I chose this visual because being successful doesn’t come easy, it takes hard work and dedication! Each class that I have taken, I have worked very hard in. Social Psychology is no exception.

Before taking this course, I expected to increase my knowledge of the world around me, learn more about behaviors and attitudes, and gain understanding to increase empathy. With the material learned in this class, I believe that all of those expectations were met. While I feel as though Psychology is something that we will never stop learning about, I know that I have gained quite a bit of knowledge throughout this semester.

In the beginning of this course, I was so excited to learn more about social psychology. After the class, I am even more excited to continue to learn! If I took this course again, I would definitely try to spend more time on each module to ensure that I retained everything that was being presented. I honestly can’t pick out one particular skill that I can utilize in my professional life. I feel as though as a clinical psychologist, it will be imperative that I utilize every skill learned here in order to be successful. With that being said, being self-aware is a skill that I know I can and will utilize not only in my professional career but also in my personal life.

At the end of this course, I am convinced I will take what I learned here and use it throughout my personal life as well as my professional career. As I stated in Blog 1, I am fascinated by the way in which we, as humans, interact with one another. I love learning about why we are the way that we are. While the reasoning behind that expectation is broad, I feel as though this class addressed some of the main reasons why we interact with others the way that we do. Module 5: Self Perception, was one of the modules that I think went along best with this idea. In my first blog, I stated that perception is reality. I still fully believe that to be true.

I am very proud of the academic growth that I have experienced in this class this semester. I was able to remain disciplined enough to complete all of my coursework and I was able to retain quite a bit of information throughout this semester. I know that if I continue to do what I did this semester, I will be successful throughout my academic and professional career.

Social Psychology has been one of the most interesting classes that I’ve taken to date. It was difficult choosing the top three things that I’ve learned so far in this course. With that being said, I decided to take a step back and find the three things that I connected with the most, on a person level. Just as the quote from Anais Nin suggests, we don’t truly see things for what they are, we see them from our own perceptions. I truly believe that the things that mean to most to us, are the things that we carry with us the longest.

The power of the “self”, and knowing who we are as human beings, is one of the most interesting things about this course. Not only did we learn about the self in the module, but I also used that knowledge and applied it to a great deal of work that I did in this class, especially the self-analysis assignment. Self-reflection and looking at who I am as a person was crucial in Blog 3 where we created a musical soundtrack for who we are. Believe it or not, that was a difficult assignment to summarize my life into a group of songs.

Emotional intelligence and self-regulation are next on my list of top things that I’ve learned about in this course. This was a difficult topic to learn about as it is something that I struggle with the most. However, it has helped a great deal in my personal life with becoming more aware of what I’m feeling and why I’m having the feelings that I have. Obviously, Blog 7 was dedicated to this concept 100% as we discussed the results of our emotional intelligence test.

Finally, learning about relationships and why we love the ones that we did is something that I won’t forget. One of my goals for this class was to learn about how and why we make the connections that we do, and this module really allowed me to dive into that thought further. I have been able to use the information that I have learned and reflect on my current relationships. After the style of love assignment, I was able to apply this knowledge to the assignment takeaway regarding my thoughts about the style of love results and what I was able to take away from that assignment as a whole.

While this has been my first major-focused course, I have taken developmental psychology in the past. One of the major topics that we have discussed in this class that was also discussed heavily in Developmental psych was Piaget’s theory of cognitive development. Obviously, the development of the mind has everything to do with the way that we think and learn. Therefore, it has a major impact on our social psychology.

This is a very interesting and thought-provoking article. How do people anger and annoy other people? In my opinion, the article takes that thought to another level by asking the same question in a way that separates one gender from another.

Men upset women in the beginning stages of a relationship by leading them on or pretending to be into them emotionally to increase their chances of being with them sexually. Once in a relationship with a woman, a man might do things like talk to other girls in an attempt to make the woman jealous. Ignoring women is also a sure way that men can upset women, regardless of the reasoning behind it (see left photo). In fatherhood, men are known to pretend as if they don’t know what to do as to get away with not doing anything.

Women also use their “powers” to upset and manipulate men. In the beginning stages of a relationship, women pretend to be interested sexually and attempt to lead the man on. This allows the man to feel as though he will be getting what he wants, and the woman remains in control for a short amount of time. Once a woman is in a relationship with a man, she may begin to accuse her partner of cheating or may start to go through the man’s phone in an attempt to catch him doing something he shouldn’t be doing (see right photo). One more way in which women upset men is when they don’t communicate their needs and expect the man to read her mind.

I feel as though, regardless of gender, people manipulate other people to essentially get their way. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. With that being said, I do believe that there is some truth to what this article is suggesting. I do believe that men use their emotional side to get what they want sexually. I also believe that woman use their sexual side to get what they want emotionally.

As a self-declared “emotionally-driven person”, I can honestly say that emotions are incredibly complex. Emotional intelligence can be an intimidating term. However, when you break it down to a simple definition, it can be easier to understand. To me, emotional intelligence is the ability to recognize your emotions, as well as other’s emotions, and manage them appropriately. The managing aspect of emotional intelligence involves self-regulation. It is important to understand and recognize your emotions, but it is arguably more important to be able to regulate and manage them to ensure the outcome that you want. Therefore, in order to improve your emotional intelligence, you must know how to effectively self-regulate.

Personally, I don’t consider myself very high in emotional intelligence. I sometimes allow my emotions to control my behavior without thinking about it. My emotions are strong, and they will overpower my rational thinking in a second. With that being said, I do feel as though I am fully aware of my emotions and am fairly good at analyzing other people’s emotions.

While I don’t feel as though my emotional intelligence is on the high side of the scale, I know that I am actively working on that aspect of my life and I feel as if I have improved. For example, before having children, anger was an emotion that I struggled with. I was not always able to control that emotion and I would frequently lash out at those who I loved most. Now that I have children, I can see the growth that I’ve had in this area. While I still feel angry at times, I am able to step back, think about why I’m feeling the way I’m feeling, understand how my emotions and actions will affect those around me and adjust accordingly. While I recognize my growth in this area, I do also recognize that I am not done learning and growing. There are times when my emotions still take over and cloud my reasoning, but I know that with time, and practice, I can increase my emotional intelligence.

I took the emotional intelligence test provided by Psychology Today. The image below is a snapshot of my results. It is clear that, while I do feel as though I am learning to become more emotionally intelligent, I have some room for improvement.

Women in advertising. We see it everyday but do we actually see it for what it is? Jean Kilbourne challenges us in her video, Killing us Softly III, to take a deeper look into the world of women centered advertisements. I can admit that I am definitely not what one would consider a feminist. I am a woman and I am an advocate for women’s rights. However, before watching this video, I was completely ignorant to the fact that companies were using advertisements that dehumanized, sexualized, and even stereotyped women in order to promote their products. Sure, I saw women being put in peculiar scenarios however, I typically chose to laugh at them rather than realize how that effects women as a population. The examples that were shown in this video were appalling. I was completely offended and couldn’t believe that I didn’t recognize that this was happening sooner. I would like to think that times have changed, however, this video makes me wonder. While I know that the dehumanization of women has been an issue in the past, I didn’t realize it was still a huge issue today.

Unfortunately, finding advertisements that use questionable marketing tactics wasn’t a difficult task. The first photo (top left), is an advertisement for milk. Obviously, the milk isn’t the problem. It’s the phrase used to promote it. The ad states “I’m sorry for the thing, or things, I did or didn’t do”. At the bottom the ad suggests that “milk can help reduce the symptoms of PMS”. Is that true? I honestly don’t know if milk can help reduce the symptoms of PMS, nor do I care. What I care about is that they are using something like PMS to promote milk. The second photo is an ad for pop chips. The model can be immediately recognized as Katy Perry. Honestly, I feel as though the advertisement would gain attention simply because she is included in it. However, our attention is drawn to the bags of chips placed strategically at her chest with the statement “nothing fake about ’em”. This ad sexualizes a woman for the sole purpose of attracting attention to promote their product. It just so happens that the next two photos do the exact same thing. One is using the woman’s body to promote a Samsung computer while the other is used to promote cologne for men. Finally, the last photo is an advertisement for Mr. Clean with the statement “This Mother’s Day, get back to the job that really matters”. I’m not completely sure what year this ad was created but I can guarantee that it is extremely outdated. This ad is a prime example of how companies stereotype women by making it seem that it is in fact their “job” to clean the house.

I can say that I am better off after viewing Jean Kilbourne’s “Killing us Softly III”. I can only hope that companies recognize the issues with using women in this way to manipulate people to buy their products. The only way I see that happening is if people take this knowledge and speak out against it. Only then will change happen.

In photo A, this Dove beauty ad represents a credible source because of a couple of different qualities. First of all, Dove is a personal care brand that has been around since the 1950s which, in my opinion, proves that the company has a high level of expertise and trustworthiness. This particular campaign pictured above is the “real beauty campaign”. Dove is not using women that are photoshopped or “perfect”. They are instead using models who are representative of the actual population of real-life women. Therefore, it can be said that they are going against the grain here by showing women that they are beautiful in their own skin and to say that it’s ok not to be “perfect”.

In photo B, this Papa John’s ad represents a non-credible source. The company is using Peyton Manning, a famous NFL player as their spokesperson. Anyone that is even slightly familiar with football, knows who Peyton Manning is. Papa John’s is attempting to gain attention by using him with hopes it will increase revenue. While Peyton Manning was a professional NFL player, I find it very hard to believe that he has expertise in the pizza making business. In addition, Peyton Manning has a financial stake in the company since he owns over 30 franchises personally and Papa John’s is considered the official pizza of the NFL.

In photo C, this Hydroxycut ad represents an attractive source. The ad suggests that by using the weight loss pill, Hydroxycut, you can lose weight fast. The ad uses an obvious photoshopped model who is thin, toned, and beautiful as their source. I personally do not feel as though using an attractive source, like the one in this advertisement, is effective because it is has been enhanced and the results are not real. A person cannot gain muscle and tone without exercise. In fact, the small print even states that “regular exercise and nutrition are essential for achieving your weight loss goals”.  In general, ads with attractive sources are used for attention. The eye is drawn to beauty and by using an attractive source, the ad is guaranteed to be seen. Furthermore, it is human nature to seek perfection. If we think that a product will help us on that journey to perfection, we will be more apt to use it.

All in all, I feel as though I did really well on this exam. After reviewing the questions that I missed, it seems as though I may have misunderstood the question. On future tests, I will make sure that I fully understand the question before answering it. I know that time seemed to fly by while I was answering questions, so I will make sure that I manage my time better.

Learning the material in this class can be quite a daunting task. As my photo representation suggests, the textbook is the most important tool of success in this class! I have taken courses that require a text book, but you can pass without it. In this class, that is not the case. Luckily, I find the content of the book incredibly interesting, so it isn’t difficult to remain engaged throughout the chapters.

As I read through each chapter, I took notes of the bold, highlighted words throughout the text. I wrote them down along with the meaning of the term. After reading the chapter, I went back to the terms to ensure that I fully understood the concepts before moving on to the next chapter. This really helped me to keep the terms with their associated chapters. When I am able to stay organized, I find it easier to retain the information.

Once the exam review sheet was released, I spaced it out, so I could do a little each day prior to the test. Doing the review this way, worked best for me. I wasn’t overwhelmed with trying to complete the review in just a couple of days and I was able to really focus on each concept.

“Where words fail, music speaks” Hans Christian Andersen

It is clear that there is a strong connection between music and relationships. After reading “Soul Meets Body”, it makes sense as to why. Back when I was dating my husband, we used to send songs back and forth to each other. It’s actually one thing that increased my attraction to him. Just as the article suggests, I could tell (for the most part), based on the songs he would send me, what kind of person he was and what types of values that we had in common. One specific example that I can remember was when he would send me songs about making the world a better place. The song, “Where is the Love”, is a prime example. By sending me this song, I could tell that being a good person and helping those less fortunate was important to him. Lucky for him (ha!), those things are important to me as well.

To add onto my thoughts about the music/relationship connection, I think that people interpret music differently. For some people, a song can reach deep down in their souls. For others, that may never happen. Therefore, I think that the data surrounding the music/relationship connection should also consider the person’s love, or lack thereof, for music.

As a music lover, I have all types of music in my playlist. However, there are a couple of “special” songs that I associate with those most important to me. I make it very personal and as a result, most of the songs mean different things for me than they do for others.

My Soundtrack

My Kids – “My Wish” by Rascal Flatts

My Significant Other – “Just the Way You Are” by Bruno Mars

My Life – “Can’t Stop the Feeling” by Justin Timberlake

My Childhood (life without my mom) – “In Pictures” by Alabama

My Values – “Where is the Love?” by The Black Eyed Peas

My Grandfather – “Dance With my Father” by Luther Vandross

Seeing as though this post is about self efficacy and our confidence levels as a student, I felt as though a picture of my most recent accomplishment would be a great addition. Having something tangible, like a degree, allows your confidence levels to soar. After receiving this degree, I knew that I could accomplish anything that I set my mind to.

It’s interesting to look back on my educational career and reflect on what type of student I was, compared to what I am now. During my elementary, middle, and high school years, I really did not like school. It was a chore and I was lazy and unmotivated. Fast forward to my college career and I am completely different than I used to be. It’s actually quite surprising when I think about it. I am motivated, focused, and determined to do the best that I can do. In turn, my grades and accomplishments reflect those positive characteristics.

As a student, my confidence level fluctuates with each class that I have. In a class that consists of subjects that I excel in, my confidence level is fairly high. On the other hand, in a class that I know I might have to work harder at, my confidence level goes down. For example, I consider myself very good at math but not very good at writing. In a writing intensive course, my confidence level is significantly lower than my confidence level in an advanced math class. One way that I have found that can increase my confidence levels is to recognize and identify my personal areas of weakness, and then try and increase my level of understanding by researching, watching videos, etc about the subject matter. In my opinion, the more you increase your knowledge about something, the more confidence you will have.

According to the self-efficacy survey, it seems as though I’m quite confident that I will achieve my personal and academic goals. In addition, the survey results determined that I strongly believe that, with effort, I can grow and develop my skills. This goes hand in hand with my ideas about how to increase confidence levels by researching the subject. With effort, I can grow and develop my knowledge about that potential weakness and become stronger and stronger as the time passes.

https://www.reference.com/business-finance/many-hours-week-psychologist-work-21c49e2486c5a270

This world is made up of the most social types of beings- humans! What better way is there to learn about the human species than by understanding how and why they behave the way that they do?

As someone who wants to work in a clinical setting, learning the way in which social psychologists create experiments to learn more about human behavior is crucial. Psychology is not all black and white, and not every case will be the same. Examining expert’s procedures for hypothesizing and testing different behaviors will help me to become a better psychologist myself. In addition, delving into the ways in which people understand others is equally important in my desired line of work. I have always loved the saying “perception is reality”. How and what a person perceives is their reality and as a psychologist, it is critical to fully understand how an individual comes to that perception and understanding.

Aside from the professional aspect of social psychology, I am fascinated by the way in which we, as humans, behave with one another on a personal level. I am a mother to three very different children. They all have their own personalities and it can be hard to truly understand why they behave the way that they do. Although I know this course won’t give me all of the answers, I’m confident that at the end of it, I will at least understand our family dynamic a little more than I do now.

Living in Charlottesville, I have come face to face with prejudices and discrimination. Both in my line of work, and those affected around me. It would be great to gain some knowledge regarding these two controversial topics. Obviously, it will require an open mind and that is something that I will need to remember to get the most out of what we will learn.

By taking this course, I expect to expand my knowledge of the world around me on a social level. I expect to learn information about attitudes and behaviors that will help me on a personal level as well as professionally. I hope to gain understanding and hopefully will develop empathy in areas that I am currently lacking in. In order to achieve those things, I intend to keep an open mind throughout each chapter, especially during the controversial topics that will be discussed. I plan to take the information that I gain throughout each chapter and try to use it in the outside world. Doing that will help me to apply what I’ve learned and gain a stronger understanding which will ultimately lead to success in this course.