#social presentation

[gynoidgearhead]

Normalize adults in their 50s (and up) having a scene phase.

Because why shouldn’t people later in life have a scene phase?

This may seem like a joke post, and I’ve headlined it in the most deliberately provocative way I could think of, but I’m completely serious.

We as a society seem to have decided that adults over about 30 are just Not Allowed to experiment with their identity or their personal presentation at all. If you come into work or a party suddenly looking considerably different, a lot of the time, people get upset about it - especially if you try something that does not “work”, in other people’s opinions.

At least some of this is directly tied to the fact that certain styles are considered “too young” for a certain phase of somebody’s life, and that it’s automatically “cringe” to not continuously broadcast awareness of the stage of the aging process you’re in (and, by extension, your waning relevance as an agent of social change, and your own proximity to your impending death).

And while there are certainly some elements of maturity that absolutely should be expected of adults (mostly related to not being an asshole or manipulating people significantly younger than oneself), harmlessly experimenting with personal presentation shouldn’t be one of those things.

So we’ve backed ourselves into a corner where you need a Profound Reason to decide to change things up in anything beyond a subtle way. It has gotten to the point where Halloween costume parties are basically our only relief valves on this particular societal pressure (and even those are considered somewhat immature), and where makeover reality TV shows exist specifically to lend structure to something people normally just can’t do.

It gets worse. You know what group of people really, really need the freedom to experiment with their personal presentation with as little judgment as possible?

Transgender people.

I can’t count the number of times I’ve seen people say about late transitioners, “I’d respect them more if they actually dressed their age”. And while I think it absolutely is possible to go to a place with that that’s genuinely creepy (i.e., actual predatory behavior), I think there’s an element of that criticism that’s inherently unfair, because we as a society have decided that experimenting with your presentation is something you’re expected to have finished when you’re an adolescent. And in the case of transgender people, that’s doubly unfair because they often just completely missed that window when they actually were that age.

Also like, autistic people often have idiosyncratic senses of fashion, and sometimes people just (for example) have a hobby doing period costuming.

There are lots of perfectly valid reasons to loosen these expectations, and I think we’re genuinely making life more miserable for everybody by not doing so.

[psycguypeterson]

Introduction

I wear many hats like I think we all do, I am a father, Professor, Activist, work to prevent violence, and a friend. The truth is regardless of what hat I am wearing I really don't care as long as I am connecting and learning about the world around me.

I have three amazing kids who remind me constantly about the value of life and living to full potential. As a Professor I teach at Arizona Western College, University of Phoenix - Yuma Campus, and University of Phoenix - San Diego Campus. As a Professor I teach in the social sciences. I love to teach it is my passion and I enjoy every moment. In addition to teaching I run Arizona Western College's Violence Prevention Program which aims to reduce incidences of relationship violence, sexual assault, and stalking on college campus so students can focus on their education.

Most of the content that I would like to use tumblr for centers around my research and scholarly pursuits which include:

Development of Intimate Relationships

                Recent biological evidence suggests that romantic love is a Drive much like our drive for food, water, and shelter instead of the traditional assumption that it is an emotion. Based on this evidence, it easier to explain what happens when love goes right or wrong. However, current psychological theory, which is based on love as an emotion needs to be reconsidered. My current scholarly and research interest is looking at a psychologically based theory of intimacy development based on neurological findings of the past eight years.

Social – Psychological Factors that Predict violence

                For the majority of the United States history it has been assumed that violence is created by individuals with dispositional issues and anti-social tendencies. However, the focus on the individual only explains a small percentage of violence that occurs in the United States each year. Following the work of Phillip Zimbardo who has done a lot of work on the determinants of average people to commit acts of evil, much of my research/scholarship looks at the social factors that influence individuals to commit violence, instead of focusing on personality and dispositional determinants.

Self and Social Presentation

                The majority of social presentation research focuses on self-regulation and what is known in the field as ego depletion. That is the more we self-regulate the more exhausted we become and less ability we have to regulate later in the day. This phenomenon may also explain how small conflicts can escalate into arguments and sometimes violence.

Decision making during a Terrorist Scenario

                This research is a replication of research conducted in 2001, which looked at the difference in public perceptions about officials Responses to a terrorist incident before and after 9/11.