WEEKLY BLOG 10

My expectations for this course were met with the actual outcomes, if not exceeded. I originally thought that Social Psychology was just going to be about people interacting with others, but it went so much deeper than that. I think that connecting concepts that I learned within this course to things I learned in other courses is one of the things that I improved on this semester because of this class. If I were to take this class again, I would make sure to submit my ePortfolio links every time. There was once or twice where I did the assignment, but forgot to submit my link. 

We had to do a fair amount of reading in this class, and at first I was just doing the readings but not taking notes. That was not working for me, as I wasn’t able to quickly go back and brush up on a concept. I used to handwrite all my notes, but this semester I started typing them so it would be faster. I am grateful that because of this class, I improved greatly on my note taking skills. Getting better at this, in turn, helped me with my studying skills. I had never used WordPress before taking this class and I think that having to learn how to navigate and edit content within it is something that I will be able to use in my professional life. 

WEEKLY BLOG 9

I thought that Assignment 5 and Chapter 9: Prosocial Beahvior had a lot in common. Chapter 9 made me have a deeper understanding of the reasoning behind the implicit and innate feelings that I experienced while doing Assignment 5: Random Acts of Kindness. The feeling of empathy runs deep in humans, and it has a powerful effect on our behavior. It motivates us to help other people, however, sometimes the helping others comes from a vested interest in helping ourselves feel better (ex: negative-state relief).

In Assignment 2 we had to choose images that were meant to be a visual representation of ourselves. In subsequent chapters, I learned about ingroups, social identity theory, and intragroup comparison; I believe all of these relate back to Assignment 2. l. Social identity theory explains why I feel the connection between myself and the people in the photographs that I chose. I share an identity with them, and that reinforces my closeness with them. Because of this, I define myself by the groups I am in with these people. The people within our intragroup that we compare ourselves to, helps to shape how we see ourselves as an individual.

In chapter 2 we learned about schemas and heuristics. When reading about these, I was reminded of allegories that I learned about in my English courses. Allegories are basically succinct stories that tell a lesson, but they are applied in a lot of different media outlets. They work because they are a common way of thinking for people, and heuristics work in a similar way. In the artifact assignment for chapter 2, I had to create visual representations of different emotions. This is the basic premise of my future career, art therapy. In art therapy, patients are encouraged to express themselves visually, and this helps them to understand why they feel certain emotions and gain insight into the inner workings of their mind.

WEEKLY BLOG 8

I found it quite interesting that there is such a pattern of sexual conflict in similar situations. They all occur quite commonly and to most everyone at some point in their life. I know that I have personally experienced the first two patterns of conflict. When it comes to the act of marriage, I agree with this article that the act puts a couple into a different league, and therefore leads them to face a new set of sexual conflicts. I personally believe that this occurs because of the societal expectations, stereotypes, and pressure that the idea of marriage brings onto a couple. 

Despite the genetic differences and differences in brain chemical make-up, there are basic actions that I believe men and women could potentially take part in that would upset their partner. Examples of this would be; unfaithfulness, lying, and being inconsiderate. In my experience, the things that men do towards women stem from a lack of awareness and sensitivity. These things would be; not being clear about their intentions, not making enough effort, and not showing commitment. I think that women upset men by being overly emotional or dramatic, being indecisive about small things, and nagging their partner.

WEEKLY BLOG 7

Emotional intelligence is broken down into five main elements, and self-regulation is one of said components. The more a person works on their self-regulation skills, the more that their emotional intelligence will grow. In order to understand one’s own emotional intelligence, one has to be able to look within themselves, realize what they feel and how they respond to those feelings. Personally, emotional intelligence is being aware of your feelings as much as possible and being able to take an honest look into the root causes of those feelings. I display a lot of my emotional intelligence at work. My patience is often tested, and I actually employ the techniques that the YouTube video discussed. When I am presented with a situation that is particularly infuriating, I try to physically separate myself from the situation and then I take a bunch of deep breaths and empty my mind. I think that I can improve my emotional intelligence by using the final technique that Linda Ferguson explained. I have a bad habit of creating a narrative based on an emotion, and using the “I am aware that I am thinking the thought of ___” seems like it could help me in the future.

WEEKLY BLOG 6

Jean Kilbourne managed to succinctly put into words the way that advertising targets and attacks women. It is shocking that advertising agencies get away with blatantly objectifying women. Prior to watching this particular Ted Talk, I was aware of the way that advertising companies treat the women that they are selling to but this Ted Talk did make it more clear. I was taken aback to find out that children at the age of six months old can recognize corporate logos. I will admit that I never saw the men’s side of this issue, that they too are victims of advertising’s cruel manipulation. Overall, advertising companies use sexualized images to sell their products. It occurs to women and men, but in different ways. Women are Photoshopped to look skinny and young, while men are edited to seem more muscular. These advertising companies are fostering unhealthy self-esteem in women of all ages, creating a long-lasting mental impact at the cost of selling a product. 

WEEKLY BLOG 5

The source of this ad is a well known company that has a good reputation. In this Allstate advertisement, the voiceover is calming and is perceived as knowledgeable. They make the conscious decision to use the same actor in multiple ads, which leads the audience to perceive him as reliable because he is familiar.The commercial is respectable because it informs the viewer about the positive reasons to use Allstate and their DriveWise program, without putting other companies down in the process. They are trying to convince the viewer to use Allstate, but not in such a way that makes them feel as if they are being taken advantage of. 

A consumer should always be wary of products that seem too good to be true.The advertisement here presents the product as unharmful and also guarantees results without having to do any work. This company offers a free trial, as well as a  “money back guarantee” to make it seem like there is no financial risk in trying the product. The science that is referenced to is “pseudoscience” and is not confounded on actual data. Also, they advertise the product as new and improved, giving off the impression that they are attempting to create the best product possible for their clients. 

I feel that the “Got Milk” advertisement campaign is an effective example of using the perceived likeability of well-known celebrities to make drinking milk more appealing. By using attractive celebrities, the campaign was putting the idea in the consumer’s mind that drinking milk is a positive and healthy choice. Generally speaking, people look up to those who are famous and on some level, they wish to be like them. I can speak from personal experience, that seeing the “Got Milk” in elementary and middle school cafeterias made me want to drink milk. (Even if it was only to attempt to get the milk moustaches the ad campaign is known for)

WEEKLY BLOG 4

For the first couple of chapters, I was not taking a lot of notes on the readings. I was completing the reading but I felt as if taking a bunch of notes was too time consuming. I regret not taking more notes, because they would have been a good studying tool as well as reinforced what I was learning. I completed the test review over a couple of days, but next time I am going to try to complete it sooner so that I can be able to spend more time studying it. I will also admit that I was not doing the Jeopardy reviews along with the modules, and I crammed watching all of them into a short period of time. I earned an 80 on the exam, which I was disappointed in. To prepare for the next exam, I am going to be doing the Jeopardy reviews along with each module and I have been taking more notes on the readings. I will also be paying more attention to the examples that the book and the videos present because that is what I felt like I was struggling with during the exam. 

WEEKLY BLOG 3

I think music is a form of expression, and it’s easier to form a bond with a person if you express yourselves in similar ways. People are defining their values with the songs and then identifying that in each other. I feel like this occurs because music goes beyond what words can say, it’s a more visceral feeling, a deeper reflection of one’s core values. I see the trend in different overlaps in musical taste in different relationships in my life. There’s different elements that I share within each friendship and in turn, the  music styles we both like correspond to our shared values and ideals, to a degree. In some instances, I think that you and another person may just like the same song because it’s just a good song, and there’s no actual deeper meaning. 

Here’s my playlist of people in my life:

WEEKLY BLOG 2

I believe myself to be a determined and generally successful student. Having to balance a lot of other aspects of  life, such as working full time and raising my son, has led me to be more organized with my time. I have to plan ahead, and move things around to make sure all of my assignments are completed on time. I strive to get mostly A’s. Setting the bar high for myself is important, because I thrive when I am challenged and under pressure. Even though I get good grades for the most part, I have an extreme fear of failure. I believe this fear is part of what keeps me motivated. I derive a lot of my self-confidence as a student from receiving positive feedback from my professors and maintaining a high GPA. 

My self-efficacy result was a 32. I believe that I received this score because most of the time when I set a goal for myself, I accomplish it. By repeatedly accomplishing goals that I’ve set, I build up a lot of confidence in myself. I still have some doubts in myself, and when I do fail, I am very hard on myself for it. 

WEEKLY BLOG 1

My expectations for this course is to develop a deeper understanding of how people relate to one another, and be able to apply this to my future studies of psychology. I also want to take what I learn in this course, and apply it to my other psychology classes that I will be taking.  Because my career goal is to be an art therapist, and I want to incorporate a lot of group work into my practice, this class is essential for being able to run productive groups. Understanding why people react to each other the way they do, how they develop their perceptions of the world, etc.  will allow me to better help my clients. 

-My main strategy for success this semester is going to be organization and time management. This course so far seems to have a lot of moving parts, and a lot of assignments that build on top of each other. I have a tendency to procrastinate, but I am going to be too busy this summer to be putting things off until the last minute. To make sure that I am getting everything done each week, my planner is going to be my best friend. Within this trusty planner, I’ve already written the due dates of all assignments this semester.