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1. Respond to the post below. Common sense is frequently based on…
1. Respond to the post below.
Common sense is frequently based on personal experiences and biases, but social psychological theories are based on empirical study and scientific procedures (Kalive, 2023). This is one of the most significant differences between common sense understandings and social psychological theories. A second distinction is that although common sense aims to reduce complicated facts to easily graspable notions, social psychology theories aim to explain the underlying reasons for human behavior. For instance, while social psychological theories may concentrate on systemic problems like economic inequality, job market fluctuations, and a lack of access to affordable housing that contribute to the issue, common sense understanding may assume that people experiencing homelessness are lazy or unmotivated. Using only common sense or intuition might result in misconceptions and prejudices, which makes it harder for us to completely understand the intricate relationships that exist between people and their surroundings.
2. Respond to the post below.
The textbook defines social psychology as the “scientific study of the feelings, thoughts, and behaviors of individuals in social situations” (Gilovich, T., Keltner, D., Chen, S., & Nisbett, R.E., 2018, page 5). Kalive (2022) explains common sense as based on reason and past human experience and has no theoretical basis. The significant difference is that common sense is not theoretical based like psychology is. Common sense is also based on personal experience and bias that comes from that, whereas psychology is based on testing and research. When it comes to the danger of relying on common sense or intuition, it is only sometimes correct. ; This is because bias comes from past human experiences. An example of common sense would be one that I have had to explain to my children. We had them carrying old plywood with nails from reroofing a garage. My sons decided it was easier to take the plywood over their heads to throw it over the fence, but they left the nails pointed down. My stepson slipped, and the pin smacked him in the head. Common sense is to carry the board in front of them with the nails bent so they do not poke them. The outcome of that board smacking my son with the pin could have been a lot worse than just a little scratch. But the proof of damage to the head from a nail or anything else would have shown them that they shouldn’t have held the board over their head, to begin with.
3. Respond to the post below.
Social Psychology is the scientific study of how people influence each other’s thought, feelings, and behaviors (Heinzen & Goodfriend, 2021). Common sense refers to the natural ability to make good judgements or behave sensibly in practical matters to help us live reasonably. The main difference between Social Psychological theories and common sense understanding is that Psychology is based on understanding, research, and scientific evidence, whereas common sense relies solely on experience and reasoning (Fletcher, 1984). Furthermore, Psychology is a discipline and has an extensive theoretical background with many perspectives which allows for understanding the individual in various ways, while relying on common sense is not a discipline, does not have a theoretical basis, nor is it scientific, only is it based on reason, or previous experiences (Fletcher, 1984). The danger in relying on common sense or intuition in learning about the relationship between an individual and his or her environment, is that our intuitions about human behavior are often wrong. Furthermore, common sense understanding is often inconsistent, and includes personal biases from individuals (Fletcher, 1984). This is because people often draw conclusions based on insignificant experiences, without having much knowledge or understanding of human behavior and how it relates to the environments in which we spend a lot of our time. For example, common sense leads individuals to believe that they know why they engage in behaviors, while social psychological theories scientifically explains why we engage in the behaviors we do. Two specific psychological theories are Piaget’s theory of cognitive development, and Freud’s psychoanalytic theory. Piaget’s theory suggest that children’s intelligence changes and grows as they grow. This could also be considered common sense understanding, but Piaget’s theory is based on scientific evidence and common sense is not. Freud’s psychoanalytic theory suggests that human behavior is influenced by unconscious memories, thoughts, and urges (Ackerman, 2023). Common sense understanding suggests that our behavior is influenced by previous experiences, or experiences of those around us. Again, Freud’s theory is based on scientific evidence.
4. Respond to the post below.
I feel that chapter 5, Person Perception is the most interesting to me. I chose to pursue a degree in psychology because I feel that learning how people learn, behave and act overall is very interesting and being able to learn and understand these things will help me be a better psychologist in my career later in life. Another chapter that looks to very interesting is chapter 12, intimate relationships. This chapter will help me understand the relationship I have with my wife and hopefully I can take some things and apply them to my relationship and make it better. These chapters seem most fitting in that they interest me personally and can also help me professionally as well. I look forward to learning more in this class and applying it in my life.
5. Respond to the post below.
The most exciting chapter in our textbook is Chapter 7, Attitudes, Behaviors, and Rationalization. I am now a paraprofessional in a public school and work one-on-one with students who need additional support in the classroom for any given number of things. My current assignment is with a third-grade student who continuously exhibits poor behaviors and choices. His attitude towards school, his teacher, and his work often create many consequences for him, sometimes more severe. In this chapter, we will learn that psychologists are still trying to learn about the consistency between attitudes and behaviors (Gilovich, Keltner, Chen, & Nisbett, 2015). It also tells readers that attitudes are not necessarily a good indicator of Behavior but that, under specific circumstances, they can predict how someone may act (Gilovich, Keltner, Chen, & Nisbett, 2015). For example, my student’s Behavior can be predicted based on how his attitude is first thing in the school morning. This chapter may give me more insight into how I may help my student be his most successful self, which would also give me great satisfaction because I understand how his Behavior influences his attitude and vice versa. One chapter that may connect the most to me is Chapter 6, Emotion. “Emotion can be defined as brief, specific, multidimensional responses to challenges, or opportunities that are important to our goals, especially our social goals” (Gilovich, Keltner, Chen, & Nisbett, 2015, p.197). I tend to be and have always been more emotional than my peers. Many would describe me as a person who “wears their feelings on their sleeves.” Understanding emotion on a more scientific level will be extremely interesting to me. It may help me to know why I am the way I am or even combat some of the emotions I experience in my personal life and career.
6. Respond to the post below.
As I was looking through the table of content in the textbook, the chapter that was most interesting to me was chapter 3 “The Social Self” because it makes me think about how I grew up being sheltered because I was born with special needs, and also being a preacher’s kid. Being born with special needs, my mother especially sheltered me because she did not want anything to happen to me, but when I went to school (elementary), I was bullied, but she immediately took care of that. Growing up I was shown love and respect and it taught me how to be a better person, how to love myself and not to care about what others thought about me. Chapter 4 “Social Cognition” connected to me spiritually, emotionally, and professionally because growing up, I was introduced to my heavenly father. I was taught to pray and seek GOD in everything that I do, and whenever I seek GOD, things will not go wrong in my education and in my future profession, especially if I allow HIM to lead me where I need to go. Just like in my education, I would pray each time I start a new class and ask GOD to guide my steps in making good decisions so I can make the grades that I want, even as I seek help from my family or outside sources.
