Death Of Neex Benedict Essay

The Death of Nex Benedict from a Social Psychology Perspective On February 8th, 2024, a school fight in Oklahoma ultimately led to an overdose and the death of 16-year-old Nex Benedict. Before their passing, Benedict was subject to bullying by his peers for around a year due to identifying with a nonbinary gender identity. After hearing negative remarks made about them and their friends by a group of peers, Benedict splashed water on the group. This resulted in the peers beating Benedict until they were unconscious and hospitalized. Benedict was released from the hospital, but was found dead the following morning due to a lethal amount of diphenhydramine and fluoxetine in their bloodstream, being the reported cause of death (Murphy, 2024).

The death of Nex Benedict’s is a tragedy, but unfortunately increasing with today’s youth due to negative attitudes and hostility. While this can be attributed to the ideals of American leaders and citizens, it is unfortunately a global issue. Nevertheless, the culture of not only the country but also the state that Benedict resided in played a crucial role. According to the general aggression model, factors such as culture, genetics, evolution, biology, and construals all play key roles in creating feelings of frustration, which are then suggested to lead to aggressive behaviors. While this makes it easy to understand why Benedict’s peers held their prejudiced views towards them, this bullying occurred a year before the fight without physical responses. This question may be answered by the aggression cue theory. This concept suggests that in order for frustration to become an action, such as aggressive behaviors, a cue must trigger the response. In Benedict’s case, this cue may have been their retaliation against bullies, via splashing water on them, which would have led them to snap and