Survivor #7

This episode of Survivor didn’t contain a lot of dramatics in terms of different people earning victories and getting the right to remain on the show. I may be wrong but haven’t they always had at least two competitions on each episode?? Maybe that has changed since the merge. Anyway, all the dramatics seemed to take place behind the scenes as everybody is desperately trying to position themselves to not get voted out. Every member of this new group has an agenda and they have demonstrated that most are willing to do whatever they have to do to maintain that agenda. I am new to this show, but since having a several episodes under my belt, I now know that positioning is basically what makes the show. This show is more about how mentally strong you are rather than physically. Problem-solving realities are no different, however they not be the most ethical at times in groups. Like it says in the book “Group decision making in the real world is often messy.” These particular realities consist of politics, preexisting preferences, and power. Politics is eventually going to occur in group problem solving just as it strongly does in Survivor. With politics comes deceit, games, and manipulation.  Most of the members are deceitful and betray the trust of one another as fast as they often give their word of faith that they are in alliance. That’s why I was glad Josh was voted out because he was the primary culprit in telling Baylor that they were on good terms and telling guys like Dale, Wes, and Alec to vote her out. It would have been Jeremy in Baylor’s position but he was able to win the competition. Preexisting preferences refers to “when we encounter something that challenges our beliefs, we often view it as flawed.” This existed between Dale and Missy as both have a different parenting style that conflicts with the other. Dale is critical of Missy’s daughter Baylor being lazy and Missy sticking up for her, while Missy views Dale and his son as chauvinistic. Power is self-explanatory because whoever possesses autonomy within the group usually has the greatest influence in solving problems in the group. For example John and Jackelin are still the power couple.