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social norms and their consequences on society
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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. Easy A depicts how Olive’s choice to handle the rumor by modeling the harlot in her reading and embroidering an A on her wardrobe lead her to be preserved as one. The reactions of townspeople in the Scarlet Letter are similar to those of her high school class mates. Through such actions, reactions, and behaviors of the film is able to addresses numerous social psychological perspectives. Some of these social perspectives include the Actor-Observer Difference in Casual Attribution, Self-fulfilling prophecy and Operant Conditioning.
One social psychological perspective depicted throughout Easy A is the attribution of the Actor-Observer Difference. This social concept states that the actor of a particular situation is more apt to acknowledge a behavior to situational attributions, while the observer is more likely to contribute the behavior to the actor. The Actor-Observer Difference is a unique case that can only be applied under certain conditions. These conditions include that assumptions vary f...
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...erms of how life actually works. In one of the scenes of the film Olive is illustrated as a harlot by the way she dresses in tight fitting clothes, in her goal to try to adhere to peoples’ expectations of her. This realistic scene can be attributed to how life actually works because it establishes the Self- fulfilling prophecy and provides a prediction of how some people similar to Olive actually behave in real life to other’s expectations. Furthermore, social psychological principles such as Operant conditioning can be used in everyday life to prompt a person to learn and produce a wanted behavior through rewards. This is what happened to Olive in the film when she gained monetary rewards for her services. As depicted in these examples and through the realism of Easy A it is clear that through social psychology it is possible to evaluate how life actually works.
The main focus of this research proposal is to address the study of social psychology and the role it plays in helping one understand human social behavior. In this proposal, one will attempt to explain how the field of social psychology will evolve within the next 10 years. Allport, (1985) maintains that social psychology is the scientific study that seeks to understand the nature of individual’s behavior and how they think, feel, and are influenced by others. To understand the framework of this proposal, one will focus on human social behavior as it relates to research in social psychology.
In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, the infamous battle between Harry Potter and Voldemort comes to a head for the final time with only one of them left standing. The two hour film is full of non-stop action, seat-gripping suspense, heart-stopping moments, and tissue-grabbing scenes; leaving the viewer emotionally drained with some sense of hard-fought, hard-won peace. But beneath the special effects and dramatic background music lies a plot that is rich and teeming with situations that are Social Psychology textbook definition perfect. The three social psychology concepts that stuck out the most during the movie were the use of the fundamental attribution error, conformity, and willingness to help.
There are some human phenomena, which seem to be the result of individual actions and personal decisions. Yet, these phenomena are often - on closer inspection – as much a result of social factors as of psychological ones.
Social constructs can be a debilitating influence upon an individual’s life. The propaganda the construct spews through positioning the individual in a hierarchal system is sometimes met with opposition and other times taken as fact. When met with opposition, the construct can motivate one to aspire to become more than the construct would permit. And, on the occasions that the construct is believed it is used as confirmation of a self-denigrating idea. The negative affect is that it creates permanence where a potentially temporary condition exists. James Kelman's story, posits that although social constructs are created to keep a group in place, it is the belief in the construct that perpetuates the cycle of oppression, propagates the lie and brings it to reality.
This movie portrays so many of the social-psychological principles. One that is really noticeable is the person perception principle. In the scene
Social psychology is a scientific study that studies how people think, feel, and how they behave under the influence of other people (Aronson, Wilson & Akert, 2013, p. 2). Thinking about what social influence really means, we tend to think of a person who tries to persuade another person to acting a certain way. It can be a form of peer pressure, like taking that first puff of a cigarette, or it can be conforming to popular societal views, such as obeying the law of the land. Fiction is a great way to learn about social psychological perspectives. Watching popular theatrical films is the perfect way to learn because it illustrates the application of many perceptions within the subject of social psychology.
This paper entitled, Imitation of Life is based on the movie Imitation of Life. This movie is set in the 1940s. In the movie, an African American woman by the name of Annie becomes the care taker of a Caucasian woman's (Lora) daughter, Susie. In the movie, the caretaker Annie has a daughter named Sarah Jane. Sarah Jane is the product of a rape, performed by a Caucasian man, which results in her being fair skinned and able to pass as a Caucasian woman, which she does for a long time. Due to the fact this movie focuses on the themes of identity and class, I will use the following psychological views and tests to discuss how psychology can be demonstrated every day. The Kenneth
My paper is based on an article from the text’s web site (chapter 9) entitled “Lack of sleep ages body’s systems.” The basic claim of the article is that sleep deprivation has various harmful effects on the body. The reported effects include decreased ability to metabolize glucose (similar to what occurs in diabetes) and increased levels of cortisol (a stress hormone involved in memory and regulation of blood sugar levels). The article also briefly alludes (in the quote at the bottom of page 1) to unspecified changes in brain and immune functioning with sleep deprivation.
Psychology is the investigation of the mind and how it processes and directs our thoughts, actions and conceptions. However, in 1879 Wilhelm Wundt opened the first psychology laboratory at the University of Leipzig in Germany. Nevertheless, the origins of psychology go all the way back thousands of years starting with the early Greeks. This foundation is closely connected to biology and philosophy; and especially the subfields of physiology which is the study of the roles of living things and epistemology, which is the study of comprehension and how we understand what we have learned. The connection to physiology and epistemology is often viewed as psychology, which is the hybrid offspring of those two fields of investigation.
Bio-Psychologists study the principles of biology as it relates to the comprehension of psychology in the field neuroscience that underlies ones emotions, ideology, and actions (Brittanica). Based upon the conduction of research, the relationship between the brain and ones behavior extends to the physiological process in one’s intellect. Scientists are cognizant that neurotransmitters function as a significant role in mood regulation and other aspects of psychological problems including depression and anxiety. A biological perspective are relevant to psychology in three techniques including: the comparative method, physiology, and the investigation of inheritance (Saul Mc. Leod).
Public Safety Officials have been battling the difficult question of profiling for quite a while. The question is how do they know the suspected individual fit the category associated with an offense? While it has been proven that many profiling cases are somewhat directed to a racial profile, it can be proven that people, given the discretion, are able to identify explanations for a series of behavioral events by identifying what that behavior accredits to. This theory, identified by Frite Heider, “suggested that we have a tendency to give casual explanations for someone’s behavior, often by crediting either the situation or the person’s disposition,” called the attribution theory. Until recently, a study of the like was considered to be a branch of sociology and not a form of psychology. Social psychology essentially became the focus on the individual rather than the group as a whole. Many thoughtful ideas are collected in response to the studies of social psychology. Human cognition is understood to arise from interacting socially; highlighting the importance of socialization. We use social cognition to develop our explanations and our ideas on why a person’s behavior is/does what it is/does.
The first theory is the fundamental attribution error. This theory argues that people tend over estimate the role of dispositional factors and underestimate the situational factors. Psychologists argue that this is such a common error because humans tend to think of themselves as flexible, and ever changing. People do not like to think of themselves as a “type” of person. When a person does not have enough information to make a balanced decision they attribute behavior to disposition. In Western culture placing the blame on the individual is a common practice. An important study to investigate fundamental attribution is Lee et al. (1977). The aim of his experiment was to see if students would make the fundamental attribution error even when they knew that all the actors were just playing a role. In the study, Lee assigned students a role. They were assigned as either a game s...
The Science of Psychology “Psychology is the scientific study of mind, brain and behaviour. Some of what you do learn may seem like ‘common sense’, or at least familiar to you because you are learning about topics in which you can relate to. However some things you may believe is true, but is incorrect. The way we know this is through the application of scientific methods.” Mark Leary suggests that the subject matter of psychology is much more familiar to most people than is the subject matter of physics or biology; we see behaviour all around us.
The University of Tulsa prepares Industrial/Organizational psychologists to deal with individual problems in the workplace. This philosophy matches my research area of interest on the effects of individual differences in the work environment. I believe that individual differences influence nearly every aspect of human behavior and interaction, including those in the workplace. By necessity, a successful manager is one who understands the potential influences of individual differences in the work environment. As an example, the management style utilized (as I have learned first hand) must match the personalities of the employees being managed. By conducting research in this area, theory relevant to motivating individually diverse employees may be developed and then applied. Of particular interest is the motivation of aging employees. The elimination of a mandatory retirement age has greatly increased the need for further research in this area.
Attribution theory suggests that when we observe an individual's behavior, we attempt to determine whether it was internally or externally caused. That determination depends largely on three factors: distinctiveness, consensus, and consistency. Our perceptions of people differ from our perceptions of inanimate objects.