Emotional Development

As people grow old, they change physically, mentally, and emotionally into different spheres of personalities depending on how they were raised. Today the American popular culture has a large impact on all of these three methods of development, creating diversity among American peoples. Our popular culture is demanding, constantly begging all of us Americans to conform to the strong opinions and stereotypes of the decade. Emotionally, Americans have been changing to play the correct role of our culture in many extensive ways. Anything including abuse, media, books, religions, school violence, and other aspects of American society can change the emotional reactions of the American peoples.

Watching how celebrities react to certain events can later impact how we react after being fired from a job or getting yelled at by a fiancé. Almost one-hundred percent of the time all of these influences are negative ones that only worsen all of the present problems. An even more specific example that you can look at is the development of criminals and predators. Many innocent children are influenced to behave differently through playing violent video games or watching gruesome television shows. When confronted with a problem in the future, these same kids will use their cultural influences to shape how they react. All of this can be referenced to nature vs. nurture. It seems like today our external influences resulting from nurture override the behavioral traits that were taught to us through our nature.

Anther example that comes to my mind can be shown through looking at the teenage Americans across the country. Everyday these adolescents are surrounded by the influences of sex, alcohol, and drugs. All across the media, through television, movies, and the radio we hear about the new celebrity news which all seen to involve either sex, drugs, or alcohol. It is hard for our brains to forget about the external influences around us and we tend to relate to them later by conforming to the same beliefs. No matter how our parents raise us as children, adolescence will hit us hard with strong magnets determined to pull us into the wraps of popular culture.

Commonly we fail to even realize that our popular culture is impacting our lives so much. Much of the process happens in an unconscious matter where we are unable to distinctly point out what is influencing us and why that is happening. Our emotional reactions and behavioral traits are determined by the rapidly changing popular culture of America. Many people believe that there can be no single law that will remedy America’s current situation and the terrible paths that we are heading down. Right now America needs a fundamental shift in priorities, morality, and responsibility so that we can begin on a new path towards good.