Insights of Ethics

Why are my professors so good at making me approach ethical issues that make me uncomfortable? And why do they make me uncomfortable?

They make me uncomfortable because my divided brain—the business, “hard-earned money” thinking side, and the “I am a human being with morals” side often clash. From one point of view, I see that companies have the right to search for information that will improve the experience or services they offer, especially when they may lose competitive advantages if they don’t use data collection techniques. But from a second point of view, I understand the need of individual consumers to feel they are being treated justly and that no one is taking advantage of their wants and needs.

So these opposing points of view cause me to draw the following conclusion: businesses should be entitled to collect personal data with the goal of improving the shopping experience, but if it is identifying information then there should be consensus from or notification of the consumer.

To elaborate, here are my three main points.
1) Many people aren’t aware of the permissions they are giving companies when they create an account or give out some personal information.
2) Consumers will most likely act in favor of companies they think are acting ethically and people don’t like to be taken advantage of (i.e. deceptive marketing).
3) Whether a company’s data collection techniques are ethical or not can be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

1) The articles we were asked to read brought to my attention the fact that when we give out a single piece of information—such as our email—we are often giving consent for companies to add us to an elaborate system of data mining. For example, when we walk into the store to shop for a new tie, the typical consumer isn’t even imagining the possibility of a mannequin collecting data on them using facial recognition technologies or the store tracking our movement using our personal phones as sensors (known as mobile location analytics or MLA). And when my technology-illiterate dad agrees to Facebook’s terms of service, he has no idea that by clicking “agree” he may be also agreeing to allow the company to tie his email to other services he has signed up for—and allow Facebook to efficiently target him with advertisements, or that in the future they may track his cursor moving across the screen. According to one article—“data that once seemed anonymous can actually identify people if it’s pooled with other data sets”. I think it is important for companies to be up front about their data collection methods and how they will use the data—and especially whether or not they plan on sharing it with any other third parties. Facebook may include some statements about data collection and privacy in their terms of service agreement—but they are not conspicuous (a term we learned in business law to mean they are “noticeable to a reasonable person” or in other words—in a larger font or different color). I don’t believe that burying a line about privacy within a mile long agreement that most people don’t even bother to read can qualify as notifying consumers—especially when many online consumers include older web surfers or children who are unaware of privacy issues.

2) In the long run, it can only be favorable for a company to act with ethics in mind. Many companies incorporate ethics into their mission statements, or have a code of conduct with  For example, Google has a code of ethics which states “Don’t be evil…..it’s also about doing the right thing more generally—following the law, acting honorably and treating each other with respect.” While Google has a very long code of ethics—Facebook doesn’t have a clear cut code of ethics on their website. Are they hiding something? Incorporating ethics statements that companies actually abide by can increase the faith of consumers in those companies—and make them feel better about their relationship with them. For example, after many scandals about Wal-Marts treatment and benefits for employees—many people now feel guilty to say they shop there. Many major MLA (mobile location analytics) firms have enacted a code of conducts that requires all retailers who use their technology to notify consumers when data is being collected. In general, I believe people prefer to shop with and use services of companies they believe act ethically. Most purchases are made by consumers with the expectation to be treated fairly by a retailer and receive fair value in the purchase—and I think it would be beneficial for most companies to respect people’s adversity to information sharing. At the same time—it would also be smart for companies to educate consumers of the positive ways data collection can help consumers. Improving data collection techniques and making them more personal can help companies identify what its customers actually want to buy—not just what they think their customers want to buy (highlighted in the car dealership example). It can also enhance the in-store and online experience—the mannequin article stated that the device “could really enhance the shopping experience, the product assortment, and help brands better understand their customers.” In the same example, a store discovered from the mannequins that shoppers were bringing children with them to the store and they added a children's line of clothing—the store actually increased convenience for the consumer. In these ways, data collection, even an unnerving one such as facial recognition equipped mannequins—can actually help customers. Teaching consumers about these things and sticking to an ethical and public privacy statement may decrease their aversion to data collection.

3) There is a fine line between collecting data with the goal of improving relationships with consumers, and using data collection in a deceptive manner to target consumers. That is why I think a company’s ethical use of data collection can be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, evaluating factors such as what they do with the info, their goal in using the info, and whether it contains personally identifying information. If a company intends to collect demographic and behavioral information with the intention of improving understanding of consumers, it has a different connotation than when they collect it with the intention of selling the information to third parties or trick specific individuals into spending more money. A good example is written in the article titled “the economics of surveillance”. Using technology to track suspected criminals is used to maintain the safety and welfare of the general public but businesses often collect data with the goal of increasing profits. I think when data is collected anonymously (the data won’t allow any company or a third party to identify who it is associated with) it can become a pool of general information that will allow a company to improve its strategy. But when data collection becomes so personal and identifiable that it allows car dealerships to actually “think” they know what a person is looking for when they walk in the door, and target that person specifically, it becomes almost like companies are attacking individuals in a privacy invading manner.

I noticed that most of the articles assigned to us in class on this topic are almost a year old—I shudder a little when I wonder what types of data collecting technology have been developed since then.

Other sources I used:

http://investor.google.com/corporate/code-of-conduct.html
http://blogs.wsj.com/cio/2013/10/30/facebook-considers-vast-increase-in-data-collection/
http://www.natlawreview.com/article/big-brother-watching-you-shop-pants-mobile-analytics-firms-implement-code-conduct-tr

Thoughts on Creativity

What are your personal experiences with individual creativity? Have you had times when you felt especially creative, or even, especially uncreative?

Over the years, I feel that creativity has come to me in waves. The more I exercise my creative senses, the more easily I find myself capable of being creative. For instance, when I was in middle school, I spent a lot of time writing stories, drawing, experimenting with new art materials, and listening to music. During that time period I remember myself as a very imaginative and artistic person. In high school I lost the time to work on writing and art, and I found it much more difficult to do creative tasks when they came upon me. But I realize now that creativity does not just exist in the form of the arts, but it also exists in problem solving, inventions, and critical thinking. Despite that I have recognized this, I am still better at being creative when it revolves around art, since I think of art as being abstract and having no right or wrong answer. When it comes to problem solving and critical thinking I find it much more difficult to be innovative since there seem to be wrong answers and I have been trained to think within certain limits to answer problems. It may help me to start thinking of problem solving more abstractly. I also believe that I am more creative when I am doing something on my own free will rather than when someone is asking me to be creative. Lastly, I also find myself more capable of being creative when I search for inspiration. Some may think this would make any of my ideas unoriginal, but many times I come up with my own work by looking at other examples and making my own mix of them.

What are your personal experiences with organizational creativity? Have you worked at companies that felt or behaved in ways that made them more creative, or even, especially uncreative?

I have two different examples of places I worked where creativity was very different. When I worked at a doctor’s office, problem solving was approached in a manner that didn’t produce creativity. For example, most decisions were automatically deferred to the upper management or the doctors, without much brainstorming involved, which limited the range of options that the organization believed it had available to them. The other example comes from when I worked for a mobile app company. This organization held a meeting first thing each morning during which they discussed any current issues, made announcements and did a lot of discussion. People were always contributing new ideas. The atmosphere at this company was very different though. The owners and managers of the company sat in the same room as the interns. The small company had an “open door” in that anybody could overhear all conversations and you could talk to anyone about any issue. This company also encouraged you to be wrong as a way to learn. This acceptance of wrong answers and making mistakes made employees much less reluctant to provide their own ideas and insights. Sometimes this got a little chaotic, and sometimes there were even heated debates about ideas, but I think all of this contributed to make the organization more original in its problem solving and brainstorming strategies.

Do you think you, as an individual, are even capable of being creative by yourself? And, better yet, do you think a group within an organization is capable of being creative?

I do believe that there are certain people who are extremely creative all by themselves. They can come up with really inventive ideas without any help from other people. But I, myself am not one of them (yet). Even if a person is already pretty innovative in their thinking, I think we can all increase creativity by working in teams. Since we all come from diverse experiences, we can all bring different knowledge and perspectives to the table. And when someone has an idea that they believe is great, it can be helpful when someone else instantly realizes why it won’t work based on their own experiences. By working in groups, organizations can save time and money and enable more meaningful creativity.

What do you think about the idea of different creative types of problems and, thus, different creative processes? Should we trust ourselves just to know or sense when we need one type of approach versus another?

I believe there are many different creative processes or strategies one can use to ideate. You can brainstorm, journey map, think, do, or even look for inspiration. Each of us probably has our own method we tend to rely on. If we are searching for the most creative answer, then it would make sense to continue to ideate even after a satisfactory idea is reached, in case a better idea can be formulated. So in this case, I would say we should not trust ourselves to use one creative process to brainstorm, but rather it would be helpful to try several different strategies so that many different ideas can be created. On the other hand, we shouldn’t try a creative process if we know if doesn’t make sense to apply it (i.e. don’t journey map if there is no story to be told). Unfortunately, I think when most of us come with an idea that sparks our interest, we run with it, rather than searching for even better options. For those of us who don’t consider ourselves particularly creative problem solvers, trusting ourselves to use one type of approach will not allow us to open our horizons and think outside of the box.

Business Model Analysis Report

“We work with visionary companies. Ambitious companies. Companies that stand for something and companies that want to transcend their categories and be a positive force in people’s lives.”

About GSD&M:

GSD&M is a full service advertising agency in Austin that was founded by four graduates of The University of Texas. It is part of the Publicis Omnicom Group which is one of the biggest agencies in America that provides advertising, marketing, and corporate communications in its services. GSD&M has done work for several well-known and respected companies such as Walgreens, John Deere, Goodyear, and Southwest Airlines. GSD&M specializes in a conglomerate of marketing aspects including online/social media campaigns, website creation, integrated production, re-branding, and media planning, just to name a few. According to Austin Business Journal, GSD&M is both the largest and the best advertising agency in Austin based on its largest gross income of $67 million dollars a year. It’s most recognizable work: “Don’t Mess With Texas”. What started as an anti-littering campaign for the Texas Department of Transportation not only decreased litter by 72% in 10 years, but quickly also became the slogan of Texas and its proud citizens.

The people who work at GSD&M are passionate. And because of this, they work with passionate companies using “purpose-based branding”. What does this mean? It means they consider identifying what the company wishes to change about the world the most important factor in building a relationship with clients in order for GSD&M to properly create for them.

Why GSD&M is of interest to me:

In Austin, GSD&M is a home away from home for hundreds of creative professionals, and the company is known for its diverse and informal, yet professional company culture. I have already moved away from Austin twice in my life, and after the last time I knew I could never leave again. As a marketing student who is about to graduate in May, I already have been excitedly and hesitantly thinking about where I am going to jump start my career. Since I will be looking for a marketing job in Austin in the (too) near future, I want to use this business report to help me learn more about this advertising agency and the marketing climate in Austin. If I find what it offers exciting, and think its business model is respectable, then I would like to pursue an entry level job there and having done this report will give me a knowledgeable edge when applying there.

Customer segments and their value propositions:

When looking at the online list of GSD&M’s past clients, I identified three main customer segments: retail stores, manufacturers, and companies that sell services. According to our text book, Business Model Generation, GSD&M uses customer segments rather than diversified, niche, mass, or multi sided-platform segment types. This is because it serves customers with similar needs but also with significantly different relationships, product offerings, profits, distribution channels, and wants.  I am going to briefly discuss the individual value proposition of each of these segments. Value propositions are one of the nine basic building blocks “that show the logic of how a company intends to make money”.  On their website, GSD&M states “Our Purpose is to do whatever it takes to grow our clients’ business so that they can fulfill their Purpose.” While this is GSD&M’s universal goal, they apply it to each customer segment differently by offering each one different value.

GSD&M works with retail stores such as Walgreens, Marshalls, Zale’s, Ace Hardware, and Popeye’s. While these companies all offer several different types of products and have different strategies for selling them, they all have the goal of wanting to increase the value their products offer and therefore also increase their profits by having more people shop and purchase in their physical and online retail spaces. These companies often do not produce their own products but instead specialize in creating an appealing, convenient, and enjoyable shopping experience. Therefore, the value proposition of GSD&M to its retail store customers is to create marketing strategies that will bring more people into their stores.

Examples of manufacturers that GSD&M works with include Goodyear, John Deere, Campbell’s, Lee, Jarritos, and Pacifico. These companies differ from the other two segments because they are experts in production, manufacturing, design, and packaging of products. They do not specialize in retail spaces and therefore often don’t sell directly to the public. Despite this, in some ways these companies must have multi-sided marketing strategies because they must appeal to consumers and also businesses: retail stores will only want to place these products on their show room floors and shelves if their customers will buy them. The value proposition of GSD&M for manufacturing companies is to create marketing strategies that will increase the number of stores selling their product and the number of people who buy those products.

The last customer segment, service providing companies, includes companies such as Southwest Airlines, The University of Texas, Austin City Limits, AT&T, and Sports Clips. These companies offer varying services from education to entertainment to lawyers. While the services are diverse, the products they sell are all intangible. They must convince customers to pay for something that they may not physically take home but will receive benefits from. This is often a losing battle when it comes to health services or insurance—it’s hard for people to be willing to pay a lot for these intangibles. Therefore, GSD&M’s value proposition for service providers is to create marketing strategies that help customers see the value in their intangible offerings.

Concerns:

While I am very excited about studying GSD&M in my market report, I worry that these customer segments are not different enough in their needs to qualify as actual segments. I see their basic underlying need for all of them is to increase profit. I also could not find ways to distinguish between the different segments trough the values discussed in the Business Model Generation text book (newness, performance, customization, price, design, etc.) because I think GSD&M offers the same values in these areas to each segment.

Sources:

http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/subscriber-only/2013/08/09/austins-largest-advertising.html
http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/blog/creative/2013/08/austins-5-largest-ad-agencies.html
http://www.indeed.com/cmp/Gsd&M
http://www.gsdm.com/#/default.aspx
Course textbook: Business Model Generation

Generative Research

Close to You

 

 

When I first started this task I thought of putting items such as the internet, my computer, and my phone in the inner circle. But I had to remind myself that even though those are things that I spend a lot of time using, they are not necessities that are required to keep me breathing. So instead of those more superficial items I included items such as food, a bed, and shelter in my "can't live without circle". These are items that make a huge impact on my everyday existence but that I often take for granted. Even though my parents are not a necessity to my existence in the same ways that food and shelter are, they are a key to my happiness and I cannot imagine a way of life without them, therefore I included them in the inner circle. The outer circle contains items that are precious to me but that I would be able to survive without. 

 

Digital Ecosystem

 

 This task made me realize that I am not exposed to a lot of news sources. But to recieve information I access social media the most, followed by web searches and online video. Please read the notes in the graph to learn more about why and how I use these sources.

 

Typical Weekday

 This third task was the most difficult for me because each day seems very different for me. I do not have a regular schedule for when I watch TV, spend time on the computer, or even eat lunch. But I came up with the type of day that occurs most throughout the month. This exercise made me realize that I am not exposed to very many types of information. During breaks between classes, I spend some time on Pinterest and browsing the web (really just procrastinating), so during that time I am exposed to shopping, clothing, products, and DIY projects. The only time I see news is when my parents have it turned on, so that is usually during the morning or when I get home from school. On the way to school in the morning I listen to the radio. The stations usually have talk shows at this time so I usually hear a weather/traffic report, and sometimes local or national news. I noted that I am exposed to my events calendar all day because I keep it in my backpack or purse at all times and look at it often to keep me organized.

 

 

 

Journey Map

This is the journey map of my friend Sarah's decision to major in Accounting. When I first started this journey map I thought I wouldn’t reach any discoveries since Sarah isn't "purchasing" her major. I thought I would be simply telling a story. But throughout completion of this map I realized that just because something isn't up for sale, doesn't mean people aren't trying to sell it to you in other ways. Professors, programs, and parents all try to push students towards picking a major. Professors often tell you about upcoming information sessions and teach you about the industries. Programs tell you that the University of Texas program for a certain major is rated number one in the country. And simultaneously, our parents try to push us towards the major that they think will be best for us. All these influences can make choosing a major particularly confusing for students, especially since we all believe it is a major life decision. This journey map reveals what it was like for one student (and probably some others as well) to make this decision and what influenced her to make it.

 

About Sarah:

• Current accounting major
• Senior, graduating in Dec 2015 (2 years left)
• Outgoing, friendly, considerate, fashionable
• Decisive, organized
• Uses a lot of common sense in thought processes
• Goals in life: achieve success and have a family

A Visual Representation: Sarah's Journey Map

 

More about her journey:

During High School

When Sarah was a junior in high school, she was already feeling pressure to think about her future career (yet it seemed so far away). When considering her interests, she knew she enjoyed working with numbers, but she didn't want to be a math teacher. Early on, her dad kept mentioning accounting, but she didn't know anything about accounting. This time period can be considered her "What is?" phase because she was evaluating what she already knew about herself.

Her senior year she signed up for accounting as an elective. She immediately enjoyed it and how accounting let her play with numbers. So when it became time to submit college applications, she chose accounting as her primary major and general studies as her second option. To learn more about accounting, she talked with her cousin (who is a CPA) about what his job was like. Her interest was piqued and she became more confident in the idea of studying accounting. Senior year is likely Sarah's "What if?" phase because she is envisioning herself as an accounting major and the benefits it would provide, and although she chose it on her college applications, she still has some doubts about it and wants to explore more.

First Year of College

Unfortunately, Sarah wasn't accepted into the business school but she made it into The College of General Studies. She knew she would apply again at the end of the year, but until then she spent more time researching the accounting industry during her first semester. The biggest influence at this stage was her friends, who kept telling her that she was too much of a people person to enjoy a career in accounting. This made her concerned about her decision, and at this point she began diverging, or looking for other options. She interviewed with the CFO of a bank, who reassured her that accounting jobs can be social or non-social, can still be fun, and are not the typical desk jobs everyone assumes they are.

At the end of her second semester, she found out once again that she had not been accepted into the business school. She could still apply next year, but the rejection made her question whether she really wanted to keep pursuing accounting as a career. She decided to come up with a backup plan in case she was rejected again. Her interest in oversea activities made her think International Relations may be a good major for her.

Second Year of College

During the summer before sophomore year, Sarah read Steve Job's biography. Reading about the innovation at Apple made her fall in love with Apple and their strategy. She knew then that she would want to work in industry accounting rather than public accounting. Still not sure if she would be accepted into business school, she decided on Special Event Coordinating as a backup major since she really enjoyed planning events for her organizations.

Third Year of College

In the fall she was accepted into the business school. During her first accounting course, she continued to enjoy the concepts that she had studied in high school accounting. During lecture they analyzed Apple's balance sheet, and she "thought it was the coolest thing ever". At this point in time she began converging in on a final decision and her confidence level rose because she loved how accounting connected her love for numbers and innovative companies. This occurs during the "What wows?" phase, when she literally had a "wow" moment and everything clicked into place. Now she had to decide whether she wanted to study accounting through the traditional BBA program or apply for the MPA integrated program.

During the second semester a professor who had completed the MPA program really helped Sarah increase her confidence about her major choice. She met with Sarah during office hours to discuss the different areas of accounting and what typical jobs were like. At this point on Sarah became entirely focused on ways to help her achieve her dream job within accounting (business organizations, internships, resume work).

Senior Year (Today)

Sarah did an internship at a local accounting firm, which was her own version of "testing" her choice. While getting hands-on experience with accounting, Sarah was in the "What works?" phase and was able to evaluate her previous decision that accounting sounded like a perfect fit for her. She learned a lot during her internship and at the end felt it was a "tease" and made her want to delve even deeper into accounting.

Although this isn't Sarah's last year in college, she is officially classified a senior. Now when you ask her about her confidence she claims she is "110% confident" in her choice. Although her primary focus was always on accounting, she had some doubts along the way which were created by influences such as her friends and rejection.

What I learned:

• Journey maps can be created to better understand the path to making a decision and the factors that most influence someone, in other words, it allows you to walk a mile in your customer's shoes
• Journey maps can also invite you to feel empathy for someone, because as you learn about their journey you begin to see their pain points and gain points as they learn and make decisions
• By mapping when the customer is feeling positive or negative (confidence level in this example) you can find areas that need improvement in the purchasing journey
• While this journey map was made for one specific person, I think it would be helpful to make multiple journey maps for people in the same major and compare their decision experiences, so that you can create a journey map for a specific subset of people
• Almost all decisions can involve sales (i.e. when deciding where to major you are influenced by programs and when you are deciding where to work you are influenced by benefits companies offer)

Empathy Map

The basis of this post: Empathy Map

 My Choice     
Choosing a person for this assignment was very difficult for me. I wracked my brain for quite some time and actually begin to feel guilty at the fact that I don’t know anyone who is significantly different from me very well. Thinking of the closest people to me, I realized that they are all very similar to me in that we match demographics. This isn’t unnatural though, as the human brain is psychologically wired to find people who are similar to us more attractive and approachable. Despite this difficulty, I finally settled on a friend’s mom, who we will call D.

Overview
D is in her fifties and Hispanic. She has been married for 22 years and is the mother of two boys. Since she has six siblings, D has a very large extended family. I don’t know her income for sure, but I would guess that she and her husband are upper middle class. They don’t seem to have problems making ends meet at the end of each month. She is caring, protective, and thoughtful. She cooks great Mexican food and comfort food, enjoys gardening and loves animals.  D also has an eye disease which has made her legally blind. As she ages her eyesight will continue to deteriorate.

Seeing
D spends most of her time at work, and when she is not at work she is most likely at home. Since she is legally blind she cannot drive and never goes anywhere by herself, therefore she is limited in the places she can travel to. Her work environment is most likely the typical large office setting—with cubicles and hierarchical separation. At home, her house is adorned with decorations from the 70s. It is cozy, traditional, and homey. It is also well lit to help her see things better. D’s friends are mostly people she met at work and her family. Once when she took two weeks off work she mentioned that she missed her friends. I would guess that seeing her friends at work is what makes her job worthwhile. On a daily basis she is exposed to advertising on television and in the newspaper, so she is continuously exposed to market offerings through these media channels.

Hearing
D is constantly hearing about new things at work—including music, TV shows, beauty products, and foods. It is obvious that her friends at work really influence and help develop her tastes, and that word of mouth spreads products throughout her circle of friends.

On the other hand, I have also noticed that she always seeks others approval when she is shopping. When I have been shopping with her before, she always asks things to me like “Do I need this?” and “Do you think this is cute?” She is also heavily affected by her husband’s opinion and lets him make the final call on purchases. For example, one time I was shopping with her family and she was very interested in purchasing a GPS, but as soon as her spouse said “we don’t need it”, she let go of the idea. Since she reads the newspaper every day and watches the news as well as several TV shows (soaps, the bachelorette, celebrity shows), she is influenced by TV and the newspaper media channels.

Music is an integral part of D's life. She enjoys listening to music on her iPod while at work and on car rides. She spends a lot of money purchasing front-row tickets to big concerts so that she can hear her favorite musicians live.

Thinking and Feeling
The most important thing in D’s life is obviously her family. She wants to support her family emotionally and monetarily. I believe that her son’s success and happiness are very important to her and that if they achieve this she will believe she has fulfilled her purpose in life. She often posts inspirational quotes about her family and sons on her Facebook, which shows how big of a role her family plays in her life. She finds pleasure in nurturing and this drives her actions; she spends her free time gardening, crafting blankets to give as gifts, cooking for friends and family, and taking care of her pets. Religion also plays a significant role in her life so I think that it is important to her to satisfy her religious duties by praying, reading from the bible, and attending church. She always says a small prayer before leaving on trips or when she sends her son off to college, showing that she may believe that her fate is in God’s hands.  Her major worries in life would have to be the failures of her sons (she often is in denial when one of them has done something wrong) and also aging. Like many women her age, she is going through menopause, and she is preoccupied with worries about getting older and her changing appearance. I have seen lately that she is trying to exercise more and lose weight. Because of this she is interested in purchasing exercise equipment and anti-aging products.

A few of D's Facebook posts

 

 

Saying and Doing
D is all-around a very polite and friendly person. Her attitude seems to be negative towards herself and positive towards other people. She often is supportive of others ideas and offers words of comfort to people who need them, yet she seems to over criticize herself. She doesn’t socialize a lot or spend time with friends in her free time but I think part of it is because she can’t go anywhere by herself. Around family, she is very relaxed and humorous, and even enjoys living it up a little by drinking beer and playing jokes on people. Sometimes she surprises me by doing adventurous things despite her age (iFly, schlitterbahn). D dresses modestly, and when she goes out she always puts on nicer clothes and pulls her hair out of its ponytail. She does her hair and makeup everyday so I know her appearance is important to her and that she wants to make a good impression in public.

Pain Points
Her basic paint points would revolve around her sons, her religion, and her health state. First and foremost I think she fears the loss of her sons. This doesn’t necessarily mean their death but figuratively losing them when they get married and move away for good. I believe this because she is very protective of them, especially when they get girlfriends. She doesn’t like them to stay out late and has mentioned that she cannot sleep well when she doesn’t know exactly what they’re up to. Part of the reason she is so attached to her sons (even more so than the average mother) is that she literally relies on them from everything to driving her to the grocery store to helping her find her way around the aisles at JCPennys, and as she ages she will need even more help. Second, as a devoted catholic she most likely fears the rejection of God or not being accepted into heaven. This drives her to make moral decisions throughout her life. Lastly, I believe she fears going blind. There is a possibility she will go blind as she ages, depending on the rate of her eye loss. I have no idea what this feels like but I can only imagine that it creates a huge emotional burden since she has no control over this loss.

 

I know her blindness creates daily frustrations and obstacles for her. Since she cannot drive anymore, she can never go to the store anymore and therefore complains often about being “cooped up all the time”. She only gets chances to go shopping or out on weekends when someone is willing to take her, and therefore while she is shopping she often buys a lot and makes impulse purchases for small items like clothes and yard art because she doesn’t always get chances to buy things.

Gain Points
From what I have heard it sounds like D wants to retire as soon as possible and move to somewhere outside the city limits where the weather is nicer and she can relax with her husband. I can’t imagine her moving too far from where her sons are, but she has mentioned moving to Arkansas on multiple occasions. Right now they cannot retire because they are still working to pay for their sons educations.  More than anything it seems she wants to stay young and attractive. I can see this in how she stays up to date on modern trends, spends time and money on Mary Kay makeup products, and when she complains about her “growing stomach area”. I think that D will believe she has achieved success if her sons make good decisions and find happiness in life. From the perspective of Maslow's hierarchy, D has conquered the social, safety, and belonging stages of wants, but now she is faced with the challenges of achieving self esteem.