Jock culture scores own goal

The recent imprisonment of the Wigan Athletic footballer, Marlon King, for groping a woman and then smashing her in the face after she rejected him, was apparently his most recent crime in a line of convictions spanning twelve years. It is reported (Guardian, 2009) that the majority of King’s convictions involved violence, and in particular, sexual violence against women.

Cases such as Kings bring to light a small, but not insignificant number of male athletes who appear to be taking advantage of their status, money and high prestige to harm women (and other men). Coad (2009) and Benedict (1997, 2004) suggest these athletes are attempting to carry out ‘gender and sexual myths endorsed by jock culture’. According to them ‘jock culture’ codes involve dangerous, antisocial and often illegal behaviour. For male athletes subscribing to ‘jock culture’, one way of demonstrating those values is to sexually objectify women. The more sexual interactions with women, whether consensual or not, the more masculine they appear to themselves and others, since numerous heterosexual conquests are equated with masculinity.

Unlike the case brought against King, the majority of complaints against male athletes are dropped before they reach court (Benedict, 1997, 2004). However as Coad (2009) and Benedict (1997, 2004) report, crime associated with ‘jock culture’ appears to be on the increase. This warns us then, of the potential problematic outcomes of masculinities mixed with high prestige and status.

Marlon King’s criminal career off the pitch

A guide to the literature on aggressive behavior

Pros and Cons: The Criminals Who Play in the NFL

Virtual Conference Report: Day Nine (29 Oct, 2009)

By Paula Bowles

Today marked the penultimate day of Wiley-Blackwell’s first Virtual Conference. As I am sure you will all agree, thus far, each day has contained many gems, and today has been no different. Eileen Joy’s (Southern Illinois University Edwardsville) keynote lecture: ‘Reading Beowulf in the Ruins of Grozny: Pre/modern, Post/human, and the Question of Being‐Together’ looks at the aftermath of the Russian bombing of Chechnya through the lens of Beowulf.

The two final papers of the conference were provided by P. Grady Dixon (Mississippi State University) & Adam J Kalkstein (United States Military Academy) and Nicole Mathieu (CNRS, University of Paris). Their papers respectively entitled: ‘Climate–Suicide Relationships: A Research Problem in Need of Geographic Methods and Cross‐Disciplinary Perspectives’ and ‘Constructing an interdisciplinary concept of sustainable urban milieu’ have looked at indisciplinarity from a geographical and environmental perspective. The final publishing workshop was ‘How to Survive the Review Process’ by Greg Maney (Hofstra University).

Although, the conference is due to end tomorrow it is not too late to register and take advantage of the book discount and free journal access. Each of the papers and podcasts will remain on the website, and it is hoped that you will keep the comments coming in.

Virtual Conference Report: Day Eight (28 Oct, 2009)

By Paula Bowles

Day eight of the conference was once again marked by some excellent contributions. The first paper ‘Cultural Sociology and Other Disciplines: Interdisciplinarity in the Cultural Sciences’ by Diane Crane (University of Pennsylvania) suggests that for many scholars ‘disciplinary isolation is the norm.’ However, Crane proposes that by utilising what she describes as ‘free‐floating paradigms’ such barriers can be removed.

The second paper of the day by Christine Mallinson, (University of Maryland) entitled ‘Sociolinguistics and Sociology: Current Directions, Future Partnerships’ also takes sociology and interdisciplinarity as its main themes. Mallinson’s paper concludes with practical advice as to how best to achieve research partnerships.

Together with these exciting papers, Catherine Sanderson (Amherst College) offered advice in her publishing workshop: ‘The Joys and Sorrows of Writing an Undergraduate Textbook.’ There was also an opportunity to spend time in the Second Life cocktail bar with the Compass Team.

Michelle Obama’s Lineage and Essential Views of Race

The New York Times reported a few weeks ago on recent research into Michelle Obama’s ancestry, which revealed (like many Americans) a complex past of interracial mixing. The research into the First Lady’s past found not only Native American ancestry but also a great-great-great grandmother who was a slave and a great-great-great grandfather who was a white man. One of the most interesting things about this story is how other news sources picked it up and seemed to focus in particular on the white slave-owner ancestor in Michelle’s history. Many people questioned why this story generated such wide-spread interest in the media and was deemed so “news worthy” given that, if you know anything about US history, it isn’t particularly surprising that her history contains either slavery or a white man.

Perhaps one reason that so much focus has been paid to Michelle’s white ancestor is that racial categories are still seen in such an essentialist way. Essentialism has been linked to prejudice, stereotypes and discrimination.  This “revelation” about Michelle’s past exemplifies that although race undeniably still influences many aspects of our society, racial categories have little to do with ethnic makeup.  However, when the essentialist view of black and white is challenged, this can still be surprising.  Maybe this kind of news can have a potential positive impact on the way people see race, by forcing them to rethink their clear-cut view of racial categories.

On the other hand, some research has found that because multi-racial examples oppose the prominent view of race, mixed-race people are seen more negatively than people in either racial category. Sanchez and Bonam (2009) found that people perceived biracial scholarship applicants as colder and less competent than mono-racial applicants (whether black or white). When Barack Obama was campaigning for his presidency there was some criticism that maybe he wasn’t “black enough” to represent the African American population as president. In line with this, Sanchez and Bonam’s research also found that multi-racial applicants were seen as less worthy of a minority scholarship than people only belonging to the minority racial group.

Read More:  Sanchez, D. T., & Bonam, C.M. (2009). To disclose or not to disclose biracial identity: The effect of biracial disclosure on perceiver evaluations and target responses. Journal of Social Issues, 65, 129-149.

Haslam, N, & Whelan, J. (2008). Human natures: Psychological essentialism in thinking about differences between people. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 2,3, 1297-1312.

Virtual Conference Report: Day Seven (27 Oct, 2009)

By Paula Bowles

The seventh day of the conference has continued with the key themes of ‘breaking down boundaries’ and interdisciplinarity. Roy Baumeister (Florida State University) began the day with his keynote lecture entitled ‘Human Nature and Culture: What is the Human Mind Designed for?’ By utilising the concepts of evolutionary and cultural psychology, Buameister is able to explore the intrinsic significance culture holds for humanity.

Two other papers were also presented today. ‘Text as It Happens: Literary Geography’ by Sheila Hones (University of Tokyo) and Stefan Müller’s (University of Duisburg‐Essen) ‘Equal Representation of Time and Space: Arno Peters’ Universal History.’ These contributions have utilised a wide and diverse range of disciplines including history, cartography, geography and literature. Finally, Devonya Havis’ publishing workshop entitled ‘Teaching with Compass’ offers some interesting ideas as to how best implement technology within the classroom.

The Horror! The Horror!

The horror flick. Meant to terrify, torture, disgust, and delight. Love them or hate them they are difficult to escape this time of year. In the coming weekend there are at least four horror/thrill movies to be released including the latest in the Saw series (Saw VI, if you’re keeping track), Antichrist, The Stepfather, and The House of the Devil. While some people are always up for a good scare, others are adamant about avoiding anything even remotely gory. But why? Johnston (2006) has highlighted four possible motivations for viewing graphic horror (gore watching, thrill watching, independent watching, and problem watching). Her study found these distinct motivations to be associated with fearfulness, empathy, and sensation seeking as well as the viewer’s level of identification with the killers vs. the victims of the films.

Adolescents’ Motivations for Viewing Graphic Horror (Johnston, 2006)

                                            

Virtual Conference Report: Day Six (26 Oct, 2009)

By Paula Bowles

Welcome to the second week of the Wiley-Blackwell Virtual Conference. The first day back has started with a keynote speech from Peter Ludlow (Northwestern University) entitled ‘Virtual Communities, Virtual Cultures, Virtual Governance.’ Conference delegates also had the opportunity to meet Peter at the Second Life Cocktail Bar.

There were two other papers on Monday’s session Adam Brown’s (Deakin University): ‘Beyond ‘Good’ and ‘Evil’: Breaking Down Binary Oppositions in Holocaust Representations of ‘Privileged’ Jews’ and ‘A Hybrid Model of Moral Panics: Synthesizing the Theory and Practice of Moral Panic Research’ presented by Brian V. Klocke (State University of New York, Plattsburgh) & Glenn Muschert (Miami University). In addition Wiley-Blackwell’s Vanessa Lafaye held a publishing workshop entitled ‘The Secret to Online Publishing Success.’

As you can see, this week promises to be as exciting and innovative as the previous one. All of the papers and workshops from last week are still available to download from the conference site, and both the ‘battle of the bands’ and the opportunity to contribute a ‘winning comment’ remain.

Motivation and dopamine

While we might be able to explain some human behavior with intrinsic motivation, the source of this motivation is difficult to pinpoint. The New York Times reported several studies focusing on the effects of dopamine, revealing that dopamine should no longer be thought of “as our little Bacchus in the brain.” Until recently, dopamine was thought of as a provider of “pleasure and reward.”

In one study, mice with significantly less dopamine seemed satisfied to lounge around as their bodies withered away, choosing death over the hardship of staggering a few inches to the food dish. These same mice acted normal when nibbles of food were brought to them—chewing, swallowing, even “wriggling [their] nose in apparent rodent satisfaction.”

These new studies on dopamine suggest it’s more about survival—“drive and motivation” as the New York Times writes—than some kind of adrenaline counterpart. If this is the case, then social psychologists can join up with behavioral geneticists to talk about motivation. We know, for example, of the social origins of motivation, but it’s quite another approach to suggest that even the motivation for getting out of bed has origins in the brain. The next step is to determine how dopamine is affected by social life.

Keynote Lecture – ‘What is the Human Mind Designed for?’ By Roy F. Baumeister

Professor Roy F. Baumeister

Professor Baumeister’s Keynote lecture ‘ What is the Human Mind Designed for?’ is now live

Roy F. Baumeister is currently the Eppes Eminent Professor of Psychology and head of the social psychology graduate program at Florida State University. He grew up in Cleveland, the oldest child of a schoolteacher and an immigrant businessman. He received his Ph.D. in social psychology from Princeton in 1978 and did a postdoctoral fellowship in sociology at the University of California at Berkeley. He spent over two decades at Case Western Reserve University, where he eventually was the first to hold the Elsie Smith professorship. He has also worked at the University of Texas, the University of Virginia, the Max-Planck-Institute, and the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences. Baumeister’s research spans multiple topics, including self and identity, self-regulation, interpersonal rejection and the need to belong, sexuality and gender, aggression, self-esteem, meaning, and self-presentation. He has received research grants from the National Institutes of Health and from the Templeton Foundation. He has over 400 publications, and his books include Evil: Inside Human Violence and Cruelty, The Cultural Animal, and Meanings of Life. The Institute for Scientific Information lists him among the handful of most cited (most influential) psychologists in the world. He lives by a small lake in Florida with his beloved family. In his rare spare time, he enjoys windsurfing, skiing, and jazz guitar.

You can view his keynote at http://compassconference.wordpress.com/2009/10/27/baumeister/

‘Think of the children!’

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the long-running television cartoon series ‘The Simpsons’, the mother character ‘Marge’ has appeared as a ‘centerfold’ in the similarly long-running ‘men’s magazine’ ‘Playboy’.

Whilst this can be seen as a harmless publicity stunt, an Australian was recently convicted of the possesion of child-pornography, even though it consisted of sexually explicit depictions of Simpsons characters, rather than images of actual children, or even realistic fabrications.

This illustrates the uneasy relationship within Western society between the medium of cartoons, which is seen as predominantly for children, and topics such as sex or violence that are regarded as adult concerns. Indeed, when these are deliberately combined, the results can be somewhat disturbing.

Indeed, ‘The Simpsons’ itself ironically comments on this situation through its portrayal of
the ‘Itchy and Scratchy Show’, a hyper-violent fictional cartoon that would be unlikely to be seen as suitable for children per se, even though the ‘real’ cartoon it is depicted within is.

Although the desire to separate ‘adult’ concerns from a ‘child’s’ medium can be seen to be driven by such academic social psychology as Bandura’s social learning theory, this view is not shared cross-culturally. Cartoon ‘manga’ comics and ‘anime’ films are immensely popular amongst Japanese people of all ages, and so are routinely available in a wide range of genres, including violent or sexually explicit ones.

Story in the Telegraph

Hodgetts, D. & Chamberlain, K. ( 2009). Teaching & Learning Guide for: Social Psychology and Media: Critical Consideration.

Sunar, D. (2009). Suggestions for a New Integration in the Psychology of Morality