Topical Blog - 3/24 10pm

I enjoyed watching this video. I was pleased that I hadn’t already seen it, as I watch series such as these a lot. The video did a good job giving descriptions of gangs in L.A., dynamics between the gangs, dialogue from gang members, and providing a history of the gang life in Los Angeles. It seems that gangs are thought of as such a negative issue and impossible problem to solve that people forget where gangs originated from and how they began (in the form we are now more familiar with). Gangland was able to explain that during the 60s, the different social revolutionary groups that saw a need for change and attempted working towards that change were shut down by law enforcement. Therefore, small groups of individuals began collaborating with each other to protect each other. The initial gang world did not consist of what it does now, and there were not such negative connotations affiliated with gangs as there is now. People paid gang members to protect them and support them, so to speak. Fast forward to present day and the focus of gangs is power, money, and drugs. Many may see egotistical maniacs behind gang membership, but this simple diagnosis fails to see the complexity that lies behind individuals who join gangs and the reasons they join them.

Gangland explained how the primary conflict in the L.A. gangs is between the Latino gangs (Surenos) and the black gangs (Bloods or Crypts). There is a constant fight for power between these two groups and the Latino gangs outnumber the black gangs. The struggle for power has become so severe that Latino gang members have began targeting any black person with violence. Due to the violence becoming so prevalent and effecting so many individuals, the government stepped in with the purpose of implementing a strategy to decrease the violence. The Top Ten Most Wanted of gang members did not go over so well, since it served as a catalyst to more violent acts. Gang members saw the Top Ten as a way to get more prestige or as a badge of honor if they were able to get on this list.

Gangland: Race Wars relates directly to chapter 17. The relationship between anger, hatred, and aggression is at the heart of the complex issue regarding gang life. Gang members hate rival gang members; it’s not that they are just angry at them. They have grown up segregated in the sense of the US and THEM mentality. The neighborhoods are even divided up in a way that separates the groups and it is a learned concept that the “bad” people live on the other side of such and such street. This anger towards THEM for whatever reasons are taught can later turn into hate during adolescence. During this time of adolescence, the individual struggles to be fit into a particular group for protection, survival, or acceptance. It is during this time that the individual is vulnerable to do whatever is necessary to reach those goals. If hating someone or being aggressive towards someone will get them those results and give them a sense of power, pride, or respect it is no wonder the gang lifestyle appears so favorable for some youth. So while I have heard several times from people that gang members are egocentric and the entire lifestyle is seen as stupid and makes no sense…well of course not if you didn’t grow up with those factors, life experiences, or expectations. Killing someone over a crossed out tag or for wearing the wrong color are just some of the unspoken rules that some people grow up with. Not knowing any other way to live is something to be emotional enough about to want to create change, not be critical about and stand in judgment.

The Gangland episode that we watch was very interesting to me. The conflicts between the rival gangs fit in exactly with the theory that was present in Chapter 17. Group A is angered by an action made by group B. Because of a history of hatred between the two groups, group A mutually feels an aggressive response is warranted.
I was especially interested on the personal insight on the gang mentality made by the former gang members themselves. I think this speaks a lot about what the thought process, mentality, and expectations of the gangs are. It also falls inline with the General Aggression Model. The rivalry between the gangs are based on the knowledge structures that each group has about the other. When an act is committed upon one group, the situation combined with each group members' individual personal factors then affect each members' internal states (affect, arousal, and cognition). This then influences appraisal and decision making processes. It is at this point that one or more members of the gang make the decision to retaliate against the opposing gang.
When it comes to my expert topic (PBIS), I do believe that something can be done (if not for the ones who are well integrated into gang activities then to prevent the younger generation from choosing that lifestyle). PBIS is a school-wide program so ultimately, some of these members (particularly the younger ones) do enter into the school environment. The goal of PBIS is to teach culturally-accepted behavioral expectations. Ultimately, this program ends up socializing (and sometimes re-socializing) children how to behave and express their emotions in a positive way. Additionally, at the tertiary tier (the highest and most individualized level of the PBIS program), the students who do not seem to be responding to the more generalized teachings are then evaluated more closely (the functional behavior assessments and other measures) and assessments are made to form a more intense and individualized program to meet the student's needs. At this level, it would not be surprising to find gang members and other aggressive students. Through the assessments, other support and resources (including but not limited to counseling) could be administered.

The Gangland Episode ‘Race War’ was very interesting to watch. I watch this show from time to time and I’m fairly certain I have seen it before. The series Gangland in general, not just this one episode, does an excellent job in getting an inside look into gangs all across the country. For me, what makes the series better than a lot of other programs is the included dialogue from past and present gang members which gives it a ‘true’ look into what gang life really is like. This episode is all about my expert topic of gangs. The episode’s title ‘Race War’ illustrates the main issue the episode was about—conflict between Hispanic gangs (collectively called the Surenos) and black gangs (e.g., Bloods, Crips). The conflict between the two has become so intense that even rival gangs within each race are more concerned about killing off someone outside their race just to gain the upper hand in the struggle for power. One thing I thought was interesting was the fact that even if say a Hispanic gang member was part of a black gang, when he went to prison he’d have to join a Hispanic gang not a black gang because the racial tensions would remain high even in prison. Also, gangs that had recruited people outside their race in the past no longer did that because of the racial war going on. Pretty much everything I’m about to write about for this blog relates directly to my topic. For my expert topic, I wanted to specifically look at information about girl gangs, and of course Gangland has an episode about girls’ involvement in gangs (Season 2 Episode 12 "From Girl to Gangster") which is quite informative on the roles girls and women play in the gangs.

‘Race War” most definitely relates to chapter 17. Chapter 17 focuses on the roles anger and hatred play in situations of intergroup aggression. Intergroup violence/aggression can be over race/ethnicity, religion, neighborhoods/physical space, sexual orientation, gang affiliation, etc. The episode illustrated some type of example related to all of those. Intergroup violence starts out with two+ groups having a conflict with each other in which each side believes they are right and the other side is wrong—the us vs them mentality develops. More often than not, rival gangs have long-standing hatred and anger towards one another which only further supports retaliatory behaviors against each other. Gang members grow up in a gang culture. Many of the gang members who spoke during the episode talked about how they grew up in a neighborhood filled with gang members and it was only natural to want to get in with the gang for various reasons (e.g., bad homelife, family/friend connections, money). The “us vs them” mentality has progressively gotten worse over the years as gangs are becoming more and more involved in the ‘race war’. For example, white people, affiliated or not with a gang, don’t dare cross over the street into a neighborhood of Hispanic gang members because the chance of experiencing death or serious injury is almost 100%.

This episode of Gangland also illustrates some aspects of the General Aggression Model. According to the GAM, ‘aggression depends on how an individual perceives and interprets his/her environment and the people therein…’ . Gang members perceive their environment to be only theirs and will do whatever it takes to keep it that way. Another aspect of the GAM that directly relates to gang violence is the violence escalation cycle. According to the GAM, incidents aggressive/violent in nature occur after a series of conflict-based interactions in which both groups behave in aggressive/violent behavior back and forth. A specific example of gang violence would be the shooting of a rival gang member and the retaliatory behavior of the other gang killing another rival gang member—the cycle continues back and forth.

The episode of Gangland we watched relates well to chapter 17 as both are about intergroup aggression. The goals in these gangs we saw were centered on neighborhood and race. Each gang was one race and the members of a gang lived in the same area. The objective of the gangs was to be feared which creates power. The gang violence started because the gang members felt threatened. The Latinos and blacks both felt like they need to defend themselves. They established dominance by claiming turf, protecting it, and expanding it. They gained power by showing no mercy for those not gang affiliated. They would kill people of a different race (usually between black and Latino) just for being that race and no other reason. They also gained power for showing no fear for being caught or killed. Most of the findings of chapter 17 would suggest that this violence came from a combination of short-term anger and long-term hate. Hate is the key factor in acts harming one because of their race which is why they are called hate crimes. After reading the chapter and thinking about the video I would say that the hate spread. It started out as anger and a need for rights and turned into hatred and feeling threatened. This hatred escalates from between gangs to between races. The gang members begin to associate everyone who is the same race as the enemy with them which spreads the hate. Also, if one gang member is threatened or hurt then all gang members feel that way due to intergroup emotions. The threatened gang members amp up the feud to other gang members so the anger and hate spread throughout the gang also.

The GAM is well explained in the text and works well to explain intergroup violence. The violence escalation cycle persists for 3 reasons. One reason is because of faulty attributions. The gang may see the other gang’s acts as dispositions while they see their own acts as situational. That means that they may see other’s acts as evil and see their own acts as just a reaction to the opposing group. A second reason is because retaliation has been seen to become more aggressive with each act. It’s like if one gang beats up a guy from another gang, his retaliation may be to shoot at the opposing gang members next time. A third reason comes from personal biases of the group. The gang may feel like their actions are justifies while the other gang’s actions are inappropriate.

I can use the GAM to help relate this video to my expert topic (familial influence). In children, the development and use of knowledge structures influence their psychological processes and these knowledge structures come from experience. I’m going to use the example of a young boy having older brothers in a gang. The boy’s experience of hearing his brothers talk about violence against another gang and even witnessing violence may create an automatized response for the boy. When the boy sees a younger brother of a rival gang, the boy may act aggressively toward him for no real reason other than that’s what he has been taught is expected.

The GAM has a model to reduce aggression and violence. The first step is to stop the violence cycle. The question is, how do we do this with gangs? Haven’t we been trying to do that with policing and activists? What would work to end the cycle? I think to end the cycle we have to end the hate between the gangs and to do that we have to find out what is causing the hate. The second step is to ensure that people’s basic needs are met. This may also be hard to do in the neighborhoods where gangs are located. How do we make sure everyone in a community has their basic needs met? Maybe community assistance would help. Maybe a formation of togetherness between communities would help. The third step is to address people’s symbolic needs. I think something that relates to this is the free tattoo removal for ex-gang members that we saw in the video. The tattoos at one point were symbolic and meant something to the person. By getting them removed for free, it is an opportunity to find new symbolic needs.

The episode titled Race War was very interesting in shedding light into what have become the modern gangs that occupy Los Angeles. The video was a documentary depicting gangs rivaling each other and the violence that ensues from it. It was interesting watching the videos in how the gangs actually began: as groups made to protect neighborhoods from outside violence. After time it escalated into a turf war as well as a race war, mainly between the Hispanic and African-American gangs. What once protected now just harmed. And with the introduction of drugs and money into the gangs, any sense of “morals” were completely lost.

Examples of how far the gangs have fallen from their previous goals are shown in the documentary. The first example is the brutal killing of a fourteen year old African-American girl who was playing on her “designated” side of the street (due to the race war, there were sides designated to African-Americans and Hispanics) and was still shot because some men from the Hispanic gang wanted to kill the first African-American person they saw. Another example was the attacking of two Hispanic men, also in public, who also had no affiliation with the gangs. It was shocking seeing the violence that occurs when two large groups of people are against each other and resort to violent ways.

In reading chapter 17, it was easy to see the how it can relate to the video. The documentary is a prime example of how anger is influenced by hatred. The entire conflict has become race-based (which is somewhat political in nature), the external threat of the growing Hispanic gang is causing fear and insecurity, and there seems to be a gargantuan power struggle involved (also from the growing Hispanic gangs). And as mentioned in the video and the book, those without the hatred seem to have no hostility towards members of another race and those not affiliated with the gang members all appear to get along quite well in Los Angeles.

One of the most prominent ideas mentioned within the video that associated directly with the GAM is the idea of the violence escalation cycle. It has now became something neither side can stop doing or they will be labeled weak. Such examples are the tagging of the walls of the cities, with each gang covering up the other gang’s graffiti almost as a taunt. Also, as an unintentional escalation, is the introduction of the most wanted list. It gave gang members incentive to do the most violent things they could think of to be able to move up on the list. We can also use the GAM to better understand how people in gangs became this way, although for most it was just being raised in the group. However, when listening to some of the former gang members speak, it was quite shocking to hear how “normal” they all sounded. It seems quite strange that such capable human beings were violent criminals for such an extended period of time. This is where using the GAM can help. People are provided multiple examples of aggression and violence (especially where it works); deprive them of resources necessary to meet basic needs, and also providing them with a new belief system contrary to society’s. With these sorts of thoughts in mind, it becomes much easier to understand how such a typical person could become engulfed in such a violent group.

I see this kind of intergroup violence as completely different from self or dyadic violence. From the most obvious perspectives, gang violence includes more than one or two people, quite unlike self or dyadic violence. Of course, no matter the situation, harmful behaviors are being acted out which makes any kind of violence coincide with each other. I do think, however, on a larger scale that intergroup violence can potentially be more harmful because many more people are involved and a sort of “mob mentality” becomes a part of the group. If a few people are pushing someone to do a violent act and making it seem to be normal, the individual will be much more likely to engage in said violent action than if he/she were alone. Also, when watching the documentary, intergroup violence almost becomes a sort of challenge between the rival groups. Each are trying to best each other by who can get on the most wanted list or just doing other acts of violence to raise their street credentials. Something like this would never happen in self or dyadic violence. And actually, most violence is kept silent in situations involving one or two people.

I was really glad that we got to watch this in class, as I really like watching Gangland and I think it does a really great job of showing the public what being in a gang is really like. I also like how Gangland expresses how gangs are really a culture and a world on their own, as they have their own rules and politics that most people don’t really know about. The violence involved with being in a gang is unthinkable, and really tragic to be honest. It’s really sad the thing that people go through just to get “respect” within their gang. Looking at it from an outsider’s perspective, it’s easy to be critical and think that the gang members can leave whenever they would like to, or that they can stop participating in the violent aspects of being in a gang. But in real life, as Gangland shows, it’s not that simple.
I thought that a good example of how ridiculous all of the violence really is when it comes down to it is when one of the members was talking about tagging. It’s really hard to think that someone could murder someone just because they crossed out a drawing that they made on a wall. It just seems unreal to me, and honestly, pretty stupid. I understand that it is more of a sign of disrespect than anything else, but I feel like there are so much better things that they could be doing with their time than getting angry that someone crossed out their writing on a wall – or even writing on the wall in the first place. Obviously, I am a realist, and it is hard for me to really relate to the things that go on in the world of gangs. I’m the type of person that looks at these actions and sees it as an act of stupidity and boredom; it’s hard for me to relate to the fact that these tags have true meaning and can seriously cause a war between gangs. I also think that the murder of that little girl was extremely unnecessary. If they wanted to send a message, I think it would have made much more sense to kill someone that was involved in the actual gang rather than an innocent little girl (I know that sounds bad…they shouldn’t kill ANYONE, but if they had to kill someone, it should be someone who had something to do with their enemy gang…). I think their thought process is that they wanted to show that they are serious when they say they don’t like African Americans. I think that this message was already clear before they crossed the line and killed this innocent girl. I see this as another pointless act from these gangs.
Chapter 17 talks about how honor and dignity reflect upon a culture. We need to look at the world of gangs as their own separate culture. Their culture is made up of a hierarchy, based on respect that you have earned from your fellow gang members. The idea of in-group vs out-group is also clear within the gang world. In addition to looking at themselves as one gang (in-group among other gangs) they also have to look at the whole world of gangs as separate from civilians who are not involved in gang activity. This creates an interesting dynamic; especially when dealing with the police. The police are an obvious out-group; but it is an out-group that is shared among the rest of the gang population. This intergroup dynamic is one that connects one gang to its enemy gang; as they share the dislike and avoidance of the police.
The aspect of emotions is the other key aspect that connects this chapter to the episode of Gangworld. The anger and rage that has developed out of their hatred for the other races and other gangs is very intense. This leads to a vast amount of violence between the gangs. One of the gang members in the episode talked about how angry he was at an opposing gang that he was in a fight with, and then the fact that that certain member was black made him even more angry and made him fight that much harder. These are very serious and dangerous emotions, and the results of these emotions are clear when looking at the violence that takes place in the world of gangs.
In relation to my expert topic, I’m interested to find out more about the children that are involved in these gangs. If we are able to view the world of gangs as a separate culture, then certainly the way that they raise their children will differ in comparison to other, more generally accepted, cultures.
http://www.ncpc.org/topics/by-audience/parents/gangs-and-your-child
This website provides some basic information on how to identify if your child is in a gang, but doesn’t directly address those who were born into the world of gangs, or how they are raised. It has good information as to how to keep your children away from these populations and how to notice warning signs. I am more interested in finding out how children of gangs view violence, and whether or not they think it is acceptable. From hearing from the members of the gang in Gangland, it seems as though they are taught to engage in violence, and encouraged to make a name for themselves in a violent manner. It’s hard to find research in this area, especially in the realm of children. I think I’ll need to look into more episodes of Gangland and similar resources that have been able to tap into the world of gangs.

I really enjoyed watching this episode in class. I have watched another part of this series before, but not this specific one. I am often alarmed at how people can become so deeply dedicated to living the gang member lifestyle. It seems almost absurd to me that someone can hate another person simply based on the color of their skin. I suppose I was raised in a home that is tolerant of others, and if I had been raised differently I might feel differently. We saw a bit of this in the video. These gangs are not made up of a bunch of unruly teenagers trying to exert thier independance, but these are grown men, children, cousins, brothers, sisters, entire neigborhoods with the same biased hatred they share against another set of families and neigborhoods. It's not some random idea they come up with, but the neigborhood mentality they are raised with driving their behaviors. It's realy sad to see the men talk about growing up, maturing, having a family of their own, and not being able to get away from the gang life and subsequently finding their own children being drug into the same lifestyle they want so desprerately to escape. There are many different times we hear people talk about "cycles of violence" and needing to "break the cycle". Often this is brought up in relation to child abuse cycles and such, but I think the same sort of push to "break the cycle" needs to be focused on disrupting the violence and hatred that is passed down to younger generations of gangs.
one of the most interesting parts of the video to me was the history of gangs. I really didn't know how these groups came about. The original gangs are very dissimilar to what we know of gangs today... it may be better to compare the original gangs, the "Cholos", to the neigborhood watch we can still find in quiet neigborhoods today. These were not roving groups of people fighting for territory and status, but groups of men who wanted to protect their families and homes. The cholos were immigrant workers who were often the targets of attacks because others felt these men were here to take all the jobs. We still find many american citizens in areas with high immigration to have these same predjudices. I lived in waterloo in a neighborhood with many Bosnian families and often heard neigbors who had been there longer complaining about how these families were "taking over" and ruining our city. Many of these imigrant families had just left terribly war torn places to come find somewhere they could live peacefully, and this is how we great them? While I never witnessed any sort of agressive acts or violence towards these families, I wouldn't doubt there there is. While here in small town Iowa there isn't gang violence like that found in LA, we still hear things on the 6 o-clock news being referred to as gang related. The gang lifestyle has been glamorized in the media. Movies and music doesn't tend to talk about the negatives associated with gangs, but only the pride you get from being a member, the status, the power, the glory!!! How many kids would want to be a gangster if they knew you have a high chance of dying face down in a gutter, being killed in humiliating ways, watching all your friends go to jail or die infront of you? How many kids want to loose their teeth to meth, do unspeakable things for thier next coke fix, or spend time in prison for drug dealing? Not me!
I really liked hearing about the clean slate program for tattoo removal. I think that's just awesome. It really does give an ex-gang member a better chance of staying away from that lifestyle and being able to attempt to live a normal life. I don't know if there will ever be a time that gangs and gang violence no longer exist and I sure don't know how we'd attempt to get there, but making it easier to leave a gang is certain to help.

I have never seen an episode of Gangland before, but the episode Race War was definitely interesting. I found myself sitting there in awe of most of it. I do not know much about gangs or how they operate except for the few things you see in movies. I thought that the episode did a really good job of showing the history of gangs in that area. They first started out as small groups meant to protect them from violence from other groups. It then turned into fighting for territory and trying to take over other gangs’ zones. In more recent years, it has turned into a race war, which I found terrifying. The episode depicted what goes on within the gangs and why they do what they do. I found it interesting that some gang members were so willing to talk openly about their gangs. There are a ton of different gangs in the LA area. The problems that are occurring now are not so much between different gangs as it is between black and Hispanics.

There were several examples in the episode of how far a racial gang will go to prove they are the superior race. The first example that I was horrified at was the killing of the young black girl. Along 206th street people know not to cross over into the other gangs turf. There is a very clear line as to where blacks are supposed to be and where Hispanics are supposed to be. One day, some Hispanic gang members purposely went across the line and randomly shot a young black girl, simply because she was black. The girl had no affiliations with a gang and was clearly following the rules of the street, yet was mercilessly murdered because of the color of her skin. It is one thing to rage war on other gangs because of the color of their skin, but to go after innocent bystanders is beyond anything else. I was shocked. I thought that gang members killed only other gang members and left the public alone. They also showed a Hispanic boy that was shot simply because he was Hispanic. He was not affiliated with any gang but was assumed so since he was Hispanic and in the area. The amount of violence that occurs between these gangs is so high. With the introduction of drugs and money into gangs, it has only gotten worse. Gangs fight for power and control over drugs. If someone is selling drugs nearby, they will most likely be killed because it is the gang’s responsibility to sell those drugs.

One thing that I found interesting in the episode was the different things that were implemented to try to stop this gang activity. The police created a Top Ten Most Wanted of gang members in LA. They assumed that the public would help them catch these guys that were doing the most damage. The problem is that gang members value violence so highly that they actually will fight and murder to become one of the ten. One of the gang members in the episode said that he would love to be on the list. It gives them respect and reputation to be put onto the list. Since the Hispanic gang is controlled so severely by the Mexican Mafia from inside prison, the Hispanic gang members found it very helpful if they were caught after being put on the list. This gave them an up inside prison. They were the bad of the bad. I actually find it quite scary that so much of the gang activity is controlled from inside prison. Isn’t the point to imprison them and stop the activity? If we cannot stop it by putting the leaders in prison, what is the point of catching them? While the police who implemented the list say that it has helped catch the worst guys, it is clear that it has also helped fuel some serious violence to be on the list.

I think that chapter 17 really does a good job at explaining how this type of violence occurs and even touches on why the top ten list might not be as effective as proposed. Chapter 17 talks about the relationship between anger and hate and how they create aggression. The chapter uses wars as examples but it could work very well for gang activity. I think it works even better for race wars between gangs. I discussed it in my reading post as well. Even in regular gang activity, anger and hate can explain why there is so much violence. Each gang has been “raised” to hate the other gangs. So they already have that preconceived, long-term hate that is necessary to facilitate aggression, as the chapter states. When another gang does something that angers a member in the gang, that anger plays on the hate that long exists. They view it as something that is being done to hurt them and they retaliate. Since this can explain regular gang activity, such as territory wars and such, I think it can even better explain race wars. Race is something that has long been a fight in our country. People were raised to hate blacks and as much as we try, I don’t think that we can ever completely erase those prejudices. It also goes for other races. More recently, there has been the national view to hate Hispanics. Seeing as the nation as a whole has had this long existing hatred, it is no surprise that certain gangs develop them and take it to new levels. Gang members are already in a fight for power and respect, so when something happens to anger them that is by a group that they have been raised to hate, it sets everything in motion. The book discusses how typically the action that is perceived as hurtful is only perceived by maybe a couple members and is indirectly felt across the whole gang. They have a mob mentality that spreads the anger and hate and causes the whole gang to retaliate. I did find it interesting that some of the members that spoke said they grew up with the other race and were friends growing up, but now since they are in the gang, they have to fight them and murder them. I think it is a great example of how the indirect hurt from one member can affect how each member thinks and acts. Because that member is expected to hate the other race, they have to ignore what they knew growing up and adapt to their new “family’s” way of thinking. I agree with the chapter that anger alone does not cause aggression. There must be that long existing hate in order for the anger to stem so far. I think this is very true with gangs. If another person that you have nothing against does something to you, but you have not grown up “hating” them, you might not perceive it as intentionally hurtful. Therefore, you may not retaliate the same way you would if you “hate” them or their group. Having that hate there for so long changes how you perceives someone’s actions. So anger and hate must be combined to get that same violent retaliatory behavior.

I explained it in my other post and think it is quite clear that chapter 17 is very connected to the GAM. As shown, this type of anger/hate/perception/retaliation is in itself a cycle, but also creates a new cycle of violence that only fuels itself more and more. I thought the gang member at the end said something very important. He said, “If police could stop gang violence, they would have already.” I think he really showed how strong this cycle could be. I honestly don’t think there will be a way to stop this violence because the cycle keeps making itself stronger over time, with each retaliatory action. I think, like the GAM, it is very dependent on perception. They perceive it as intentionally harmful, so they feel they need to be in control and gain power and respect by doing something worse to the other gang. That gang then needs to top them in the “bad” scale. Soon it is so bad that they are attacking innocent people to show how “bad” they are, like the two examples in the show. As is pretty common sense about gangs, it is hard to escape the cycle and get out of the gang. I think that it is interesting and very good that they have the program that removes the tattoos for free. That will help someone who may not feel the same way as the gang get out of it and move on to something better. People change over time and they may just get sick of the lifestyle, as that ex gang member stated was his reason for leaving. It is a cycle that is not only damaging to others but also damaging to oneself.

This brings me to discuss if/how/why it is different from self or dyadic violence. I think it is but it isn’t different. At a larger level, this type of violence is different from self or dyadic. I talked above a little bit about the concept of mob mentality. I think that this is something that severely affects intergroup violence but not self or dyadic violence. The chapter discussed how usually the violence is not felt directly by the whole group, yet the whole group usually engages in such violence. Peer pressure is a hard thing to turn down, especially when you are in such a tight knit group like a gang. You are expected to act a certain way, so you may be aggressive and violent because you want to live up to your expectations and gain respect and a reputation for being a “badass”. Groups also cause you to be heightened in your emotions and responses. It isn’t just the act itself that fuels you, it is how everyone around you, in your group, acts and how angry they are. The gang member that said he grew up with Hispanics and has nothing against them, probably would not be violent against them on his own, yet he murders them while he is in the gang. That is a very good example of how intergroup violence is different from self or dyadic violence.

While the similarities may be small and seem like rare occurrences, I do think there is a couple. If you are the person that the violent act occurs to, I think that your response will be more of a dyadic violent response. You will want to act on them, more probably than their group. You then affect others, yet you see the retaliation as more personal than the rest of your gang. I also think that it can be similar to self violence. In a very small way, participating in gang and intergroup violence is self violence. It is very ragged on yourself and your psychological health. I think the ex gang member showed how that can be. He got so sick of being in the atmosphere. It is very tiring to be at war with someone all the time. You can start to hate yourself and self-medicate with drugs or alcohol. I think this probably also is more of a problem with gang members that sell and use drugs. It is, at least in my eyes, a form of self-harm. You try so hard to do harm to others for the gang that you also hurt yourself.

In class, we watched an episode of Gangland. This episode was about different urban street gangs and how they were racially segregated. The episode is called "Race War" because each gang was comprised of mainly a single race. The Latinos had their gangs, and the African Americans also had their own gangs. The Latino gangs mainly targeted the African American gangs for violence, and vice versa. Chapter 17 also illustrated these same concepts of outgroup violence. In the chapter, cognitive appraisal was discussed. Basically, the chapter states that one group will evaluate the actions of another group as threatening, violent, or insulting. This will then cause a retaliation. These concepts were very clear in the episode of Gangland that we watched. A racial war broke out between the gangs when one race began attacking the other. Retaliation would continue back and forth, and several innocent victims were killed as a result. For example, the fourteen year old African American girl who was shot by a Latino gang while playing in her driveway. Gangs did not only target outgroup gang members, but the outgroup race as a whole.

Also, chapter 17 discusses that a long-term threat must be perceived in order to facilitate intergroup violence. This was another thing that was very clear in the episode of Gangland. Each racial gang perceived the other outgroup racial gangs as a constant threat. They felt threatened in terms of power, control, territory, and notoriety. This caused the long-lasting tension between the groups.

In the episode of Gangland, we also got to hear from other members of the public who were being indirectly affected by the gang wars that were occurring. People were afraid to go anywhere, out of fear that they may run into a gang of the opposite race. The public as a whole constantly lived in fear and terror that had a great effect on their daily lives. These are a part of the experienced emotions that are also discussed in the chapter.

Intergroup violence is very different from self or dyadic violence. The most obvious difference is the amount of people that are affected by the violence. In a self or dyadic situation, only the individual or couple involved experience the violence; however, intergroup violence affects massive groups, as well as the entire public.

Although they are different, there is a similarity between intergroup violence and dyadic violence. In the case of dyadic violence, emotions and cognitive appraisals are also involved. If one individual perceives the other's actions as a threat, this will cause the individual to possibly retaliate, creating the same back-and-forth motion of violence that is evident in intergroup violence.

This does not relate directly to my expert topic of self harm and cutting, but comparisons and contrasts can be made. Emotions play a very large role in self harm. The individual engages in self harm behavior due to extreme emotions that are being experienced, such as anger, fear, or sadness. Self harm does not include retaliation on another, but rather oneself. The individual goes through the same cognitive appraisal of the actions of others, but rather injures his or her self, sometimes as a result of the actions of others. An example of this would be someone who self harms because he or she was being abused by another person.