Psychology – Attitudes and Attitude Change

Media can be helpful but it can also be harmful. It shapes our opinions and beliefs, sometimes correctly and sometimes incorrectly. Media can teach us to judge people based on skin color, how they dress, or even how they act. Media can also teach us to accept everyone for who they are no matter what. Media shapes our attitudes and perceptions by having us see what other people say and do online and naturally, we tend to follow or mimic what they do or say. Mass-media expresses and influences positive or negative opinions, behaviors, mentalities, values, and social norms, contributing to the increasing or to the decreasing of knowledge and the general education level of people in the essential areas of culture and civilization. Negative stereotypes will have harmful consequences for the standard of lifetime of older adults and might conjointly lead to serious loss to society.

With will increase in life still as reduced debility, several adults area unit aging well, however, negative stereotypes of aging could place society in danger for losing the contributions The potential individual and social effects underscore the necessity to know the content of aging stereotypes in terms of their accuracy and applications. It is particularly necessary to know however negative stereotypes exacerbate poor performance in areas during which decline is real. That is, beliefs that memory is unhealthy in adulthood will cut back motivation once accrued motivation is required instead. A framework for predicting and deciphering individuals’ behavior is imperative to know however aging stereotypes drive behavior in each positive and negative way.

Males are influenced by thinking they need to be big and buff and show no emotions. Females are influenced by their ideal physical image thinking they need to have bodies like other “pretty” girls. Men are told that their sissy’s if they show too much emotion, they’re told to “suck it up and be a man”. Women are body shamed if their too fat or “not beautiful enough”. However, the stereotypes propagated by the media go way beyond just gender stereotypes. Due to their great influence on people’s attitudes, the television and the internet, in particular, can depict certain social groups in an adverse and unrealistic manner. It is a known fact that attitudes, values, and self-esteem are well developed by the mid-teenage years, or even earlier. One cannot but highlight the violence perpetrated by the online games they play, the messages in the adverts they see, and the negative lyrics and behavior of the popular singers they follow and admire. When we discuss youths, children and the media we also think about issues the younger generations face, such as bullying and eating disorders, among which anorexia, often brought about because of the influence of not having the certain figure and body image portrayed as acceptable by the media. Thus, stereotyping is intertwined with other issues too.

If someone sees that you’re being stereotyped they can stand up for you by telling whoever it is to leave you alone. Make your account private so no one can see your posts, only people you want to see your posts. Media contact systematically foretold additional positive attitudes toward social out-groups. Importantly, seeing teams within the media was a stronger and additional reliable predictor of positive intergroup attitudes than directly interacting with these teams. studies have found that once folks consume media that embody positive interactions between in-group and out-group characters, they appear to feel additional completely toward those teams, and that they show more interest in interacting with members of these teams. If we as individuals are not able to avoid seeing negative depictions of minority groups, then it’s important to find ways to buffer ourselves against their effects.

Some people do it because that’s what they grew up believing and what they were thought as a child. Some people do it because they think it’s funny or their friends pressured them into it. And others do it because they want to gain a feeling of power, purpose, and control over others. Others use negative behaviors like bullying, violence, and drug abuse, that quickly mask the problems however typically create them worse within the semi-permanent. The research shows that some people simply do not know how to positively respond to stress and so default to bullying others as a coping mechanism. Those who bully are much more doubtless than average to own skilled a trying or traumatic scenario within the past five years. Examples embody their parents/guardians rending up, the death of a relative or the gaining of a touch brother or sister. 66% of the folks that had admitted to bullying someone else were male. Take a moment to admit however guys are raised in our culture and compare that to the ways that within which ladies raised. The moment a guy starts to show any sign of emotion, he’s told to man up and to stop being a girl. For girls, it’s encouraged that they speak up about issues that affect them. For guys, it’s discouraged and so they start to respond with aggressive behaviors, such as bullying, as a way of coping with issues that affect them. This is why guys are more likely than girls to physically attack somebody or to commit crimes. It isn’t something they are born with, it’s a learning thing that is actively taught by society using dysfunctional gender norms and roles.
Media can be a good thing or a bad thing it just depends on how you going to use social media. Are you going to be a person who uses social media to put people down by using hurtful language or posting, sharing, and sending hurtful or embarrassing things or are you going to be a person who helps people out and lifts them up when they really need it by saying positive or nice things to them that will make them feel better or help them realize that not everyone uses social media to hurt and put people down.