My English teacher, Mr. Barazzuol assigned a project to my class and I having to do with a novel we have been reading in class, Lord of the Flies by William Golding. Below is a podcast recording of me discussing the events in the novel and incorporating facts that may help explain and provide evidence for why and how some choices made by the boys in the novel happened.

The English Literature Show

Herd Mentality:

1. “Studies by UBC Psychologist Robert Hare and other suggest the ringleaders of sports riots are often psychopaths, selfish people who chronically show lack of empathy, remorse, or fer of punishment.” http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/Opinion+Psychology+riot+They+found+exciting/4960894/story.html
2. “Professor Jens Krause, with PhD student John Dyer from the University of Leeds,  conducted a series of experiments where groups of people were asked to walk randomly around a large hall. A select few were given broad instructions of where to go in the room. The findings show that in all cases, the ‘informed individuals’ were followed by others in the crowd.” https://psychcentral.com/news/2008/02/15/herd-mentality-explained/1922.html
3. “In large crowds of 200 or more, five per cent of the group is enough to influence the direction in which it travels.” https://psychcentral.com/news/2008/02/15/herd-mentality-explained/1922.html
4. “Research led by the University of Exeter has shown that individuals have evolved to be overly influenced by their neighbours, rather than rely on their own instinct.” https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/12/141216212049.htm
5. “Groups evolve to be unresponsive to changes in their environment and spend too much time copying one another, and not making their own decisions.” https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/12/141216212049.htm

Morality:

1. “According to Jean Piaget, who was a famous psychologist, children between the ages of 5 and 10 see the world through a Heteronomous Morality. Children think that authority figures such as parents and teachers have rules that young people must follow absolutely.” https://www.gracepointwellness.org/462-child-development-parenting-early-3-7/article/12769-early-childhood-moral-development
2. “Between the ages of 2 and 5, many children start to show morally-based behaviors and beliefs.” https://www.gracepointwellness.org/462-child-development-parenting-early-3-7/article/12769-early-childhood-moral-development
3. “According to Lawrence Kohlberg, a developmental psychologist, young children at this age base their morality on a punishment and obedience orientation.” https://www.gracepointwellness.org/462-child-development-parenting-early-3-7/article/12769-early-childhood-moral-development
4. “Children between the ages 5 and 6 typically think in terms of distributive justice, or the idea that material goods or “stuff” should be fairly shared.” https://www.gracepointwellness.org/462-child-development-parenting-early-3-7/article/12769-early-childhood-moral-development
5. “A study from the University of Chicago suggests that parents’ sensitivity to both other people’s feelings and to injustice may influence early moral development in their children.” https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_parents_influence_early_moral_development