Unit VIII Discussion Board Question S&P

PSY 3140-18I-6A21-S1 Social Psychology Unit VII 1

Unit VII Reflection Paper

Justin Erby

228342

PSY 3140-18I-6A21-S1

Social Psychology

PSY 3140-18I-6A21-S1 Social Psychology Unit VII 2

Unit VII Reflection Paper

Question 1

My chosen topic based on the previous unit is, biases and how they influence perceptions

of various behaviors. It argues that people help others based on individual acuities, which are

controlled by societal and personal beliefs and values, and gender socialization. Empathy is an

element that we studied in detail. It refers to a person’s ability to show compassion, and this affects

the norm of reciprocity. This is what determines whether they may well help out of altruism or

prosocial tendencies (Heinzen & Goodfriend, 2019). On the other hand, one’s inclination to help

can be influenced by the diffusion of responsibility, which changes people’s decisions for when to

take action in a needy situation. An example is the bystander effect.

Question 2

In a work setting, my topic could be applied when making company values to shape the

organization’s culture (Schein & Schein, 2017). Corporate values are important because they are

the guiding principles that drive a business and its employees. Therefore, the company managers

need to make values that positively influence their employees' perceptions. Compassion with

reciprocity is an organizational culture that employees should be taught to uphold at the workplace.

It should be taught to strengthen factors that influence positive employee perceptions and to break

the negative aspects that would hinder this. In the real world, the same should be reinforced in

society. The difference would be that employees would be mandated to uphold the company

PSY 3140-18I-6A21-S1 Social Psychology Unit VII 3

principles in the workplace, while in the world, it would take long to convince people to live by

these standards.

Question 3

My chosen topic would be perceived as beneficial if I were the role of employee. This is

because it would improve employee relations and create a conducive work environment for all.

This would leave people happy and would be a reason why staff would love their jobs, thereby

increasing employee retention rates and improving staff performance (Schein & Schein,

2017). Where people exist in harmony, they achieve more, and this means that company growth

would be registered both internally and externally.

Question 4

If I were in a non-paid position, my perspective on the topic would remain. As a volunteer

or intern, chances are high that other employees might not be as helpful as they would be to their

own peers. I, therefore, believe that upholding values such as empathy in the workplace would

propel other staff to be compassionate towards me, and based on this spirit, help me whenever the

need arises instead of ignoring me.

Question 5

A rational course of action to protect me as an individual employee is exploitation.

Exploitation, in this case would mean being used by other employees to do their jobs because they

are senior staff, which places them in an influential position to negatively affect my employment

status in the company, or bullies by character, meaning that they could use their personality to

misguide me by making me do their job. The rational course of action to protect myself would be

to request my immediate supervisor for my position’s roles, and defending myself with the

PSY 3140-18I-6A21-S1 Social Psychology Unit VII 4

deadlines I am required to beat. This action would protect the company from low productivity

caused by poor employee performance. I would also avoid fueling the culture of intimidation. I

could balance this action with that of promoting the company by reporting the issue to my

immediate supervisor or HR office for close monitoring.

References

Heinzen, T. & Goodfriend, W. (2019). Social psychology. Thousand Oaks, California: SAGE

Publications, Inc.

Schein, E. & Schein, P. (2017). Organizational culture and leadership. Hoboken, New Jersey: John

Wiley and Sons, Inc.