Blog 10:

At the beginning of the semester, I was expecting to gain knowledge on mainly the origins of prejudice, discrimination, and societal norms and their effects on society now and then. Looking back now, I’ve learned much more in-depth information regarding social psychology and I’ve been awarded a rich understanding of different aspects within social psychology. If I took the course again, I don’t think I would do much differently. I believe that I did the best I could in the course and also learned and comprehended the material to the best of my ability. Academically, I’ve grown in a way where I find it much easier to make in-depth connections of the material gone over in one class to another, or the classes I’ve taken in the past. I’ve also gained the skill of deeper comprehension of material, which in a professional setting, I can very much benefit from because understanding material in a manner in which you can make comprehensive discussions about is a skill that I believe can be very useful as a teacher, which is the career path I’m working towards currently.

The image chosen above represents my academic growth throughout the semester and upon taking this course. I feel that it represents how I’ve worked to gain the knowledge I now have and how it’s taken time, but has required patience on my part. I also see myself as more professional due to the knowledge acquired and the experience I’ve gained.

Blog 9:

The top three things I’ve learned are societal bias, emotional awareness, and emotional connections. I learned more about societal bias and how it affects the media we are exposed to, which connects Blogs 5 and 6. I also learned about emotional awareness, which connects Blog 2 and 7, Artifact 1, and Assignment Takeaway 2. Lastly, I learned about emotional connections, which connects Blog 3. Blogs 5 and 6 were connected because they were both about advertisements and bias within our media that affects how we view certain products. Blogs 2 and 7, Artifact 1, and Assignment Takeaway 2 were connected because they all were about emotional awareness and self-reflection, where we learn about how different aspects of life affect us emotionally. Blog 3 connected to emotional connections because of how certain places, music, media, and other parts of life can become emotionally significant to us.

One thing I learned in this course is love and it’s significance in our lives. This connects to a module I completed for my Positive Psychology course titled “Attachment, Love, Flourishing Relationships”. Many things between both modules and the assignments from each one connected with each other through its course material and the overall purpose of reading through the modules.

I chose the image above to reflect how throughout this course, writing things down in a planner has helped me the most in staying organized which also helped me learn the material the most. Being organized and planning when I’m going to complete certain assignments and study the modules has helped decrease the amount of stress I’m put through as well as increase my productivity. This reflects back on the above-mentioned things that I’ve learned and how I’ve been able to create connections between different assignments because I’ve organized myself in a way where I can easily recollect the assignments.

Blog 8:

Reading the mating article was interesting because this is something I’ve never read of before. I can see how prevalent sexual conflict is, especially in todays society. Hook-up culture has become the norm and often times, cause for celebration for the people engaging in it because it’s often seen as sexual liberation/freedom, especially for woman. I believe part of sexual conflict stems from hook-up culture due to the fact that when we’re committed to a person, sometimes the people within the relationship will begin to think about their past sexual partners and how they compare to their current partner. Especially once you’re engaged and plan to get married to that person, many people experience cold feet and think about whether this person is truly the right one for them. Or even when the relationship doesn’t work out, people often “get over someone by getting under someone else”.

In my experience, I’ve had romantic partners who are men upset me in many ways. I didn’t understand until I was older how common it is for women to experience this with their partners. Men can upset women by lying, being unfaithful, being prideful, belittling their partners, being unable to accept responsibility, being lazy and unhelpful, amongst a number of other things. Many women I’ve spoken to often express that their ideal man is someone who is kind, humorous, hard-working, responsible, respectful, and willing to make sacrifices. Often time, many men don’t live up to those standards and it leads to discourse within the relationship, leaving women with no other choice than to end the relationship.

Women can upset men in the same ways men can upset women, but often times there are other things that lead to men being upset with women. There are still men in todays society that expect women to adhere to very traditional expectations. For example, expecting women to clean, cook, be content as a stay at home wife or mother. Other men get expect the women in their life to work and help provide for the household. When men are in a relationship with women who have differing views in that sense, it can cause men to become upset with women. Another thing women do that upset men is often questioning their authority and logic. I believe part of it stems from men and their pride, but it can also be due to women constantly questioning them, which can become frustrating for anyone, especially if it’s your long-term partner who seems to not trust your judgement.

I chose the image above to reflect the frustrations from both male and female. This specific image portrays a man being frustrated with a woman, seemingly about the time, assuming they are late to something as a result of the woman’s actions. On the other hand, you see the woman is upset as well, seemingly due to the man’s reaction or his anger.

Blog 7:

To me, Emotional Intelligence means maintaining the ability to recognize what emotions you’re feeling, the true source of those emotions, and think of a productive solution of how you’re going to handle those emotions. I feel that I’m very aware of my personal growth with my own emotional intelligence in that I’m able to specify the exact emotion I’m feeling as well as deescalate a situation I’m having internally so that I can think more clearly, as well as help myself realize the severity, or lack of, a situation and the attainability of the solution.

The relationship between self-regulation and emotional intelligence is based on the what, why, and how. The what and why come from emotional intelligence, where you need to ask yourself, “What emotion am I feeling?” and then you need to figure out, “Why am I feeling this way?” Upon on your emotional intelligence, you begin building healthy self-regulation and can then figure out “How am I going to respond to these emotions I’m feeling?” In order to build emotional intelligence, it’s imperative to consciously take a moment to reflect on the emotions you’re feeling, in the moment. Afterwards, you can then focus on how you’ve responded to similar situations or emotions in the past and how you wish you handled it or how you think you can handle it more appropriately. I personally found that working with kids has helped me a lot in mastering my own self-regulation and emotional intelligence, due to the patience I’ve had to build as a result.

Blog 6:

Prior to this presentation, I did in fact notice how advertisements, companies, and corporations all around would portray women in their ads. I went to school in Newport News, and growing up, I was luckily taught since elementary school about how companies would distort, photoshop, stereotype, and dehumanize women in ads, as well as other stereotypes made based on race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, etc. I think this TED Talk did a really good job at explaining the issue to a broader audience in a way that gains attention to make more people aware, but she also was very amicable and funny, telling jokes that made the TED Talk enjoyable to watch. She was also very factual with her evidence as well as details on the ads she chose to show the audience.

To support to claims made in the TED Talk, I’ve selected five advertisement, spanning from the seventies until now, in 2022. Each ad is problematic in different ways and highlight the issue with advertisement featuring women and how they’re portrayed.

Advertisement A is an ad released in South Africa on National Women’s Day by the company BIC. In the ad, it features a South African woman and the text next to her reads: “Look like a girl. Act like a lady. Think like a man. Work like a boss.” The ad faced backlash due to the insinuating message that in order to be successful, you need to “think like a man”, furthering a stereotype that women are incapable of being intelligent enough to run a business as successfully as a man. They also insinuate the message that you should “look like a girl” and “act like a lady”, terms often synonymous with women being told to “sit and look pretty”, speak when spoken to, speak softly, and don’t come across too aggressive, and then you will be successful.

Advertisement B features Khloe Kardashian advertising Protein World’s protein powder. The advertisement challenges those to participate in a 30 day challenge, using their protein powder. This advertisement is damaging in that it feeds into the numerous amount of ads that insinuate a quick fix to achieve the perfect body, shown to be a body that resembles Kardashian. In reality, the ad promotes a fad diet and features a heavily photoshopped Kardashian, who is known for photoshopping personal photos of herself, as well as the possibility that she has had work done on her body. It promotes a body type to young girls and women that is simply trending in the moment, which is the “hourglass” shape body type, a body in which a woman has a large bust and butt, wide hips, and comparatively small waist.

Advertisement C is a side by side comparison of two ads released by American Apparel. As seen, when featuring women’s clothing, a photo of a skinny, white, blonde woman comes up, wearing a pair of underwear and a flannel that covers her breasts. This is as opposed to the image that comes up when featuring men’s clothing, which is a white man who is fully covered and posed generically. This is a recent example of how women are sexualized in order to promote products from a company, compared to how men can, in lament terms, just exist in order to promote products.

Advertisement D is one that is very well-known and released by a company that is no stranger to controversy. Victoria’s Secret released this ad in 2014 and faced backlash due to their promotion of a “perfect body” where there are 8 slim, white or very light skinned, petite women featured. Since the creation of the company, Victoria’s Secret has been known for “selling the fantasy”, promoting lingerie for women. This ad seemingly represents what the company deems as the “perfect body”. One of the main issues with this advertisement is the blatant disregard to beauty in all body types, which can be damaging for girls and women to see.

Lastly, Advertisement E is an ad from the seventies, promoting a line of body care items from the company, Love’s Baby Soft. This is just one of very many ads from the fifties, sixties, seventies, and eighties that contains many harmful messages. One of the most prominent messages is the text featured: “Because innocence is sexier than you think.” The biggest issue is they’re promoting a message to women that they are sexier when they act and look innocent, like a baby. Featured on the ad and in the commercial for the line is a white blonde women, wearing a baby doll styles dress, licking a lollipop. It is disturbing to view because it also promotes the infantilizing of women and sexuality of underage girls, who are “pure and innocent”.

Blog 5:

            Throughout many years, companies have released a variety of advertisements in order to sell a product or service. What we’ve learned through studying many years of advertisements are the different kinds that are most common in media and society. Three common advertisements are credible ads, not credible ads, and attractive ads. Credible ads are advertisements that are created and relayed through a professional, trustworthy source, often an individual or group that specialize in research within the topic or field. Not credible ads are often ads that contain statements and messages that are not backed by a professional, trustworthy source. An attractive ad is an advertisement that uses physical beauty to promote products or services.

            Advertisement A is an example of a credible ad. This advertisement is promoted by an organization by the name of ‘The Truth’, a national public health organization. This organization focuses on providing accurate information regarding Big Tobacco and works to eradicate smoking amongst the youth, which includes vaping. The advertisement states the amount of money smokers typically spend on cigarettes and gives a comparative view on other goods that can be purchased for that same amount of money.

            Advertisement B is an example of a not credible ad. It is very typical for many gum, toothpaste, and toothbrush companies to insist that their products have a hand in improving dental health. Many ads such as these will often use a tagline among the lines of “4 out of 5 dentists recommend this product.” The reason these ads are not credible is because firstly, they use very generic taglines to instill trust or credibility from the consumers. Secondly, the dentist that recommend the products are not mentioned by name nor are their credentials released. And thirdly, if 4 out of 5 dentists did in fact recommend the product, it’s important to think why the last dentist did not recommend the product, as well as why did the other 4 recommend it. This can then lead to a discussion on if the other dentists have shares in the company or receive some sort of financial compensation in exchange for their approval.

            Advertisement C is an example of an attractive ad. This ad is for a perfume created by Ariana Grande, Grammy award winning singer, and is among one of many within a fragrance line created by the singer. The reason this ad is considered an attractive ad is because it uses Grande’s physical beauty to attract consumers and persuade them to purchase the fragrance. Grande is not the only public figure to use her physical beauty in advertisements, but it’s very common among female celebrities also releasing fragrances. But attractive advertisements are also used to sell alcoholic beverages, cosmetics, clothing, jewelry, etc. This advertisement is successful because it instills the mindset in the consumer that if they purchase the product or service, they can be as physical beautiful as the person within the advertisement.

Blog 4:

On Exam 1, I received a 100%. to achieve this score, I studied excerpts from the textbook as well as look into additional resources that were provided. How I typically learn to recall information is through repetition as well as by finding connections. It’s difficult to explain the kinds of connections I create to help recall information but it can be as small as a trait having the same first letter as what it’s connected to or grasping the concept through practice.

I chose the image above to represent how proud I was of myself because of how hard I worked to achieve the 100% I received. I worked hard and studied very often, which is why I’m proud that my score reflects the work I put in.

Image Source: https://www.skysports.com/tennis/news/32498/11410978/andy-murray-was-most-successful-when-controlling-his-emotion-but-why

Blog 3:

Reading the article, I would definitely say there is a significant connection between music and relationships. It has been proven that music has a significant effect on mental health, emotional health, cognitive health, etc. Overall, music is a very powerful resource and it holds universal significance. Personally, past partner’s I’ve had didn’t have the same music taste as I did, but the opposite. It wasn’t until I met my husband that I finally dated someone who had very similar music taste that I did, and we ended up married. Coincidence? Compared to my past partners, I’ve realized how similar my husband’s and I’s beliefs, values, and dynamics are.

Music has always been significant in my family and culture, and I still carry that passion for music now. I connect certain songs to certain memories or people. I’ve create playlists throughout the years that I add with songs that remind me of my husband for that year. Often times, they’re songs that either he has become obsessed with or songs that come out that we sing together for so long throughout that year.

Above I’ve included the album cover for the single, Easy, by Camila Cabello. The reason I chose this image is because it encompasses the feelings I had when I first started dating my husband. The song goes into detail about her flaws, her difficulties, all the things that would make it difficult for someone to love her. She explains that she’s always felt that she was difficult to love, until she began a relationship with her current partner. That partner has recognized her flaws but chooses to be with her despite all of it. “Always thought I was hard to love, till you made it seem so easy.” Despite everything I went through in past relationships and how badly my previous partners would speak of me, my husband showed me all of the good aspects of myself and even showed a different perspective of my “bad” characteristics and how they are good as well.

Blog 2:

I believe I’m a very driven student, who is also very organized and can work efficiently under pressure. As I’ve gotten older, I find myself being a much more resourceful, responsible, and stronger student than when I began my college career at 18 years old. Recently, I’ve accomplished a lifelong goal of achieving straight A’s, a goal that stems from my inability to do so during my grade school years due to me being a weak student. Something I continue to work on that I believe will make me a better student is working on healthy coping mechanisms when circumstances arise to help me remain calm in tough situations. Completing the GSE, I got a score of 32. My answers reflect my ability to work under pressure as well as being able to create solutions to problems I face, which funnily enough, stems from constantly being in trouble when I was younger.

Above is a photo from when I graduated with my Associates in Social Sciences with a specialization in Education degree from Thomas Nelson Community College. The reason I chose this photo is because I reflect back on how I’ve struggled academically in school. During my time at Thomas Nelson, I pushed myself past all the doubt and reservations I had towards myself, past all of the temptations to quit, and most of all, past all of the doubt from others who were meant to give me support. While now I am a strong student who has consistently achieved all A’s in all of my classes, it took so much growth and I went through many hardships to reach where I am now. Taking the GSE, I reflect back on the process required to get the score I did and to feel as confident as I do.

Blog 1:

Reviewing the Course Objectives in the syllabus, I think they will help me understand what to expect from the course, expect the workload, as well as give more insight of what will be expected of me throughout the semester. My expectations from the course are to learn a lot about social perception and how majorly it can effect how we as a society view certain things. I’m hoping to gain deeper comprehension of the psychology involved with social perspectives. I plan to do my best to complete assignments as early in the week as possible to avoid any kind of procrastination, which will also help level out the workload with my other classes.

The image above represents social perception. While one person sees four rods, the other only sees three and it’s simply a matter of perspective. As a society, we often refuse to open up to the possibility of ideals that differ from ours. It often based on our previous experiences, cultural differences, social-economic differences, as well as an abundance of other different factors.