"Cold Moon" By Tiffany Holman, Acrylic
Before ever taking a sociology class I had this grounded belief that I am responsible for every thing that happens to me, which is a very psychological humanistic approach. Even though there are varied stages that everyone begins at in life (ex: being born in a impoverished home vs. a wealthy one), I withheld the mindset that I could determine what happens in my future. In living this way, I took responsibility for the things I did, and gave others responsibility for their own actions instead of playing the blame game. For instance, if someone made me feel sad, I would not credit them with being a hurtful person, instead I would consider what it is within myself that allows me to feel that way. Because truthfully, I don't think anyone has mind control powers, and they can not make me do things inside my mind without my free will. It also helped me understand other people in many scenarios, like buying groceries. If the cashier was acting flustered or hostile towards me, I would take a moment to realize that this woman is not crazy and rude, but maybe she is having issues in her own life making her act this way because normally when people are relaxed and happy they aren't aggressive. If I was not intentionally trying to make her an angry person, I would not blame myself for possibly upsetting her. This way of thinking is important to me, because most of the time when people are on the offense, (If you are not actively trying to piss them off) it has nothing to do with whomever is on the receiving end of that persons tactless behavior.
In the world of sociology (which at first was a very difficult study for me to accept) the focus on a persons disposition is based off of their environmental factors. In this perspective of thinking, each individual does not really have that much control over the choices they make or who they are. Those decisions were made before you were even born, because even if someone was born into a something like poverty, they might not know the options they have for life or the financial ability to achieve the goals society expects from them. Although there are some exceptions that people like to use like Oprah Winfrey, who "made it". The reality is, that doesn't happen for most people who start off in impecunious beginnings. In a lot of ways, we are limited to our environment. Although I do agree that this line of thinking is true in sociology, I do believe we all do experience some free will in our decisions we make when we choose our outlook.
In our country this evidence is visible simply in the political stances people take. Coastal city people have generally a different perspective on politics from people in the Midwest (during the election season you can see which states go blue and which ones go red). The reason people vote this way is greatly effected by their environment and what they know (sociology). Those Ideals were decided before the people living in their states were even born, and as a result they grew into them. That is not much of a psychological choice at all. There are always exceptions, like myself, even being raised in a VERY conservative area in Idaho, that didn't stop me from finding every free spirited, closeted gay friend, or old liberal hippie in a 100 mile radius to make friends with. I don't know why I ended up on my own path instead of the one most of my peers are still on, but I did.
To me, knowledge gives people more free will, you can't know what possibilities are out there until you really know your options. That is why it is important to think beyond just the perspectives you think you now are right. They might not even be your own, you might just be spewing what has been instilled in you from a very early age. Listen to other peoples stories, and think outside of your own head. We as humans have so much more to learn than the black and white categories of liberal or conservative, red or blue, right or wrong, have to offer us.
When I am looking at media I search for a blend of ideas. I want to see a person who is malleable and understands that we as humans on this planet still have so much more to learn! So when I see someone in our media ranting about how things should be just the way they want them I have to question what they really know.
These defense mechanisms as I have come to notice are throughout our media as well. It becomes noticeable especially when some people are so absolute that their opinions are shatterproof. We live in a world where even when someone says something, if there a reason for them to psychologically be unsure of the situation, they may act the complete opposite of what they really mean. Here is a list of some of the defense mechanisms that we have discussed in my psychology class.
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