Your full analyses are due the following Tuesday turned in via eLearning (aka WebCT).
Thanks!
]]>I'd like you to come up with 1 environmental stimuli, list several possible aroused motives, and the resulting behaviors that would be linked to those specific aroused motives.
Be clear in your comment so we can all understand the stimuli, the aroused motive, and the resulting behavior.
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What I would like you to do is to find a topic from one of those 3 chapters that interests you and search the internet for material on that topic. You might, for example, find people who are doing research on the topic, you might find web pages that discuss the topic, you might find youtube clips that demonstrate something related to the topic, etc. What you find and use is pretty much up to you at this point.
Once you have completed your search and explorations (which may include a fair amount of browsing time, and reading websites, links, news pieces, or articles), I would like you to say what your topic is, how exactly it fits into one fo those chapters, why you are interested in it, and what you learned about that topic from 3 of the sources you viewed/read on the internet (please at the end of your comment include the 3 URLs).
Your comment should be clearly written and demonstrate the time and effort you spent on this assignment.
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Example:
This movie corresponds exactly to what we talked about in class about the three levels of needs. On his stint on the island he is presented with a lack of all three, and it depicts his struggle to maintain equilibrium on these three aspects.
Physiological: The need for water, food, and sex.
In the beginning he struggled to get even coconut milk, by the end he had leaves and half coconuts set out to catch the rainwater.
He learned to fish, and catch crab, after not being able to stomach it raw, after many tries built a fire to cook the food.
Psychological: The continuing theme was control, how when he went to the island, he had no control, but by the conclusion he had realized he did do things to maintain control. He did not open that last package he built the raft to leave.
Social: After time started passing, he need for affiliation was the most apparent. He created the volleyball with the blood face naming it Wilson, and it nearly crushed him when he lost it after all those years.
Adolescent kids are struggling with their changing body and raging hormones and are trying to discover themselves. They want to be accepted by their peers and want to fit into society. Adolescents have a high need for relatedness and autonomy in their lives. According to Reeve, "behaviors, emotions, and ways of thinking originate not only within the self but also within the social context and society" (Reeve, pg. 283, 2009). Teenagers want to have some control within their lives but also seek approval from their peers and society. When adolescents do not feel good about themselves, they may withdrawal from their surroundings and suffer in silence.
Especially in American society, where we are surrounded by beautiful, thin people. It is sad to admit that we are engrained to think only tall and thin people can be considered beautiful. We need to continue to emphasize in schools and at home that we must embrace our differences. However, this view will not be accepted until our society changes the requirements for models, actors/actresses, and so on.
Do you think classes talking about the negative side effects of eating disorders in classes and/or the importance for accepting yourself would improve these statistics or cause adolescents to hide their insecurities even more? Would a requirement of being involved in a program outside of school help decrease insecurities? These programs could involve art, sports, theater, whatever students are interested in.
]]>At the end of the four week, study the control group behavior had not changed. However, the experimental group reported feeling much healthier to Crum and Langer. Not only did these participants report feeling healthier, when compared with the control group, they showed a decrease in weight, blood pressure, body fat, waist-to-hip ratio, and body mass index. I found this result fascinating. Both groups were doing exactly the same job. However, when one group was continually reminded how much exercise they were getting in their jobs, they actually became healthier.
This study reminded me of the cognitive dissonance theory. This theory suggests people need to justify their behavior, feel rational, and feel in control. According to Reeve, cognitive dissonance occurs from "inconsistency between what one believes (I am competent) and what one does (I act competently)..." (Reeve, pg. 278, 2009). Cognitive dissonance does not always refer to being psychologically uncomfortable, but also can be applied to your positive goals. The women who were reminded of how much exercise they were getting at work might strive to reduce any dissonance. They may believe they are working harder and therefore are healthier.
Although they attempted to control the study, there may have been possible problems with the participants. One issue would be exercising outside of work and the other issue may be working harder during their shift.
My question is what do people think of the placebo effect? Can it really alter your way of thinking?
Crum, A.J. & Langer, E.J. (2007). Mind-set matters: Exercise and the placebo effect. Psychological Science (18)2, 165-171.
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I found this article through one of my other classes, but I think that it relates to Motivation and Emotion more than anything else in psychology. The article discusses six steps to having a healthy, cooperative community. Many times it referrers to areas in the business context, but I also think it would be applicable to everyday life. Although the article does come across as somewhat candy-coated, I still think the general ideas have great meaning behind them, even if they aren't 100% generalizable to every type of community.
The text discusses the aspect of engagement (Reeve, 165) in a way that encourages motivation. This is the same basic concept that the article is getting at, only more specified. The article wants to motivate members of a given community to take part and care about that community, where as Reeve discusses the model of engagement in a broader basis. Engagement can involve anything that someone cares about, including psychological needs. Engagement also taps into emotions as well, causing for even more intensified involvement in the given activity. Building a strong community anywhere (whether it's at work, school, or home) can be much easier if these guidelines of engagement are implemented. Table 6.4 (Reeve, 164) in the text shows how the aspects of an environment can trigger engagement and fulfill different psychological needs. While many of these terms are different that those provided in the article, they stem off of the same ideas and constructs.
The six principles of an engaged community are:
1. Communicate a compelling message.
2. Build a guiding coalition.
3. Create principle-based versus compliance-based guidelines for decisions and behaviors.
4. Identify early engagement indicators.
5. Generate continuous opportunities for dialogue at all levels.
6. Plan assimilation strategies for new members and new leaders.
While some of the terminology may seem complex, the article explains how simple each principle really is. Many of the terms stem from concepts that we have learned in the past about Motivation and Emotion. The first aspect, communicating a compelling message, gets into the concept of involvement and relatedness, and almost acts like an advertisement. Reeve discusses the importance of relatedness (Reeve, 161-162) and how high levels of relatedness can increase levels of social interaction, higher functioning, resilience to stress, and lower chances of psychological dysfunctions. In order to get people engaged in a given situation, they must first feel as if they have a social relation to that community or event and have a sense of involvement within that situation.
The second principle, building a coalition, corresponds with the idea of leadership. Reeve (196) discusses how leadership skills can effect and influence the people around that leader. Reeve also discusses how power can also change the attitudes of peers. With a high-quality leader, subordinates will be more likely to participate fully within the community, and be happier with their community overall.
The third principle, principle-based vs. compliance-based guidelines, revolves around the idea of autonomy and control over situations. Reeve discusses the importance of fulfilling the need for autonomy (Reeve, 145-146). This area is crucial in discussing something such as a community or job setting, and can have a huge impact on the level of happiness and satisfaction each individual experiences. Using guidelines that promote autonomy, rather than strict rules, can enhance individual's level of involvement and engagement within that group. This can also improve performance and satisfaction in that particular situation.
The next principle deals with early signs of motivational concepts. Once people seem to show an interest in engagement, it reinforces the leaders and those involved by showing them that the engagement is possible and helpful. Reinforcing the behaviors of both leaders and subordinates is a good way to keep motivations high and keep everyone involved (Reeve, 115). In turn, this can help to keep the levels of engagement constant in the community setting. Principle number five revisits aspects of relatedness and competence. Encouraging communication is a way to gain relationships with each individual, strengthening their levels of engagement. This also has an impact on their levels of competence (Reeve, 154). Increasing communication increases levels of interaction with the environment, establishing a perception of competence. Competence is the need to have an effect on the environment, as well as master optimal challenges (Reeve, 155). Increasing the levels of communication and increasing opportunities for challenges is a great way to get individuals engaged in which ever community they may be in.
Assimilation strategies for new members and leaders is applying the concepts of all of these situations into one, making new members feel as though they are involved, making the steps of engagement easier to adapt to. In short, it takes aspects of all of the other principles and applies them to the single new member in order to make them feel as though they are engaged in that community, and so that they can begin to take part in each of the six principles.
Can you think of any other psychological concepts that we have discussed in class that relate to this article? Are there any that DON'T apply to these principles?
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Your full analyses are due the following Tuesday turned in via eLearning (aka WebCT).
I recently came accross a website that discussed anger management and how to deal with children when they are expressing anger. I found it to be very interesting because I'm always seeing children in the store throwing tantrums and then their parents just giving in and letting them have their way. After watching this I always tell myself that when I have children I won't do that, but at the same time it has to be hard to watch your child behave in that way.
The article that I was reading discusses how it's important to explain to children what exactly anger is, that it's ok that they express it, and that even yourself as the parent expresses anger at times. They need to realiaze how to channel the anger, though. The article states different suggestions for a parent to follow when their child is experiencing anger.
I thought that all of these ideas were very helpful. I think it's also important for parents to stick with the methods decide on. So many times parents will give in to their children and let them get away with things that they probably shouldn't be doing. They need to be consistant and not back down, although at times this may be dificult.
The website also says how parents should explain to children what exactly anger is and how to detect anger when they are experiencing it. They list three main things children should recognize.
I thought the website gave decent advice, but I'm also not a parent so I don't know how well these tips actually work.
Are there any parents that have suggestions to what does or does not work for children with anger problems??
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Kathleen Bogart, pictured above, has a rare congenital condition called Moebious syndrome. Moebious syndrome is a neurological disorder that primarily affects the 6th and 7th cranial nerves, leaving those with the condition unable to move their faces. The facial paralysis causes those with the disorder to be unable to smile, frown, suck, grimace, or even blink their eyes. In addition, their eyes only move laterally, making sideways glances and eye rolling out of the picture as well. (To learn more about Moebious Syndrome, go to the Moebious Syndrome Foundation).
Reeve (2009) spent quiet a bit of time throughout the book discussing how important facial expressions are to emotion. The facial feedback hypothesis, introduced in Chapter 12, states that emotion is the awareness of feedback from our own facial expressions. Facial expressions are also important in social interactions. Facial expressions allow us to ascertain the emotion & mood of the people around us and allow the people around us to ascertain out emotional state & mood. Reeve states that emotions are intrinsic to interpersonal relationships, and they play a role in creating, maintaining, and dissolving interpersonal relationships. We often automatically mimic other people's emotions during interactions. By mimicking facial expressions facial feedback hypothesis would state that we are then able to understand the other person's emotional state.
Obviously emotions play a large role in our social interactions, whether it is by how we are feeling or understanding and mimicking the emotions of someone else. Then by conjecture the inability to express emotions via facial expression, like those suffering from Moebious syndrome, can cause a variety of problems with social interaction. Some researchers assumed that because those with Moebious cannot mimic facial expressions they would not be able to read other people's emotions as well as those of us who do not have Moebious syndrome. However, recent research has shown that people who are suffering from Moebious syndrome are able to read facial expression just as well as the rest of us can. This suggests that the brain uses more than just facial mimicry to evaluate emotions.
While those who suffer from Moebious syndrome can read others facial expressions just as well as the rest of us, they have to use other methods to display their own emotions. Most individuals with Moebious develop other nonverbal cues to express emotions. In the same way that those who are blind have better developed senses of smell, hearing, and touch, those with Moebious syndrome have developed better vocal cues, gestures, and body positions. This development may also aid those with Moebious in reading other's emotions outside of facial expressions. In fact it was found that by mimicking one's conversation partner, it is more difficult to determine if they are lying or even uncomfortable.
While, many of these individuals are able to develop such skills, that still does not make social interaction easy. Many people are uncomfortable when interacting with someone who does not mimic their facial expressions. I had never thought about how lucky I am to be able to express my emotions on my face - mostly because many times people are able to read me really easily because I don't control my facial expressions - but I interacting with others is made so much easier by having that ability.
To learn more about some of the research being conducted concerning facial expressions, Moebious syndrome, and Kathleen Bogart read this recent NY Times article http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/06/health/06mind.html?pagewanted=1&sq=emotions&st=cse&scp=4
]]>Whenver we think about college students and their addictive behaviors, what comes to mind is alcohol and drugs. Reeve (2009) states that addictive drugs, such as psychostimulants, are especially potent reinforcers because their repeated usage produces hypersensitivity to dopamine stimulation. This is what is being compared to the feeling people get after tanning. The behavioral approach system is related to the reward responsiveness feeling, which these tanners feel when they are just getting out of the booth.
Now, studies have shown an addictive behavior to tanning, especially around the season of prom, graduation, and spring break. Doctors have said that some people just have addictive behaviors and people who are addicted to tanning, are usually addicted to other things such as alcohol and drugs. In one study done on Northeast college students one third of them are shown to have a tanning addiction. People feel better after they just got done tanning and that they have some sort of anxiety which they think tanning eliviates.
Although people know that it causes skin cancer, college students feel that they can't get skin cancer that young. Experts think that tanning booths need to start screening tanners for an addictive behavior.
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I found this article for my organizational psych class, so those of you are in there may have already seen this, but I feel it fits our class well also. This is a really good article about the power of intrinsic motivation compared to extrinsic motivation in various situations. The author goes one step further though by distinguishing between negative and positive motivation. Negative motivation is when you attempt to keep someone from doing something negative by reminding them of the negative consequences.
For example, in the article, the author describes how people that have heart surgeries are told if they don't start eating right and taking care of themselves than they will DIE. This is clearly the ultimate negative consequence, yet when people with heart surgeries are told this, then checked in on two years later, only 10% of the people are actually making some sort of change in their lives. Instead encouraging patients to look at the positive things in life and work towards making the most of these, they have a much better results, as about 70% of these people changed their lifestyle.
As we have all heard over and over, intrinsic motivation encourages us to seek out and accomplish difficult tasks much more effectively. Reeve (2009) says that intrinsic motivation is so great because it bring out our encourages us to be persistent, be creative, it enhances our conceptual understanding, allows us to achieve things which in turn contributes to our psychological well-being. The article posted above is a quick and interesting read, and I encourage everyone to check it out!
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