Prejudice: A strong negative attitude towards members of a group.
Discrimination: Negative and harmful behavior that results from prejudice.
Weight-based discrimination refers to discrimination towards overweight or obese individuals that influences how these people are treated.
All my life, weight has been a huge struggle for me. This is probably because I have a huge appetite and am always thinking, reading and preparing food. I have dieted several times and sometimes the diets work and sometimes they don’t. As a result, my weight has always fluctuated quite a bit but I have been on the heavy side for most of my life.
Fortunately for me, I have never been a victim of overt weight discrimination (not that I was aware of). However, I feel that even without such a blatant experience, I have still been significantly affected by the attitudes of society towards overweight people.
The media often portrays overweight or obese people as lazy, greedy people who have no self control. I would say that in 99% of the movies I have watched, the heroes and heroines are always slim and toned. The large amount of slimming advertisements in the newspapers all send the message that your life would be perfect if only you were slim. It appears that it is almost impossible to avoid being brainwashed by the media into thinking that fat is bad and slim is good.
Despite knowing that this message is not true and that it is the inside that counts more than external appearance, I often find myself wishing I was slimmer. If I were slim, I would not have such trouble finding clothing to wear in Singapore, I would be healthier, I would feel more attractive, e.t.c. e.t.c……..
Weight based discrimination can be more serious and can even affect chances of employment and salary levels. This might occur even when appearance is not of importance in determining the quality of a job.
Something must be done to change the messages sent to people everywhere. I feel that the media plays a very important role in doing this. The process to change will be very slow and difficult as this attitude is a very persistent one. Overweight people should be portrayed more favorably in the media. Using plus sized models and perhaps promoting the acceptance of people of all sizes in Singapore might also help with this problem, as this will help people to gradually stop thinking that 'fat' people are any less than thin people.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Cognitive Dissonance Theory
Definition: The feeling of discomfort that is caused when we have 2 or more thoughts that do not correlate with each other or when our behavior is different from our usual, mostly positive self image. When this discomfort is experienced, we feel motivated to reduce it.
We can reduce the feeling of discomfort by changing our behavior, changing our attitude, or by adding new cognitions.
Yesterday, I went to Carrefour to buy a new television set.
My cheap old Cathode Ray Tube (C. R. T.) television had broken down.
I wanted to get a new cheap television and I did not care about whether it was LCD or Plasma.
My dad was with me when I went. He advised me that C. R. T. TVs were very out of date and that I should definitely get a flat screen one.
As my dad was paying for the set, I listened to him and picked out the flat screen that came with most value for cent.
It turned out that the cheapest one was about $469.
When my mum heard about what I was going to buy she was a little concerned about the price.
Even though my dad was paying, I did not want to waste his money paying for something unnecessarily expensive.
This brought up a lot of feelings of cognitive dissonance within me.
Self Concept = I felt that I did not really need such an expensive TV
Conflicting Behavior = Buying the expensive television set.
To reduce the dissonance, I could have
1. Not bought the expensive TV
2. Told myself that my dad was right and that buying the cheaper C. R. T TVs was a waste of money as they would be out of date soon and would not as long
3. Told myself that LCD TVs are so much better than C.R.T TVs and that I really needed to get one.
Before paying for it, I kept justifying to myself why I was buying the set, using no. 2 and 3 to ease my guilt.
After setting up the television set in my room, I watched something on it.
I’m not sure if I was experiencing effort justification (perceiving that something is good as suffering (high cost) was done to get it) but while watching the show, I felt that the picture had never been so wonderful and clear.
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Overjustification effect
In this blog, I would like to focus on the textbook topic
Social Perception: Perceiving the Self and Others
This topic looks into how people judge other people and themselves.
Self-perception theory
The self-perception theory is one that suggests that when we evaluate our own internal states, we do so by comparing them with our past behaviour and deduce internal states that correlate with our current behaviour unless there were obvious environmental causes of our behaviour. Research has shown evidence that this theory holds through for internal states that are clearly defined as opposed to weak and ambiguous.
Overjustification effect
Overjustification effect is the inference that we participated in a potentially enjoyable task for the sake of receiving a reward rather than because we enjoyed it. Research has shown that when a reward is given for quality of effort as opposed to mere participation, this might actually increase intrinsic motivation.
According to the overjustification effect, a person who enjoys mathematics and works as an accountant will probably lose an interest in mathematic. This is because in his job, he would probably be paid his salary for simply doing mathematics constantly.
This theory might explain why most people I know do not seem to like their jobs and usually focus on getting their salary rather than enjoy the process of going to work everyday. The theory also suggests that if a boss recognizes when an employee works well (high quality work) and responds by them bonuses (rewards), employees are more likely to increase in their liking for their jobs.
Personally, I enjoy baking very much. I have also been selling my home baked cakes to my friends and family for some time. Despite the fact that I am rewarded with money for performing my hobby, my intrinsic interest for baking has not decreased. In fact, I am currently more interested in baking than ever. I suppose that I have not lost interest in baking as every time I make something for a customer, I have to ensure that the quality of the cakes is as good as or better than previously (I am only rewarded if I achieve high quality cakes. If not, I lose a customer.)
I realize that I often reward people far more than necessary. After going through this topic in lecture, I have become much more cautious when I deal with people. I think twice before rewarding them. This is the case especially when I deal with children as the overjustification effect appears to have quite a large impact on them.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Deindividuation, Groupthink and Group Polarization
Group dynamics studies groups and group processes. A group is defined as two or more people interacting with one another and having an effect on one another.
Deindividuation is a mental state whereby people lose their individual identities and feel immersed in a group. Deindividuation tends to increase the occurrence of unacceptable behaviour.
I came across this article entitled ‘Girls behaving badly’ in the Straits Times website.
The article reported that young girls in Singapore appear to be becoming wilder and getting into trouble with the law more frequently. These girls get arrested for inflicting injuries on others as well as rioting. Experimentation with sex also occurs much earlier and many join gangs.
According to the authors, it appears that parents are unable to control their children .The internet has led to development of rampant cyber bullying among girls as well as an avenue for advertising for sexual services. It was also reported that many of these girls do not feel guilt over selling their bodies in return for money.
One particular case mentioned in the article mentioned a video on the internet that showed a group of girls abusing a girl. ‘It showed four girls laughing gleefully as they punched, slapped and stripped their 13-year-old victim at an HDB staircase landing. They stopped only when onlookers gathered.’
When reading this article I was quite surprised that the girls would dare commit such a terrible and obscene act in a public place. Even more surprising was that they let someone film the whole thing and post it online.
After reading the textbook chapter on group dynamics, I feel that the girls’ behaviour might be attributed to the state of deindividuation that occurs when a group acts together. When acting as a group, the young girls tend to feel less responsibility for committing the act. They feel much less personal responsibility as they feel that it is the group and not themselves that is at fault.
Another possible explanation for their behaviour might be that even though the girls knew that their behaviour was wrong, groupthink (a way of thinking that leads to poor decisions and a skewed vision of options due to the pressure to agree) might have caused the girls to conform to decisions made by the other group members even though they initially didn’t want to commit the act. They might have been afraid that if they did not conform, they would be kicked out of the group.
Group polarization (tendency for group discussion to strengthen the initial opinions of the group) might also have caused the other group members to agree to commit the act. Some of the members might have disagreed to commit the act, however, after discussing this with the group, the rest of the group presented a convincing argument and the members who initially disagreed to go through with the act conform due to the pressure to conform to the view of the majority. This topic has helped me to understand the mentality of gangs better and has better equipped me with knowledge on how to avoid making the same mistakes in a group situation.
References
Chew, J., Chia, M.L, He, Y. Y., & Ong, D. L. (2008, March 22). Girls behaving badly. The Straits Times. Retrieved March 22, 2008, from http://www.straitstimes.com/Free/Story/STIStory_219266.html.
Deindividuation is a mental state whereby people lose their individual identities and feel immersed in a group. Deindividuation tends to increase the occurrence of unacceptable behaviour.
I came across this article entitled ‘Girls behaving badly’ in the Straits Times website.
The article reported that young girls in Singapore appear to be becoming wilder and getting into trouble with the law more frequently. These girls get arrested for inflicting injuries on others as well as rioting. Experimentation with sex also occurs much earlier and many join gangs.
According to the authors, it appears that parents are unable to control their children .The internet has led to development of rampant cyber bullying among girls as well as an avenue for advertising for sexual services. It was also reported that many of these girls do not feel guilt over selling their bodies in return for money.
One particular case mentioned in the article mentioned a video on the internet that showed a group of girls abusing a girl. ‘It showed four girls laughing gleefully as they punched, slapped and stripped their 13-year-old victim at an HDB staircase landing. They stopped only when onlookers gathered.’
When reading this article I was quite surprised that the girls would dare commit such a terrible and obscene act in a public place. Even more surprising was that they let someone film the whole thing and post it online.
After reading the textbook chapter on group dynamics, I feel that the girls’ behaviour might be attributed to the state of deindividuation that occurs when a group acts together. When acting as a group, the young girls tend to feel less responsibility for committing the act. They feel much less personal responsibility as they feel that it is the group and not themselves that is at fault.
Another possible explanation for their behaviour might be that even though the girls knew that their behaviour was wrong, groupthink (a way of thinking that leads to poor decisions and a skewed vision of options due to the pressure to agree) might have caused the girls to conform to decisions made by the other group members even though they initially didn’t want to commit the act. They might have been afraid that if they did not conform, they would be kicked out of the group.
Group polarization (tendency for group discussion to strengthen the initial opinions of the group) might also have caused the other group members to agree to commit the act. Some of the members might have disagreed to commit the act, however, after discussing this with the group, the rest of the group presented a convincing argument and the members who initially disagreed to go through with the act conform due to the pressure to conform to the view of the majority. This topic has helped me to understand the mentality of gangs better and has better equipped me with knowledge on how to avoid making the same mistakes in a group situation.
References
Chew, J., Chia, M.L, He, Y. Y., & Ong, D. L. (2008, March 22). Girls behaving badly. The Straits Times. Retrieved March 22, 2008, from http://www.straitstimes.com/Free/Story/STIStory_219266.html.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Counterfactual thinking
Social Cognition
This topic deals with how we process and store information about people. It covers areas such as how our mind works; how we reconstruct memory, heuristics and biases we deal with in daily judgments, counterfactual thinking, and the effects of emotion and motives on social cognition.
Counterfactual thinking
I have chosen to focus on counterfactual thinking in this blog entry. Counterfactual thinking involves thinking about how events in the past could have turned out differently. Counterfactual thinking may be said to be a form of thinking that is not based on facts as it involves thinking about memories in a way that is not very accurate.
Counterfactual thinking is a form of social cognition that may or may not involve others.
Upward counterfactual thinking is looking back and thinking about how things could have been better.
Downward counterfactual thinking is looking back and thinking about how things could have been worse.
My Personal Experience
When I was in junior college, I experienced a lot of personal problems and as a result, I failed all my tests and exams and ended up repeating my first year. This was a very difficult experience. I was unable to recover from my problems quickly enough, and barely made it through my A levels. Consequently, I only passed marginally.
Having been a strong student previously in secondary school, I was deeply disappointed in my performance and felt rather depressed. As a result of my poor performance, I was unable to get into any Singaporean university together with all my other classmates.
Following that, I entered polytechnic and studied there for another three years. I emerged with my diploma. Following that, I joined JCUS and have been studying here ever since.
Despite knowing that my problems had definitely been too large to handle when I was in junior college, I engaged in extensive upward counterfactual thinking after my A levels. I blamed myself for going off track, and falling so far behind my other classmates who had all gotten into university and had started working by the time I got into JCUS. I kept thinking that if I could have just coped better with my problems, have been more resourceful and disciplined, I would not have wasted three years in junior college coming out with only a pass.
As a result of this fruitless thinking, I ended up even more depressed and spent much time just mentally punishing myself.
Fortunately, I slowly managed to recover and focus on my work and I ended up doing well in polytechnic and making it into JCUS. Thoughts that if I had tried harder I would not have had to waste so much time still haunt me, and I still have trouble letting go of the past. However, thankfully it is currently much less persistent.
After studying this topic, I realize that I should stop engaging in upward counterfactual thinking and engage in more downward counterfactual thinking in regards to this situation. Downward counterfactual thinking would make me feel much better about my situation, and upward counterfactual thinking does not help at all, as there is nothing I can change about the past.
I should focus on how fortunate I was to be able to get into polytechnic and JCUS, and how I have had an opportunity unlike most people to have been able to experience both polytechnic and junior college, and to have learnt so much more.
I have also realized that upward counterfactual thinking can be very useless and it can only serve to make things worse and prevent a person from moving on. I now realize how much time I wasted tormenting myself unnecessarily.
This topic deals with how we process and store information about people. It covers areas such as how our mind works; how we reconstruct memory, heuristics and biases we deal with in daily judgments, counterfactual thinking, and the effects of emotion and motives on social cognition.
Counterfactual thinking
I have chosen to focus on counterfactual thinking in this blog entry. Counterfactual thinking involves thinking about how events in the past could have turned out differently. Counterfactual thinking may be said to be a form of thinking that is not based on facts as it involves thinking about memories in a way that is not very accurate.
Counterfactual thinking is a form of social cognition that may or may not involve others.
Upward counterfactual thinking is looking back and thinking about how things could have been better.
Downward counterfactual thinking is looking back and thinking about how things could have been worse.
My Personal Experience
When I was in junior college, I experienced a lot of personal problems and as a result, I failed all my tests and exams and ended up repeating my first year. This was a very difficult experience. I was unable to recover from my problems quickly enough, and barely made it through my A levels. Consequently, I only passed marginally.
Having been a strong student previously in secondary school, I was deeply disappointed in my performance and felt rather depressed. As a result of my poor performance, I was unable to get into any Singaporean university together with all my other classmates.
Following that, I entered polytechnic and studied there for another three years. I emerged with my diploma. Following that, I joined JCUS and have been studying here ever since.
Despite knowing that my problems had definitely been too large to handle when I was in junior college, I engaged in extensive upward counterfactual thinking after my A levels. I blamed myself for going off track, and falling so far behind my other classmates who had all gotten into university and had started working by the time I got into JCUS. I kept thinking that if I could have just coped better with my problems, have been more resourceful and disciplined, I would not have wasted three years in junior college coming out with only a pass.
As a result of this fruitless thinking, I ended up even more depressed and spent much time just mentally punishing myself.
Fortunately, I slowly managed to recover and focus on my work and I ended up doing well in polytechnic and making it into JCUS. Thoughts that if I had tried harder I would not have had to waste so much time still haunt me, and I still have trouble letting go of the past. However, thankfully it is currently much less persistent.
After studying this topic, I realize that I should stop engaging in upward counterfactual thinking and engage in more downward counterfactual thinking in regards to this situation. Downward counterfactual thinking would make me feel much better about my situation, and upward counterfactual thinking does not help at all, as there is nothing I can change about the past.
I should focus on how fortunate I was to be able to get into polytechnic and JCUS, and how I have had an opportunity unlike most people to have been able to experience both polytechnic and junior college, and to have learnt so much more.
I have also realized that upward counterfactual thinking can be very useless and it can only serve to make things worse and prevent a person from moving on. I now realize how much time I wasted tormenting myself unnecessarily.
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