Cognitive theory
In this research paper, I will be talking about the events that lead to Rihanna and Chris Brown breakup in 2009 and subsequent arrest of Chris Brown. The two celebrity couple dated from 2008 to 2009 before their acrimonious breakup that leads to Chris Brown being arrested for physical assault against Rihanna, his then-girlfriend. So serious was the assault that it left Rihanna with bruises on her face and lots of injuries that necessitated her hospitalization. On the other hand, Chris Brown was sentenced to probation of five years, domestic violence counsel and community service after pleading guilty to the charges. Although Chris Brown’s is a person of interest in this story, Rihanna’s reactions are what I am more interested in examining.
Cognitivism is a learning theory where much emphasis is on understanding. In this case, the mind is receptive to new thoughts and uses previous knowledge and assumptions to reach an understanding. As such, learning is based on understanding. In my case, my person of interest is Rihanna, who uses her mind to analyze that Chris Brown cheated her on his sexual relationship with a female workmate. Furthermore, Rihanna also finds texts in Chris Brown’s phone from another woman and becomes suspicious of them. These two events make Rihanna loose trust on Chris Brown and based on her understanding; Brown is cheating on her. Rihanna hits Brown a couple of times until Brown decides to fist on her. In my understanding, Rihanna has an exceptional character of accepting to be abused and still goes back to the relationship.
Chris Brown and Rihanna love affair is one that was abusive, both emotional and physical. In the emotional part, Chris Brown cheats on Rihanna with his workmate. To add even more, in his documentary, Chris Brown: Welcome to My Life, he admits to having cheated on Rihanna with another woman, and she sees the text messages and is unforgiving. She makes up her mind to beat him, and things get messy. In this particular incident, Chris Brown affects the emotions of Rihanna, resulting in emotional abuse and her losing trust in him.
Physical abuse
To make matters even worse, Chris Brown is accused of causing a physical abuse on Rihanna in February 2009. Brown beat her up in his Lamborghini, leaving her bleeding, full of bruises and alone. This incident made Brown’s fans to turn their backs on him as Rihanna was hospitalized. According to Chris Brown, he beat up Rihanna because she started hitting him and he lost his coal. So, to him, he did not intend to heart her as he was only revenging, but accidentally the beating became severe.
Chris Brown and Rihanna had many verbal and physical fights as Brown would confirm to the US magazine. He recalls this in his 2017 documentary titled, Welcome to my life by attesting that their fights were as a result of Rihanna’s loss of trust on him due to his cheating habits. Also, Rihanna confirmed on an interview with Diane Sawyer that people had to fight eight or nine times before it would come to the limelight. By this, they both confirmed that they were inconsistent fights in their relationship. On this fateful day in February 2009, It’s only that the fight got out of hand and lead to severe damages.
Rihanna’s reaction to Domestic Violence
Rihanna became the person of interest based on her reaction to domestic violence. Her reaction was in disbelief and utter shock of all people around the world thanks to her celebrity status. Rihanna on a November 2009 interview with Diane Sawyer advised girls not to react off of love. On the contrary, on an August 2012 interview with Oprah Winfrey, Rihanna said that she had lost a ‘best friend’ to the dismay of her followers. Then shortly afterwards Rihanna united with Chris Brown and even accompanied him to a probation hearing in court kissing him. She united with the very same person who had done beaten her up.
This reaction to violence depicted Rihanna as a woman who unites back with her abuser very well, knowing what he had done to her. Rihanna argued back that she always saw herself as the guardian angel of Chris and that she always wanted the best out of him. However, this answer did not satisfactorily prove her decision, and she ended up being a bad role model for girls. In Rihanna’s deeds, she portrayed a very forgiving character which is good for everyone in a relationship to emulate. On the contrary, reuniting with Brown was, however, a bad decision and girls should know that they can do better than going back to an abusive relationship.
Rihanna’s reunification with Chris Brown
Three years after the assault on her, the pair got back together and was one again. Rihanna put it that she wanted to save him from himself. She said she was strong enough to handle the shit that came with the relationship. She was kind of the guardian angel to Brown, and they tried to work out the union to no prosperity. But after some time, Rihanna argued out that she deserved better because Brown could not measure up to the standards she expected of him. Eventually, the pair had to call it quits as there was no basis for a healthy relationship. Rihanna said that she discovered she was the enemy of herself.
Rihanna’s Past Life
Rihanna is arguably one person who grew up in an environment that hardened her. First, in their home, she experienced domestic violence that was mounted on her mother by her father. Her father was a drunkard who would come home late and would start an argument with her mother over a very petty issue like why a piece of paper was not in the dustbin. Also, Rihanna recalls being beaten by her father for delaying on the beach for ten minutes. She says the slap was too hot that the handprint remained on her face for long. Domestic violence in her home was too much that it affected her overall performance in school. Her performance deteriorated, and she would stay a lonely life. Between age eight to fourteen, she had severe headaches due to the serious domestic violence at home that necessitated her to get CT scans.
She schooled in Barbados where they were from the poor Irish community which was often referred to with derogatory terms. She was light skin, but her fellow schoolmates teased her by calling her white. In a 2009 Allure interview, Rihanna says he was looked at my classmates, and they would curse her. This whole collection of humiliation worked played a role in hardening her. She developed a thick skin which prepared her for the celebrity life ahead, which is full of humiliations.
Theory of emotion
Emotion refers to a subjective state that is intense and happens to answer our experiences. The theory of emotion I find relevant to Rihanna and Chris Brown relationship is the Schachter-singer two-factor theory of emotion. This theory takes into account physiological arousal and emotional experience. The main idea in this theory is that first, a person has thoughts (cognitive appraisal) and then an emotion which depends on one’s thoughts. If you are positive about something, then obviously you will have positive emotions. Appraisal theory is more on two separate people experiencing different emotions on a similar event.
In this context, Rihanna and Chris Brown have different emotions but one event that is their relationship. Rihanna’s physiological arousal is triggered by Chris Brown’s cheating sprees that make her uncomfortable in their relationship. On the other hand, Chris Brown refuses that he is cheating on her and eventually leads to a fight between the two of them. Rihanna’s thoughts are negative about her relationship and Brown, and it leads to the eventual downfall of their love affair.
Mental Barriers
A mental barrier is a restricting assumption or conviction we have in our ability, capacity, self-worth, etc. It stops us from acting or doing something, like endorsing, speaking publicly, saving financially, losing weight, etc. In this article, the failed relationship between the two can be likened to an addiction. Rihanna, the abused, is focused on changing Brown to a positive man and even after the first domestic violence, she still believes she can achieve positivity on him. The psychological effect correlates to gambling. She stays in the relationship hoping for better days of intimacy which are unpredictable.
As the clock ticks, Rihanna becomes used to cruelty and continues to tolerate abuse as is seen when she confirmed that one has to get eight or nine beatings to walk out of a relationship. In the end, she is less more entitled to her safety.
Social Physiological phenomena
Social psychology phenomena is a scientific inquiry into the effects of the real, conceived and inferred life of others on human thinking, feeling and behaviour. One theory that attributes how Rihanna’s behaviour changed is the social identity theory. Social identity theory examines how grouping people into groups influence one’s behaviour and perceptions. In school, Rihanna was teased by fellow schoolmates because she was ‘black’. This experience played a pivotal role in making develop a thick skin that eventually helped her in her celeb life.
Moreover, observational learning is behaviour that is acquired through imitation or copy of others. Rihanna observed the behaviour in her home and made certain observations. She hated the way her father treated her mother, and this greatly changed her perception of life. The quality of forgiveness is also portrayed by her mother, who forgives his father on numerous occasions. Forgiveness is seen in Rihanna’s decision to forgive Chris Brown after assaulting her, and they make love again.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Rihanna was in an abusive relationship with Chris Brown. The relationship is abusive is because, in her own words, she attests that to call it quits one needs to be in domestic violence eight or nine times. This shows that they had been in fights many times and that the assault one was the most severe. Rihanna is the abused but is still okay with loving the abuser. On Rihanna’s part, I think it is on the nurture part as she grew up seeing her mother being beaten by her father. Coincidentally, the same issue comes to haunt her in her relationship life some years after and she uses the lessons she gained from that period to handle it.