ITY HUMAN How to Kill a Mockingbird, and then Some Others a look inside the mind of a psychological killer; and the floodgate theory
October 2014 Issue
Why do people join ISIS?
a brief psychological insight into the reasons behind one of the world’s most organizations’ survivial
Teaching kids how to Hate, North Korea style
classical and operant conditioning inside the country’s classrooms
Plus Stanstill, Cards for Humanity, and the Terror Timeline
HUMANITY ISSN: 1203910293 P 250 only
A lot of people would probably wonder why we chose to tackle Terrorism or Social Violence-the crisis, and the people. I agree-it’s the farthest thing from a concept such as learning; but that’s the thing about psychology. We didn’t want to waste a powerful tool such as that knowledge on something rather mundane like the everyday social issues--we wanted to use it to create something of more social importance. I think, or rather, hope, that in choosing to use psychology for tackling sensitive issues such as these, its true power may be unearthed; and the readers, awake.
Cover Photo courtesy of: http://www.thedailyzombies.com/2011/09/walking-dead-season-2-new-poster.html
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table of contents
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To Whom Should We Point our Fingers To? by Benjamin Sia Victimization and Learned Helplessness
Cards for Humanity by the Staff doses of Humanity in short stories
Terrorist Leaders and their Early Lives
by John Paulo Llamera the top 5 terrorist leaders or dictators and a brief background on their childhoods; also an application of the conditioning and learning concepts to possible unearth the reason behind their attitudes and actions as leaders
The Mind of the Boston Bombers
by Joshua Cruz going through the psychology behind one of the recent tragedies that shocked the world
Video Games in Education
by Josh Dela Cruz concepts on rewards, punishment, and schedules of reinforcement; tackling the issue of having video games as an educational tool inside the classroom and discussing its initial effects
Photo from: http://www.fansshare.com/gallery/photos/12373185/the-walking-dead-wiki-politicas-del-sitio-zombies/
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How to Kill a MockingBird, and then Some Others
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Teaching Kids How to Hate, North Korea Style
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by Paolo Ancheta classical, observational, and operant conditioning subtly applied on the psychology behind killers and their social apathy; discussing possible reasons behind their actions, and some theories on why they act like that
by Matthew Iman Mendoza concepts on classical conditioning on children; conditioned responses by altering the lessons teached, and how hate is bred through learning
Standstill: Caught between the crossfire
by Paolo Ancheta a brief look into the history of the Palestine-Israel conflict; also an infographic courtesy of trendygraphic (from Tyler Lochan, Awesome Good & Al Arabiya News)
Why do people join ISIS?
by Joshua Cruz a look into the theories on why one of the world’s most dangerous organizations have kept its numbers sustained; discussed using psychological concepts in general
On the psychology of Cannibalism
by Joshua Cruz the psychology behind one of the most unusual and downright appalling practices known to mankind: cannibalism
Contributors ANCHETA, Juan Paolo A. PSY 101-A 2 BS Mgt, P6 Editor in Chief, Creatives and Design Director, wrote How to Kill a Mockingbird, and then Some Others, and Stanstill: Caught between the crossfire CRUZ, Joshua PSY 101-A 2 BS Mgt, P6 Staff Writer, wrote The Mind of the Boston Bombers, Why do people join ISIS? and On the psychology of Cannibalism DELA CRUZ, Josh PSY 101-A 2 BS Mgt, P6 Staff Writer, wrote Video games in Education LLAMERA, John Paulo PSY 101-A 2 BS Mgt, P6 Contributing Editor, wrote Terrorist Leaders and their Early Lives and create some visual ads (“Kinds should fire ink...” MENDOZA, Matthew Iman PSY 101-A 2 BS Mgt, P6 Staff Writer, wrote Teaching kids how to hate, North Korea Style, and Cockroad conditioning and Classical Conditioning SIA, Benjamin PSY 101-A 2 BS Mgt, P6 Staff Writer, wrote To whom should we point our fingers to?
Ateneo de Manila University Loyola Heights, Quezon City, PH 1039 (02) 426-0000 _____________________________________ Magazine 2014 Humanity Edition, Vol. 1, No. 1 Published every month or annually _____________________________________ Not for sale, or for profit. Submitted to Ms. Florence T. Ladion on the 7th of October, 2014
FEATURE ARTICLE
to whom should we point our fingers to?
Not making any sense? Think about it: You’d blame the victim for being there, at the wrong place, at the wrong time. Why? Because if they were not there at the time of the incident, no incident would have occurred. This kind of thinking is the very backbone of the “Blame the Victim” ideology.
Meanwhile, on the other stand, we have the “Blame the Man” point of view, where the blame is automatically placed on the man, regardless of his position in the case. The logic behind this By Benjamin Sia is that, since the dawn of humanity, we know And there she was, walking down the street, in that the men, the masculine side of humanher short shorts, high heels, and sun-tanned ity, have always been the more aggressive and skin. It would be no surprised that you’d more violent side of the spectrum. This kind of find her at the courtroom the next week, fil- knowledge has been passed down from our aning a case against another man for “rape”. cestors to us in a phenomena called ??? “He gave me objectifying looks and he was the one who attacked me!” she claims. Learned Helplessness A victim of any case will be scarred, be it for a “But she was the one who decided to wear such brief moment, to even their entire lifetime. Vicclothing! She was asking for it!” he claims. tims of any case learn from these accidents, if we may call them such, and begin to develop a Like in the given example, it can be not- sort of learned helplessness, where they become ed that there are two ways to “blame” a indifferent when such an occurrence happens guilty party; one being “Blame the Vic- again. One very negative effect that arises from tim” (as seen in the man’s accusation), and this behavior is something noted as Revictim“Blame the Man” (the woman’s accusation). ization, where victims find themselves in the same situation where they were “traumatized”. Studying the “Blame the Victim” scenario, we can see that the reason why they were victimized is because they were themselves. Humanity
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http://s3-ec.buzzfed.com/static/enhanced/webdr03/2012/12/14/18/enhanced-buzz-9767-1355526644-12. jpg http://s3-ec.buzzfed.com/static/enhanced/webI think it’ll be rather foolish to create dr01/2012/12/14/17/enhanced-buzz-23187-1355522735-0. jpga piece of work showcasing only one
side of the story, or in this case-humanity. Despite everything, I realize that getting through all these stories require at least a small dose or reminder of the good stuff about mankind. And so we’ll be dropping off cards on random pages, in hopes that it’ll keep you hoping; and maybe even better-doing.
So the next time a story here gets you feeling heavy; just flip over to one of these short stories.
cards for humanity. Photo courtesy of: buzzfeed.com justsomething.co imgur.com
Cards for Humanity
Series #1
New York City, NY, USA
Photo by Brandon Stanton, Humans of New York, Copyright 2014
“I work so many hours at the factory. I need to find a way for my daughter to live a better life than me.”
“How do you do that?”
“I’m not sure. No time to think about that.”
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TIMELINE Terrorist Leaders and their Early Lives. By John Paulo Llamera
Our world has witnessed a lot of threat of violence from known terrorist leaders in the past years. These terrorists established their authority by intimidation, coercion, or instilling fear to people. who was notable for terror against his own peoThey are even more than willing to persecute ple through his reign as the Iraq President from civilians just so they can attain their goals that 1979 to 2003. He decimated as many as a milare often political, religious, or ideological in lion of his people usually with the use of poinature. son gas. His unprovoked invasion of Iran is esti mated to have left another million people dead However, looking much closer to these terrorin the Iran-Iraq war range. ists’ early lives, we can figure out some of their life events that have somehow influenced their His mother named him ‘Saddam’ which in Arbehavior and actions and later on, resulted to abic means ‘one who confronts’. This is later on their initiation of terrorism. Here are the top translated to his actions after his behavior was five in the list of all-time terrorist leaders in the modified by fulfilling the meaning of his Arabic world: name by being rewarded by the attention that people gives him whenever he’s being confronno.5 • Saddam Hussein (1937-2006) tational. Number five on the list is Saddam Hussein Humanity
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His father, who was a shepherd, disap peared several months before he was born. A few months later, Saddam’solder brother died of cancer. When Saddam was born, his mother, severely depressed by her oldest son’s death and the disappearance of her husband, was unable to effectively care for the young Saddam. At age 3, he wassent to Baghdad to live with his uncle, Khairallah Talfah.
were deported, exiled or imprisoned in work camps. Stalin was born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili in the town of Gori, Tiflis Governorate, Russian Empire which is now called Georgia. His mother was Ketevan Geladze and his father Besarion Jughashvili worked as a cobbler.
Ioseb’s father slued into alcoholism later on Years later, Saddam would return to Al-Awja which made him abusive to his family and to live with his mother. His stepfather, Ibrahim caused his business to fail. When Ioseb’s mothal-Hassan, treated him harshly after his return. er enrolled him into a Greek Orthodox priestThis punishment by application by his stepfa- hood school against her husband’s wishes, his ther is mainly due to the fact that Saddam is enraged father went on a drunken rampage and not his own son and he wants him to not live assaulted its police chief. with his mother anymore because they already have a new family. This caused Saddam to have The other village children treated him cruelly, a model for aggression and later on, caused him instilling in him a sense of inferiority. Because to just avoid his stepfather and moved out to of this, Joseph began a quest for greatness and Baghdad to again live with Talfah. respect. He also developed a cruel streak for those who crossed him. His uncle is a devout Sunni Muslim and an ardent Arab nationalist whose politics would have Though he excelled in seminary school, Joseph a profound influence on the views of young left in 1899. Accounts differ as to the reason; Saddam about life mainly because of observa- official school records state he was unable to tional learning or by watching Talfah doing that pay the tuition and withdrew. It’s also specukind of behavior. lated he was asked to leave due to his political views challenging the tsarist regime of Nicholas II. Joseph chose not to return home, but stayed no.4 • Joseph Stalin (1878-1953) in Tiflis, devoting his time to the revolutionary Approximately 20 million, including up to 14.5 movement. For a time, he found work as a tumillion needlessly starved to death during Jo- tor and later as a clerk at the Tiflis Observatory. seph Stalin’s reign as the General Secretary of In 1901, he joined the Social Democratic Labor the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. At Party and worked full-time for the revolutionleast one million people were executed for po- ary movement. litical offences and at least 9.5 million more Humanity
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In 1902, he was arrested for coordinating a labor strike and exiled to Siberia, the first of his many arrests and exiles in the fledgling years of the Russian Rev olution. It was during this time that Joseph adopted the name “Stalin,” meaning steel in Russian.
allies of the Americans (such as the Saudis), and establishing Islamic regimes. Osama Bin Laden was born in Riyahd, Saudi Arabia, a son of a billionaire construction magnate with close ties to the Saudi royal family. Osama’s father was very strict, insisting that all his children live under one roof and observe a rigid religious and moral code. He dealt with his children, especially his sons, as if they were adults, and demanded they become confident and self-sufficient at an early age. This kind of upbringing by Osama’s father served as a negative reinforcement because his strictness caused his children to be more reserved and self-restrained. At the age of 14, Osama was recognized as an ofoutstanding, if somewhat shy, student at Al
no. 3 •Osama Bin Laden (1957-2011) Osama Bin Laden was the founder of the jihadist organization al-Qaeda, responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets. After founding Al Qaeda, his objectives were the related goals of eliminating the Western presence in the Islamic/Arab Middle East, which includes battling American ally, Israel, and overthrowing local
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Photo Courtesy of mirror.co.uk; “Fury after Jewish Chronicle apologises over advert appealing for money to help Gaza conflict victims.”
Thagher. As a result, he received a personal in vitation to join a small Islamic study group withthe promise of earning extra credit. Osama, along with the sons of several prominent Jedda families, were told the group would memorizethe entire Koran, a prestigious accomplishment, by the time they graduated from the institution. But the group soon lost its original focus, andduring this time Osama received the begin nings of an education in some of the principles violent jihad.
Using parables with often-violent endings, their teacher explained that the most loyal observers of Islam would institute the holy word—even if it meant supporting death and destruction. By the second year of their studies, Osama and his friends had openly adopted the attitude and styles of teen Islamic activists.
They preached the importance of instituting a pure Islamic law at Al Thagher; grew untrimmed beards; and wore shorter pants and wrinkled shirts in imitation of the Prophet’s dress. CogThe teacher who educated the children, in- nitive learning is very evident in Osama’s confluenced in part by a sect of Islam called The version to believing in the principles of violent Brotherhood, began instructing his pupils in jihad especially because of the big role that his the importance of instituting a pure, Islamic teacher took partin educating them a different law around the Arab world. perspective about Islam. Humanity
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no. 2 •Mao Zedong (1893-1976) Chairman Mao is regarded by many as an influential leader, but during his reign especially in his nationwide political campaigns, such as the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution, are blamed for millions of deaths, causing severe famine and damage to the culture, society and economy of China.
Zedong’s father’s attitude clearly depicts how he negatively reinforced his children by beating them so that they would act controlled to avoid their father’s act of aggression. Aged 13, Mao finished primary education, and his father had him married to the 17-year-old Luo Yigu, uniting their land-owning families. Mao refused to recognize her as his wife, becoming a fierce critic of arranged marriage and temporarily moving away. Mao was inspired by the military prowess and nationalistic fervour of George Washington and Napoleon Bonaparte. His political views were shaped by Gelaohui-led protests which erupted following a famine in Hunanese capital Changsha; Mao supported the protesters’ demands, but the armed forces suppressed the dissenters and executed their leaders. The famine spread to Shaoshan, where starving peasants seized his father’s grain; disapproving of their actions as morally wrong, Mao nevertheless claimed sympathy for their situation. Aged 16, Mao moved to a higher primary school in nearby Dongshan, where he was bullied for his peasant background.
Mao Zedong was born in Hunan Province, China, a son of an impoverished peasant who had become one of the wealthiest farmers in Shaoshan village. Zedong described his father as a stern disciplinarian who would beat him and his three siblings just so they can be ‘disciplined’ well while his mother would try to temper his father’s strict attitude. Humanity
no.1 • Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) Adolf Hitler’s reign of terror as the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party is most remembered for his central leadership role in the rise of fascism in Europe, World War II, and the infamous Holocaust.
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He is responsible for 12 million deaths of Jews Hitler read local newspapers, such as the in concentration camps and civilians in WWII. Deutsches Volksblatt, that fanned prejudice and played on Christian fears of being swamped by The actions of Hitler, the Nazi Party and the re- an influx of eastern Jews. Hostileto what he saw sults of Nazism are typically regarded as gravely as “Catholic Germanophobia”, he devel oped immoral. Historians, philosophers, and poli- an admiration for Martin Luther. Hitler later ticians have often applied the word evil to de- pointed to these years as the time when he first scribe how awful they have become. Historical cultivated his anti-Semitism. and cultural portrayals of Hitler in the west are overwhelmingly condemnatory. Holocaust denial, along with the display of Nazi symbols such as swastikas, is prohibited in Germany and Austria. As a child, Hitler clashed frequently with his father. Following the death of his younger brother, Edmund, in 1900, he became detached and introverted. His father did not approve of his interest in fine art rather than business. In addition to art, Hitler showed an early interest in German nationalism, rejecting the authority of Austria-Hungary. This nationalism would become the motivating force of Hitler’s life. Hitler applied to the Academy of Fine Arts twice, and was rejected both times. Out of money, he moved into a homeless shelter, where he remained for several years. At the time Hitler lived in Vienna, it was a hotbed of religious prejudice and racism. Fears of being overrun by immigrants from the East were widespread, and the populist mayor, Karl Lueger, exploited the rhetoric of virulent anti-Semitism for political effect. Georg Schönerer’s pan-Germanic anti-Semitism had a strong following in the Mariahilf district, where Hitler lived.
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Events in the past and the psychology behind it indeed have an influence to how these persons developed and how they turned out to be the terrorists of all-time. The permanent change in the behavior of these people brought about by their early life experiences had severely impacted the world and had left a big footprint in the world’s history.
Sources: “Adolf Hitler.” Bio. A&E Television Networks, 2014. Web. 01 Oct. 2014. Amy Zalman, Ph. D. About News. n.d. Web. 1 October 2014. “Joseph Stalin.” Bio. A&E Television Networks, 2014. Web. 01 Oct. 2014. “Mao Tse-tung.” Bio. A&E Television Networks, 2014. Web. 01 Oct. 2014. NewsOne. NewsOne for Black America. 2 May 2011. Web. 1 October 2014. “Osama bin Laden.” Bio. A&E Television Networks, 2014. Web. 01 Oct. 2014. “Saddam Hussein.” Bio. A&E Television Networks, 2014. Web. 01 Oct. 2014.
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
- Unknown
* The quote, according to Keyes, was incorrectly attributed to JFK or Edward Burke, it maybe unknown, who uttered this quote
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the mind of the boston bombers. By Joshua Cruz
Feature Article
Every third month of April, the Boston Marathon takes place in Massachusetts. Begun in 1897, inspired by the success of the first modern-day marathon competition in the 1896 Summer Olympics, the Boston Marathon is the world’s oldest annual marathon and ranks as one of the world’s best-known road racing events. However, the 2013 Boston Marathon, definitely made history when 2 pressure cooker bombs exploded killing 3 and injuring hundreds. In a study by the FBI, they found out that the suspects were the Chechen brothers Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev.
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The psychological makeup of 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who is accused of setting off two pressure-cooker explosives with his 26-year-old brother, remains unknown. However, forensic psychologists say there are a number of mental health conditions that could cause a young man to fall under the malicious influence of a father figure in the form of his brother, Tamerlan. This was because when Dzhoknar was young, his father left him with his brother and decided to stay in Russia. Since then, it was Tamerlan who acted as a father figure to Dzhoknar. Ruslan Tsarni, Tsarnaev’s uncle, told reporters in an interview that he does not believe the 19-year-old could have masterminded the bombing plot. “He’s been absolutely wasted by his older brother. I mean, he used him. He used him for whatever he’s done.” However, according to some, Tsarni was just speculating, since a family fight had, for some time, left him estranged from his nephews, including Tamerlan, the older of the two brothers who had become radicalized in recent years and died in a shoot-out with police last week. Severed family ties, his parents’ divorce, and their absence probably have driven Dzhokhar even closer to his brother and led him to become an unquestioning partner in his violent plans.
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Based on a psychological analysis by Carmeta Albarus, a forensic social worker and writer, it is often that immigrants rely on a supportive network of family and friends to help them avoid loneliness. It is significant that the older brother said he had not one American friend, an emptiness that can be so easy to fill by attaching yourself to some kind of cause. Since the Tsarnaev brothers were separated from their families, it is likely that Dzhokhar was only “brainwashed” and influenced by his brother. However, that can only be ascertained by conducting a mental health assessment, which would include questioning Tsarnaev along with his teachers, family, and close friends, as well as neuropsychological testing to evaluate his memory, motor function, personality, and other cognitive skills.
“If his younger brother had hero worship, he may have taken on thisparanoia as well,” he said. Shared paranoid disorder might also ex plain why the two brothers did not initially plan for a quick getaway after the bombing. “They might have fantasized that God would take care of them,” Bursztajn said, and enable them to escape being identified as the bombers. Or they might simply have been careless in their planning.
Having stated the history of the Tsarnaev’s, their separation from their family, them being immigrants, Dzhoknar being abandoned at an early age, paranoia, we now have a glimpse of what really happened during the incident. We now know what caused the Tsarnaev’s to commit such crime, and finally, now we have a glimpse Any psychological evaluation should also in- of what is in the mind of the Boston bombers. clude a close examination of Tamerlan’s history and behavior to determine whether he had psychiatric problems that may have driven him Sources: https://www.buffalo.edu/news/releases/2013/04/045.html to commit murder. “There’s something called http://science.time.com/2013/04/19/siblings/ shared paranoid disorder where one person in a h t t p : / / w w w. p s y c h o l o g y t o d a y. c o m / b l o g / r e a d i n g - b e tween-the-headlines/201304/the-mind-the-boston-marathonclose relationship has delusions and eventually bombers pulls the other one into this delusional system,” http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/massachusetts/2013/04/28/ said Dr. Harold Bursztajn, a psychiatrist and o l d e r - f a t h e r - f i g u r e - m a y - h a v e - h a d - u n d u e - i n f l u cofounder of the psychiatry and law program ence-young-bombing-suspect/7wdY0MKZp4d8DVdSmJ8pJM/ story.html at Harvard Medical School. According to him, It is usually the more dominant person in the relationship develops the paranoia or delusions first and influences the weaker one to have the same twisted thoughts. Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s purported religious extremism, loneliness, and hatred for the United States may have been accompanied by paranoid delusions that made it seem morally justifiable to kill innocent byHumanity
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Cards for Humanity Series #2
Incheon, South Korea
Photo by Paolo Ancheta, Copyright 2014
I met an aspiring author on my trip back from Incheon--she was working as a check-in attendant for one of the major commercial arilines there. She told me about her two kids and that she’d been working there for six years. “Do you still write?” “I think writers never really stop writing. We often come up with the stories when we’re doing something else-the best ones especially when we don’t mean for them to happen.”
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FEATURE ARTICLE
video games in education. By Josh Dela Cruz
If you ask any student if he or she would rather study & go to class or play video games, chances are that the latter option will be chosen more. Young students will likely opt to pick video games as their source of fun rather than to study. Most parents would motivate their children buy using video games as a reward for getting high grades or performing well in class. These perks would be what reinforce children who think studying is not as fun as doing other things. But what if there was a way to make studying as fun as playing video games? As the old saying goes, “if you can’t beat them, join them”, somebody found a way to turn studying and attending classes into some sort of real life video game. A physics professor and web developer from Canada named Shawn Young started the concept of applying Role Playing Game (RPG) mechanics into schoolwork. He made “Classcraft”, a software that works like a video game.
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With Classcraft, students are able to create video game versions of themselves that level up by doing certain schoolwork like correctly answering in recitations, helping other students with homework, or being extra hardworking in class. Leveling up grants students “powerful abilities” like being allowed to eat inside class, be late for 2 minutes, or even have extra time during exams. However, a student’s character loses health points and eventually dies if they fail quizzes, don’t pass their homeworks, or be late for class. This can lead to consequences like losing bonus points, having to do extra papers, or possible face detention. Even if these work like video game mechanics, they are very much real rewards and punishments. The Classcraft mechanic allows parents to track the performance of their children in real-time, allowing them to see how their children do in a dayto-day basis even without the final grades. This method also groups students and fosters teamwork and interdependency among themselves. Testimonies from teachers’ state that the productivity levels of students have increased and attendance is mostly complete after the Classcraft system has been implemented. The grouping part of the system also allowed the shy students to be more social and the star students feel more confident by taking on leader roles for the group. Classcraft comes into three pricing methods. One is completely free, the second method allows students to use real money
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usual reinforcement, likegiving awards for high grades, and punishment, being grounded, because this type of reinforce ment is empirical and actually directly helps the students themselves with their academic life. Getting thrown into detention is one of the more prominent punishments (capped at $5.00) to customize the appearance of their avatar/character, and the third is the premium edition that gives the teachers and students access todedicated online forums and an addition al analytical tool for teachers. The good thingabout it is that the first method, even if it is free, still gives the full Classcraft experience. Combining work with play certainly changes how students view school. Studying has more often been viewed as a hassle for some as it eats up the time that students can use for having fun. Classcraft changes this by rewarding students for doing things that they should have been doing in the first place. Continuous positive and negative reinforcement as well as punishment are among the reasons why Classcraft is successful. This is more successful than the parents’
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as it takes away free time from a student to give him or her time to reflect on the wrongs things he or she did. Classcraft is also a form of a token economy where the tokens are the privileges that students receive after leveling up. This is just one of the many instances that the mechanics of video games contributes to the learning of a student. Classcraft could be start of a more modern way of students learning prowess in a classroom. Something like this would not have been a necessary or possible idea 20 years ago. But since technology is constantly improving, dedicated teachers use this to their advantage to make learning a more fun experience.
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A closer look at ClassCraft
for college. Anotherexample is a student who is What could this mean to the future of learn- very used to Classcraft suddenly transfers to a ing in school? Can this redefine how a student dif ferent school who uses the traditional way should be learning in class? What about the stu- of teaching, he will have a very hard time addents who do think that video games are not justing than the usual as his productivity will that fun? How about those students who favor now translate to additional benefits anymore. the traditional way of learning in school? These are just some points that should be considered Personally, Classcraft is a fine addition to ways regarding the long-term effects of Classcraft. to make learning fun. However, I also think that not all schools should adapt this method of teachTraditional teaching methods involve a teach- ing. It could cater to young students but not so er discussing in class while students are ac- much to older students in the high school level. tively participating in class recitations for their Finally, a lot of people are trying to find ways to grades. Now, students are more likely to partic- innovate learning especially for young people ipate because they will get additional benefits because education is the “first step to a better in addition to grades. This changes the mind- world” and Classcraft may just be what could set of students by making them think “I should start the rise of more modern ways of teaching. answer during discussions so I can level up and be excused for class for 2 minutes or so I can use my iPod during class activities.” There is no doubt that the students will learn, but not necessarily for the right reasons. The students may be conditioned to the fact that doing things always have a reward which is obviously not always the case in life. Being motivated by goals are not wrong but Classcraft may be doing too much that it is starting to make students think that they are obligated to receive rewards. Not all students like video games and prefer to learn the traditional way. Some of them might not approve of this way of learning and be more detrimental in their progress rather than beneficial. For example, a student in his 4th year of high school might prefer a more profes sional way of learning as he thinks he should be prepared Humanity
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how to kill a mockingbird,
and then some others. By: Paolo Ancheta
Photo by George Hodan,
“Silhouette Woman and Man� from PublicDomainPictures.net
I think one of the biggest issues with sensitive topics like the middle eastern conflict, or the north korean disputes, or anything remotely related to terrorism is the silence-social apathy. I’m certain a lot of people get concerned over the things happening therethey want to donate money, food, clothing, prayers; but a lot of the facts behind those things still remain unknown to them, or even worse--they only know one side of the story.
rewards, and reinforcements. The key to establishing a conditioned response within a child is to reward or punish him or her. Yet with something as far from human as killing, it still poses a lot of questions on how those people acquired such traits, let alone the ability to be apathetic when killing someone.
An excerpt from Dave Grossman’s book “On Killing: The Psychological Costs of Learning to Kill in War and Society” somwhat explains the I’m not going to pretend like I’m an expert on behaviorist aspect of killing: the topic; I admit my apathy, and up until today, I haven’t really researched or known that much “Yet the purist position (which holds that about why there was a conflict between Palestine behavioristic processes explain all aspects and Israel, or the occurences in Mindanao, or of human behavior), is generally conanything. But what I have learned so far, I think, sidered to be flawed in its application to most importantly, is the psychology behind humans, since humans are able to learn each and every individual involved in those hate by observational learning, and humans crimes and killing sprees. Psychology’s a very tend to strongly oppose and negate blatant powerful tool when used on things like this-lisattempts to manipulate them against their tening in class, it became very evident to me will. But in emergency situations, or in the how childhood and environmental influences, preparation of individuals for emergency parents, and other people affected how a person situations, behaviorism reigns supreme.” grew up or how he’d generally treat everyone else. There’s a slight emphasis on the fact that, deI became particularly interested with the psy- spite everything, humans are likely to behave chology behind those individual people-why more like animals in emergency or dangerous did they act like that? why do they keep on lis- situations. This fight or flight instinct is innate. tening to orders when they knew it was wrong? Does this mean that everyone can kill when forced to do so? Probably. But there’s still an Behaviorists theorize that a child’s early envi- even more important question--why are other ronment and the people around him or her ulti- people more susceptible and prone to killing mately influence how her or she acts or generally even when they’re not called on to do so? Is behave. The concept on observational learning this an effect of emulating violence in media? expounds on the many different facets responsi- an abusive household? a repressed subconble for this type of learning, namely, punishments scious? or a learned behavior?
Grossman further adds: “In behavioral terms, to prepare (or train, or condition) a soldier to kill, the stimulus (which did not appear in their training) should have been an enemy soldier in their sights. The target behavior (which they did not practice for) should have been to accurately fire their weapons at another human being. There should have been immediate feedback when they hit a target, and there should have been rewards for performing these specific functions, or punishment for failing to do so. No aspect of this occurred in their training, and it was inevitable that such training would fail.”
I think it mostly has to do with the fact that those children had no particular role model to copy off from. In the case of killers, for example, a probable explanation for their actions would probably be a lack of a source of a good teacher-in this case there was an absence in learning. How do you kill some others? By killing a mockingbird first.
I think there’s a slight floodgates phenomenon involved in killing as well. As Grossman discussed earlier, soldiers had trouble applying what they had done in practice in real life; in a way, the floodgate theory somewhat follows that same logic. The difference between soldiers and killers however, are in their abiliEven with the case of soldiers being trained to ty to control the gates whenever they please. kill, the act still remains difficult, as explained by Grossman. The circumstances pertaining to An excerpt from Grossman’s book mentions training and reality are vastly different--there how veterans are more likely to be subdued are a lot more factors involved when it’s the when killing--that is being able to discern when real thin. And so what causes other people to to fire and when not to; albeit being able to kill easily, and at that, innocent people too? control the gates. For pathological killers howIt would probably be the mental disorders. One theory’s that despite having the ability to tell right from wrong when witnessing a crime or experiencing the effects of an abusive household, the trauma or depression associated with it still has an effect on how the person thinks. We learned in psychology class that even those who knew what they were doing felt no remorse for doing so-a sign of emotional incapacity, and a psychosocial dysfunction. So how does all with something
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ever, resides one desire after another that they couldn’t control-like there’s something keeping those gates from being closed once opened. I’m not going to act like I know a lot about these things; most of these theories were formed in the confines of the classroom and the general fences of a textbook. But what’s psychology’s taught you’s that there’s always an explanation behind things. Despite everything, we also need to understand the point of view of those struggling.
those tie up I think more and more people are realizing that like learning?
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stopping those killers externally is getting more and more difficult as well. Maybe the only way to fight them or stop them is to understand and maybe think like them. There are a lot more theories as to why dictators behave like that, or why people go on with warfare, but maybe we need to stop looking at it from afar and start looking into the minds of the individuals behind them.
“This undated file image posted on a militant website on Jan. 14, 2014, shows fighters from the al Qaida-linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) marching in Raqqa, Syria.” - Karen Leigh, Syria Deeply “Iraq, Syria, and ISIS: What it all Means” written for abcnews.go.com
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teaching kids how to hate, North Korea style. by Matthew Iman Mendoza
Conditioning starts as early as pre-school and continues well into adulthood, as it is a part of their educational system’s curriculum. The students are taught history from North Korea’s perspective. An example being that the US allegedly started the war between the North and the South. They are taught to hate the “American B******s”, a derogatory nickname for Americans, as they are not only responsible for the war, but also continue to be a looming threat to everyone’s safety (Daily Mail, 2012).
This anti-American sentiment, someJust like in some parts of the Middle East, thing shared with the other groups in North Korean citizens are taught from this magazine, is best seen on Internaan early age to view the US, and some tional Children’s day every first of June. other countries like Japan, as enemies. Humanity
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The children play games demonstrating their loyalty to the regime where, in one instance, they are armed with toy weapons and take turns attacking images of US soldiers. According toone former North Korean, the children “have to say that they would die for Kim Jong Un” (Moon Eun Ju, 2014).
“...they are taught to hate.”
This indoctrination is an example of vicarious conditioning as the students are mostly unaware of any goings on outside their country or of the countries they are taught to hate. They learn all this behavior from what they are taught by their state. This conditioning at an early age affects their beliefs and the way they feel. being more curious than afraid or hateful of foreigners, with some of the youngFor North Koreans that take refuge in est even waving and exclaiminga bright South Korea, this conditioning has been and cheery “Hello!” (Daily Mail, 2012). seen to have an affect. In a psychological study done on some adolescent North Korean refugees, it was observed that the refugees exhibited lower ratings in academic performance and had higher degrees in depression, withdrawal, and thoughtand attention problems (Mun Lee, Young, et al.). The youth of North Korea, however, are kids and behave just like any other kid would, Pictured: a preschooler drawing a bombing of enemy forces
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School is supposedly a place wherein early values and morals and general attitudes are formulated. In some cases, classical conditioning--one of the more powerful tools in learning, are also used by many for negativity. In teaching them a biased and erroneous account of how history happened, the children may also be susceptible to negative responses to otherwise natural stimuli. Kids are inherently curious, and fun, and loving; and teaching them hate can somewhat potentially blur those lines on how they will respond to outsiders and foreigners.
DID YOU KNOW?
Sources:
The experiment with dogs makes use of classical conditioning to to associate an unconditioned stimulus, meat in most cases, with a neutral stimulus, the ringing of a bell. In Watanabe and Mizunami’s experiment, however the scientists used scent instead of sound. They fed syrup drops to the cockroaches while rubbing the roaches’ antennae with scents like peppermint. This caused the cockroaches to salivate, which apparently roaches can do. In this experiment the syrup was the unconditioned stimuli, the unconditioned response was salivation, and the conditioned stimuli was scent which even without the syrup soon caused the cockroaches to salivate.
Mun Lee, Young, et al. “The Psychological Problems of North Korean Adolescent Refugees Living in South Korea.” National Center for Biotechnology Information. NCBI, n.d. Web. 6 Oct. 2014. “How North Korean children are taught to hate the ‘American b*******’ at kindergarten Daily Mail Online.” Mail Online. Daily Mail, 24 June 2012. Web. 6 Oct. 2014. Moon Eun Ju. “Celebrating Children’s Day in North Korea.” DailyNk. N.p., 5 May 2014. Web. 6 Oct. 2014.
By Matthew Iman Mendoza
We all know how dogs can be trained to salivate by exposing them to meat and then conditioning them to associate the sound of a bell with the meat. But apparently some scientists in Japan were unsatisfied with dogs. Two scientists from Tohoku University, Hidehiro Watanabe and Makoto Mizunami decided to try it with cockroaches.
This interesting as previously conditioning animals to salivate has only been observed in dogs and humans. This makes one curious as to just what scientists will think of next.
Courtesy of AP; as seen: a child pointing a weapon towards a drawing of an american soldier Humanity
Cockroach Conditioning and Classical Conditioning
Source: Fountain, Henry. “Cockroaches Conditioned to Salivate at a Scent, Not Pavlov’s Dinner Bell - New York Times.” The New York Times. Ny Times, 19 June. 2007. Web. 6 Oct. 2014.
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Tension continues to rise between Israel and Palestine; as it does between India and Pakistan
Photos courtesy of: http://wizbangblue.com/2008/12/(above) and http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/bombing-gaza-parking-lot-natural-thought-israel-backers-says-forwards-jay (below)
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Cards for Humanity Series #3
Libya, and Afghanistan Photographs courtesy of buzzfeed and sian327 (imgur)
“Sorry People of America. [T]his is not the Behavior of our ISLAM and [Prophet].�
A local Afghan hands an American soldier a drink while on duty.
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The Philippines, isn’t any better off, actually.
Poster by John Paulo Llamera
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standstill: caught between the crossfire By Paolo Ancheta Photo courtesy of: Arguably one of the biggest global issues to date, the Palestinian - Israeli conflict has been ongoing since the mid-1900’s. The recent disputes in Gaza have further escalated the tirade between the two and the war has now become an international issue-with all its neighbors caught between the crossfires. Organizations and countries alike race against time in loooking for a solution to the crisis.
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Displaced people from the minority Yazidi sect flee Sinjar, Iraq. The country’s human rights minister claims at least 500 people have been killed after the fighters took the city. Photo courtesy of Stringer/Iraq/Reuters, Meg Wagner “ISIS fighters allegedly abduct , plan to execute 63 members of single Iraqi family: report.” written for nydailynews. com
why do people join ISIS? By Joshua Cruz
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, a Sunni jihadist, has been one of the most wanted people all over the world for being the leader and mastermind of the terrorist group ISIS. Founded on January 2014, The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), has been one of the trending topics in the world today. From starting in a small city, they have captured nearby cities and villages to control an area as large as Syria. With their numbers increasing exponentially, its time we find out why are people joining the Islamic State. Its time we go inside the mind of an ISIS terrorist. The recent beheadings of U.S. journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff set off a wave of fury on social media and forced Western leaders to publicly address ISIS’ barbarity. At the same time, news broke that dozens of young men, from places like London, Minnesota, etc., had left their homes to join the group. One of these is Andre Poulin, a Canadian citizen who converted to Islam.
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He first appeared on YouTube last year saying his family didn’t understand why he had moved to the country to fight with other jihadists against President Bashar al-Assad’s forces. Allah, he said during his videomessage, had pulled him to Syria. In the video message, which ISIS later used in a propaganda video, Poulin explained why he had joined the Sunni militant group. “Before I come here to Syria, I had money, I had a family, I had good friends. It wasn’t like I was some anarchist or somebody who just wants to destroy the world and kill everybody. I was a regular person,” Poulin, who later began calling himself AbuMuslim, said in the message. “We need the engineers, we need doctors, we need professionals. Every person can contribute something to the Islamic State.” John Horgan, a psychologist and professor from the University of Massachusetts Lowell’s Center for Terrorism and Security Studies, has recently conducted a study on ISIS militants. He said in his study, “Because of what terrorists do, we assume that can be explained via the pathology of those people, but trying to explain terrorism as mental illness is misleading.” Horgan is one of the few psychologists in the U.S. who study the minds of terrorists. In the more than 20 years he has been researching the topic, he said he had never seen a message by a member of a terrorist organization as compelling as Poulin’s.
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In an interview with Horgan, he said “Very often we see radicals decide they want to become a terrorist turn away at the last minute, but [Poulin’s] message hit the nail on the head, which is to say there is a road for everyone. It makes radicalization and recruitment much easier. It is an equal opportunity organization. It has everything from the sadistic psychopath to the humanitarian to the idealistic driven.” This shows that, as far as the foreign fighters are concerned, they are driven to join ISIS by the need to “belong to something special.” “They want to find something meaningful for their life,” Horgan said. “Some are thrill seeking, some are seeking redemption.”
For the members of ISIS, joining the group means promoting the creation of an Islamic caliphate and ridding it of “infidels”. Last month Vice Media gained exclusive access to some ISIS fighters. In a documentary, Vice interviewed Iraqi and Syrian children who said they wanted to become part of ISIS so they could kill infidels. This way of thinking only reminds us of what the Germans did to the Jews in the Holocaust, wiping out the “infidels” in order to make way for the superior race. No one knows exactly how many fighters ISIS has; estimates vary anywhere between 10,000 to 40,000., with some estimates even reaching up to 100,000.
Courtesy of Azhar Shallal/AFP/Getty Images. Iraqi Policemen. “How ISI could fall apart--and Iraq’s war could get even worse.” by Zack Beauchamp in vox.com
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The majority of them come from Middle East- It is the only key to prevent the next generation ern countries, particular Iraq and Syria, but of militants from joining the terrorist group. about 2,300 - 2,700 are foreigners. ISIS has been particularly successful in recruiting its Sources: members through social media. In that sense, http://edition.cnn.com/2014/08/08/world/isis-fast-facts/ Horgan said, there is a “truly global appeal of http://nymag.com/scienceofus/2014/08/how-isis-seduces-new-reISIS” that is new. They have become so adept at cruits.html social media that they are reaching out to disaf- http://tsnnews.com/psychology-terrorist-people-join-isis/ fected individuals on a global scale. Today, terrorist organizations including ISIS rely heavily on social media, such as Twitter and Facebook, to reach out to potential recruits. Most of the recruits are those who are friends or family with someone already affiliated with the organization. From the research, those who join terrorist groups like ISIS are the most “ignorant people with respect to religion and they are generally the newest members to the religion.” according to a psychologist. In the past few weeks, the United States and its allies has been working to create a coalition to prevent and stop the Islamic State from causing more harm. Recently, President Obama had a meeting with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), citing the threats that the ISIS brings to the world. One of the suggestions was to cut off their recruitment to stop the growth of the Islamic State. However, psychologists like Horgan are having a hard time to control the stem the recruits to ISIS. This is because we are only limited to what the ISIS gives to us (Propaganda, Videos of beheadings, etc.). It is only crucial that we know why people choose to join ISIS.
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on the psychology of cannibalism.
Feeling the flesh as it leaves the body makes some cannibals experience orgasm. The cannibals enjoy the process of removing the meat from the skeleton. It makes them feel all pow erful and capable of something very few people have ever done. Even most serial killers do noteat their victims. So the cannibal is in the class by himself and he knows it. In a study, re searchers found out By Joshua Cruz that during the practice, the pleasure center of the brain of Cannibalism, or anthropophagy, is the form or act of humans the cannibal gets triggered and eating the flesh or internal organs of other human beings. Al- activated. Due to this, each though we only often see it in movies and fiction books, it is still cut brings more good feeling. being practiced today by some tribes. It is something that most So it is common to find many people find horrifying. However for cannibals, it is normal for smaller cuts on the body. The them to do such acts. process is that exciting for the cannibal. Throughout history, human beings have dined on human flesh. Whether it was part of war to gain the enemy’s strength, or as a In a research by Psychology Tomeans to terrify opponents, cannibalism goes back a long way. day, they found out that most There have been those lone individuals who find eating people cannibals are extreme loners. absolutely satisfying. They do it because they enjoy it, they have They do not have friends, and psychopathic personalities, and they are extremely lonely. Some they are bitter about it. Killcannibals are psychotic. An example of this is serial killer Rich- ing and eating a victim enard Trenton Chase. He chose to eat people because for some sures that the cannibal is never reason he believed that aliens are transforming his blood into alone. They have the victims powder, and this was his way of replenishing the blood that he with themselves at all times. has lost. Later on, Chase was diagnosed with being a paranoid They can never leave them. schizophrenic. However, most cannibals are not psychotic. They This helps the cannibal retain a sense of control over his life. very well know what they are doing. To himself, he has demonstratAccording to some cannibals, cutting out the meat of their vic- ed mastery over another hutims is sexually exciting to them. man being.
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The victim is now part of him as a trophy. This is intoxicating and drives him to do it again. On the victim’s point of view, they did not die because they have done something that violated or offended the cannibal. It’s just like a deer being killed by a lion for food. It was just the cannibal’s time to eat, and they cannot do anything about it. This is how the cannibal sees it. They do not choose specifically who to eat or kill. For the victims, it just being at the wrong place at the wrong time. There is no one type of cannibal victim. Unfortunately, it is very hard to predict who will become a cannibal. There may be signs in adolescence such as killing small animals and drinking their blood. Someone with psychopathic tendencies who is drawn to blood and death is always of concern. The fascination with gore becomes all-consuming to the point where the individual pushes living people away. In the world nowadays, an addiction to films such as Saw, and Final Destination, could lead to these psychopathic tendencies. Cannibals would rather spend time focusing on blood and murder than anything else.
Since cannibalism still exists in the world today, many people are horrified and treated the cannibals as monsters. This causes society to often misunderstand why cannibals do such practice. However, if we are to understand them and help them seek medical attention, they may be able to co-exist naturally with us. In that way, the act of killing our fellow humans for food will soon come to an end. Sources: http://www.crimecasefiles.com/blog/2011/10/the-psychology-behind-cannibalism/ http://www.crimelibrary.com/criminal_mind/psychology/cannibalism/8.html http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/disturbed/201108/ why-cannibals-love-eating-people
Overall, cannibals are very proud of their actions. However, they are very determined about the fact that they are cannibals and nothing else. A researcher from PsychologyToday had interviewed a cannibal accused of rape and he was insulted on the rape allegation against him. He insistently declared he had never raped anyone. He said “I may kill them and eat them, but I never raped anyone! You make sure people know that!” The idea of rape was repugnant to him.
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