Danica Patrick the First Female to Win Indy Japan 300

I refer to the CNN article “Danica Patrick makes IndyCar history” dated 20 April 2008, retrieved from: http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/04/20/indy.japan.ap/index.html

Danica Patrick is the first woman by far in IndyCar history who has won Indy Japan 300 car race. The 26 years old won the race on her 50th IndyCar start. She claimed that a fuel strategy was used to win the race. During the race she over took many good racers which was unbelievable for her. One of the racers named Castroneves said that Patrick is a leader and she played a fair game when passing his car. The co-owner of Andretti Green Racing and many other fans had believed that Patrick has the potential to win the race. It was the best finish seen in Indy car races.

Patrick was positively motivated to win the Indy Japan 300. Her success-oriented personality made her use the opportunity to participant in the Indy Japan 300 race to challenge herself and thrive to win it. In the end, she did reach her goal of winning the race.

Refugees from Myanmar

I refer to the CNN article “Orphan boy lives in garbage dump” dated 14 April 2008, retrieved from: http://edition.cnn.com/2008/US/04/09/rubbish.boy/index.html

Lin and his adopted mother have been living in the garbage dump in Thailand ever since Lin was 7 years old. Other refugees just like Lin and his mother also reside in the same dump. They live in makeshift shelters and collects bottles and plastic for a recycling firm to make a living.

Lin’s biological mother passed Lin to his adopted mother because she could not look after him. Life in Myanmar was very bad because under the military junta the economy was collapsing, people were torture and raped. Lin’s adopted mother came to Thailand in search of a better life and found a rubbish dump instead. She claimed that scavenging for food in the garbage dump is an improvement on her previous life.

Lin’s adopted mother used downward social comparison to compare herself with her people back in Myanmar in order to judge herself. She compared herself with the people back home because the people in Myanmar are worse off than her as they are constantly tortured and raped whereas Lin’s adopted mother is living in a rubbish dump where she is not tortured or raped. These Myanmar citizens are similar to her because she is a citizen of the country who is taking refuge in Thailand. Now, Lin’s adopted mother is feeling better because her life now is not as bad as the lives people lead in Myanmar.

Tibetan Protesters

I refer to the CNN article “IOC president ‘very concerned’ about Tibet” published on 7 April 2008, retrieved from: http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/04/06/beijing.ioc.ap/index.html

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is very concern about the unrest in Tibet. Mobs are protesting for their human rights and are using violence in challenging China’s policies in Tibet. They are arguing China to “Free Tibet” from its communist rule. These demonstrators are sabotaging the Olympic torch relay by trying to grab the torch or extinguish it. Demonstrators are clashing with police and are causing havoc during the Olympic torch relay.

These mobs are a crowd of Tibetans who are in a strong emotional condition to fight for their freedom. Eventually, their emotional condition has led them to violent and illegal acts to achieve their goal.

There are two social psychological processes that might have contributed to the Tibet mob violence. They are deindividuation and conformity pressure.

When Tibetan individuals become a member of a group, usually a large group, they produce a state of deindividuation. They lose their personal identity and gain a sense of immersion in a group to fight for freedom of Tibet. These Tibetan would have felt relatively anonymous in the large groups and got caught up in the violence or other actions displayed by the mob. Even though these Tibetans are engaged in violent and illegal acts like clashing with the police and sabotaging the Olympic torch relay, their individual sense of responsibility for these actions would have been reduced because they were done in large groups.

Many Tibetan mob members would have been subjected to conformity pressure. They would have displayed violence like any other member of their mob even though in contrary these Tibetans would not have ordinarily displayed violence when alone.

China Exports

I refer to The New York Times article “China Bars Exports by 750 Toy Makers” published on 2 November 2007, retrieved from: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/02/business/worldbusiness/02toys.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

China’s media has reported that the government ha s suspended the export licenses of over 750 toy factories because of quality control problems such as high levels of toxic lead paint used on toys. Another 690 toy factories we given warning and were ordered to renovate or improve their facilities in the factory. This move was initiated by the European Union which warned China to improve its quality and safety of its consumer export goods or else European Union would take a strong action on China.

European Union has given pressure to China to conform to its export standards. China having the world’s largest manufacturing region in southern China found a need to change its behaviour towards the quality of export consumer goods. It has enforced its laws on consumer goods by suspending the export license in over 750 toy factories and ordered 690 to factories to improve their facilities in the factory. China has enforced the law on export because of the normative influence given by European Union.

China has to conform to the standards of European Union to avoid being punished by it and gain rewards by not losing its business dealings with the countries in European Union. The move taken to enforce its laws on consumer goods could be merely to be liked by the European Union or to avoid conflict and it may not have thought that the European Union’s export standards were reasonable.

China bus drivers in Singapore

I refer to the article “China bus drivers hired as few S’poreans keen on job” published in The Straits Times dated 11 March 2008 and page number H6.

This article informs us that fewer Singaporeans are keen in becoming a bus driver even though SMRT and SBS have increased the basic pay of drivers from $936 to $1,200. Their job title has been renamed from bus driver to bus captains to improve their self-esteem. However, it did not make a difference.

Schemas (concepts) are mental representations of objects or categories of objects. We can infer from this article that Singaporeans are probably carrying a schema that driving a bus is a less reputable job; drivers are uneducated as it is a blue-collared job or driving a bus is not prestigious as compared to driving a taxi.

Stereotype is one kind of schema. A stereotype is a set of characteristics that someone associates with members of a group. Singaporeans could be afraid to be seen as a bus captain because society might stereotype them as an uneducated even though the driver could be an educated one. A bus captain earns between $1,600 and $3,500 a month. They are paid more than some who occupy office jobs but people are not going to compromise their self-esteem for a better pay. Educated Singaporeans who find bus driving a good job offer may have settled down with a more reputable job but with lesser pay than a bus captain. Though the job title has been renamed from bus driver to bus captain it probably did not make a difference to Singaporeans because the job scope remains the same. Due to this social stigma, Singaporeans may still feel that driving a taxi is more attractive than a bus.