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Harold Spooner Fishers high school iNDIANA

Integrating psychological perspectives: how the biopsychosocial model can be used to explain islamophobia. Harold Spooner Fishers high school iNDIANA. Learning Objectives: Indiana state standards.

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Harold Spooner Fishers high school iNDIANA

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  1. Integrating psychological perspectives: how the biopsychosocial model can be used to explain islamophobia Harold Spooner Fishers high school iNDIANA

  2. Learning Objectives: Indiana state standards • P.1.2 Explain the reasons and approaches for studying the methodology of psychology; past and present. • P.1.9 Analyze human behavior from modern day perspectives in psychology. • P.7.6 Explain how stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination influence behavior.

  3. Information on Muslims in America • Before we delve into the psychology, there are a lot of common misconceptions about Islam and Muslims in America today (which is the point of this presentation). So I will try to provide a snapshot of Muslims in America, as well as some information on public perceptions, and facts about terrorism and violent crimes in America.

  4. Snapshot of Muslims in America

  5. The number of fatalities from terrorist acts in 2018 was 35 percent higher than the year before, and the 4th highest since 1970 • From 2009-2018 right wing extremist accounted for 73% of these deaths • Islamists accounted for 23% • Left wing extremists accounted for 3%

  6. Conclusions? • Muslims are a very diverse group in our country, are discriminated against, and account for roughly ¼ of terrorist acts in the last decade. • So why do some people have such strong opinions about Muslims?

  7. What is the Biopsychosocial model? • There are many different approaches to studying psychology. One such model (typically used to explain mental health) is the biopsychosocial model • Simply put, our biological make up interacts with our cognitive (thinking) processes and our social influences (peer groups, media, culture, etc.) to form a certain behavior, thought process, or belief.

  8. What is islamophobia? • In short, Islamophobia is anti–Muslim racism. • At length, Islamophobia is a fear, hatred, or prejudice toward Islam and Muslims that results in a pattern of discrimination and oppression

  9. How are the two related? • Let’s start with biology

  10. Biological perspective • First, it is important to remember that human beings share 99.9% of the same DNA. • “If the genome were a book, every person's book would contain the same paragraphs and chapters, arranged in the same order. Each book would tell more or less the same story. But my book might contain a typo on page 303 that yours lacks.”

  11. Biological perspective • It’s also important to remember, that information travels through each and every one of our nervous systems the exact same way, and baring disability, incoming stimuli is essentially received the same way as well

  12. Biological perspective: Studies • There have been studies that link the emotion of hate to biological correlates: • Zeki and Romaya (2008): when flashed faces of people they hated, subjects showed activity in parts of the frontal lobe associated with fear, aggression, anger, and danger. Thus implying we are “hard-wired” for hate • Sapolsky (2017): when flashed the face of someone of a different race, areas in the amygdala associated with fear, anxiety, and aggression are activated. Thus implying members of our out-group are at a molecular level eliciting fear in us

  13. Biological perspective • So if we are all basically the same and we take in information the same way, it must be what we do with the information that leads to stereotypes and prejudices right?

  14. cognitive perspective • That’s where the cognitive perspective (or psycho in the biopsychosocial model) comes in. • Cognitive psychology is how we use, store, and process information. It is simply put, how we think

  15. Cognitive Perspective • The brain receives millions of pieces of information per second • Because of this, we are cognitive misers, we seek to sift through this countless amount of information as quick as we can. WE HAVE TO!!

  16. Cognitive perspective: studies • Thus, enter Tversky and Kahneman’s (1974) research • Availability heuristic: people predict the frequency of an event based on how easily an example can be brought to mind • Representativeness heuristic: people make a decision by comparing the present situation to the most representative mental prototype • Keegan and Morris (2018): based on these heuristics, people are far more likely to assume a Muslim criminal is a terrorist, and less likely to be mentally ill

  17. Cognitive perspective • So how do we sift through this info so fast? It’s based on our experience

  18. Sociocultural Perspective • Sociocultural factors play the biggest role in what information we take in. These are heavily influenced by the company we keep, the culture we grow up in ,and the media (in all forms) that we consume. • Unfortunately, there are numerous sources of misinformation of what Islam is and what Muslims in America represent

  19. Sociocultural perspective: Studies • Considine (2017): in recent years, $205 million has been spent by anti-Muslim groups to spread fear of Muslims. • In 2011 and 2012 78 bills or amendments designed to denigrate Islamic religious practices were introduced in 29 states • Between 2011 and 2015, attacks made by Muslims received on average 449% more coverage than attacks carried out by non-Muslims • Through “racial formation” the media has made the average American equate Arab with Muslim • In a study looking at over 1000 films that depict Arabs, 932 depict them in a stereotypical or negative light, 12 have a positive depiction. • Sides and Gross (2013): News stories about Muslims often involved crisis, war, and conflict. Even though over half are neutral or positive nearly all contained the words “fundamentalist,” “militant,” “terrorist,” “radical,” or “extremist.”

  20. So how is all this linked? • The three perspectives interact with each other, so this is not a linear concept. But to demonstrate, I will use a linear example: • A person gets misinformation from the media about Muslims (social)  He now uses this information to develop heuristics about Muslims (cognitive) Fear of Muslims develops and when presented with someone he perceives is Muslim, biological alarms go off in his brain (biological) • Each perspective only serves to perpetuate and strengthen each other in this process

  21. The good news • Our brains can be re-wired through knowledge and experience, unfortunately it takes a lot of hard work to do so because we are cognitive misers. • However, it can be done and there are numerous methods for undoing stereotypes and prejudices

  22. Sources • “American Muslim Poll 2019: Predicting and Preventing Islamophobia: ISPU.” Institute for Social Policy and Understanding, 4 June 2019, www.ispu.org/american-muslim-poll-2019-predicting-and-preventing-islamophobia/. • Considine, Craig. The Racialization of Islam in the United States: Islamophobia, Hate Crimes, and "Flying While Brown". 2017. • “GENOME VARIATIONS.” GNN - Genome News Network, www.genomenewsnetwork.org/resources/whats_a_genome/Chp4_1.shtml. • Greenwood, Shannon. “Demographic Portrait of Muslim Americans.” Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project, Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project, 9 Nov. 2017, www.pewforum.org/2017/07/26/demographic-portrait-of-muslim-americans/. • “Islamophobia Is a Closed-Minded Hatred, Fear or Prejudice toward Islam and Muslim.” Islamophobia Is a Closed-Minded Hatred, Fear or Prejudice toward Islam and Muslim, 22 Apr. 2019, www.islamophobia.org/#. • Keegan, Katie, and Wendy L Morris. Mass Murder in the News: How Religion Influences Perception of Terrorism. 2018.

  23. Sources • Kishi, Katayoun. “Assaults against Muslims in U.S. Surpass 2001 Level.” Pew Research Center, Pew Research Center, 15 Nov. 2017, www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/11/15/assaults-against-muslims-in-u-s-surpass-2001-level/. • “Muslim Americans: Immigrants and U.S. Born See Life Differently.” Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project, Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project, 17 Apr. 2018, www.pewforum.org/essay/muslims-in-america-immigrants-and-those-born-in-u-s-see-life-differently-in-many-ways/. • Sapolsky, Robert. “Why Your Brain Hates Other People, And How to Make It Think Differently.” Achaques e Remoques, 5 July 2017, eumeswill.wordpress.com/2017/07/05/why-your-brain-hates-other-people-and-how-to-make-it-think-differently/. • Serwer, Adam. “The Terrorism That Doesn't Spark a Panic.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 28 Jan. 2019, www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/01/homegrown-terrorists-2018-were-almost-all-right-wing/581284/. • Sides, John, and Kimberly Gross. Stereotypes of Muslims and Support for the War on Terror. 29 May 2013. • Zeki, Semir, and John Paul Romaya. “Neural Correlates of Hate.” PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0003556.

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