Josie's Social Psychology Blog

Investment Model

2007-10-29T10:49:00.000+11:00

People are social and cultural animals that are programmed to form and maintain social bonds and relationships (Baumeister & Bushman, 2008). If relationships are so important to people then why do so many relationships end? Marriages end at an alarming rate, couples break-up, friendships dissolve, going against what nature intended. With relationships being an important aspect of human nature it is important to understand why some people maintain relationships, while others decide to end them. One model which looks at understanding the maintenance of relationships is the Investment Model. The Investment Model helps explain relationship commitment, and can be used to understand many aspects of relationships (Drigotas & Barta, 2001). This paper will examine the Investment model first by discussing the theory involved in this model, using my personal relationship to help explain the model. Next the Investment Model will be used to explore infidelity, which often is detrimental to relationships (McAlister, Pachana, & Jackson 2005). Finally relationships which involve abuse will be considered, using the Investment Model to help explain the decision to stay or leave.

The Investment Model is a very broad commitment model that explains various important behaviours in relationships, such as breaking up, willingness to sacrifice, accommodation, and the derogation of alternatives (Drigotas & Barta, 2001). The Investment Model is an extension of the interdependence theory and focuses on commitment. It states that individuals should be satisfied with their relationship if they are provided with high rewards at a low cost (Rusbult, 1983). The Investment Model is comprised of three components, satisfaction level, quality of alternatives, and investment size. I will use my current romantic relationship to help explain the three components of the Investment Model.

The first component of the Investment Model is satisfaction level which is a “function of the comparison level and current relational outcomes” (Le & Agnew, 2003, p. 38). Therefore, if outcomes are higher than the comparison level, then relationship satisfaction occurs, and if the outcome is lower than the comparison level, dissatisfaction occurs. Satisfaction level is thus subjective to the individual (Le & Agnew, 2003). In my relationship, the satisfaction level is high because I have not had a previous long term relationship, and have had many friends who have had bad relationships, so I expected relationships to be not very rewarding. Therefore, the outcome is much higher than my comparison level.

Quality of alternatives refers to perceiving an alternative to the relationship as more appealing. This can refer to people such as someone else who may offer a better relationship, or family members and friends that are more enjoyable to spend time with. However, alternatives can also refer to the fact that having no relationship may be a more attractive alternative than the current relationship (Impett, Beals, & Peplau, 2001). Currently my life is very busy, the little free time I get I love to spend with my partner. I typically to not spend any extended amount of time with other males, therefore my alternatives are low as there is nothing in my life right now which seems like a better alternative to my current relationship.

The third component, investment size, also contributes to relationship stability, with investments referring to concrete or intangible aspects that are attached to the partnership and would be lost if the relationship ended (Le & Agnew, 2003). There are typically two categories of investments, intrinsic and extrinsic investments. Intrinsic investments include many factors that are put directly into the relationship, such as time, emotional effort, or self-disclosures. Extrinsic investment is when unrelated resources become connected to the relationship, such as mutual friends and shared possessions (Rusbult, 1983). The investment in my relationship is high as I have invested both intrinsic and extrinsic investments. The main intrinsic investments are the self-disclosers and emotional effort. I have told my partner things that no one else knows if our relationship was to end then this would be lost. Also extrinsic investments are high as we live together and share many things such as a car, and have put a lot of money into a non refundable holiday to Hawaii.

The Investment Model, in summary, postulates that individuals who are highly satisfied with the relationship, perceive few appealing alternatives, and have invested a great deal into the relationship, will have a highly committed relationship (Impett et al., 2001).

Recently, the Investment Model has been used in the research of infidelity and has helped to shed light on the issue (Drigotas & Barta, 2001). The Investment Model has been shown to be an effective predictor for many important relationship maintenance behaviours, and has also been seen as a useful tool for predicting dating infidelity (Drigotas, Safstrom, & Gentilia, 1999). Infidelity can have several negative consequences with marital infidelity being the leading cause of divorce, spousal battery and homicide (Drigotas & Barta, 2001).

The term infidelity has two aspects. Firstly it involves thinking that one’s partner is violating relationship norms with regard to the nature of the partner’s interactions with someone else. Secondly, it involves actually violating relationship norms with regard to one’s interactions with someone else. Infidelity can, therefore, be differentiated from extradyadic behaviour which just refers to the second aspect of the infidelity definition (Drigotas et al., 1999). However, for the purpose of this essay, the two terms will be used interchangeably to refer to the actual behaviour of violating relationship norms regarding inappropriate interactions with someone else.

Usually, participants in infidelity studies report two main justifications for participating in extradyadic behaviour. The first is low satisfaction in the relationship, and the second is high satisfaction with someone new. Both these reasons are covered and explained by the Investment Model, and are seen to impact on infidelity as they erode commitment (Drigotas et al., 1999). One study found that the strongest predictor of extradyadic behaviour was quality of alternatives (McAlister et al., 2005). Relationship satisfaction was also found to be a significant negative predictor of extradyadic behaviour. Surprisingly, this study found that investment size was not a predictor of extradyadic behaviour. However, the authors believe that this was because they added many different variables into their study which originally may have been considered to be included in the investment category (McAlister et al., 2005). Although all three factors were not supported, the results still support the Investment Model as both satisfaction, and alternatives, were found to be more important in predicting infidelity than other variables, such as personality factors, gender, age, and previous sexual experience.

The use of the Investment Model in the research of infidelity has many positive aspects. It has been successful in predicting infidelity before it occurs. In contrast traditional methods of research, rely on the participant accurately reporting their infidelity after it occurs (Drigotas & Barta, 2001). Secondly, research on infidelity using the Investment Model has helped to provide additional support for the breadth and importance of the Investment Model (Drigotas et al., 1999).

Intimate partner violence (IPV) can be devastating for the individuals involved. Originally it was assumed that men predominantly engaged in physical violence within a relationship, however recently IPV been seen to be bidirectional with both men and women participating in physical violence (Acher, 2000 as cited in Rhatigan, Moore, & Stuart, 2005). However a lot of the research to date has focused on relationships where women have been the victims of abuse and for the purpose of this essay the focus will be on battered women. The Investment Model is particularly useful and predicting and understanding the pattern of women’s decisions to remain or leave an abusive relationship (Choice & Lamke, 1997, as cited in Rhatigan & Axsom, 2006). Many other models which have been developed to understand why women remain in violent relationships focus on one specific reason such as learned helplessness, or traumatic bonding. However research has found that there are many factors which influence an individual’s decision to stay or leave, thus making the Investment Model more appropriate as it involves many factors (Rhatigan et al., 2005).

The Investment Model can help explain the commitment felt by battered women and assumes that commitment is the mediator in the decision to stay of leave (Rhatigan et al., 2005). By using the three components of the Investment Model as determinates of commitment has help to predict behaviour within an abusive relationship. For example it was found that battered women who had returned to an abusive relationship felt as though they had invested more into the relationship, and felt as though they had few alternatives (Katz, Kuffel, & Brown, 2006). Practically this understanding of how the Investment Model explains the decision to stay or leave an abusive relationship may be useful for those individuals involved in treating abused people, as they may be able to change how the three components of the model are viewed. By increasing possible alternatives and decreasing the perceived value of investments, abused people may determine to leave an abusive relationship.

The Investment Model is useful in understanding commitment to a relationship, and helps to explain many behaviours that are involved in relationships. The Investment Model proposes that satisfaction, alternatives, and investments influence relationship commitment, if an individual has high satisfaction and investments, and has few alternatives then a stable relationship will result. Infidelity can have many negative consequences on a relationship and the Investment Model has been used to successfully understand and predict infidelity. Abusive relationships and the decision of stay or leave the relationship have also been better understood through the Investment Model. In summary the Investment Model is important to help understand relationships as it is a broad model that can be applied to many aspects of a relationship.

Word count: 1495

References

Baumeister, R. F., & Bushman, B. J. (2008). Social Psychology & Human Nature. Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth.

Drigotas, S. M., & Barta, W. (2001). The cheating heart: Scientific explorations of indidelity. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 117-180.

Drigotas, S. M, Safstrom, A. C., & Gentilia, T. (1999). An investment model prediction of dating infidelity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77(3), 509-534.

Impett, E. A., Beals, K. P., & Peplau, L.A. (2001). Testing the investment model of relationship commitment and stability in a longitudinal study of married couples. Current Psychology: Developmental, Learning, Personality, Social, 20(4), 312-326.

Katz, J., Kuffel, S. W., & Brown, F. A. (2006). Leaving a sexually coercieve dating partner: A prospective application of the investment model. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 30, 267-275.

Le, B., & Agnew, C. R. (2003). Commitment and its theorized determinants: A meta-analysis of the investment model. Personal Relationships, 10, 37-57.

McAlister, A. R., Pachana, N., & Jackson, C. J. (2005). Predictors of young dating adults’ inclination to engage in extradyadic sexual activities: A multi-perspective study. British Journal of Psychology, 96, 331-350.

Rhatigan, D. L, & Axsom, D. K. (2006). Using the investment model to understand battered women’s commitment to abusive relationships. Journal of Family Violence, 21(2), 153-162.

Rhatigan, D. L., Moore, T. M., & Stuart, G. L. (2005). An investment model analysis of relationship stability among women court-mandated to violence interventions. Psychology of Women Quarterl, 29, 313-322.

Rusbult, C. E. (1983). A longitudinal test of the investment model: The development

(and deterioration) of satisfaction and commitment in heterosexual involvements. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 45(1), 101-117.

Appendix A

Self Assessment

I really enjoyed working on this assignment for many reasons. I found my Blog topic really interesting and working on it was not a dreaded task like some other assignments, but also I think that using the Blog forum is a very interesting way to enhance learning and has challenged not only my computer skills but forced me to look critically and analysis things that I have never thought of before.

Theory

The theory aspect of my Blog was interesting because I got to research a topic which I was interested in and understand a bit more about it. I think that I showed my understanding of the theory by using examples from my personal relationship. I also think that in my introduction to by Blog I explain who the theory links social psychology in general

Research

I found that research was really important in this Blog because I didn’t really have a question as such I just has to discuss the investment model. So I had to research a variety of different articles and read them all so that I could decide what I wanted to set my question as.

Written Expression

Using Microsoft Word the readability of my Blog was tested and it was found my Blog was a grade level of 12 using the Flesch-Kinciad scale. A grade level of 12 is appropriate as it is the level which psychology articles are today. I tried to make my Blog as easy as possible to read because I wanted people to understand to context rather then being caught up on big words, I also wanted to make my Blog easy to read so that it was enjoyable and hopefully people would read all of it and learn a little about my topic. I kept each paragraph short to help in the readability as well as trying to explain thing straight forward and kept the sentences as short as possible. I used APA format were appropriate but recognised that because it was going to be published as a Blog some of the formatting will change so was primarily just trying to ensure that it was easy to read as a Blog posting.

Online Engagement

I am very proud of my online engagement because at first I hated the idea of using a Blog page as part of our assessment. However I really stated to enjoy it and read almost everybody’s postings throughout the semester. I also found that by doing this I became more interested in the subject and think that my personal understanding of topics has improved. I received two stars for my blog page, however I was expecting to gain 3 stars. This term it was a bit harder to participate compared to the first term because everyone had individual topics, however I think I still made very good comments on other peoples blogs which hopefully helped them with their topic. Please see my blog page to see my original posts, also view the right hand side of my page to find a lits and links to comments I've made on other peoples page.

Ignorance is Bliss

2007-10-23T08:30:00.000+10:00

I have really enjoyed reading our text book, there have been so many things that I’ve noticed in the world or have always wondered about which were covered in the text book.. Also there have been several things that I have never thought about and have shocked me, and have slightly changed my way of thinking about the world.

One of these things that once I read I couldn’t stop thinking about was in chapter 3: the self, and was the finding that depressed people don’t distort things very much at all, rather it is non depressed people who seem to distort the world. Depressed people were found to have a more accurate view of the world in many aspects such as, judging who liked them, accepting blame for the things that they had done wrong, and judging how much control they had of their lives. I found this interesting because people often seek out the truth about themselves and people around them, valuing knowledge and wisdom and usually the term ‘ignorance is bliss’ is used in a some what condescending manner to talk about people who are not as wise or smart as yourself. However it seems that humans are naturally wired to be ignorant about many aspects of themselves and the world around them. The human body constantly amazes me at how smart it is at protecting itself.

I wonder what this finding means in terms of the treatment for depression. Can people be successfully treated for depression and forget about the reality of the world as they saw i? Can they be helped to form illusions of the world, or will they always know what the world was really like?

I am often accused by my family and my boyfriend of being to naïve about the world because I assume that all people are good and nice, however I am starting to think that this is not my fault and that nature intended me to have this illusion about the world so that I can be happy. If given the choice to see the world exactly how it is and be depressed or to have a slight illusion of the world but be happy, I know I would rather pick the second. But I wonder if anyone would rather see things for what they are? So please let me know your thought and feelings about this topic.

Thanks

Love – where does it fit?

2007-10-13T16:23:00.000+10:00

The theory behind the investment model is that we stay in relationships because of a mix of a) satisfaction b) alternatives and c) investment.

But where does love fit. Arguably it could fit in the investment category: we have a capacity and need to love and we invest this in our relationships with others. But perhaps love is more than an investment. Perhaps love is an ideal, that exists in our imagination. Perhaps love is something unique for each individual, and independent from our relationships. It exists in theory only, and although we might love someone and be in a relationship with them this practical application of love falls short of our unique ideal of love, the one that exists in our minds.

Is there is a difference between practical love (ie investment) and idealised love (ie what exists in our minds). Perhaps the investment model does not reflect the resilience of our internalised, fantastical, ideal view of love. If we have this ideal in mind it might affect our vision, like those rose tinted glasses, and fool our rational mind into believing the relationship really is worth maintaining despite any lack of satisfaction, wealth of alternatives and investment.

Does our culture force us to have an unrealistic view of love? From a young age we (especially girls) are told fairy tales with happy endings where prince charming always recuses the princess, or were true love can destroy an evil curse. Then it doesn’t change much as we get older. As teens we read magazines that have quizzes on “how to find the perfect man” or “is it love or lust” etc etc. In a lot of movies there are also unrealistic portrayals of love that tend to end with a kiss and then the credits appear. But what happens after the credits? How does love fit into the relationship? In terms of the investment model it seems that you do not need love to have and maintain a good relationship. But is that what we want, or has our culture turned us into love craving monsters who are searching for our one true love or soul mate?......

Australia Says No

2007-10-09T10:04:00.000+10:00

We have all seen the ads on TV for the "violence against women Australia Says No" campaign. Many of the people in these campaigns talk about relationships and violence in these relationships. You might be wondering what this campaign has to do with my topic about 'use the investment model to explain love and relationships' , but I've started doing some research and have found out that the investment model is often used to help explain why people stay in abusive relationships.

Our text book explains the investment model as a theory that uses 3 factors - satisfaction, alternatives, and investments - to explain why people stay with their long term relationship partners. The first factor satisfaction refers to if you are satisfied with your relationship, therefore it you are more satisfied then you are more likely to stay in the relationship. The second factor is available alternatives, if you don't really like your relationship but you don't see any better alternative partners then you are more likely to stay in the relationship. The final factor refers to how much an individual has invested in the relationship, if you have put a lot of your emotions, money, and time into the relationship you may be less likely to leave because you would have lost all you have invested into the relationship and would have to start from scratch in the next relationship.

So I thought that I would get you guys to think and come up with ideas of why this model might help explain why people might stay in abusive relationships (it might help you remember the investment model for our test) and then later on I will let you know what the research says and see how right you all were.
Thanks :)

Narrative Therapy

2007-09-27T13:23:00.000+10:00

This week I attended a lecture on narrative therapy given by Paul Morrison from who teaches at our uni, and thought that some people might be interested in it. Narrative therapy is a form of therapy that uses the tool of stories to help in the therapy process. It is beloved that listening and telling or retelling stories about people and the problems in their lives is helpful in the therapy process. One story that Paul Morrison uses in therapy and shared with us was called “The Chicken and the Eagle”. I really liked the story and tried to find it on the internet, I couldn’t find the exact one but the story below is a similar story.

“Once upon a time, there was a large mountainside, where an eagle's nest rested. The eagle's nest contained four large eagle eggs. One day an earthquake rocked the mountain causing one of the eggs to roll down the mountain, to a chicken farm, located in the valley below. The chickens knew that they must protect and care for the eagle's egg, so an old hen volunteered to nurture and raise the large egg.

One day, the egg hatched and a beautiful eagle was born. Sadly, however, the eagle was raised to be a chicken. Soon, the eagle believed he was nothing more than a chicken. The eagle loved his home and family, but his spirit cried out for more. While playing a game on the farm one day, the eagle looked to the skies above and noticed a group of mighty eagles soaring in the skies. "Oh," the eagle cried, "I wish I could soar like those birds." The chickens roared with laughter, "You cannot soar with those birds. You are a chicken and chickens do not soar."

The eagle continued staring, at his real family up above, dreaming that he could be with them. Each time the eagle would let his dreams be known, he was told it couldn't be done. That is what the eagle learned to believe. The eagle, after time, stopped dreaming and continued to live his life like a chicken. Finally, after a long life as a chicken, the eagle passed away. The moral of the story: You become what you believe you are; so if you ever dream to become an eagle follow your dreams, not the words of a chicken. “

At first I thought that narrative therapy sounded a bit strange and even silly, however after listening to the lecture and some of the stories I changed my mind. I think that stories are a great tool to use in therapy. Most people grow up reading or listening to stories so would easily be able understand and use stories as a way of communicating there feelings or problems. It may even be easier to explain your problems through a story.

Anyway I just thought I would share

Story from: http://www.thebabyboomerdiva.com/April15/chicken_or_eagle.htm

What Do YOU think Love Is?

2007-09-26T11:07:00.000+10:00

Hi my fellow bloggers!!!!!
My second Blog topic is about love and relationships. I am a bit of a romantic and think that love is an unexplainable phenomenon, but I am interested to see what everybody else thinks about love. So I made a one of those poll things on my blog page and would be really interested to see what you all think about love. If you are interested please come to my blog page and vote, or comment if you have any different theories about love and I'll try to report and analysis the results later on in the semester.
Thanks guys :)

Blog 2 Topic

2007-09-23T12:49:00.001+10:00

"Treasure the love that you receive above all. It will survive long after your gold and good health have vanished."
Og Mandino, 1923

I have chosen the topic "Love & Relationships: Investment Model - using examples from your personal relationships explain the Investment Model" for my second blog. I guess I picked this topic because I thought that it would be a fun and interesting topic to end the semester with. I haven't yet started researching but I am interested to read about some of the theories explaining love and relationships. Personally I don't think that a theory can explain love, I think that love is something special and mysterious that people are not meant to fully understand, and I think that if we were to fully understand love then it would make love less special and perhaps less fun. These are just my starting thoughts, I am interested to see how they change throughout the process of the Blog.

The Rwandan Genocide

2007-09-10T09:04:00.000+10:00

Genocide does not have one singular cause, rather it is seen as occurring when a ‘perfect storm’ of social psychological variables come together. The Rwandan Genocide is no exception with many variables contributing to the horrific events that took place. In 1994, Rwanda experienced a premeditated, systematic and state sponsored genocide with the aim of exterminating those who were ethnically identifiable as Tutsi (Klinghoffer, 1998). Between 500,000 and 800,000 people were killed in a period of 100 days, with around 77 percent of the population registered as Tutsi being murdered (Eltringham, 2004). This essay will explore some of the social psychological variables that contributed to the Rwandan Genocide such as the history and culture of Rwanda, ecological resource scarcity, the role of the elite and powerful, and the role of ordinary civilians. Finally, this essay will discuss how these social psychological variables may influence and interact with each other.

People’s identity and view of the world is often shaped by the culture lived in and the history that surrounds that culture (Woolf & Hulsizer, 2005). Thus, when examining the variables involved that led to the Rwandan Genocide, it is important to consider the history and culture of Rwanda. Throughout the history of Rwanda, there is a continuous distinction between the Hutu and Tutsi, with shifts in power resulting in the discrimination of one tribe and the favouritism of the other. Under the reign of Tutsi King Rwabugiri (1860-1895), ethnic differences were established when the King implemented a system in which, in return for labour, access to land was given. However, this system only applied to Hutu farmers and exempted Tutsi farmers (Eriksson, 1996). During the German colonisation (1899-1916) and later the Belgian trusteeship (1916-1961), the Tutsi were also favoured and viewed as superior (Eriksson, 1996). The Belgians increased the emphasis on the distinction of ethnic identity by issuing cards bearing the nationality designations of Rwandans (Klinghoffer, 1998). The colonisation by both Germany and Belgium contributed to an ethnic jealousy in Rwanda through preferential treatment of the Tutsi (O’Halloran, 1995). The general decolonisation in Africa led to the Hutu revolution (1959-1961) in which Rwanda underwent the transition from a Tutsi dominated monarchy to a Hutu led independent republic, which resulted in tens of thousands of Tutsi fleeing into exile (Eriksson, 1996).

It is believed that the ecological resource scarcity in Rwanda was also a contributing factor to the Genocide (Uvin, 2001). Many factors contributed to the ecological resource scarcity with which Rwanda was faced. One of these factors was the population pressure, as Rwanda was the most densely populated African country prior to the Genocide, and also had the highest population growth rate in Africa (Klinghoffer, 1998). The decline in international coffee prices contributed to the economic crisis as coffee is Rwanda’s prime export earner (Eriksson, 1996). The civil war instigated by the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) added to the economic crisis with the government devoting an increasing amount of resources to the war effort, with a total of 38 percent of the government’s budget in 1992 devoted to the military (Uvin, 1998). There are two arguments which aim to explain the relationship between social conflict and ecological resource scarcity. The first is a “hard” Malthusian view which states that once a country has exceeded its “carrying capacity” the outcome is famine and/or conflict, thus allowing nature to restore ecological equilibrium. The alternative argument is a “softer” Malthusian view which argues that ecological resource scarcity may generate social tension, while other factors, such as the history of the country, and broader social dynamics, help determine the final outcome (Uvin, 2001). As other variables raised in this essay are seen to be important factors contributing to the Rwandan Genocide, it is believed that the “softer” Malthusian view is a more accurate explanation.

One of the most common explanations of the Rwandan Genocide is the desire of Rwanda’s elite to remain powerful (Uvin, 2001). While Rwanda was in an economic crisis, the government maintained its expenditure pattern by increased borrowing and increasing Rwanda’s foreign debt (Uvin, 1998), thus providing an example of the Rwanda’s elite trying to maintain wealth and power. There were several variables that threatened the power and the regime of President Habyarimana and his inner circle known as the Akazu including, the economic crisis, financial structural adjustment, internal political discontent, the PRF invasion, and the international pressure for democratisation and the negotiation of power sharing with the RPF (Uvin, 1998). The regime was being threatened by so many variables that it resorted to using ethnic hatred as a tool to unite the majority of the population around the government, fight the PRF, and make elections impossible (Uvin, 1998).

The Akazu aimed to accelerate racist prejudice in Rwanda, first by extending the threat of the RPF to all Tutsi. This was achieved be various staged shootings by the army on the capital Kigali, which were blamed on the Tutsi (Uvin, 1998). Hate propaganda was also used to spread fear and hate against the Tutsi. This propaganda was financed by Akazu members and was in various different mediums including the state radio station (Dadrian, 2004). Also during this period, a variety of extremist political parties were formed, preaching hatred and violence, and Rwanda became more militarised with an increase in army size from 5000 to 40000. Militias and small “self-defence groups” also formed and received arms and training (Uvin, 1998). As seen in the documentary Ghosts of Rwanda, the Prime Minister during the genocide, Jean Kambanda, was encouraging everybody to carry a gun, thus encouraging the violence that was taking place and creating an environment where more people were likely to be killed (Barker, 2004). Many of these processes taken by the elite and powerful are similar to processes used in past genocides: to spread ethnic fear, organise and legitimise the forces of violence, and to desensitise people to violence (Uvin, 1998).

Although Rwanda’s elite and powerful did play a large role in the instigation of the genocide, countless ordinary civilians were also involved and persuaded to take part in the killings, perhaps accounting for the death of more innocent people then the elite and powerful (Mironko, 2006). One explanation of the involvement of ordinary civilians is the phenomenon known as the ‘in-group bias’, which argues that individuals have the tendancy to view the world as “us” and “them” or in-groups and out-groups. This happens because it is important for individuals to belong to a group, and usually individuals hold the in-group which they are a part of in a positive light while often viewing the out-group as inferior or negative, creating prejudice and discrimination. This behaviour is not always automatic and the technique of using propaganda in the Rwandan Genocide helped to enhance the negative view of the Tutsi (Woolf & Hulsizer, 2005). Also, when faced with an intense social crisis, individuals often turn to their own group for support and use the out-group as a scapegoat, blaming them for their problems (Staub, 1999). The ‘confirmation bias’ is also thought to have an impact on the perception of hatred and violence, as it states that individuals are more likely to seek out information that confirms their beliefs rather than information that challenges their beliefs (Woolf & Hulsizer, 2005). Therefore, in the example of the Rwandan Genocide, perhaps the hate propaganda instigated a negative view of the Tutsi, and then the staged shooting on Kigali confirmed this negative view of the Tutsi.

Genocide is not caused by one singular factor, instead genocide should be viewed as occurring when many variables transpire and interact with each other. The factors already mentioned (see Appendix A) are just some of many issues that contributed to the genocide in Rwanda, however none of these variables acted alone, and how they interacted with each other is also vital in the understanding of how the genocide occurred. The History of Rwanda is thought to have impacted on the genocide, however many countries around the world have histories of conflict in the past and have not resorted to genocide. The history of conflict alone did not ensure the genocide, but when paired with hate propaganda and staged shootings, old anger was renewed in many ordinary Rwandan people who then went on to participate in the mass killings. The elite and powerful people of Rwanda are often thought to have caused the genocide, however they may not have acted the way they did if they were not influenced by the pressure they were under caused by the economic crisis, and the RPF invasion.

The Rwandan Genocide shocked many people and raised the question of how such an inhumane act of genocide could occur when after the Holocaust the world said “never again”. The Rwandan Genocide demonstrates that genocide is not caused by one singular factor but rather occurs when a ‘perfect storm’ of social psychological factors are present and interact with each other. The history and culture of Rwanda, the economic situation of the country, the elite and powerful people, as well as the ordinary people who participated in the killings, all contributed to the Rwandan Genocide. Exactly how these factors interacted with each other to cause the genocide may never be fully understood. However, from the Rwandan Genocide, the complexity of genocide can be understood and lessons can be learned that perhaps may assist in preventing future genocides from occurring.

(Word count: 1499 words, excluding references and appendix)

References

Barker, G. (Writter/Producer/Director). (2004). Ghosts of Rwanda [DVD]. WGBH Boston: Frontline.

Dadrian, V. N. (2004). Patterns of twentieth century genocides: the Armenian, Jewish, and
Rwandan cases. Journal of Genocide Research, 6(4), 487-522.

Eltringham, N. (2004). Accounting for Horror: Post-Genocide Debates in Rwanda. London:
Pluto Press.

Eriksson, J. (1996). The International Response to Confliect and Genocide: Lessons from the Rwanda Experience. Strandberg Grafisk, Odense: Steering Committee of the Joint Evaluation of Emergency Assistance to Rwanda.

O’Halloran, P. J. (1995). Humanitarian Intervention and the Genocide in Rwanda. Research Institute for the Study of Conflict and Terrorism.

Klinghoffer, A. J. (1998). The International Dimension of Genocide in Rwanda. Washington Square, NY: New York University Press.

Mironko, C. K. (2006). Ibitero: Means and Motive in the Rwandan Genocide. In A. S. E. Cook (Ed), Genocide in Cambodia and Rwanda – new perspectives ( pp. 163-183). New Jersey: Transaction Publishers.

Staub, E. (1999). The roots of evil: social conditions, culture, personality, and basic human needs. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 3(3), 179-192.

Uvin, P. (1998). Aiding Violence: The Development Enterprise in Rwanda. West Hartford, Connecticut: Kumarian Press.

Uvin, P. (2001). Reading the Rwandan genocide. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers.

Woolf, L. M., & Hulsizer, M. R. (2005). Psychosocial roots of genocide: risk, prevention, and intervention. Journal of Genocide Research, 7(1), 101-128.

Appendix A

Concept Map

Appendix B

Self Assessment

Theory

The theory aspect of my Blog was the most difficult for me. Before I started researching I thought that there would be psychological theories for why genocide occurred that would be simple and straight forward. However when I began to research I discovered how complex genocide is. I was very interested in the topic and after researching and watching the Ghosts of Rwanda DVD I also felt very emotional about the topic and wanted to do it justice. I found that so many things contributed to the Rwandan genocide that I found it difficult to decide what aspects to include in such a short word limit. However I think in the end I included the relevant theory to provide a basic understanding of the contributing factors to the Rwandan Genocide. I think that I also showed a good understand of how the factors that contributed to the genocide interacted with each other and how one singular factor should net be viewed as the cause of the genocide.

Research

I used various different forms of research for this assignment. Not only did I use the schools databases, but I also went to the Australian National Library to research as a lot of books have been published since the Rwandan Genocide which I found often gave a more in depth analysis of the situation as they were able to explore more and explain in more detail. I did a lot of reading just so I understood the topic more because I was personally interested and wanted to find out for myself why such a horrible thing happened so recently, however this research I did helped me to make sure that I was selecting relevant theory to include in my Blog. I also found that because we had to make regular posts on our Blog page I was researching in places that I would not have done or used in normal essays which made the topic more interesting and gave me a better understanding of the topic before I started writing my essay.

Written Expression

Online Engagement

Ghosts of Rwanda DVD

My Outline of Blog 1

Social Psych - Invading my thoughts at the Simpsons Movie

The Stolen Generation – Was it Genocide?

Genocide - “never again” ??????

Weekly Quote

Communication – The Blind Men and the Elephant

Weekly Quote

I also commented on other students pages (I forget who's pages I have commented on) and below are links of some of my comments:

Beck's Psych Blog

Would you help

Harry Potter and the 8 stages of Genocide

Ghosts of Rwanda DVD

2007-09-06T08:32:00.000+10:00

I only just watch the Ghosts of Rwanda DVD a few days ago (I know a little slow). While I watched it I think like most people I was shocked and felt so sad that only 13 years ago something as horrible as this could have happened. However I was surprised that I also felt hope. I was moved and inspired by the fact that there were a few brave people who realised the injustice of the situation and took it upon themselves to do what they could to help. Even when some of them were told they should evacuate the country for their own safety they selflessly decided to stay and help. While there were only very few of these people they made an incredible difference and saved many lives.

Like General Dallaire who stayed behind and kept on trying to negotiate and do what he could with limited troops, or Gregory Alex who delivered food and supplies to people hiding in UN safe havens, or Philippe Gaillard who was brave enough to speak up and as a result the red cross was given safe access to many areas to help save the injured, or Captain Diagne who died saving hundreds of people even though he was not meant to get involved, or Carl Wilkens the only American to stay behind and offer shelter to his work colleges and helped to save an orphanage of children.

All these people prove that one person can make a difference and while obviously they did not stop the Genocide they were able to reduce how severe it was. I do not know what I would do in a situation like these people found themselves in and I don’t think anyone would really know what they would do until they are faced with the situation. But I would like to believe that I would be brave enough to stay and help. Listening to the story of these people gave me hope that there are still good people in this world who are willing to fight for what is right even though it is sometimes dangerous and hard.

My Outline of Blog 1

2007-09-03T08:56:00.000+10:00

I was naive when I picked this topic and thought that the causes of Genocide would be straight forward and fit nicely into an essay. However there are so many things that contribute to Genocide. I have therefore decided to focus just on the Rwandan Genocide and examine what caused the Rwandan Genocide. However a lot of the aspects of what caused the Rwandan Genocide are still important and relevant to other Genocides. I’m still doing a lot of reading and currently think that I will include the following.

1) History and socio-cultural factors which lead up to the situation

· Use of aggression in past and as a normative problem solving skill

· Strain on resources (economic situation)

· Lack of acceptance for cultural diversity

2) The Elite and Powerful

· Rich want to be richer and want to made the poor poorer

· Rwandan rulers feared losing heir own power

· Propaganda

· All genocides in history have been instigated, organised, and legitimised by the state.

3) Social Psychological Factors – why individuals follow or be a part of the Genocide

· Lots of people in Rwanda started killing neighbours, spouses, or even children just because they were Tutsi. (what caused this behaviour)

· Obedience

· Confirmatory bias

· In groups and out groups “us” and “them”

· Heuristics

My concept map will not only include what I have talked about in my essay but I also want to include some things I haven’t had room to talk about

Social Psych - Invading my thoughts at the Simpsons Movie

2007-08-23T11:11:00.000+10:00

I don’t know if this is happening to anyone else but now it seems that wherever I go or what ever I do I am thinking about social psych and see examples of it everywhere. For example when I was watching the Simpsons movie last week all I wanted to do was to relax and not think about school. No such luck, there is a scene in the movie were an angry mob is after the Simpsons. At first they were just after Homer but in the end they were after the whole family and wanted to kill them. I know it is just a cartoon but I was thinking about mob behaviour and conformity, and wondering if there was no mob and each of the character were just by themselves how would they seek revenge? It made me think just how fast rational and intelligent humans can change and do things that I bet they would be embarrassed about later. And I think now I am only just beginning to understand just how complex some of the topics that we talking about are.

I know it is so nerdy to be thinking about this stuff in the Simpsons movie and I’m sure the writers of the movie would not be impressed. But I was wondering if everybody else has started to see examples of Social Psych were ever they go? Do you guys think that doing this unit has opened your eye’s to think about things you have never thought about before? Have your attitudes about society and people changed since the beginning of the semester? Do you guys think that what we are learning in this unit is important for us to know and use in the future?

I would love to hear everybody else’s thoughts and comments, because I think that this unit and blog have made me open up my eyes a lot and think about the world and why things are happening, which I definitely wasn’t expecting to happen when I signed up for this unit.

Have a good day guys and good luck with your blogging :)

The Stolen Generation – Was it Genocide?

2007-08-14T15:12:00.000+10:00

Hi everyone I was just doing a bit of googling on genocide to get some background info on the topic. The definition below is what the UN regards as genocide.

...any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
(a) Killing members of the group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
– Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, Article II

Point (e) states that forcibly transferring children of the group to another group is a form of genocide. So was the Stolen Generation a form of genocide???? Many Aboriginal children were moved away from there parents to try to assimilate the children into the mainstream Australian culture. By doing this I assume the general goal was to slowly destroy the Aboriginal culture and population. I don’t know if what I am saying is obvious but I never thought that the Stolen Generation was a form of genocide. What do you guys think?

Genocide - “never again” ??????

2007-08-10T10:01:00.000+10:00

The image above is of Berlin’s Holocaust Memorial for all the murdered Jews of Europe. I visited it at the end of last year and it is one of the reasons that I have decided to choose the subject of Genocide for my first blog. Previously I had no interest in War or things like the Holocaust probably because unconsciously I found them too depressing and it was easier just to continue my childish belief that the world is a good place and made up of good people (even if they are only good really deep down). But I was surprised by how much this memorial touched me. It is hard to explain but instead of feeling sad and depressed as I walked around it I felt a strange feeling of calm. I realised that these things in history are not intended to depress us. Instead they are reminders of how we should live and learn from our past mistakes to insure that events like this never again happen. However unfortunately it appears that mankind is a slow learner and mass murders and genocide still continue. It is amazing that mankind prides itself as being civilised and superior but there is nothing civil or superior about genocide. I’m slightly embarrassed to admit that before this class I had not even heard of the Genocide in Rwanda, but I believe that to change anything first there must be a true understanding of why it occurs. So that is why I have chosen the Genocide topic, I want to understand how such horrible things can still be happening in today’s day and age.

Weekly Quote

2007-08-07T17:41:00.000+10:00

"In total darkness we are all the same. It is only the light which separates us." Unknown author.

Communication – The Blind Men and the Elephant

2007-08-07T17:27:00.001+10:00

Hi everyone when we were in our tutorial last week about communication I couldn’t help but think about one of the stories I loved from when I was younger and think about some of the underlying themes which I never considered before. The story I’m referring to is “The blind men and the elephant”. For those who don’t know what I’m talking about I will give a recap.

In the story six blind men come across an elephant, each man touched a different part of the elephant and was positive that they knew what the elephant looked like. However they argued and could not come up with an agreement on what the elephant looked like. They argued wither the elephant looked like a wall, a spear, a fan, a tree trunk, a piece of string, or a snake.

Clearly the six blind men were missing an important aspect of communication. When I was younger I thought the story was funny cause all of the men got it wrong and didn’t even think about combining there knowledge, but after our last tutorial I think that the story is symbolic of how important communication is and shows the effects of what can happen if poor communication happens. It seems that the six blind men were just communicating on a factual level and did not move on to the next stage of communication.

Do you guys think that the six blind men missed out on a lot of the non-verbal communication cues such as body language and eye-contact since they were blind? From what we discussed in our last tutorial can you guys think of anything else about communication that relates to this story?

I also like this story because it shows that everybody sees that world differently from each other and just because someone has a different view from you does not mean that they are wrong, as the six blind men show each of them were right in there own way.

Weekly Quote

2007-07-29T11:30:00.001+10:00

"You haven't learned life's lesson very well if you haven't noticed that you can give the tone or colour, or decide the reaction you want of people in advance. It's unbelievably simple. If you want them to take an interest in you, take an interest in them first. If you want to make them nervous, become nervous yourself...It's as simple as that. People will treat you as you treat them. It's no secret. Look about you. You can prove it with the next person you meet." Sir Winston Churchill, 1874-1965 British Statesman and Prime Minister.