Bullet Points

Combined resources and coordinated a collaborative research project 

Investigated the psychological implications and emotions caused by Nationalism

Formulated a series of diverse and neutral questions

Reached out to my coworkers and friends to respond to our survey

• With individual and unique responses to the data as a group we were able to share our experiences and outcomes
• Created and presented a distinctive hypothesis, and analyzed results

Link to the Research

This experiment demonstrated the way that humans react when one of the needs that we studied from Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs is not met and how fear can lead to very interesting results as they did in my research. One of the most interesting results came from the question “ Are you proud to be in this country?” and 78.65% percent said yes. I am in a position where I must acknowledge the privilege that I have when it comes to my needs being met, some are not so lucky. Some must fight for a home where they may have the opportunity for a better life. A place where they may one day feel safe. For me to say that I am not always proud of this country as I see the injustice and problems in leadership that we struggle with today is not fair. I realized this through discussion with my teammates, we concluded that although these problems exist some of our parents still fought to come here and start this life in a land of more opportunities.

Summary

In this research assignment I sought to understand the emotional side of Nationalism. Given the current state of the country the feeling of minorties peoples is that of increasing unease, as white hate groups gain momentum from our political leaders it is hard to believe that we are living in a post-Holocaust society. But as history often does we are repeating the overal themes of the extremist nationalist values from Nazi Germany. 

Throughout this research I was able to get a basic sense of the overall feelings the group of respondents we surveyed had towards Nationalism.  The results were somewhat anticipated except for people responding to the question that most people are proud to be in this country. Most individuals agreed with my hypothesis that Nationalism does in fact have a negativity surrounding it, especially with our current president's campaign slogan “Make America Great Again” Some changes that I would make to this survey is that I would try to reach a bigger range of people outside of the Bay Area, where most here have more liberal views. I would also add a couple of things to the questions themselves. For example, for the first question, I would add on 3 or more generations as some families have been here for longer. I would also add some more demographic questions such as age and possibly education level. Some feedback I received is that for the question on race the respondents would like to choose more than one ethnicity and to change the word race to ethnicity. Overall my theory was proven that although nationalism directly may not be the source of hate groups and feelings of superiority it does have a threatening influence over individuals who want to defend their ways of life.

Stanford Prison Experiment

The Stanford Prison Experiment conducted by Philip Zimbardo in 1971 is a very controversial study and that is seen by many psychologists as one of the most unethical psychological experiments conducted in the last 40 years. The Stanford Prison Experiment had severe repercussions for the prisoners and the guards of the study. This study intended to observe captivity but the results of the experiment have shed a light on why people are easily influenced and obedient. Many don't consider Philip's experiment to be valid as he said that he was not only an observer he was an active participant who encouraged the guards to use their authority, he gave them a uniform and set of ideologies supported by and institution. These tools created these prison guards to commit acts that are considered inhumane to fulfills their duties as prison guards.

Political Psychology of Exit

Has anyone ever felt like an outcast and if so, did you want to do your own thing or feel a part of the group?

• I almost always feel like an outcast no matter how social I can be I always feel that I am never truly accepted. I felt like this most as a child in middle school, where everyone had a friend group of two or three and I never seemed to really get along with anyone in the group.

Give an example of why rural and urban areas might have a disconnect in interests.

• I grew up in more of a rural environment where most of the kids I went to school with had large properties of land and all discussed the same things, like their parents powerful positions or the their influence in the communities. Sometimes they would discuss the changes happening in our town like people of different ethnicities moving in and how their primarily white town would manage. For my latino family living in this town is not easy there have been many trials and many experiences that where unpleasant or made us feel unwelcome in the town.

Calexit - Do you think “exiting” is the most realistic action in getting what you want?

• I think that exiting to more an urban area that had more diversity in cultural influences would be ideal, but not in anyway realistic at least in this economy. Affordable housing is scarce and as desperate as someone who be to find a place with similar political views is just inconceivable.

• At this pace of polarization/”exit” what do you think the political and social climate will look like within 10 years?
  I think that those who can afford to move are creating more diversity in political beliefs and ideas in areas that were dominant democratic or republican. I hope that this could create more of an exposure to the ideas of both sides.

Donkey's Presentation

Nationalism is more complex than what I previously believed it to be. It is no longer just feeling like there is nothing greater than being a citizens of a nation. It is not associating the fear of nationalist on a global scale. Belonging to a group can be positive it can fuel a group of individuals but as seen in America if a groups values are harmful towards other groups there inspired by a fear of change. I do not think that nationalism its self is harmful but I believe that the love for ones country should not be used to exlude others and to fuel hate for those who are seen as not american. The United States was founded by immigrants who plundered the land and destroyed the way of life of an entire race of people. Of course these facts are never truley spoken of as they would go against the values of nationalists today.

The Coffee Crowd

    The crowd I observed was at my job. I work at Starbucks, a job that is a little more demanding than I initially though it would be two years ago but I digress. The crowd I observed may not be as terribly accurate representation of crowd behavior as the majority of the people at the store had not had their daily dose of caffeine for the day. As an avid coffee enthusiast I understand a what that's like. But being on the receiving end of cranky customers who did not plan to get their coffee with a little extra time to get to work is not a great experience either. The crowd in Starbucks tends to be very interesting in that if a person comes up to ask me if their drink is ready even if they ordered 5 min ago, the rest of the crowd tend to follow along and sooner rather than later I have a hoard of customers all asking if their drink is ready because they need to run to work. This effect on the crowd reminded me of Le Bon' s ideas on crowds that they all tend to accept an idea fairly easily even when they don't fully understand the complexity of it. It is also quite interesting when a customer reacts in a   bad way to having to wait (excessively) for their latte, there are always customers that are very empathetic and get very amped up about their fellow coffee drinkers beverage. The quote by Le Bon then came to mind about Le Bon's interpretation of the individual " he is no longer himself, but has become an automaton who has ceased to be guided by his will"(Gustave Le Bon).
 
  Crowds are easy to pursued and to rally together when you say the right things in the right way at the right time. When looking back on the people of Germany during World War II, the big question that comes up is why didn't they stop the Nazis and why did the German people elect a man like Hitler into power, and it comes back to hitler saying to right thing that he was going to restore the power and the name of Germany with such confidence and top public stacking skills at a time when the German people were struggling to recuperate after the repercussions of WWI.

   "Second, human beings are by nature political animals, because nature, which does nothing in vain, has equipped them with speech, which enables them to communicate moral concepts such as justice which are formative of the household and city-state" -Aristotle 
    
    From what I found I learned that Aristotle believed that there were two types of individuals: first the individual who is a political animal because he is endowed with the ability to speak and debate morals and ideas, or they are individuals, lone wolves who do not need a pack to belong to. they turn their back on society and have no interest in becoming part of a tribe. 

Looking Back, Looking Forward

In the article, Looking Back, Looking Forward: ISPP at 40 and Future Directions for Political Psychology author Katherine Reynolds, delves into a myriad of topics. When we looked at the article in class there were a few key points that stood out. First there are a total of four levels of politcal needs that were drawn from Maslow. Level one are the basic needs; level two is dogmatism, authoritarianism, aggressivness; level three values, roles, and beliefs; and level four political ideologies.         

Jeanne Knutson Model

• Level 1 Basic needs
• Level 2  dogmatism, authoritarianism, and aggressiveness
• Level 3 sociocultural learnings such as values, roles, and beliefs that define a cultural system and situational factors
• Level 4 political ideology and political activity 

These different levels and the way that they effect one another have been the main question for many politcal pyschologists. In class with our small groups we were able to dive deeper into the section, Common Theoretical Assumptions Surrounding Humans as Political Animals. “To be a political animal is to be engaged with the social affairs of the group which is more deliberate and active compared to current accounts of being a social or cultural animal.” (Reynolds)

The author further explains that the Human mind is shaped by the social process and the content of the mind is shaped by the language, symbols, political arrangements, and laws. The human self is designed to expand and form groups.  Were an individual identifies not only as an individual but as a member of the group. But with this also comes the instinct to find difference in many groups and to become better through comparing themselves to other groups.

Yay I'm done!

Yay I'm Done!