PsyBlog: How Other People's Unspoken Expectations Control Us

This PsyBlog talked about how we immediately conform to how others expect us to act by our looks.  A person who is attractive often times acts more animated.  They did an experiment where they gave the men a picture of a woman.  Half of the men were given a picture of a woman who was rated an 8 out of 10 and the other half given a picture of a woman who was rated a 2 out of 10.  Then, they got on the phone and talked to a woman without seeing her.  If the man expected an attractive woman, the person on the other side of the phone caught onto that and talked more animated and enjoyed the conversation more and vice versa.  

I thought that was really interesting.  I do think that we try to conform to others' expectations of us.  For example, my friends expect me to be funny, so I act funny.  My parents expect me to be well behaved so, for the most part, I try to please them while around them.  My teachers expect me to be smart, my brother expects me to be mean, and so on.  

Video games

I was really surprised at the video game section.  It talked about whether video games teach or release violence.  I have heard a lot of studies about violent video games, saying that students who play video games have a greater chance of becoming violent, but I always thought that it could be that people who are aggressive are more attracted to violent video games.  However, I was really surprised when it talked about the studies that talked about how people with low hostility are more likely to get into fights if they play video games.  They also did studies of nongamers and found that they were more likely to get into fights if they started playing video games.  It was really rather sad.  I don't game myself, but I have nothing against it.  

Blog Chapter 16!

The attribution theory is the theory that we explain someone's behavior by the situation they are in.  For example, at school, especially choir class, I am really outgoing, but at home, I am really quiet and keep to myself.  This is because at school, my friends are there and they get me excited whereas home is nothing new and is rather boring.  

The fundamental attribution error is the overestimation of the influence of personality and underestimation of influence of situations.  As in my example earlier, all of the choir students think of me as extremely outgoing, but that is simply because they see me only in choir.  If they followed me around all the time, they would see that I sometimes like to keep to myself, but am not exactly shy.  

Stereotypes are the generalization of a group that we base our opinions and beliefs on.  There is a huge stereotype that says blondes are dumb, but being a blonde myself, I can see that there is a huge variation in the intelligence of blondes.  

A lot of the time when there are stereotypes, illusory correlation occurs.  Illusory correlation is, in a set of data, seeing the conclusion one expects.  An example would be when people form false associations between the number of membership in a minority group, like Mexicans, and negative behaviors, like gang fights.  We would see that as the Mexican population went up, so did the amount of gang fights, even though there is no relationship between the two.  

Chapter 13- The Big 5

MY RESULTS
Closed-Minded…………..Open to New Experiences (59%)
Disorganized……………….Conscientious (10%)
Introverted…………………Extroverted (89%)
Disagreeable……………….Agreeable (38%)
Calm/Relaxed……………..Nervous/ High-Strung (87%)

I thought that it was really funny how accurate my results were. It showed a lot of my flaws in just 5 categories. Also from looking at this, I saw why I am having such a hard time choosing a career that I believe is right for me. I am so disagreeable that I can't even agree with myself. My dad said that because of this, I should become a lawyer, but I had to disagree, proving that I'm disagreeable, if that makes any sense. Also, my nervousness causes me to think long and hard about what I'm going to do. I once came to a consensus, but because of my disorganization, I can't remember what I was going to do about college. I obviously need to make some decisions, being that it's already my senior year... AAHHH!!!!

Chapter 13 Movie reflection

I didn't really like the Moral Psychology video. I think it took a seemingly simple topic, morals, and tried to complicate it to try to turn it into a scientific, impersonal thing. I have very strong morals and beliefs. I don't think that I think that way because I have gathered together with a group and formed morals as an evolutionary aspect because if it was, wouldn't it be more widly used? I don't want to get into an argument though, so please no nasty comments.
I did really enjoy the human experience video. I liked how they related the personality tests to our everyday life, explaining how Norm applied the tests he took and determined which career he was going to go into. I am trying to choose a career right now and am definitely going to keep doing personality tests to aid me in doing so.

Chapter 13 Reflection

My personality was probably most defined by nature. I am a lot like my parents and siblings but can't think of specific events that have formed me into who I am. I do strongly believe that we can make conscious decisions to change a specific personality trait, which would be nurture. I also agree with Maslow, who said that we have a basic set of needs to be fulfilled. When they are fulfilled we look for self-actualization, or to fulfill our potential. I also believe that our personality, or behavior, can change with the situation, but I still believe that we have a set personality as well that either decides to show itself in these situations or not.

I have noticed that I use a lot of defense mechanisms, especially displacement. Whenever I get home from a bad day at school, I almost always yell at my brother. I regret it later, but I do it again later. It really bothers me. I also have noticed that I use rationalization. If I get a bad grade on a test, I will say things like "everyone did badly" or "that teacher hates me" even though I know it's not true.

Chapter 9 Movie Reflection

My favorite part of the Development of Language video was definitely the part where they talked about how we have to be taught the basic steps of a conversation. It seems so obvious. I mean, a conversation is just two people responding to each other. How would you do that if you had never been taught to wait to talk until the other person is done? What would you talk about? The art of conversation seems as important as the art of language itself. Also, while watching the video, I was suddenly amazed at how smart kids are. We don't give them as much credit as they deserve because we don't sit down and just observe them. Their conversations with others are extremely complex and intelligent for how few of years they have been speaking.

Chapter 9 Reflection

I found this chapter extremely interesting and, better yet, relatable. Our society is a social one and depends a lot on language. There is not a day that goes by without communicating with another human being through some form of language. I really enjoyed the stages of learning language, especially because I have experienced it by watching my little sister, who is now 6, grow up. It was so much fun trying to get her to say single words. We would try to get her to mimic us, causing her to say "Da Da" by about 8 months. It was probably just the second stage, being just babble that resembles household language, but it was exciting. Also, it was amazing watching her language develop from telegraphic speech to full sentences, and it did so in what seemed like days. It went by fast. Now she's reading and writing! They grow up too fast! (I feel like an over-protective mom!)

Chapter 9 opinion of second language

In chapter 9, we learned that it is proven that when learning a second language, it is definitly better to start learning it as early as possible. This makes me wonder why we don't start learning Spanish in school until our high school years. Last year, we hosted an exchanged student from Denmark, and she started learning English and German in fourth grade and barely had an accent and had almost perfect grammar when she came. Also, having already learned 3 languages, it made it much easier for her to pick up Spanish in class and learn Japanese on her own while here. It just seems so much more convenient and I wish that I had done so as well. I wonder why we don't learn languages as early. She had so many more opportunities, having learned so many languages, to travel all over the world. If America is the land of opportunity, shouldn't we have the same chance?