Blog 10:
In comparison with the course expectations and what I learned throughout this course it was all very similar. I learned just as much about prejudice and discrimination as I expected to learn, and I was very fascinated with the things that I learned all around but especially within discrimination and prejudice in psychology. I feel that I learned everything that was expected to learn within the course objectives, and I was very glad to have learned all that I did. It has helped me to look differently at social situations, as well as with my other studies. This course has helped for me to create a better understanding of others that I can apply to situations that I am faced with in life, instead of automatically judging someone for their opinions due to this course I am able to process how others may look at other things do to the way that others have learned a behavior.
If I were faced with the opportunity to take this course again I would change the way that I studied the information and ensure that I have enough time to read all of the materials. I would do this so that I am able to perform better and have a deeper knowledge of the information. Over the past few months due to this course I have grown in the way that I address situations and process others behaviors and comments. Everything that I have learned has been able to help me with addressing situations and understanding others. I am very glad that I had the opportunity to take this course and learn all that I have.
I chose this image as my visual representations of my academic growth because as it says we can not go back and change things, we can change the ending. I feel that with taking this course we are able to have a better understanding of others and change the way that we few people and situations and we can pass along this knowledge to others and continue to create a change in our views.
Blog 9:
Throughout this course I have learned many things that I will certainly remember forever because they were not only about others, but even myself. I truly enjoyed the fact that all of the assignments in this course involved me to complete quizzes and so forth. I feel that this helped for the information that was learned to related on a deeper level. Three of the top things that I learned and found to be the most interesting throughout my blog experience was, the way that advertisements “take advantage” of people in a sense and know such ways to target people for their products. Another topic within my blogs that I truly enjoyed and learned a lot from was the blog on music and how it related to relationships with others. This was something that I personally was able to truly understand and even apply to my own life. My final blog that I chose as my third for assignments that I have learned a lot from was my second blog using the GSE and my scoring. I feel that all of the main assignments that I learned the most from were ones that I was able to put myself in and understand how it may apply to my personal life.
It was as well interesting to see how many of the assignments throughout this course often tied in with one another. Such as, the blog on emotional intelligence and self-regulation. I felt that this blog and my assignment takeaway on love together were helpful for me to learn more about myself in different aspects that are helpful in finding “love”, because of the fact that it is important to love yourself and have one’s self under “control” before being able to “love” another. As well, this course has even tied into other subtopics that were discussed in my other courses. The biggest one being love. My psychology of sex class, much like this course spoke on love and relationships. As well, my other course spoke on the different forms and measures of love that researchers founded, and it was helpful to compare those readings with the quizzes and information that I read about in this course.
This image I feel captures my organizational process of what I have learned throughout this course. I chose this flower because, the pedals to me are like the different things that were learned throughout this course and the center of the flower is the main thing/things. Although ever part of the flower is what makes it beautiful, much like with this course. I learned so much over the span of the course and the pedals because all of the topics that I learned and the center being the most impacting things that tied topics together.
Blog 8:
As mentioned by DeWall and Myers sexual conflict is simply an instance in which one partners “sexual interest clash” with the other partners interest. As we know, men and women do have their differences in the way that they communicate with one another, act, make decisions, and so forth. Therefore, within any type of relationship there is bound to be some sort or conflict that arises because of these differences and moments where they “clash”. In the reading of Sexual Conflict: Uncovering the Mysteries of the Mating Battleground I found myself certainly agreeing with the information found in studies that were reported here. Such as, that 71% of men were said to have reported that they deceived women in some sort of a way prior to a relationship in order to obtain sex. While on the other hand it does mention how a lesser amount of 39% were women that did the same action. This is just a prime example of the differences that there are between men and women and even this one can cause problems. Women tend to not like to be lied to, led on or “played” so to speak. So, when women are in situations where men have deceived them to get what they are after it often times makes a woman upset and even sometimes disgusted with oneself for not seeing it or allowing herself to be deceived into such actions. In my own personal experience in relationships or with men in general, reasons that I have found myself upset with a man was because of a lack of communication or poor communication – them not listening – lack of appreciation for the partner and sometimes just simply wasted time. On the other hand, I have as well in my experience seen men upset with a woman for reasons like jealousy, having their feelings hurt, etc. Women can as well become hurt for these same reasons, but typically I have seen men upset for reasons of jealousy.
Blog 7:
Having self-regulation is important for being able to manage one’s own emotions and even behaviors in situations. In addition to self-regulation we have emotional intelligence (EQ). Emotional intelligence consist of four main groups, them being: self-awareness, self management, social awareness & relationship management. Each of these groups within EQ are important for us to make sound decisions and to be aware of our emotions and act accordingly. Both self-regulation and EQ are important by themselves, but working together they can create a more positive and effective result to a situation. Emotional intelligence is something that I was not aware that I had been using all of this time at work and in my life period, as well as self-regulation. When I heard emotional intelligence I thought that it was ones understanding of ones emotions. I was not aware that it had a deeper meaning than that. Once I had a better understanding of what EQ was I realized that I have answered questions that were based on understanding my EQ for jobs. Not only is that one way that EQ is displayed, but as well in stressful situations I use my EQ and self-regulation to deal with a situation. Typically this takes place at work, because in my line of work it can become very stressful and I have to often times focus on my behaviors/reactions and emotions during any situation. Due to this, I am always using my emotional intelligence and self-regulation.
Above are my results from a Emotional intelligence test that I took, these results in my opinion seem to be accurate for myself. Due to my job and the things that take place in my daily life, that may be a result of why my scoring for self-awareness and social awareness are higher.
Blog 6:
Much like the things that I mentioned in my blog 5, advertisements are seen everywhere, but with that said advertisements on women are cruel in a sense. I say this because they are often times set the tone for how a women should view themselves and how one should look. Ads often times chose women that are young, beautiful and even enhance them to look flawless. Which is simply not real or achievable, but just ads set these unrealistic beauty standards for women and use them to sell products. Jean Kilbourne did a talk called Killing Us Softly III where she broke down just how the media uses women to their advantage in selling products and even sets values, concepts and more of how women should look.
With watching this video I was not surprised by the things that Kilbourne discussed, because these are things that I have noticed over time and try not to pay attention to because of how dehumanizing they are to women. Although, these ads dehumanize women and manipulate people into buying their product, it seems to be a very effective way for companies to get attention and customers. Just as I mentioned in blog 5 how the company Fabletics is an attractive source because of the way that they accentuate certain parts of a woman’s body, this goes to show and support Kilbourne’s claims of just how ads use parts of the body that are found to be most attractive in their benefits.
These five images people are from various ads that use women to target customers into buying their products and just goes to show that as Kilbourne mentioned society/the media shapes the way that women are viewed and set standards. The first ad (going from top left corner to right and so forth) uses this women to attract people into buying the bourbon burger from Carl’s Jr. by having her play as “Mrs. Robinson” and act as if she is seducing a young man. Second this is an image from a Estee Lauder ad that presenting viewers with their new foundation and they use the slogan of “Confidence is…” portraying that makeup can create a form of confidence in a women. Third, there is a women that is bent over tending to something and a man walking by notices and stops to look at her, this ad uses this women to present a Fiat car and says “Never forget the first time you see one”. Fourth, this women was in the restroom and looks at herself in the mirror and starts to check out her bottom to show off her new perfectly fitting Old Navy jeans. Which is typical for ads because they want to show how their products can make a women’s most valuable parts look. Finally, these four women are walking on a beach showing off their – what the media would say is a – perfect bodies in Victoria Secret bathing suits.
Blog 5:
Advertisements can be very powerful when thought about. They are basically every where around us in the world, on our phones, TV, buses, buildings, etc. Though they are seen all over, they are not all credible/accurate ads and with that some ads are meant to appeal to people through way of attraction. I have selected three different ads, one that is a credible source ad, not credible source, and an attractive source ad.
Picture A represents a credible ad because companies use real people in their ads to show the dangers of smoking. I have seen many adds from the CDC that are like this and they tend to have people come on that discuss what has happened to them from smoking and even show the audience the things that have changed in their life due to smoking. Much like the woman pictures here who now has a trachea was giving tips to others about the dangers of smoking. For this reason this ad seems to be a credible one.
Picture B represents a not credible source of advertisement because Skittles are a candy that in all of the ads they use the slogan of “taste the rainbow” because rainbows are colorful much like the candy. Yet rainbows can not be tasted nor can they be contract like this ad says specifically. It is not realistic for either of those things to be done especially when using a rainbow to reference a candy which is an edible item compared to a rainbow which is not. For this reason, this ad can be seen as not credible.
Picture C represents an attractive source because companies like Fabletics start off some ads with a woman’s leg in their clothing and it they make sure to focus in on her assets and show how their working clothing accentuates a woman’s body in “all the right areas”. This seems to be a big factor in their ability to attract customers, women like to feel desirable. As well, they often times have woman doing some sort of workout related activity to show how one can look attractive and be able to freely move during activity. These types of ads are very effective on getting customers because they have many different designs, colors, styles and even pockets for phones and extras which is something that most women want in clothing. I personally love Fabletics pants because of the different designs they have and the way that they fit to my body and do accentuate my body like I want it to, while still being comfortable.
Blog 4:
Test taking strategies and test taking in general is something that I have always struggled to do well or find a way the works best for me. One thing that I have done previously and wish I had done for this course is to use flash cards to have a better understanding of the material. Although, this would have been an added benefit to my studying, the study guide was somewhat helpful for me. As well, going through the questions that I got incorrect was somewhat frustrating because I tend to make simple mistakes when taking test and put incorrect answers and once I read the question again I tend to know what the answer is after all. I feel that with better study methods and better note taking throughout chapters I could certainly do better on future tests.
Blog 3:
Music is something that many people bond with others through. Having similar taste in music certainly seems to be a good way for connections to be made and even to having a better understanding of someone and their interest. As said by Dr. Selterman in the article “Soul meets body” – How music and relationships are connect “You’ll get closer to knowing a person’s “soul” with music.” I find this to be a very interesting fact and as well very believable. I have personally have a passion for music and I listen to music constantly, so this is something that even I have used as a way to understanding someone and connecting. Many of the people in my life that are “close” friends I have the similar taste in music with them. Therefore, when we are doing things together we are able to listen to things together and both enjoy. On the other hand, I have had a friend that I did not share music interest with and it seemed “odd” and I was not able to enjoy times listening to music with them. One thing that has never crossed my mind is if the same people I share music similarities with, I share similar values and ideals with. When faced with this question I wonder if that were accurate and with my thinking I concluded that I do as well share these same similarities. Me and my close friend have very similar interest in music and as well are both very similar with the values that we have. I found this all to be very interesting and fascinating to think about and learn.
With having done this assignment I have realized that not only do I bond with people through music and understand others. I as well, am able to have memories.
Blog 2:
As a student I want to believe that I am capable of figuring everything out and completing all tasks that are thrown my way. In reality though, I may not always be able to and there have been instances where I have needed to ask for help. I feel as a student it is acceptable to ask for help when needed. Regardless of if I need help or not, I feel that I am a good student, at the same time, I think I could be a better student. I say this because prior to being a student at ODU I was attending Thomas Nelson Community College to complete my associates. While I was there I had more free time to do assignments and the classes were easier than the ones that I am taking now. With the difference now, I feel that I then had the time/energy to be a better student and put forth much more effort with my studies than I do now. Now that I am at ODU I still feel that I am a good student, but I feel that because of outside factors I struggle a bit more to find the time to work ahead like I would normally. I feel that I am still very capable of completing any academic tasks/goals that I have or give myself, but it comes down to me staying up late nights to have the time to complete the things I want to complete each day. My confidence as a student since I have been at ODU has dropped somewhat because of the difficulty I am having with being a full-time student (12 credit hours), working a full-time job, and being a full-time single mother to a daughter (who as well have a busy schedule with her schooling and dance practices). One thing that I have noticed throughout my studies about myself and confidence as a student is that, if I am able to work ahead I feel much better about my all around situations and feel that I can “breath” and I don’t have as much pressure on myself to complete so many things at once. I could have a boost of confidence by finding a way to work ahead – taking days/times where I am able to “get away” and go somewhere to just work on homework, dedicate any of my free time (child free time) to doing homework so I can be ahead-. As well, by making sure to have time to workout and still care about self care. To be confident as a student also ties into feeling confident as a person. When completing my GSE I tried to think of situations where I have been faced with a problem related to the question and how I resolved it when answering. With using this method, I found that a majority of the time I was/am able to find a solution myself and I am dedicated to whatever I put my mind to. So my self-efficacy if high in that aspect, but my self-confidence personally is lower. I personally feel that this is that way because I have to be very independent. I am used to figuring out things myself and failing is not something that has ever been accepted by my father whom I hold a very close relationship with, so regardless of a situation I find a way to accomplish whatever tasks I have. Overall, I feel that the most effective way for me to boost my self-confidence would be to have more “me” time and time to work ahead.
This image is a good representation of how I personally feel that I am. I felt that it was appropriate for this assignment so that I am able to use this information to as well explain what kind of student I am.
BLOG 1:
Social psychology can be a very helpful type of psychology to understand with the fact that in our lives we are faced with social situations. Not only is it helpful for understanding why others may respond the way that they do, but as well in understanding my own personal behaviors. In this course I hope to understand others behaviors in social situations and how relationships are built according to psychology. As well, how discrimination affects social situations; with discrimination being a issue in the past and sometimes even still an issue, I feel that it would be helpful to understand why or how it affects social situations on both sides. In order for myself to achieve this understand and be successful in this course I plan to take time to read the text and truly understand the information. As well, using extra resources like videos or actual studies that were performed to help me fully understand the text will be helpful in me achieving my expectations for this course. The information that I will learn in this course will help me in the future in many social situations. Some being, with people that may be older and have different opinions of others and even with relationships of all types. As well, with my future career goals having an understanding of others in a social aspect can assist me in being better at my job.
This image was chose in relationship with social psychology because it can be defined as “the scientific field that seeks to understand the nature and causes of individual thought and behavior in social situations.” (Branscombe N. R. and Baron R. A. 2017)