Assignment Takeaway 5:
Assignment 5 was a really great assignment to work on. At first, I had a difficult time thinking about five nice things I could realistically do. I wanted my interactions to be mostly organic in nature, so that people would not be obligated to have a reaction if they did not want to. I also wanted my interactions to be one-on-one, as opposed to doing something nice for a group of strangers. These self-imposed rules led me to doing these five nice things: buying breakfast for the person in line behind me, helping a fellow shopper return a shopping cart with a wobbly wheel, donate five dollars to a homeless person, allow a fellow voter to skip me in line, and leave a large tip for a server at a chain restaurant.
Most of these incidents occurred very naturally throughout the week. I did go out of my way to buy breakfast by going inside of Chic-Fil-A, rather than order through the drive-thru, and I had to clear it with my wife to leave our server a large tip, but everything seemed to happen as it happened. I met the homeless individual right outside of my work, which is located right down the street from a Union Mission. The shopping cart interaction happened while I was on my way home from work, and the skip-the-line interaction happened while voting. All these instances were very close to home, and made me feel like I was participating in the community.
My biggest takeaway came in the form of a reminder, which is that most people are good. Sometimes I feel as though I am slightly cynical, and often find myself feeling discouraged after interacting with other individuals in public. But by taking the first step and being nice to others, I can see clear a difference in how people act. All of the reactions I got after each random act of kindness were positive, although I did not get to see the servers reaction because we left the tip on the table. With that reminder in hand, I think that I have discovered a way to be more optimistic, and can apply that optimism to whatever career path I might choose in the field of human services or psychology.
For this takeaway, I am including an image of the late Mr. Rogers. He always emphasized being a good neighbor, and since all of my interactions were close to home, his likeness feels most appropriate.
https://memegenerator.net/instance/63332644/mr-rogers-2-hello-neighbors
Assignment Takeaway 3:
For me, Assignment 3 was the most challenging assignment yet. I felt that way because it required me to make an argument for whether or not a person can use racial slurs without being racist themselves. That was a question I had never really thought of. In my mind, I always believed that if a person acted racist, then they probably are racist. In the paper, I argued that Michael Richards’ anger is what motivated him to use racial slurs in an attempt to inflict as much pain on another person as he possibly could. I also argued that Richards actions make him a racist, regardless of whether or not he has a deep-seeded hatred for African Americans. I believe that if a person acts racist, and engages in racist behavior, then that person has created the perception that he or she is racist. One’s motivation really makes no difference at that point.
In analyzing a situation like this one, I find myself to be a bit rigid in thinking that way. Of course, I recognize that my perspective is very limited compared to an individual that has experienced this kind of behavior first hand. But still, thinking about it does give me an opportunity to learn more about why people might behave the way that they do, and that is obviously an important part of psychology. Recognizing that opportunity is definitely my biggest takeaway from this assignment. As I continue to dissect more examples such as this one, I hope to gain a better understanding of society and reach a more well-rounded perspective of human behavior.
For this takeaway, I am simply choosing a picture of Michael Richards at the Laugh Factory, because his actions served as the primary example in this assignment. Even though I made an argument and had a chance to explore my own opinions about this, I do not feel completely confident in my assessment of the situation. However, as I mentioned in the previous paragraph, I do hope to develop the right tools to reach a better understanding, and to make positive use of that knowledge.
https://toronto.citynews.ca/2006/11/26/michael-richards-goes-on-radio-to-apologize-for-racist-outburst/
Assignment Takeaway 2:
Assignment 2 was really interesting. I thought about skipping this one in favor of the other assignments, because I usually do not like talking or writing about myself. I am not someone who participates in social media, and I do not have that many photos of myself. I decided instead that I would get out of my comfort zone and just write the paper. It was a lot easier to write than I thought it would be. The hard part was taking the time to reflect on who I view myself to be. I had never really given much thought to my self-concept or my self-presentation. In doing so, I think I learned a little bit more about myself. This assignment forced me to really analyze my photos, and look for meaning in them. When someone is taking a picture of me, I never think about the importance of the moment. I’m mostly just concerned as to whether or not I’m smiling weird or standing awkwardly. After looking through the few photos that I do have, I see that there is a distinction between one’s self-concept and one’s self-presentation. Acknowledging just how different the two can be was probably my biggest takeaway from this assignment.
For this takeaway, I am choosing an image with a funhouse mirror because that is what I felt like I was looking at the entire time I was working on this assignment.
http://hugohd.com/editor/?
Assignment Takeaway 1:
I found Assignment 1 to be a really good starting point for this course. Learning each of the heuristics provided me with a greater insight into how people think. The concept of people using mental shortcuts in order to make quick decisions really explains a lot in regards to why people behave the way the do. Part of what I took away from this lesson is that individuals automatically assume certain things based on the ease with which they retrieve information, often due to the frequency that they heard it. This of course alludes to the representativeness and availability heuristics. I also found the status quo heuristic to be very fascinating. It provided an explanation for why some people really prefer for things to remain as they are, rather than embrace something new. Based on the “chocolate” example provided in the text, it seems to me that people find a certain amount of comfort in keeping up with the status quo. These three heuristics also made me think of how easy it can be for individuals to stereotype each other, which is obviously one of the major issues that result from using heuristics. In understanding how each of them work, and in realizing the limited cognitive capacity of humans, I am given an opportunity to be more aware of why people sometimes think and say the things they do.
I chose the image below because it shows one individual taking the long way, while the other is using a shortcut. This illustrates a person’s thought process when employing heuristics.