Abstract
Norgrove Linda was an aid worker of British origin attached in Afghanistan at the time of her untimely death. The news caused a public outcry in Europe, America, and all over the world. Sengupta (2010) reporting for The Independent published the story on the 12th of October 2010. She titled her report, “How the Official Story of Linda Norgrove’s Death Unraveled.” I will analyze Sengupta’s article to show how the concepts of social psychology have been used to enhance the reader’s understanding of the story. The paper concludes that social psychology is instrumental in the understanding of magazines.
Social Psychology Concepts Used
The center of the controversy is who was responsible for the death of the aid worker. According to the official report of the American forces, Norgrove had been killed by her captors and the blame could not be put on the American troops. But analyzing the situation from a psychological point of view, one could say that the American soldiers were to blame even if she had not been gunned down by the friendly fire. Allport (2005) explains that the presence or absence of certain individuals actually influences the actions of the person in question. From this point of view, the question that begs is, could it be possible that if the Americans had not shown up in the first place, that Norgrove’s captors would not have found a reason to blow her up?
One thing that might cross the reader’s mind is the choice of the cover photo for the story. Sengupta chooses to use the photo of combat officers in action, probably taken somewhere in Afghanistan. It would have been expected that the story will have the picture of the aid worker since she was the protagonist of the whole report. Perhaps the reason why she chooses the image of the NATO soldiers is to shift the reader’s attention even if for a few moments to the fact that the soldiers were performing their duty which was in no way an easy task. This can be seen as a strategy aimed at pacifying the anger of the reader towards the army. It creates the impression that the soldiers were doing their best to rescue the aid worker.
Sengupta goes further to provide names of some of the other rescues by other countries that didn’t go as planned may be to make the reader understand that it is an eventuality that cannot be overly avoided in such circumstances. For instance, he draws a sharp contrast when he quotes a story about the British trying to rescue Farrell Stephen, a reporter for New York Times with his colleague from Afghan. The attempted rescue ensued in the death of The Afghan correspondent (Mail online).
Sengupta seems to take the side that the buzz about the death of the aid worker being as a result of the NATO soldiers’ failed attempt was misleading and the article is written as an antidote to this “lie.” The title of the article confirms this. The reporter wants the reader to realize that she is not dwelling on rumors but giving us the official statement especially in the light of conflicting media reports on the same incident. The principal thing the author does is to try to explain to the reader that the incident was not an isolated one.
The article explains how there had been in fact other abductions. Reportedly, aid workers in the region feared for their safety. The importance of this is that people tend to accept unacceptable things if other people had accepted them. It would therefore look “normal” to the reader that the aid worker had been killed just like many others who had been caught up in similar unfortunate circumstances. Social Psychologists have observed that there is a correlation between the bad and the good and people have to accept the bad to realize the good (Baumeister & Bushman). The Independent’s reporter seems to subscribe to this school of thought as seen in her article. She is bent on appeasing the angry reader by making the reader realize that the unfortunate incident was an accident.
Interestingly, the reporter draws our attention to the footage that was retrieved from one of the soldier’s helmets. There was a little conversation or sound effects that could be retrieved from the footage. However, one official observed something that made him believe there was a discrepancy in the report given. The footage revealed that that one soldier had been spotted throwing something that looked like a hand grenade near the location where Norgrove was supposedly being held. In social psychology, non-verbal forms of communication are very important in the interpretation of behavior (Breckler et al., 2006). This action caught on tape would provide good evidence that the soldiers probably were more responsible for the death of the aid worker than they were saying.
Conclusion
Social psychology can be said to be a scientific approach to understanding behavior (Brewster, 2006). It involves the use of certain concepts in the study and understanding of behavior. Contrast and comparison have for instance been used in a bid to persuade the reader in realizing that Norgrove’s death cannot be treated as an isolated case. Whether she did it intentionally or unintentionally, Sengupta has managed to use some of the key concepts of social psychology to make his article not only easy to read but also easy to remember.
References
Allport, G. (2005). The Historical Background of Social Psychology. London: Random House.
Breckler, M. et al. (2006). Social Psychology Alive. London: Cengage learning.
Brewster, M. (2006). Social Psychology and Human Values. London: Transaction Publishers.
Mail Online. (2010). Miliband gave green light for Special Forces raid to save reporter that Left Para hero dead. Daily Mail.
Sengupta, K. (2010). How the official story of Linda Norgrove’s death unraveled. The Independent. Web.