There are many different types of powers that control how we perceive the world around us and alter our behavior, such as social and institutional influences. Our daily experiences are shaped by forces we can’t control mixed with ones that we can. How we choose to interpret and reflect upon our environment is all influenced by our experiences. These experiences and environments will always have some kind of power over us, even if we do not recognize it.

Socialization:

Socialization is a strong influence of power that has control over daily life. Socialization is a process done by multiple agents that adjusts throughout a lifetime that shapes how we perceive our experiences and teaches us our societal norms. Peer groups and family are some important agents of socialization that greatly impact perception.

Peer Groups:

Peer groups in school is also a sense of community , there is a sense of connection and this type of connection can satisfy a large area of social needs. This fulfillment and the way you interpret the interactions dependent on context can lead to higher motivation socially and academically. Another contribution to peer groups that impacts behavior is the self-fulfilling prophecy. The self-fulfilling prophecy is the idea that humans alter their behavior based on how the believe they are perceived. We become what people expect us to be. From an academic perspective studies have shown that the students who have a good reputation and relationship with the teacher are more likely to perform better. Peer groups can play a strong role in the self-fulfilling prophecy, because kids will act how their friend group expects them to act to get a sense of belonging.

Family:

Family has a lot of power by shaping morals and values and contributes a lot of key factors through parenting style. The way kids are raised will affect not only how they handle problems, but will shape their behavior and tell what kinds of issues they might internalize. Parenting style is very revealing around the time a kid starts going to school. How they act in school is greatly influenced and will cause them to either internalize or externalize their problems. Some behaviors of a kid who may not be experiencing a good parenting style is if they take out their anger on other students. If something frustrates them, they might take this energy and use it to fuel unconventional behaviors like tantrums. Acting out with rage is an example of externalizing these problems. Kids who internalize their problems might struggle with socializing and mental health.

Experiments:

There have been multiple experiments that play with the idea of power and authority. The two examples are the Stanford Prison Experiment and the Stanley Milgram Shock Experiment. Both of these experiments later on were considered to be a little unethical. They were performed before there were stricter guidelines for testing. Stanley Milgram was administered to see the effects of obedience to authority while the Stanford Prison Experiment was done to see how normal people react when they are put in a position of power.

Stanford Prison Experiment:

An important experiment that shows how too much power affects the psyche was the Stanford prison experiment. Before there were more strict guidelines on ethical experimentation, the Stanford prison experiment took place. This experiment was done to test what would happen when you take a sample of completely average people and put them into a position of power. The experiment split up a group randomly into two categories, prisoners and prison guards. The prison guards were really being tested to see how far they would go, what they would do to other people, would they fully accept the role, and seeing if the situation would get out of hand. Part of this experiment is to play with the idea that out of power unconventional means of deindividuation and dehumanization and seeing the impacts when it is institutionalized. The results of Zimbardo’s experiment were so gruesome that the experiment only ended up lasting six days and the experiment was supposed to take place for two weeks. The after affects of this experiment was psychologically destructive.

Stanley Milgram Shock experiment:

Another experiment that demonstrated the idea of power was the Stanley Milgram obedience to authority experiment. The experiment is set up so that everyone is in on what is actually happening except the person given the role of teacher. The teacher was under the impression that they were willingly hurting another person because they were instructed to do so. The fact that the teacher was kept out of the loop created a lot of controversy with this experiment in the sense that it was considered unethical. According to Stanley Milgram, it is set up in learner teacher style, where the learner is asked questions about things they are unfamiliar with and get them wrong. When the learner gets a question wrong it is instructed that the teacher shock the learner with growing intensity in voltage each time. What would cause someone to willingly hurt another person? The actual purpose of the experiment was to see obedience to authority on a smaller scale and try and find an explanation for the occurence of the holocaust. In the Nuremberg trials, there was a common response from Nazis when asked why they did what they did. The majority had said that they were simply following orders. This whole experiment was a play on obedience to authority. 

Think about it:

Power can impacts people consistently whether they realize it or not. Escaping this kind of power seems to be nearly impossible and makes you question if there even if a free will. The way we are raised and the experiences we have will change us forever and shape our personality, that is out of our control. Being able to reflect on your own actions and making a conscious effort to dissect your personality and perceptions can help you break some of this control.

 

 

 

This list represents my top ten favorite songs currently.

 

1. Nights By Frank Ocean

I had never listened to any of Frank Oceans songs until this summer. I had always kind of known that I would most likely really like Frank Ocean, but never had the chance to get into him. This past summer my friend thought that I would like him and gave me a list of his songs to listen to. I ended up really loving a lot of the songs that I had listened to and I spend a lot of days only shuffling his music. I really like this song specifically because it has a really cool song change. The mood of this song makes me feel a sense of bittersweet comfort. I also enjoy the video I attached above. It’s a series of visuals that  feel match well with the song.

2. Kids by Current Joys

I had never heard this song until college. I don’t know much about this band, but there’s another song by them called televisions that I loved. This came on one of my Spotify playlists when I was walking around campus. I instantly liked it and recognized the band. This band has a very cool and chill sound and it comes on almost every time I’m in the Science Complex. Every time I hear it now I only think about walking to my labs feeling very tired.

3. Passing out Pieces by Mac Demarco

Mac Demarco is one of my favorite artists and I adore pretty much every song he’s ever made. I have been listening to this song specifically a lot recently, but there’s many other songs that he has made that are also very important to me. His music has always been very peaceful to me and always makes me happy. I will go on kicks of his music and there was a period of time where during my senior year of High School I listened to his CD in my car everyday on the way to school for three months. One of my friends from High School also really liked Mac Demarco and he was in a graphics class and made shirts with Mac on them. This man is one of my favorite people and I even found a small documentary about him recently and I was super excited to watch it.

4. Self Care by Mac Miller

The feeling this song gives me has changed over time. I remember when this song first came out I liked it, but i never thought I would like it as much as I ended up liking it. I was on Youtube and the recommendation for the video had popped up and I decided to watch it and I distinctly remember thinking to myself if he was okay. This song ended up meaning a lot to me and I could listen to it over and over again. It feels as though this song has been college anthem, because most times I am listening to it and it has fit my mood. This song also has a change about halfway through it and it is my favorite part. About two weeks after this song was released Mac Miller overdosed and died at only age 26. The very unsettling thing about the video for the song is that it shows him in a coffin. His death was a tragedy and from what i’ve heard he was nothing but kind to everyone. RIP Mac Miller.

5. Is This It by The Strokes

This song is another one of those songs that I could listen to on repeat. I don’t know many songs by the strokes, but I find one and then listen to it non stop for about two weeks until get obsessed with the next one. This one is a fairly short song and while packing for college and when I listened to it a lot. It’s also a pretty chill song and puts me in a certain mood that is hard to describe. I tend to like movies and music that both makes me very happy and sad at the same time.

6. Ocean Eyes by Billie Eilish

Ocean eyes gets repeatedly stuck in my head. I think the vocals are beautiful in this song and Billie Eilish is exceedingly impressive. She has a very unique style, a beautiful voice, an excellent song writer, and is only 16 years old. She is already very talented for her age, but she wrote this song when she was 14. I have always enjoyed her music, but the more I learn about her as an artist the more she impresses me.

 

7. I Saw Her Standing There by The Beatles

This song always puts me in such a good mood. The Beatles was a band that I always knew I would probably really like but never got into because there were so many songs that it was intimidating. My last semester of my senior year I got to take a class called Music Humanities with one of my favorite teachers. In that class we studied music starting from slave spirituals all the way up to The Beatles. The Beatles was a huge part of the class and it was a really good way to introduce me to a lot of their music. Not only did I get to listen to the music, but we also watched documentaries and learned a lot about the history of The Beatles. This song is one of my favorites and when I listen to it, it always makes me want to dance around.

 

8. Santeria by Sublime

Sublime was a band that I knew I would like. This song is such a happy feel good song and reminds me of summer with my friends. It gives off a particular mode to it and i just very pleasant to listen to. Hearing this song makes you want to close your eyes and smile.  I got my friend Edie to also really like this song and sometimes she will ask me to play it and it reminds me of her. It makes me want to be back on the beach with her on a nice summer day feeling nothing but happy and content.

 

9. Sweet Transvestite on The Rocky Horror Picture Show Soundtrack

The Rocky Horror Picture Show soundtrack has a very special place in my heart. I will often play the entire CD in the car all the time. Both my mom and I love this song specifically and play it all the time. Not only is it a really good movie, but it’s also kind of spooky which means it is perfect for this time of year. When I hear it, it reminds me of being in the car with my mom or in the car with Haley.  I also think this movie is very interesting to think about. This movie had come out in the seventies and in the movie it portrays a man dressed as a woman. This was exceedingly controversial for the time. It’s interesting because at the time the movie was almost a scary movie just because it was seen as disturbing to see a man dressed as a woman. I think the controversy makes this song even more iconic.

 

10. Ride by Lana Del Rey

I remember seeing Lana Del Rey in concert and when she came out on stage I was in tears. Now i’m not one to cry at concert, but she has been such a big and influential part of my life for so long. I believe I was first introduced to her music when I was in sixth grade and she only continues to grow as an artist and a person. I love her music and she stands for a lot of good things and will probably remain as one of my favorite artists for a long time. This song is extra important to me because I love the message in this song. This song is unique because the full music video starts with a minute and a half poetry piece that she wrote. She is very well spoken and I enjoyed the content so much that I actually wrote an entire rhetorical devices analysis paper on this song.

Welcome to a small glimpse of my life represented by numbers.

12

Twelve is a very important number to me because it is the date my childhood dog died. This is my angel, his name was Rocky and he was 13 when he passed away. I remember waking up the morning of my SATs and finding out something was wrong. We hoped that it would be nothing, but when we took him to the vet we found out he had cancer. We didn’t know how much longer he had to live, but we cherished every moment with him. At the time, I couldn’t even remember life without him, because I had been three years old when we got him. Time has passed and I still think about him everyday, especially every twelfth  of the month.

31

Halloween is by far my favorite holiday. I’m one of those people that starts decorating as soon as possible. Each year I just want to start decorating earlier and earlier. Every single day of the month of October is like Halloween to me. I love everything about it. I love scary stuff and fall is my favorite season and it’s a very happy time of year for me. The picture above is one of my best friend and I on Halloween when she came over and we carved pumpkins with my family.

2

These are my two best friends who I love so dearly. The girl in the first two pictures is Haley and her and I have been best friends since my sophomore year. She is a year older then me and she goes to Central Michigan University. When we are not at school, we a practically inseparable. We will spend such an extensive amount with each other and still be just as sad to leave each other every time. Her family is like a second family to me. The girl in the picture on the right is my sweet friend Edie. I’ve had French class with her all years of High school. It took us a while to hang out outside of school. The first time we ever hung out we were both a little nervous, but then she ended up spending two nights at my house in a row and we have been so close ever since. Sitting next to her everyday was the highlight of my senior year. These girls are my best friends and I miss them dearly.

4

The number four stands for how many times in a row I’ve been to the musical festival Warped Tour. Warped Tour is a super awesome alternative rock music festival and I look forward to it every year. Each picture above is from a different year. All day long there is a ton of bands that play at scheduled times and you get to pick and choose who you want to see. Crowds are very fun, even though they can be a little rough sometimes. It makes me sad to say that this past year was the last Warped Tour. Even though it’s bittersweet I crossed something off my bucket list at the last tour. I had always wanted to crowd surf, but I never did until this summer. It was very fun and I’m happy I got to go out with a bang. Another cool thing I like about Warped Tour is that there is a stand where you donate money to try and keep art programs in schools and then you cover yourself in paint. Haley and I always do the signature peace signs on our cheeks each year.

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton