Guided Response: Note the goal of the discussion forum is to provide a learning opportunity via meaningful and interactive discourse. Therefore, robust and continued commentary is essential. Responses must explicitly address concepts covered in Week 1, citing information from the required resources or other relevant resources in APA Style. Give examples to illustrate and explain content. In addition, responses must demonstrate critical insight. Review several of your colleagues’ posts and welcome at least three of your peers by Day 7. In addition, respond to classmates (and the instructor, if applicable) who replied to your initial post.
The following general suggestions may be useful as you craft your replies:
Describe examples that further illustrate relevant social psychological concepts.
Relate the content in your classmate’s post to that of your own or another’s initial contribution or reply.
Provide supplementary sources or reference course material that adds additional insight.
Ask clarifying or thought-provoking questions.
Respond to each classmate separately. Attached is my original post with references to use.
Required Resources
Aronson, E., & Aronson, J. (2018). The Social Animal. In Google
Books. Macmillan Higher Education. https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Social_Animal.html?id=geChDwAAQBAJ
Chapter 1 and chapter 9
Fescoe, K. (n.d.). The 25 most influential psychological experiments in history.Online
Psychology Degree Guide. https://www.onlinepsychologydegree.info/influential-psychological-experiments/
First Classmate:
My name is Anitryl. I have two children a daughter who will be 16 in July and my son just turned 17. Currently, we live in Tumwater, Washington and will soon be moving back to our hometown in Georgia this summer. My family and I are a military family which is the reason we are here in Washington. However, we hate the weather! It’s always cold and rainy and the summertime isn’t really a summer. If you call 30 days of good vitamin D a summer then I rest my case, because of lack thereof any type of sun will have the people walking around in shorts and flops. We are retired, so it is time to move back to the south where the sun shines! Due to our many moves from state to state and one out of country move, I have always relied on my back up plan to make money which is doing hair. I have been styling hair for about 15 years total. Due to a sudden transition in my life 2 months ago I had to go part-time and find a full-time job working in a dental lab. This transition had to be done to live a sustainable life with my kids. My hobbies are DIY’s, decorating, traveling, and reading.
Professional
On a professional level I have always been one to work hard and I love to learn new things. It never mattered the topic. When I graduated high school, I knew that I was going to college. I didn’t enroll right away, but a few years later I enrolled here at formerly known as Ashford University now The University of Arizona Global Campus. I graduated in 2022 with my bachelor’s degree in healthcare administration. I chose to pursue this degree because most of my work history is in administrative work. This was all the experience I had in the work field. I am now pursuing my graduate’s degree in Psychology, and I love it. I chose to study psychology, because I’m interested in learning how we think and act the way we do. I find it intriguing learning about what influences our thoughts and habits from different phases life/growth. Because I have been a hairstylist for so long and my expertise and creativity shines through my work. I want to continue making people feel beautiful and satisfied when they leave my chair. I’ve decided that I want to open a salon suite.
Darley and Batson’s Good Samaritan Study
The Good Samaritan Experiment, conducted by John Darley and Daniel Batson at Princeton University’s Theological Seminary in 1973 sought to understand the role of situational and personality variables that prod people to help others. As part of the experiment, seminary students were asked to go to an adjacent building to give a talk on the Good Samaritan parable with variations about hurrying up as there was very little time remaining, that the research assistant was waiting for them and third variable that they had plenty of time. On the way they saw a person who had fallen in the alleyway, asking for help. The participants extended help based on the time factor given to them, with those being told they needed to hurry failing to stop and help and those told they had time, helping the man. The study showed that personality traits had little impact on helpful behavior in situations and was more often dictated by time constraints of the individual.
The Good Samaritan experiment is illustrative of social relations as it explores the relationship between two individuals in a public environment. It highlights the interaction that takes place between people and is often guided by the situation, time constraints and the relationship between the individuals. The idea of helping strangers in distress and the willingness or unwillingness of people to do so can be observed in a variety of situations such as accidents, natural disasters, and even everyday tasks such as helping people with directions. Personally, I have been fortunate to receive help from my colleagues at the salon who are willing to adjust their schedule or appointments with mine when it clashes with my lab duties.
The chosen study highlights the role of time constraint as a predictor of behavior in terms of the ability of individuals to help those in need or distress. For an upcoming entrepreneur like me, the experiment teaches the importance of appropriate behavior in difficult situations despite the problem of time. The seminarians were not intrinsically unhelpful but were prevented from helping the stranger since they had another place to get to on time. For me personally, the experiment teaches one to engage in effective time management in a way such that there are always few minutes to spare between tasks, which will help avoid situations where an ethical dilemma can be prevented.
Second Classmate:
Hi Class! Nice to read all the introductions. I currently live in NJ where I work in a stem cell lab preparing transplants. I also work with different CAR-T clinical trials and licensed products. I have one Morkie dog that is 5 years old and full of energy. I am looking forward to starting this new course and learning more about psychological studies. I have a BS in Medical Lab Science from Rutgers University and MS in Health Informatics. I want to keep expanding my knowledge in the health field in order to expand my knowledge base.
One well-known social psychological study is Nisbett and Wilson’s Halo Effect Study. The Halo Effect study showed how initial impressions and physical attractions were used to judge and evaluate the other person. The evaluators tend to be influenced by their previous judgments of personality. The halo effect is basically our mind being biased or making predeterminations before knowing all the facts just based on what the person looks like. “The Halo effect (HE) is a cognitive bias in impression formation whereby the general evaluation of individuals’ attributes is based on the evaluation of a single attribute (Nisbett and Wilson, 1977). When applied to aesthetic appearance, the HE is observed when physical appearance is used as a basis for the evaluations of other attributes that are unrelated to appearance whatsoever. For example, a stranger who looks good is also perceived as intelligent or smart, even though intelligence and smarts are unrelated to physical attractiveness (Todorov et al., 2009)” (Gabrieli, et al., 2021). Shows that society influences the way people think socially. In my professional life as a medical laboratory scientist the first impression that people have is that I am lucky to have the job or not understand how a young good looking girl can have such a successful career in such a nerdy profession.
References
Gabrieli, G., Lee, A., Setoh, P., & Esposito, G. (2021). An Analysis of the Generalizability and Stability of the Halo Effect During the COVID-19 Pandemic Outbreak. Frontiers in psychology, 12, 631871. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.631871
Third Classmate:
My name is Sueann, and you may call me “Awesome Blossom”; just kidding, Sueann is fine. I live in Colorado and have two grown daughters and a toddler. I am a Spanish Translator and Interpreter for the Northern Command and a Master Sergeant Reservist for the Air Force, Command Support Staff Supervisor. I have an associate degree in business administration and completed my bachelor’s degree in business leadership. As you can see, my degrees have nothing to do with my civilian job. I started working as an Interpreter 15+ years ago; I was working as a medical administrative assistant, and a lady liked my customer service and my language skills and offered me a job as an Interpreter. I have tried to leave this field, but life keeps pulling me back and it’s been 15+ years, and I am doing well.
My family and I love hiking and food. I am not a chef, but considering how expensive restaurants are getting, I have learned to cook Korean, Central, and South American foods. I mostly cook Mexican food, everything from scratch and authentic as it should be, but as far as the rest of the food, I eat something I like and then learn the recipe so that I don’t have to pay the restaurant price again.
I don’t have direct experience in psychology, but I have always loved the study of human behavior, and I am a Resiliency Instructor in the Air Force and a Resiliency Trainee for Resiliency Colorado, a non-profit organization focused on teaching how trauma impacts our brain, bodies, and behaviors. I love teaching these topics. My goal is to continue teaching resiliency to other organizations.
Fun facts: One day, a radio station DJ was talking about tongue twisters and asking people to call to say a tongue twister; I called, and although I did well, it wasn’t quite there. I told the DJs I know a really good tongue twister in Spanish, and they asked me to say it, so I did. One DJ said things like he felt as if his butt got chewed, and the other one said he felt as if he was in a tamale auction. They asked me to say it again, and I did; they didn’t tell me that they recorded it, and the next time I was listening to the radio station, I heard my voice saying the tongue twister in a commercial. I told everyone I knew about it, and of course, people were listening to the radio station to hear my voice in the commercial. No, I didn’t get any money from it.
Well-known social psychological study
The well-known social psychological study I have chosen is “Bandura’s Bobo Doll Study.” An experiment was conducted with a Bobo Doll to prove that human behavior is influenced by social imitation rather than genetics. Groups of children were formed; the first group was exposed to an adult being aggressive towards the Bobo Doll, and when children were put in a room with a Bobo Doll, children were exposed to more aggressive behavior towards the doll. The second group was exposed to an adult playing passively with the Bobo Doll, and when children were put in a room with a Bobo Doll, they showed little imitation of aggressive behavior.
How the research study you selected illustrates social thinking, social influence, or social relations
This study shows that the behavior modeled during their development years influences children’s thinking and social relations. Based on my life observations, I agree with this theory. There are many parenting books stating that modeling is more important because children listen to what parents do rather than what parents say.
Apply this insight regarding social psychology to an experience from your own life
My grandmother traveled; she especially enjoyed visiting her sister, who lived 6 hours driving from where we lived. She never showed up empty-handed; she would always go there with gifts for everyone and come home with gifts for those who stayed at home. Although this is a very common tradition in Latin culture, the tradition is being lost as generations pass. However, just like my grandmother, I never show up empty-handed at a house. I always bring gifts if I am visiting a family, and I always bring gifts back to my family at home when I come back. Some families look at me weirdly when I show up with a cake because, as I mentioned before, this tradition is getting lost.
Relate the relevance of your newfound knowledge of social thinking, social influence, or social relations to your future career.
Modeling is powerful; sometimes, people don’t know how to manage many situations until someone models for them, consciously or unconsciously. For my future career, I would like to apply modeling on how to stay neutral and objective when sharing resiliency content with others and how to ask questions rather than jumping to conclusions. I already do this, but I haven’t mastered it.
Sueann
References
Malafantis, E. G. (2022, November 25). Albert Bandura’s experiments on aggression modeling in children: A psychoanalytic critique. Retrieved from National Library of Medicine: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9733593/
