The difficult choice: “Abnormality to freedom”
Topic:
As we know, North Korea is a "particular" country in Asia because the country does not have normal mental systems, suitable laws and rights, a concept of human rights. Many citizens want to leave the country to lead a normal life and South Korea is their first considerable objective for them to choose and leave (same language and habits). The topic of this research proposal is to investigate and analyze the changes of mental health in defectors of North Korea (compare and contrast the two experiences).
Definition:
"In politics, a defector is a person who gives up allegiance to one state in exchange for allegiance to another, in a way which is considered illegitimate by the first state. More broadly, it involves abandoning a person, cause, or doctrine to which one is bound by some tie, as of allegiance or duty."
Hypothesis:
Defectors can reduce their mental stress and experience a feeling of "normalcy" when they settle down in South Korea.
Notice:
The topic - preferentially - considers defectors who are willing to participate in the survey. For this survey, the workers of the topic have professional methods (such as knowing how to use psychological measures) and choose suitable problems to ask (avoid the problems which will affect the results of the survey).
Method and Process:
The workers will use survey research to investigate the willing defectors. The main thing worthwhile is that they take the form of oral investigations. Because the defectors don't have the suitable levels of education, oral investigations are good methods for the experiment. The process is that two workers investigate one defector in a quiet investigating room. One worker asks some suitable problems, the other records the performance of the investigated defector.
Preliminary Research's Result and Discussion:
Actually, most defectors have explained they are lucky and feel more normal than before. Because they keep away from abnormal mental systems, ridiculous laws and unmeaning concepts of human rights. Even if they will have the stress of living in the future in South Korea, they also have the probability to have a normal life.
For this topic, we can recognize why normal mental health systems are extremely important and valuable. A normal nation should have its own mental health systems which can help citizens to have a stable status and orientation of daily life. The international society should take more measures to protect and improve their rights.
A satellite photo of the Korean Peninsula that shows the bright lights
of South Korea and China compared to the blackness of North Korea at night. (Photo: Flickr)
The Foundations of Prejudice
Prejudice is a common word in our daily life, no one can deny it. We may not be satisfied with something or some people. Different things can lead to prejudice, for example, education, media, identity, nation, and religion. (American Psychological Association, 2004)
The presidential election of 2020 is a good example to show prejudice as presidential candidates promote their public policies through the media to attract voters. Voters can express their behaviors - studied by social neuroscience - as they become very satisfied with the candidates they support, being biased against those who they do not support. (American Psychological Association, 2019)
I am very interested in the prejudice created by the media and the changes in the voters themselves looked at in social neuroscience. “Social neuroscience seeks to identify the neurological basis of social behavior.” The behavior relating to the amygdala being especially responsive to threatening, unusual, or highly arousing stimuli. (American Psychological Association, 2020)
This can explain why voters are prejudiced and express prejudicial behaviors. Voters receive the information of public policies - brought by the media - and their amygdala is affected by such information stimuli, being likely to express it in their behaviors. (American Psychological Association, 2020)
On the other hand, the function of information is divided into two kinds of stimuli which are positive and negative. The negative function may be a part of prejudice. Thus, we can find social neuroscience looking at prejudice “advance the psychological understanding of intergroup processes.”
First Memory
Some researchers have suggested that memories are linked to language development. Language allows children to share and discuss the past with others, enabling memories to be organized in a personal autobiography. My first memory is connected with language, I am willing to share it.
At the time, I was 5 years old. My parents took me to Hong Kong Disneyland. I embraced it with many of its Disney characters, I really like the sense of embracing. But Winnie is the most unforgettable of all the characters, I always want to embrace Winnie again.
As we were prepared to leave, I didn’t wanna leave. So my parents decided to take me to a Disney shop to buy my favorite thing to commemorate the wonderful trip. I had to accept and wanted to buy the model of Winnie.
When we arrived at the shop, I asked the clerk whether the shop could provide the model of a Disney character. At that time, I realized I didn’t know the name of the character and became more nervous. I thought I shouldn’t lose the chance of having the model. So I told the clerk: "I can say some details about the character."
She believed that was a good idea from me being a child. I described some important parts of Winnie through color, eyes and clothing and she wasn’t confused anymore. After that, she took me to the cupboard. When I saw Winnie in the cupboard, I felt extremely excited. I chose one of my favorite kind and purchased it. Finally, she told me the name of the character and I will never forget it.
My first memory is connected with language, I made full use of it to do an interesting thing. If I would not have my memory and language, I would have felt sad. On the other hand, thanks for the patient attitude of the clerk. Time flies, I grew a lot. I never changed my love for Winnie.