Blog 4

1) After listening to each group's presentation of their sociological research, which of the research assignments did you find most interesting, effective, measurable or significant and why? Explain in some detail your thoughts/ feedback on this(these). Which of the following did you think was most difficult to measure or understand?

I thought that Abby and Vince had a very interesting presentation. Their presentation, on how people view tattoos and body piercings, took a survey on if people thought that tattoos and body piercings affected the way that people think of and treat you. I thought that the stories that they shared, in particular the couple whose wedding was put off, were very interesting. I think that it was most difficult to process open ended questions, because many people say different answers.

2) As we begin our next unit on Socialization, discuss your personality and your socialization process. What type of person are you?
I used to think that I was a very very outgoing and bubbly person, but now I am not as sure. My socialization is mostly with people older or younger than me, not so much my peers. My peers tend to do immature things that bother me, so I have my small group of friends but I don't go out of my way to socialize with my peers. My family and peers call me a "old soul".

How does your personality define or effect you? What are your strengths and weaknesses?
My personality defines me because I am very good with handling myself alone and I don't always need another person to help me. I am very controlling and a perfectionist. I'm also extremely trustworthy.
Do you consider yourself a introverted or extroverted person, quiet or shy, reserved, loud or talkative, calm or aggressive, patient or impatient? What are the biggest factors that influence your personality?
I think I am both introverted and extroverted. I am extremely patient when it comes to dealing with children or with people I respect, but not at all with other people or tasks. I'm loud most of the time but I consider myself a reserved-ish person. I have a anger problem towards some things.

3) Lastly, choose a quote and discuss how it influences or motivates your life and why.

"True friends are like angels, you don't need to see them to know they are there".

This quote is one I believe originally came from my grandma, but it is embroidered into a fabric that has been hanging in my bedroom my entire life. This quote comforts me because it reminds me that even though we may be alone sometimes, we are always protected and that always makes me feel better.

Blog #3

In Blog # 3 you will focus on three things: 1) Your outlook on sociological theory, 2)Your feelings on authority, 3) Experimentation as a lesson.  

1) Thinking about the three theories of sociological perspective, discuss in length which theory best applies to your way of thinking about human behavior and our society. Think about how you view events that happen, conversations that occur between friends and enemies, authority figures, etc. 

I believe that i follow the functionalist theory of perspective. I believe this because, given a situation, I try to give everyone a job and purpose. When i see a situation, be it one in government or at a more community level, i believe that everything that everyone does some way affects the way that everything else works. I think that all members of society, legal or not, have a crucial job to maintaining social order. 
 
2) React to the Milgram Experiment. Do you feel that people will obey authority under any circumstances  if it is indeed legal authority or do people's consciences override their ability to follows authoritative demands. Please explain. 

I do NOT believe that Milgram's experiment was just because I feel that it is wrong to cause psychiatric damage to people unwillingly and unknowingly to the people performing in the experiment. That being said, I do believe that people will obey authority under circumstances because we are raised to. From the time we are born, people are taught to obey authority figures: respect your elders, obey your parents, teachers, police officers, etc. Children don't always know why they are following certain laws or attending specific events, but they still do it. This nature of blind obedience is driven into us at a young age so much that we continue to abide by the same structure in the real world. I think that, even if our consciences tell us otherwise, we would abide to an authority figure telling us to do crazy things. The only exception may be people who never listen to authority figures, even as a child. 

3) After watching Jane Elliott's "Eye of the Storm", do you feel that this experiment would be successful today? Why or why not? Could you make a suggestion as to what type of experiment we might be able to conduct in order to teach and or raise awareness about prejudice and bias, bullying and intimidation?

I believe that Jane Elliott's experiment was extremely successful. i believe that teaching children in a manner that gives them the concepts and the root meanings behind something before sharing the real topic is extremely helpful. Putting racism into a form that young children could understand, like eye color, teaches them the concept that having bias is wrong so that they can understand and learn this concept themselves. If you immediately start with how racism is wrong, the words that you use could associate a child with the opinions that their parents have, and they would be less susceptible to understanding the point of the experiment. 

Intro Blog

My name is Angela Rose Diekhaus. I am a senior in New Milford High School, with college hopes, and I can't wait to move on to college. In this class, I'm expecting some really interesting conversations that make me think about society and how people work. I think I'll be minoring in psych in college, so learning on the first day of class that Sociology is completely different than Psychology intrigued me a lot. I want to own a chain of day cares near train stations when I grow up.

Blog #1 - The Nature vs Nurture Debate

Each person's behavior is influenced by nature, one's DNA or biological makeup (psychology), and nurture, all of one's continual external influences (sociology). Thinking about the following aspects of a person, decide whether each is better influenced by nature or nurture and why.After considering each of these factors, discuss whether you think nature or nurture is a bigger factor in influencing one's personality and behavior and why? What factors weigh so heavily on this debate and how do you think we could possibly learn more from it?

-Eye color is created by genetics. You can't change your actual eye color from "nurture," but people can get colored contacts.

-Height is also genetics. It's not up to you how tall you are unless you want to go through crazy amounts of leg surgeries.

-Intelligence is both nature and nurture. I believe that, while you are born with the skills to grasp and retain information, what you do with these abilities is completely up to you.

-Weight- Is both nature and nurture. Some things, like a thyroid problem, can't be helped while other things, like what you eat and how often you exercise, is up to you. 

-Risk taking is one of those weird things that some people claim is a nature issue and some believe is a nurture problem.

-Profession: What your profession is is sometimes a nature issue (born athletically "gifted), but it is also a combination of what you have learned about in life and what interests you. 

-Athletic Ability is a skill that you can have running in your family, like a height advantage for basketball, but can also be taught, like learning how to throw a curve ball. It depends on the person and situation.

-Smoking is nurture. It is something that society tells you is okay to do. Whether that be your parents smoking, friends, or something on TV, it's not something in your DNA.

-Music Ability like Athletic Ability, can be both nature and nurture. Learning to play an instrument takes an extreme amout of time and concentration, but you can be born with a good singing voice or with, for example, long thin fingers to play the piano.

-Violent Behavior is really debatable. I think that it is more affected by nurture, or the environment a person is raised in, what they watch on TV, and who they associate themselves with. Some people, however, can be "born bad", or just be born horrible people. 

-Heart Disease is something that can be a genetic condition, or that can be caused by ingesting bad foods.

-Mental Illness is both nature and nurture because you can be born with a mental illness or you can cause a mental illness by abuse to drugs.

-Humor  is something that is nurture because you learn jokes and certain behaviors that are more positive or negative.

-Interest in Math & Science OR Arts & Humanities is nature.

-Skilled ability to perform in Math/Science OR Art/Humanities NATURE

I think that Nurture affects how people behave more than Nature because, when you are born with a certain condition, deficiency, mental illness, physical illness, or personality trait, certain steps can be made to teach you how to behave differently, cut an addiction, heal an illness, or live comfortably. I think that in modern society, nurture can change the way that people are much more then it used to in the past. Technology, the large amount of people in the Psychology field, and access to cutting edge drugs change how people behave. In my opinion, people used to be much more affected by how they were born, their genetic deformities, and their families then they are now. Our easy access to the rest of the world changes what we believe, what we think, and how we think it.