Psychology is the study of the how the brain works and how it affects the behavior of a person. Psychology is an important field because it helps us understand other people and why they behave a certain way. It also helps us understand our own selves, and it helps us overcome circumstances in all different ways.
People see graffiti artist as troublemakers, hoodlums, and gangbangers. They view the art that they make as something that ruins the community and that should be punished but in reality graffiti artist are just trying to communicate with society, and communication is an instinct. The motivational theory behind graffiti is the instinct theory, this theory says that people are evolutionarily wired to behave a certain way. Humans are wired to communicate with one another therefor graffiti artist try and communicate with the rest of society with their work. Graffiti artist gain a sense of adrenaline when they go out and do graffiti, this activates the sympathetic nervous system. The fight or flight response is activated when police lights are flashed on them they can stay and finish their piece (fight) or they can run and try not to get caught (flight) .When graffiti artist are arrested and sent to jail they suffer so psychological traumas. One of the traumas would have to be withdrawal, whether it be from drugs or from society this process can leave an inmate scared. Graffiti artist are put in these institutions that take away any form of being individual, they are put in bland colored attire and placed among drug dealers, murderers, and rapist. This withdrawal causes minor or major forms of depression within inmates (Haney 2001).
The overpopulation in US prisons is a very pressing subject because it is affecting the sentences of inmates and cutting them short due to the little space in these institutions. Prisons lack programs that help the mental health of their inmates. Therefore to help inmates that are in prison they should group therapies. An effective form of therapy since there is an abundance of prisoners.
Psychology has already been used to positively change the world. There have been studies that have been so essential to psychology and how we understand one another. There have also been studies like the Stanford Prison Experiments that have showed us how power effects people’s mentality in certain positions. This experiment is so relevant in so many ways in today’s society. Studies that have already been done are still helping society today, so I can only imagine future research and how it will impact the future generations. Psychology can keep helping the relations between people and their behavior. Psychology has helped the world how to deal with patients that have different disorders, and how we can as a society can help these individuals.
My major take away from psychology is the most important one: that I want to major in this field. Psychology has showed me that the power of the mind is beyond our understanding. I learned that the brain is such a valuable and intricate organ in our body that controls all our movements and all out thoughts. I also learned about schedules of reinforcement and which helps better, I think I will always remember Pavlov and his dogs and relate it to reinforcement and stimulus. Psychology is such a broad subject that can be explored endlessly and I’m glad I got a year to get a taste of it but I’m more glad that I will have the next four years to explore it even more.