Please answer any 2 of the following questions:

1. Please discuss whether your findings on the YouTube videos and ads support or detract from arguments made in the Chapter 7 text section ‘Imitation of Violence’.

2. *For the social comparison on social media article, compare rumination to self reflection, discuss which is better for identity formation and why?

3. We all have implicit biases. As you learned about implicit bias, what areas of life do you think you may need to be more aware of your thoughts? What are ways to mitigate these thought and ideas?

4. Think about all the readings about how our life, beliefs, behavior and values are socially constructed.  You may want to refer back to module 4 and my review of the ISL readings thus far.  How does social media construct our social life and social being? Use examples from the unit and from life.

NOTES:

Attachments

The Presentation of Self in Virtual Spaces summary
Erving Goffman proposed that we actively work to shape the perceptions others’ have of us. This impression management occurs each time we interact with others as we work to carefully present the image we want others to see. In the decades since Goffman wrote The Presentation of Self, the Internet has become a common part of our social life. Multiple virtual platforms have emerged that allow people to form communities where they interact and develop relationships with one another without ever meeting physically. Gottschalk examines the “virtual life” that many people create (and live) on the digital platform Second Life. They are able to do many of the things that online that are possible in the real world – such as shopping, visiting museums, starting a business, and learning – including developing relationships. Through Second Life, people can create an avatar to do all these things, which makes it a platform where people around the world can have close relationships with each other even without being physically close. As you can image, the allure of Second Life is part of what makes impression management so important – anyone can be anything they want to be. While people in the real life are constrained by what they can do or how they can look to manage their presentation to others, Second Life allows almost complete customization of avatars. The ease of changing an avatar’s look makes it easy to carefully control what is presented to the other people on Second Life. Yet, at the same time, it is generally expected that the avatar will be in line with the physical appearance of the controller (albeit highly idealized). Significant deviations in the race, gender, or age of the controller with their avatar can be perceived as deceptive by their friends. Gottschalk’s description of the self-avatar paradox speaks to the limits of Second Life avatars to be separate from their controller’s self. It is impossible to completely change the way we speak (not to mention changing the language) and communication style often indicates the education, gender, region, class, and other characteristics that distinguish us from others. Controllers can also feel like their avatar is a more accurate representation of their self than their physical self is. Therefore, the controller’s avatar can evolve as the controller does, without the cultural and structural constraints that are present in the physical world.

Links:
https://www.businessinsider.com/sex-violence-against-women-ads-2013-5?international=true&r=US&IR=T#

School Fights
[A forewarning that some of videos listed under the query school fights on youtube are disturbing depictions of acts of violence carried out by young people. Some of the ads that allude to sexual violence may be disturbing as well].  For purposes of illustrating the ASP text content on ‘the imitation of violence’, we are asking that you view at least 3 separate videos.  You may choose any from the many found on the page. After viewing these videos, please make a note of the number of views/likes and dislikes the videos have. These number may give you a clear picture regarding the popularity of viewing the video among young people as well as possibly illustrate reasons why one would record the acts. 

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=school+fights (Links to an external site.)

https://youtu.be/dVp9Z5k0dEE

https://youtu.be/GP-cqFLS8Q4