Do you feel like you belong? and if you do, where do you see yourself belonging?

Social Identity theory is an individual's sense of identity defined in terms of a larger social group to which the individual owes allegiance. A good example is an athletic team on UMD. You see yourself a member of the UMD community but you also identify yourself as a separate member of the athletic team. You have a tendency to behave in a different manner depending on if your surrounded by members of the athletic team. That is because you feel that you belong you have a urge to act in an acceptable manner that fits the norms of that group.

According to the article "Social Identity theory and the Organization" by Blake E Ashforth and Fred Mael states that people tend to classify themselves and others into various social categories that has to do with organizational memberships such as religious affiliation, gender and age. SIT doesn't only work on how the individuals views themselves but also how others see him. This means that if I see someone that belongs to the UMD athletic team I will expect a certain behaviors that fit members of that group.

Everyone turned against me. They were no longer my teammates...my allies. I felt that I lost everything but I still had one thing left. The strength...of my soul.

It was a coup and I was being dethroned. I couldn't remember how many people I took down. I was just so tried. Why did this have to have happen. "Argh!"

The scene changes to Matthew in purgatory giving a powerful bellow. The numbers were overwhelming but Matthew had no equal. The corpses stripped him of his swards yet he still fought. One of his horns had been broken off yet he continued. The world of purgatory and memory seem to flip back and forth. Matthew became Matthew. They both reached for the broken on that was on the ground. He turned around and pierced...her.

"Why? What was she doing here...Julia!" A scream so heart-wrenching fill the scene and everything came to a standstill.

"This is the truth you've sought. It must have been a relief when she died" Said the Voice.

"NO!" shouted Matthew

"She took everything away from you. Deep down you hated her.

"You're wrong!" he said crying

-Matthew, Matthew, MATTHEW!-

If I believe I can then that must mean I CAN! That is the power of self-efficacy. According to Bandura, the "Path between cognition and behavioral outcome is mediated by perceptions of efficacy. A conviction that one can successfully execute the behavior required to produce the outcomes.

According an article on Social Cognitive Theory says that learning is a function of the extent to which individuals are able to reflect upon and internalize their own successes and failures. An example they use is reading a book about driving a car, If a certain number of simulations are done then this will improve the users self-efficacy. Thus when it comes time to drive an actual car then they are more likely to succeed.

Haha self-efficacy. If I didn't envision my self making the jump first before I actually did it I
don't know how it would have turned out.

What are you waiting for?" said the voice.

"You expect me to cross that!?" he asked

"You won't answers don't you?" he chucked

Matthew began stretching and envisioning himself making the jump.

"I'm ready!" Matthew yelled.

Matthew steps back and runs to the edge and jumps. Time seemed to slow down. He looked as if he was walking on air. Closer and closer he got until he started to lose height. Matthew began to hurdle down to the inferno below. His skin began to peel off and his body became charred from the heat.

"What's wrong, you made it?" said the voice.
Matthew was clinging to the edge and pulled himself up.

"How..did I make it?" he said exhaustedly

"Good... now onward!"

"Che. You don't have to remind me."

What exactly is presence? According to Lombard & Dittion's definition it is a medium that becomes invisible and produces a perceptual illusion of non-medication. What exactly does that mean? Well, I'm glad you asked. Think of it as the part of space within one's immediate vicinity and to add on to that it also means according to Webster the fact or condition of being present. So, to end my long explanation Presence is the sensation of feeling something is there within an environment that is also within your vicinity.

As I learn in Edward Down's class there are 6 conditions that generate presence.

1.Presence as Social Richness
2.Realism
3. Transportation
4. Immersion
5. Social actor within a medium
6. Medium as a social actor

This conditions often lead to loss of time, motion sickness, and seamless travel between real & virtual environment.

When will I wake up...or am I already awake. Where am I going and when will I stop falling.

"I wonder what brought me here." A man can be seen falling into a dark abyss. The man's decent begins to slow and stops on solid ground.

"Welcome Matthew, we were wondering when you would arrive.

The man was very ragged looking and seemed to have bloodstains all over his body.

"Why am I here," Matthew asked.

"You are here to remember," said the voice

Matthew looked stunned. "I don't remember how I got here. I was just falling for so long."

Matthew glances at his hands. "Why am I in chains and whose blood is this?"

"All your questions will be answered. Now go!!" bellowed the voice.
Matthew begins to walk forward.

"Many trials await you," said the voice. Matthews's chains unlocked. "Welcome to Purgatory."

What exactly is an Avatar? Is it the above image?

According to the encyclopedia Britannica: In Hinduism, an avatar is the incarnation of a deity in human or animal form to counteract some particular evil in the world. In today's society we may relate avatars to video games. An avatar in a game setting is a virtual representation of the player.

Now, in reference to avatars to the Hegelian dialectic: The player is the thesis or Sein, the original idea, virtual avatar is the antithesis or Nichts, in complete opposition of thesis, and Synthesis or Das werden, a new form. An incorporation of both ideals into a new reinterpretation.

I felt a new strength. It was a feeling that made me feel more than whole. I AM STRONG!!

Spilt Truth

"You've come far" said the voice

The goat man appeared and looked down below to see a sea of corpses.

"The answer lies in there. Are you ready Matthew?

"...Yes" answered Matthew.

Matthew dove off the cliff and landed in the sea of corpses. The copses all converged on him and without any remorse he slaughtered all who drew near him. 3 here, 4 there. Matthew had gain the strength he had longed for. Matthew and Giga-man had become one.

Voice: Das Werden

We all have urges that we feel towards others...some we can more easily express than others.Aggression is any behavior directed toward the goal of harming another living being who is motivated to avoid such treatment. Aggression is one emotion in particular that seems to stem from many sources. Instinct theory states that humans have a biological need for aggression. It becomes stronger as time passes since the last aggressive act. The instinct theory is no t very supported. Human aggression stems from a large number of other factors. Thus simply going on the notion that all aggression is built-in us is fallible.

It was like a dream...haha It felt like someone is giving an narration...

Voice: You're arriving closer and closer.

Don't stop or you'll will fall.

Matthew can be seen climbing a large cliff side. Each new step opens a new wound. Matthew made it to the top and his body was pierce and his spirit was weak. At the top was a man dressed in red garments with a goat's skull covering his face. He carried two swords crossed upon his chest.

Matthew tried to walk past him and but the man took a swing at him. Matthew continued to try to evade but the goat man was relentless. Matthew was trapped and the goat man stood above him. The goat man slammed his foot onto Mathew's chest. He screamed in pain. The goat man drew his face closer to Matthew. Matthew grabbed onto the goat man mask.

"It's not fair," Matthew cried. Why did you have to appear here? Say, something!!

"Strong and brutal..."

"What are you...and that voice?"

"I am you. I am the representation of what you are and what you wish to become. The pinnacle.

"You're wrong!"

"Why do you deny me!" Strength, violence, and dominion over all things. Why do you deny me which dwells in every man. The truth, the truth I am no one but you.
Matthew pulled the mask off and the goat man stepped back.

"No, it's not supposed to be like this. Why are you of all people under there!

The man under the mask was everything Matthew strived to become.

As we see this scene unfolds, what is it saying to you? Do you feel your heart beating faster? Do you want to know why this women was just stabbed and what relationship does she have with both men in this scene? As the plot slowing relieves its self being to become more emotionally attached. This feeling is described as the Drama Theory. As I learn in Edward down's class "as emotional involvement with the plot increases, this facilitates ID with "key" characters." With that being said as involvement increases then the likelihood of the viewer imitating the actions of the character rises. However, can the same be said about the photo below:

Of course we can see the emotion and the energy from the photo but their is no real plot happening. You don't see anything unfold and the only information you get is from the single photo. If it was a series of different photos telling a story then Drama Theory would apply otherwise no dice.

Seems like my whole life has come to an end...my hope...dreams...love... I wonder how it all came to this moment. Maybe you can tell me from my blog posts just who am I?

Is the above image you when your team isn't doing the best? Well, then you just might be CORFing!!!

Corfing or Cutting Off Reflected Failure is the opposite of Birging in which one disassociates themselves from an object that may present them in a negative light. This is related to our need for self-preservation. As the article "The Third-person and First-person effects of sports fandom" by John S. Spinda states that one severs any association with those who have failed, in the interest of avoiding negative evaluation by third parties and even by oneself.

The best example is that of Minnesotans and their NFL team-The Vikings. They all know that their team is just going to lose it in the end. Yet time and time again they wear their purple jerseys and say "Our team is going to win this time" and then the next day there is no sight of purple to be found anywhere. That my friend is Corfing at it's best.

I remember my first Corfing experience and it will forever be burn into my heart.

Fall from Grace

It's becoming clearer and clearer to me. Look at what I've become, a monster. I remember when everyone used to praise me after a fight.

Did you hear? We beat that school, we beat this guy. We, I would laugh. I did all the work but I was happy nonetheless. That all changed the day I met her. She was the one who brought calamity into my life. News spread fast that we had lost to an all-girl gang. The we's became theys; then suddenly no one believed in us anymore. A group of guys from my school came and challenged me.

They said our school doesn't need someone as soft as me leading them. I beat the shit out of all of them. They wanted to take my spot as boss and with only that amount of power. I felt anger so deep inside of me. I was angry not at what they said but what they represented, me. That woman took everything away that I built but she gave me something valuable in return.

"Hey Matthew" A female voice called out to him.

She gave me love...

"Is this something Giga-man would do?

How many of our friends have we seen go through this phenomena. There is just something about living vicariously off of someones successes that just feels great.This phenomena is called Birging-Basking In Reflective Glory. According to the article "The Third-person and First-person effects of sports fandom" by John S. Spinda states that Birging occurs when that they can share in the glory of someone else with whom they are in some way associated. In the article they did an experiment and found that students at several colleges with nationally ranked football teams had a tendency to wear school-related clothes after a victory by each of their respective teams.

Birging...It's something I have experienced first hand. I don't know when it started. Fight after fight I emerged the victor. I would walk back to school and see guys wearing the same kind of haircut as me and I would hear them referencing lines from Giga-man. "Did you hear, we beat that school and we beat this school" Where exactly did this we come from? Though I can't say I wasn't happy about it and soon others joined me in my journey to reach my idol. It was the beginning of the end...

Monkey see, Monkey do and we all enjoy what Monkeys do!

As much as we like to say a majority of our learning is from textbooks I think we can all agree that most of the things we learn through life is by watching others. That's where Social Cognitive Theory(SCT) comes to play. SCT stems from observational learning theory and is based on individuals learning the behaviors and results of others by observation(Bandura 2002).

According to the article "Increased computer use by adolescents cause for concern" talks about how researchers have found a strong correlation between computer and internet use and risking behaviors such as drug use, unprotected sex, etc(Increase computer).The article stated that the number of exposures to said behavior determines the likeliness of the behavior being imitated . In there research they said "adolescents are exposed to considerable screen time--over 4.5 hours on average each day--they're constantly seeing images of behaviours they can then potentially adopt."

So, It's easy to say that if 4.5 hours is enough to for someone to adopt a behavior then being exposed to over 15 years of an behavior is enough to create a lifestyle. I devoted my life to becoming like Giga-man. Spending over 131,400 hours of someone's life and tell me: "At what point could I and those around me not tell the difference between us?"