Psychology

Readings

Refer to the Readings and Assignments page for links to textbook chapters.

For this module, you should read Chapter 11, Motivation, where you will review the basic understanding of motivation and our need for personal achievement. Don't miss the section titled How Does Motivation Affect Academic Achievement?. One of the great parts of studying psychology is improving your academic life.

Also for this module, you should read Chapter 16, Social Psychology, where you will review some ways that we construct reality and learn about attribution errors. You will also read about attitudes, compliance, and prejudice. This chapter also covers altruism, aggression, and the concept of obedience.

· The Motivation Revolution

· http://www.thecampuscommon.com/library/ezproxy/ticketdemocs.asp?sch=auo&turl=http://search.alexanderstreet.com.libproxy.edmc.edu/view/work/2542868

· Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

· http://www.thecampuscommon.com/library/ezproxy/ticketdemocs.asp?sch=auo&turl=http://search.alexanderstreet.com.libproxy.edmc.edu/view/work/2785719

· Conformity

· http://www.thecampuscommon.com/library/ezproxy/ticketdemocs.asp?sch=auo&turl=http://search.alexanderstreet.com.libproxy.edmc.edu/view/work/2123261

· Invitation to Social Psychology

· http://www.thecampuscommon.com/library/ezproxy/ticketdemocs.asp?sch=auo&turl=http://search.alexanderstreet.com.libproxy.edmc.edu/view/work/2123031

· Conformity and Independence

· http://www.thecampuscommon.com/library/ezproxy/ticketdemocs.asp?sch=auo&turl=http://search.alexanderstreet.com.libproxy.edmc.edu/view/work/2123224

· Battle of the Sexes

· http://www.thecampuscommon.com/library/ezproxy/ticketdemocs.asp?sch=auo&turl=http://search.alexanderstreet.com.libproxy.edmc.edu/view/work/3230398

· Differences Between Men And Women

· http://www.thecampuscommon.com/library/ezproxy/ticketdemocs.asp?sch=auo&turl=http://search.alexanderstreet.com.libproxy.edmc.edu/view/work/2659304

Outlines

In these PowerPoint presentations, we will go over an outline of the key aspects of the chapters you will be reading in this section. It is best to do an overview of the reading before you read as it enhances the learning. The technique is called PQ4R which emerged from the principles of human memory (that you will find in the Study Techniques section in Chapter 1 and the Long-Term Memory section in Chapter 7). This method developed by Thomas and Robinson includes preview, questions, read, reflect, recite, and review. It is a good method to practice for learning the material in each of our modules.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

Abraham Maslow was a Humanistic Psychologist who was very interested in what causes us to strive or search for more and more meaning in life. Maslow proposed that human beings are motivated to seek ever-greater levels of self-development. We all need to focus on and meet our basic needs before we can turn our attention to “higher” needs. For instance, we all have the following needs:

Two individuals, observing the same event, may interpret it in very different ways.

Each of us constructs social reality in a unique way, by selectively encoding what is happening in terms of what we expect and want to see.

There is no objective social reality; there is only our construction and interpretation of it.

Social Perception is the process by which we come to understand and categorize the behaviors of others.

This all leads to understanding about attribution theory, which is a general approach to describe the ways the social perceiver uses information to generate causal explanations.

Making attributions about behavior

The Fundamental Attribution Error is important to understand as we learn about and predict human behavior. It represents the dual tendency for people to overestimate dispositional factors (personality, ability, etc.) and to underestimate situational ones when searching for the cause of some behavior or outcome.

Here is an example—If we are late for work, it was because of traffic or the weather; however, if a coworker is late, it is because he or she is lazy or he or she is not serious enough about work.

An interesting factor about prosocial behavior is that it is often hampered by factors such as bystander apathy, diffusion of responsibility, improper understanding of the situation, and so on. Let's explore these factors.

Suppose you are walking down a busy street in the evening. You are on your way to a grocery store. Suddenly you hear a woman screaming. At first, you don't react but when the screaming persists, you begin to look around to see if someone else reacts. When no one reacts, you assume that the screaming was of no consequence and continue walking. The next day, you hear about a woman on the same street who was hit by a truck and died.

There are two main reasons why people did not help the injured woman:

· Bystander apathy: As bystanders, people do not want to get involved in controversial situations. Most people assume that if no one else is reacting there probably isn't any reason to worry. These people may also be waiting for others to help, so they don't let the screaming bother them. The chances of a person lending a helping hand increase if people notice the event, recognize it as an emergency, and are willing to take responsibility.

· Diffusion of responsibility: Most people think of themselves as one person on a street full of many people; so they assume that someone else will take responsibility for the injured woman. If there had been fewer people on the street, someone would have taken more responsibility and been keener to help.

Bystander effect

In understanding people and behavior choices, many studies have been conducted on how we interact and react in group situations. Psychologists have learned that we react very differently in a group than we do when we are alone. Review the example below and think about what you would do.

Attitudes

What is your attitude toward euthanasia, capital punishment, psychology, the president, and so on? A major part of who we are depends on our attitudes toward important issues and concepts. For instance, the way a woman feels about feminism is a large part of who she is, because it affects her behavior in many ways. Attitudes are complex and form over many years because of a combination of factors, such as child-rearing experiences, direct contact, interactions with others, and the media.

Prejudice and Discrimination

One of the most common manifestations of attitudes is seen in prejudice. As we know it, prejudice refers to negative attitudes toward objects, whether the objects are people, races, religions, countries, situations, and so forth.

It is important to understand some of the process and steps that are a part of developing these prejudices.

The first concept is the one of stereotyping.

The second concept is the one of experiencing prejudicial thoughts and feelings.

The third concept is the one of demonstrating discriminatory behaviors toward others. Discrimination is the behavioral manifestation of prejudiced attitudes. Discrimination is treating others differently, often poorly, based on prejudiced attitudes or stereotypes.

As we all can see, this can be a slippery slope because it all starts with stereotyping and categorizing which we all do on a daily basis. It is very natural for all of us to stereotype or categorize others. The main reasons we categorize others involve person perception concepts which consist of efficiency, selectivity, and consistency. Efficiency, as it relates to stereotyping and categorization, is when we reduce complex information into more functional or simple understandings. It would be hard to remember everything about everyone that we meet, so we remember things like age, gender, skin color, etc.

Selectivity and consistency is when we only pay attention to information that fits what we already think about others. This also explains the first impressions phenomena. This is called primacy effect and occurs when initial information carries more weight than subsequent information. This potency of first impressions makes people tune out other information that is not consistent with that first belief, thus resulting in confirmation bias.

These perception concepts are all good management strategies when we understand that we are perceiving others in these ways; however, if we are not aware of these perceptions, we could allow these ideas to creep into becoming prejudice.

The most significant instance of prejudice can be seen in racism, prevalent all over the world. Racism affects our behavior and makes us discriminate between others and ourselves. There are three primary theories that seek to explain how and why prejudice occurs:

· Realistic conflict: This theory postulates that when resources are very limited, there arises a tendency for conflict and discrimination between groups. When this prejudice is aroused, it creates a fear and a competition between groups.

· Social categorization: Human beings have a tendency to make sense of the world by engaging in social categorization, or the division of people into groups based on certain characteristics. The group we belong to is the "in group" while any other group is the "out group." We begin to assign causes to the out group's behavior and attach strong positive emotions to the in group but not to the out group. Our thoughts centering on the out group are so fixed that even when the in group receives information contrary to their beliefs, their prejudice does not change.

· Social learning: Behavioral theorists say that if parents and grandparents held strong beliefs about racism, their children and subsequent generations are likely to grow up thinking similarly and being reinforced for the same.

Robber’s Cave Study

The classic Robber’s cave study by Sherif illustrated how predjudice attitudes could be easily developed in the face of scarcity for resources and social categorization.

Prosocial behavior

Prosocial behavior is directed toward helping others instead of harming them. How might the questions in this graphic help promote prosocial behavior?

Groupthink

At times, decisions made by groups are not as rational and effective as decisions made by individuals. In a group setting there are many social factors which come into play and influence the group. For instance, groups sometimes isolate themselves from outside resources and opinions, groups sometimes reinforce each others opinions, and groups sometimes disregard important information in the service of group coherence. When these factors are present, groups may sometimes make erroneous or even disasterous decisions as described in your textbook. This phenomenon is known as “Groupthink”.

Let’s now discuss another aspect of social behavior—aggression. Initial views were that aggression is instinctive and inherited from our ancestors or that it is purely biological. However, we now know that our physiology may increase the tendency toward aggression but does not solely cause it.

The more recent frustration-aggression hypothesis provides a more realistic explanation of aggression. According to this hypothesis, the more frustration we feel, the greater is the tendency for aggressive behavior.

Aversive stimuli, such as extremely high temperatures, too much noise, and unpleasant situations, can cause aggression. Aggressive acts, like insults and gestures made by others, can suddenly instigate aggressive responses in us. For instance, suppose you are driving to the mall peacefully and a young kid in a car sticks out his middle finger at you. You are likely to get angry, maybe even scowl at him, even if it’s against your nature.

In the same way as most of our other behaviors, aggression is also partially influenced by learned experiences. The more aggression we see in our parents, the more we are likely to repeat it.

Preventing Aggression

The media has a significant influence on aggressive behavior. Exposing children to glorified acts of aggression in any media raises the likelihood of imitation of those acts without regard to mature reasoning. Instead, children should be encouraged to be more peaceful and helpful to others. This can be done by encouraging prosocial acts of behavior. However, this does not mean that all shows that show violence lead to aggressive behavior in all children. This complicated issue is thoroughly explored in social psychology classes.

Social Influence Processes

After you join school, college, or a place of work, make a few friends, and decide the kind of people you are most comfortable with, groups begin to form. What helps a group of people to function with other groups and within its own members? The processes that help people and groups to function with other people and groups are collectively known as social influence processes. These are processes by which individuals and groups influence each other to conform, obey, and show positive attitudes.

Conformity

Conformity means behaving according to other people’s desires or standards. Can you imagine what would happen if a mall full of groups of people started doing as they pleased? There would be complete chaos! This is why social conformity is so fundamental to human beings.

Suppose your class has been asked to debate about the relative importance of education and experience for the development of personality. You think experience is more important, but it seems that all others think it's education. You are under extreme pressure to conform and not express your opinion. Then, one student says that she thinks nothing can be more important than experience. The presence of even one supporter has broken the unanimity of the class and has boosted your courage to express your honest opinion.

In this situation, you would have been more likely to conform if:

· There were a large number of people whose perceptions of you mattered to you

· If you were less confident and dependent upon affirmation from other people

· If you thought that the degree of expertise of the leading group or person was high and you respected them greatly

· There were no supporters for your opinion; the pressure on you to conform would reduce if even one person supported your opinion

One of the most famous conformity experiments is the one completed by Solomon Asch. His well known conformity study is much more ethical than the obedience ones that we will review. In this study he recruited male undergraduates for a study on visual perception. However, the participants did not know until the end of the study during the debriefing stage that was not the true intent of the study. During the research experiment the participant was placed in a room of accomplices working with the researcher (that the participant did not know—he thought they were students just like him). These accomplices gave false reports and the true test was whether or not the participant followed suit with the wrong answer. You can see part of this experiment in the graphic below.

Click to download transcript

Obedience

Obedience is another form of social influence. The difference between obedience and conformity is that obedience is usually commanded by an authority figure, often against the wishes of the individual being obedient.

There are two famous studies on obedience. The first is Milgram's shock experiment and the second is Zimbardo's prison study.

Let's take Milgram's experiment first. Here obedience is affected by the transfer of responsibility. In other words, the people who obey feel that they will not be blamed for any adverse consequences of their obedience. This reduces their sense of responsibility, and they feel less guilty about their actions. Another factor that affects obedience is that a person may agree to minor demands by another person and would be unable to say no when the demands gradually become bigger. Sometimes, when events are moving too rapidly around us, there is no time to process information and we obey instructions or orders without realizing what we are obeying.

Another obedience study is the experiment conducted by Philip Zimbardo. This Stanford Prison experiment was completed in 1971, several years after Milgram's (1963) study and similar human behaviors were again documented.

Culture and Social Influence

It is interesting to note here that it is the Western cultures that tend to be more individualistic in nature and many other cultures have more of a collective orientation. This has been an observed difference in our attitudes about the desirability or undesirability of conformity, compliance, and obedience. A good example is among East Asians, conformity is associated with the valued characteristics of harmony and connectedness.

Social Relationships

There is some very interesting research that has allowed psychologists to learn about our social relationships. The research indicates there are particular components that can be found that lead to attraction and liking.

· People tend to become attracted to people with whom they are in close proximity, by virtue of mere exposure.

· Physical attractiveness often influences development of friendships.

· Individuals similar to oneself provide personal validation, because a similar individual makes one feel that one’s attitudes are the right ones. Conversely, dissimilarity often leads to strong repulsion.

· Reciprocity is involved in liking because we tend to like other individuals who like us.

In the case of love, most likely we first liked the person we come to love. The experience of love can be conceptualized into four dimensions:

· passion: sexual passion and desire

· intimacy: honesty and understanding

· commitment: devotion and sacrifice

· adult attachment style: type of emotional bond

Attachment style is very important to understand. People’s attachment styles are broken down into:

· secure attachment: trust others, easily get close to others, rarely worry about abandonment (55 percent of people)

· avoidant attachment: fear and feel uncomfortable with getting close to others (25 percent)

· anxious-ambivalent attachment: tend to be preoccupied with relationship, want more than partners do, fears of abandonment (20 percent)

Sexual Orientation and Identity

Sexual orientation and identity are predominant constituents of human personality. In fact, it is impossible to think about personality as independent of sexual characteristics. This is because the personality of an individual is largely determined by gender and sexual orientation, as well as what that individual regards as appropriate behavior in terms of gender.

There are certain sexual aspects that determine an individual’s sexuality. These are:

· Sexual identity: This is the pattern of a person’s biological sexual characteristics, such as genitals, hormones, chromosomes, and secondary sex characteristics, such as facial hair and breast development.

· Gender identity: This refers to the inherent sense of being male or female. Gender refers to the psychological and emotional traits of maleness and femaleness.

· Sexual orientation: This refers to the sex to which a person is attracted. A person may be heterosexual (attracted to the opposite sex), homosexual (attracted to the same sex), or bisexual (attracted to both sexes). Sexual orientation usually coincides with gender identity.

· Sexual behavior: This includes reactions and responses in sex-related situations. Whether a person is able to achieve sexual satisfaction from sexual relationships can determine that person’s sexual behavior.

There are several factors that determine gender role development and identity. Most of them fit into two camps of thought—the biological origins (nature) and the environmental origins (nurture).

Biological Origins

· Biologically, gender identity is affected by the amount of androgens in the body. This hormonal influence explanation focuses on chemical substances released into the blood stream and that were prevalent during prenatal development.

· Evolutionary explanations focus on the natural selection process that over the course of human behavior shapes the traits (through genetics) that are passed on. Some evolutionary theorists look for gender differences that are consistent across cultures to prove this explanation. There are some exceptions, but there has been some documentation of gender differences within cognitive abilities, aggression, and sexual behaviors.

· Brain organization is another nature type of explanation of gender role development. These theorists believe that the male and female brains are organized differently. Some findings indicate that females who have a larger corpus callosum (tissue that connects the two hemispheres of the brain) are able to multitask better than males. The other side of this biological difference is that males then can exhibit more cerebral specialization (focusing on one thing).

Environmental origins

· Social upbringing is also an important factor in determining gender characteristics. For instance, in a society that encourages men to be aggressive and bossy and women to be submissive and sensitive, children are likely to grow up endorsing the same behaviors.

· The quality of the mother–child relationship in the formative years of life is paramount in establishing gender identity. For instance, mothers who wanted a son but got a daughter may devalue the role of the daughter. This may cause the daughter to question the appropriateness and value of her own identity and she might grow up preferring masculine traits.

· Very young children who experience the loss of a parent may begin to identify with that parent more. For instance, a little boy might start to act like his mother as a way of dealing with his loss.

· The presence of a father is crucial in the development of gender identity. Boys identify with the masculinity of their father, which transfers to their behavior. Girls learn more about the opposite sex as well as what to expect in the future from their mothers.

· Freud proposed that sexual orientation is an outcome of the phallic stage in children. Whether the conflicts of this stage are resolved or not is largely responsible for whether we are aroused by the same sex or the opposite sex. Freud has largely been debunked in terms of this part of his theory, but his views still carry sociological and historical interest and influence.

An important consideration while studying sexual and gender issues is cultural relativity. What is normal sexual behavior in some cultures may not be considered normal in other cultures. For instance, the stereotypically male behaviors of some cultures may be considered more female behaviors in other cultures.

One of the significant aspects of gender development and identity comes from the social pressures and norms that we discussed earlier. Gender can be another area in which we can show prejudice and pressure to conform a certain way. We in essence are “socialized” to be male or female. We acquire norms and roles that are expected of us in our society.

Gender stereotypes are widely shared beliefs about males’ and females’ abilities, personality traits, and social behavior. Here we find that as a society we have specific expectations and beliefs about how men and women should act.

The stereotyped attributes for males generally reflect the quality of instrumentality, meaning an orientation toward action and accomplishment. However, the stereotype for females reflects the quality of expressiveness, meaning an orientation toward emotions and relationships.

How does that impact us and our children?

There are traditional role expectations for males:

· Achievement

· Aggression

· Autonomy

· Sexuality

· Stoicism

These traditional roles can cause some significant problems:

· Pressure to succeed

· “failures”, “dominate women”

· The emotional realm

· Aggression, hide emotions, stress disorders

· Sexual problems

· Obsession with performance

· Confuse intimacy with sex

· Homophobia

There are some traditional role expectations for females:

· The marriage mandate

· The motherhood mandate

· Work outside the home (according to some more modern lists)

These traditional roles can cause some significant problems:

· Diminished career aspirations

· Large ability-achievement gap

· Juggling multiple roles

· Unequal sharing

· Social pressures, partner attitudes

· Ambivalence about sexuality

· Taught to suppress, be passive

· Taught fears of pregnancy and rape

How do you all see these roles being reinforced in our society? Television shows? Advertisements and commercials for various products? Even perhaps toys that we buy our children?