Artifact 5: (Module 8)
I believe that stereotypes have changed over time and I believe that the reason for the change is the internet. The first two collections took place in 1933 and 1951. During those times, one would know about people from other countries or different backgrounds from what they read or maybe heard on the radio.
In comparison, the newer study took place in 1995. This was in the beginning of what would be the infancy stages of most people using the internet in a home setting. For this reason, people would very well be more inclined to seek out information that previous generations would not have had access to, and this could be the reason in which the information one would possess about others of different backgrounds would be changing. There would be greater exposure for most people.
Overall, I do believe that the content of stereotypes is changing and that is because those groups that have been previously stereotyped negatively have a better visibility for most people now. Again, most people now have access to the internet via a smartphone. For this reason, anyone and everyone has all the information about anything they can imagine at their fingertips. Because this information is not having to be gained by life experience now, whenever anyone is curious about anything, they can just look that information up. Now, because there is a lack of mystery surrounding any given group of people, their positions in society are changing as well.
Visual artifact idea: This is my word cloud. I found a list of 101 characteristics of America or Americans. I think that the word cloud sort of embodies what I feel it means to be American. The list can be found at https://www.press.umich.edu/pdf/9780472033041-101AmerCult.pdf.
Rationale:
I chose this artifact because I enjoyed creating the word art. It was unintentional at the time, but the colors sort of match the American flag, so that was sort of a happy accident. What I found that I learned from this artifact was that while there may be reasons we hold stereotypes about groups of people, it’s not too late to change our preconceived ideas about people and groups by learning.
Artifact 4: (Module 4)
I do believe that reporting acts of terrorism tends to skew our perception of the views of the average resident of that particular terrorist’s home country. I believe this to be true for just about anything that gets reported and is not what one would consider to be “good news”. I think that the role the media plays in influencing thoughts and opinions has become very powerful and we are all really starting to really take notice of this with the political divide that has been reported over the past few years.
That aside, the idea that the more that a bad or negative story is reported is very much responsible for supporting an increase in representative and availability heuristics skewing public opinion toward negative thoughts. Using the terrorist example that has been laid out for us, the more that there are reports of someone from a particular region carrying out those types of attacks, the more likely it is that those watching the news will believe that others from that region are going to be likely to do the same. This would be the representative heuristic. As for the availability heuristic, the more terrorist attacks are reported, the more likely it is that people believe that terrorist attacks are increasing or commonplace. Overall, I feel that it is the responsibility of those that consume media to remember that the purpose is to report on events that are happening. However, just because something bad has happened, does not mean that only bad things are happening. For whatever reason, society has become hyper focused on the negative things that happen while forgetting that there are positive things that happen everyday as well.
Visual artifact idea:
My visual artifact for Module 4 is the screenshot below. As someone that grew up in the early 1990’s, this reminded me of how much my parents tried to prepare me for what to do in the event that a stranger tried to kidnap me. This screenshot from the video is from that portion that is about midway through the video. For some reason, I am guessing that there was a surge of reported kidnappings at the time. Being told not to talk to strangers or go anywhere with adults I didn’t know is something that I remember being a big part of elementary school for me.
Rationale:
My reasoning for including this artifact is solely based on the representative image I selected. I still think about how it was instilled in me growing up about what to do in the event that someone tried to kidnap me. I think this really had an impact on my development because I find that I possess higher situational awareness than most of my group of friends and family. The thing I learned from this is that hopefully, with the arrival of my child, I will not do something that will have such a large impact on them without also mitigating some of the effects of a lesson like this.
Artifact 3: (Module 10)
Using the example provided, there is definitely an awkward interaction between those that continue to wear a mask and observe physical distancing and those that do not. I work in a retail setting, and I watch this occur throughout the day. I continue to wear a mask because my wife is pregnant, and we are not taking any unnecessary chances with COVID-19. I still maintain distance when at all possible as well, even though I am fully vaccinated. I do notice myself going out of my way to avoid close proximity with people I don’t have to get close to and I still try not to touch anything, like door handles for example, that I don’t have to.
By contrast, watching others carry on without any of the precautions that have been in place since the beginning of the pandemic is kind of concerning. I know that we have had virtually all of the restrictions lifted in the state of Virginia, but I do think that we are still in this mess until vaccination rates are higher. Even prior to the lifting of restrictions, many people continued on like nothing ever changed and there were really no consequences for not wearing a mask or practicing physical distancing. Be that as it may, it’s still really strange to watch people come into my place of work not wear masks. It seems as though most people are not wearing masks anymore, however. Most of the people that I work with that are wearing the masks still are keeping behind plexiglass that had been installed when this all started. I suppose that we will have to see how this all plays out.
Visual Artifact: I included a screenshot of one of the types of masks I have purchased and wear regularly.
Rationale:
My rationale for including this artifact is because the effects of the pandemic are goin to be present in all of our lives for quite some time. I found this artifact to be thought provoking for me because I really don’t know how long it is going to be before I feel like I can return to normal. So much of my behavior for over that last year has been based on trying to do what I can to minimize the likelihood of catching the virus, so there is definitely some disconnect there. I learned from this assignment that not everyone has the same ideas about how things should move forward now that we are hopefully nearing the end of the pandemic. Hopefully, we can all implement what science has taught us over this timeframe, and strive toward making the future better.
Artifact 2: (Module 6)
My five characteristics are humorous, sympathetic, driven, stubborn, and reserved.
Situation 1:
My boss was recently diagnosed with cancer and had just returned to work after having surgery. She is a smoker that is looking to quit. She knows I quit smoking and asked for recommendations about what steps to take. Obviously, being stubborn, humorous, or driven in this situation was not something that happened. I was, however, reserved and listened to the things she said with the intent of being supportive. I was sympathetic, at least as best I could be, because this is the first person I’ve ever met that has actively had cancer. I really didn’t know what to say, other than encouraging them to try Nicorette and tell them that I would do what I could to offer support with quitting. The Nicorette television commercials are right, “quitting sucks”, but it is doable if you put your mind to it.
Situation 2:
My wife and I had a new refrigerator delivered this week, and the delivery guys wouldn’t attach the water line as my old one needed to be replaced. My father-in-law came over to help me do this. Initially, I didn’t say much while he was looking things over. He and I then went to Lowe’s to buy what I needed to run a new line for the water. I cracked a few jokes on the way to and from about traffic in town because the traffic in Charlottesville is awful, even when the UVA students have left for the summer. While at Lowe’s, we had a hard time finding someone that could help us in the plumbing department, but I kept searching until we found someone that could help us. They pointed us in the direction of the materials we needed and then we returned home. It was rather late, and even though I had been up since really early in the morning, I was determined to finish. My father-in-law walked me through what I needed to do, and after a very long day, the task was finally finished.
Situation 3:
I have been on a health and weight-loss journey since the start of 2021. My wife and I are expecting our first child. I want to make sure that I am in better shape to be around for as long as possible for them and so that I can also play with them without getting tired once they are of the age to do so. I have been using a fitness program of body-weight exercises and had reached the first challenge. If I completed the challenge within a set time, I got to move on to a more difficult program. Leading up to this challenge, I have been dead set on following everything precisely. I have had many instances in which I could have given up or put forth little effort, but I have not let anything deter me. All week long, I kept pumping myself up about this test as it approached. This is important to me, so I put my best foot forward. I did not want to fail and pushed really hard to get through the test. It was arguably one of the more difficult things I have had to do in a very long time. I did pass the test, and I got to progress. I refused to give up and know that this is only the beginning of taking better care of myself for good.
Situation 4:
On one of my days off this week, I had decided to get my house tidied and organized as most do. I finally got to putting away a basket of laundry that had been hung outside to dry. It was then that I found ticks in the bottom of the basket. I immediately took action and I washed and sanitized everything in our house that could have had any contact with this laundry. I even went beyond this and cleaned very thoroughly all the rooms of the house. We have pets, so my first thought was to make sure they were okay. I checked them and washed the cats and dog with flea and tick shampoo just to be on the safe side. Next, my wife and I checked one another to make sure we were free of ticks. This was an all-day ordeal, but I didn’t stop until I had done everything I could to make sure things were taken care of.
Situation 5:
My wife can finally feel our baby moving inside of her as of this week. Without a doubt, this has been the highlight of my week. Every little movement has caused my wife to smile or giggle. Every time it happens, she tries to get me to feel where the baby is, but the baby isn’t big enough yet for me to feel it move on the outside. I’m so happy for my wife, because for as long as I have known her, she has wanted to be a mother. I know that she will make an excellent mother and it brings me great joy to see her light up the way she has this week.
Final thoughts on behavior this week:
My behavior has been pretty consistent this week. There have definitely been challenging moments during the course of the week, but the joy my wife has experienced has outweighed any of that. I find that the humor I usually display has been less prevalent this week, but I would attribute that to things being kind of hectic. I have been very driven this week to take care of all the things I have needed to and would say that I have been stubborn about making sure they are completed and not letting anything throw me off course. Additionally, I have found that I have needed to be more sympathetic this week as my boss confided in me with things related to her cancer diagnosis. I have also been more sympathetic to my wife’s needs because of the baby growing in size and also being very active. As far as being reserved goes, I would say that I haven’t needed to be any more or less than usual.
Visual Artifact:
Trait 1: Humorous
Situation 1: Riding in the car with my father-in-law (joking about how bad the drivers are in my town).
Trait 2: Sympathetic
Situation 2: Having my boss confide in me about her cancer treatment (listening to her talk and offering advice about quitting smoking).
Trait 3: Driven
Situation 3: Pushing hard to meet my fitness goals (completing a challenge in my exercise program).
Trait 4: Stubborn
Situation 4: Installing a water line (continuing to work even though it was late, and I was tired).
Trait 5: Reserved
Situation 5: Listening to my bosses concerns about her diagnosis and prognosis (I just listened and didn’t chime in unnecessarily).
Rationale:
The reasoning for including this artifact in my top five is because this was really the start of introspection on my part. Prior to this, I really hadn’t given a lot of thought about characteristics or traits that make up who I am on a regular basis. From this assignment, I learned that I really need to stop and check in with myself regularly not only to make sure that the traits and characteristics in which I possess are being used in a positive manner, but to also make sure I am taking care of myself.
Artifact 1: (Module 3)
None of the people I asked the questions to knew that there was another question. I think that there was a level of comfort in accepting the stated question at face value just because it was worded to say that “Social psychologists have found in their research…”.
That being stated, I feel that the result was that those I surveyed agreed with what they were asked. No one was surprised that these were findings of social psychologists and none really seemed to get at the opposite idea than what they were sent. I did ask my wife one of the questions, but she was the only one that agreed and disagreed with he statement. She naturally went to the idea that yes opposites can attract, but also said that similarity leads to attraction. She stated that there needs to be a balance of these two things for a successful relationship. Which is what I agree with. However, if I had only been presented with one of the questions like those that I surveyed, I don’t know how I would have answered.
Visual artifact idea:
The visual artifact piece of this would just be the screenshots of the text messages I sent asking several friends and family members what their response would be to one of the questions.
Rationale :
The very first artifact was my favorite for the course. I really enjoyed the idea of finding out what friends and family thought about the questions I asked. I don’t find that I get to try to have deep conversations with them as often as I would like, and I feel like this artifact was just the sort of thing to do that. From this artifact, I learned that just because something is reported as being backed by a scientist, doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t do the work to search out all of the resources available make sure that there isn’t another side of the coin that isn’t being presented, so to speak.