To begin, the influence of attitude is one that I think is very strong in this example, and countless other examples of police brutality against African American males. According to our class notes, attitude can be defined as “Relatively stable ideas about whether something is good or bad.” In the Alton Sterling case specifically, I believe that the officer’s attitudes towards Sterling’s race and demeanor may have had a profound affect on why they reacted the way in which they did. Furthermore, if the two white officers had any type of racist attitudes or beliefs regarding African Americans, this may have largely led to them being more quickly to act more violently towards — and eventually kill — Sterling. In today’s society, it seems as though
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Our class notes define availability as, “The ease with which instances or occurrences can be brought to mind.” With this, perhaps it is possible that the officers more easily imagined a poor outcome of this situation, if they did not act the way they did. It may be as much as they thought they would die themselves. Also, again, maybe past experiences influenced their choice to act violently in this situation, based on how easy it was for them to recall these prior events and outcomes. Under the umbrella of availability in our notes, is also the theory of cultivation. In our notes cultivation theory states, “Television affects our beliefs about the world around us works.” In my opinion, cultivation theory is applied in this situation because based on what the officers may have seen on television and the news regarding other altercations with African Americans throughout this past year, they may have felt the need to protect themselves first and foremost, and that all African Americans males must be guilty and …show more content…
Social norms are around us everywhere, and I think they can have a large affect on our decisions. In my opinion, the decisions of the officers in the Sterling case exhibited are both descriptive, and subjunctive norms. Descriptive norms are defined in the notes as, “A perception of what is commonly done or believed.” Because police brutality of white officers against African Americans is so common right now in our society, I would argue that it has become a descriptive norm in many cases. To me, that is an unfortunate part of the society that we are living in right now. When I turn on the news, it continues to show scenarios just like this one, in which white male officers exhibit violence against African American males, more often than white males. To me, it almost always ends in the same way, with the African American males being killed. Thus, again, I think this is making it seem like a norm to the public, and showing police officers around the country that this behavior is both accepted and normalized. On the contrary, injunctive norms are defined as, “A perception of what ought to be done or believed.” I believe now, that white police officers believe they have a duty to act a certain way against African American males in crime situations. They may feel they need to be dominant, and macho, and act the most violent. Perhaps if they do not act this way, they might also think they will be looked down upon by fellow colleagues.
Our class notes define availability as, “The ease with which instances or occurrences can be brought to mind.” With this, perhaps it is possible that the officers more easily imagined a poor outcome of this situation, if they did not act the way they did. It may be as much as they thought they would die themselves. Also, again, maybe past experiences influenced their choice to act violently in this situation, based on how easy it was for them to recall these prior events and outcomes. Under the umbrella of availability in our notes, is also the theory of cultivation. In our notes cultivation theory states, “Television affects our beliefs about the world around us works.” In my opinion, cultivation theory is applied in this situation because based on what the officers may have seen on television and the news regarding other altercations with African Americans throughout this past year, they may have felt the need to protect themselves first and foremost, and that all African Americans males must be guilty and …show more content…
Social norms are around us everywhere, and I think they can have a large affect on our decisions. In my opinion, the decisions of the officers in the Sterling case exhibited are both descriptive, and subjunctive norms. Descriptive norms are defined in the notes as, “A perception of what is commonly done or believed.” Because police brutality of white officers against African Americans is so common right now in our society, I would argue that it has become a descriptive norm in many cases. To me, that is an unfortunate part of the society that we are living in right now. When I turn on the news, it continues to show scenarios just like this one, in which white male officers exhibit violence against African American males, more often than white males. To me, it almost always ends in the same way, with the African American males being killed. Thus, again, I think this is making it seem like a norm to the public, and showing police officers around the country that this behavior is both accepted and normalized. On the contrary, injunctive norms are defined as, “A perception of what ought to be done or believed.” I believe now, that white police officers believe they have a duty to act a certain way against African American males in crime situations. They may feel they need to be dominant, and macho, and act the most violent. Perhaps if they do not act this way, they might also think they will be looked down upon by fellow colleagues.