Honor Killing free essay sample

In 1999 in the country of Jordan 35 year old Sirhan tells the story of how he murdered his sister, he is relaxed, happy, and proud of the fact that he saved his family from suffering the shame of her rape. His sister Susan was only 16 years old. Sirhan says she made a mistake; and even though it was not her fault, it is better for her to die than the whole family to die of shame. How could a brother kill his sister and feel no remorse? What emotions and feelings are involved in such a crime? How does society influence this type of behavior? There are many emotions, feelings, and moods involved in committing such an act; it is learned behavior from a collectivist society, doing what is best for the family as a whole, not the individual. Emotions are such feelings as fear, joy, anger, and guilt, with a physiological arousal component involved; when people are fearful their hearts pound, they breath quickly their facial expressions change, and their bodies produce biochemicals. We will write a custom essay sample on Honor Killing or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Complex thoughts often accompany emotions as when feelings of shame carry with them beliefs of inadequacy and self-loathing (Kenrick, Neuberg, Cialdini, 2007, p. 143). Genetic heredity influences emotions and moods forming our attitudes; genes contribute greatly to feelings. Cultures teach their members when and how to experience and express their feelings. Genes and culture together create the foundation for our experiences and expression of feelings (Kenrick, Neuberg, Cialdini, 2007, p. 145). Mood, like emotion, is an affective state. Emotion tends to have a clear focus, while mood tends to be more unfocused and diffused. Mood, according to Batson, Shaw, and Oleson (1992), involves tone and a structured set of beliefs about expectations of a positive or negative outcome in the future. Moods can last for days, weeks, months, or even years and demonstrate an individuals emotional state (Schucman, 1975). Individualistic cultures such as the United States, people are seen as individuals and are socialized to act independently, to take personal responsibility for their actions. In a collectivistic society, as they have in Jordan, people are viewed in terms of their relations with others and are socialized to act interdependently. Collectivists have a greater appreciation of how norms and social pressures, influence behavior. The social cognitive learning model asserts that culture is the main factor in the forming of individual development. A child’s learning development is affected by culture, including the culture of family environment. Through culture children acquire much of the content of their knowledge and surrounding culture provides a child with the processes or means of their thinking; teaching children both what and how to think. Social cognition is how thoughts, feelings, and a person’s behaviors are influenced by others (Allport, 1985, p. 3). For centuries men of the Arab world have engaged in honor killing, the interfamily murder of females who have allegedly strayed from what is believed to be proper behavior. Women endure the custom, while the legal system tolerates and condones it. Honor killing is rooted in the Arabic expression a mans honor lies between the legs of a woman. For Arab women, virginity before marriage and fidelity afterward are considered vital. A woman subjected to rape brings shame to her family just as she would if engaging in a consensual relationship. Believing it was an error on his sister’s part to be raped was a fundamental attribution error; which happens when people observe and then judge the negative actions of others; it is blaming someone for things out of their control. In doing so, the observer often underestimates the social pressure that causes the other person behave in such a manner. Asians tend to attribute behavior to situation while Westerners attribute the same behavior to the person committing the act (Kenrick, Neuberg, Cialdini, 2007, p. 157). Sirhan has learned from his ancestors that honor killing is the way to deal with the situation of his sister’s rape. Behavior is influenced by personal factors, cognitive, affective, and biological events, and it is also affected by environmental factors. The structures and processes of social cognition are extremely social; their origins typically lie in the social world as well as in individual experience. Individuals form schemas out of materials acquired in a social world, not only from their own cognitive efforts. Schemas enable a person to function in the social world because they are shared and used collectively or during social interactions, not only individually. Cognitive functioning is used to define conduct by using probability, considering what is likely to happen, or what will the consequences of a certain behavior or deed. Probability generally follows the establishment of a typification, which is storage of knowledge that people carry with them of the likelihood of certain events. This knowledge is referenced as they try to make sense of the actions of others, to anticipate how others will look at their own acts. With probability weighing your options is secondary to the establishment of typifications. People first typify a situation as they define others roles and identities in them (Kenrick, Neuberg, Cialdini, 2007, p. 127). Then predictive or postdictive confirmation occurs. Ideas about probability are invoked in discussions. The idea of typification is itself simple, but its implications are many. People know what to expect of one another in particular situations because they know that various types of people behave in typical ways under particular circumstances (Kenrick, Neuberg, Cialdini, 2007, p. 126). In other words you can predict someone’s behavior because you have a general idea of how a certain role will behave in a certain situation. Many emotions, moods, and feelings came into play with the honor killing of Susan. Sirhan knew how society would view the rape, bringing shame to his family. He also knew how his society would view the honor killing; even after being prosecuted Sirhan only served 6 months in jail. Sirhan and Susan each had roles of typical behavior, and there would be normal behavior with role. Susan being raped was not typical behavior; she was blamed by her brother for the rape.