Blog 10

Blog 10. Here we are. Although the semester is not quite over, and I have yet to complete everything, I can feel the looming closure. Even more so than even before, because this is my final semester at Old Dominion University. I wouldn’t say I am happy with how the last four years of my life is coming to an end, but academically, I am more than happy. My initial expectations of this class, outlined in Blog 1, and also in my representative picture have all been fulfilled. I also firmly believed that I have achieved all the course outcomes identified in the syllabus, also outlined above. 

My attitudes about social psychology have only changed by a small amount. This class has given me more of an appreciation of how intricate and extensive the research can be. If given the opportunity – I would have loved to have the opportunity to take this class in-person. I am more than happy to sit in a lecture when I am learning a subject that I find interesting. It is hard to identify one skill that I can use in my career. If, after all, I become someone who ‘manages managers’, then it might be easier to identify what I won’t use in my career; from prosocial behaviors to social perception to social influence, I will take everything about this class to grow professionally. This academic year has brought more growth. It started as a challenge and ended as a different challenge. I started the semester feeling like I couldn’t get my head above water. Then, it teetered off into something anticlimactic. As far as my academic career is concerned, I feel that I have grown by learning to be okay with change and surprises; whether that be with difficult tests, new assignments, or plans falling-through. And with that, I sign-off. 

 

Stay healthy, 

 

 

Blog 9

Looking through everything in my ePortfolio thus far, I am intrigued by just how much information I’ve learned this semester, and everything I’ve taken away. My top three takeaways were: prosocial behaviors, self-knowledge, and emotional intelligence. Looking through, I realized that there was more of a connection between these three topics than I had noticed before. They weren’t obvious, and I found them through creating a thought-diagram, which I attached above. Assignment 2 revolved heavily around how I saw myself in pictures, and how I showed my personality in snapshots. Throughout the assignment, I was easily able to identify emotions about myself, which showed me that I am high on self-awareness, or the ability to recognize one’s own emotions. However, in Blog 7, the personality test that I took shows that I am not high on emotional intelligence (social awareness & relationship management), i.e. – reading and reacting to other’s feelings and emotions. Often, emotional intelligence and self-awareness are taught together, since they are closely related. I personally found it interesting how Assignment 2 and Blog 7 fit together in a way that was not even intended.

I also realized how topics of this class can fit into other classes that I have taken in the past. And not only other psychology classes, but management classes, too. In Management 330 – Organizational Behavior, we went over what was called citizenship behaviors. Citizenship behaviors are actions taken by an individual that are beneficial to the organization and/or other employees. This might sound familiar, because, essentially, citizenship behaviors are the same as prosocial behavior. I took a deeper look into prosocial behaviors in Assignment 5. The biggest difference is that citizenship behaviors are typically limited to within an organization’s culture. Another connection is emotional intelligence – which I studied in both Social Psychology and Organizational Behavior.

Blog 8

Overall, I believe I understood what the author was trying to accomplish in this article (click here to view the article). However, I feel that they gave too much credence to the sexual aspect of relationships, which is only one subset of human commitment. And while I agree that looking at evolutionary factors is an important aspect of psychology, they should also be sure to mention other aspects, like social psychology. For example, it would be prudent for the author to explore the idea that, if reproduction is the biggest influence of sexual interest, why, at all, do men or women enter into marriage? 

I did like the author’s argument of how some sexual conflict arises; specifically at the beginning of the relationship. Men are more likely to lie in order to gain sexual favors, while women are more likely to offer sexual favors in order for other, nonsexual, favors. Thinking through this assignment, I came up with three actions that men do that anger women, and vice versa. Men often upset women by: mansplaining, calling us emotional, and trying to solve our problems, instead of listening. On the other hand, women belittle, question masculinity, and mock displays of emotions by men. The pictures above show a visual representation of just some of the ways women anger men, and men anger women. 

Blog 7

Emotional intelligence and self-regulation are closely linked. Emotional intelligence is an individual’s ability to know what they are feeling; while self-regulation is how adept they are at controlling those emotions. These concepts can extend past social psychology too. Emotional intelligence and self-regulation is often a big topic in management or organizational behavior classes, because as both an employee or manager, how good you are at controlling your emotions can often determine how successful you are in a working environment. Ever since taking these organizational behavior classes, I’ve thought more about how emotionally intelligent I am. Personally, I believe that I still have a lot of room to improve, and I am actively working on my skills. My representative picture (above) further emphasizes my need to improve. Especially in my current position, as a bank teller, I have to be able to empathize with how customers are feeling. Even further, I have to be able to control my own emotions when they are upset or angry. For example, when a customer comes to me, very upset, how I diffuse the situation all comes down to my emotional intelligence. In some cases, if someone is yelling at me, I am defensive and a little shaken. Instead, I first have to remember that their anger is often misplaced, and they are not really upset with me. From there, I can recognize my own feelings, and begin to emphasize with the customer.

Blog 6

At this point, I want to believe that gender equality is such a hot topic, that there are few people who don’t realize how manipulative advertising is today, especially in regards to women. And although I had prior knowledge, this TedTalk was still enlightening. She brought up a lot of interesting points. The two that I found most interesting was, one, that older women are only considered attractive when they seem younger than they are, which was something I had never thought about. The other point that I found compelling was that advertising is subtly hinting that these beauty standards are impossible to achieve. As I was searching for ads that fit all these concepts, I was bewildered by how many there were, and not just how many, but how relevant they are. 

Sexualization of women – Ad #1

Women as objects – Ads #2 & #6

Discrimination towards women of color – Ad #3

Impossible health/weight standards – Ads #4, #7, & #9

Normalization of violence – Ads #5 & #8

Blog 5

Picture A – or the Colgate ad – is a representation of an advertisement from a credible source. The advertisement uses a credible source by informing the viewer that this particular brand is highly valued by someone who is knowledgeable on the subject, in this case, a dentist. Who better than to recommend a toothpaste then someone who went to school for dental health, i.e. – an expert? The second advertisement, of Khloe Kardashian, is not as credible. Viewers know that she has a personal stake in the advertisement, because part of the caption includes the line ‘paid partnership with flattummyco’. Meaning, she has a personal stake in the advertisement, and is being paid for her endorsement. Finally, there is the Smartwater ad, featuring Jennifer Aniston, which represents the attractive source. I believe this advertisement is effective, not only because she is beautiful, but also because she is healthy and fit. By pairing her with their brand of water, they convince the viewers that they too, can look like Aniston, if they only drink their water.

Blog 4

     My test score came as a shock. I felt prepared, and having taken Professor Younkin before, I thought I was ready. But, looking at my overall score, and the individual questions that were incorrect, I learned that my efforts were not quite enough. I read the chapter, took notes using the power-point, and reviewed/filled-in the study guide. However, I neglected one of the most crucial aspects: application. The majority of the questions that I got wrong were application based; taking a definition or theory, and applying it to a scenario. Any other questions that were incorrect were mindless mistakes. I chose to take the exam in the afternoon, after working all day, and I think that made an impact. For the future exams, I have decided that I will need to wake up early, so as to take the test before I go to work. I will think more in-depth about the application of the topics in this course, and I will show improvement in the remaining exams. The above picture is a portion of the review guide that I used to study.

Blog 3

My Anthem – ‘Ants Marching’ by Dave Matthews Band

Parents – ‘You and Me’ by Dave Matthews Band

Best Friend – ‘Eternal Flame’ by The Bangles

Summer 2018 – ‘Cotton Eye Joe’ by Rednex

Brother – ‘Renegade’ by Styx

First Date – ‘Rewrite the Stars’ from The Greatest Showman

     I love listening to music, and I think one of the reasons that I love it so much is because I so heavily associate specific songs, albums, and even genres with important people in my life. For example, anything by Dave Matthews Band reminds me of my dad, because it is his absolute favorite band, and has been since I was born. Some of my earliest memories were of me begging him to play ‘Ants Marching’ over and over and over (which he did). This is a big reason as to why I would call it my favorite song of all time. Another song which might look out of place on my list is Cotton Eye Joe. When I was an assistant cook, my kitchen staff loved to dance to the Cotton Eye Joe. During particularly long or stressful days, we would find ourselves square-dancing to the entire song to relieve stress (if you’ve never danced to the whole track, let me tell you: it is quite the work-out). My best-friend used to sing ‘ Eternal Flame’ just to annoy me, and now, she is forever linked to that song in my mind. 

     I am not particular in my taste of music, and I think that has been valuable, because I can bond with people over music. Although, in the few genres that I find I rarely listen to, I do not connect with those people in the same way. I won’t say that a bond over music necessarily dictates similar ideas and values; but rather, it helps to establish a common ground. I love when people share with me music that is meaningful to them. Music connects people in a way that is rarely replicated by anything else.

“…People in every direction

No words exchanged

No time to exchange..”.

Blog 2

     I believe that I am a very determined, and disciplined student. I started my freshman year with a goal: I wanted to graduate with all A’s. After my first semester, with 4 A’s and 1 B, I realized I would need to re-evaluate my goals. From there, I worked towards allowing myself one ‘B’ per year, with a GPA of 3.8 (or higher). I have accomplished this goal. I am in my final semester; I have three B’s, and a 3.89 GPA. I have accomplished this through staying organized and not letting the little assignments slip through the cracks. I won’t lie, most of the time it is tempting to think, “this assignment is only worth 5% of my grade . . . will it be that bad if I don’t do it?”. It is so much easier to recover from a bad test when you haven’t ignored the smaller percentage assignments. Getting good grades those first few semesters really helped me to build my confidence as a student. Further, I took college classes in high-school, which helped me enter college with confidence in my ability as a student. My general self-efficacy score further shows my confidence in academics. I have found myself face-to-face with each measure on the GSE during my time at ODU, and each time I have succeeded.

Blog 1

     When I was registering for classes, I had one last psychology elective that I needed to take to fulfill the requirements. I had to take an online class, I knew, but that still left me with a couple options. Ultimately, I chose social psychology for two reasons: one, I was interested in the subject; and two, I felt that the class would be valuable for a career in Human Resources; specifically, the course objectives of learning about attitudes, behavior, and prejudice. As an HR rep, one of the many aspects of the job is to ‘manage the managers’. Understanding the processes in which people perceive others will not only help me understand others, but understand myself as well. That is the greatness of  psychology, not only does it give you insight to others, but insight about yourself. 

     I am prepared to learn many valuable skills in this course throughout the next 16 or so weeks. I feel that I will do well in this course. My biggest challenge will be fighting to stay focused, as this is my ‘senior spring’; and, at times, I am tempted to not give 100%. But then I remember, I have worked hard the last three-and-a-half years, and it would be a shame to slip-up now. I fully intended to read each chapter, notate chapter slides, and spend time developing each section of my ePortfolio. I believe my diligence will lead me to be successful. I chose this representative image because nonverbal communication has always fascinated me. I love how much info can be communicated through facial expressions and gestures, and I especially love how much of a feel for a person’s personality you can gain from these nonverbal aspects.