26. April 2009 by student.

In the year 1971, the Stanford Prison Experiment was conducted by researchers, including Philip Zimbardo. 24 college students were chosen–12 to role play prisoners and 12 to play guards (each role had 9 students, plus 3 alternates). According to the Standford Prison Experiment’s website, “the purpose of the experiment was to understand the development of norms and the effects of roles, labels, and social expectations in a simulated prison environment.” Therefore, this experiment not only studied psychology and anitsocial behavior, but it definitely dealt with sociology as well. I first learned about this interesting and famous experiment while in my high school psychology class, and later in my high school sociology class. It is easy to understand why this experiment pertains to both subjects.  

There were many results from the experiment, but the main point was that “the simulation became so real, and the guards became so abusive, that the experiment had to be shut down only after 6 days rather than the two weeks planned.” the experiment was no longer humane. Prisoners quickly became extremely stressed, and very depressed. The guards became cruel and sadistic.

Through this experiment, the results showed what happened when good people were put in an evil place. All of these college students had no prior record of medical conditions, psychological disorders, or criminal arrests. In this situation, the guards took advantage of their roles, as do many people in today’s society. The guards were performing in a way that was different from their individual role in society. Instead of their normal role of a college student, they acted as someone completely different from who they truly were, because they were put into the condition and mindset to do so. By the way that the guards treated the prisoners, the experiment showed that humanity did not win over evil. 

The following youtube link is a three minute clip that shows a short summary of what happened during the experiment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxGEmfNl-xM

 Sources: http://www.prisonexp.org/

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26. April 2009 by student.

Texting has become part of today Modern Culture.80% of Americans text every day .They text while driving ,studying and  even at work! Text messaging has become an active from of communication , sometimes preferred over calling; and  can be used to carry full conversations over the time span of a whole day. As harmless as texting looks, there is a dengerous side to it. 

For text messaging the split of age group is as follows: 13-27’s: 87% text, 15-37’s 73% text, 28-39’s: 44% text, 40-49’s: 18% text. Text messaging has become an international crave and numbers have grow exponentially. The convenience of  texting is being able to do it at any time, any place and while doing almost anything. This is one of the main reasons why most of young adults prefer it over calling someone .After all is quick, cheap and private.This sociological concern of young adults having a dependency and a need of texting  has different impacts in today society some of which include distractions while driving, sexting, (a slang for the act of sending sexually explicit or suggestive content between mobile devices using SMS), and  an academic impact on today’s young  generation. First of all, a study by AAA (American Automobile Association) discovered that an alarming 46% of teens admitted to being distracted behind the wheel due to texting. Texting has also been linked as a secondary source in numerous motor accidents, in which police investigations of mobile phone records have found that many drivers have lost control of their cars whilst attempting to send or retrieve a text message. 

 Another issue linked to texting is sexting, a genre of texting which contains either text, images or video that is intended to be sexually arousing. A 2008 survey by The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy and CosmoGirl.com suggested a trend of sexting and other seductive online content being readily shared between teens. One in five teen girls surveyed (22 percent)—and 11 percent of teen girls ages 13–16 years old—say they have electronically sent, or posted online, nude or semi-nude images of themselves. One-third (33 percent) of teen boys and one-quarter (25 percent) of teen girls say they were shown private nude or semi-nude images. Sexting becomes a legal issue when teens (under 18) are involved because any nude photos they may send of themselves would put the recipients in possession of child pornography.  

This type of behavior promotes certain promiscuous activities in young kids and young adults, which my lead to a major social problems. We are exposing them to certain and unnecessary dangers. 

Finally, another factor is the number of students caught using mobile phones to cheat on exams has increased significantly in recent years. Highly publicized reports, beginning in 2002, of the use of text language in school assignments caused some to become concerned that the quality of written communication is on the decline. While some reports claim that teachers and professors are beginning to have a hard time controlling the problem, the notion that text language is widespread or harmful is refuted by research from linguistic experts. 

All of these different effects have caused a preference of texting over actual human contact.  I don’t think texting should be abolished but it’s something that we should be able to control, use it in the right manner and more efficiently.

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26. April 2009 by student.

Guns have become more popular due to how easy it is to get them. You can pretty much get a hand gun if you know the right people or if you ask around. There is also the problem of gun violence that happens in homes and on the streets all over the country. It has become more common for kids to be killing themselves or their friends just playing with guns in their homes. A lot of people these days carry hand guns for self protection in their homes. But when the parents aren’t home they don’t realize little kids go around the house and look through everything. Parents need to be smart and keep their guns in a place out of reach to their children and if they don’t then they need to put them in a case that you can lock and also put a gun lock on them. When parents are careless about their guns then that is what can cause deaths. If kids have friends over and know there is a gun in the house that kid will probably show his friend the cool thing he found in his house. When they start showing his friend the kid could accidentally pull the trigger and shoot himself or his friend and end up killing or injuring themselves. Gun violence has become more popular and things need to change with gun policies and it needs to be stricter.

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26. April 2009 by student.

Who on earth do we think we are telling people that they have to continue their way of life. People are all the same and have basic needs and wants that are all equal. So where exactly do we get the notion that it is ok to keep someone in poverty and danger since that’s how it has always been, and we do not want to lose their uniqueness. You could not go to anyone on this planet and tell them I have clothing, clean water and plenty of food, but you cant have some or any of those since they do not fit your culture or lifestyle. Do we tell people that they should live like they always have so we have more resources or that we are more powerful and dominant than them? I doubt that people still think like that, I would say it lies more on us not understanding our choices and shortsightedness of some of our beliefs.

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26. April 2009 by student.

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26. April 2009 by student.

No, not really. In fact I have never kissed a girl. Many of times this situation occurs in bars, clubs and gatherings with abundant amounts of alcoholic beverages. Some ladies do this in order to get free shots or drinks, or just to spark up some attention and entertainment for the boys. Could this be a result of an open display of how things once were, with Socrates, Plato and Aristotle? No, because this is strictly platonic in many ways, they are doing it in spite of sexuality, pleasure and love. In the contrary, yes, we have come along way from when lesbians, bisexuals and gays were labeled as outcasts. We now accept them in our everyday communities and social lives. But that is not the point, instead, what I am getting at is nothing to do with lesbians, bisexuals and gays; instead it has to do with girls thinking that kissing other girls is a new fad and must do. More than likely, if you ask 10 girls on a street if they have partaken in this activity, more than likely, 5 (or more) out of the 10 of them will say they have. A survey was conducted through the Tyra Banks show and an alarming number of girls said they did. A Majority of my friends have themselves. I asked my boyfriend and his friends if they find it attractive when girls kiss. All said yes, but when I asked them if they would let their girlfriends do it, they all replied no without hesitation, firmly.  

• As stated by Julia, a lady who replied to a question on yahoo: Some of them, however, do it because they don’t take kissing too seriously. I know it sounds slutty but it’s like an actor’s life. Actors kiss their co-stars all the time in front of cameras. They kiss their best friends’ boy/girlfriends. For actors, kissing is not a big deal. (it is a big deal when you kiss someone you love, of course). Some girls just do it because they don’t see anything wrong or sexual with it.
• Then on the contrary, another responder by the name of Sarah stated: To me it’s not really about the sexual aspect as it is the rush of doing something you’re not “supposed” to be doing. Sort of like skinny dipping. But yes, a lot of girls do it for attention, which can be exciting as well. Everyone likes to feel scandalous every once in a while! 

Don’t get me wrong, I do like the song, it’s very catchy, and i’m not against lesbians, bisexuals, and gays, my claim is I don’t think straight girls should put themselves out there for attention or free things. They should think about “What would your grandmother and parents think”, and self respect. Because I know myself, being a straight woman and if i so happen to kiss girls, later on in life when I have children, I would NOT want them to see their STRAIGHT mother kissing other girls in pictures. Because just a few minutes ago I did a google search on “girl kiss girl” and came up to 11,800,000 hits. 

>>>Lyrics to the song:  This was never the way I planned Not my intention. I got so brave, drink in hand Lost my discretion It’s not what I’m used to Just wanna try you on I’m curious, for you, Caught my attention I kissed a girl And I liked it The taste of her cherry chapstick I kissed a girl Just to try it I hope my boyfriend don’t mind it It felt so wrong It felt so right Don’t mean I’m in love tonight I kissed a girl And I liked it(I liked it)  No, I don’t even know your name It doesn’t matter You’re my experimental game Just human nature It’s not what good girls do Not how they should behave My head gets so confused Hard to obey I kissed a girl And I liked it The taste of her cherry chapstick I kissed a girl Just to try it I hope my boyfriend don’t mind it It felt so wrong It felt so right Don’t mean I’m in love tonight I kissed a girl And I liked it(I liked it)  Us girls we are so magical Soft skin, red lips, so kissable Hard to resist, so touchable Too good to deny it Ain’t no big deal it’s innocent I kissed a girl And I liked it The taste of her cherry chapstick I kissed a girlJust to try it I hope my boyfriend don’t mind it It felt so wrong It felt so right Don’t mean I’m in love tonight I kissed a girlAnd I liked it (I liked it) 

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26. April 2009 by student.

As we know Spanish speaking immigrants learning English has become a hot topic in today’s society. From class we know that it takes several generations for immigrants to be completely vested in the American society and to learn English. While this has been the trend so far, technology has advanced and can potentially change that. One stark comparison is that nowadays everything is available in spanish as well as English reducing the need to learn English. This makes life easier however our apparent racism in our society as a whole adds to the language integration difficulty. We separate the Spanish speaking community into their own micro-communities composed of only people of their geographical origin. Further reducing their need to learn spanish, an even more damaging step would be to seperate them into their own schools were the need for english becomes nonexistant. We are achieveing this with the fact that once an area becomes “infested” with immigrants americans will relocate and making housing cheaper for more immigrants to migrate there. This in turn will make the local school for that neighboorhood a more spanish speaking institution reducing even further their need for english. A simple fix would be to embrace immigrants, and included them in the community they life in, not shun them and move away.

Posted in Introduction to Sociology | 2 Comments »

26. April 2009 by student.

     Autism is a complex developmental disability that typically appears during the first three years of life. This is the result of a neurological disorder that affects the functioning of the brain. Autism is recognized rather than a sickness as a condition four more times prevalent in boys than girls. This condition shows no racial, ethnic or social boundaries. Family income, lifestyle and educational levels do not affect the chance of autism’s occurrence.

     Autism’s theory of causation is still incomplete. It has long been presumed that there is a common cause at the genetic, cognitive, and neural levels for autism’s characteristic triad of symptoms. However, there is increasing suspicion among researchers that autism does not have a single cause, but is instead a complex disorder with a set of core aspects that have distinct causes.    

     The lack of eye contact, poor verbal skills, sensibility to some noises and in general the poor social interaction and communication skills are the common symptoms of an autistic person. When a person is autistic, the world he must face is full of difficulties, where everyone except them understands the rules of appropriate behavior.  Some studies show that only 6% of people with autism are able to achieve full-time employment. 

     If you want to help an autistic person, you can always try to take part in that person’s life. Most people that do not know about autism might assume these people are antisocial or weird. That is wrong because an autistic person wants to have a normal life full of friends and relationships just as a normal person does. Some people that are autistic do not even know that they suffer from this condition. Therefore, the first step to help them is to talk about this condition. This way they might analyze their situations and understand that they suffer from autism. Other way to help them is by taking them to foundations like CAN (Cure Autism Now) that can provide information and help them to manage their lives. The annual per-person allocation for persons with autism is approximately $35. Currently there is no medical detection, treatment or cure for autism.

     Therefore autism is a condition that can happen to anyone. The factors that cause autism are irreversible. For this reason, the family and many important organizations that treat autism can provide emotional support which could help an autistic person to get a normal and happy life. If you ask me, I do not think autistic people should be isolated or ignored from our society because they are special people who just need some extra consideration and patience from us.      

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26. April 2009 by student.

Technology has come a long way since I was born. The thing that impresses me the most is how far laptop computers have upgraded and also cell phones have gotten a lot more common and more advanced. First laptops never used to have wireless cards built into them where you can go online wherever you want as long as there is a wireless network available. They also have gotten a lot smaller. They used to be these huge portable computers that no one would want to carry around because they were heavy and just obnoxious to carry around. Now they can be carried around in your backpack and you wouldn’t even notice that you are carrying something so advanced. They also can be very small, they have some that can literally fit in the palm of your hands. Laptops also have built in video cameras that you can talk to people half way across the world or just a few blocks away. For instance when I was in Costa Rica I talked to my parents on my laptop when they were in Florida and there wasn’t much of a delay at all. Phones have also have gotten a lot smaller and easier to carry around. In one of my favorite TV shows, Saved by the Bell, one of the actors Zach had a phone that was bigger than a water bottle. He would always carry it in his back pocket and it was very large. Now we have these little phones that fit in your pocket and you wonder where they went but it was in your pocket the whole time. They pretty much weigh near to nothing. Now cell phones are something that scare me when we talk about the future. Soon cell phones are going to take over computers. People probably won’t have computers anymore and just have cell phones instead. The new phone that apple put out called the Iphone is a device that you can pretty much do anything on. I have the Itouch which has everything the Iphone has except I can’t call people. With the touch I pretty much do everything on it except text and call people. There are numerous amounts of applications that you can put on it that are games, helpful tools, or just unnecessary things. They have almost anything you can imagine, Taxi finders, hotel finders, you can track packages you send, and they have sport updates. Technology has come a long way and it I even getting better and better as the years go on.

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26. April 2009 by student.

“A third of children younger than 6 years old have a TV in their bedroom. More than half of parents surveyed said their main reason for putting a TV in their child’s room was so that they or other family members could watch their own shows” (Clemetson par. 2). Instead of sitting down and interacting with their kids giving them the correct amount of attention needed, they sit their kids in front of a TV. “Parents are using media to help manage their households, to get through really busy days and tight time schedules, to keep the kids occupied so they can get something done” (Stark & Van Allen par. 2). The television is being used as a way to occupy children while parents relax after a hard day of work. Although the television is a good source for entertainment, it provides a whole other world for your children to be introduced to, the world of marketing.            

Today’s television is filled with violence, sex, drugs, and alcohol, which are all inappropriate for young children to be watching. The fact that children have their own TV’s in their room makes it very easy for them to be in control of what they are watching without their parents consent. Recent studies done by the PTC show that 44% of kids say they watch something different when they’re alone than with their parents (25% choose MTV). Although the channel MTV (Music Television) is aimed at teens, children alone in their bedrooms could very well be singing “she lick me like a lollipop” while they are “pop, lock, and dropping it” in front of the TV. Music videos on MTV are bad enough to corrupt adolescent’s innocent mind, let alone the other shows that are played. Another example is TV wrestling. “A new study revealed that children who watch professional wrestling on television have a higher tendency to be violent, have unsafe sex and show other risky behaviors“(“TV Wrestling” par. 1). In fifth grade my best friend Leigh-Anne introduced me to the show “WWF”, the World Wrestling Federation. Watching wrestling became a weekly routine for Leigh-Anne and I. We would watch WWF together every Friday night, we never missed an episode. Although we are girls and are not as prone to becoming violent we still enjoyed watching two males bash chairs over each other’s head. Wrestlers also portrayed the ideal image of a perfectly fit body which sends subliminal messages to young males suggesting that in order for them to have power like a famous wrestler they need to be ridiculously strong and good looking.

Even if parents are in the room with children while they are watching TV, television shows that are targeted towards children are becoming more vulgar and sensation-driven. Shows like “Hannah Montana“, “Lizzie McGuire“, and “Drake and Josh” are showed on well known channels like Disney and Nickelodeon. In the television show “Drake and Josh”, Drake is considered the ladies man of the show and is constantly trying to get with girls. While I was watching the show last week, Drake and Josh had plans to go on a “hot date” with “hot twins” but their plans soon crumble when they get stuck in a tree house. The whole time they are stuck in the tree house they whine about how they are going to miss their dates. While the show “Drake and Josh” focuses on young males, “Lizzie McGuire” and “Hannah Montana” aim towards young girls. Both main characters in these Disney channel shows are skinny with perfect hair and expensive clothes. Aside from their image, they too are consumed in boys and dating. A few years ago these popular children channels were filled with cartoons that provided humor and genuine life lessons for an adolescent. Now shows are influencing children to go on “hot dates” and to look as flawless as the celebrities on TV, who in reality have hours of retouching done on a computer.   

In my opinion parents should be more aware of what their children are watching instead of using television as a “getaway” or break from their kids. Television could be molding your children’s future one TV show at a time.

Works Cited: 

Clemetson, Lynette. “Many parents setting children in front of TV despite risks, survey        shows.” The San Diego Union-Tribune. 25 May 2006.            <http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20060525/news_1n25kidstv>.Stark, Lisa & Van Allen, Ilana. “Parents turning kids on to TV.” ABC News. 24 May     2006. Health.             <http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=2001021&page=1>.“TV Wrestling a Bad Influence on Teens.” Medindia. 9 February 2008. Mental Health           News.             <http://www.medindia.com/news/TV-Wrestling-a-Bad-Influence-on-Teens>.

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