Psychology Final Paper Research Paper Example

Psychology Final Paper Research Paper Example Psychology Final Paper Paper Psychology Final Paper Paper In the first module we have explored the topics of perspectives, careers, and ethics In psychology. A perspective In psychology Is the way In which psychologists choose to approach the study of human behavior. Such perspectives would be socio cultural, biological, psychodrama, behavioral, cognitive, and humanistic. To go along with the lesson on perspectives we had to pick an outrageous celebrity and explain their behavior in reference to the different perspectives. For the assignment, I chose to do Brittany Spears, and I explained how each perspective would describe her behaviors ND cognitive thinking. In this module we further explored careers In psychology such as sports psychologists to clinical and counseling psychologists, and where psychologists could be employed. Psychologists have a code of ethics, there is 10 standards but yet in still broken down further, one of the most important is informed consent which the participants would read so that they know what they will be getting into. Since I am quite interested in psychology these concepts helped me figure out In what pathway I would like to go In (social psychologist). This learning has hanged my behavior by making me see that there are many ways In seeing/ describing human behavior. Therefore, before I judge I see things as a psychologist would- similar to Masons interest in self-actualization. Module B In module B there were two major concepts, correlation and descriptive statistics, and evaluation of research. (Correlation and descriptive statistics) Research methods fall three categories which are descriptive, correlation, and experimentation. Experimentation is basically the scientific method which allows manipulation of factor of Interest, and control of other factors. Descriptive would Include case studies and surveys. Descriptive includes sampling which is essential to this type of research, if done correctly a random sample could provide you with accurate results but if not it can lead to misleading results. Correlation is the representation whether two factors are related or not. Correlation does not show cause and effect. Correlation can be positive or negative, while positive Indicates a direct relationship between behavior s, negative Indicates an Indirect relationship between them. The next concept In this module was the evaluation of research. The forum for module 1 lesson 3 helped me understand further the evaluation of research because here learned of an experiment that had been done in California where people role played that of a prisoner and guard. Since things got pretty bad they had to stop because of ethical concerns, we then had to come up with questions to evaluate the study, many people asked If It was ethical or the reason for the experiment; this assignment made me question the motive behind this experiment. These concepts can be applied to my life personally because in school we use the scientific method and statistics all he time, and now I know that in the end it is important that I evaluate my research. This knowledge has changed my behavior by making me questions peoples motives more often. Module AAA Our major concepts in AAA were the nervous/endocrine system, the brain, and sensation. (Nervous/endocrine system) Neurons are the bulling blocks of the the nervous system is the entire network of neurons in our body. The nervous system can be divided in two, the central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system. The central nervous system (CANS) is made up of the brain and the spinal rod and is the command for all central messages while the peripheral nervous system connects the CANS to the rest of the body. The endocrine system works with the parasympathetic system or the sympathetic system to sustain our basic body processes. The endocrine system contains glands such as pituitary, thyroid and pancreas which secrete a specific hormone that influence our body functions, behaviors, and emotions. The next concept is the brain which contains three parts, the cerebellum and brain stem, the limbic system, and the cerebral cortex. The brain stem which is in the first layer connects the spinal cord to the rest of the brain while he cerebellum controls motor coordination and balance. The next layer, the limbic system is only found fully developed in mammals, and is involved in motivation, emotions and certain memory processes. Now the outer layer which is the cerebrum, which is further, divided into four sections the frontal lobe. Parietal lobes, temporal lobes and occipital lobes, which have to work together because no one part takes responsibility of emotion or memory etc In AAA lesson two we had an assignment in which we had to identify what part of the brain would be required to do a certain activity, this activity helped me determine what each part of the brain was for. The last concept is sensation, sensation is the process with which our senses gather information and sends it to the brain. The point in which a stimulus goes from undetectable to detectable is called the absolute threshold, and the amount of change needed to recognize that a change has occurred is called the difference threshold. These concepts can be applied to my life because this helps me better understand my body and brain , I am also applying this in activities as I think about the processes of each of the activities. This learning has changed my behavior by making me aware of the actions taking place in my brain as I do something. Module B The major concepts in module B were the nature vs Nurture debate, biology impacting behavior, and biology and psychological health. The nature vs Nurture has been a long running debate, which basically asks what makes us who we are? Is it our heredity and genes or our experiences and environment? In lesson one, we had an assignment in which he had to name some of our characteristic and determine if this trait was acquired through nature or nurture. This assignment got me really thinking n what it was that made me who I am , one of my traits was introvert, which I believed I acquired through nature instead of nurture because my mother is also not as social as most people. Biology, in biological perspectives, impacts your behavior, such as when sleep deprivation could cause you to be irritable, anxious, depressed, and forgetful. Additionally, Vive realized that I show signs of insomnia. Another factor of biology that affects behavior is age, most adults think of teenagers as reckless or irresponsible, which could be because we think that we are young that we are invincible. There are two types of personality type A and B. A person with a type A personality are high achievers , workaholics , and obsessed with time management , while a person with a type B personality will be more relaxed and go with the flow. Stress, a person with a type A personality will be more at risk. High levels of stress can be harmful to overall health. An assignment that helps me identify stresses was the assignment in lesson 3, where we had to identify negative and positive stresses and positive and negative reactions to stress. I can honestly say that learning of which are positive and negative stresses will help me get rid of the bad stresses so that I am psychologically healthy. These concepts have changed my behavior by helping me identify ways to positively react to stress so I dont do it in the wrong manner. Module AAA The concepts in module AAA were theories, and behavior from a cognitive perspective. There have been many great psychologists throughout the years that have their own theories on the whys of human behavior. Pavlov believed that there was a connection between stimuli and responses which is known as classical conditioning , but on the there hand we have the founding father of operant conditioning, Skinner who thought the most powerful influences on behavior were consequences; the only difference between operant and classical conditioning is that classical is involuntary and operant is. Bandeau is the one who created the social learning theory which states that we learn through observing and imitating others. Moscow created the hierarchy of needs which was a pyramid and our ultimate goal is self-actualization. Another psychologist is Pigged who studied children and created developed stages in which cognitive development should occur. The last psychologist is Banishes who was known for his work in human intelligence and memory, Banishes conducted an experiment on himself and others and one of his conclusions were that meaningless stimuli are harder to memorize than meaningful stimuli. The forum in lesson one, asked us to pick the psychologist with the best theory and it was great to see the many other opinions of my peers; I would have personally chosen, Albert Bandeau because I could relate with his theory the most. Behavior and the cognitive approach can both be compared using perception. Perception is the process of obtaining and interpreting information that we take in from our senses and an optical illusion is where you incorrectly interpret a stimulus pattern. Hermann von Hellholes had a theory known as the learning based theory in which you use prior knowledge to interpret new information. I apply the theories of what I have learned about to people I see every day such as when I see a baby babbling. My behavior has changed because I myself have taken in account Masons hierarchy of need and have made little attempts at reaching self-actualization. Module B The concepts in B were classical conditioning, operant conditioning and observational conditioning. Ivan Pavlov believed in classical conditioning where and unconditioned stimulus was paired with a conditioned stimulus to provoke a response. Pavlov conducted an experiment where conditioned dogs to salivate at the sound of the bell not Just at the sight of food. Although when he withheld the food for some time the dogs stopped reacting to the bell. Classical conditioning is use to help shape behavior. For the assignment in lesson 1 we got to condition a dog to salivate at a sound which helped me understand the whole concept of classical conditioning. Operant conditioning uses rewards and punishments to shape behavior, operant conditioning would be used when teach a pet a new trick. In positive punishment is where you add something to diminish a behavior, and negative punishment is where something is taken away to diminish a behavior. The last concept is observational learning which states that people learn through observing others. An example of observational conditioning is the experiment with the BOOB Doll, in the experiment children watched adults have fun abusing a BOOB doll and when left alone they too started acting aggressively toward the doll. In the video I watched, the children watched and imitated what they had seen. At the moment I am applying operant conditioning to training my dog(s) to do some tricks such as sit, stay, or Just cooperate! After what I have learned from the BOOB Doll experiment, I am more cautious about what behaviors I do that could possibly affect anyone around me in a similar way of the children behaving towards the doll. Module AAA The key concepts in module AAA were diversity, attitudes, and being a part of society. Despite the diversity on this earth most facial expressions are interpreted the same way by people in different cultures. Paul Seaman was a leading investigator in facial expressions and he investigated the belief that all humans interpret facial expressions the same way. Seaman would show pictures of facial expressions such a happiness, fear and anger; using this system Seaman determined that there are 4 distinct smiles and that all do not mean happiness. Disgust on the other hand evolves culturally, in American culture we eat only a select few animal and we avoid reptiles and amphibians, while another culture can embrace eating those sorts of animals. Cultural norms affect our perception, and can lead to prejudice. In the forum in lesson one, we had to state something that we found disgusting and I wasnt reprised to see that most of us felt disgusted by very similar things which is because culture affects our perception of what is disgusting. Especially regarding food! Society, can also affect our attitudes examples are the bystander effect and cognitive dissonance. The bystander effect is a social phenomenon where a person is less likely to help when there are others around who can help therefore when you are in a group you are less likely to help someone in need , than if you were alone. Cognitive dissonance is where your attitudes and behavior are in conflict which asses discomfort, this discomfort then causes you to change the behavior or the action. As you can see society can sometimes change our attitudes as see with the bystander effect and cognitive dissonance. Psychologists noticed that when alone a person is more themselves and that when placed in a group the persons behavior changed; being part of the society can cause two phenomenon to occur, social loafing, and social facilitation. Social loafing is the tendency to put less effort into a task when in a group, the more people there are in a group the less effort each will put in. Social facilitation is where a person performs better in the presence of other people. I can apply what I have learned about social loafing to high school; I find that almost in every group I have been in equal effort has not been put in by all because of social loafing. Also, this is because this act can be seen and considered a cultural norm. Learning about the bystander effect has made me a bit more proactive because I dont want to one of those people who go unnoticed when in grave danger Therefore, I try constantly to help people as much as possible. Module B communication/social networking. Sombreros prison study has been one of the experiments that we have constantly discussed, in this experiment Zanzibar demonstrated that people will act violent or aggressive to fulfill the role of being a guard or prisoner. The people participating in this experiment were put into a realistic Jail and before long the guards were acting mean and the prisoners rebelled. On the sixth day of the experiment it was terminated because the participants were dramatically changing and it was considered unethical. Amalgams experiment is similar to Sombreros, in his experiment he had a teacher and a tuned (actor) , the teacher was asked to ask the students some questions and with each one they got wrong a shock was administered. With each wrong answer the voltage of the shock was increased, the student (actor) would act as if the shock hurt them, and the teachers were disconcerted but encouraged to proceed by the experimenter. In this experiment it was found that 65% of the teachers proceeded to the maximum voltage which shows that a person will more than likely do what an authority figure tells them to even though they might think it is wrong. It was determined that this was due to obedience. The last one is Coachs conformity study , here Cash gathered seven to nine males and claimed his study was on visual perception , all but one of the men were confederates. The men were to verbally answer, on the first trails the men would all unanimously answer correctly but on the third they all gave the wrong answer. Ash found that when the person was alone they would make mistakes less than 1% of the time but in a group they made errors 36. 8% of the time. This was because of conformity to the groups thoughts and not wanting to be wrong either. The assignment in lesson one in which we had to take two examples from our lives in which authority are prevalent factors helped me further understand these experiments. As time progresses there has been an increase in mass communication and social networking, and has shed light on bullying. Media such as Faceable or Twitter make bullying permanent and euthanized, which makes it easier to make rude comments because it is not being done face to face. Even though most of the theories described above were based off of the time before all the technology, most of the theories can still explain our behavior. I can apply Coachs experiment to my life because in high school we are often in-groups corrupting) and we tend to go along with a group rather than going against it. The information I have acquired about social networking has made me wary of what people post about other on social networking sites. Module AAA The concepts in AAA were the Psychosocial Stages of Development of birth to 6 years, 6 to 12, and 12 to 18. Since birth we start developing language , we first start with nonsensical babbling(O 4 months) then onto the one word stage (1 year) and two word stage(18 months) until we get to make multiple word sentences (2 years ). Also during this time Piglets stages of cognitive development comes into play, from birth o 6 years you experience the seniority stage in which a child primarily explorers the world through their senses and the operational stage where a child realized that there are other viewpoints besides their own. The next concept or ages is of 6-12 years , during this time a person is in the stage of concrete operational stage where a child is able to understand conversion, Kohlrabis second stage also comes into play keeping everyone happy. The last concept is that of the ages 12- 18, teen eager go through Piglets formal operations in which they develop the ability for abstract reasoning and hypothetical thought. During this time teenagers should be in Kohlrabis last level of moral development where a person is concerned with promoting the welfare of ones society or achieving Justice. For an assignment in lesson 3 we had to watch a video on the teenage brain in which I gained a lot of insight into my own brain which I thought was interesting. Considering I am 16 1 am in the 12-18 stage and I can say that I am in Kohlrabies third level of moral development. In this module I have learned of the different stages I have been through already, the different stages of Piglets and Kohlrabis development I was in, ND how they do or do not apply to me. Module B The stages/concepts explored in B were early adulthood, middle adulthood, and late adulthood. People In early adulthood (18-40) according to Erosions psychological theory should be in conflict of intimacy vs Isolation. In the stage of intimacy vs Isolation a young adult start close relationships but first you must have gone through identity vs Role confusion so that you have a clear image of who you are. If this conflict is not resolved successfully then loneliness and isolation can occur. Middle adulthood is next the conflict in this stage is generatively vs Taxation. In generatively vs Stagnation a person feels the need to create or nurture things that will outlast them and once their children leave home they will experience the empty nest syndrome. The last one is late adulthood (65+), this is the maturity stage and its conflict is integrity vs Despair. During late adulthood a person will reflect on their life and evaluate their accomplishments or not. If the person feels successful then they can feel wise and if not their failure will result in regret and despair. An assignment that I enjoyed is the lesson one forum where we learned of Whines moral dilemma, it as interesting looking at what each of my classmates thought was right and wrong. I found it quite difficult to choose either right or wrong for it depended on the ethics or morals one were to consider. This learning can be applied to my life because my parents are in the middle adulthood and they are right now focusing on nurturing future generations. In this module I basically learned of the different times in adulthood and the conflicts that I am to face in them. Module AAA The concepts that module AAA mainly focused on was individual differences and making the most of these individual differences. Our personality can be impacted by logy and human nature, environment, and coloratura. A human characteristic that is built into our biology and in our nature is scapegoat or the displacement of aggression. Environment also plays a role in our personalities things like birth order can affect our personality. Our personalities are also affected by our culture for example in the US individualism is rewarded while in other places collectivism is. There are five major personality traits openness or close-mindedness, conscientiousness or impulsiveness, extroversion or introversion, agreeableness or coldness, and neurotics or emotional stability. To learn more about ourselves we were to take a few personality tests and in one I ended up being INFO. The Myers- Briggs Personality Test type indicator, further helps you assess your personality traits. There are two types of personality type A and B. A person with a type A Many people use such tests when choosing for the business world, in education when you are looking for a career, and in family which relationship counselors will use to understand the differences in the couple. It is important to know of your personality so that you can make the best of it such as when selecting a career or knowing your personality type. It can help you cope in certain situations. I have learned a lot about myself in this module which help me figure out which career best suits me. Since Vive found out that I was an extreme introvert, I have been trying (slightly) to change my behaviors and be more a bit more social because it will help me later on in life when I have to talk to people. Also, consider self-efficacy, and believe in my ability to complete a task or solve certain problems. Module B In our last module the concepts we explored were psychological disorders and their treatments. Mental illnesses are not easy to diagnose but there are many indicators such as delusions, unpredictability, irrationality, and distress. To diagnose people the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders is used; also illnesses are diagnosed by symptoms not causes. A commonly heard mental illness is schizophrenia which the psychotic deterioration of the personality, a treatment for this would probably be drug therapy. There are many types of therapies a person can receive, insight therapy is an attempt to change people on the inside or the way they think and feel. There is also behavior therapy which is behavior modification, and then there is cognitive behavioral therapy which combines cognitive and behavioral therapies. The last type of therapy is biomedical therapy whose goal is to change the structure or function of the brain. The assignment that helped me understand this module further was the assignment in lesson 2 where we were given a person with an illness and we had to pick a treatment. One of my parents friends has obsessive compulsive disorder (COD) and it is interesting to learn more about his problem, and that it can cause stress to the rest of the family. To sum it up, illnesses are classified by the symptoms and then the person receives a treatment for him or her problem.