Psychology Babble
Friday, July 24, 2015
Wednesday, July 15, 2015
Administrative Response to Bullying in the Schools is it Working?
Abstract
Bullying has received a great deal of attention in the
schools, in part due to the increased occurrence and visibility of school shootings
since the 1990s. This presentation will discuss an ongoing research project to
examine college students’ perceptions of how their high schools responded to
bullying and school violence. Emphasis will be placed on perceived effectiveness
of school prevention, intervention, and enforcement.
Are Current School
Policies Effective?
Policies Effective?
Kenneth Trump says anti-bullying legislation has created a
false sense of hope and resolution of a complex problem. The laws require
schools to have anti-bullying policies, but school policies already address
those behaviors which would constitute bullying: Harassment, intimidation,
extortion, assaults, threats, menacing, sexual assaults, etc. The anti-bullying
laws are typically unfunded mandates requiring educators to spend more time
doing paperwork to say they have anti-bullying practices instead of being in
the hallways and cafeterias preventing bullying.
Predicting Teacher
Interventions in Bullying Situations
Emerging evidence indicates that individual teacher
responses to bullying may be an important area to be included in investigations
of student’s bullying and victimization experiences. There is a great deal of
variability among teachers in terms of their attitudes toward and perceptions
of bullying
PA Bullying Law
HOUSE BILL No. 1067 Session of 2007
SECTION 1. SECTION 111(B) AND (C.1) OF THE ACT OF
MARCH 10, 1949 (P.L.30, NO.14), KNOWN AS THE PUBLIC SCHOOL CODE OF 1949,
AMENDED DECEMBER 19, 1990 (P.L.1362, NO.211) AND JULY 20, 2007…
(C) IN ADDITION TO THE POWERS AND DUTIES SET FORTH UNDER SUBSECTION
(A), THE OFFICE IS AUTHORIZED TO MAKE TARGETED GRANTS TO SCHOOLS TO FUND
PROGRAMS WHICH ADDRESS SCHOOL VIOLENCE, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO,
THE FOLLOWING PROGRAMS:
(1) CONFLICT RESOLUTION OR DISPUTE MANAGEMENT.
(2) PEER HELPERS PROGRAMS.
(3) RISK ASSESSMENT, SAFETY-RELATED OR VIOLENCE
PREVENTION CURRICULA.
(4) CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT.
(5) STUDENT CODES OF CONDUCT.
(6) TRAINING TO UNDERTAKE A DISTRICTWIDE ASSESSMENT OF
RISK FACTORS THAT INCREASE THE LIKELIHOOD OF PROBLEM BEHAVIORS
AMONG STUDENTS.
(7) DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF RESEARCH-BASED
VIOLENCE PREVENTION PROGRAMS THAT ADDRESS RISK FACTORS TO REDUCE
INCIDENTS OF PROBLEM BEHAVIORS AMONG STUDENTS INCLUDING, BUT
NOT LIMITED TO, BULLYING.
(8) COMPREHENSIVE, DISTRICTWIDE SCHOOL SAFETY AND
VIOLENCE PREVENTION PLANS.
(9) SECURITY PLANNING, PURCHASE OF SECURITY-RELATED
TECHNOLOGY
(10) INSTITUTION OF STUDENT, STAFF AND VISITOR
IDENTIFICATION SYSTEMS.
(11) ESTABLISHMENT OR ENHANCEMENT OF SCHOOL
SECURITY PERSONNEL
(12) PROVISION OF SPECIALIZED STAFF AND STUDENT
TRAINING PROGRAMS
(13) ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION PROGRAMS PROVIDED FOR IN
ARTICLE XIX-C.
(14) COUNSELING SERVICES FOR STUDENTS ENROLLED IN
ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION PROGRAMS.
Teacher’s
Understanding of Bullying
Such factors include individual characteristics, social
interactions, and cultural and ecological conditions. It follows, according to
this ecological systemic framework, that bullying does not reside solely with
the child who bullies or who is victimized. Rather, bullying unfolds in the
social context of the peer group, the classroom, the school, the family and the
larger community. A comprehensive framework therefore, becomes essential to
investigate the various elements influencing bullying.
It was found that most of the teachers considered physical
assaults and threats to be bullying; however, a significant proportion did not
view behaviors such as exclusion or name-calling bullying.
There had been large differences between one study in which
the teachers had thought they responded to bulling 85% of the time, but when
children were asked this same question they answered that only 35%percent of
the time they felt the teachers handled it and in a great deal of circumstance,
the teachers were the bullies
My Hypothesis
My hypothesis is that the current anti-bullying and
anti-violence programs in schools are not enough to effectively deal with what
students are actually going through in regard to bullying and violence. There
needs to be more done in regard to protecting our children.
My Study
In this study I surveyed 64 college students in order to
gain information on their feelings concerning their past experiences with
bullying during their time in high school and anti-bullying policies
implemented by their schools. Results are expected to enhance the
understanding of the perceived effectiveness of school anti-bullying programs
and procedures.
Methodology
Purpose/Problem to be investigated: Are current
anti-bullying/anti-violence laws truly effective in their approaches and
punishments of the offender to create safer schools.
Experimental Design: In the implementation of the surveys
that will be given to the students of Gwynedd, I hope to gain an insight into
how the student felt bullying/violence was dealt with in their high school and
did the students think it was an appropriate measure.
Subject Recruitment: By asking professors of Gwynedd to
allow me access into their classroom for a specific time period to ask for
student volunteers to participate in my study.
Teachers Examples
New Jersey Teacher Caught Bullying Special Needs Student
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfOqA6PtRaw
Teachers caught on tape bullying special-needs girl Parents
sent her to school wearing hidden recording device: ‘We were shocked’
What I found
During my study and in compiling my surveys I truly thought
I would learn more about what individuals had thought about bullying. But what
I had found out primarily was that the numbers were scattered and the same
statements were being repeated, mainly that bullying is a big issue and they
feel as though it will never go away and they do not know how it could.
What I Think
If we look at bullying as a problem just like that of any
other unwanted issue, than I think it would be much easier to deal with. Just
as Kenneth Trump had said, we need to remove all of the unnecessary paperwork
that keeps these teachers from doing the job that they were hired to do, that
was to take care of our children, not to write in a piece of paper how they
plan on doing it.
Attachment Security in Day Care and at HomeAttachment
Attachment Security in Day Care
and at Home
- Child care is
associated with stronger cognitive, language and math skills when children
are in school
–
Especially if the quality of child care is
high
- The same research also
indicates, however, that child care experience may be a risk factor for
problematic social behavior with adults and peers
- What is the most
important influence in determining whether infants and young children
develop secure attachments to their mothers? ……and fathers
- It seems that the
largest link is that if the child is in what can be considered a “poorer”
quality of child care this generally will coincide with a families
socioeconomic status
–
More stressors in regard to money and longer
work hours and in turn longer stays in the daycare
- A typically “better”
quality of daycare is seen as coinciding with a more affluent family who
may not have as many financial stressors
Attachment in Daycare
- In this study they
tested both the quality and the frequency of caregivers’ interactions with
the children in the selected daycare facility
– In
several studies exploring the sensitivity hypothesis in a day care context it
was not the quality but rather the frequency of positive caregiving that was
related to more secure attachment relationships
- They found that
involvement of the caregiver but not the sensitivity scale was related to
more secure child–professional caregiver attachment relationships
– When
caregivers were more frequently positively involved with a child, the child in
question was more securely attached to the caregiver
- In their meta-analysis
it was concluded that in center day care, group-related sensitivity rather
than providers’ individual child-focused sensitivity is a reliable
predictor of attachment security
– Group-related
sensitivity refers to ‘the care providers’ child-oriented attitudes and the
amounts of time they spent in positive proximate interactions with children
while supervising the entire group
Implications for Development and
Policy
- From an economic
perspective, two issues must be addressed in thinking about child care
policy
–
First, is there an economic rationale for the
government to intervene?
–
Second, if so, what is the appropriate type of
intervention?
- In recent years there
has been a growing awareness of the substantial and long-lasting effects
on children of their experiences in their first few years.
Long Term Effects of Issues of
Attachment
Current attachment theory research looks at adult functioning in such
areas as…..
- Leadership
- Trust
- Conflict Resolution
- How the individual
views others in the world
- Romantic relationships
- Health
Attachment Style
|
Parental Style
|
Resulting Adult Characteristics
|
Secure
|
Aligned with the child; in tune with
the child’s emotions
|
Able to create meaningful
relationships
|
Avoidant
|
Unavailable or rejecting
|
Avoids closeness or emotional
connection; distant; rigid; intolerant
|
Ambivalent
|
Inconsistent and sometimes
intrusive parent communication
|
Anxious and insecure;
controlling; blaming; erratic; unpredictable;; sometimes charming
|
Disorganized
|
Ignored or didn’t see child’s
needs; parental behavior was frightening/traumatizing
|
Chaotic; insensitive; explosive;
abusive; untrusting even while craving security
|
Reactive
|
Extremely unattached or
malfunctioning
|
Cannot establish positive
relationships; often misdiagnosed
|
The Misconceptions of Serial Killers
The
key thought when the topic of serial killers is mentioned, individuals
generally think of the stereotypical blueprint that has been laid out of the
loner, who doesn’t quite fit into society. Who stalks and hunts their victims
and ultimately long to be caught to achieve notoriety. Along with this
blueprint is that they are alone, separate from family and friends and are
stereotypically white males and usually between the ages of 20-40. But what the
FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit is attempting to do is to break this misconception
not only because of the fact that they see this as being an incorrect
evaluation of a serial killer, but also they see it as being detrimental to the
ultimate apprehension of the perpetrators of these types of crimes if law
enforcement is looking in a different direction. It can also leave the public
vulnerable if they have these stereotypes embedded in their head they may not
see the true evil in time.
I evaluated the types of serial killers and the validity of what the FBI BAU is suggesting
compared to what current law enforcement and public opinion currently is. I
also looked into if this allegation is true, then this raises an entire
other situation involving a whole other set of victimology, that would be the
family members of the serial killer. If the serial killer is truly an
individual who is maintaining a typical suburban lifestyle; wife, kids, dog,
picket fence, then how do those individuals deal with the fact that someone
that they loved and trusted is a cold blooded killer? Then also, how do they
deal with how the public now reacts to them.
The term ‘serial killings’ means a series of three or more killings, not less than one of which was committed within the United States, having common characteristics such as to suggest the reasonable possibility that the crimes were committed by the same actor or actors.
Behavioral
Analysis
The mission of the
Behavioral Analysis Units (BAU) is to provide operational support for complex
and time-sensitive cases and other matters through the application of
investigative case experience, education, specialized training, and research.
Each unit has distinct responsibilities:
Behavioral Analysis
Unit 1 (counterterrorism and threat assessment): Resources are focused on matters
involving terrorism, threats, arson, bombings, stalking, cyber-related
violations, and anticipated or active crisis situations.
Behavioral Analysis
Unit 2 (crimes against adults):
Resources are primarily focused on serial, spree, mass, and other murders;
sexual assaults; kidnappings; missing person cases; and other violent crimes
targeting adult victims. BAU 2 also provides assistance in potentially
non-violent investigations, such as white-collar crime, public corruption,
organized crime, and civil rights matters.
Behavioral Analysis
Unit 3 (crimes against children):
Resources are focused on crimes perpetrated against child victims, including
abductions, mysterious disappearances of children, homicides, and sexual
victimization.
Behavioral Analysis
Unit 4 (ViCAP): Resources are focused
on actual and attempted homicides—especially those that involve an abduction,
are apparently random, motiveless, or sexually oriented, or are known or
suspected to be part of a series; sexual assaults, especially those committed
by a stranger, or those known or suspected to be part of a series; missing
persons where the circumstances indicate a strong possibility of foul play; and
unidentified human remains where the manner of death is unknown or suspected to
be homicide. BAU-4/ViCAP also develops and maintains ViCAP Web, the national
repository for these criteria cases.
Services provided by
the behavioral analysis units include:
- Crime analysis;
- Profiles of unknown offenders;
- Linkage analysis;
- Investigative suggestions;
- Multiagency coordination;
- Threat assessment;
- Interview strategies;
- Media strategies;
- Search warrant affidavit
assistance;
- Prosecution and trial strategies;
- Expert testimony;
- Critical incident analysis; and
- Geographic profiling (provided
through an agreement with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and
Explosives).
The term ‘serial killings’ means a series of three
or more killings, not less than one of which was committed within the United
States, having common characteristics such as to suggest the reasonable
possibility that the crimes were committed by the same actor or actors.
I.
FBI
Behavior Analysis Unit Description of a serial killer
a.
Examples
of well-known serial killers that were really more mainstream than maniac
b.
Causality
and the serial murderer
i.
How
did this person become a serial killer
1.
Does
how they became a serial killer influence whether or not they are a loner or
family man?
II.
Serial
killers likely to be family men not freaks
a.
FBI
report is aimed at dispelling the common myths, which agents say can limit the
public's potential to observe suspicious activity or become witnesses
b.
In
regard to the stereo type of serial killers being white males, age 20-40, the actual
racial diversification of serial killers generally mirrors the overall US
population.
c.
The
myths that serial killers are only motivated by sex are challenged
d. Also that they travel
in order to kill, or that they are evil, insane geniuses who cannot stop killing
and want to get found out. "Serial killers do not want to get caught: over
time, as they kill without being discovered, they get careless." (Leonard Doyle in Washington)
III.
Family
members of serial killers
a.
Family
members of serial killers – the forgotten victims
i.
This
is a blog run my Maureen White in which she discusses her life after it was
found out that her brother Richard Paul White was a serial killer. This is the
first paragraph of her blog; “Nobody talks about the most forgotten
victims of criminals - their families. Not only did
they loose a family member as well as the victim´s families, they also feel all
sort of blame. While the victim´s families will ask themselves forever "Why
did this happen to our loved one?” the offenders families will ask themselves
forever "What did we do wrong? Couldn´t we foresee/prevent what
happened?"”
ii.
There
is an article on a page “Lemondrop” that interviews Melissa G. Moore who is the
daughter of the “Happy Face Killer.” She tells of the time when she was a child
and her mother came home to tell her and her brother that her father was in
jail, her brother asked for what, and all her mother said was, murder, before
she locked herself in her room.
1.
In
cases like this these children not only lose their father, but for a while at
least, lose their mother until she builds her strength to cope with what has
happened.
The Story of Creation
In
reading the differences between the two stories of the “J” story which focuses
on the creation of Adam and Eve, and the “P” story which focuses on the
creation of the actual world and seems to place the creation of humans as a
side note, I prefer the “J” story. I think that I lean toward this story
because it deals mainly with humans and the decisions that they were faced with
in the Garden of Eden. Even as it starts it interestingly enough shows a more
humanistic God than in the “P” story. With the visualization of God forming the
clay into man, and then giving him life through passing his own breath through
man’s nostrils, then in creating a suitable partner for man I feel shows that
he cared for and wanted to ensure his happiness.
The
story then unfolds and represents curiosity and a “villain” per say to give
justification to tempt Eve to allow her to do what she really wants to do. This
way she can pass blame onto the serpent, in an attempt to get out of any
wrongdoing. She then presents the fruit to her husband so that they are now
both at fault for eating from the forbidden tree.
I think that this story has many lessons to
teach if the reader is not taking the wording of the story so literally. There
are times in which it is better to follow the rules and instructions you are
given, even if you truly do not know the true reason, or essentially agree with
the reason. There is a great deal of representation in the “J” story more so
than in the “P” story. Once Adam and Eve had eaten from the tree of knowledge
of good and bad, they were given something that they were not ready to handle.
Essentially a cold splash of reality, they had thought they were ready to
handle what was forbidden to them, but they had realized that they had been
mistaken.
Latest Advances to Online Gaming
There has been an incredible stride
concerning the advances of computer technology over the years which has led to
many advances in the gaming world as well. From the pioneering of pong to
avatars and virtual worlds, one could only wonder where we are headed next. It
seems no matter the generation or the genre of the game, there are three main
components that make the game popular. They are: (1) strategic and tactical
objective oriented problem solving, (2) thematic and fantasy role-playing, and
(3) testing one's reflexes in an immersive environment using special purpose
interfaces.
A component in games that has
significantly changed is the size of the game. From the large coin operated
game playing arcades, game playing has not only streamlined into the home, but
into the palm of the hand with technology placing games into our cell phones.
Game playing has also gone from a single individual playing against a machine
to many individuals playing against each other in a virtual world. There has
been a rise in development of virtual worlds since the early 1990’s; this has
also coincided with the drop in home computer prices. The home computer gaming
and social networking suddenly became much more accessible.
With this sudden accessibility came a
sudden rise in the frequency of gaming use. This rise in frequency would cause
an addiction in some individuals. To define what a gaming addiction is, “That
is the person needs more and more of a substance or behavior to keep him going
and if the person does not get more of the substance or behavior, he becomes
irritable and miserable.”
When there is addictive behavior there are
also withdrawal symptoms, this is also the case in game addicts. "They
become angry, violent, or depressed. If parents take away the computer, their
child sits in the corner and cries, refuses to eat, sleep, or do
anything." With a gaming addiction there is a
difference between that and a drug or alcohol addiction. It is similar to a
gambling addiction in that with a gambling addiction there is a release of dopamine
levels and the individual can become addicted to that rush of dopamine. But in
gaming the addiction becomes more of an addiction of the escapism that is
included in the game. The individual can become someone else, or they are a
“better” person in their eyes in the game so they spend more time in that
virtual world because they are the person they want to be there. It eventually
overshadows their real world because their real world soon just does not
compare to the world that they create.
When an individual participates in four
to five hours of gaming per day they have no time for socializing, homework, or
sports. In older addicts, compulsive gaming can jeopardize jobs or
relationships. Warning signs for video game addiction include: Playing for increasing
amounts of time, thinking about gaming during other activities, gaming to
escape from real-life problems, anxiety, or depression, lying to friends and
family to conceal gaming, and feeling irritable when trying to cut down on
gaming.
With
gaming becoming a huge market within all the generations, it is difficult to
know who the industry leaders are for each target audience. Many of these
leaders make games that target all age levels, as well as games that are
specified to a certain audience. Market leaders like Electronic Arts,
Activision Blizzard, and Bioware making games for everyone, there are many more
smaller companies that have either been bought out by larger companies or are
still in the running for a breakthrough game.
But who is the target audience for all of these market
leaders? Many follow the same stereotypical thoughts; a nerdy teen that stays
home all the time. Today the average age of players in America, the biggest
market, is 37, and 42% of them are female, according to the Entertainment
Software Association (ESA), an American trade group. The
reason for the age being higher than the stereotype is that they were the
teenagers when gaming became popular. They have now grown up and are
middle-aged adults though. It is not hard to advertise to them or younger
groups, since it is a part of a lifestyle in families. The industry has only
recently begun targeting woman and elders with online games like Farmville and
Angry Birds, as well as with the Nintendo Wii Console.
There are so many smaller developers trying to market
their games now than before because of the use of internet. They are able to
give the consumers their product without the use of a big publisher or having
to go a store to buy a hard copy. With technology advancing, not just in
consoles, but in computers and phones, the internet increases the availability
of products.
Video game technology is being used for more than just
entertainment. There are so many developers out there in the industry that have
brilliant ideas, they decide to branch off. Some offer to make video games that
you can play and make money with, and other developers are targeting private
companies or the government with simulation technology to help teach prospects.
So
when asked who the market leaders are, and who they target to buy their games;
the answer can be a variety of things. One could point out the ones that make
the most money, or they say the ones that they are familiar with. The target
audience varies with the type of game and what that game is played on.
Market
leaders may not know about the addictive behaviors there games may cause, but
even if they do, there is not much they could do about it. The economy is in a
rut right now, and the gaming industry just wants to stay out of debt. The
industry is always changing and will only keep changing to better itself.
Treatment and Recidivism of Adolescent Sex Offenders
Who Is the Adolescent Sex Offender?
The adolescent sexual offender is defined as a youth,
from 12 to 17 years of age, who commits any sexual act with a person of any
age, against the victim’s will, without consent, or in an aggressive,
exploitative or threatening manner. While this depiction is a concise one, a
case in which an adolescent is the perpetrator of sexual offense is seldom as
black and white as this description yields.
The Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring,
Apprehending, registering and Tracking (SMART), abides by the SORNA, the Sex Offender Registration and
Notification Act, which is Title 1 of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and
Safety Act of 2006. SORNA provides a comprehensive set of minimum standards for
sex offender registration and notification in the United States. While SORNA
requires registration of children 14 and older, most states have their own
registration requirements. Children as young as eight may be required to
register as sex offenders for crimes ranging from rape to consensual sex,
public nudity, and public urination.
Children who register as sex offenders must provide
extensive personal information to state police, verify this information either
in-person or electronically on a regular basis for the duration of their
registration requirement. Regularly report changes in their appearance,
residence, employment, and other habits. Some states also require community
notification, which can mean those children’s names, addresses, and offenses
will be listed on publicly accessible websites and the local law enforcement
has authority to share information about the children with the public.
Introduction
It seems to be a common
idea that Adolescent/Juvenile sex offenders have the ability to overcome the
tendencies of being a repeat offender which is the opposite thought of their
adult counterparts. With proper acknowledgement that there is an offense
occurring and then proper treatment issued, these individuals have a lower rate
of recidivism than if they had never received treatment.
There are significant differences between the adolescent
offender and an adult offender, some key points are, they have fewer amount of
victims than that of adult offenders, and typically speaking their acts are
less aggressive in nature. Adolescents generally do not have the deviant sexual
arousal or fantasies that many of the adult offenders often display. Adolescent
offenders are also not seen as being long terms perpetrators, whereas adult
offenders typically will continues this behavior over long periods of time
until they are discovered. Those adolescent offenders who do receive treatment
have a low recidivism rate when compared to their adult counterparts, and that
this recidivism rate holds lower for these adolescents when compared to other
teens with rates of recidivism for other delinquent behavior. (NCSBY Fact Sheet)
Comparison of Adolescent Sex Offenders and Non-Sex Offenders
The goal of this study
was to aim for relationships between psychiatric disorder and specific offense
category among young male offenders. It had determined that overall sex
offenders made up a distinct group of juvenile delinquents and that
developmental disorders were more common among non-violent sex offenders and
child molesters. It was seen in the more violent offences that more typical
delinquents were from immigrant backgrounds.
The conclusion came to be found that the differences in groups were in the
types of psychiatric diagnoses may reflect differences in the study of the
reasons for the factors for the various types of sexual and other delinquent behavior,
and that this would constitute further study.
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