REPLY

A minimum of 100 words each question and References Response (#1 – 6) KEEP RESPONSE WITH ANSWER ( all response must have a reference)

Make sure the Responses includes the Following: (a) an understanding of the weekly content as supported by a scholarly resource, (b) the provision of a probing question. (c) stay on topic (d) cite all sources with their hyperlinked.

1. Common sense understanding focus more on individual’s personal knowledge of the situation and how to respond based on past experiences, and what has been taught to him or her from others. Whereas, Social Psychological theories rely on science to explain what people are thinking, feeling, and exhibiting behaviors in different environments (Gilovich, Keltner, Chen, & Nisbett, 2018).

The danger in relying on common sense or intuition in learning abut the relationship between the individual and his or her environment is everyone’s schema about a subject differs. Therefore, there may be a gross misjudgment made about the relationship based on what the previous knowledge and experience of the environment is. An example would be a child throwing a tantrum in a store. To some it may seem like that child needs to be disciplined and has no rules. In reality that child has special needs and his or her parents are trying to expose their child to different social environments to desensitize him or her and the tantrum is actually the child feeling overwhelmed.

2. The differences between common sense understanding and social psychology is that rather than just going off of folk wisdom or what seems to be right, social psychologists goes into scientifically studying the thoughts, feelings and behaviors of individuals in a social situation or setting (Gilovich, Keltner, Chen, & Nisbett, 2019). Common sense understanding is based off thought and feelings while social psychological theories come from empirical data (Gilovich et al., 2019). In 2003 when the prisoners were abused and maltreated by American soldiers the common thought was that these soldiers were just bad apples, when in fact social psychologist discovered that it was the situation that created the soldiers to do these atrocities (Gilovich et al., 2019). It is important not to always trust common sense understanding because it could leave you to bias or even wrong social theories.

3. Two major differences between common sense understanding and social psychological theories is what the text explains there are two ways thinking “the role of the construal, or the interpretive processes people use to understand situations; and how two different kinds of thinking-one rapid, intuitive and nonconscious and the other slower, analytical and conscious-both contribute to understanding what is happening in social situations.” (Gilovich, T., Keltner, D., Chen, S., Nisbett, R., 2019). Difference would be the emotional factors vs deliberative thought. An example would be looking a Native American woman in the eyes while you talk to her and immediately feeling insulted because you felt she did not respect you by looking back into your eyes. Many people are unaware that Native Americans do not make eye contact and they are actually showing you a sign of respect if they look away. Dangers of relying on intuition when learning about the relationship between the individual and his/her environment is there are no facts and you are reaching a conclusion based off of feeling. The text made a perfect illustration the functions of nonconscious processing that affect our mental processes without our knowledge.

4. After looking over the table of contents in the textbook, I chose to study psychology to understand why people do the things that they do. With that being said, I think that all of the table contents would have my attention and it all connects to me on all levels spiritual, emotional and spiritual levels. This not only help others who I can help along the way, but it defines my purpose in life. With this I am able to apply this to my career in the work environment and give me a head start on helping me figure out others all around me regardless on if they need my help or not. It’s all a learning process.

5. The topic that interest me the most personally is Chapter 3 - The Social Self. This chapter interest me because it starts of by talking about someone that I admire, Lady Gaga. I also feel like this chapter will require a lot of self-reflection and this can help me better understand myself and also others. Chapter 14 – Altruism and Cooperation I feel will connect with my spiritual development. Our text book defines altruism as “behavior that benefits others without regard of consequences of oneself” (Gilovich, Keltner, Chen, Nisbett, 2019, pg. 483). When I think about acts of altruism I think about Jesus and how he gave his life for others. Chapter 6 – Emotions will most likely help me with identifying emotions and feelings in myself and others. Identifying theses emotions can be helpful in better understanding why people do what they. Chapter 11 - Stereotyping, Prejudice and Discrimination I feel can help me in my professional development. I think this chapter can help me better understand how we can sometimes unconsciously pass judgement on others, the repercussions of that and how to avoid it. Working in the field of social work involves working with people from all walks of life, many from cultures you may not be familiar with or may have only heard negative things about. It is important to try your best to avoid those misconceptions.

6. While looking over the table of contents I'm the most interested in Chapter 4, Social Cognition: Thinking about People and Situations. I think this is interesting to me because its something we all need more awareness in. There are so many things one person can not be aware of when it comes to people and different situations. Yet, many times people are so quite to judge others based on their personal experiences and culture. Chapter 3 talking about social self can help connect spiritually because we are called to love and show God's love to everyone. Treating everyone equally not according to our standard but his. It breaks my heart to see our country dived so much based on race while missing the picture of the fact so many people are crying out for love and peace and understand. Chapter 13 on aggression would be a great emotional chapter to bring awareness and some validation to why emotional levels playing such a huge part in seeing all sides to someone's situation. On a professional level, chapter 11, stereotypes, prejudice and discrimination is an important area of concern is school dealing with students who are struggling with tough home situations and withdrawing from school because of it. As teachers its important to tap into those things and help feel some gaps of love, support, and affirmation. Kids need adults that can trust and education is a great tool to put social cognition to work.