In the recent episode of Tyler Perry's The Haves and the Have Nots (HAHN) – a television drama on the OWN network – the Cryer and Harrington families portrayed the lives of rich, upper class families dealing with issues such as suicide and homosexuality. These two topics have been the focus of much media attention over the past few years. Mental health impacts a significant portion of the population and does not discriminate against racial or cultural groups. However, some groups are less likely to seek out therapy or professional help to cope with life stress. Those close to me know that I consume a lot of my free time being a “t.v. junkie”. That is when not busy with work or other professional leadership duties. With that being said, the last episode of the HAHN (which happened to be titled – In Crisis) had me on the edge of my sofa with my mouth agape. The HAHN has been one of my favorite shows since it first began. Tyler Perry has done an amazing job crafting the characters and the plot for each episode. As I watched the “In Crisis” episode this week, I could not help but to put my “psychologist cap”. Sorry to spoil it for you if you haven’t seen this season or the most recent episode. There was so much going on in that episode from the Cryer family coping with the death of their daughter Amanda to the Harrington family being divided about accepting their son Jeffrey’s sexual orientation. The show concluded with David Harrington pleading with his wife (Veronica) to not push their son to be straight because it may result in him committing suicide due to the pressure. At that point, I could not help but see the reality that so many people especially African Americans face when it comes to coming out to their family. In the African American community, the church is often an important aspect of life. Yet some in church are unwelcoming to people of different sexual orientations. It is typical that (African American) people don’t talk about sexual orientation or they condemn it (Human Rights Campaign; HRC, 2015). People who come-out, often get the following common reactions from friends or family:
Why is acceptance important? Research notes that for African American gay and bisexual males are significantly affected by negative consequences (e.g., poor mental health, sexually transmitted infections) that contribute to risk of poor health and this stress impacts their overall well-being (personal communication, Wilson, September 2014). The American Medical Association states that most the emotional problems among gay and lesbians is due to alienation/unacceptance in their environment. You can probably now see why David wants his wife to also accept their son. I can’t wait to see how things turn out for the Harrington family. If you have a child who has come-out or know of someone else who has dealt this coming out, here are some resources that may be helpful:
Copyright Erlanger A. Turner, Ph.D. 2015 Follow me on Twitter @DrEarlTurner for daily post on psychology, mental health, and parenting. Feel free to Like my Facebook page. Read my Psychology Today blog https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-race-good-health/ References: Human Rights Campaign (2015). A resource guide to coming out for African Americans. Retrieved from http://www.hrc.org/resources/entry/resource-guide-to-coming-out-for-african-americans
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One of my current favorite reality shows is Big Brother (which is in it’s 16th season on CBS). I love reality t.v. and I’m not afraid to admit that it’s my guilty pleasure. As psychology professor, people often assume that “you’re inside their mind”. For that exact reason, I rarely tell strangers that I have a Ph.D. in clinical psychology. Over the years, I have mastered the ability to “turn off” making generalizations and interpreting observations of friends and family members in social situations. Truth be told, psychologists are experts in behavior and it’s hard to not make observations. In my mind, Big Brother could be considered one of the biggest social psychology experiments. There is so much data about social interactions and the art of persuasion. The show is very interesting and comedic. Which is the main reason that I watch it. Only after the episode tonight did it dawned on me that “this is really a great example of psychology in action”. Having just finished teaching a summer class on Introduction to Psychology, these concepts are fresh on my mind. So why not examine the psyche of Big Brother? If we took an in-depth look inside the minds of the players we could see so many psychology concepts played out on the screen. If you’re a fan of the show you know that Big Brother participants and past winners pride themselves on “playing a good social game” to make it to the end of the show. From a psychological perspective, social influence is the process of people directly or indirectly influencing the behaviors, feelings, and thoughts of other individuals. Clearly, Big Brother demonstrates a lot of social influences on the show. These influences range from being the H.O.H (head of household) to Power of Veto holder. Often these social exchanges are influenced by persuasion, which is the process by which one person tries to change the beliefs, opinions, positions, or course of action of another person through arguments, pleading, or explanations. Persuasion is not a simple matter and takes skill. Some of the best Big Brother players in this season and past winners have demonstrated extraordinary persuasive skills. According to the scientific literature on persuasion, there are several factors that become important when examining the art of persuasion. Some key factors demonstrated on Big Brother include:
So many social phenomena were displayed on Big Brother. On a recent episode, you could have count on more than one hand the concepts I explicitly discussed above. The recent show (about a week ago) concluded with a climatic ending when Nicole was literally thrown under the bus or in psych terms “was the scapegoat”. The scapegoat is a social psychology term that describes a person or a group (typically a member of an out-group) who serves as the target for the frustrations and negative emotions of the in-group (the in-group being the Bomb Squad and Detonators). Somehow, the in-group persuaded (Christine, current H.O.H) to put Nicole on the block. Big Brother is a complex show and as they say “expect the unexpected”. You have to be a very intelligent player on some level to end up in the final two. It makes me wonder, how many producers of Big Brother have degrees in psychology? Copyright 2014 Erlanger A. Turner, Ph.D. Be sure to follow me on Twitter (www.twitter.com/drearlturner) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/DrEarlTurner). Join the conversation and discuss other topics related to parenting, mental health, wellness, and psychology. Also visit my blog on Psychology Today called Race to Good Health. |
AuthorDr. Turner is a licensed psychologist with expertise in behavioral pediatrics, child mental health, disruptive behavior disorders, and minority mental health. He is also certified as a National Register Health Service Psychologist. Archives
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