Interpersonal Attraction

Want to make someone fall in love with you?  Do this.  

Prejudice and Discrimination and How to Address Them

AND MORE

AND MORE

Privilege and What We Can Do About It

And so many more.  For more examples start at 

http://everydayfeminism.com/2016/02/160-examples-of-male-privilege/ 

 And so many more.  For more examples, start at

 https://www.buzzfeed.com/michaelblackmon/17-harrowing-examples-of-white-privilege-9hu9?utm_term=.pyjXJlAGq#.al6oe5BDW

Homework due 10/6

In class we have been talking about social roles, specifically with regards to gender and race.  Society sends messages all the time about what our roles should be and how we should act.  Part of what we need to take away from this is that men and women end up experiencing the world in very different ways.

At the link, you will find a blog post entitled Schrödinger’s Rapist.  Please read the article.
Then please write an approximately 1 page response to it.  You should consider any or all of the following questions.  If you had a response that is not addressed by these questions, feel free to write that.

 How did this post make you feel?

Did this post resonate with you for any reason?  Why?

Were you offended by this post in any way? Why?

If you disagreed with any of her points, why?

It does not have to be typed, but it should be written neatly and clearly.  It is worth 10 points.

Homework: due 10/13

In class, we talked about social roles, specifically with regards to gender - how we are given messages about what society believes about our roles and how we should act.  Part of what we need to take away from this is that men and women end up experiencing the world in very different ways.

At the link you will find a blog post entitled Schrodinger's Rapist. Please read it over and write a response to it, considering any/all of the following questions:

How did this post make you feel?

Did this post resonate with you for any reason?  Why?

Were you offended by this post in any way? Why?

If you disagreed with any of her points, why?

Privilege in the Real World

One of the things that we have been talking about lately in Social Psychology is "privilege" - the idea that we live in a society where some people have power and other people don't.  More importantly, we've been looking at how that privilege impacts our own experiences of self and our interactions in the real world.  Privilege works hand-in-hand with the fundamental attribution error.  We attribute other people's behavior not only to the immediate environment, but what we have learned about our roles and the roles that other people play in our society.

Here is a small selection of articles from this week alone that support the idea that privilege is alive and well in the United States.

Male Privilege: men tell women in tech that they should just work harder. 

White Privilege: black teenager maced in his own home, accused of breaking in

Male Privilege: avoid being assaulted to avoid being a victim

Socio-economic Privilege: "unapprehended felon" reflects on his success

Straight Privilege: Why are gays singled out amongst all the Catholic "sinners?"

Nationality Privilege: the ongoing push for "voter ID"

Male Privilege: battered women often sent to jail for failing to protect their children from rape, abuse

White Privilege: who gets treated for Ebola?

Schroedenger's Rapist and response

First, please read the post, which can be found here.

Second, please write a one paragraph response, considering any or all of the following questions: 

How did this post make you feel?  Did it bring up a point of view that you hadn't considered before?  Did you disagree with her premise? If this post made you feel defensive at all, why do you think that is?   Do you think it is possible for people to really live in such different realities?  (i.e. One person perceives themselves as a "nice guy" while someone else perceives that same person as a dangerous threat?)

You can type or hand write, but know that it will be turned in for a homework grade.

Depression links

Here's the video on the "Black Dog of Depression"

Here's the link to the Hyperbole and a Half blog post on depression.

If you want to read more Hyperbole and a Half on depression, go here.


As an aside,
if you want to read a really hysterical post about trying to move with two neurotic dogs, go here.

Meditation

Please read How Meditation May Change the Brain, by Sindya Bhanoo (found at the link).

As you read, please answer these questions, which will be collected in class.

1.  What parts of the brain seem to have the most development following 30 minutes of daily meditation (both what they are and what they do)?

2.  How does one engage in "mindfulness meditation?"

3.  In addition to changing the brain, what have other studies shown about the impact of daily meditation?

Reading for Optional Discussion (UPDATED)

My apologies for getting this posted so late.  If you don't have time to read it, I understand.  That said, it's a fascinating read and I think is really relevant to those who feel a little attacked by MissRepresentation.

The Distress of the Privileged

 

In some of your classes, I referenced some other articles.  If you are interested in reading them (and others), here are some links.

A funny article on what women's lives are like according to TV ads.

Stereotyping in movies (also funny).

Disney goes skinny.

All male panel on birth control 

The real effects of PMS (also funny).

Altruism Articles

Today in class we talked about Altruism, and we read a couple of articles where people failed to help others.

There is the classic case of Kitty Genovese.

The there is the more contemporary case of the gang rape outside of a California high school.

Finally, we talked about the situational explanations given for both the rape itself and for why people didn't help.  We talked about the ways that men and women read the article on the gang rape quite differently.  Part of Social Psychology is understanding that not only our immediate surroundings drive our behavior, but also the broader society in which we live.  To this end, students were given the article Schroedinger's Rapist, which I think does a very good job illuminating the way that the world is a different place for men and women.  Worth a read.

Historical Perspectives on Psychology

Playing a little catch up with this post.

1.  You should be familiar with Freud's division of the mind.

2.  You should have a basic understanding of Freud's psychosexual stages of development.  If you missed the discussion in class, read the second half of the Freud packet, and answer the questions found here.

3.  We will be learning about Defense Mechanisms in class.  I will update this post to include the keynote presentation.

3a.  Here's the keynote on Defense Mechanisms:

4.  We will also be talking about the behavioral perspective.  You have been given an edited version of the article Behaviourism: The Early Years, by Robert Wozniak.  It can be found at the link in an unedited version.  Here are the accompanying questions, which are due on Monday, October 1st (for block 3) and Friday, September 28th (blocks 4 and 6).

Research Methods Info

Clicking around here, you can find pretty much everything from class about research methods, with the exception of the experimental research method.  Those notes will be posted tomorrow.

Here is the Research Methods Chart, which covers the strengths, weaknesses, and optimal time to use each research method.  You should note that this chart is blank.  If you need information, please check with a classmate.

The articles from the Boston Globe that conflate correlation with causation are here.  The in-class worksheet is helpful to tease out the differences between correlation and causation.

Stay tuned for the experimental method.

First Day of Class

Miss class on the first day?

We watched the following video and discussed the questions at the end.

We also read the first three pages of the New Yorker article Don't (which can be found in its entirety at the link).