Assignment Takeaway

ATA5

For Assignment five, I had to complete five random acts of kindness and then explain how I felt after each one. I really loved this assignment because it forced me to be self-less and go out of my way for others. It also made me realize how good I felt after completing each act. This assignment allowed me to deeply reflect on how simple acts of kindness can really go a long way to make someone’s day better. I think that in today’s society, people are often very focused on themselves. In the US, our culture is very individualistic which also adds to this overall selfishness that defines our country. However, I think that simple acts of kindness can help break down this individualistic tendency that people in our society have. Working together and helping one another is such a beautiful part of humanity and this assignment really helped me realize that. Moving forward, I will definitely try and help out others more often and be more self-less.

I chose this image because paying it forward is such a simple way to spread kindness. Sometimes, when someone does something nice for me, I feel the need to do something nice for someone else. If everyone did something nice for someone everyday, the world would be a better place.

ATA3

For Assignment three, I analyzed Michael Richards’ racially motivated outburst during a comedy show. After watching the video and completing the assignment, I realized that racism is not an easy issue to navigate. There could be many interpretations of what Richards said. His defense of what happened was that he was so overcome with anger that he couldn’t stop the words coming out of his mouth. This made me realize how deeply rooted racism is in our society.

After this assignment, I reflected on how much racism is connected to anger and hate. While racism might be a very difficult weed to kill, rooting out anger and hate seems more manageable. I think that is one thing that I want to accomplish as an artist. I want to try and bring people together and have them let go of their anger and hatred with the world and just be able to see how beautiful life is.

I included this image because it shows how racism is on-going if people do not try to put a stop to it. It is a pandemic in the way it spreads from person to person. All it takes is one person to stand up against racism to help others gain a new perspective.

ATA2

Assignment two was a reflection on images of ourselves and how they depict different personality traits and characteristics we can have in different settings. I think that this assignment was a great way at practicing introspection. It is often difficult for people to look into themselves and think about their own social behaviors and thoughts. Looking at myself within a photograph was more helpful because I had a visual in front of me. By doing this exercise, I realized that I do have a lot of different selves that shine through when I am in different places and around different people. I think there is this stigma around people having different selves. Outside sources are always trying to make people feel like they aren’t genuine if they have different selves. However, I learned that having different selves is necessary to be a well-rounded individual. People can be hard-working and lazy depending on the setting. I personally can be both introverted and extroverted depending on who I am around.

I chose this picture of me and my friends to show how I can be goofy and extroverted when I am with them. In other settings, I would not be as confident or happy.

ATA1

Assignment one was a summary of the different types of heuristics that explain why people make the social choices they make. I think the best part of the assignment was thinking about these heuristics in terms of real world examples. It made me realize how often I use heuristics everyday without even thinking about it. I think the status quo heuristic is the most interesting to me because I see this type of thinking a lot with older people. There could be other factors that explain why they think the way they do, but the status quo heuristic definitely plays a role.

I chose this image because it helps explain the definition of heuristics in simple terms. It is very interesting how our brains are wired to make quick, shortcut decisions.