ATA5

The main thing anyone should learn from Assignment 5 is the effect kindness has on other people and even yourself. This is something I definitely learned. Recently, it seems there are a lot of cruel unjust actions being broadcasted by the media constantly. As a result, it seems like we just live in a society that commits acts of violence more than they do acts of kindness. However, the value of these random actions can shift the perspective of many people especially if they are implemented every day. I know when people are randomly kind to me, their acts no matter how small would make me feel better about myself and my day. It simply makes you feel good and who doesn’t want to feel good every once in a while. This assignment also really paralleled well with an assignment I had in another class. In another class, I was tasked to step into different religions and report my experience in order to encourage openness and understanding. Many of the people I encountered were happy to share a part of themselves with someone who wanted to listen. Uniquely these assignments both taught me in different ways how changing your behavior can influence your way of life.

ATA4

This assignment was full of a lot of introspection and overall self-reflection. Not only did I have to think about if my scores were accurate or inaccurate, but I also had to figure out why. I think it’s a little bit more complicated to see judge yourself authentically and love is already a complicated thing in itself. However, I’m sure the relationship dynamics around me have a lot to do with why, as goes for a lot of people. When you’re a kid you’re very impressionable and I was no different than any other kid. Relationships left their impression on me in their own way. For example, I was a kid who grew up not seeing my parents have much eros or storage with one another. Of course, this molded a person who doesn’t show much of that openly myself. However, it’s very interesting that they are the love styles I seek out the most in an attempt to learn from a “mistake”. This is why I wasn’t surprised I scored higher on them. In the end, it was interesting to get to know each love style beyond the questionnaire. I looked up and read about each one after the assignment and my perspective really changed on some of them. It’s also a unique experience to notice the love styles in everyday life. Now people’s actions in love have a name to them. Just as there are many types of hearts there are different ways to love.

ATA3

Out of all the three assignments we have done thus far, I’m sure assignment three was the most thought-provoking. Michael Richard’s explosive act was racist. I knew that before I even watched the whole 2 minutes of his rant, but did that make him a racist person? My answer was yes. He was definitely a very racist person at that moment and very well could’ve had that same character in other moments. It just doesn’t feel safe to say he doesn’t have some internalized racial ideals, even if I dismiss the possibility that his tirade steamed from a deep hatred. It came from somewhere. We all learn about the history between white people and people of color. While doing this assignment I looked up more of the history behind the N-word and the history as I imagined it is not pretty. So it can become unforgivable to be referred to as such by someone who has ancestors that enslaved your own ancestors. Rightfully, people wouldn’t be wrong to feel he’s racist unless he shows firmly that he is not. 

Of course, I thought briefly about how many people of color do use racial slurs in reference to one another whether they are angry or not, and it’s not considered racist. The n-word is a common word used amongst black people towards other black people and it’s perfectly fine. I’m black and although personally I never use the n-word my black friends can refer to me as such without me being offended. However, it is a hard no for any other race to do it. I’ll never forget the day that I was sitting in the cafeteria in high school and just like Michael Richards, a white boy found himself in a blind rage. At the top of his lungs, he screamed “You n—-!” to another black boy. Not only did everyone gasp, the guy he was referring to jumped across a table and pulled him into the fight of his life. Then, everyone gasped again. The picture above is representative enough.

ATA2

It was easy to see, there’s a close connection between self-perception and self-presentation as a result of the assignment. The way that I wanted to present myself to others had a lot to do with the way I see myself. For instance, if I see myself as someone adventurous I would present myself as such through a picture of me going on a helicopter ride. Something I have done. Although interestingly enough being tasked to look at me through the lens of my self-perception, self-presentation, and perceived self-control, I wondered distantly if I even had any sort of relevant opinion of myself. It was complicated to decide how I saw myself and even harder to apply the perception I concluded about myself to a picture. Sometimes I wasn’t really seeing anything and other times I was seeing everything. Maybe because I was trying hard to differentiate between right and wrong. However, the assignment reminded me of the fact that who we are can be accurate or inaccurate based on different scenarios. People perceive us in many ways just as we do ourselves. There isn’t really a right or wrong and I’m often stuck in the between regardless.  

ATA1

Assignment One was vital in learning the heuristics of social cognition. It presented me with reasons why our efforts to make decision-making more effective can result in poor decisions. All of the heuristics I have used before in my daily life as I imagine everyone has. In fact, the example I had given for the representativeness heuristic was one close to an experience I had in real life. It is very easy to create a perception of someone else based on how you see a group of people. Considering the fact that we are in an age where social media is becoming a big part of our daily lives, it is easy for us to group people to make everything seem less complex. When I see someone online who dresses “cutely” naturally I associate them with being more friendly than someone whose style is “emo”. Of course, doing this is damaging as said expressed in the text but it is definitely something that is hard to escape from even with awareness about it. The image above rejects the concept of stereotypes yet welcomes heuristics when heuristics can lead to stereotypical ways of thinking.