Social Psychology : Midterm Exam Summer 2015

After reading through chapter six, I began reading chapter seven of our psychology text titled, Learning. Learning is something we do everyday even we don’t realize it. While reading chapter seven, I learned that there are three different types of learning, classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and cognitive learning. Classical conditioning stands for two types of stimuli linking providing us the tools to have a reaction; this is the type of learning that involves automatic behaviors. Operant conditioning is the type of learning that causes a change in behavior, in reaction to consequences; this is the behavior that involves choosing of choices. Lastly, cognitive learning is the obtaining of new skills, behaviors, and information through

Throughout this semester of Psychology 150 I have learned a great deal about several different concepts that I consciously, and sometimes unconsciously, find myself applying to my life. There are five different psychology topics I found that held the most relevance to my life. Some of these topics do not deal with myself exclusively, but they do affect the people I hold dear to me. The topics range from disorders to personality differences, and they all affect me in some way, both indirectly and directly.

In conclusion during the course of my Psychology class I have learned a lot of concepts that can relate to everyday life. Before I formally learned about these 3 concepts I thought that my prior knowledge of these 3 things were everything that could be known about them. When looking intensively deeper into what they actually are I learned a lot more information. From my learning experience I have found that every single concept we have learned in Psychology relates back to everyday life, so having more knowledge on these things give me a larger outlook on the events I see occur and

In this paper, I will be analyzing the talk given by Bryan Stevenson on how we can change the world.

In the video titled Learned helplessness (PsychYogi, 2014), Martin Seligman conducted a study in which he took three groups of dogs and put them in harnesses. He gave each group a lever that would either stop a charge that electrocuted the dogs, or do nothing. Group one was the control group and did not get electrocuted. The dogs in groups two and three were the experimental groups. Group two had control over the electric shocks and could stop them with the lever. Group three also received the shocks every time group two did, except group three had no control over their own lever. Every time group two pushed their lever to stop the shocks, group three’s shocks also stopped. Group three never knew when their shocks would stop. The dogs in group two learned that the lever would stop the shocks, so the more times they were shocked, the less time it took them to push the lever. Group three was the only group to have symptoms of depression due to learned helplessness (Psychyogi, 2014).

In Chapter 7 of our What Is Psychology textbook, we learned about the importance, details and strategies of memory techniques. One type of memory is Short Term, which only last up to thirty seconds before forgetting. Whenever has to remember a number or a name, they often repeat the information multiple times so that the Short Term Memory can transition into Long Term Memory. In order for this transition to occur, the information must be constantly repeated, or important enough to be held in the permanent memory, which helps create a “folder” with all retaining information and reminiscing. Another way short term can become long term is using a method called Chunking, this breaks the bigger pictures into smaller ones for the brain to remember,

In Psychology 101, you learn about a personal fable; something that I have not lost. I have always wanted to change the world that I was destined for greatness and teaching elementary school students gives me that power. In the words of Nelson Mandela, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”

First, children¡¯s acquisition of language is an innate mechanism that enables a child to analyze language and extract the basic rules of grammar, granted by Chomsky. It basically states that humans are born with a language acquisition device that, the ability to learn a language rapidly as children. However, there is one important controversy in language acquisition concerns how we acquire language; since Chomsky fails to adequately explain individual differences. From the behaviorists¡¯ perspectives, the language is learned like other learned behaviors. It is learned through operant

Steve’s relationships with women are internally motivated, meaning he actively desires to participate in these behaviors. Based on Freud’s Oedipus Complex, Steve wanted to have sexual relations with his mother, and loved her, but as stated in the case study, “[Steve’s mother] did not give Steve the demonstrative affection and loving interaction he craved.” According to this quote, it is evident that Steve desires women’s attention but in his early years was denied by his mother, in other words, he faced rejection at an early age. As the case study later states, Steve has sex with many women and dumps them before things get serious. This is because he believes that women go out with him just for a meal and sex, and would break up with him

Stereotyping is a normal part of every one’s life. Humans, by nature, classify things. We name animals and classify them by common characteristics but stereotyping can have negative repercussions, and everyone does it. In a recent study it was proven that everyone has an unconscious need to stereotype (Paul). In Junteenth and The Invisible man, Ralph Ellison argues that stereotyping can cause mayhem by making the people become something they are not.

The forth concept is “self fulfilling prophecies”. “Self fulfilling prophecies” means that a dominant group may set obstacles to another group, making it hard for members from a stereotyped group to perform differently from their stereotype (Schaefer). For example, members from a stereotyped group might find it difficult to get a high salary or promotion, which enhance their stereotype about being low-paid and having low positions in their jobs (Neuliep, 2009). For instance, when the television director shooting a story about a black character, his fellow said “have you noticed he’s talking a lot less black lately?” And his co-worker required him to reshoot it. They had a chance to change people’s stereotype about their group, but the dominant group want to maintain those stereotypes. They think that black people should speak as stereotypically “black”. If they do not, they assume they are

A hypothesis is an explanation that can be tested based on observation. A statistical hypothesis is testable explanation based on observation and different variables. A null hypothesis explains what the results of the experiment will be if the original hypothesis is wrong. An alternate hypothesis is the opposite result if there is or isn’t a null hypothesis. Semmelweis hypothesized that bacteria/virus filled extremities resulted in higher death rates.

Chapter 12 social psychology cover how we affect one another’s behaviors. Culture, stereotypes, prejudice, discrimination attitude, and interpersonal attraction are all factors that contribute to behavior in a social setting. Understanding how we influence one another on a social level forces us to look at not only ourselves, but also look at how others affect the world we live in and why it is important to be able to identify these influences and the impact they have on our behaviors good or bad

The principles and theories of Social Psychology are important and useful in assessing behaviors in situations. These social psychological principles and their applications can be seen in fictional films which can also be attributed to everyday life. One such film that holds certain social psychological perspectives is Will Gluck’s 2010 production of Easy A. A film about high school student Olive Penderghast and how a sudden change in popularity and financial status, after an unintentional rumor about how she supposedly lost her virginity to a college guy spread through the entire her school. The film draws on the behavioral connections of pronounced hussy Olive Penderghast and her English class’s assigned reading of The Scarlet Letter.

I decided to choose Chapter 14: Social Psychology for my chapter evaluation paper because I love to study people and am interested in learning how they are influenced by different factors such as friend groups and society. I hope to learn a lot from this chapter because it influences our lives everyday and can influence how we behave and act. I want to learn more about attributions and how they affect one’s behavior along with common stereotypes. The first set of people featured in this chapter includes Joe and Suzanne. Joe and Suzanne’s relationship plays a huge role in social psychology since online dating is becoming more and more common in today’s world. I can relate to their relationship because a dating application is how I met my