters, a lot of the fighter during fight week are to interact with media the week of their fights which is the best time for them to sell their match up. Resulting in fighters talking smack, being boastful, and even putting on a gimmick. This gimmick becomes their brand, and its almost like they have to uphold this brand in order to feel relevant. But after each fight, you begin to see a glimpse of who they really are, and how much confidence they really had in their training camp once the results are public after the fight. An example of this is Cody Covington, regardless of his political views, Cody had this gimmick of the loud, brash, Trump supporter who isn’t scared of anyone. After a couple years of unentertaining fights, and being on the verge of being cut from the UFC. Cody began to trash talk, and become more offensive (like a Ali, or Connor Mcgregor). He enhanced his image by having everyone buy into the animosity almost like a WWE event, leading up to his fight from that point on. This was so successful that he got 2 title fight opportunities with Kamru Usman in which he lost both (although very close decisions). But soon after the second fight, we were able to see who Covington really was behind the image he created.

According to https://www.mmanews.com/2021/12/colby-covingtons-words-to-usman-after-ufc-268-fight-revealed/

These were the words exchanged after their 2nd hard fought fight

Covington: “You know I’m just trying to sell it for you.”

Usman: “What?”

Covington: “You know I’m just trying to sell it for you.”

Usman: “I know. I know.”

Covington: “It’s all love.”