Labels & Stereotypes - Psychological Perspective

Psychologically speaking, labels and stereotypes come quickly and easily as a survival mechanism. Being able to categorize things allows us to understand our world better and first impressions are lasting because the brain doesn't care to dwell on little things like this day-to-day when it could be doing other things. In other words: racial, sexual, gender (whatever other social issue we have now) stereotypes are natural.

We naturally distinguished men and women from each other. It is an obvious distinction. Once humans evolved we started to create roles for these men and women and it was just easy to go along with the stereotypes and not question things. The stereotypes and labels of men and women (yet somewhat logically created) were just natural. The reason why I say it was somewhat logical is because men are naturally built to do more physical tasks like hunting and gathering, fighting and building while women have bodies to bear children. This has nothing to do with the mind, this has to do with the physical body: what we can look at. All can be agreed here that this seems like a rational label to give to men and women based upon their physical bodies.

We kept this categorization around and with society evolving, we do not have that lifestyle anymore where a man is the breadwinner and the woman is the caregiver, at least not all the time. Why? I will mostly argue it is the economy. One person working in a 2 adult household with children is generally not enough money, unless that one person is working a high-paying job. Also, let's face it, women probably didn't like being cooped up in the house. Also, men may not always enjoy spending less time with their family.

Whatever the reason, my point is that these labels and stereotypes came naturally because of a natural survival mechanism we have to categorize things in order to move on from dwelling and learn quickly.

These stereotypes are not necessarily a bad thing until they start affecting people's lives negatively. For example, once people started recognizing they dislike gender roles (which were natural stereotypes) it became difficult to break the stereotype because people are defensive about their preconceived notions. "No, my idea is correct". I have a theory that generally: nobody likes to be wrong. People will go to great lengths to not get in trouble and not be incorrect. This isn't necessarily a theory, but it does seem like an accurate predictor of actions amongst most people.

These stereotypes are therefore hard to break.

By saying these stereotypes are natural, I am not arguing they are correct. We have created societies which is essentially deviating from the natural. If we never deviated from the natural we would have no laws, societal structures, and may not even be alive. Societies themselves are a survival mechanism. Surrounding yourself with other people in groups and those groups just expanding and expanding with the population. Think of this:

I am a Canadian
I am a Canadian living in Northern Ontario
I am a Canadian Woman Student living in Northern Ontario with her boyfriend

Like I can keep breaking it down or making my relationships more general. My boyfriend and I fight together first, then people in my area, then my province, then my country. Really, it works this way, pretty much. We surround ourselves with people, naturally, as a support system, to aid our lives and to not die. We join a society like me in Ontario, Canada and expect to pay taxes to your country, city and province in order to receive things in return. It is all a support system.

So really, governments, laws and things like this are actually natural survival mechanisms.

Honestly, everything we do, we do just to stay alive. You want a relationship for the support, you watch TV to experience emotion, you eat to nourish yourself, you get a job to gain other things like the food you eat, pay your rent or mortgage, etc. Really, everything we do has a purpose in our life. Even me, sitting on the couch with my laptop writing this helps me survive. Why? I think by writing this maybe even one person out there could be inspired to dwell on what I also dwell on. I don't know. I write this to hold a mirror to society, in a sense. That is my job here. How does it help me live? It is almost a release for me, as well. It helps me release my thoughts rather than torturing myself by keeping them within.

Can you think of anything we do that DOESN'T help us stay alive, improve our quality of life or do as a defence mechanism? I sure can't.

I HAVE A LEARNING DISORDER!?

Last week I went to my family doctor for a couple of things, one thing was asking her about testing and/or medication for ADD (Attention deficit disorder). She informed me that I would need to go through testing. She prodded me more on possible symptoms that could signal that I have may have a learning disability. I pointed out that I approached her about my poor memory back in grade 10.

I have frequently complained about my poor memory on my blog and I've noticed it since grade 10.

I also realized another symptom I have been having other than poor memory and lack of ability to concentrate. I don't speak clearly sometimes. You can probably find hundreds of confusing sentences I have written on my blog posts before. My blogs aren't the worst, the worst is my handwriting because it is slower than my typing. Quite often I go on and on in a sentence and then I will actually switch the focus of the sentence halfway through because my memory has failed me halfway through and I will switch tenses and such. My memory fails me and I write confusing sentences.

My friends have also informed me they have "No idea what I am talking about" or texting about.

This is kind of a shock to me that I MIGHT have a learning disability/disorder.

I have received high grades ever since grade 2. I was at the top of the class until around grade 6 then I was just really good until grade 9. In high school (Depending on the subject) I was generally anywhere between having one of the top 5 marks to being just above average (except in science, math and french). I had a 92% average in my final year of high school, qualifying me for full tuition at my school, my first year.

I know that marks are supposed to drop in your first year, but I am having difficulty retaining and learning mass amounts of information at once. It is a lot more information thrown at you at one time and my brain just can't handle it. University is different.

I hate thinking that I may need assistance because I am an extremely independent person who hates relying on other people. In another way, I think that I could use the help. I really just wanted meds to be able to allow me to focus on my textbook readings, mostly. But now I have to go through this whole process.

I am going through for testing (hopefully). I have a meeting within the next week with the person who schedules and screens people for learning disability testing. It can cost me up to $1000 but it may be covered by OSAP (Ontario education funding assistance program, for those who do not know). I have to be approved to actually receive the testing first. If they don't sense anything before testing, I won't get any done.

Then I will just be back to square one, not knowing what is wrong with my mind.

In other news, I am getting really into writing poetry. I find inspiration everywhere, now. It's just a matter of finding the time to write it all down...

Oh well.

I don't want your pity or luck. I'm just writing this to inform the public about what I am going through, I suppose. Maybe looking for some insight from experts or people with experience with this sort of thing. I don't know.

Poopsocks.

Last week before University ramble

Hi. How are you? That's good, I really don't care.

I am pretty unemotional but I am sure this week is going to be filled with many screams of joy and exhaust.

Let's see, here is my unofficial list:

1. Pack shit the fuck up because I am moving 5 hours the fuck away to go to University.
2. FIGURE OUT WHY MY BACK HURTS. Actually this isn't on my list, but my back fucking hurts. I think I've wrecked it from MY LAST DAY OF WORK (yesterday). Jeezzz.
3. Watch all of the comedy shows. Classes don't start until September 9th but I am trying to get through a bunch of TV shows, lectures and podcasts to listen to. I am trying to finish off Nurse Jackie and get through as much of the Drew Carey Show as I possibly can. I also have a collection of Proopcasts and some tedtalks I want to listen to and watch.
4. Cry
5. Hug my dog
6. Cry while hugging my dog
7. Throw a fucking party and I'm the only one invited
8. Leave my room clean and sort through the papers I definitely should not leave behind for her to read.
9. Go to the gym
10. Go for lots of runs because I want to
11. Drop off my law textbook at my high school because for some reason I still have it
12. Cry while dropping off the textbook and make my past teachers think I am even more crazy than when I left
13. See some friends
14. Not see some friends
15. Not get to see my cousin because her mom is not only has an asshole, but her entire personality is of one.

Jeez-Louise.

People keep asking me if I am nervous or excited for university and I can honestly say that I am both and neither. I am nervous for my roommates because I am scared they'll be major druggies or nymphos or want to talk to me everyday and have conversations... like what are people? Partially kidding. Partially. I am also nervous that I am going to have too much of a workload. I have Geology, Philosophy, Poli Sci, English and Psychology my first semester. I am also starting up the Comedy Troupe at my school. I also have an avid gym and running schedule that I like to not skip. I don't plan on having a social life. My social life will hopefully be my Comedy Troupe, if things go as planned.

I am excited for the Comedy Troupe, for English and Philosophy and to meet some of the new people I am going to meet. I am usually not big on meeting new people and doing new things because I am a lame introvert, but I am excited to meet some new people. I like change and new things, it's just a stretch for me.

In general I think that I am ready for university. I am actually spoiled rotten by the amount of things my mom bought me.

Let's talk about this whole University thing for a second.

Last summer I decided I didn't want to go to University because my whole non-conformist person kicked in and was like "It's all stupid! You don't need a piece of paper to say 'Dis person iz smarttt' Credentialism is nonsense!" but then I realized that to fix society you have to live at least partially within it. You can't play baseball unless you're in the field. It's like trying to bat balls from the seats. It just doesn't work.

Then I decided to go to university because of my fascination with learning. I love to learn things and schools are generally where you learn things. I want to say that 80% of the reason I am going to university is because I want to learn, and that is true, although now there is this little 5% that says "Go because society is telling you to!". FYI the other 15% is because I don't know what I'd do if I didn't go to university.

My major has changed wayyyyyy too much. Let's just for once and for all give a final layout of what I wanted to be when I "grew up" since I was a kid

1999- Cake Baker (like my mom)
2000- Doctor
2003-2006- Veteranarian
2006- Astronaut
2006-2012- Psychologist
2012-2013 Teacher

And what I wanted my major/minors to be from grade 9, onward:
- Psychology
- Psychology + Minor in Sociology
- Psychology + Minor in Gerontology
- Psychology and Philosophy
- Psychology and Sociology
- Psychology and Political Science
- Political Science and Philosophy
- Philosophy
- Philosophy and Psychology
- Philosophy and English

Confusion.

I also plan to get my Bachelor of Education. I want to do graduate studies but I am not really sure yet.

I don't have to declare my major until the end of 1st year, so at least I have a little more time. I can't tell you how much I have thought and over thought this.

Lately all I want to do is become a comedian even though I am not that funny. I just want to do whatever I am watching on TV and I am watching Standup and Improv lately. I wanted to be a City councilman when I was watching Parks and Recreation. Thank goodness I didn't want to sell paper when I was watching the Office.

I'll figure it out. Maybe.

#18 30 Day Writing Challenge- A Problem I've had

A problem I've had... hmm. This is another hard topic. Most of the major problems I've had I've discussed on my blog before. I suppose I'll dig one up to the surface again.

A problem I've had: being confident.

It took me forever to realize in high school that there is a difference and a similarity between confidence and being social.

I am quiet, awkward, shy and don't like socializing. But I soon realized I can't go through high school like that, so I had to break that shield of anxiety, which I have for the most part. I remember when it was a success for me to raise my hand in class. Now I joke around with my teachers, embarrass myself in peer tutoring on purpose, and instead of being the person that's like "Go ask the person at the desk for paper for me, I don't want to" people ask me to do that. Things have changed.

I had this perspective that confidence and being social are two different things. Which is true. You can be social but not confident and confident but not social. This is sort of where I am at. When you are confident and not social, you come across as rude. The older and more mature I've gotten, the ruder I appear.

So now this is my problem. I don't like socializing. I don't like having to talk to people and have a "casual conversation" because honestly, I recognize these little conversations of pleasantries as pointless, unless I want to have a relationship with that person. Well this is how connections are made, you have relationships with more people, and you engage in these pointless conversations.

I'm going to need to network with professors and people I meet in politics, which means I have to have these conversations.

So this is another problem I am currently having.

If I want to go into politics, I am going to have to face this. I don't have to be the most social person I know, but it would help a lot to be more social. So in university I am planning on doing varsity track and field. I might join 2 clubs : the philosophy society and possibly the psychology society.

Now I think of another problem I'm having! I don't know what my second major is going to be! I think.

I want to take Philosophy and double major with something else. It constantly switches between Psychology, Sociology and Political Science. I don't think I will decide until first year is over, because then I will know more about all of these subjects. I am taking all 4 of those subjects in first year, along with 1 history course, academic writing and geology (I have to have science credit). I want to go into politics, which is why political science is a good idea, but psychology is more interesting to me. Sociology is more relevant to the type of ideas I think about. But I also want to be a teacher. Teachables don't matter as much as people think they do, but I can see me teaching law, I can also see me teaching sociology/psychology. I don't know. I won't consider this for a while.

At the moment I'm leaning towards psychology and political science. AHH STOP THINKING ABOUT IT, ME! It's literally driving me nuts.

Okay. Well so those are an array of problems. The only "solved" one is being more confident. I'm still not VERY confident, and that is definitely not an accurate adjective to describe me as, but I can succeed in society with the level of confidence I have achieved. I'm still chiseling away at it, trying to improve it. 

Anger, yelling, teaching.

I feel like something a lot of people don't know about me is my anger.

I generally feel like I give off a off-putting vibe when I am upset about something, but I generally don't yell at people.

At home, when I get mad with my mom, I always yell and get quite angry. Usually anger and a loss of patience goes hand in hand. In peer tutoring today I was so tempted to yell at a few different students. There was a supply teacher who wasn't controlling the class, and at one point when she was talking, literally every single student was whispering/talking/on their phone. I was about ready to stand up and tell them to cut it out, but I didn't want to override the supply teacher, so I didn't.

I can get quite angry at times. It is scary when I am. I feel like I lose my temper when I am really pissed off or passionate about something.

I also have a feeling I am probably going to lose my temper in residence at university. If I have a fucking stupid roommate, I am going to probably yell at them.

I don't have the best techniques. I feel like some people just should never be yelled at- ever, they just can't handle it. But other people can handle it. Sometimes yelling is the option.

In law we also talked about how teachers can still technically, legally use corporal punishment. I couldn't imagine ever, as a teacher, hitting a student. But today, I wished I could've smacked this one kid. I feel like a little smack could get them to shut the fuck up and listen to me.

When I'm a teacher I'm probably going to be really weird- as I have discussed before, that I am weird, and will probably use really weird teaching techniques. But I will not tolerate people not paying attention to me teaching. I will yell at them and embarrass them. Talking it out may work with most people, but haven't you seen at least one student who is always "talked to" and suspended, but never changes? I feel like if somebody really tried to yell at them that they would listen. It's all about discipline and controlling the room.

I've only really had one teacher that enforces this a lot. I read a book where this whole school was under very strict discipline and they all acted so calm and collected, which I thought was weird and unethical. After today I think it is perfectly fine.

I have only really had two teachers full out YELL at the class. I didn't care for one of them, and the other was okay. I have had many teachers get disappointed and strict with us. I had this one teacher that always gave us these huge lectures with a domineering tone. They were good and people shut up and listened to her, but nothing really changed, and she gave these lectures way too frequently.

I don't know.

I personally hate being yelled at. Depending who is yelling at me, I will just yell back, some people I might just take it from, but most I will yell back.

I remember in the Freedom Writers' Diary movie, Ms. Gruwell yelling at this one student who said he deserved a failing grade, because she felt like it was a huge "fuck you" to her and him. I think this is the type of thing that should actually be practiced.

There is no need to yell when you are working one-on-one with a student, because you can easily just talk to them. But if you have a class of 20+ students, yelling is the one thing to get them to all simultaneously shut the hell up.

Whatever. I think it's fine for teachers to yell at students, I will probably do it, and that is all I have to say.

Am I a pessimist or non-conformist?

I tend to look at the negatives and things and specifically find the negative things in people, events, causes, etc.

I don't think it is a bad thing. My mind is extremely twisted compared to society, though.

I don't think being sad, depressed, angry, pessimistic, negative, etc., is actually "wrong" at all.

Maybe I am not a pessimist. I generally don't expect the worst in the world, I don't expect the good either. I try to look at things rationally. I do look for the bad in good things, though. But I don't expect bad things to happen. I also don't believe everyone is inherently evil, but I also don't believe everyone is inherently good. I think some people are and some people aren't "evil" or "bad". Although this gets me into the philosophical discussion of "What is good? and what is bad" which I am not getting into right now.

I don't totally think I am the definition of a pessimist. But I definitely am not an optimist. I'm just a negative person, I suppose. Negative, not pessimistic. Maybe my viewpoint is just different from everyone else's, well I know it is.

I used to be an extremist optimist around grade 7-9, especially in grade 8. I remember having like three different smiley face necklaces, which I would wear. On this one website whyville.net, I used to go on, my avatar was always wearing something that was a smiley or said "be happy" or something like that. I celebrated random weird holidays like "mint chocolate day" and used to skip around school like an annoying destinations student. (Destinations was a program for grade 7-8 students I was in).

I don't know when that exactly ended, but sometime when I first got into high school, probably.

The more I look at it, the more I see I am not really a pessimist. I am more of just a non-conformist, and since the conformist thing to do is to be happy and be an optimist, I just try to do the opposite of that. I'd really like to be able to understand the psychology of a non-conformist, better. I always strive to do the opposite of the majority.

For example, you know that really light colour green that is really popular right now (like this), well I used to absolutely love that colour like 1-2 years ago. Now it is overused, and I hate it with a passion.

Maybe I just try to bail on society and conformity. I'm not sure. But for whatever reason, I just hate the thought of being the same as everyone else, which is why I have essentially isolated myself, became quite the individualist and egoist. I just try to express the fact that I am a single person, there is only one of me. I have always thought this, even when I was what I call an "extremist optimist". I always said "be yourself!". I also remember thinking to stop saying "Be yourself" because everyone always says that, and to say something different. So I guess I was sort of a non-conformist back then, too.

I'm just negative. It's funny because I love being a negative person, and you think that I'd be super serious (which I usually am) but I am obsessed with comedy at the same time. I just need to balance out my cynical thoughts with weird brain-killing comedy shows and comics.

I'm glad I wrote this post, because it actually helped me figure out that I am not a pessimist. I went in writing this blog post, to try to convince my readers I am. But now I don't think so. Just a negative non-conformist. Carpe diem?

I change so often because I have a fish brain- Why Philosophy?

I have the crappiest memory.

I do not want to talk about that, here, now. But just let the record show that I can't remember shit.

Recently I was like "Why am I studying philosophy?".

I honestly had no idea why. I didn't remember selecting to study philosophy at any point. I knew that I blogged a lot about my choices for university, so I was looking through. Nothing. I found stuff that talked about me possibly wanting to do phys ed, psychology, wanting to be a teacher, not wanting to do anything, etc., but nothing specifically about choosing philosophy.

But I was looking through my old blog posts from the summer, and I honestly don't remember most of that stuff. My memory of myself from that time was COMPLETELY different from what my blog lead off. I am not sure if I was just faking who I was there, or I am really bad at remembering things.

But here I am. Asking myself "Why am I studying philosophy?". I would be perfectly happy studying sociology, psychology or political science. Double majoring with two of those. I can better answer the questions "Why do I want to take sociology, psychology or political science?" more than philosophy. So now is time for some intensive thinking.

Reasons why I may possibly be taking philosophy:
- I liked philosophy in history
- I like philosophy over the summer, the course I took online
- I find philosophy interesting
- I got a good grade in my philosophy course
- I like to think a lot
- Philosophy relates to a lot of subjects I like, like education, history and politics
- I am trying to answer the questions of life, and thats what philosophy is
- I want to learn about others' ideas and thoughts

Okay I guess I have a pretty legitimate reason. But I still don't remember when I decided on philosophy. I think at some point I just decided on philosophy and political science and I just was tired of changing my mind, so I just rested there, and that's where I stayed when I applied to university.

I looked through my old philosophy notes recently, and reminded myself of why I like it. I like the debate of the topics. I like looking at things like ethics, epistemology, waves of thought. I don't know. I just get it. Philo/sophy, the love of ideas. That's what I love.

The 7 Sins and Psychological Disorders

Why is a psychological "disorder" is classified as a bad thing?

It's looked upon like some piece of a person that is unfortunate, yet must be destroyed. Sure, quite often psychological disorders impair the person from being able to function in society, or be happy with themself.

But what about the person that doesn't care about that stuff?

Society is built around the christian religion, a lot of our laws are similar to things written in the Old and New testament, other scriptures, and our morals are very close to those of the christian church.
Also, the christian religion has 7 sins:
greed, sloth, pride, gluttony, wrath, lust and envy.

My point is that in this society, we are based a lot off of the christian religion, and in this society, we have psychological disorders. The connection between these two points is that the 7 sins all reflect certain psychological disorders. I just made this connection a few weeks ago.

A christian might try to avoid the 7 sins and so naturally it makes sense that these sins correlate with psychological disorders--- because people with psychological disorders, although are supported more nowadays, have been looked down upon.

This just makes me wonder how credible psychological disorders actually are, if they are just historically based off of the 7 sins, which come from the bible.

Here is specifically how each connect:

Pride can easily be connected to narcissitic or histrionic personality disorder.
Greed is associated  with narcissistic and antisocial personality disorders.
Sloth means being lazy, slow, so technically any disorder associated with slow brain functioning, or being a vegetative state, is associated with the sin of "sloth". So even ADHD would apply here.
Gluttony is obsessive eating, so any over-eating disorder qualifies here.
Wrath is being angry, and excessive anger is a symptom of disorders such as PTSD and PMDD.
Lust can be associated easily with histrionic personality disorder.
Envy is actually one of the big symptoms of narcissistic personality disorder.

This just makes me question the credibility of psychological disorders. Why is it considered a disorder? Why if a person is acting schizophrenic, is it considered bad? Why should the person be treated to function within society?

Oh right, structure. We fear chaos.

Every conclusion I ever come to, is the fact that Western culture fears chaos. Even right now with Kim Jong-Un. Whether or not he has the technology, is irrelevant. Some people are just shrugging it off, others are not, but either way, people are afraid of chaos.

Eastern culture doesn't seem to be as afraid.

For all of you who are not history geeks, the term chaos comes from the Greek term kaos/kos/khaos which was from one of their creation myths, that earth was birthed from Kaos.

Throughout Greek history, and maybe a bit in Roman, their myths frequently surrounded the fear of chaos (not really Kaos, but chaos).

Since a lot of who we are is derived from Greek and Roman times, we also now, fear chaos.

At least this is my theory.

Some final questions I am going to leave unanswered by myself:

Should psychological disorders be looked at again, every few years, decades, etc., to see their credibility to the society today? Do psychological disorders outdate themselves? Think of the fact that being gay used to be a psychological disorder of sorts. Should the 7 sins be qualifications in the diagnosis or factors of any psychological disorders?