Public Administration

Posted: September 9th, 2013

Public Administration

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Public Administration

            1. Stereotype suppression refers to the conscious decision to stop thinking of stereotypes. This mostly occurs when the individuals decide to stop the habit they may have of thinking of stereotypes. This tendency leads to stereotype rebound if the individual in question has low prejudice levels. This happens because the decision to stop thinking of stereotypes is a conscious one and the individual may fall back into the practice that they were trying to escape in the first place (Stangor, 2000).

2. Subliminal messages refer to messages with no particular long-lasting effect on the behavioral mechanisms of the people to which it is directed. Subliminal messages are used in several cases, for example; their use is very well known in advertisements. Such messages may at times be offensive but since they are printed in small font sizes. For this reason, most people tend to ignore them or others may not even see them. Researchers using the Magnetic Resonance Imaging technology (MRI) have proven that these messages have en effect on a certain part of the brain without the knowledge of the person listening to it. The research showed that the brains of the patients in the study responded to these messages unconsciously (Lipton, 2008). The most outstanding use of subliminal messages is in street art or graffiti. For instance, Bansky’s work in London displays one such message. It reads “COPS AGAINST CUTS* The= Good Cops.” This message has come during a period where consumerism has been questioned and overspending been heightened in England. Such a message, when read, will stimulate thought, but the effects will not be long-term (Peiter & Werner, 2009).

3. Validity especially in the case of arguments refers to the logic behind the subject under dialogue. A valid argument is one, which is true and logical in all forms. An example of a valid statement is ‘All plants are green, a pear tree is a plant and therefore, a pear tree is green. This statement is valid because it follows a logical sequence of reasoning. That is, the first statement is related to the other statements. Reliability refers to the capability of a person to accomplish what is expected of them regardless of the situation, in ordinary or hostile environments. In the case of interpersonal relationships, reliability may apply when a friend, for instance, does what they were expected to do for instance, picking up of something from the mall for a friend. The person is reliable if he or she does this, whatever the situation.

6. Human beings form groups mainly for the purpose of company. Naturally, humans are not lonely creatures and the formation of groups provides a basis for interaction. The positive aspect associated with the formation of groups is that people are able to make new friends. This creates a healthy relationship between the people in question. The overall result of this is the development of unity in the group of people in question. On the other hand, group forming has a negative aspect. People with similar characteristics form most groups. This may limit the interaction with other people who do not share similar interests. For example, in the case of racism, it evolved from the formation of groups, which resulted in whites staying together and segregating the blacks. This caused a lot of suffering for the discriminated African Americans.

7. The Implicit Association Test is used mostly in social psychology. It is designed to estimate the potency of the person’s relationship between intellectual demonstrations of concepts in their memory. The test ordinarily consists of seven basic tasks. The first task the individual is required to categorize the stimulus provided into two groups. Subsequent tasks result in the mixing of the categories and the introduction of new categories. The individual undergoing the test is required to select only one response for each task. In some cases, the position of the categories maybe switched from one side to the other. The responses given are used to compute the general results obtained by the individual (Wittenbrink & Schwarz, 2007).

9. Feelings and thoughts of relative deprivation contribute to prejudice in the U.S.A. Relative deprivation is the state or feeling of being denied something the individual considers he or she deserves. It is accompanied by discontent and at times low self-esteem. Such feelings have contributed a great to prejudice in the United States. The best example of this is the treatment that African Americans receive. They are discriminated by the whites since they believe that the country belongs to them, and they should be prioritized over the rest of the population. This ideology has been the cause of racism for instance.

11. Culture plays a crucial role in individual stereotypes. Stereotypes refer to the notions that certain individuals have towards certain things or people. Culture is the belief system of a certain group of people. Culture is infused unknowingly into individuals as they grow up. The beliefs that they learn from other people sharing the same beliefs will be rooted in them. Such people include family members and members of the immediate community. Their belief does not always concur with that of others, but they follow it regardless. For example, in the case of a person brought up knowing that blacks are inferior, they will grow up with the same ideology firmly entrenched in this belief. In this ways, the culture has affected the individual stereotype of the individual.

12. Categorization is the process of grouping objects and opinions based on their similarities, based on their purpose, for example. Categorization implies that the things in similar categories have comparable aspects attributed to them. Categorization is crucial in the society today. A lot of time is saved after items are categorized since the person knows where each item is located. This is achieved because it is easy to identify the location of the item the person seeks. In addition, categorization adds to the general outlook of the place the items in question are placed. In the case of ideas, grouping enables the person to speak in a more logical fashion.

14. Relative deprivation theory states that social comparisons are fundamental in the assessment if the person in question is deprived or not. This is because, the person, if deprived of a particular thing, their behavior will be affected. Change in their behavior will be noticeable especially in a social setting. This theory states that the state of deprivation may be naturally occurring or self-induced by the affected individual. There is no age limit to the occurrence of such cases but most cases reported are of patients with prior mental problems. The matter of prejudice arises in most cases since the affected persons consider themselves better than they consider the other people. For this reason, the theory is commonly refereed to as the relative deprivation theory of prejudice (Ravallion and Lokshin, 2005).

15. If a Chinese person, either male of female sat beside me in a bus, I would not have any feelings towards them. This is because I do not find anything wrong with it. Choosing to either approve or disapprove implies that I have a right to decide whether they can sit in the bus, in which I am traveling. This would apply if I privately owned the mode of transport, but in this case, the bus is public and is owned by the government. In this case, I believe that all American citizens have an equal right to use public amenities such as the bus. Because of the respect that I have for all ethnic groups that the United States is comprised of, I will have no feelings to the sitting of a Chinese person next to me in the bus.

References

Lipton, M. L. (2008). Totally accessible MRI: A user’s guide to principles, technology, and applications. New York: Springer.

Peiter, S., & Werner, G. (2009). Guerilla art. London: Laurence King Pub.

Ravallion, M., & Lokshin, M. (2005). Who cares about relative deprivation? Washington, D.C: World Bank, Development Research Group, Poverty Team.

Stangor, C. (2000). Stereotypes and prejudice: Essential readings. Philadelphia, PA: Psychology Press.

Wittenbrink, B., & Schwarz, N. (2007). Implicit measures of attitudes. New York: Guilford Press