Category: Social Psychology

When Is Emotion “Real”? AI, Condolences, and the Social Rules of Caring

On By Karen SternheimerIn Monica Radu, Social Problems, Politics, and Social Change, Social Psychology, TheoryLeave a comment

By Monica Radu

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Imagine someone losing a loved one and you send them a message generated by AI. Even if the words are thoughtful and appropriate, something about it might feel… off. Maybe even a little cold. I think we would tend to read that act as impersonal, as if the emotion doesn’t fully “count.”

But many of us routinely send sympathy cards, often prewritten, mass-produced messages crafted by strangers. We buy them, sign our names, and send them as gestures of care. Socially, that feels completely acceptable. In fact, the greeting card industry is enormous. Americans purchase billions of greeting cards each year, and companies like Hallmark and American Greetings have built entire industries around helping people communicate emotions ranging from love and celebration to sympathy and grief.

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Be Selfish: Volunteer

On By Karen SternheimerIn Karen Sternheimer, Social Institutions: Work, Education, and Medicine, Social Psychology1 Comment

By Karen Sternheimer

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We all know that volunteering is good for the group or organization we are helping. They get our free labor, leaving more specialized tasks for paid employees.

But what if you could gain more from volunteering than you give? Would that make you more likely to share your limited amount of free time?

As a perpetually busy person, I have often shied away from volunteering my time. This year I have volunteered to be on two non-work-related committees and for a trail race organization. It helps to share your time for a cause or activity that you care about. I remember decades ago, my grandfather, an avid golfer, volunteered to be an usher at a PGA tournament in his area. He talked about meeting the pro-golfers at the tournament for years after. He saw a few hours of his time as a very small price to pay for an opportunity to be in the same place as famous golfers.

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Social Comparison: It’s Not Just on Instagram

On By Karen SternheimerIn Behind the Headlines, Karen Sternheimer, Social Problems, Politics, and Social Change, Social Psychology1 Comment
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By Karen Sternheimer

There is no shortage of hand-wringing about social media sites like Instagram enabling people to compare themselves with others, presumably leading to outcomes like depression and other mental health challenges.

But social media did not start social comparison—it is woven into the fabric of many of our social institutions. As it is relatively new, social media gets the lion’s share of attention, focusing on how it operates and its constant accessibility. The algorithms, the devices, the newness drives attention and criticism.

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Driving While Human

On By Karen SternheimerIn Karen Sternheimer, Social Problems, Politics, and Social Change, Social PsychologyLeave a comment

By Karen Sternheimer

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When driving, we interact with other drivers in ways that are often distinct from our other interactions with strangers in public. For one, our language is more limited and less nuanced than in other interactions. We might use hand gestures (friendly and rude), flashing lights, or in extreme cases, aggressive maneuvers like tailgating, weaving, or slowing down to irritate the driver behind us. Whether we are aware or not, we are in constant communication.

Sociologists consider how our interactions produce meaning during social encounters. We often come to an agreement on these meanings, as our definition of the situation is rooted in social and cultural contexts. Driving necessitates social agreements—some mandated by law, others by custom. We need to agree what side of the road to drive on, when to proceed through an intersection, and how fast to drive. We need to communicate through our cars, which come equipped with turn signals, hazard lights, and horns. Newer vehicles tell us when a car is in our blind spots, when it is unsafe to change lanes, or show us what is behind us.

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The Quiet Stigma of Being an “Older Mom”: Shame, Social Clocks, and Identity

On By Karen SternheimerIn Monica Radu, Relationships, Marriage and Family, Social PsychologyLeave a comment

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By Monica Radu

When actress Claire Danes recently talked about becoming a mom again in her mid-40s, she described a mix of joy, shame, and the subtle shock people express when they hear she has a newborn at 44. It struck a chord with me because the reactions she described felt familiar. I’m 41, and the other day someone casually asked if I was my toddler’s grandmother.

The moment that question landed, I experienced what sociologists call the looking-glass self—the idea that we form our sense of ourselves by imagining how others see us and then reacting to that imagined judgment. In that moment, I wasn’t just thinking about my own age; I was picturing what they must have been thinking about me. I laughed it off, but internally I went into a spiral: Do I look that old? Why did that bother me so much? And why do other people’s assumptions have so much power over how we see ourselves?

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Unwritten Rules: What to Say (and What Not to Say) to Someone Dealing with Loss

On By econnellIn Karen Sternheimer, Social Psychology, Theory1 Comment

By Karen Sternheimer

Many of our social interactions are guided by unwritten rules. But sometimes we don’t know what to say when someone experiences a profound loss, or the words others use in attempt to provide comfort can miss the mark.

Writing in the nineteenth century, sociologist Émile Durkheim described anomie as a breakdown of social rules during times of rapid change. While he was focused on macro-level changes, and how we communicate about loss is more micro-level, we can borrow his insights. After all, in the U.S. we tend to avoid talking about death and thus might not know how to do so even if we want to.

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Humans, Dogs, and Social Interaction

On By econnellIn Cities and Urbanization, Lisa Smith, Social Psychology2 Comments

By Lisa Smith

When I hear someone refer to their dog as a “fur baby” I cringe. Apparently, I’m not alone. I recently came across a reddit thread titled r/Dog-free, where someone posted, “There is no such thing as a dog ‘parent.’” Another user said, “Anyone who thinks owning a chihuahua is the equivalent of being a father or mother is mentally ill and should be shunned by polite society.”

As a parent of two human children and an owner of one dog, I can attest that parenting and dog owning are not the same thing. I don’t know if the extreme social sanctions proposed by this disgruntled poster are quite in line with the offense. That said, it got me thinking about the ways we work out what human and dog relations mean through social interaction—online and off.

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Do Freebies Build Communities?

On By econnellIn Cities and Urbanization, Karen Sternheimer, Social Psychology2 Comments

By Karen Sternheimer

The community where I live now is littered with Little Free Libraries, small boxes containing books for passers-by to take, and presumably also leave used books in as well. While taking walks in my new neighborhood, I started noticing that these little boxes are everywhere. I’ve also spotted a Free Blockbuster box in former newspaper boxes painted with the now defunct Blockbuster Video colors and logo. These boxes apparently contain DVDs and VHS tapes that are free for the taking.

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We Need More Empathy for the Emotions of Animals

On By econnellIn Social Problems, Politics, and Social Change, Social Psychology3 Comments

By Amanda Gernentz, Sociology Graduate Student, Texas Woman’s University

There is an episode of the kid’s show Rugrats that is burned into my brain. It’s called “A Dog’s Life,” and features scenes from the Pickles family dog’s point of view.

Spike (the dog) continually tries to protect baby Dil from a contraption that his father, Stu, built for him to play in, despite being repeatedly scolded. When the audience hears things from Spike’s point of view, the words the humans speak are gibberish (other than his name), but the tone is clear. You can feel Spike’s emotions, how he hates getting in trouble, but he is so loyal to his small companion that he continually risks the scolding. It really shaped my childhood understanding of the life of a pet and showed me what love and loyalty were from a companion animal.

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Becoming a Group Member

On By econnellIn Karen Sternheimer, Social Psychology10 Comments

By Karen Sternheimer

I have recently become a member of a group, joining my local trail running community. The process of joining a new group got me thinking about the sociological processes involved in becoming a member of a group, a long tradition in sociology. Understanding that we are more than just individuals navigating the world around us is a core component of the sociological imagination.

Sociologists spend a lot of time thinking about social groups; it is the foundation of the discipline, and some of the most seminal work in sociology is all about the significance of the groups to which we belong. Emile Durkheim was interested in social cohesion and how connected we are to the society around us, as well as how we divide up tasks among social groups—his focus in The Division of Labor in Society. Most introduction to sociology books will have a chapter on groups, sometimes small or large if the book focuses on organizations. Max Weber’s focus on bureaucracy highlights the way that power and authority is transmitted through large-scale organizations.

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