This essay will focus on the experience I heard from a friend during the semester course. The experience is based on the story about an African American in New York. According to my friend, the Afro-American experienced a hard life while in high school due to his race. The boy was named Fredrick Douglas. During class time, he used to sit alone in the corner, further from white students. Similarly, he was not allowed in the cafeteria nor used the washrooms while the white students were inside. In any social event in the school, the boy was always alone. Despite trying every day to focus on his space, he was forced to follow the regular worship based on Roman Catholic regardless that he was a protestant. However, from the way he worshipped, those who were close to him realized how struggling the endeavor was to Fredrick Douglas. However, on all occasions, he did not show any sign of disliking the religion.
Due to rejection and the low self-esteem he had developed, Douglas posted good grades since he was continually studying hard as a way of developing the acceptance. However, the white students complained that he copied the exams leading to downgrading. In most cases, he was abused by his colleagues; however, during the last semester of grade 6, he fought with John, a white boy who was always abusing him. Such led to the disciplinary actions being imposed among them—an act which later led to the development of friendship. As well, respect among the white student and the African Americans in the school. The students included Douglas in their discussion groups, sat together, and shared life and academic issues. To analyze social psychology based on the case experience, one will discuss the conformity, discrimination, relationship, and aggression principles.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Application of the concepts
Conformity : It entails aligning one's attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors with the ones that are perceived by the people one lives or interacts with mostly. It takes the form of social pressure or unconscious influence. It can either lead or end a conflict since it changes how large groups behave ( Pellegrini, 2019). However, one agrees with neither the behaviors nor attitudes. From our case, Fredrick Douglas exemplary showed how he conformed to the Roman Catholic religion since it was necessary for his survival. Based on the student in the school, it was evident that the boy was struggling was in the mass. The Catholic religion engages one in various prayer and recitation actions that are seen by others. Therefore, it was only a way of avoiding issues that could have subjected him to further humiliation from the white counterparts. As such, the conformity principle was mainly used by Fredrick to conform to the worship behavior of white students.
Discrimination: It is concerned with treating people based on features such as race, sexual orientation, and race. It is an affair reality that is experienced daily in the universe. African Americans' emerging adults have often felt the discriminatory effect in their lives. It causes mental and esteem problems ( Bernard et al., 2017). The learning environment in New York was discriminative. In that aspect, the boy was always secluded since the white students did not want to associate with him. Douglas used to sit in the corner of the class further from where the white students. The case of being denied access to the cafeteria and washrooms while the white students were using showed the harsh treatment that he experienced.
Similarly, the white students and teachers believed that a black student could not perform well in his academics. Douglas did not have anyone to spend his free time at school. Thus, his time was converted to learning. The white students and teachers viewed African Americans as someone who lacks adequate academic knowledge causing downgrading. Such an action showed how barbaric the school was with race.
Aggression: It is a behavior that leads to causing harm to another individual. However, the person who is being hurt does not desire to be subjected to a painful experience. In some cases, the person causing the harmful behavior might not have engaged in the action to harm others but might be a way of promoting self-defense or self-worth ( Behm-Morawitz, Lewallen & Miller, 2016). Douglas tried hard to stay in the confines of his rejected lifestyle due to color. However, due to too much pressure, he had to fight with John since, to him, the self-worth he had lost could only be regained through self-defense. In the real sense, John did not expect any painful experience in return by abusing Douglas. Similarly, the aggression response that Douglas engaged was not merely geared towards hurting John. It was to bring to an end the discriminative atmosphere in the school. Working hard in a desire to be accepted also showed how Douglas's behavior towards being part of the social groups comprising the whites was necessary.
Relationships : It entails a development association between different people for mutual familiarity or awareness. Amari (2019) outlines that relationships enhance a meaningful understanding of affairs existing among the parties involved. Initially, the relationships experienced in the school were based on the two races. Thus, the whites related mutually to one another, whereas Douglas was subjected to a lonely sort of relationship. However, after the fight, one realizes that a mutual understanding was achieved. Douglas became part of the social life of the white students leading to an exchange in academic knowledge and life experiences. In the initial stage, the students saw Douglas as just a black person who did not deserve to mingle and have any substantial effect in the group of white people.
Conclusion
From the case study, one realizes that various principles of social psychology play a key role in enhancing behavioral changes in society. For instance, on the conformity ideology, people work towards ensuring that their actions are within the confines of the large social behavior. Thus, choosing to follow the culture of others through religion, as was done by Douglas, was not just for self-fulfillment but to avoid problems. Conforming to standard behavior of the group is common regardless that people only follow, but in the real sense, their beliefs are totally different. The principle of discrimination leads to the development of isolative behavior. People who are discriminated in the social context, such as Douglas, develop a sense of understanding that it is not a must to be in a group of people for survival. Thus, it leads to resilience. Relationships are a behavior developed by enhancing respect among people. Therefore, the behavior is only achieved through protecting one's self-esteem, which, in most cases, requires aggressive response or behavior. Aggressiveness can be through achieving through academics or honors, not necessarily through fights such as in the case of Douglas. The various aspects play an essential role in enhancing each other in line with the behavioral change in a social context.
References
Amari, N. (2019). Counseling psychology practice as the pursuit of the I–Thou relationship. The Humanistic Psychologist . https://doi-org.ezproxy.indstate.edu/10.1037/hum0000155
Behm-Morawitz, E., Lewallen, J., & Miller, B. (2016). Real mean girls? Reality television viewing, social aggression, and gender-related beliefs among female emerging adults. Psychology of Popular Media Culture , 5 (4), 340. https://doi-org.ezproxy.indstate.edu/10.1037/ppm0000074
Bernard, D. L., Lige, Q. M., Willis, H. A., Sosoo, E. E., & Neblett, E. W. (2017). Impostor phenomenon and mental health: The influence of racial discrimination and gender. Journal of counseling psychology , 64 (2), 155. https://doi-org.ezproxy.indstate.edu/10.1037/cou0000197
Pellegrini, G. (2019). Connecting social psychology concepts with the pursuit of world peace. https://doi-org.ezproxy.indstate.edu/10.1037/pac0000382
