Defense Mechanisms
I want to start off talking about defense mechanisms and say that although they are part of the subconscious intellect which results in sometimes negative defense mechanisms and adverse reactions, I believe we can condition our minds to change how we think and feel, and in turn, alter our subconscious and use the whole ideology behind defense mechanisms in a completely different more productive way. The conscious mind reacts to whatever information the subconscious provides it, but the subconscious can be changed through simple development and training. I will talk about two very different defense mechanisms that I believe I possessed and how I changed it from being something negative to a positive sensation.
Earlier in my life maybe closer to the age when I graduated high school, my only defense mechanism in any type of situation that caused anxiety or stress within me was anger and lashing out. Anytime I felt someone had said something even remotely disrespectful, my parents giving me a lecture, or anything in life that did not go exactly the way I wanted it to I had to hurt back in some way. This hurt would come out as words or actions that I took to intimidate others and when I did this I would feel as if I won or came out on top and that feeling would make me feel better. If I did not hurt back in some way, I would be going crazy within myself and the anger would build up.
As I grew up and faced many different obstacles and harsh experiences, I believe I changed completely as a person inside and out. I started channeling that inner energy that was so angry into a very different kind of energy that I call self-love. I am a firm believer in Ayurveda and holistic approaches to anything that inflicts the body’s physical or inner being because many people from my side of the world believe it to be the strongest healer of all. The whole concept of it is that once your soul is at peace everything around you brings you peace. I’m not perfect and sometimes I stray from remaining this calm but practicing this sort of meditation has led me to develop a defense mechanism within me that I have come to really cherish, and that is anytime I feel a problem has arisen, I feel stress or anxiety, or I feel as though a certain situation is about to make me panic I delve into the part of my mind that reminds me how blessed I am. I immediately start envisioning all the love in my life, my family, friends, and all the things I have worked so hard for, and it’s as if the problem at hand disappears or fixes itself. My subconscious reminds me that it’ll all be okay and it always turns out okay. I have practiced this so many times that I believe I do it without thinking now. I like calling this type of defense mechanism a sort of coping mechanism to any sense of trouble my mind feels.
Most defense mechanisms can harm us, our relationships, and hurt our psyche in many ways and are not anything that have to stay with us for life. Once we work on the development of our minds in a positive way, they can disappear leading you to a healthier, more positive YOU.
Assignment VIII
False authority is a fallacy where a non-expert’s opinion on a subject is used to sell a product or idea.
I witnessed this kind of fallacy when my best friend and I went to see a psychic. We have always been quite intrigued by psychics and have visited many on different occasions. This particular psychic was actually an astrologer that would use nothing more than the day of your birth to tell you in full detail an account of your past, present, and future. One thing that stuck out to me from this day was that this astrologer stated to my friend that he knew she had graduated from college and was applying to optometry schools, but that she need not apply anymore, because she would not be continuing her education in graduate studies because instead she would get married the next year. My friend had no boyfriend at the time, no intention of getting married, and a full focus on applying to graduate schools across the country. After this day, strange coincidences would happen that were deterring her application process; things like her recommendation letters getting lost in the mail. She gave up applying anywhere, actually citing that the astrologer had said there was no point and sure enough got married the next year. My friend and I both based this occurrence on the fact that he had told us she would not continue on that particular path and I believe we wrongfully gave him false authority over such a big decision.
Moral high ground fallacy is a fallacy in which one assumes a “holier-than-thou” attitude in an attempt to make oneself look good to win an argument
I am by no means a very religious person but I will admit that if for any reason I feel someone is mocking my religion I become very defensive and often base my argument with statements that convey a moral high ground fallacy. Last week at work, a regular customer asked me if I was fasting for Ramadan and I said no not today because it was much too hard a task with school, work, and my commute. She responded, “I can’t believe you guys can’t even drink water. That’s crazy. God doesn’t want you to die.” After she said this, I went on a long tangent of how fasting was scientifically proven to be good for your health and that many people that have even a harder schedule than I do keep all 30 fasts for the month because it was not an impossible thing to do. A heated debate over religion ensued while both of us were trying to win the argument and prove to the other which side was “right”, and who was the better believer.
CHAPTER VI: MEMORY
Rosy Retrospection
This memory bias can be defined as having been better than it really was.
For me, this bias across every year on new year’s eve. Whether I am out celebrating with friends or just home watching the ball drop on TV with family I always look back on my year as if it has been an amazing year. I only seem to remember certain successful milestones or joys that I felt leaving out the bad events. I always look on to the New Year hoping it will be just as good or better because I feel an amazing sensation of the year past having been wonderful and the want to relive it.
Picture Superiority Effect
That concepts are much more likely to be remembered experientially if they are presented in picture form than if they are presented in word form.
About two years ago, my two best friends and I travelled to Las Vegas for Memorial Day week. We had stayed in one hotel but had gone to explore many others in the day and night. There was a particular night where we had gone to club Lavo at the Venetian and I had completely forgotten this night until my friend dug up the picture that the three of us had taken right in front of the hotel before going inside. After seeing the picture, I was able to put bits and pieces together and remember that we had indeed visited the Venetian.
Choice-supportive bias
Remembering chosen options as having been better than rejected options.
I have used this memory bias in my life when I had chosen the job I am working at currently over another job I had been offered. Although the other job was more convenient commute wise and a much better work schedule, when I talk about or reminisce of my decision I always seem to pinpoint the advantages of my current job because that is the choice that I made. It is almost as if I want to validate that I make the best decisions, and so I tell others positive stories and experiences felt at my workplace and not focus on where I might have been if I had stayed at the other job. I tell myself and others things like, “They fire so easily over there. Even my own friend was fired after only month. If I had stayed there, they would have fired me too.” Of this job, my biased comments sound like, “Even though I have such irregular night hours and have no social life with this schedule, I get paid a considerable percentage extra for working evening shifts, which I wouldn’t have gotten there.”
Nature vs. Nurture
The nature vs. nurture debate is a significant argument in the world of developmental psychology in analyzing how an individual comes to possess their specific personality traits. In looking into the genetic makeup and the environmental factors of an adolescent, psychologists can determine why he or she has grown up to be a certain way. In this debate, nature is tied to DNA which is a combination of two parents and that is something that cannot be necessarily altered. What can differentiate among person to person is the environment. Two people can have almost the same genetic build but grow up in two different environments and so be two completely different individuals. Therefore, nurture might be the more prominent factor in how human beings develop.
In my article, “Guns, drugs, and bandidos: inside the favela too violent for Rio’s armed police”, a favela in Rio de Janeiro is examined. The town of Vila Alianca is infamous for its drug trade trafficking where nearly all children of the favela see involvement in this trade inescapable. As the article states, “Most start in the drugs trade as young teenagers and four fifths are likely to die before reaching 21.” The article also talks about Nanko van Buuren’s great efforts to help children escape this horrible life of drugs and violence and try to reform their lives. Some have a chance thanks to Buuren’s tireless efforts and go on to pursue healthy lives and successful careers, but some have no choice but to remain within the lifestyle they have become accustomed to. This is due in part to habit and upbringing, and also most of these child soldiers are not trusted and therefore, not hired for normal jobs. Some of them have families to support and see the drugs trade as the only solution to making money.
This article is an interesting perspective to the nurture aspect because it suggests that the people of Vila Alianca participate in such violent activities because they have been brought up to see no different. Their parents, friends, and peers have conditioned all to think that this is the norm. Van Buuren’s work in trying to eradicate the crime is symbolic of suggesting that a person can escape their detrimental environmental factors to better his or way of life simply by choosing to do so. Although the choice to get out is a difficult one, some have chosen to do so and have proven that environment determines where one might be born but it may not determine how one grows up to be.
I believe nurture to be predominant in human development. Even though a person can be born into a specific area in which, as the article suggests, a certain way of living is often a necessary part of survival, it can also willfully be changed. Often times, we are born into a certain family in a specific area around set factors but we can use our circumstances to determine how we might want to better our lives. The whole concept of one’s “nurture” greatly intrigues me because it can support the ideology of “where there is a will there is a way”. I think each person’s environmental factors and nurturing can contribute to how they use that to mold their lives for the better. Where we come from does not necessarily have to bind us to a certain way to live. We can use our experiences and lessons and change an outcome that others might predetermine for us based on the nurturing debate. In contrast, I believe “nature” to be more constricting because genetic factors are embedded in our inner being and may not be changed at our will. We can allow our nurturing, however, to either aid our success or predetermine our failure.
“ Nature is all that a man brings with himself into the world; nurture is every influence that affects him after his birth.”
- Francis Galton
Assignment V
Learning: Operant Conditioning
Learning through operant conditioning is a process by which we have either suffered a punishment for a specific action or we are aware that a specific punishment exists if we were to perform a specific action. Operant conditioning is largely prevalent in the criminal law arena where wrongdoers are punished with jail sentences or whatever punishment is allotted to the criminal. My life took an unexpected turn a few years ago that had a major impact on a close friend of mine and a significant impact on me.
Several years ago, my circle of friends was a very different one, one my family did not approve of let’s just say. In my mind, they were the most fun and outgoing people I had ever met. I dropped out of NYU to support my crazy adventures and started working just so I could have the spending money I needed to finance myself. One of my closest friends at this time was probably the most outgoing carefree person I have ever met who was down for anything and everything she defined as fun. I participated in all her antics until things got a little harder and making more money and finding a better job were necessary for me and I began to work more and play less. I am happy and lucky that the job I work at now saved my life.
About two years ago, my friend Alina had a falling out with her boyfriend. She wanted to go out with the girls and forget about the argument and him. Coincidentally, I was called into work for the midnight shift and cancelled my plans with her. She was furious but ended up going out anyway with a different group of friends. I received a call at about 4:00 am from her sister in law who was at her side at the hospital. I rushed out of work after my shift and rushed to the hospital to find out that Alina had been driving under the influence and hit a taxi cab. The passenger inside the cab passed away from the impact, while Alina and her friends had a broken leg, stitches, a cracked open skull, and neck and arm injuries.
I saw Alina a few times after the accident and she did not seem upset or regretful of the whole incident. I found this alarming and I slowly detached myself from her. I found out through some mutual friends that she had been arrested but had been released on a bond, and was being sued by the other three girls in the car for the medical costs of their injuries. I have not seen or heard from her since but this event completely transformed my way of thinking. I vowed never to drink and drive because it could very well lead me to the same outcome and I learned to focus on bettering my life instead of so recklessly destroying it. My job became a lot more valuable to me and going back to school and cleaning up my act became my sole purpose.
I learned a lot from Alina and I truly do miss her friendship at times. This whole catastrophe had a huge part in conditioning me to change and I vowed to not repeat the same mistakes she made because I nor my family would be able to go through that. I believe there are some lessons in life that you cannot just learn without having the experience. Breaking the law and its aftermath is definitely a huge eye opener and knowing the consequences should be why we do not repeat the same mistake so as not to be punished the same way. Although I was not punished from this occurrence per say, I was a witness to how horribly lives can be changed by not knowing the consequences for our actions.
