Reflective Essay On Social Psychology

The Id area is divided into two main human instincts. One is the “EROS” which is the instinct

From the course, I was surprised to learn how many social workers throughout history have been part of oppressive practices that negatively impacted different groups of the population, which could explain why there are people who have a strong dislike to social workers. This was surprising because as social workers we are bound to advocate for social justice for everyone including those who are living in poverty. Also, respecting different beliefs and lifestyles of individuals, families, groups, communities and nations without discrimination as emphasized in the Social Work Code of Ethics (Canadian Association of Social Workers [CASW], 2005). Some examples mentioned in lectures include social workers playing a role in the deportation of people

and in some cases enlist the help of a “confederate”, someone who appears to be a naïve part of

Over the course of this class I have pieced together many things about my own life that before went unnoticed. I am now able to see things in a bit of a different light. Now that I have been introduced to the realm of psychology I understand some of the reasons for behavior around me. I have learned that there is a reason for most everything and a lot of our behaviors and mental processes can be explained through psychology. Studies have been conducted for many years to try and pinpoint the source of our behavior and it is not something that most people think about every day. Having a better understanding of why we operate the way we do will help me to better understand myself and the others around me.

I enjoyed every bit of this Introduction to Psychology class. I put together many things about myself and my own life that I didn’t notice before. Now that I have been introduced to the realm of psychology I have a much better understanding of the reasons of behavior that is around me every day.

Last school year I decided to take a course on Advanced Anatomy to receive science credits. Little did I know it would the best class ever. Anatomy has helped me confirm my interest in focusing on the medical field in college, specifically nursing. We learned about the majority of the body systems, with the skeletal system and the brain being my favorite. The outline of the body and the many tasks of the brain were my favorite things to learn and study. When it was time to dissect, I was hesitant, but I soon learned that I very much enjoyed looking at the body and where things were located. When the time came to choose classes for senior year, I realized that AP Psychology was available. Taking this course allowed me to further my interest

There are many theories that attempt to explain the cause of crime. Two theories for the cause of crime are the Psychological and Social Process Theory. According to Schmalleger (2015), psychological theorist believe “crime is the result of inappropriate behavioral conditioning or a diseased mind” (p. 78). Social Process Theory claims “crime results from failure of self-direction, from inadequate social roles, or from associating with others who are already criminals” (Schmalleger, 2015, p. 103). Another theory is Conflict theory, Schmalleger (2015) states that according to conflict theory “crime is a natural consequence of social, political, and economic inequities” (p. 77). Another approach to crime causation is the Sociological theories which argue “the individual is a product of his or her environment” (Schmalleger, 2015, p. 103).

The focus of this paper is the person-centered approach, which is the understanding of personality and human relationships in psychotherapy and counseling in the areas of client-centered therapy, education of student-centered learning, organizations, and other group settings. Even though psychoanalysis and behaviorism have made major contributions to psychology, it has influenced the understanding and practices of the humanistic movement, specifically with the therapies for the different mental disorders. Psychoanalysis understands the unconscious behavior, behaviorism focuses on the conditioning process that produces behavior. Humanistic psychology focuses on the person's potential to act as a whole person in a nurturing environment by

I settled on psychology as my major when I entered Worcester State University since my own background was dysfunctional and there were many unresolved issues during that period of my life that psychology helped me to understand and come to terms with. Another reason I decided to enter this field was because I find the human mind to be an intriguing enigma with psychology helping us understand the human mind and behavior through research , especially personality/social psychology. I want to focus on helping people resolve complex emotional issues or developing solutions for real-world problems. Others delve deeper into our understanding of the human mind and behavior by conducting research and adding to the body of scientific knowledge. I want to be in a position to help people who are going through hard times, as my therapist did for me.

It was on a gloomy day back in high school. The sky was full of ominous looking gray clouds that looked like they were about to explode on a sweltering summer day. That day, my AP Psychology exam was scheduled, where I had to write a voluminous essay about the Hollywood movie “A Beautiful Mind.” Although I knew the final exam would be about writing an essay for the movie a full week ahead of time, I simply did not have enough time to watch the movie, due to the exhausting amount of studying I had for other AP classes.

In this research task I have selected the introductory paragraph and one of the body paragraphs of my psychology research report, which I wrote last year in the second semester of university. The aim of the report was to test whether the rarity and cue validity of sudden-onsets would capture attention based on previous research by Yantis and Jonides (1990) and Neo and Chua (2006). These two studies were used as an important source in writing up the research report.

This semester has been filled with informative information when speaking about our own social skill, but also other people’s social psychology as well, thus is why it will be very useful in future. Throughout the semester we studied everything from the introduction of social psychology, social influences, aggression in psychology, and interpersonal attraction and close relationships. A lot of the knowledge that I gained was not only from the “Social Psychology” textbook, but also in the videos and the reactions that we needed to come up with on a weekly basis. I like the idea of being able to watch the video to see if the experiment was successful or unsuccessful and commenting on it by giving my opinion if I agreed or not. For me,

The Halo Effect is the cognitive bias that generalizes that if an individual has one outstanding favorable character trait, the rest of that individual’s trait will be favorable. Specific to physical attractiveness, this is known as the “Attractiveness Halo.” Attractiveness plays an important role in determining social interactions. In fact, the physical attractiveness of an individual is a vital social cue utilized by others to evaluate other aspects of that individual’s abilities (Kenealy, Frude, & Shaw, 2001). Because of the attractiveness halo, attractive applicants trying to enter the workforce tend to

What judgments do we make about others? Everyday we make judgments in our social interactions about why others act the way they do, which is known as

Is how aggressive an individual is determined only by his or her genes? Whether psychological and behavioral traits are purely determined by genetics, solely influenced by socialization, or a combination of both has been a highly debated topic within the field of psychology known as the “nature-nurture issue.” Today, although still disputed, a good number of psychologists and other scientists concur that genetics and the environment mutually influence and intermingle with one another (Myers, 2015). We can partially credit this fizzling-out of the nature-nurture debate to the discoveries made in twin studies. Twin studies are used to help delineate the genetic components of behavior and the socially and culturally influenced components (Myers, 2015). This type of study enables researchers to examine the extent to which genetics and environment have an effect on the development of traits and behavior. For example, in lecture, we learned that a common and natural experiment used in twin studies is to examine a set of twins who grew up in the same household and a set twins who grew up in separate households (K.W. Brown, personal communication, August 29, 2017).