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The article on human sexual conflict briefly touched on the biological differences between men and women and how those can result in sexual conflict.  The article was short yet descriptive enough to keep me engaged and wanting to learn more about evolutionary psychology and how it affects us when related to social psychology.  It is important to understand how to deal with the differences in sexual conflict as it is likely to be part of any long-lasting relationship.

In my experience with relationships there are many ways men and women can disagree.  These reasons do not apply to all men and all women but for the sake of argument we will look at the stereotypical arguments that may happen between men and women.

For example, men often upset women by not listening or not paying attention to them during conversations.  Talking down to a woman or being condescending because she is a woman will also upset her.  While in a relationship with a woman, looking at another woman or paying more or special attention to another woman will also get a man into trouble.  These are all things that could make a woman feel less important.

On the other hand, women make men angry by “nagging” or continuously asking them to do something.  Men often feel the need to do things on their own and it is frowned upon to be “controlled” by a woman, especially in front of their peers.  Therefore, nagging in public is a good way to upset a man.  Like upsetting women, a female paying too much attention to another man will upset her own significant other.

When comparing these few examples it could be said that the common issue here is the desire for the male and the female to be needed or wanted and to feel special.  By making them feel less important, it will upset the other person.

BLOG 7

Emotional intelligence is a measure of the ability to recognize one’s own emotions and to recognize the emotional state of other people while interacting with them and be able to act with a sense of empathy. People with a high emotional intelligence have fewer emotional outbursts and can speak calmly with other people who may be having trouble controlling their emotions.  What it means to me is being able to listen to someone who is upset or calm someone who is angry or upset, and not antagonizing someone who is not under control of their emotions.

Self-regulation is the method we use to keep ourselves under control and not act on emotional thoughts of feelings or act on impulses.  Good self-regulation means thinking before acting.

Being able to recognize your own emotions and the emotions of others, through emotional intelligence, is necessary to practice self-regulation because if you are not aware of your own emotions you cannot control them.

My test results could be higher if I was able to maintain my composure during stressful situations like being cut-off in traffic or yelled at by someone.  I find myself always trying to hear both sides of an argument and I try to think before speaking and remain rational and logical.  This helps with self-regulation and with emotional-intelligence but there is always room to improve.

Snapshot Report

Emotional Identification, Perception, and Expression

69

You are reasonably skilled when it comes to the core ability of identifying, perceiving and expressing emotions in yourself and others. There is still, however, room for growth. Overall, your skills in this area of emotional intelligence aid you in the process of reading others, understanding how they feel, and effectively identifying your own emotions. These skills form the basis of your ability to relate to the emotions of others as well as well as your ability to understand yourself. Review the results below for further information on areas that could use further improvement.

 

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In the past I have noticed the issues with advertising and the unrealistic portrayal of the female body type.  Mostly I noticed that the models are often wearing too much makeup and there are rarely any ads with average sized or overweight women.  This video also showed me the blatant advertising and promotion methods of using extremely skinny models, along with wording that promotes and suggests eating disorders to maintain a thin body.  While I have noticed very skinny models in advertisements in the past, I did not realize it was as big a problem as this video has shown me.  Some companies have even fired models for being overweight if they were over 120 lbs. which, in the real world, is considered skinny.

It makes sense to use attractive people when attempting to promote a product since studies have shown that this can have a positive effect on people.  However, promoting unhealthy body images to sell a product is definitely inappropriate and should be avoided.  This can lead to unrealistic expectations that women feel they should live up to, physically, and unhealthy lifestyles that are not maintainable both physically and mentally.

The images included in this post portray this trend in advertising, even the pretzel ad which does not employ a model but uses wording which insinuates a skinny figure is optimal.  One company goes so far as to employ children wearing t-shirts that suggest being skinny feels good.

All images in this post were obtained via https://www.cbsnews.com/news/10-advertisers-who-promote-anorexia-in-their-marketing/11/

 

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Cigarette advertising used to be common in the 60’s and 70’s and they even used wording such as this one to convince people that smoking was ok. Including an image of what appears to be a doctor on this ad, and a smiling doctor at that, conveys the idea that smoking is approved by doctors and therefore not harmful to a person’s health. Back then, this would be considered a credible source since this advertisement appears to be recommended by a medical specialist who is known to be a trustworthy expert in their field.

 

Politicians often participate in an advertising method, against their opponents, which is known as “smear campaigns”.  An advertisement from one politician will be less about the benefits and positive attributes of themselves and more about the negative characteristics of their opponent.  This reduces the credibility of the politician and the advertisement in question because it portrays the main campaigner in a negative light.  This can also make the politician appear selfish and untrustworthy.

 

 

 

During the beginning of the skate scene in the early 70’s mostly young boys were attracted to the sport.  Although the women in this advertisement do not appear to be ready to use those skateboards because they are not wearing the proper gear, these images may be attractive enough to persuade buyers into purchasing these brands.  Generally a better advertisement would show some semblance of how well the skateboard performs but this ad could garner enough attention to sell a few skateboards.

 

 

BLOG 4

The study guide and the Jeopardy YouTube videos were very helpful.  I managed to give myself enough time to watch the videos more than once and I made effort to take notes onto the review guide which helped to recall information during test time. The questions I missed could have been avoided had I paid closer attention to that portion of the material and read the questions and answers more clearly since simple mistakes tend to cost me a few points here and there in most classes.

I always promise myself that I will be more careful but sometimes distractions get the better of me.  I feel like I should spend more time studying as well, though that time is not always available.  In the future I plan to keep moving forward with my current study habits so that I can maintain my grades at this level.  I will also take more time with questions that might appear to have more than one answer.

So far, I have managed to not get behind in reading and homework assignments so I will maintain at least that level of effort.

https://blog.prepscholar.com/how-long-should-i-study-for-the-sat-6-step-guide

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When I was younger I remember similarities in music preference between myself and at least one or two romantic partners and my friends as well.  We all hung out together in groups and most of us listened to the same music.  Whether or not we had the same values and ideals is up for debate since we never really discussed that topic.  I suppose we all got into trouble in the same ways, and for the same things, so our common interests were the same.

It is not quite the same these days, but I would say my musical tastes cover most genres, so it would be hard not to share some similarities with friends.  Most of my friends are work friends and I don’t get out much so it is hard to tell if I share any significant musical interests with them, although we do seem to share common values and interests.

My current partner likes newer country music and Christian radio stations which don’t fall into my eclectic musical tastes.  Most christian music just doesn’t do it for me and newer country sounds too cookie-cutter.  We do share a few songs that I’m able to play on the guitar for her, so perhaps that counts?  Our core values are similar though many of our other ideals are mismatched, kind of like our musical interests.

I believe while there could be a music-relationship connection with some people, there has to be another option for people who do not listen to music much or who do not know what their friends listen to.  Are there are ways to have friends and be social without music?  Maybe.  Are they good methods of making friends or being social?  That’s debatable.

My current obsession/hobby is skateboarding.  To me, skating represents freedom and expression and so does music.  I try to share my love of skating and music with those that are closest to me.

Soundtrack:

My kids – Unsteady (X Ambassadors)

Significant other – 1,000 Years (Christina Perri)

Dad – Cats in the Cradle (Harry Chapin)

Old friends – Entire License to Ill album (Beastie Boys)

Myself – All of me (John Legend)

BLOG 2

I have mentioned in the past that I’m a terrible procrastinator.  Or really, I’m a great procrastinator and terrible at not procrastinating.  I do have an issue with self confidence in most areas of my life, though I believe school is not especially affected by that problem other than during tests.  I know that if I study hard and do my homework, I should get decent grades.  The issues are finding or making time to study before it is too late.  Higher test scores will help me increase my confidence levels with school and if I can manage to study more and keep up with the workload, I believe I can succeed.

As far as my self-efficacy results go, the test is a little confusing.  I answered according to what I know and not what I do.  “I will succeed in whatever career path I choose” is true if I can remain focused.  If I cannot remain focused, then the answer to that question is not a good one.  I tend to overthink things and those questions are no different.  If I think about them long enough I will change my original answer.  I’m of a similar mind as the little engine that could:  If I think I can do something, I will eventually be able to do it.

http://www.joshuanhook.com/5-ways-to-harness-the-power-of-self-efficacy/

BLOG 1

The objectives for this course should give a decent understanding of social psychology by the end of this semester.  While I’m not entirely certain where my own psychology path will lead me in the future, I am sure it will involve a lot of the material I am learning in this class.  My general goal is help young adults deal with their own emotions and issues in a healthy way and without looking at the social aspect of their surroundings it would be a difficult task to accomplish.

By the end of this course I hope to have gained a better understanding of the basic principals of social psychology and enough knowledge to decide if I would like to pursue more classes in this area.

Of course in order to gain a better understanding I should make sure I study hard and retain as much of the material as possible.  In the past I have left my homework to the last minute, along with most of the reading.  I am making an effort to not be such a procrastinator this time.

We shall see how that goes.

In addition to fumbling with my study habits I also fumble with skateboarding.  Many people say skateboarding is a way of life and agree that we skateboarders have a strong skateboarding family across the globe.  Some have said they use skateboarding to help with their depression and anxiety.  I sometimes wonder if the magic comes from the act of skateboarding or from the social aspect of being around other people who feel the same as you do.  Either way, it is good for the soul both young and old.

https://www.dallasobserver.com/news/legendary-dallas-skateboarders-rebuffed-by-the-city-in-their-efforts-to-build-a-public-skatepark-go-underground-and-build-their-own-6407141