Top Artifact 3
Out of Modules 11-14, the artifact that most engaged me was the artifact from Module 12. For this artifact I had to go through a series of statements and determine which ones I deemed as aggressive. This artifact was the most engaging because it made me think the most. I really felt like I had to use my brain and decide why each statement was aggression or not. I feel like I learned a lot with this artifact. Aggression is a much broader concept than I had thought going into the chapter. I always thought aggression came from just anger and violence, but it is much more complex than that.
I learned that aggression comes in many forms, and it can come from many places. I had never thought about the role that intent played in aggressive actions before this assignment. Now, I believe that intent plays a huge role in whether something is considered aggressive. I knew aggression to be associated with murder and killing other animals, but I had never thought about how violence as part of a job/responsibility or killing for survival could technically be considered aggression. Also, I had heard of the term passive aggressive before, but for some reason my brain never associated that with actual aggression. However, now I see that even nonviolent and nonphysical aggression is still aggression.
Overall, I just feel like I learned the most from this artifact because it helped grow a concept that I already believed to have known. The visual image I used in this artifact is a picture of a boy going to punch another boy. I used this image because it represents intentional and seemingly unnecessary violence which I believe is the best thing to describe aggression.
Top Artifact 2
The artifact that was the most interesting and engaging to me was the artifact from module seven about behaviors, attitudes, and dissonance. I liked this artifact a lot because I had to look into myself by taking an attitude survey and a behavior survey. I thought it was intriguing how the two were compared after. When it comes to what I learned from this assignment, I learned and understood what affects attitude has on behavior and the importance of feeling balanced versus feeling cognitive dissonance.
Since I learned about cognitive dissonance and the importance of feeling balanced, I was able to look into my own attitudes and beliefs and why I feel they need to be balanced. This artifact had me thinking critically about how and why other people may act in order to prevent a feeling of cognitive dissonance. Also, this artifact helped explain why some people may behave on their attitudes or why they may behave in a way that may not match their attitudes. The way people think and how their attitudes affect the way they behave is important in understanding people that a person interacts with in their everyday life.
I drew the picture that I added to the artifact. It is a scale that shows a balance of behavior and attitude to prevent feeling cognitive dissonance and give me more sense of control in my life.
Top Artifact 1
The first archive I have selected is the first archive I completed from Module 3. I personally liked this archived item the most because it was a first look into the world of Social Psychology. I had to ask a number of people either one question or another, and then I had to record their responses. It was enjoyable for me to gain insight into the survey method, and I really enjoyed hearing everyone’s responses. I learned how to ask questions and to correctly record and interpret responses.
Asking the questions to a diverse group of people made me realize how important it is to have a varied group of participants when doing research. That way, my results will not be limited to one perspective which could ultimately give results that do not apply to the general population. I believe that gaining a variety of opinions and views is important when working in social psychology because every single person is unique. Therefore, I could make a more accurate statement about society than just a generalization of one particular population.
Below, I added this photo of myself recording the responses my family members sent me through email. This is relevant because it shows me learning how to record research.
