Throughout ISS, I have focused my research on illuminating the sources of internal dissonance that influence my identity as a native Westerner. I was motivated to understand why, even before experiencing life abroad, I often felt like an outsider in my country of birth. I discovered many layers to the forces that control Western culture, from economic to social and cultural. Bacon's work on social constructionism provided me with a foundation for understanding why, as human beings, belonging is such a fundamental need. As Westerners, we are afflicted by the results of a hyper-individualistic culture focused on personal choice. With rational choice theory, Barry Schwartz suggests that choice is determined primarily by culture and that continuing unrealistic expectations of ourselves and our desire for autonomy will only continue to torment us. I introduced research by Zheng Wu (et al.), Bob Jeffery, and Elaine Velie (et al.) to explain social construction factors and how gentrification's geographical displacement contributes to divisions through elective belonging. Research by Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi helped illuminate why psychology has only recently played a more significant part in countering these issues impacting the West.

Seeing systemic dysfunction at scale led me to consider internal sources of change. For solutions, I looked toward the older, more community-oriented cultures of the East. Research by Lomas in "Life Balance and Harmony" claims the teachings of Buddhism offer an optimal approach to interpreting reality by improving the relationship between opposing mental states. In an article on aging in Eastern cultures, Kitayama suggests that Confucianism's role in filial piety encourages communal focus and embraces roles based on life stages that encourage a more long-term orientation. Through symbolic interactionism, Murotmusaev (et al.) explain the social psychology of communication and identity formation, indicating that who we are is a product of culture and those we surround ourselves with.

Bacon, Nicola. "BELONGING." RSA Journal, vol. 165, no. 2 (5578), 2019, pp. 28–31. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/26850851. Accessed 29 Nov. 2023.

Nicola Bacon explores the benefits of belonging within communities. She measures belongingness through feedback loops (sensing acceptance from certain life areas and how these areas collectively influence our sense of belonging). The article suggests that social bonds, cultural openness to new members, geography, and long-term security contribute to belongingness.

Survey modeling was used to predict how people feel about their neighborhoods, showing that preexisting social bonds from transplanted residents strongly influenced overall resident belongingness in new UK housing developments. Further research showed that a sense of belonging depends on how secure it can remain, which may tie into identity formation around the group (social constructionism). The article also demonstrated that belonging is not limited to diverse communities if the place accepts diversity, suggesting other contributing factors to in-group behavior. These discoveries provide evidence to support the dynamics of human relationships I have observed.

Bacon, Nicola. "BELONGING: What Does It Take to Transform a Neighbourhood into a Community?" RSA Journal, vol. 169, no. 1(5592), 2023, pp. 32–35. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/48719751. Accessed 29 Nov. 2023.

The central argument of this article suggests that our sense of belonging is fluid and determined by environmental conditions like institutional care and support, community feedback, and background cultural pressures. The author posits that improving social belonging will require a three-pronged approach to public health, involving designing future environments around belonging and inclusivity, building support services and restructuring existing ones to be more inclusive and sociable, and identifying and preserving the parts of our current environment that contribute a community's sense of belonging when considering redevelopment. Bacon also discusses community belonging during the pandemic lockdown.

I appreciated the relationships between contributing elements of belonging that the article expressed. For example, the Quality of Life Foundation contrasted subjective and built (physical) aspects of a person's environment through local identities and relationships. Some neighborhoods improved their sense of community, and others became more withdrawn during the lockdown. One study of youths in Southwark, London, found belongingness linked to the physical proximity of one's community and institutions and how well they knew their way around their local neighborhoods.

Bacon's article demonstrates a strong connection between the theories of social construction and social structure. In one example, the Sewoon Sangga shopping center in Seoul, South Korea, was restored to meet urban needs, while the Elephant and Castle in London, UK, was demolished and replaced. The community built around Sewoon Sangga thrived after the rebuild due to the retention of interpersonal relationships between the vendors and the community. At the same time, the vendors and their community previously found at Elephant Castle were wholly dissolved. The connection here is multi-level, with sales driven primarily by the relationships between vendors and clients (social construction) through the place where business and financial systems run (social structure and network). The author closes by expressing that belonging is a social asset that builds over time, helping to highlight its inherent value, promise, and possibilities for society.

"Belong." Merriam-Webster Dictionary. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/belong. Accessed 15 Nov. 2023.

Merriam-Webster classifies "Belong" as an intransitive verb. Intransitive verbs are characterized by not having a direct object. Belong does not suggest whom or what, but rather, when or where?

The Merriam-Webster dictionary provided a logical starting point for this project and a means to begin the observational process critical to practical research. Following my curiosity from this source definition provided a means of keeping my research directed and authentic. A word's literal meaning creates questions: Why did I choose belonging as a keyword, and what personal significance does it hold? How would social science direct my research? What would I learn about the social forces influencing belongingness, and how would they help to direct an essay that is both valuable and empowering?

Jeffery, Bob. "'I Probably Would Never Move, but Ideally Like I'd Love to Move This Week': Class and Residential Experience, Beyond Elective Belonging." Sociology, vol. 52, no. 2, 2018, pp. 245–61. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/26558702. Accessed 29 Nov. 2023.

Here, Bob Jeffery addresses social elements of gentrification in Salford, Manchester, exploring the concepts of elective belonging (movement driven by social class), dwelling (the struggle for survival versus the struggle for economic position), tectonic social interactions (people living next to each other without associating on any systematic basis), and city-center tourism. Data was gathered through interviews with longtime and newly relocated residents. Jeffery argues that people prefer to live around people within their social class, gentrification is being implemented based on the target markets of young professionals and lifestyles, and strong social bonds are responsible for keeping people rooted in undesirable neighborhoods.

As a resident of Seattle, I resonate with Jeffery's article. Jeffery addresses several points that work in tandem, namely elective belonging and why there are so many cheaply-made luxury apartments on every corner in up-and-coming neighborhoods. In conjunction with the forces of housing development, developers have catered to the interests and lifestyles of residents who can afford it: primarily young, middle-income, mid-career individuals looking to proclaim their socioeconomic status to society. Elective belonging drives transplant culture, creating tension between longtime residents and those of higher incomes. Such dynamics rooted in social construction further enforce in-group biases. Jeffrey explains that working-class involvement in the world is a struggle for survival, with a home serving as a place of family and refuge. In contrast, the more wealthy, insulated from such struggles, involve themselves through a struggle for position, with property viewed as a positional good, using the typical example of the wealthy living in gated communities, apart from the social classes beneath them.

Kitayama, Shinobu, et al. "Culture and Well-Being in Late Adulthood: Theory and Evidence." The American Psychologist, vol. 75, no. 4, 2020, pp. 567–76, https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000614.

Kitayama's article addresses the different goal states of Eastern and Western cultures and how they affect well-being in late adulthood. For Americans, happiness is unequivocally positive and personal, while East Asian cultures more clearly recognize the significance of social relations. Aging was difficult for Western and Eastern cultures alike. However, the article suggests that the influence of Confucianism and Buddhism has softened societal expectations of aging in Eastern cultures. The motivations for influencing and adjusting were present in all cultures studied.

I find aging in America to be difficult. Western cultures, driven by individualism, value youthful qualities like uniqueness, self-reliance, agency, enthusiasm, and positivity, while American mainstream culture supports this view. Kitayama shows that in Western European cultures, the characteristics of youth are carried into late adulthood, encouraging high-arousal states centered around declaring agency. Unlike Asian cultures, Western cultures, due to fewer responsibilities, continue to exhibit a rise in positivity later in life as they follow cultural norms that encourage chasing high arousal. However, the expectation to remain positive, vigorous, and extraverted with age in Western cultures is challenging to maintain, often leading to social disengagement and alienation as community connection becomes increasingly important. Alienation may drive further materialism and the desire to pursue elective belonging.

In contrast, Eastern cultures rooted in Confucianism value filial piety, encouraging older adults to embrace age-graded social roles by promoting different ideal states for each stage in life. In these cultures, the desire for high-arousal positive states declines with age. Interestingly, this study explains that extraversion and openness to experience did not decrease with age, like in Western cultures, suggesting that those aging in the East did not exhibit the same struggles of unmet expectations in the West. Furthermore, aligning age-graded social roles alongside the stages of inevitable physical decline suggests that embracing new goals and meanings in life in Eastern cultures may be more accessible as well. Kitayama presents a powerful argument with helpful approaches for aging and improving belongingness in Western cultures.

Lomas, Tim. "Life Balance and Harmony." International Journal of Wellbeing, vol. 11, no. 1, 2021, pp. 50–68, https://doi.org/10.5502/ijw.v11i1.1477.

Lomas explores and conceptualizes life balance and harmony (B/H). The central argument presented suggests that B/H is a collection of dynamic processes across all areas of human functioning related to well-being, and both balance (the relationship of two dialectically related phenomena and the quality of such relationship) and harmony (balancing the interaction between them) must act in concert for healthy outcomes. Lomas argues that B/H has not received recognition as a central factor of well-being due to psychology's rooting in WEIRD (Western, Educated, Rich, Industrialized, Democratic) countries. Using grounded theory, Lomas analyzes four emergent categories of affective, cognitive, behavioral, and self-other relations to showcase the golden thread of B/H and present a definition of well-being: "dynamic attainment of optimal balance and harmony in any--and ideally all--aspects of life." Lomas advocates for support of the more accommodating and holistic approach found in Eastern cultures, which allows space for opposing perspectives.

Although my ISS research has primarily focused on collective belonging and how we can heal our communities, as an empath, my interest here is deeply personal. Looking to the concept of B/H, we find two modes that must remain in balance: 1) the mode of being, focused on personal agency (prominent in individualistic cultures), and 2) the mode of communion, focused on networks of individuals (dominant in collectivistic cultures). When the being mode becomes dominant, it can lead to isolation. When the communion mode takes over, it can lead to totalitarian dehumanization. America is a young country trapped in the being mode. Here, we can find direction from Eastern cultures.

Significantly, Lomas views Buddhism as a means towards optimal balance, not in a cognitive deficit (unengaged) or a hyperactive state (caught up in one's thoughts and projections). Buddhism also provides a template for attentional balance by commanding awareness towards the right things at the right time while avoiding things detrimental to well-being. He continues to explain that personal strengths are a balance of characteristics, with resiliency being the ability to balance them optimally. Surprisingly, Lomas argues that this state of mind is often expressed as creativity. Lomas' research on B/H supports my objective of building an open and artistic community, indicating that incorporating elements of Eastern beliefs like Buddhism and flow states can heal us and unlock our inner creativity.

Murotmusaev, Komiljon Buribaevich, and Regina Tangrikulova. "Social Psychology of Communication: Communication as the Realisation of Social and Interpersonal Relationships." International Journal of Multicultural and Multireligious Understanding, vol. 8, no. 5, 2021, pp. 190-200, https://doi.org/10.18415/ijmmu.v8i5.2634.

This article by Murotmusaev et al. examines the complexities of social relationships and their contribution to personal identity. Two critical social psychology issues are addressed as a precursor: 1) the awareness of the subjects of such conflict and 2) the factors contributing to the conflict. The authors focus their study on human communication's complex and dynamic nature, its role in shaping personal identity, the importance of signs (feeling of trust between parties), and codification and decodification between parties (transcending social, cultural, experiential, and linguistic barriers). The primary argument suggests that humans are shaped by their communication with others. The article also addresses how the roles of modern information sharing and youth slang introduce complexities to interpersonal communication.

Since my research is focused on belongingness and social interactions, I enjoyed how this article discussed the complexities of social identity formation. The authors claim that humans are shaped through symbolic interactionism, suggesting that personalities form through communicating, driven by a desire for one's identity to solidify. Through such interactions, a person strengthens their sense of self by acting in concert with others. Interactionism is a highly observable phenomenon globally. What interests me is leveraging its power to deepen community connectedness through shared creative collaboration. This article indicates that we can grow closer to our ideal selves and one another by sharing positive and thoughtful experiences.

Schwartz, Barry. "Self-Determination: The Tyranny of Freedom." The American Psychologist, vol. 55, no. 1, 2000, pp. 79–88, https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.55.1.79.

Barry Schwartz argues that America's culture of freedom, self-determination, and personal choice has resulted in increased dissatisfaction and clinical depression. Schwartz suggests that this tyranny of freedom is created by a combination of rational choice theory (the idea that people have rational choice), a culture with too much choice, and America's high levels of individualism. The author advocates evaluating which constraints of self-determination are essential and studying the sense of satisfaction and belonging found in more collectivistic cultures.

Schwartz continues to explain that rational choice is driven by economic ideology, cultural institutions, habits, and traditions, suggesting we have far less control over rational thought than we would like to believe. Culture influences rational choice theory; what we value comes from our culture. Tradition embeds a sense of moral obligation, suppressing the desire to think there is a choice available. Uncertainties of daily life drive people to gravitate toward habits and traditions. Schwartz argues that rational choice stresses maximizing choice while suggesting people have full rational awareness while remaining silent on where such preferences of choice come from.

The author makes excellent points regarding America's culture of choice and dissatisfaction. Propelled by the belief in rational choice, American individualism has created unrealistic expectations about control while increasing the desire for perfection from ourselves and others. When such expectations remain unmet, they alter our desire to belong to social groups and damage our sense of belonging, resulting in widespread detachment and even clinical depression. At the same time, America's culture of abundant choice has led to a fear of regret, making it harder to enjoy and commit to choices entertained. Schwartz effectively highlights the importance of shifting focus away from materialism, remaining connected and present, and looking to collectivism as a reminder of why we must continue to engage with our communities.

Seligman, Martin E. P., and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. "Positive Psychology: An Introduction." The American Psychologist, vol. 55, no. 1, 2000, pp. 5–14, https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.55.1.5.

As an introductory article supporting positive psychology, Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi present the historical conditions that shaped the current field, outline a framework for the science of positive psychology, demonstrate current gaps in the field, and offer predictions for the future. They continue to discuss how psychology's roots before WWI focused on curing mental illness, making people more productive, and identifying and nurturing high talent. Post-WWII, the Veteran's Administration allowed psychologists to make a living treating pathology, and the National Institute of Mental Health (based on the disease model) created strong incentives toward research focused on pathology, directing the industry away from a focus on talent and well-being. After fifty years of focus on the disease model, it has yet to move psychology closer to preventing these problems. However, evidence suggests that human strengths (love, hope, community, among others) act as buffers against mental illness. Seligman explains that the field of psychology has continued to focus on negative emotions over positive ones because of 1) the survival value of negative emotions, 2) people are blinded to the value of positive emotions (because of their fundamental importance to survival), and 3) historical reasons (civilizations under threat do not have resources for beauty and meaning). In this article, Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi appeal to America; as a rich, powerful, and peaceful nation, its scientific community is uniquely positioned to influence the field of positive psychology moving forward.

Given the article's publication date and the cultural changes that have occurred since then, the authors have succeeded in influencing the field. Considering the increase in individualism, depression, and polarization in the West, Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi provide a vital background to my research. Although directing the traditional psychology model toward more holistic approaches requires a cultural shift involving time, resources, and patience, we must do so.

Velie, Elaine. "The Artists Resisting the Gentrification of New York's Chinatown." Hyperallergic, 8 Mar. 2023, hyperallergic.com/800196/the-artists-resisting-the-gentrification-of-new-yorks-chinatown.

In this article, Elaine Velie discusses community activism against gentrification in Chinatown, New York City. The Chinatown Art Brigade (CAB) partnered with the Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence (CAAAV) to create an interactive exhibit to spread public awareness of Chinatown's cultural history and the dangers of gentrification. The exhibition was hosted at the Pace University Art Gallery in the financial district of lower Manhattan.

Velie presents a powerful example of what I wish to accomplish professionally through my arts and social sciences background. I see strong connections between related research by positive psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, suggesting that connection and understanding between parties increase when engaged in flow states (states of optimal engagement). People learn best through firsthand experience. Why not create experiences to encourage collective flow states? As a community, we can positively shift the current effects of social constructionism.

The sources used in my research were selected to expand my understanding of myself and others and our relationship with a world we have, for better and worse, constructed in our image. I have remained curious throughout my time in the ISS program. Curiosity creates new questions and, with practice, better ones. So far, I have entertained societal and psychological perspectives for which I am well-built to entertain solutions. To effectively solve problems, I have done my best to see them objectively without distortions created by personal experiences while remaining divergent in my approach. I have my time at ISS to thank for exposing me to points of view that have helped clarify internal misrepresentations, improve objectivity, accelerate my curiosity, and hone my focus. I have gradually witnessed a method for addressing belonging derived from Eastern mindfulness, centered around personal and communal creation, leveraged through flow states, and intent on remaining present and open to new experiences. The concept is simple: to fix the problems we have created, we must look to ourselves for solutions and remember who and what we love. Let us share experiences and get to know each other before the curtain falls. The solution to our discontent is elementary but almost entirely overlooked. Perhaps people need science to remind them.

As my portfolio expands, I will continue searching for the details that require my attention. Although I cannot save the world, I do enjoy building things. Knowing that luck visits those who are prepared, I expect the future to present problem-solving opportunities that suit me.

Pictured above
Walker, Coire: Photograph of Narbonne, Côte d'Améthyste, France. 6 Sep. 2022. Author's personal collection.