Psych extra credit PDF

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This work was for the extra credit assignment at the end of the year. Still taught by Melinda Ciccocioppo....

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Psych extra credit assignment With country music being one of my favorite music genres of all time, I have noticed multiple times that there have been different references to gender stereotypes within this genre of music specifically. These references mostly involve straight men and women. One of my favorite artists Dierks Bently wrote a song titled “It’s Different for Girls,” which characterized gender stereotypes. In this song, the music discusses the difference between how men and women deal with breakups. The lyrics suggest that women are more emotional and take longer to get over breakups as compared to men, who can seemingly get over a heartbreak much faster and easier. The topic of gender stereotypes was mentioned in class from the chapter 5 notes, and we discussed that men have the stereotype to be “bad but bold” while women are “wonderful but weak.” When listening to this song, I picked up on stereotypes that the music makes and I made the connection back to what I learned in class about gender stereotypes. The chorus of the song says “It's different for girls when their hearts get broke / they can't take it back together with a whiskey and Coke / they don't take someone home and act like it's nothing / they can't just switch it off every time they feel something / a guy gets too drunk his friends and he might hook up / fast forward through the pain, pushing back when the tears come on / but it's different for girls.” Another set of lyrics later in the song reads “She don't sleep all day and leave the house a wreck / she don't have the luxury to let herself go / she won't call just to curse from a wall, she can push / when the going gets tough yeah the guys they can just act tough.” In these lyrics, women are being described as being too attached, while men are seen as reckless and can act tough to get over a breakup. This stereotype relates back to what we discussed in class because men in this song are made out to be bad while women seem more emotionally weak. Personally, I do not like how this song makes such a definitive separation and stereotype between men and women. As it was also mentioned in class, there are negative effects of stereotypes, and I believe this song can further add to be public’s negative stereotypes created towards both straight men and straight women. Women are often seen as inferior to men and emotionally weak, and I feel that this song further adds to the sexism towards women. I also feel that this song can have some negative effects towards men, as it describes how they are more reckless and make bolder decisions. Although I do not like the assumptions the song is making, I like how the lyrics do not insult only one gender, but rather includes stereotypes of both. Although this song can potentially lead to negative ideas and views about both genders, I think it accurately describes what is going on in our society today. Certain people assume these psychological stereotypes to be true for all people, which is not necessarily the case. Before learning about social psychology in class, I never truly thought of gender roles and stereotypes to psychological topic and concern. However, learning this opened up my mind to think of this topic in a new light and from a new perspective. I have listened to this song many times before but after learning about

stereotyping in class and hearing the song again, I was able to make the connection that it is clearly describing the typical stereotypes associated with males and females in our current society. I believe that this song is a clear example of a piece of media that relates to the gender stereotype topic we have discussed in our psychology class....