A Social Paradigm Shift Is Needed Term Paper

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Social Psychology

The author of this report will be addressing four high-level topics during the course of this report. In order, those topics will be narcissism, self-esteem/self-worth, a definition and discussion of the self-efficacy theory of Albert Bendura and the inferring of traits as defined by the wider paradigm of the Fundamental Attribution Theory. The body of work on these topics is fairly large but there will be an analysis and reaction to specific articles or, in the case of self-esteem and self-worth, an image. These terms get thrown around a lot and this ends up resulting in a lot of hyperbole and other unsupported (or unsupportable) assertions, there is a lot of credence and veracity to these terms and any informed person can see real-world examples without looking too hard.

Analysis

Narcissism

When it comes to narcissism, there is an article that the author of this report has been asked to assess and react to. The crux of the article is that many therapists and professionals believe that Donald Trump has what is known as Narcissistic Personality Disorder. One thing that was noted right at the top of the article was that the author, Ms. Kreger, had already blogged about the matter before and she had her hand slapped, so to speak, by the mental health community for diagnosing a public figure. The author of this report would echo that because only a person with direct and personal contact with a patient would have the ability to completely and accurately assess whether a person is truly in another world when it comes to their self-perception or if there is something else going on. The author of this report holds that it is entirely possible that Trump's speeches, braggadocio and so forth is just pandering and calculated in advance rather than being the symptom of some mental disease. Trump surely and obviously thinks very highly of himself but such a status and situation is necessary for someone to be in the public eye and be in big business such as Trump is. Kreger further confirms the wisdom in keeping all of this in mind as she notes she is not a therapist (Kreger, 2015).

Another statement in the article that is an eyebrow-raiser is the assertion that narcissists are not comfortable with the truth. The author of this report would beg to differ with that as this is a calling card for many a politician. For example, Hillary Clinton was recently quoted as saying she "believes" she tells the truth. Having to offer that qualifying word is extremely damning to anyone that pays attention to the way people phrase thing. Rather than clearly and bluntly saying "yes I do" or something else simple and to the point, she had to throw the word "believe" in there. To be sure, Hillary and her party do not monopolize this practice as Donald is doing the same precise thing in his own way. The point is that people in positions like politicians are trying to votes and every single syllable is typically very calculated and controlled. What a politician says and what is really going through their mind can be (and often is) two entirely different things (Kreger. 2015).

One could liken this to sociopathy or Machiavellianism. The latter is simply the idea that everything is a means to an end. If something can be done to improve one's position and power, it is typically worth doing. One may put limits on that or they may not but that is a rather precarious position to take from an ethical standpoint because it can very easily lead to deception and softening of what is really going on. Politicians also do the inverse all the time and that is engaging in demagoguery about something a politician said. They will take a statement out of context or will represent that it is a coded message. A common example would be the use of the word "thug." Many assert that thug is a "code word" against black people and the people saying it may as well be saying the n-word. However, thug literally means "violent criminal" and that is the way it should be interpreted unless there is proof positive that something else is afoot. The point is that some people are legitimately deranged to the point of being narcissistic or in possession of other or different mental defects. However, to assume that Trump is not control of his faculties might be selling him short. What he is doing is certainly not right but that is not to say that it is not entirely pre-mediated, thoughtful and borne of a lucid mind (Kreger.

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2015).

Self-Esteem & Self-Worth

The image presented for this part of the report is rather heart-wrenching and saddening. The picture is of a shirtless young girl who is quite literally taking a pair of scissors to her stomach. The inferred motive behind this action is made clear when the magazine and other pictures of skinny women are seen strewn about her on the floor. The picture is a statement about the societal trend for people to pimp and forward the idea that fat people and those without flat stomachs, women in particular, are less worthy and less valuable when it comes to their being as people. This is further advanced and the system perverted by the fact that the most famous and powerful people in many spheres of society are rather or very skinny. Just a few examples that could be pointed to are Taylor Swift, Britney Spears (during her initial fame), Christina Aguilera (ditto) and so forth. This is not to say that those women are evil or part of the evil machine, but they are certainly being used by it.

Part of the problem, although it would seem to be easing, is the fact that traditional gender roles dictate that women are subservient to men and one of their main functions in life is to be attractive, be popular and thus more easily find a man that will view her as a "trophy wife" or a "catch." Men have not been all that helpful in that they objectify women in many ways and they often focus more on how a potential mate looks rather than looking at other factors such as how they act (or do not act), whether they have their life together, whether they are enjoyable to be around and so forth. As noted above, this is starting to fade and both women and men are starting to speak out and decry these patterns and how the younger girls of America are being indoctrinated into this sad system and being held to ridiculous standards rather than being told to ignore it. There is nothing wrong with teaching girls and women how to eat right, be fit and so forth. However, it has to drilled into those same girls and women that their self-worth is not connected to their weight or overall looks. They should further be told that men who assess and treat them in this manner should be eschewed in favor of men that will actually respect and love them for who they are rather than how good they look in a dress.

However, what is going on in entertainment and advertising has got to stop. When people like the Kardashians, Chris Brown, Kanye West and others are the face of products and social movements, that is a very bad sign. Kim Kardashian got her initial fame over a sex video and the fact that her father, now deceased, was one of the men who helped get OJ Simpson off when he was charged with the deaths of Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson. Chris Brown is a noted woman-beater as he provably smacked Rihanna around and was convicted for it. Kanye West, contrary to what was said about Trump, is definitely off his rocker as some of the things he is saying indicate that he is LIKELY (not provably) to have mental illness, drug problems or both. Adrian Peterson beat his child with a switch to a level that a normally be a felony and he was immediately rehired by his NFL team when he was eligible to do so. The point is that people that engage in such behavior should not rewarded just because they can run a football or help sell cell phones. No matter how intriguing it might be to push the image of sexiness and slimness, advertising and marketing groups need to stay away from that. Ad firms and companies like Geico and others have proven that it is not that hard to gets sales without perpetuating such stereotypes and images that are not realistic. It started with Barbie and it has gotten cataclysmically worse. Companies need to stand up and quit allowing these images and stnadards to continue.

Self-Efficacy

The article reviewed for this part of the report was written by Monica Frank. She makes the case that women being taught like men….....

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