CRJ 422 Auburn Psychological and Sociological Explanations of Violence Discussion
1.
Respond to the following:
- Please discuss the psychological and sociological explanations of violence. There tend to be combinations of these at work. Based on research which explanations (specific ones, not just the category) do you see as most influential?
REMEMBER – This is not an opinion only based assignment, it is a research-based discussion where applying course material to support your points is required. Make sure all arguments for each part include references to course materials and credible sources to support your opinions. If you include only personal opinions and anecdotes in lieu of research based material this will result in a point loss as they cannot and will not be graded.
2. Reply to a minimum of two peers, commenting on their original post in a substantive, non-repetitive and insightful manner. Your two response posts (150 minimum word count each)
The discussion component is an important part of your grade, so please take care to give this part of the class sufficient consideration and effort.
You must make an original post by the deadline, and respond to at least two other posts by the deadline. Late initial posts will be docked by 10% of the grade otherwise earned, daily. Posting on the last day limits the amount of discussion and interaction and will result in a point deduction when posts are all listed on the same day. Overall tone for discussion boards should remain formal. Remember accuracy is important. Emoticons and acronyms should be avoided and no creative spelling should be used. Proof-read your posts, as you will be graded on accuracy as well as content. In your original discussion post, it is required that you cite at least two pieces of concrete evidence. This means that you need to cite, at least twice, from a source in this class: the textbook, information and media shared in the “required” material or optional articles in the “additional resources”. Information outside of the course (if used) should be fact based. These are the only options because your discussions need to be based in evidence – your responses need to be substantive. Further, this is a 400-level class where we are reading, writing, and thinking about research in a concrete manner. Your posts are considered academic writing. When asked to support your positions, please cite correctly to avoid plagiarizing and to receive full credit. This means not including direct, or long direct quotes which is not proper APA. Proper citations are paraphrased information with a reference to the author at the end of the sentence or paragraph. Paraphrasing information into your own words indicates comprehension and understanding of concepts, and direct quotes do not. All original posts should meet the minimum word count (500) requirement but will likely need to be longer to adequately address question prompts. All response posts should be at least 150 words each, and be non-repetitive, substantive sentences. Please remain primarily in the third (and not first) person for original posts. For more information on writing and proper APA please see the two tutorials below. Please see the grading matrix as well:
Grading Matrix Discussion Boards.pdf
CRJ Writing Guidelines Helpful Info.pdf
PROPER CITATION OF REFERENCE MATERIAL.pdf
Respond to the following:Please discuss the psychological and sociological explanations of violence. There tend to be combinations of these at work. Based on research which explanations (specific ones, not just the category) do you see as most influential?REMEMBER – This is not an opinion only based assignment, it is a research-based discussion where applying course material to support your points is required. Make sure all arguments for each part include references to course materials and credible sources to support your opinions. If you include only personal opinions and anecdotes in lieu of research based material this will result in a point loss as they cannot and will not be graded. 8:39
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CRJ 422: Violence in America (2022 Spring)
Justin Weigel
Jan 18, 2022 at 4:57 AM
Discussion Post 1
Sociological and Psychological explanations of
violence are both great ways to explain why
individuals cause violence and can explain the
multiple factors that might be occurring within
someone’s reasoning when committing violence.
Violence should never be an acceptable form of
dealing with something, but in certain cases, some
individuals can struggle to find other ways to
handle situations. In this week’s reading and
modules it was taught why violence occurs and the
textbook goes in great detail of the sociological and
psychological explanations of why violence occurs.
The psychological explanation of violence explains
the mental disorders, character, and personality
reasons to why crimes occur. This category talks
about stress and the factors that stress can play in
causing violence. This is an important reason to
look at when discussing violence because almost
every human being has stress in their life and it is
important that the stress of everyday life does not
play a leading role in causing violence in society.
The textbook explains that humans are very
adaptable organisms and our body has multiple
different ways to deal with threatening situations
(Alvarez, A. & Bachman, R. 2020). Discusses that
prolonged stress can often compromise the ability
to respond to events in a violent way, when often as
humans we know there are better ways to respond.
Stress can make people easily irritable and not
think straight. This is one of the most key reasons
violence can occur through a psychological
avulanation has
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CRJ 422: Violence in America (2022 Spring)
think straight. This is one of the most key reasons
violence can occur through a psychological
explanation because everyone has talked to
someone when they are stressed out and more
often than not, they respond in ways that they
normally would not and can often act like a
different person.
The sociological explanations of violence are a bit
different in the way that it explains the cultural and
structural reasoning to why violence occurs. The
first reasoning in the textbook discusses economic
deprivation as a factor of violence. This is an
important factor to be aware of because of how
well it is paired with stress. A state of poverty can
be overwhelming and depressing and may not have
the right mindset when dealing with situations.
Individuals may feel that there are no other options
when dealing with conflict (Alvarez, A. & Bachman,
R. 2020). In an article I found within the AZ
database, it discusses the exposure to violence and
how the social learning theory that was taught in
the book are also sociological reasons as to why
violence occurs. As humans, we often learn
through experiences and things we see. Due to
learning through peers, family members, and
acquaintances. This article talks about being
around a family that acts in violence, as a child is
growing up and going through adolescence, they
can start to accept that violence is an okay way of
dealing with situations (Haj-Yahia, et al, 2021). This
can be a key sociological perspective to discuss
because it is proven that who someone is around
can play a large role in the way someone behaves
and how they learn to treat others around them.
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CRJ 422: Violence in America (2022 Spring)
Another explanation from the book that evokes
more of a sociological factor is the spillover theory.
This theory proposes that when a form of violence
is validated or legitimized in any sense, it increases
the chances of illegitimate forms of violence. For
example, if a country validates and promotes war
as a necessity for the good of the country, it is
theorized that the general populace will perceive
violence as a valid method of getting what they
want and increase the rates of violence on a
community scale. People are put under the
impression that it is okay to hurt and kill those who
offend because violence is perceived as a solution
to a problem. This particular proponent of the
theory is also known as the brutalization
hypothesis (2007, pp. 20-21). One should not be
surprised that a culture of violence on a nationwide
scale begets violence on smaller, more perceivable
scales, such as violence between factions within
communities. Dr. Gary Slutkin examines that this
experience is akin to that of a disease or epidemic.
The violence spreads like a virus and infects people
at their hearts. Again, violence begets violence
(Slutkin, 2013).
Of these explanations for violence, it seems easiest
to observe the sheer power of righteous slaughter.
As mentioned before, no one wants to seem like the
monster in the situation, so they (sometimes)
delude themselves into believing that there is a just
explanation to their violence. This is so influential
for the sheer fact of how human it is. According to
the cognitive dissonance theory, people become
uncomfortable when their actions do not properly
match up with the view they have of themselves.
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CRJ 422: Violence in America (2022 Spring)
to observe the sheer power of righteous slaughter.
As mentioned before, no one wants to seem like the
monster in the situation, so they (sometimes)
delude themselves into believing that there is a just
explanation to their violence. This is so influential
for the sheer fact of how human it is. According to
the cognitive dissonance theory, people become
uncomfortable when their actions do not properly
match up with the view they have of themselves.
Therefore, as a corrective measure, individuals
have the choice to either correct their behavior,
change the view they have of themselves, or create
new viewpoints of themselves (Aronson et al.
2013). With this knowledge, it seems logical for
righteous slaughter to be the most influential. It's
actions appear in the natural human flow of
consciousness where people desperately want to
preserve their own self image and avoid cognitive
dissonance. No one wants to think of themselves as
a 'murderer' or 'monster,' because those images do
not match their view of the self. of 'Victim' or
'martyr' on the other hand, is more easily attributed
to the self since it takes away the inhumanity of
what one has done.
I
Works Cited
Alvarez, A., & Bachman, R. (2007). Violence: The
enduring problem (3rd ed., pp. 19-21). Thousand
Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
Aronson, E., Wilson, T.D., & Akert, R. M. (2013).
Social psychology (8th ed., pp. 3-29). New York
City: Pearson. Retrieved from
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CRJ 422: Violence in America (2022 Spring)
CP
Cynthia Phan
Jan 18, 2022 at 11:15 AM
From what has been examined from the given
sources, there are many explanations as to why
people commit acts of violence. These explanations
range from sociological and psychological, but
there is not one concrete reason as to why people
choose to commit violence.
The very first explanation of violence given in the
book Violence: The Enduring Problem, is named as
righteous slaughter. This violence is justified by the
perpetrator that they were victims of some
perceived slight and their actions are a method of
defending or retaliating against said slight (Alvarez
& Bachman, 2007, p. 19). This particular
explanation lies more on the psychological side
since the logic behind this thought process is
sourced from a perceived slight or act of violence.
The violence does not come from a place of one's
own aggression, but a place of defense against
another's perceived aggression. People want to
justify their actions in a logical manner because no
one wants to be the villain. In the eyes of the self,
they are victims defending themselves or heroes
protecting against an agitator. No one wants to be
the warmonger, so righteous slaughter serves as an
excuse to their otherwise inhumane actions.
Everyone wants to be the hero of their own story
and justify their own actions, but the world just
does not always see eye to eye on that.
Another explanation from the book that evokes
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