Assignment #4 June 18, 2009 Pt. 1: Chapter 3

Chapter three took me back to psychology research methods and statistics. (Sorry for the continuous psychology references, but it is what I know. Curriculum instruction is still new to me. Thanks for bearing with me). When examining the influence that particular variables have on other variables, a common tactic in psychology is to examine whether there are mediators or moderators that affect the relationships between these variables. For example, a strong positive correlation has been found between ice cream sales and murders. That is, as ice cream sales increase, so does the murder rate of that particular region. One might look at this and conclude that eating ice cream causes people to commit murder, or they may look for a third variable or a moderator or mediator. What also happens while these two things go up is the temperature. So, heat is a moderator for the relationship between ice cream sales and murders. The relationship only exists because the third variable of heat exists. Without heat, there would be no relationship between ice cream and murder. If the relationship were to still exist between ice cream and murders as temperature changes, the temperature would be a mediator, meaning it influences the relationship but is not required for its existence.

I had never imagined the profound influence that popular culture has had on our society and on the world as a whole as both a mediator and a moderator before reading this chapter. If we discuss written song and radio transmission in terms of popular culture, this popular culture could be to thank for the great diversity of thoughts, ideas and interests that exist today. For example, as the chapter details, it was because of radio transmissions that White kids in rural settings knew anything about rhythm and blues. Without this, would everyone simply enjoy the same music because that is all they had access to? Further, these types of mediators created relationships where relations may have been banned from occurring, whether legally or by social norms. For example, groups of people from different races, regions or countries that could not or would not intermingle could share interests, ideas, experiences, similarities and differences through music or stories transmitted over the radio or written on paper. These are relationships that may have never existed had it not been for the spread of popular culture.

Another psychological concept that may come into play here is the contact theory. It could be the exposure to other people’s styles, thoughts or behaviors through popular culture that have helped to bring otherwise segregated people together. The contact theory states that the shear contact that conflicting individuals have with each other in any form can improve their understanding and appreciation for the opposing parties. Perhaps popular culture has helped to bring these conflicting parties together through this first step of mere exposure. The more they hear or read other people’s interpretations of life the more they come to appreciate their similarities and/or difference.

On the flip side of this however, as was discussed towards the end of the chapter, popular music and music videos in general can hinder understanding of and appreciation for other groups of people. In a response to a blog discussion surrounding the video, Tip Drill, I mentioned the importance of this video not being taken as an example of what hip hop music and music videos is defined as. Especially in this genre of popular culture, images and lyrics often serve as negative reinforces of stereotypical images of urban African American young people. Some viewers may look at a video like Tip Drill and say, “see, this is what I am talking about” defending their stereotypical views. These types of videos, while there are plenty of them, most certainly do not represent what hip hop is as a whole and should absolutely never be used to confirm who African American youth are or who they strive to be.

Although I firmly believe what I just stated, to play devil’s advocate against myself, the chapter also stated that images and music exist in certain ways as a response to their target audience. Audiences’ demands mediate how images are presented. If no one wanted or enjoyed Tip Drill it would not exist, essentially. There is plenty of good, clean hip hop gospel to choose from but it is not mainstream because it is not in demand on a whole. Therefore, it could be that the more raunchy versions of hip hop that are displayed indeed reflect those watching or listening because in essence these viewers create these images. I am interested in reading more on this topic to see just how much the viewers are indeed creating these images or vise versa.