This was the last essay I wrote featuring Mr. Jingles. I believe I made an A on this one too, but I wonder sometimes if the professor was just pitying me. As it is, this story is probably the least funny out of the three, but it does provide a nice ending for the saga of Mr. Jingles.
How does social psychology help us see why people might fall in love (or fall in like?) Discuss different principles of social psychology that might help explain why people fall in love. Suppose you want to make a friend think he or she WAS IN LOVE. What specific step could you take? Explain (Make sure to talk about the theoretical principles and then demonstrate them with an example.)
Mr. Jingles Falls in Love
After the encounter with the transvestites, Mr. Jingles began to have a change of heart. Like the fairy tale Grinch of Dr. Seuss's fame, his heart grew three sizes; in the real world, though, this indicates heart inflammation and congestive heart failure. Mr. Jingles was rushed to the hospital, where he was told that he would have to go on a specialized diet to control his water build-up. No more drinking, smoking, or salty foods; Mr. Jingles said this equated to no more fun. After much prodding, the doctor agreed that if he kept up a rigorous exercise schedule he might be able to keep the lifestyle he was accustomed to, but it would still have to be in a reduced setting.
Mr. Jingles came to me asking if I knew a good personal trainer; he had a habit of coming to me whenever he needed help. I had a former acquaintance which worked at a local gym; I told Mr. Jingles that I would contact her to see if she could work him into her schedule. Later, as I was speaking to Ms. Emanuel (the personal trainer), I had an interesting idea. I thought it might be advantageous to Mr. Jingles recovery to have a woman flirt with him, to cheer him up; the heart problems had depressed Mr. Jingles noticeably. Ms. Emanuel didn't think this was such a good idea, but she agreed since she owed me a favor.
I contacted Mr. Jingles and told him where to meet Ms. Emanuel. After the session, Mr. Jingles came by to speak to me. Apparently Ms. Emanuel had given him her number, and asked to meet him the next day for drinks. I was surprised; Ms. Emanuel was truly going above and beyond the call of duty to help Mr. Jingles. Mr. Jingles was excited, too; I hadn't seen him this happy since he managed to stop his problem of interrupting people. I told him congratulations, but not to get too excited just yet; it was just drinks, after all, but he wasn't really listening anymore. His mind was already at tomorrow. After he left, I contacted Ms. Emanuel; after speaking with her, I realized I had underestimated Mr. Jingles.
Having to deal with the less desirable aspects of Mr. Jingles personality, I had forgotten that he could be a charismatic, intelligent person in the right setting. I had also forgotten that flirtation usually swings both ways; even if he was being his usual self, by flirting with Mr. Jingles, Ms. Emanuel may have began to tell herself that she actually did like Mr. Jingles, therefore ignoring some of his more annoying traits. Apparently, she had initiated the usual flirtation techniques; brief glances, eye contact, and some brief body contact while instructing Mr. Jingles. Mr. Jingles was already in a prime receptive state. He had been suffering anxiety from his heart problems, and was in an even more anxious state while exercising; it has been shown that increased emotional arousal causes increased desire.
I may have also underestimated the appeal of doing something against the rules. Dating was strictly prohibited between personal trainers and trainees. The appeal of breaking this barrier, and the subsequent secrecy that would ensue, would certainly increase the desire Ms. Emanuel and Mr. Jingles now felt for each other. Although my original intentions had been just to try and cheer Mr. Jingles up, it seemed that I had unwittingly been playing matchmaker by putting them both into a setting highly likely to induce romance.
This continued for several months, until Mr. Jingles came to speak to me again. Something had happened that was bothering him. While working with Ms. Emanuel a woman had come up to speak with him. She began flirting with him; what bothered him was that he felt no desire for her. Apparently Ms. Emanuel had been giving her something of a cold reception, though, because she inferred that there was something between them. “Oh, are you two dating? You must like to break the rules.” According the Mr. Jingles, she then put her hand on Ms. Emanuel's shoulder and said “I like to break the rules sometimes, too.”
I mentally cringed; I still remembered from Mr. Jingles brief time as a transvestite that he had a thing for bisexual women. Apparently, though, Mr. Jingles change of heart had become more than figurative; he politely but firmly told the woman that he had no interest in that type of thing, and asked if she would mind if they got back to working out. Mr. Jingles must have noticed my surprised expression. “Yeah, I know I used to think that type of thing would be fun,” he said, “But I just wasn't attracted to her to her, you know? Well, I mean, she was attractive, but I'm already happy with Emanuel, so I didn't need that type of thing.” My mind was still boggled; Mr. Jingles had changed completely from the person I once knew. Of course, people in a stable relationship often don't find potential new partners very attractive, but this was Mr. Jingles; the man who once dressed up as a girl to meet and find bisexual women.
Beforehand Mr. Jingles had been using relationships as some form of operant conditioning. He had been responding to the physical rewards and the instinct to pass on his genetic material as much as possible. Now, he had been put into a situation where, if he had cared significantly less about Ms. Emanuel than she did for him, he could have tried and used her ability to be substituted to convince her into participating in a modern-day three-way, something he had previously valued greatly. In fact, power dependence theory would suggest that Mr. Jingles should now be the partner with the most power in the relationship, since Ms. Emanuel could be replaced if needed; this would mean Mr. Jingles should have power to be abused as he saw fit. But none of this was occurring; he seemed to genuinely care for her.
I asked Mr. Jingles very gently about whether he had considered the fact that he may be in love with Ms. Emanuel. A light bulb seemed to go off in Mr. Jingles head; he replied that that would certainly explain a lot. Mr. Jingles now seemed to have a purpose; he stood up and said suddenly that he had something he needed to do. I said that was fine, and if he needed to talk he knew where to find me. I got a call from Ms. Emanuel the next day; apparently Mr. Jingles had rushed off to get an engagement ring after speaking to me and then proposed to Ms. Emanuel, which she had accepted. She asked me not to tell Mr. Jingles about the role I had in setting them up; I agreed, since it would probably do more harm than good at this point. Mr. Jingles has since informed me that I am to be the best man at their wedding.
Science can explain most of what goes on around us, but it stumbles when it tries to explain what goes on inside of us. We have learned to anticipate certain behaviors, but the underlying mechanism for these behaviors are still hazy because what works on one person may not work on the next. There was no guarantee that Mr. Jingles and Ms. Emanuel would be attracted to each other, despite the situation being promising. Ultimately, science may never be able to fully explain our minds; they may be more of a final frontier than space.
