SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY THEORIES TO SOCIAL ISSUES: An Analysis of ‘New Stu’ Scenario

Stu Rasmussen, the palace theater co-owner was experiencing gender complexities since he was 15 years old. Stu began by shaping up his nails, and soon after, he was dressing like a lady when reporting to collect movie tickets at the theater. However, this did not warrant alarm from the people as they were convinced it was his way of promoting the days event. But things were getting intense for Stu, his gender complexity was growing enormously prompting him to perform mock trails of how people would respond to him having breasts Silverstone Elegron was a small town thus, it was easy for the residents, some of whom were Stu’s movie customers to notice his change. After several successful attempts of walking with a bra, Stu eventually took his life time decision and performed a breast surgery. First, his surgery was coldly accepted by the residents. It went as far as affecting his theater prompting negative impacts to his business, but he couldn’t give up his “dream” of gender transitioning. He knew he’d made a decision and he knew what he wanted. After many years of hoping and reframing his reputation with the people, they finally seem to have forgotten his gender transition mischief and chose him as their mayor.

The society has set standards by which we’re expected to abide. Violation of this societal norms warrants miss judgement and disregard by other members of the society. However, human psychology tends to abide by what is in our favor defying the set social norms. Such action is regarded as social betrayal and cognitive violation of social norms by misusing social information for self enhancement and improvement (The Social Psychology of Good and Evil, Second Edition 2013). Social psychology explores the characteristic violation of social norms through social misconduct and the conformity to social judgement and obedience. Theories of social psychology help to impact this by maintaining an intellectual relationship and focusing on various aspects of an individual and the society (The Social Psychology of Good and Evil, Second Edition 2013).

A major theory of social psychology is the cognitive and interpersonal theory of social psychology. This theory focuses on the processing, storage and application of social information by people. The cornerstone of this theory is the role of the cognitive process to attaining social information, and how it affects our social relationship with others. The manipulation of social information by members of the society is owed to a person’s habits and their long-term goals. Modern theories present habits as reference points for realization of set goals (Wood, 2017). From our scenario, Stu had a habit of shaping his nails and dressing like a lady. Although the people thought he did it for marketing purposes, his habit was motivated by his desire to look like a woman. Stu walked with a bra outside his home to gauge people’s reaction to his woman-like appearance, his actions were a preparation for his eventual surgery that made him a transgender.

Symbolic interaction theory on the other hand focuses on people’s relationship with the society. This theory provides that people are viewed by the society by the interpretation of their gestures, words and actions by members of the society. This theory also provides that people create a self-perspective in other members of the society through how they carry their selves around others (APA Dictionary of Psychology, 2014). In our context, Stu had a good relationship through his interaction with the locals. In his interview, his competitor for the mayor’s seat attests that almost every local knew Stu either from the movie, electrical works or interaction through other channels. However, he seemed to have decanted his relationship with the people after his surgery. This impacted on his theater as parents forbid their children form going to his theater, there were reports of teenagers who passed the theater shouting vulgar words at Stu. Eventually, Stu managed to reframe his image with the people and was elected governor in 2009.

However, theories of social psychology are ameliorated through the concept of love in the society. The triangle of love provides that in to understand love, it should be examined in three concepts of intimacy, passion, and commitment. Whereas this triangle of love has been used in scholarly articles to expresses mutuality in literal love affairs, it can be effectively applied to give a figurative impression of our ‘New Stu’s’ scenario (2014).

The concept of intimacy examines a person’s closeness and bonding with something or other members of the society (2014). New Stu’s podcast envisages a two-way intimacy reciprocated to Stu by the people as well as his intimacy with the concept of being a transgender. On one hand, Stu is highly held by the people for his theater’s operation and his movie marketing prowess. On the other hand, he highly holds his love for being a transgender and is not swindled by the people’s reactions after his surgery.

Stu’s consummation to assume a woman’s physicality is expressed by the passion concept of a love relationship. His eagerness to understand people’s reaction towards his future transgender plans depicts his zeal to look like a woman. On the contrary, the society is passionate to maintain a societal moral standard and takes tough measures of barring children to attend his theater. Stu’s ambition to maintain a good loving relationship with the people is certain with his continued engagement with the people after his surgy which eventually earns him the mayor’s position.

The concept of decision and commitment in love are interdependent. While it is a person’s decision to foster a loving relationship with someone or something, responsibility is bestowed upon both parties to commit to the relationship and maintain it (2014). Stu envisioned being a transgender and his actions were oriented to committing himself to it. His decision to undergo the surgery although regrettable, he was committed to maintaining his transgender state regardless of the hostility he received from the people.

References.

Wood, W. (2017). Habit in Personality and Social Psychology. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 21(4), 389–403. https://doi.org/10.1177/1088868317720362

‌APA Dictionary of Psychology. (2014). APA Dictionary of Psychology. Apa.org. https://dictionary.apa.org/symbolic-interactionism

‌Love. (2014). Robert J. Sternberg. Robert J. Sternberg. http://www.robertjsternberg.com/love

‌The Social Psychology of Good and Evil, Second Edition. (2013). Google Books. https://books.google.co.ke/books?hl=en&lr=&id=1Y2XCwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=social+psychology+&ots=WCUjTgbqBV&sig=y51w2Z_ZKjlelEcAx5iPmhcqqOE&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=social%20psychology&f=false

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