Trayvon Martin Seligmans 'Black Lives Matter'

Psychology Writing Assignment In Psychology, “learned helplessness” is considered a mental state where an organism has learned to act or behave helpless in a particular situation, even though it may have the power to change the harmful and unpleasant circumstances. American psychologist Martin Seligman has linked this psychological condition to clinical depression and has even considered it a mental illness. Recently in the media, a movement called Black Lives Matter has been nationally recognized. It began in 2013 after the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, an African-American teenager. Between 2014 and 2016, several African American men have been shot and killed by police officers, which in turn has sparked several Black Lives Matter protests across the country. The Black Lives Matter campaign has transformed from a public outcry into a national movement, for the entire world to see. Jamal and Michael
have more than likely developed “learned helplessness” from this international movement. Growing up in a world where it seems that African-American men of color are being shot and killed simply because of the color of their skin. Seeing in the media how on August 9, 2014 in Ferguson, Missouri, Michael Brown was killed. Brown was eighteen at the time and was shot and killed by a police officer, Darren Wilson. Wilson fired a total of twelve shots after Mike Brown had turned to face the officer and moved toward him. Witnesses reported Michael had his hands up in surrender when he was shot, which sparked the “Hands up, Don’t shot” chant. Jamal and Michael probably believed that weather they followed the officers orders or not they were still in harm’s way. Especially when the media has shown that many individuals just like them, just like Mike Brown, followed the officer’s orders and were still murdered in cold blood. Essentially they just gave up, they no longer believed that the police officers had their safety in mind.
Being that the two officers who actually did shoot Jamal and Michael were just suspended with pay, I believe they were reinforced. Whereas the officer who did not fire his weapon, but was fired, is being punished. Both reinforcement and punishment can be positive and negative, it just depends on what the end result will be and how it will affect the individual’s initial behavior. The officer who was relieved from his job with the police force was punished negatively. His job was taken immediately after his involvement in the shooting. Although, he did not fire his weapon he was there and played a part in the shooting. The punishment may have been harsh compared to the other officers, but it will more than likely result in him thinking twice before he makes the same mistake. The officers who were suspended with pay were positively reinforced. They were the officers who actually fired their weapons and put Jamal and Michaels lives in danger. Instead of them being fired they were just placed on paid administrative leave. They are still receiving an incentive although their behavior is considered unacceptable. Because they are still being paid it is likely that they will not think twice to do the same thing again once they are reinstated. Because in their mind they believe they can do it again and not lose their jobs. In the research study, the independent variable would be the cultural sensitivity training for the police.
The dependent variable would be the number of young black men who were, subsequently, shot. Cultural sensitivity training is independent because it can stand alone in the research study, it does not change based on the number of men shot. However, the number of black men shot depends on if officers went through the training and can comprehend it. I believe if more police academies required officers to participate in a cultural sensitivity training course, it would allow them to understand and become aware that there are cultural differences and similarities among people. We do not always need to assign a positive or negative, right or wrong, better or worse value. It would teach officers how to deal with different ethnic backgrounds that they are not so familiar with. The hypothesis would be the more officers who participate in the training and become more aware, the less number of young black men would lose their
lives.