Archive #3 – Module 12

In module 12, we discussed aggression and its causes. Our archive assignment told us to fill out a questionnaire where we had to indicate which of the statements we felt showed aggression. I liked this archived item the most because I got to learn about aggression and how different situations and circumstances affect aggressive tendencies in people. I got to learn about the factors that increase and decrease the likelihood of an aggressive reaction.

In the questionnaire, we were given 25 sentences with different situations and asked if we felt each indicated aggression. In this exercise, I learned that it is hard to figure out if a situation indicates aggression without a contextual background of the situation; an example given in class was, “One person punctures the skin of another who cries out in pain. Is this an aggressive action?” Obviously, the first instinct would be that it is aggressive because it is causing someone pain, but if the person doing the puncturing is a tattoo artist, piercer, or doctor then it wouldn’t be seen as aggressive, because it is their job to puncture the skin of people with their respective tools. If someone is just stabbing you with an object for no reason/with the intent to harm you, then it is in fact aggression. The intention behind the action is also important in determining if an action indicates aggression.

I included this image because it shows aggression in its purest, most innocent (and cute) form. The baby on the left is pushing the baby on the right, and without any background context, the first thought is that this was an aggressive action. However, as we learned in this module, there could be some contextual background that explains why the baby pushed the other baby.

Archive #2 – Module 10

In module 10, we discussed social norms and the reactions to violating said norms. Our archive assignment told us to go out and break a social norm around different people to see how people reacted to it and how we felt in response. I liked this archive item because it pushed me out of my comfort zone and it was interesting to see the responses of other people breaking even the smallest social norm. I feel that there are definitely different contributing factors to the reactions to norm violations, such as age, gender identity, and race.

I decided to violate the social norm of answering the phone and being the first to speak, as a way to avoid awkward silence. I tested this on four different people to see if the reactions were consistent. When I did this to my mom and boyfriend, the immediate reaction was anxiety about whether I was okay because I typically am the first to speak, but then once they spoke and I responded and told them what I was doing, they found it interesting and funny. I tested it on my grandma to see if there would be a different reaction from older generations, and she didn’t find it as funny as the others; this followed what I predicted would happen. The last person I tested this on was a random telemarketer; I mainly expected it to just disconnect because they are normally robotic-callers. The reaction followed my expectation, we sat for 20 seconds before the call ended.

I learned a lot from this assignment, specifically from the reactions of both myself and others. I had an immense amount of anxiety over violating even a small norm like not saying anything first during a phone call. It made me wonder why I was so nervous over something so small; I realized how much power some norms still hold over myself and most others. It feels so weird and anxiety-inducing just to silently wait for someone else to say something on the phone. It made me realize that most people would stay silent expecting the other person (me) to speak first, which is the same vice versa. I felt that I should choose an activity that wouldn’t cause myself or anyone else too much discomfort, hoping that that would make the reactions slightly better. I was correct, my boyfriend and mom both were a little worried at first, but then just laughed once I explained what I was doing. My grandma didn’t find it funny, and the telemarketer just hung up the phone call. The reactions of the people I broke the norm to taught me how prevalent these norms are even today; there are some norms that are changing for the better as we grow as a society, but this norm has stuck. My question is why? What has made this stick? Personally, I feel that it is because of the overall anxiety and discomfort that comes from making others uncomfortable.

I chose this image as my representative visual because it shows me sitting silently while on the phone with one of the people I called/that called me. I feel like you can even see the anxiety on my face, which made the photo funny to me.

Artifact #1 – Module 3

In my brief survey conducted on four people, I found that my research suggests that both phrases, “similarities lead to attraction” and “opposites attract”, tend to be considered true among many people. I conducted this study with the use of random selection, with participants ranging from age 18 to 47 and an equal amount of men and women. I found that most people did tend to agree with the findings they were told, on both sides of the study – people told that similarities impact attraction tended to agree, and the same for opposites attracting. I think this is because when people are told that any “scientific study” found research about something, that tends to make the findings sound much more valid. 

Similarity leads to attraction

All of the participants that were asked about similarities immediately agreed that it makes sense. One person made the comment, “People tend to look for pieces of themselves in others”, which I felt was really true. People tend to seek out situations and people that feel comfortable and safe, especially common in romantic relationships. We look for people with common interests or traits and familiar situations.

Opposites attract

The two participants that were asked about their thoughts on the phrase, “opposites attract”, agreed with the statement. One of the responses mentioned that “people tend to be intrigued by people that are different from them”, which I also agreed with because of the balance that comes from opposites. For example, those that are really energetic may search out calm, mellow people to balance them out and calm them down. Even though I agreed with the previous participant, I also feel that these opposite attractions can be attributed to negative ideals and toxic relationships when you’re searching for people that are completely opposite of everything you are and believe in. One other reason that I believe that opposites attract is that sometimes people seek out people that are what they want to be like but aren’t/can’t be at the moment.