Nature vs. Nurture

I believe that it is a little of both nature and nurture. I believe this because if you take two twins of the same gender and raise one in the ghetto and one in the suburbs I believe that they will be different because of their surroundings but they would also be the same basic people that they were meant to be. Based on socialization, they would gain learned traits from their surroundings but they would also have the same underlying personalities that every human is born with. To make it more interesting, I would raise one the United States and one in India and see if their basic personality traits would stay the same.

As far as gender roles go, I like to believe in nurture because I would love to see a change in gender inequalities but I actually know someone who tried to reverse the roles of her children by raising her daughter as her son and her son as her daughter. The interesting outcome of this was that her son was actually conditioned into acting more manly by his peers and her daughter stayed a tom boy. So even if the child's parents try to raise them as the opposite gender, society makes sure that they act the way they are supposed to, at least for boys.

Americaaa

First off I don't really find this skit funny at all, and of course that is because I am American. The laughter from the audience seemed to come at the most random times and all he kept saying was America and The States. The way the skit ends proves exactly how the British feel about American culture, that we are a bunch of self-centered country lovers that just need to be punched in the stomach to shut us about about how much we love our country. I obviously don't agree with this because I am an American and I do love my country but not to the point that I would sing a song about it (ha!). I have also seen some other British comedy skits such as the British version of The Office (I will post an example on the discussion board), but I just don't find their sense of humor funny most of the time. This is because of the fact that although they speak the same language, they have a different culture and therefore will find something funny that I don't find funny because I am not part of their culture.

Stanford Prison Experiment

Do you think the Stanford Prison Experiment was ethical? Why or why not? 

I think that the Stanford Prison Experiment was very unethical because Dr. Zimbardo must have known that the power play would cause this deep psychological distress on maybe a few participants. I do give him the benefit of the doubt because I would have never guess that the participants would fall so easily into their roles in just a matter of 3 days. This is an excellent look into the human psyche but at what cost? What happened to the people involved? Was the main guard ever a "nice guy" ever again? Or had the experiment completely changed his personality? And the prisoners how did they fare after the experiment? What happened when they ran into the "guards" on campus? All of these questions prove that the experiment most likely caused harm to many if not all of the participants therefore making it an unethical experiment.

On a side note I find it crazy that the participants fell into their roles in 3 days! And they knew what was going on, they knew it wasn't real, but they made it real. That is the part that gets me the most is that they all let it get too real for them. 

Week One Blog Entry: Introductions

Hello everyone! I am a 20 year old Super Sophomore (meaning I have taken all the credits to be a junior BUT I am loosing a semester when I transfer from VCU to GMU sooo I am technically a Sophomore) attending NOVA for the Fall 2010 semester in order to make up the credit I will loose during my transfer. I plan on attending GMU in the Spring. My major is in Anthropology (study of human culture past and present) and I have two minors in Relgious Studies and Spanish.

After I graduate from undergrad I plan on going to graduate school for either Anthropology or Therapeutic Recreation (working with children and adults with disabilities) Masters degree. Then after graduate school I would like to join the Peace Corps or something similar and travel the world helping people. I love to travel and I love to meet people from all types of backgrounds. I am very interested in providing assistance to anyone and everyone who needs it.

I know many people state that they "like all types of music" but this is actually true with me, I love all different types except anything metal, I just don't get it, and most country, although there are a few songs I do like. I love taking pictures, reading cultural books, and hanging out with my friends.

Feel free to ask me more about myself!