Social Environment

Response Guidelines

Respond to a fellow learner who either identified a cognitive factor that you missed, or whose answers to either of the other two questions differed from your own.

· In the first case, discuss your response: Is that cognitive factor actually at play? If so, why do you think you missed it? If not, support your explanation with examples from the text or the movie itself.

· In the second case, discuss the differences: What might be influencing the difference in perception? Support your answer as above.

PEER POSTED:

An individual’s social environment can have a severe impact on their behaviors. An individual’s social environment can have a severe impact on one’s inherited make-up which predisposes the individual’s behavior in a particular way. Another way the social environment can influence one’s behavior is through biological factors. In the movie Joe the King, each family member has different cognitive issues. Human social behavior develops under the influence of genetic, environmental, and cultural factors (Skuse & Gallagher, 2011). Furthermore, Social cognition comprises our ability to understand and respond appropriately to other people’s social approaches or responses. According to Albarracín & Wyer, 2000 cognitive factors can affect an individual’s performance either positively or negatively.

Both of Joe’s parents, Bob, and Theresa, displayed cognitive issues such as attention, memory, and reasoning. Joe’s father has an alcohol addiction. It was not disclosed what led to Joe’s father’s alcoholism. Due to social factors and stressors, Joe’s father drinks excessively. Joe’s mother, Theresa, isolates herself from her family, which could be from the verbal abuse from her husband. Because of this, Joe and Mike have a distant relationship with their mother. Mike, the eldest of the children, struggles to create relationships with peers. At this stage, Mike is unsure how to develop appropriate relationships with peers. Mike has never seen a functional relationship with his parents, which is why he is unable to develop relationships. Lastly, the younger child, Joe, has experienced neglect emotional, mental, and physical abuse throughout his life. Because of this abuse, Joe developed anxiety, depression, and other inappropriate behaviors. Joe shows signs of cognitive issues while at school with memory and attention. This caused Joe to pull away from developing appropriate relationships with others and isolate himself from building a healthy relationship.

All the above factors can influence family dynamics. Although each person is their person, the family dynamic can negatively affect an entire family.