Articles

Evan P. Apfelbaum, Michael I. Norton, and Samuel R. Sommers. (2008). Seeing Race and Seeming Racist? Evaluating Strategic Colorblindness in Social Interaction, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95 (4), 918-932.

This article refers to how psychologists interpret the way human-beings look at people based on the color of their skin through the appeal to ethos and logos. According to one of the authors, people’s preference on looking at a situation based on the color of one’s skin is based on either a bottom-up way of thinking, or a top-down. Top-Down is the thinking process where one already has a preconception of what the situation was about, who had most likely caused it, or what had happened based on past experience. Bottom-Up is the exact opposite. It occurs when one comes into a situation with a clear mind and does not pre-judge events based on inalienable factors. Based on the article, most individuals try not to look at race when in a social setting that is surrounded by people from all ethnic groups, attempting to be in that top-down process in order to make unbiased opinions about the situation around them. Through logos, the authors effectively convey the argument of the way people think about something and how it reflects what they have experienced in their life one way or another. It also shows that individuals go out of their way to make their racial observations seem unprejudiced and obvious amongst the eye. Through ethos, the authors convey that that they were credible sources through: a) the personal anecdote in the beginning of the article states that it was a first-hand experience that was told by first person and, b) that their information is legit and information through the series of tests and experiments conducted by certified psychologists to analyze people’s thought process based on just seeing race. This shows the reader that the authors are credible sources due to their methods of observation and testing. The only problem with the argument is that the authors make the article seem more like a science experiment than anything. The article gives off the impression from the beginning that there was a reason behind the introduction story to a misunderstood conception of race. Though the article does give sold point to the reason behind it all, it seems like there was more experiment behind the article then ‘telling’. It was similar to reading a science experiment being conducted on paper rather than hearing, reading rather, a lecture done on how people perceive race and how to avoid the issue based on current knowledge. Either way, this article only adds more to my flame of perusing a career in psychology because of the hidden mysteries this profession can solve. The way people think has always fascinated me and has always made me wonder to why people are racist and what determines a bigot. The fact that I always wanted to know what people thought and how people judge me when they don’t even know me being a factor as well.

Calvin Kai-Ching Yu. (2008). Ancient Chinese Sex Symbols in Dreams. Dreaming. 18 (3), 158-166

The purpose of the article to examine how often the Chinese sex symbols occur on Chinese individual’s dreams, both male and female. Through the appeals to audience and essay structure, the author effectively portrays the message of how one’s sexual experience may have a correlation with a certain Chinese Sex Symbol. Appeals to audience occur mainly to the Asian population of those reading the article due to the fact of their better understanding of that particular culture and the meanings of those symbols even without dreaming them. It is not to say that other cultures may not take interest in the way cultural symbols occur in dreams, but the appeal to these certain sex symbols from a certain culture takes certain interest in people of that genre. Through essay structure, the author begins with a quick overview about Sigmund Freud’s dream analysis theory and how he believed dreams are a portal into our unconscious desires, how dreams can help us discover something about us we never knew. Then, the author gradually begins to weave in his idea of the infamous theory by comparing the dream theory with the importance of Chinese sex symbols in Chinese people dreams. The things that lack in the article are the mention of Sigmund Freud’s dream theory and not the author’s own knowledge. The author seems to rely heavily on particular theory and not go into any other sources, thus questioning his credibility on diversity and openness for other ideas that could be influential. This article has helped me want to understand the power of which dreams have on people and why one’s social experience and cultural background affect our sexual experience and preference. This also makes me wonder the reason to the logic behind interracial dating and sexual intercourse. The study of dreaming of ones cultural sexual status quo opens doors to the study of going beyond what is expected and becoming more diverse in selection. The article adds onto my curiosity into the human mind.

Cogan, Rosemary; Cochran, Bradley S.; Velarde, Luis C.; Calkins, Heather B.; Chenault, Natalie E.; Cody, Dana L.; Kelley, Matthew D.; Kubicek, Steven J.; Loving, Adam R.; Noriega, Jose P.; Phelan, Kathleen A.; Seigle, Sarah C.; Stout, Troy I.; Styles, Jared W.; Williams, Henry A. (2007). Sexual fantasies, sexual functioning, and hysteria among women: A test of Freud's (1905) hypothesis. Psychoanalytic Psychology. 24 (4), 697-700.

The testing of Sigmund Freud’s dream analysis theory is show in the article determined to debate the myth among hysteria of women who are not sexually active than to women who are. The authors of the article appeal to their reader through the professional yet realistic perspectives that convey persona and logos throughout the article. The authors show that there are flaws in Freud’s dream theory and understand that, while there is some useful and correct logic behind some of his sayings, not all of is necessarily true about women that are not sexually active. The persona taken place sounds on behalf of women who defend the right to not be categorized as someone who is “hysterical” because there is no sex being taken place in her life. It also shows that the persona taken place during the article reflects on the idea of hidden dreams and motives as something that can be shown through a dream but not necessarily affective in altering ones personal life. The logos behind the article are shown through the effective way of challenging Freud’s dream theory into a counter experiment that was initially set up to challenge it. The main objective is to symbolize that women who are not sexually active do no necessarily have to be “crazy” or stressed because of lack of intimacy. The flaws in the article are mainly the way they do not go into detail stating Freud’s specific theory. The article gives a glimpse of what the theory is about and how if effects the argument but it contains no deep analysis of what Freud’s theory says. That may cause the reader to become confused about it all and become more focused on Freud and less on the argument. This article broadens my thinking into wondering how the lack of something in ones life can affect their mental process, if it is affected at all. This analytical analysis makes me want to study more about how women’s brains are and if we get so stressed that we become hysterical.

Sonja Feist-Price, Sheldon D. Fields, and David Malebanche. (2008) Childhood Sexual Abuse in Black Men Who Have Sex With Men Results From Three Qualitative Studies. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology. 14 (4), 385-390.

The article above shows the case study amongst black men who had been sexually abused by other black men, resulting in their sexual orientation. The article establishes logos through the initial message that is being sent through scientific observation. Since blacks make up over half of HIV and AIDS cases, and more black men are now pronounced on the "DL", the common , misconception of the scenario is that black men are becoming homosexual and then going off after sexual encounters with men into women's bedrooms. The authors of the article, in three different essays, explain that the current mindset of homosexual men may have been altered by traumatizing from being abused by a close male relative or friend of theirs. It also refers to the subconscious mindset in males that elicits pleasure from being with ones own sex, enjoying their company and taking pleasure from pain; allowing them to look into their subconscious and realize that they want to romantic relationship of their own sex because of uncontrollable desires. The logos is done created through the study to debunk the myth that all black men are gay because of tabloid abuse or because "coming out" is what is hot at the moment. The study shows how the effects of one persons life event can effect them years down the road. Also, the ethos is created through the independent study with first-hand African-American homosexual males that have confessed to being abused by a loved one, and went on into life with that event of being anally raped to lead their life into becoming homosexual. Other men stated that they had desires in liking their own sex but suppressed the feelings as mutual or unnatural, creating the burning desire to grow even more elaborate than it was before. The ethos is within the article is created from the authors sources. The authors did not read an encyclopedia or get information off the internet, they conducted a scientific experiment that showed through variable analysis how the effects of sexual abuse amongst black males effects their sexual orientation and how suppressing those feelings only makes the forbidden taboo even more tantalizing. The only issues with the article was that it was too short for my liking and didn't have enough background information for the reader to fall back on. A reader unknown to anything about HIV/AIDS would have been clueless if read the article and background information supporting the ideals and beliefs of homosexuality amongst the men are little to nonexistent. It was similar to reading about the exploitation of men whose life experiences were used as the foundation of a scientific investigation. The article did, however, make me want to pursue my career as a psychologist because it makes me want to know more about how life experiences effect a person's outlook on life. I was always curious to how sexually, physically, and emotionally abused victims make up over half the murder population.

Christopher R. Agnew and Paul E. Etcheverry (2008) Romantic Partner and Friend Influences on Young Adult Cigarette Smoking: Computer Others’ Smoking and Injunctive Norms Over Time. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors. 22(3), 313-325

The article portrays the effects of social peer pressure amongst young teenagers to smoke illegally despite what mental training they have already accomplished. Through structure and ethos, the authors of the article effectively convey the message that young teenagers are influenced greatly by what the people around them do and how these acts of conformity effect judgement. The beginning of the article dives straight into the argument stating that previous research on teenage smoking habits have been studied to conclude on solid argumentation to why teens smoke. It also demonstrates that negative effects on teenage smoking outweighs to good in earlier research. The structure of the article comes off as a research paper that has been doing extensive research in teenage smoking and how the people around that teen, friends and boyfriend/girlfriend, can sway the opinion. The article moves from a foreword introduction of of the general study of smoking amongst teens, the effects, and the factors contributing to smoking, to the direct argument of the article: teenager's and their smoking habits based on social pressures. Several paragraphs are dedicated to the research concerning how love interests can sway the opinion on smoking within a teen and how the desire to conform with admired ones in the teens world sways their personal preference on smoking. The ethos is established through the experiment itself and the research conducted. Although various methods of teenage smoking habits have been research and experiments have been planned out to examine these methods, the article portrays an experiment that went above and beyond ordinary expectations of teenage habit experimentation and took a look deeper into factors that have been either overlooked or tossed out due to irrelevance. The experiment is conducted from first-hand knowledge and experience and the authors gathered enough data with well-read information for the reader to comprehend and understand it all. The only flaws in the article is that the article is set up to mimic a science experiment. Even thought he article was a research article, there was more science and statistical logic than mental and emotional. The article, under my impression, was going to report on how social pressures effect teenagers opinions on smoking. It did give me my answer, and the article fulfilled it purpose, but was set up to look more like a science journal than a filed report on findings. This article helps me want to know more about collecting data on certain experiments while conducting experiments to find out why people do the things they do to conform or "fit-in".


Nalini Ambady, Evan P. Apfelbaum, Michael I. Norton, Kristin Pauker,
and Samuel R. Sommers. (2008). Learning (Not) to Talk About Race: When Older Children Underperform In Social Categorization.


The article discusses the difference between younger children and older children when it comes to deciphering race and why the older the child, the more critical they think and analyze. Through persona and logos, the authors of this article convey the overall message of brain development and how this development causes children to think more critically. The persona in the article sounds professional and well0organized, knowing the facts before speaking them and putting them into discussion. It also seems to lean toward the defensive side of defending how children see other people when basing their observations on skin color, yet sending a mixed message of warning. Due to the fact that children begin to classify people according to race as they grow older, the person speaking feels the need to explain this phenomena through scientific research that was conducted on a group of fifth graders and sixth graders, all different ages, to show just how more cynical children think as they grow older. The warning seems to come off towards the end when the author uses the word "cost". "Cost" stands out due to the tone in which the persona speaks in. The main objective is to convey that children's thinking ability to categorizes broaden with age, but it has its cons as well as pros. The logos behind the argument is that children become more observant as they grow older and it is debated on whether it is due to nature or nurture. The downfall to this article is that it was too short for my taste, and I believe more than one experiment should have been conducted to compare and test earlier findings. This article contributes to my fascination with finding out how the bran develops over time and if it from either nature or nurture. It also makes me want to know more about how racism effects the way we perceive the world around us. I know racism is alive and well, but I want to know what can be deciphered as racist and what can be looked upon at prejudice. The minds way in sensation and perception have always left me want ting know a lot more about how we perceive different stimuli and how that effects out outlook on society.


Julianna Deardorff, Elena Flores, and Jeanne M. Tschann. (2008) Sexual Values Among Latino Youth: Measurement Development Using a Culturally Based Approach. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology. 14(2), 138-146


The article discusses the sexual values and morals amongst the Hispanic population of youth and how their sexual morality effects their daily life in their romantic relationships. The article discusses the Hispanic culture and their sexual value through conducted analysis of a group of Latino youth that surveyed them on whether or not they were virgins, used condoms when having sexual intercourse, etc; tying their results into the data that 13% of Hispanics make up HIV/AIDS cases and most of them are between the ages of 13-19- teenagers. Throughout the duration of the article, the persona of the article seemed to take the mindset of a Latino-American and speak on behalf of the culture and what is accepted among st the youth in that certain culture. The persona also takes the position of explaining why the Latino youth are being as sexually "free" as they are, relating back to the culture as well as the values bestowed upon them from their society and family. The persona of the article is also somewhat attracting themselves to the Hispanic population. Taking the role as an informant to educate the Hispanic youth, this has the effect to attract the younger population of Latino America and may sway their mind set to have interest in reading the article based on the on what the article discusses and how the article pertains to the specifically. The only flaws with the argument is that is does not relate its findings to the other population of American teens to do extensive research in how the different cultures compare. I know how teens think and the interesting part of the argument only shows how Latino culture effects the sexual practices of Latino youth, but it does not invite other ethnicity and demonstrate their sexual activity based on culture. This information would have been more valuable to see how different cultures add up and act differently in similar scenarios, even though there is a culture clash effect that causes them to behave differently. This article helps me want to understand more about sexual behaviors in humans and how culture effects our libido and sexual safety. I also want to know more about other cultures to relate them back to other data that demonstrates their activity compared to other ethnicity's, doing research and experiments to find out how the culture of one person has a great psychological effect on them.


Carlos M. Grilo and Robin M. Masheb. (2008). Examination of Predictors and Moderators of Self-Help Treatment of Binge-Eating Disorder. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. 76 (5), 900-905


The article discusses the psychological effects of being overweight amongst different groups of people and how these effects lead to eating disorders such as Binging- vomiting after eating in order to lose weight. Through pathos, the authors of the article raise awareness to a growing problem among the overweight population. Case studies, interviews, personal confessions, and experiments were conducted to gather information but the establishment of pathos is within those studies to demonstrate how social pressures and reality outlooks from people take effect on the mindset of the overweight. Social pressures from society glorify the size five and under while fat-loss diets and gym membership commercials bombard the television sets of all homes across the nation. This study was done to reflect how these types of messages, media and other forms of entertainment, effect the thought process of someone who does not mold into the accepted image of "beautiful". Appeals to emotion comes from the wanted sympathy from the reader to try and understand how such baggering can effect a person emotionally and mentally. The dramatic methods people do in order to fit that mold being a size five and under is an undiscusses topic that society does not want to talk about because it is something no one wants to admit is happening. Emotion from the reader is aimed for understand of social comformity amongst the "black sheep" and and some amount of leniency when judging people who are over the weight limit. The flaws in this argument is that the article depicts overweight people as ALL wanting to binge after eating to lose weight, and does not shed light on those who are overweight and happen to like the fact that they are plus size. The image and impression given of by the article is that all overweight people have some sort of mental problem because they can't lose weight and should be pitied on when it is not the case. This article makes me want to continue on with my persue of becoming a psychologist because I would like to know more about how socil pressures alterone's way of thinking. I want to know more about how persuasive techniques cause people that don't fit in to go to te extreme to get that stamp of approval from the ones around them that are deemed worthy.

Michael C. Singer. (2008). How Anti-Gay Bias Compromised A Treatment: A Commentary on Meissner (2006). Psychoanalytic Psychology. 25 (1), 181-185

The article discusses the way of how the situation conerning a homosexual male had birthed a compromise that had fvored both the homosexual population as well as the heterosexual population. The logos behind the article is that one event that may seem terrible or devestating may end up resulting in an agreed solution to help both parties. In this case, a homosexual was in turmoil because of some anti-homosexul event and the legal action was resolved with a compromise that contented both parties. The overall message, my opinion, is that any situation can be resolved when looked at from more than one point of view and talked over rather than rushed into court. The flaws in the arguement is that there was not much background detail given about the situation that occured and thus leaving the reader with a blank on what really happened. Also, the article could have been longer and filled with more detail that would have been useful and relevent to the topic such as gay bashings, legal action concerning gay rights, and other comproises settled from a dispute cocerning homosexuals. There was not that much information about the background baisics and this coul have been to ensure anonomity among the individuals involved, but it does hardly anything for the reader but to guess on what occured. This article makes me want to continue my dreams in bcoming a certified psychologist because it makes me want to know more about how people discriminate agasint one another based on different traits or qualities they have and why they try to eliminate what is different from them based on the sole fact that they don't condone it. This study also makes me want to try and do experiments amongst my peers to se how they react to homosexualisim and if they don't agree with it, whta factors contribute to their logic? Thus study opens up many doors into the thought process of people and what makes people think the way they do, why they do the things they do, and how choosing a life partner can end up being in the same sex.

Edith M. Fresh. (2008)) Book Reviews. Families, Systems, and Health. 23 (3), 343-346