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User:Socialpsych

Social Psychology E-portfolio

Hi guys and welcome to my page! Throughout the semester I will be adding my thoughts and ideas about our unit materials and learning activities. Hope that these will contribute to our unit discussions & looking forward to hearing others ideas! :)

Introduction
At first glance I supposed this unit was very much like most other psychology units but after attending our first tutorial was pleasantly surprised! I am particularly pleased with the fact that we can choose from a range of essay topics which means that, hopefully, the essay will be more of an interesting task rather than a mandatory one. Another surprising part of the unit is that we have an ‘open book’ exam. My first ever! As James pointed out, in the workforce rarely will we be stripped of materials to complete a task, rather the opposite occurs – in most, especially public service type, workplaces.

In terms of the content of this unit, I would have to say I am especially interested in topics that provide some insight into how certain social groups or cultures differ to others in terms of life expectancy, reported happiness levels, certain rules and regulations etc. I think a lot of how our particular culture works is sometimes taken for granted and most of our knowledge comes from very similar Westernised cultures. For this reason I think it would be interesting to understand how other cultures live and how we might apply some of their ideas to enrich our own culture. A particular interest within social psychology also is that of reality TV and why (some people) are almost addicted to watching other peoples interactions. Could this be a form of vicarious learning? Or do some people just want to watch others in the hope of some negative drama of which they can watch from afar and not be implicated in? Culture and nature was also an interesting chapter in our text which described the rich and complex systems that makes up our culture. One example that portrayed our enormous reliance on this system was through the way we obtain our food – how it must pass through a massive number of people and processes before we can take it out of our cupboards and eat it! The other interesting idea which was definitely clarified for me was the distinction between humans as social compared to cultural animals, how although humans are social like other animals, they are set apart by our complex and rich cultural practises. Again it would be interesting to learn about how other cultures work in the world and the implications for people belonging to certain cultures.

Social Self
Social roles and there purpose were of interest to me in this week. Particularly, how the primary role of the self is to be accepted by its relative society. In that way it would be interesting to be able to find out what each of us would be like had we been born into another culture, even ones similar to us on many dimensions but that me maybe more collectivist in nature. The looking-glass self refers to the idea that we learn more about ourselves from other people. Although I was always aware of this concept I would not have realised just how much we need to compare ourselves to others around us and obtain constant feedback in order to learn and keep track of ourselves and our self presentations. Upward social comparisons are useful to help set standards or goals for the future but if they are unreachable or too difficult this may cause discouragement or even misery! Read: don’t buy glamour magazines! The other very interesting topic in this particular chapter was that of high self esteem and how depressed people usually have pretty accurate perceptions of their own abilities and others opinions of them whereas people with high self esteem seems to have the inaccurate perceptions! Although this seems illogical it may help give us all some tips to perhaps help us in harder times to try lift our self esteem a little!

I think it was important that the text book discussed ideas of whether and how the self concept can be changed. I believe this is a particularly issue as I personally believe more people need to feel better about themselves than they currently do. The fact that there are so many articles on self help in books and in magazines is a testament to this. Basically our identity can change, albeit slowly. Ideas to help promote change in our self concept include the following:

 * revising self-knowledge – one way is to basically change how you think about yourself, and your actions will come round to reflect this change in thinking. Another way is the opposite of the above, that is change your actions and they may change the way you think about you self.  A barrier however is that ones social world generally expects the same of you (old self) and that there is much evidence that suggests this acts to prevent change.  Stick with these approaches and eventually and hopefully those around you will treat you like the new you rather than the old you, just keep persisting.

 * changing the looking glass – this is basically the idea that the self concept changes most easily when the social environment changes, so changing a social circle for example is one way to change your own self concept.

 * promoting change – persuading everyone else that you have changed. It is not enough to just think you have changed, but getting others to understand that you have also, may set the wheels in motion for them to treat you differently and hence support your own cncept of your new self.

 * new self, new story – changing the way you remember facts and life events may also help to promote self-concept change. This way they may forget the events and facts that do not support the new self-concept you wish to achieve.

All of these seem like great ideas for those wanting to change their self-concept, as I mentioned I believe many people would like to feel better about themselves, in various domains whether that be academically or relationship wise. Regardless, these ideas give some options that can be utilised to change our own self-concept, hopefully for the better.

Social Thinking
This week's topic consisted of various socially based subtopics including social cognition, attitudes and influence and persuasion. In the initial first week of this unit, I posed my own question regarding why reality tv shows are so popular, wondering whether this be a form of vicarious learning, or whether people take enjoyment from potentially watching the socially based misfortunes of others in the comfort of their home. It seems both are right. The text book (Baumeister & Bushman, 2008) state that people think of other people more than any other topic! As per the primary theme of the text, the authors note that the human brain was evolved to participate in society’s complex environment, and in order to be a successful participant we must think about the topic that will most help us – that is ‘other people’. This is in order to infer information and knowledge we can observe others and generally gain information and skills that will help us participate in social situations. So, I guess that seems to answer my question regarding the immense popularity of reality TV shows whilst also highlighting the fact that the majority of tv shows at present are based on people and their socially based interactions.

The other topic of interest was that of Attribution Theory and how people use the information around them (as well as past and present experiences) to come to some conclusion for particular events. The lecture covered the idea of why we make attributions suggesting we do so in order to be able to apply some sort of order and cognitive control whilst assisting us to predict similar future events and respond accordingly. This seems similar to the cognitive dissonance theory (chapter on attitudes) whereby there is a discrepancy between beliefs and actions, so a person rationalises their actions or change their attitudes to combat the negative psychological discomfort. I believe it is similar in that there is a common goal to strive for cognitive contentment – events that seem haphazard and unpredictable could clearly cause intrapersonal discomfort and stress. Therefore the attribution theory is a plausible solution to imposing order on a seemingly random and chaotic world in which we live. Problems with attribution were also discussed one being the fundamental attribution error – the tendency to attribute others behaviour to themselves because of underestimating situational influences and overestimating dispositional influences (Baumeister & Bushman). I agree with this theory and have noticed that I myself tend to underestimate situational influences when judging or evaluating other peoples actions. In undertaking this unit not only will we gain knowledge about our social  world, but also how better to interact with it – such as reminding ourselves or myself how not to quickly judge others actions and take into account the fundamental attribution error that we so readily make.

Influential characters and how they gain the loyalty and sometimes blind following of other people has always intrigued me. The beginning story in chapter 13 of the Baumesiter and Bushman text was horrible and fascinating	at the same time. Jim Jones influenced his religious followers and convincing over 900 of them to commit suicide is a true and extreme example of the power of influence of others and the potential manipulability of people. This led me to wonder how Jim Jones came to be such a manipulative and influential person. I found this clip on youtube which outlines some major events in his childhood and past that gives some explanation as to how this past events lead to him deciding undertake such a path. Pretty interesting.

Class tutorials focused on communication, the levels thereof (i.e. shallow to deep) verbal versus nonverbal and so forth. What I particularly took interest in was transmission breakdown and the idea that language constrains our thoughts feelings and emotions. Transmission breakdown typically occurs when the intended message is altered or distorted before or when it is being received. In modern days, this is usually found, I believe, in emails and sms (or phone messaging). The amount of times myself or those around me have commented or complained about receiving messages that seemed ‘rude’ or distant’ is amazing. What’s even more interesting is the idea that friendships and relationships can bear there own ‘breakdown’ from this exact transmission breakdown and may even cause a relationship to end! For instance, a sent message to a friend never gets received, unless these two people are good friends and likely to talk in the near future, there is a high probability that the sender will automatically assume the receiver is ignoring their message and decides to not get in contact with that person again. Also, in my own experience in the workplace, emailing can be quite an effective and efficient medium to communicate with, in terms of speed – however, many times the content of an email is vague, or incomprehensible, and needs more clarification. In this instance, emails are rephrased, resent etc, when talking in person may have actually saved time. Technology within the communication field undoubtedly saves people a massive amount of time and effort and is indeed extremely effective, however, I think we must make sure that the users of such technology are knowledgeable enough to be able to actually use it effectively and not to its detriment. One solution to transmission breakdown that was discussed in class was that of the utilisation of multiple channels, e.g. verbal and nonverbal, and also the use of feedback, the receiver can reiterate the message before acting on it to ensure the right message, literally, has been received. As mentioned, with the technology and its fast pace of development that exists in today’s world, we must ensure we are adequately prepared to use it effectively.

Aggression
What is interesting about aggression is its definition - It seems the term aggression is (a) a behaviour rather than an emotion or cognition (b) aggression is intentional and the intent is to harm and (c) the victim of the aggression wants to avoid the harm. The concept that aggression is used with intent to harm is the part of the definition that I was definitely not aware of. In this case it seems we use the term much more often when it is needed, and I know I myself have referred to people as aggressive when perhaps the term energetic or pushy should have been used. Causes of aggression are interesting also in terms of noting that, as with many psychological phenomena, there is a complex interrelationship between nature, nurture, internal and external factors. Some of the internal factors include: External factors can include
 * affect – for instance being frustrated (frustration-aggression hypothesis)
 * Being in a bad mood (venting)
 * Hostile cognitive bias (aggressive people may believe others will act aggressive to them, view ambiguous acts as aggressive, and assume others harm was intentional)
 * Selfishness (using aggressive behaviour to obtain things or gain control/exert influence)
 * Seeing aggressive-related objects (eg. weapons effect)
 * Mass media (e.g. violence in certain mediums)
 * Environment (even hot temperatures!)
 * Chemical influences (internal and external sources; testosterone, serotonin and alcohol)

Generally speaking though, even though some internal factors such as low levels of serotonin and high levels of testosterone can influence aggressive behaviour, it is more important to note that the environment and cultural ways of behaving and responding have a massive influence on aggression. That is, culture can encourage or restrain aggression.

The weapons effect

.... as mentioned above is an interesting concept. The weapons effect theory suggests that’s the mere presence of a weapon will increase aggression in some individuals. Leonard Berkowitz and Anthony LePage (1967) conducted a study in which angry participants were seated at a table with neutral objects such as sports equipment, or a shotgun and a revolver on it. They found that the participants seated near the shotgun/revolver displayed more aggressive behaviour, as measured by the amount of electric shock they wished to deliver to a confederate. This theory or the underlying assumption that the presences of aggressive tools can increase aggressive behaviour is found in everyday situations. One of which is national security. An online article tells of how, after the terrorist attack on the US on September 11th 2001, many discussions were debated regarding how best to deal with terrorists on planes. It was suggested that pilots be allowed to carry guns, however this caused a great deal of controversy with the Transportation Secretary states that lethal weapons should not be allowed in the cockpit. However, off-duty police officers, civilians with concealed –carry licences and armed passengers is accepted and allowed.

It is proposed that the weapons effect theory explains the uproar of having pilots carry weapons, that basically the accessibility of caring a firearm permits the ‘instantaneous metamorphosis of a law-abiding person into a murderer’, in other words, guns provoke impulsive, violent responses from those carrying the gun as well as others, and the presence of guns is to be feared (unless in the hands of police officers). However illogical this seems, especially in the case of the armed pilot suggestion, it seems the weapons effect hypothesis is alive and strong in our culture, or at least in the US. However, the article goes on to discuss the idea that replicated and other studies show no support for the weapons effect… ''“Criminologist Gary Kleck reviewed twenty-one "weapons effect" published studies, and concluded that "none of the studies provided any evidence directly supporting the idea that possessing a gun encourages physical aggression, or that the 'trigger pulls the finger.'" As Kleck further observed, "the more closely the experiments simulated real-world situations…the less likely they were to support the weapons hypothesis." That shouldn't come as any surprise. Berkowitz and LePage carried out their experiment in a laboratory setting, and the consequences of the actions of the experimental aggressors were neither serious nor permanent. It is quite another thing when the consequences of one's actions can be lethal, and when there is a significant risk of punishment by the law”'' additionally, they state that the best predictor of violence is not the proximity to a weapon but that persons prior history of violence. Also, interestingly, the article points out that if the weapons effect hypothesis were true, then as the number of firearm sales increase, so should fire-arm related violence however, at least in America, this relationship is the opposite: in the last 25 years, the per-capita supply of firearms has doubled, while homicide and other firearm related crimes have declined.

Although the weapons effect theory appears to make some logical sense, it may also be a kind of excuse over people’s actions. (Most) humans are capable of controlling themselves and most take responsibility over their actions. The weapons effect hypothesis poses some underminment to this responsibility over our own actions. Ive added the link in case you want to read the full article, which contains more interesting ideas and examples.

Prejudice
This week’s topic was based on that of prejudice, which is a negative attitude or feeling toward an individual based wholly on that individual’s membership to a certain group. We should be all aware of the definitions of racism, discrimination and stereotypes, what I particularly found interesting in the text book was the definition of aversive racists which are those who simultaneously hold egalitarian (believe in equality and opportunity) values whilst also negative feelings toward minorities. In my opinion, a lot more people are aversive racists than they are willing to admit, should it be sexist, racist or stereotypical views, I believe many people like to say they do not hold discriminatory views per se, but may possess negative feelings toward minorities. If I look around my workplace for example I see many more ‘white people’ - defined as a person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, North Africa, or the Middle East - than I do any other race or nationality. Those hiring staff usually say they prefer potential employees that ‘fit in’ with the existing work culture, but if the culture is predominately ‘white’ isn’t that in itself active discrimination?

The media has also brought attention to this with many popular shows and news programs conducting their own experiments, particularly with racism, to ascertain the average citizens response to people of different races, for example, having a ‘white’ person pretend to be ‘black’ or of African American appearance with the help of make up and special effects.

!!MUST WATCH!!– After a long search I was able to find a clip on you tube that shows precisely what the text book defines as aversive racism. This clip is essentiality an experiment by the ABC called ‘What would you do’. It features two groups of three teenage males both vandalising a car in the middle of the day. The experiments purpose was to find out how many onlookers would report the incident to the authorities, and whether there would be a difference between the black and white groups. At this point in time I recommend you watch the clip.. however, if your running short of time I will briefly describe the surprising (?) results.

When the white teenagers were seen vandalising the car, one person made a call to the police. When the black teenagers were seen vandalising the car, ten (!) people called the police… nine more calls than then made for the white teenagers – how many people witnessed the events though was not determined, which may have effected the results. When questioned about potential racism – i.e. witnesses that phoned police or called out to the vandals were asked whether they would have done the same had the vandals been white in appearance. All the witnesses suggested that in fact they would have done the same had the vandals been of white appearance – could this be case of simultaneous holding negative feelings (ie calling the police when witnessing the black teenagers vandalise) whilst simultaneously holding egalitarian beliefs (ie. ‘I would have called the police if the teenagers were white too). Whether or not these people would have is something which cannot be determined, however this keep in mind that 10 calls were made regarding the black teenagers compared to one call for the white teenagers. Additionally……… and even more concerning was the fact that when the white teenagers were in the midst of vandalising the car, two phone calls were made reporting two ‘suspicious’ black people ‘laying low’ in car, perhaps up to something. In actual fact, these were the family of the black teenage vandal actors, who were merely sleeping in their car. There isn’t much to say regarding this last finding, it is horrible to think that whilst vandalising is going on, witnesses may be more concerned with two black people sleeping in their car.. I guess it’s the racist associations and expectations that people hold, even though surely they wouldn’t openly admit it..

Ghosts of Rwanda

In today’s lecture we watched a horrifying and eye opening tribute and documentary to the Rwandan genocide, a state induced massacre where approximately 800,000 Rwandans were murdered by Hutu extremists. What is equally horrifying is the fact that the U.S and other international countries stood by and refused to help. Watching this documentary made me feel horrible for not watching enough news!! To know that this kinda of thing can go on without me having ever heard of it. When I told my friend, who claims to be interested and knowledgeable in history and news, they had never heard of the genocide either! Yes it was in 1994 but nevertheless to have never heard of such a horrific mass murder was unbelievable. It made me feel ashamed to be apart of our Americanised ‘western’ culture, which, in the case of the nil support offered to Rwanda, could be classified as a selfish and heartless culture. Although im aware there are a multitude of political issues within the genocide that I am not aware of, I still find the international response to the murders as selfish and frightening. What would happen if similar issues arose in Australia? would our beloved Americans lend a hand to help or would it be “…not in the interest of American to save these people” ???

Tutorial On a lighter note, this week’s tutorial focused on culture, prejudice and cultural adaption. We conducted our own ‘cultural interview’ in which we interviewed our partner about the meaning of their name, its origin, why it was chosen and so forth. Although I am quite aware Australia is a multicultural society, I was still amazed at the number of people whose families came from other countries – and not even that long ago!- it was also amazing to find out why peoples names were chosen, I was quite amused with so many people in my tute being named after singers!! As my name was chosen just because my parents liked it, I figured id do the same if ever I have a child, but after listening to all the interesting stories I decided to hold off pre-picking a name and maybe wait to see whose who in music at the time :p. What I also appreciated in the tutorial was listening to some peoples stories of how they felt (eg. culture shock) when they came to Australia and the differences between Australia and their home country. One girl in my tute told of how here partner came from Europe and found Australians to be more ‘laid back’. I have lived here my whole life and although I had heard this statement before I never really saw it (or had to see it when compared to another country’s culture) also living in Canberra, hhmm I would say the lifestyle here is more uptight than anything seeing as we are overflowing with public servants! Although never having travelled myself and hence never experiencing culture shock (confusion of how to act /adapt etc in a new country) I was interested in University of Canberra’s Anita Mack, who runs the EXCELL course. When James discussed the course he mentioned that Anita uses role plays to help immigrants get to know how to act in their new country (I assumed Australia). this was a massive eye opener for me, who just assumed people would already know how to act! I indeed felt quite oblivious to the hurdles and challengers that face those coming to Australia, not just in terms of meeting new people and leaving friends and family behind but also acquiring the norms, values and rules of behaviour that I so readily take for granted :s

Relationships
Much of what we learn when studying psychology refers to our genetic predisposition or biological evolution which can sometimes help explain modern complex phenomena. One of these is our need to belong (defined as the desire to form and maintain close lasting relationships). Although im sure there are many people that would rather be alone than with others, I would assume these people are in the minority. Many textbooks including our unit text book, have related this need to belong to a evolutionary view which suggests our ancestors relied heavily on social networks to survive, be it through food, protection, mating or so forth, the fact is in the past and now, we need each other to maximise our resources and hence survival and potential. What I found fascinating within both the lecture and the text book was that prisoners in san Quentin who were in solitary confinement communicated via their toilet!! They would sometimes not know who they were speaking with but nevertheless needed to hear their fellow prisoners to create some kind of social connection. The mere thought of that would drive me crazy!! And not without justification – the text book suggests that deaths from disease are higher among individuals without social connections than those with social connections. Belong to a group seems essential then but what types of groups? The text book goes on to state that basically any type of group is beneficial, whether it be a political or educational organisation. This is an interesting topic however it is one that provokes much thought and concern over the people we don’t see in our everyday lives, that is the lonely people. Someone once said to me ‘surely there’s not many around here, I don’t really see anyone sitting alone’, but that’s the point! These isolated people go unnoticed, they don’t sit around looking lonely (I assume!) And that’s what is concerning… Still relating to evolutionary theory, the idea of finding partners that are similar in looks to you is always something that has fascinated me. Particularly, all the couple (ive seen many) that look like brother and sister.. even celebrities seem to do it, whether or not they look the same psychically, there is a trend for them to modify there appearance to match each other, whether that be getting a tan or dying their hair blonde together. If any of you out there happen to take notice of brad pitt and hes previous and current girlfriends you’ll know what I mean!

Another feature of what is attractive that id like to comment on, even though we’ve probably all heard it before, is that of body shapes. What is ironic, and I cannot remember where about I read this, is that in societies where food is a rarity, voluptuous or plump women are found more attractive – due to the idea that they hold a higher social status which permits them to have more access to food. Conversely, those in well off westernised societies, where there is a plentiful supply of food - and not to mention an obesity epidemic! - the most attractive figure, at least for the moment, is that of extremely slim. I found a link that shows the pictures of the ideal women from the early 1900’s until late 1990’s. ive added the link as we cannot paste pictures in wikiversity, its worth a quick look!  It is astonishing how in only a few years the ideal changes so much. This means not only pressure on females to (usually) lose and maintain a low weight, but to also put it back on if the ideal changes!! These fluctuations in body size and image would clearly be detrimental to the metabolism, health and stress levels of females, but also their mental health. When will society stop idolising ‘ideal’ body shapes? I do not believe there is such an answer. Rather, I believe society will always have majority or at least media views on what is and is not acceptable for any given society, and due to many peoples need to conform and belong as aforementioned, people will strive hard to achieve these ideals, even when they negatively effect other life aspects.

Groups
This week’s topic was that of groups, which can be defined as a collection of people, usually doing or being something together. This topic is quiet relevant to social psychology which itself comprises of the studies of people, who usually form groups. What I particularly found interesting was idea that groups form best or work best when everyone specialises in something, or being an expert at his or her role. Each person in the group has a different role and responsibility which is well defined and distinct from others. What I liked about this idea of effective groups was that when you apply this idea to real world examples, you can see that it does actually fit in quite well. For instance, in terms of friendship groups, whether female, male or mixed, you can usually (in my experience) see who is the ‘joker’ the ‘loud mouth’ the trust worthy’ the ‘liar’ and so forth. Everyone seems to take on their role, or at least emphasise some particular personality traits which are distinct enough from others that they can work efficiently in their group. If there are two loud mouth attention seekers in the one group it may cause a certain degree of conflict between the two people, if one person backs down, however and maybe replaces being loud and dominant with being amusing, he or she may find a better match in his or her group and thus create a more cohesive group. Of course this idea is subject to the type of group, type of individuals and so forth, but generally speaking this idea of distinct individual roles within a group as working well makes sense and can even be seen in everyday applications such as peer groups.

This diversity within groups seems to be what helps them to work. Too much diversity and individuals may feel unrelated to the groups, and too much similarity may cause conflict within a group. Thus this balance of diversity and distinctiveness seems to be a driving force behind what makes up an effective group. Speaking of diversity, what I found very disturbing was the story of the painted black bird pecked to death by other birds because of its difference (pg482). The text book pointed out that animals, unlike humans, do not seem to value diversity and not only typically reject it but also find they must eradicate it all together. Humans sometimes do the same however. In the past, and sometimes currently, those who were labelled gay, lesbian, mentally ill, even ‘magical’ (i.e. witchcraft) were not only ostracised by society but in some cases killed and tortured. The text book even features a story of the murder of a young man for his sexual preferences. So many we, like animals are intolerant ourselves of certain types of diversity. Fortunately, as time goes by we seem, as a society, to accept rather than reject diversity, with many workplaces allocating specified job placements to go to those of diverse backgrounds (e.g. nationalities). Maybe the ever increasing acceptance of diversity comes from the understanding that diverse groups can be more flexible, creative, and offer more perspectives than a group with similar members can. Perhaps we just realise we can gain more from diverse people than what was originally assumed and hence a greater acceptance?

Also within the topic of groups is that of specialisation. The text book refers to idea that people must be adaptable in terms of the roles they take on. Whether that is a job or otherwise, society is constantly changing and adaptation to that change is essential for individuals to participate successfully. Personally I have thought about this concept for a while now, or ever since enrolling in university at least. Basically I feel that society seems to be moving at a faster pace than ever and this puts pressure on students to choose a field in which they will devote their studies and potentially their career. Whilst doing this though, students must be aware that there is an ever evolving change of roles and so forth so the field they were devoted to may change considerably or even disappear altogether. One of my lecturers once said also that not only does society and the workforce want students to be higher educated but to also be specialised in their field. This puts even more pressure on students and adults in general to make sure that when they do pick a field, and then specialise in it, that the ever-changing society and its demands for work do not suddenly decided they do not longer require their speciality :s

Tutorial

I particularly enjoyed this weeks tutorial – social disengagement speech by Hugh Mackay. He spoke of the changes Australia has been experiencing in terms of four main topics: Gender, economy technology and identity.

Gender changes encompasses mostly the change in opinion and attitudes, and behaviours of females, who have typically gained more status in society. This has impacted on many other related topics such as workplace gender composition, or the increase of female workers, and the declining marriage rate. Part of the reason for a decline in marriage rates is also related to the concept I wrote about earlier, in which the fast paced every changing society we live in is causing people to anticipate change and as such put of making decisions instead opting for a ‘wait and see’ approach. Always on the look out for something better or another opportunity, these values tend to clash with the ideology of commitment, marriage and creation of a family. So not only does our or my generation have a million and one opportunities and decisions to make regarding career and study choices (and continuous choices and change at that) but also continuous choices and opportunities regarding partners, marriage, divorce and so forth. Not that everyone must choose to be so flexible, but in keeping up with everyone else it seems we must or face missing an opportunity.

What was also really very startling was that suggestion that the single-person household was the most common household type!! This led to the idea that isolation, fragmentation and eventually depression may rise in the community (in addition to the fact hat antidepressants have tripled in the past ten years or so). Scary thought

Another result of this fast paced lifestyle is that what is appealing now is simplicity. I have actually noticed many companies trying to sell their product by offering a more simple style/product/service. One of these to illustrate is that of the new NRMA motor vehicle insurance advertisement campaigns. These basically feature an ‘un’ motto – un-worry, un-clutter etc, - Ive found a you tube clip of the ad in case you haven’t seen it before

Prosocial behaviour
Our social psychology unit text book defines motives for prosocial behaviour of helping as either egotistic helping or altruistic helping. Egotistic helping is that when a helper seeks to in some ways benefit themselves by helping another, whereas altruistic helping is when a helper increases another’s welfare but expects nothing in return. This got me thinking about others who do help other people, and which category they would more likely fit in to. It has always been my view that celebrities in this sense fall into a more egotistic helping category, whereby they help others in various ways, donations, visiting countries and so forth, but all of this is captured by the media and sprayed all over television. Is this more of an attempt to reach our and help others less fortunate, or an attempt to gain more (positive) attention from media and the rest of the rest. If the latter is true, this type of exposure and promotion would surely boost fan ratings and perhaps even end up boosting their job prospects and wages! Either way though I am all for celebrity charity – it brings help to those in need, it creates a global awareness of whatever problem they are supporting, and it acts as an example or model to others who may then be more influenced to also help. I did find a U.K news website which spoke about this particular issue and actually mentioned some cases (whether these are true is unknown) where unnamed celebrities were clearly behaving in selfish ways when supposedly attempting to help. After reading a couple of cases, I decided to paste the ‘best’ in here: 1. A popular young actress who was flown abroad by a development agency, only to fly straight back again when the hotel and car were not to her liking, and it was too hot and there were too many flies. 2. A rock star who would only travel first class and stay in five-star hotels, all expenses paid, and the actress who made the same demands, gorged on room service, made long-distance phone calls and drank the mini bar dry, eventually costing the host charity thousands of pounds. Like I said before these unnamed cases are definitely not backed up by any evidence so I can not determine how true they are. However……I can imagine that if these particular cases are not true, there would definitely be cases where similar things have happened. Reading the two examples anyway made me feel horrible about how materialistic we can be, that having ‘more’ seems to give people a right to be superior to others, even in their time of need. Im all for celebrity charity, as long as the benefits for the celbirty do not outweigh those for the actual people in need.

On a more positive note, when discussing helping other, the text book suggests there are six factors in determining who will be helpful. 1.	a helpful personality – modelling of family, peers, possibility of a genetic influence 2.	similarity – more likely to help people who are similar rather than dissimilar to ourselves. This could be inline with the cultural theme of the text book where helping those closer to you, in an evolutionary viewpoint, can raise your levels of success in society. 3.	gender- the book mentioned that males are more helpful than females in the boarder public sphere, such as with strangers, and in emergency settings,  whereas females tend to help in a more family sphere. This I would agree sounds correct, however I think there’s a few factors which may account for the difference. The fact males are meant to help more in the more public sphere I believe is because it is safer to do so. If I drove past a girl on the side of the road, or a male, I would be hesitant to help because of fears of my own safety. 4.	beautiful victims – those of an attractive appearance receive more help than others. I tried my best to visualise what I would do in the instance that I was asking to give money to an attractive man or an unattractive one and I couldn’t imagine being so discriminatory, however the text book mentions studies that indeed found that people were more likely to help attractive people than unattractive people. Could it be, as the book also mentions, that attractive people are presumed to be more intelligent, healthier, and just generally as having more resources than unintelligent people. If this is the assumption then giving more freely to attractive people would even more so broaden the gap between the attractive and unattractive? Just a thought. Other factors that determine helping behaviour that were discussed included belief in a just world, and the emotion and mood that someone is in at the time of a helping opportunity.

Bystander effect The story of Kitty Genovese is one I have heard many a times, but always makes me cringe at the thought of a murdered and raped victim, being watched for 35 minutes with no one coming to her aid, which would have saved her life. After discussing the five steps that influence helping behaviour the text book suggests ways in which we can increase helping. The example of how to get help in a public setting I thought was pretty effective, I had never really thought about how to gain peoples attention in an emergency and like most others just assume that people will instinctively know when they should help. Clearly this assumption is incorrect. I do appreciate university text books that do offer essential and help advice like this!

Environment
Environmental psychology is basically the relationship between people and their physical environments. The reading for this week mainly focused on findings regarding the aforementioned, for instance the effects of crowding and how, if one has control over their crowed conditions, this typically reduces the negative effect of crowding. What I found particularly interesting though was the topic of environmental problems. I remember back to my first year at university where a friend who was undertaking an environment degree, spoke to me about all the apart imminent environmental problems we are facing. I remember being very unconcerned about the topic, and seeing as I had not really heard of any environmental problems in the news or any media, thought that there was no problem! If there was wouldn’t the news be talking about it? Only two years later has there been a massive upsurge in environmental concern, she seemed to be right all along. It seems now that as soon as the environment appears to cause personal impact on people (ie flooding of houses, cost of energy and so forth) has society decided to take in a vested interest. Fortunately institutes such as schools are also becoming actively involved, apparently the University of Canberra is introducing more environmental degrees, whilst also considering (or has already done) making environmental units compulsory in each degree. The idea that our environment cannot support us, and is almost working against us (floods, draughts) is one of the most frightening thoughts I believe our generation if facing. Fortunately also, the government has begun to take a vested inertest in the problems facing today’s environment. Policies such as rebates on solar systems, water tanks, economical vehicles and so forth really are showing Australians that if you help, the government will help you. This is a change from previous ways of thinking whereby as the reading for this week (environmental issues-energy and resource conservation) suggest, the government predominately followed economic rationalist ideals whereby the market was left to do its own thing, no intervention was made. With the introduction of rebates and other incentives, the government is in fact interfering within the automobile industry (for example) which shows that there is commitment to hopefully reach our long term gaols (environmental conservation) as opposed to focusing on our short-term goals (growth of economy).

If any one has not watched the ‘An inconvenient truth’ – an American documentary about global warming  - I really recommend that you do. I have heard some of what is presented may not be valid, but regardless the documentary makes logical sense and presents facts and information that all point to an imminent deterioration of our planet. For instance, the hottest 10 years ever recorded have all been within the last 14 years. Its definitetly a must see eye opening documentary, ive added the link to the trailer in case your interested and haven’t seen the film thus far

Over the next few years, I’m interested to see how the world and Australia in particular will go about encouraging citizens to use the planet wisely. When was younger I felt we had the world at our fingertips, we could buy, use, waste whatever we wanted. Now it is a much different story, and as Al Gore in An inconvenient truth points out, we have to pay for the mistakes that our parents (and ancestors in general) made. Now the thought of buying the new best v8 engine sports car is diluted by the guilt and thoughts of the effect the car would have on the environment. In saying this though, fortunately car manufactures have semi prepared for this issues and have already released economical hybrid cars which are a great deal better for the environment. Additionally, and as per my discussion of celebrities as society models previously, film stars such as Cameron Diaz, Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio, have all purchased hybrid cars, and we all know the level of global influence celebrities such as these have on everyone. This brings me to my next point, we as consumers need to be in control of what type of cars, and basically anything else that effects of environment, is created for the market. Rather than the manufactures dictating what is and isn’t for sale, we need to show them that we are proactive in the fight for the environment and that in order to increase their profits and sales they must make available to us energy efficient environmentally friendly products. What I have learnt about environmental conservation at university thus far is only the tip of the iceberg. With much of my time spent focusing on university studies, I hope that the news and media, as well as university units discus in more depth this particular issue, so that we all have a chance to become aware of the factors contributing to our planets degradation and how we can all help. It needs to be a whole of society collective effort and governments need to be fair and strict with its citizens (ie. No rich green grass in the wealthy suburbs!) so that we all understand that our environment appears to be more of a privilege than a right, and to use it will have to be to use it responsibly.

Final thoughts
On the whole, I enjoyed social psychology in that it gave more insight into social groups, which we are apart of. It also opened my mind up to the fact that it seems we are such cultural and social people, and to divorce this aspect from ourselves is difficult to say the least. In terms of the teaching of the unit, I particularly appreciated the freedom James allowed us in the two major assessment items; the essay and this e-portfolio. In the majority, if not all, of my previous units I have never had such freedom, especially in the choice of essay topics. This allowed me to actually take interest in my essay research and to learn about something I had prior interest in. Thanks James :)

title: User:Socialpsych


text:
User talk:Socialpsych

Well done
Good job on setting up your account,. Let me know if I can do anything as you go along. 'Official' Wikiversity welcome below. -- Jtneill - Talk - c 04:49, 2 August 2008 (UTC)

 Hello Socialpsych, and welcome to Wikiversity! If you need help, feel free to visit my talk page, or contact us and ask questions. After you leave a comment on a talk page, remember to sign and date; it helps everyone follow the threads of the discussion. The signature icon in the edit window makes it simple. To get started, you may

 * Take a guided tour and learn to edit.
 * Visit a (kind of) random random project.
 * Browse everything on Wikiversity, or visit a portal corresponding to your educational level: pre-school, primary, secondary, tertiary, non-formal education.
 * Find out about research activities on Wikiversity.

 * Read an introduction for teachers and find out how to write an educational resource for Wikiversity.
 * Discuss Wikiversity issues or ask questions at the colloquium.
 * Chat with other Wikiversitans on #wikiversity-en.

And don't forget to explore Wikiversity with the links to your left. Be bold to contribute and to experiment with the sandbox or your userpage, and see you around Wikiversity! Jtneill - Talk - c 04:49, 2 August 2008 (UTC)

 Woof! My name is Jack(Russell). I am a dog and a Wikiversity mascot. I am pretty new around Wikiversity. Perhaps we can learn together! Tail wag...

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: User talk:Socialpsych


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Wikiversity:Wikiversity Day/2008

''Please use this page to link to your thoughts, blog, report or essay marking Wikiversity's 2nd official birthday on 15th August 2008. If you can't think of a name for your page, then make a subpage with your username as the title.''

List of contributions

 * Thank you's
 * Major events and trends
 * Wikipedia Signpost interview about Wikiversity
 * Wikiversity Vision 2009
 * Wikiversity_Day/2008/Recovery Psychology
 * happy birthday song (anyone wants to make a group song ? we could later also mix audio files)
 * group photo
 * Wikiversity Day/2008/How do you celebrate?
 * Tributes for Mirwin-- How many can we gather in 9 days?
 * So what really is Wikiversity?
 * Building successful learning communities (updated for Wikiversity Day 2008)
 * Learning models - trying to summarise the history of Wikiversity's concept of its learning model(s).
 * A thought for today: WikiEducator integration
 * A collective thank-you from the Wikiversity mascots.

title: Wikiversity:Wikiversity Day/2008


text: Wikiversity:Wikiversity Day/countdown

title: Wikiversity:Wikiversity Day/countdown


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Perfect gas equation

A perfect gas is one in which intermolecular forces are considered negligible. Common forms of the equation of state of an ideal gas: PV = nRuT PV = mRT

where n is the number of moles, Ru is the universal gas constant, and R is the specific gas constant. The universal and specific gas constants are related as follows: R=Ru/M, where M is the molecular weight of the gas. Using this relation and the fact that n=m/M, the two equations above can be derived from each other. The value of the universal gas constant is: Ru=8314J/(kg*mole*K)=4.97*10^4(ft*lb)/(slug*mole*R) Note: Some textbooks do a poor job of specifying whether to use the universal or specific gas constant. Remember that if the equation contains mass (or density) use the specific gas constant. If the equation contains the number of moles, use the universal gas constant. If you still aren't certain, make sure the units check out.

title: Perfect gas equation


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Wikiversity:Wikiversity Day/2008/Thank yous!

''This is a non exhaustive list of people to whom thanks may be warranted! So far the main criterion for inclusion was content contributions to Wikiversity during the last year, but it is very difficult to create a list of the year's main contributors. Please feel welcome to add anyone you feel is missing.''

Thank you to...

 * All participants!


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User:WillTemperley

Social Psychology

Biography
Name: William Temperley Age: 21 Occupation: Public Servant University: University of Canberra Degree: Bachelor of Science in Psychology/Bachelor of Laws

title: User:WillTemperley


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Assistant teacher program/Partner school program

Partner school program
The partner school program is intended for schools who want to engage in research and validation. Registered schools may receive coordinated requests to support studies but are equally expected to initiate and to coordinate their own projects. Participation in the program does not constitute a commitment to any specific project and does not constitute a formal cooperation with the Wikimedia Foundation either.

Self-certification
Wikiversity does not offer officially recognized degrees or certifications but schools can use the $Assistant teacher program self-certification$ to demonstrate compliance with the goals and ideals of the Wikiversity assistant teacher program. Verification of the self-certification is delegated to the interested individual and therefore must be made possible for the individual.

List of schools
Please add schools with the /school template.


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Assistant teacher program/Partner school program/school

[ ]   ,

Parameters:
 * URL
 * name (the name of the school)
 * user (a Wikiversity user name, optional)
 * address
 * address2 (optional)
 * area code
 * city
 * region (optional)
 * country


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Assistant teacher program/Partner school program/Invitation

Wikiversity Topic:Post-information society

The Wikiversity assistant teacher program is looking for partner schools!

The Wikiversity assistant teacher program is a yet unproven program that aims to turn pupils into pedagogues and mentors. Pupils in the grades eight to ten are invited and motivated to progress at their own pace and to qualify as assistant teachers, tutors and mentors in three distinct steps. The program currently includes: The program offers a public forum and a research forum.
 * a teacher's handbook
 * an instructors' guide
 * a three week preparatory course (work in progress) and
 * a book project for the participants


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Talk:Assistant teacher program/Partner school program/Invitation

Invitations
Please make an entry for every invitation that has been sent.

List of invitations

 * de:Laborschule Bielefeld (leitung.laborschule@uni-bielefeld.de) --fasten 17:35, 2 August 2008 (UTC)
 * de:Projekt Selbstständige Schule (selbststaendige-schule@bertelsmann.de) --fasten 17:35, 2 August 2008 (UTC)
 * International Baccalaureate Research Team (ibru@ibo.org) --fasten 12:39, 3 August 2008 (UTC)
 * University of Chicago Laboratory Schools (lab@ucls.uchicago.edu) --fasten 17:28, 3 August 2008 (UTC)
 * Cambridge Outlook (international@cie.org.uk) --fasten 08:42, 4 August 2008 (UTC)
 * ,, , , , , --fasten 15:15, 14 August 2008 (UTC)
 * MENTOR/National Mentoring Partnership --fasten 09:22, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
 * Afterschool Alliance --fasten 09:22, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
 * BLK-Programm „Demokratie lernen & leben“ --fasten 09:22, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
 * Policy Studies Associates (PSA) --fasten 09:30, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
 * SIS Swiss International School --fasten 10:04, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
 * Kantonsschule Zürcher Oberland --fasten 10:04, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
 * Ministry of Education (Republic of China) --fasten 16:12, 19 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Ministry of Education (Egypt) --fasten 16:18, 19 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Secretariat of Public Education --fasten 16:29, 19 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Ministry of Education (New Zealand) --fasten 16:33, 19 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Ministry of Education (Sri Lanka) --fasten 16:57, 19 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Ministry of Education (Singapore) --fasten 17:03, 19 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Ministry of Education (Ontario) --fasten 17:08, 19 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (Japan) --fasten 19:22, 21 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China --fasten 20:58, 21 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Department of Education (Philippines) --fasten 21:39, 21 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Ministry of Education of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia --fasten 23:27, 21 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Ministry of Education and Vocational Training of the United Republic of Tanzania --fasten 23:50, 21 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Ministry of Education of the United Arab Emirates --fasten 15:55, 22 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Ministerio de Educación Superior (MES) de la República de Cuba --fasten 19:30, 23 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Ministerio de Educación, República del Perú --fasten 21:54, 23 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Ministry of Education, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia --fasten 13:16, 24 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Department of Education (South Africa) --fasten 13:48, 24 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, Australia --fasten 14:06, 24 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Ministry of Education (Burma) --fasten 14:06, 24 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Ministry of Education, Science and Sports of Ghana --fasten 14:14, 24 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Ministry of Education and Training, Vietnam --fasten 14:48, 24 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Ministry of Education (Malaysia) --fasten 15:01, 24 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Federal Ministry of Education of Nigeria --fasten 00:23, 25 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Department of State for Basic and Secondary Education, The Gambia --fasten 01:03, 25 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Federal Agency of Education, Russian Federation --fasten 12:42, 5 February 2009 (UTC)
 * National Council of Educational Research and Training (India) --fasten 12:56, 5 February 2009 (UTC)
 * http://www.privatschulen.de/ --fasten 17:00, 30 May 2009 (UTC)
 * http://www.sudbury.de/ --fasten 11:03, 8 June 2009 (UTC)
 * http://www.waldorfschule.info/ --fasten 11:06, 8 June 2009 (UTC)
 * http://www.freinet-kooperative.de/ --fasten 12:29, 8 June 2009 (UTC)
 * North Korea --fasten 13:32, 15 July 2009 (UTC)


text: Category:Wikiversity Day 2008

title: Category:Wikiversity Day 2008


text: Category:Wikiversity Day

title: Category:Wikiversity Day


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User:Lord LT

Lord LT (discuss • contribs) 18:46, 23 September 2014 (UTC)
 * Sou Lord_LT
 * Nascido em 09 de Julho de 1991
 * Meu sonho é fazer Medicina em uma faculdade de prestigio.
 * Aprovado em 2011 para a tão sonhada Medicina, na UFG, onde atualmente cursa.
 * Membro-fundador do cômico blog AstinFun Fun.
 * Conta criada no dia 22 de Julho de 2008, às 13h22min.

title: User:Lord LT


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User talk:Lord LT

Assinatura
Usuário:Lord LT/assinatura

title: User talk:Lord LT


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User:Lord LT/assinatura

Lord LT SMS

title: User:Lord LT/assinatura


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Sewing

Basic Sewing Skills
This page shows articles about basic skills in the field of sewing.

Basic sewing skills include hand sewing and sewing by machine. Functional sewing holds two or more layers of material together, and woven fabric is the most commonly used of sewing materials.

There are two types of needles used in hand sewing as well as machine sewing. These are the ball needle and the sharp needle. The ball needle is used on fine fabrics such as silks, rayon and knits, and the sharp needle is used on cottons and linens. The ball needle will not tear or break the threads. The sharp needle is for fibers that are stronger and need a point to get through the fabric. Both types of needles are useful for various tasks, and many variants of these two basic types exist.

Hand Sewing
Hand sewing uses a needle and thread. The needle has a hole through which the thread is passed, and this is called the "eye" of the needle. By passing a thread through the eye, the needle can carry the thread through one or more layers of material with ease. Sometimes, the thread does not want to go through the eye, but moistening the thread solves this easily. The repeated penetrations of the material can serve to fasten two or more layers together: each serves as a tiny nail or thumbtack holding the material in relation to one another.

Temporary Hand Sewing
Temporary hand sewing is called "basting". It serves to hold pieces of material in position to one another until the article can be examined for size or fit. While basting thread is commonly removed from the article before completion, basting that does not show may be left in place. Leaving it may save time or may add strength to the project.

The "running stitch" is a useful basting stitch. It is used to fasten seams together in a garment in order to check the fit. It can also be used to attach decorations before they are permanently fastened.

Choose a hand sewing needle in a size suitable to the materials being basted. A loosely woven fabric might require a large needle, while a fine fabric will need a small size or fine needle to avoid making large holes. A non-woven material such as plastic or suede requires a leather needle to pierce it instead of tearing. Thread appropriate for basting is weak rather than strong.

Embroidery
Embroidery is a form of decorative hand sewing. Embroidery is sewn so that a decorative design shows on the surface of the material. There are many different styles and methods of creating embroidery. This particular form of sewing was a popular ladies pastime in the Victorian era, and designs from this period are often intricate and beautiful, taking months or even years to make the sumptuously decorated fabrics.

title: Sewing


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Sewing on a button

Sewing on a Button

Preparation
If your garment is missing a button, try to find the original button or buy a similar set. Take your garment to your local fabric store and fit buttons you like through the buttonholes to determine they are a good size. You might also note instructions on the buttons (dry cleanable? washable?  remove from garment before cleaning?).

Buy a spool of thread and a pack of needles if you do not already own them.

Sewing on the Button
Cut a length of thread about 20" (50cm) long from the spool. Pass one end through the eye of the needle and pull it through until even with the other end.  Form a knot at the end.

Pierce the fabric with the needle and draw the thread through to the knot. Using one of the holes left by the previous button, pass the needle through again to the front of the fabric. Now pass the needle through one of the holes on botton of the button, bringing the needle through the front of the button. Pass the needle through another of the button's holes, from front to back. Then pass the needle through the front of the fabric to the back, and pull the tread relatively taut. Now, loosen the thread just a little so that there is space behind the button. You can now position a toothpick or a bobby pin under the button to maintain this small spacing. Pass through the same holes four more times. If the button has four holes, repeat. The thread on the top of the button can look like an "x" or it can be two parallel threads. After making four passes through each hole, pull the needle and thread through to the front and wind some remaining thread around the loose space in the back of the button (three or four times around the threads). This will strenghten your stitches. Pierce your needle through to the back of the fabric again.

When you find your needle is on the back of the fabric, form a knot. You can then pass your needle through the back of the threads you have just formed once more to "bury" the knot. Clip the small loose ends from the first and second knots.

You are done with one button and on to the next.

title: Sewing on a button


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Wikiversity:Wikiversitarian

A Wikiversitarian might refer to a person with at least one registered Wikiversity account and who actively contributes (or contributed) in at least some small, meaningful way to the content and/or technical aspects of the project.

Wikiversitarian:Wikiversity is equivalent to the relation between Wikipedian:Wikipedia.

title: Wikiversity:Wikiversitarian


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Wikiversity talk:Wikiversitarian

Category:Wikiversitans Emesee 22:56, 2 August 2008 (UTC)
 * Ah, that might explain why I couldn't find anything - so should this page be moved from Wikiversitarian -> Wikiversitan? The former is longer, but seems to roll off the tongue better? -- Jtneill - Talk - c 23:21, 2 August 2008 (UTC)

title: Wikiversity talk:Wikiversitarian


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Hypothesis

A scientific hypothesis (pl. hypotheses) is an evidence-based, testable, and falsifiable (shown to be wrong) statement about how some aspect of the world works.

A hypothesis is usually written in the form of an if/then statement. It could also include the word "may".

A simple example of a hypothesis could be "fire requires oxygen." It is evidence-based because fire is seen to exist in air, which contains oxygen, and can be put out by water which can cut off the air supply to the fire. It is testable because you can devise a test (removing oxygen from the area of a fire) that will either affirm the hypothesis or not. It is falsifiable because if you take away oxygen from a fire, and the fire continues to burn, the hypothesis is shown to be wrong.

Tips

 * 1) Make hypotheses as explicit, clear, and understandable to an outside reader as possible.
 * 2) Break complicated hypotheses down into sub-hypotheses.
 * 3) Each hypothesis should be able to be tested using a single test (or series of related tests).
 * 4) Hypotheses can be expressed as null and/or alternative hypotheses.
 * 5) Hypotheses can be written in sentences or paragraphs. They can also be numbered.

title: Hypothesis


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Template:Research-stub

This adds page to Category:Research stubs.

title: Template:Research-stub


text: Category:Research stubs

title: Category:Research stubs


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Wikiversity talk:Wikiversity Day/2008/Thank yous!

Two thoughts
On the one hand, the idea of thanks is a good one. On the other, there's a real risk of leaving people out. I've tried to reduce the risk of the latter by increasing the list to almost-absurdly huge size. Main sources: Participants and Featured. --McCormack 04:43, 3 August 2008 (UTC)


title: File:Astronomyforbeginners2.jpg


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User:Hein Ko

Dear friends, My name is Hein Ko. I am from Mayanmar. I hope you all may know my country. I am a student of violin. I have been learning violin for three years. I really insist to be a good violin player. But in our country there are a few teachers who can teach violin well. And also a few resource books for students and teachers. Now I think I am training in wrong technique. If any one can advice me I want to learn from you. I really insist to train well in good technique.

Thank you all for reading this message.

your new friend Hein Ko.

title: User:Hein Ko


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Wikiversity talk:Wikiversity Day/2008

Congratulations

 * Happy 2nd anniversary wikiversity! Sending you more energy of success! Added by User:Boss
 * Happy birthday, many more editors and cool resources, and a even more satisfied learners! This is my (birthday) wish! --Gbaor 06:41, 15 August 2008 (UTC)
 * Happy many returns wikiversity! from the sun of the south. many more years of pioneering the frontiers of Open-learning and education --Thuvack | talk 07:10, 15 August 2008 (UTC)
 * Happy birthday! --Hillgentleman|Talk 10:03, 15 August 2008 (UTC) Copied from Wikiversity talk:Wikiversity Day
 * Happy birthday and let's try to make everybody happy here at WV, Erkan Yilmaz uses the Chat (try) 16:07, 15 August 2008 (UTC)
 * When I am starting to freeze in the cold water, the thoughts on Wikiversity keep me warm and alive. Thanks for this, --Percy 23:16, 17 August 2008 (UTC)
 * All the best to Wikiversity ! Thanks for providing us with a warm place so we can sleep and become even more beautiful. We will pay you back with our learning projects soon. Kisses, --Vicky-Verity 23:21, 17 August 2008 (UTC)
 * From everyone over at Wikinews, CONGRATS! You'd have more Wikinewsie congrats, but they're keeping us chained to our desks! Thunderhead 04:06, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

Thoughts by Juan
Ummm, strange way to Celabrate.--Juan 05:58, 3 August 2008 (UTC)
 * Feel welcome to suggest or add alternatives. --McCormack 06:14, 3 August 2008 (UTC)
 * It is like a birthday. People are lucky that they are closer to freedom, people are lucky that they are closer to thomb. They usually come with a present and celebrate. So what I can give Wikiversity to make it happy? And then i will celebrate. How?--Juan 12:23, 4 August 2008 (UTC)
 * Or no presents. We are giving to Wikiversity all the time. So to give more on WD couldnt be suprising for her. What about to lock the database that day? And we can go celebrate out.--Juan 12:27, 4 August 2008 (UTC)

Group photo
Someone (not me) suggested creating a group photo - presumably by merging submissions electronically. Not sure if this was serious - most Wikiversitarians do not seem to publish photos of themselves. --McCormack 12:55, 4 August 2008 (UTC)
 * It was me and it was serious. I know of James, Cormac and me that there are photos. And certainly also others have it (can be mixed when keeping to the licence) - also the Wikiversity:Mascots can join :-) And who does not want to give a real picture can give one which she thinks fits best to one of her characters - or a comic pic. Let's give Wikiversity a human touch. Erkan Yilmaz uses the Chat (try) 16:40, 4 August 2008 (UTC)
 * The only Erkan photo I know of is from your babyhood (give or take a few years). --McCormack 16:53, 4 August 2008 (UTC)
 * If you search the WWW you easily will find other ones :-) But I think I also can upload a newer one.
 * Anyway: if we don't ask, people would not come out themselves. We have enough time to collect. Erkan Yilmaz uses the Chat (try) 16:56, 4 August 2008 (UTC)
 * started, Erkan Yilmaz uses the Chat (try) 17:16, 4 August 2008 (UTC)

title: Wikiversity talk:Wikiversity Day/2008


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Wikiversity:Wikiversity Day/2008/Recovery Psychology

I wanted to say happy birthday to Wikiversity...Wikiversity has helped me in organizing my theory in a better format for discussion. Through Wikiversity, I have learned how to say what I must say! On my own person webpage the link directing others to Wikiversity says Help the world recover from ignorance! I acknowledge that Wikiversity is not an accredited actual school however it is an extraordinary tool, that I feel many are just failing to utilize...Wikiversity is a great resource!!! I believe a degree-granting institution will recognise the validity of what I write because of the errors I made on Wikiversity have improved my arguementum.--recovery psychologist 06:09, 3 August 2008 (UTC)
 * I quite agree. I think therein lies the power of Wikiversity -- Freedom to learn at your own pace in your own space with occasional encounters with fine minds. I must say that since I started using wikiversity on courses that I am actually involved with in real life, my enthusiasm has been rekindled. I now enjoy my studies and have better understanding of my career path. This place is indeed a good place to recover your Mind, and maybe those ofmany more in the process. Happy Wikiversity day. --Thuvack | talk 13:00, 5 August 2008 (UTC)


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User:U126268

Hi all!

Have you ever thought about how many groups you belong to? There are all the groups that gave you cards that are probably clogging up your wallet as we speak. Then there are the ones that actually mean something (besides a 10% discount). I could start to list all of the groups I belong to, but that is just a little too personal.

More questions and thoughts to come.

We are social creatures
As humans have developed, so have our social and cultural behaviours. These behaviours differ depending whether on other people are present, who it is that is present and the presence of the group. What influence the group has on and individual, and indeed how the individual influences the group, has been a topic of study in sociology and psychology since the late 1800’s. We are social creatures biologically. But unlike animals, we also have a culture, or a way of communicating ideas that are necessary for the survival of our ‘civilised’ world, such as laws and religion. Many of our behaviours are learned through such cultural experiences. We have a need to communicate to others what we are thinking and what we have learned, and we also have a need to form groups with norms of behaviour, thoughts and ideals. This need makes life easier for us in that, if we belong to a group, we can divide the tasks necessary for survival, and support each other. In today’s society, few people will live completely independent of the rest of the world, hunting, collecting, cooking and making shelter for themselves. Throughout the years, there have been a few cases of abandoned children left outside to fend for themselves. In many of these cases, the child has formed part of the social group of animals, such as dogs (see link below). This raw, biological need compels rejected humans to find a social culture wherever possible, even in the dog’s hovel.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/the-girl-who-ran-with-the-pack/2006/07/18/1153166383022.html

The Social Self
Imagine you were trying to describe and define yourself. Most likely, you would use words like outgoing or shy, intelligent or creative and so on. However, you would probably also include groups in your description. These groups can include religious, ethnic and even gender groups. Many of these groups can define you from birth until death, for example, I will always define myself as a woman, with a lifelong membership to the group of females.

The concept of the self is a representation of who you are, or how you want to be perceived. It is a tool we use within society. The social self however, is our behaviour and attitudes which are influenced by the society. The social self attempts to balance socially accepted behaviours with the ideal self which is closest to the true self (if indeed a true self exists). While the social self may appear to cause incongruence with the self, it does indeed serve a purpose of preserving you in the social environment. For example, you need to promote yourself at a job interview in order to get the job and earn money for food; you also need to abide by society rules so as not to be put in prison; and you need to be able to socially compare yourself with others to determine how successful you will be.

The social self is complex thing. However, we tend to view others with fewer complexes due to the relatively small amount of information we know about them, and we view ourselves as more complex. I was able to test out this concept in our first tutorial which, looked at the groups we define ourselves as being a part of. We grouped ourselves into eye colour, number of siblings, whether or not we were born in Australia, relationship status, political views and religious beliefs. (Anyone who was in the week 2, Tuesday 2.30pm tutorial, please add any extra groups I missed.) Now, when I see someone from that tutorial, I think they were the person who was born in England, or who has 8 siblings, or who had a complicated relationship status. I don’t think about all the groups each person defined them selves as. I just think of the most memorable group they defined themselves as being in, and tend to define them by that one group membership.

Social Cognition and the Age of Global Communication
As part of our social self and social thinking, we make judgements! You may initially think this is a bad thing, and it can be if the judgements are taken to the level of discrimination. Many qualities people have a tendency of using for discriminating are in fact these that the victim has no control over. Think whether you would deny a person their rights simply because they have blue eyes! However, judgements can help us to conserve mental energy and use prior knowledge and experience to predict a situation and know how to behave. These sorts of acts are called scripts or schemas. We, as humans, like to be able to control and predict our environment.

We also like to know the causes of things, making us a curious bunch. This means, that we also tend to think that behaviour is caused by something; either our personality (internal) or environmental factors (external). An example of this would be a student who failed an exam; an internal attribution would be the student didn’t study enough, but an external attribution would be the exam was incredibly hard. Generally speaking, we tend to attribute our behaviour, and the behaviour of others to internal factors. This can cause problems and biases such as the Self-Serving Bias. There is a tendency to attribute our own success as internal, our own failure as external, other people’s success as external and other’s failure as internal.

As bad as this sounds, even this bias helps us in our social endeavours. In fact, this bias can help raise our self esteem and make us feel more in control. Our mind really can play tricks on us!

They say we communicate by using both verbal and non-verbal language. Statistics are thrown out as to how much is communicated by each of these factors. Most of these stats agree that the non-verbal communication consists of the greater part. But then there are some fuzzy areas such as; is tone of voice verbal or non-verbal? There are cultural and individual differences, Italians seem unable to speak without moving there hands and yet the majority of Westerners seem perfectly able to accomplish this task. Environmental distracters can also affect the quality and mode of communication. And finally, disabilities can play a role in changing the mode of communication; a blind person will probably not move there hands much when talking because it does not enhance the story for them.

But with all this talk a large proportion of communication being non-verbal, we have to wonder… do phones, sms and email enhance communication? Or are we simply replacing quality for quantity?

Prejudice and Aggression
During the week four lecture we watched the documentary ‘The Ghosts of Rwanda’. This was to be used as a discussion topic for the tutorials which were based on prejudice and aggression. The film affected me in such a way that I would prefer not to discuss it here.

Prejudice and Stereotypes
This week in lectures we discussed prejudice and stereotypes. Before we continue much further, it is important to have some definitions to use as a base for the purpose of this portfolio. These definitions I took straight from the lecture;

‘Prejudice - a negative feeling toward an individual based solely on his or her membership in a particular group.’

‘Stereotype - beliefs that associate groups with traits.’

It is interesting to note that while we often claim not to hold prejudice towards other groups, it is almost impossible to do so. The human brain categorises everything within its world as a way of being cognitively effective. We start this as children, and it is encouraged! Parents point to different animals and say, ‘this is a dog’ or ‘he is a boy’. These are examples of classification which we teach our children. We teach them, because they are natural! Our brain simply cannot deal with the amount of stimulus it receives without organising it somehow. Such classification is not a bad thing. It benefits us to understand the world.

We prefer people from within our own ‘group’. Perhaps this is a biological factor telling us to protect those with the closest DNA to us, to ensure the survival of ‘our group’. This is called ingroup favouritism. We also follow the rule of outgroup homogeneity bias which states that members of other groups are deemed to be more similar to each other than members of own group are. A common example of this is when you travel to another country and think that everyone looks the same, you probably never think that about people in your own country.

Stereotypes come into the picture once we have defined certain groups. Again, a stereotype itself is not a bad thing. For example, a stereotype of a bird is that it has two legs, two wings, feathers and it flies. This is not true of all birds but it helps us to understand and more importantly, to predict what a bird will look like and how it will behave. The problem with stereotypes arises when we overgeneralise traits. This often happens to rationalise something such as treatment towards that group, it can be used to boost own self esteem or to oppress the members of another group. It is this overgeneralisation that can lead to prejudice. A problem with stereotypes and something that enhances prejudice is; the fact that negative stereotypes are more durable and take more exceptions to disprove than a positive stereotype would.

There is hope though…if we remember that stereotypes are only a tool and while based on fact, are rarely accurate. We just have to remember to use them but not think of them as an absolute truth.

Culture Shock
We had an interesting discussion in tutorials about cultures including what can happen when someone enters a new culture. Typically, the person will follow a pattern of behaviours that together, we call culture shock. There is usually a ‘honeymoon’ stage where the person finds the culture fascinating, then homesickness will start and other symptoms of culture shock begin to present themselves such as; feelings of isolation, being critical of the new culture, and eventually, feelings of incompetence and worthlessness may arise. Such symptoms would be felt most if the new culture inhibits most or all of your time, for example, if you were travel to a country you had never been to, where you don’t speak the language and you travelling by yourself. Imagine also placing prejudice on top of these symptoms. The symptoms of culture shock would likely be less intense if the new culture you were entering was a new job, school or neighbourhood when much of your old life and customs are maintained.

A way of helping people deal with culture shock, particularly when travelling overseas for work or university, is to create culture maps; step by step guides in how to deal with situations that would be intuitive to people who are competent in the specific culture. This can include how to ask for help for a superior or lecturer, an act that would not be as accepted in some other cultures. It can be easy to think that such things are common sense but they are not if culture has taught a different set of practices.

As an example of this, I would like to share with you my thoughts on a time when I was culturally incompetent. I stayed with a family in Japan for a week a few years ago. The first problem I encountered (which continued to be a problem for the duration of my stay) was language. Despite learning the Japanese language in school, I discovered that only a small amount of my vocabulary was useful in real situations. To compensate for this, I ignored all the Japanese revision work I had set for myself and began reading a small phrase book at every opportunity. The second problem I encountered was the fact that I had not been told that shoes were taken off inside to be replaced by inside shoes (which were replaced again when entering specific rooms such as the bedroom or bathroom). My host family was very nice and simply took my shoes to where they should have been left and continued to (very patiently) teach me about the different kinds of shoes. The third problem I encountered (which was not by far the last, but will be the last mentioned here) was that I was not used to using chopsticks. I had taken with me ‘cheats’ chopsticks which were actually attached at the top so acted as a hinge, however, whenever I tried to use these, they were met with laughter by the people my age and usually looks of disapproval from the older generation. It is for this reason that I gave them up and out of pure hunger, learned to use chopsticks.

An interesting point I would like to make here is that there was a girl in this family about my age who had stayed with my family about 6 months earlier. I remember being a little intrigued but mostly confused as to why she didn’t simply adapt to my family and our customs. It can be very easy to expect adaptation. For some people, this is an easy task but for the general population, adapting to a new culture, especially when it is in a new country, is an extremely daunting task that can cause severe distress to the person.

Group Behaviour
We have learned through history that groups provide certain benefits to us; protection, greater power and shared resources just to name a few. And while we no longer need protection from wild animals or need to hunt for our food, our preference to be in a group has persisted. One reason for this is that the group has not lost all of its previous advantages. Shared resources and division of labour have allowed humans to specialise, ensuring that everything is achieved in the most efficient way by a person who knows the field. An example of this is; I do not know how to build a house, so rather than spending a great deal of time learning what to do then making mistakes, I ask a professional to build a house for me. This professional has already learned how to build a house and (I hope) has had lots of practice at the job. In exchange for him building my house, I pay him (sharing resources) so he can buy food.

But there are also much more subtle advantages to being in a group. Research has shown that at simple tasks which are well practiced, such as cycling, tend to be performed better when in the presence of others. I would agree with this research as I have found that when cycling with a friend, I will happily cycle greater distances with increased speeds. It is important to note that this ‘social facilitation’ will not work when performing a more complex task such as writing an essay.

The opposite of social facilitation is the uniquely human trait, social loafing. This is the tendency to ‘slack off’ because others in the group can do the work for you. This concept seems counterintuitive as it has long been thought that working in groups allows the pooling of information and ideas. But groups tend to produce a lower quality of work than an individual would, and there is always a constant pressure to conform and become the same as other members of the group (which could halt the introduction of new ideas because no individual would want to stand out). This tendency to want to blend not only decreases the quality of the work produced, but can also inhibit people from speaking up in class, at a work meeting or when someone is in trouble (Bystander effect).

The Bystander effect is the phenomenon where people are less likely to provide help to another in need when the bystander is in a group than if they were by themselves. This has been studied and results show that the larger the group, the less likely it is that someone will help a person in need or report a problem. It may be that the responsibility to help is diffused throughout the crowd, so that instead of one person holding all the responsibility, each group member holds a reduced amount of responsibility. This could be linked to social loafing in that group members conform and do not want to stand out. In fact, five steps to helping have been identified and researchers believe that the crowd can interfere at any one of these steps. The steps are; notice something is happening, interpret the event, take responsibility (do not allow responsibility to be diffused), know how to help, and provide help.It is also worth mentioning that even the knowledge of the Bystander effect, can drastically reduce its effect.

Australian Zeitgeist
In tutorials this week we discussed a lecture delivered by Hugh Mackay in 2005. In the lecture, Mackay talked about the current trend of disengaging from the social scene; houses are getter larger with fewer people living in them, a phenomenal increase in the amount of divorces and single-parent families and more people engaging in typically social activities by themselves or with just one other person etc. This current trend of disengagement is what is defining the current Australian cultural scene, it is the flavour of the times; it is the Australian zeitgeist.

The social disengagement can also be witnessed with the increase in media usage to convey a message or thought, instead of the traditional method of personal teaching. This user page is a prime example what I am trying to convey; instead of discussing these matters with others who are studying or interested in social psychology, I am putting my thoughts on the internet for all to read. While this process is beneficial to my learning, one has to ask, is this process benefiting anyone else, and could this be achieved in a more social environment?

The mobile, and in particular SMS, is another example of social disengagement. Before you get too worried, I am not going to suggest to the world that people everywhere should give up their mobiles! What I am going to say is that they are a tool. They can be used quiet efficiently to organise social meetings and to inform others of your whereabouts for example if you are late. The problem arises when they are used to replace personal social contact. Smiley faces can only add so much expression to your message. For some things, the mobile and especially, SMS, will simply not work and we a re forced to socially re-engage to receive the necessary social contact.

The Australian zeitgeist may be one of social disengagement, and no we are not the worst society in the world for this, but there are still things we can do to re-engage with society. Have a regular social meeting with a friend or out with someone rather than on your own, it may take time to organise and even to do these things, but the benefits of socially re-engaging are phenomenal!

Pro-social Behaviour
Pro-social behaviour is literally, the opposite of antisocial behaviour. They act to benefit another individual. What is considered to be pro-social behaviour however can change depending on the cultural context in which it takes place. What is accepted and encouraged in one culture may be unwanted in another. It is important to note though, that pro-social behaviour only includes the behaviour, the intent behind the behaviour is not regarded when deciding whether or not an action is desirable. Despite this, the reason behind pro-social behaviour have been studied and some reasons which I found particularly interesting or shocking were; guilt, self-interest and even conformity.

Conformity appears to be a major factor in both increasing and decreasing pro-social behaviour. The desire to get along with others and to be a part of a group can encourage pro-social behaviour such as cooperation and following society’s rules. Conformity is particularly apparent in larger groups of people as can be seen in Asch’s famous study of conformity. In the study, participants were simply asked to state which, out of three lines was the same length as a separate line. When larger groups of people were involved in the study, participants often conformed to what the group was saying and provide an incorrect answer, even when the correct answer was obvious.

Pro-social behaviour is also dependent on mood. People in a good mood are more likely to help someone in need, even if it is simply to pick up an object that was dropped. I’m sure everyone will admit (although somewhat regrettably) that when you are in a bad mood, it doesn’t matter how little effort is needed on your part, or how much of a difference it will make to the other person, you simply do not want to help.

Environmental Psychology
Environmental psychology is not asking plants how they feel about different issues such as the drought, but rather it is the study of the interactions between people and their environment. The environment, for the purpose of this portfolio, is simply the place in which a human lives. Typically, this will involve your house, your neighbourhood, and any place where you spend time or that may influence your behaviour. The environment often includes stressors and risks and is subject to human special behaviour.

How humans spread themselves throughout the environment can lead to crowding and the subjective feeling of crowding. This is particularly evident if an Australian, who lives in a fairly regional area, travels to a country with high population density. The density of the crowd may be stretching resources, but the people who live there are generally not stressed by it. The crowd however, would likely be a major stressor for an Australian traveller who is not used to crowds.

But the natural environment can also have positive effects on us, and environmental psychologists believe that bringing the natural environment into our own environments can have an impact on our general health and well-being. Evolution has had little time to adapt to our primarily indoor lifestyle and as such, we sometimes feel the need to get outdoors. This is often in the form of a holiday to the beach or camping, we rarely want to spend our time off in a windowless basement without even a picture of the natural environment. In fact, doctors and psychologists have realised this need for the natural environment and begun to give the ‘Green prescription’, encouraging clients to get in touch with nature as part of an overall health program. This can be as simple as going for a walk outside rather than on the treadmill, or perform an activity outside; e.g. gardening.

These findings have also lead to a change in planning houses and communities. Greater access to natural places are now being included in suburb planning and greater natural features are being added to houses often in the form of larger windows to the outside or the inclusion on small garden areas. Even hospitals are realising the positive effects of the natural environment and including pictures of the natural environment as patients with a view or picture, have been found to recover faster. The moral of this story; get outside, it’s good for you!

title: User:U126268


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User talk:Bbrezvan

Hello, welcome around here. I hope we can help you succeed in your learning goals in crafts and arts. Below more info about Wikiversity, Erkan Yilmaz uses the Chat (try) 07:35, 3 August 2008 (UTC)

 Hello Bbrezvan, and welcome to Wikiversity! If you need help, feel free to visit my talk page, or contact us and ask questions. After you leave a comment on a talk page, remember to sign and date; it helps everyone follow the threads of the discussion. The signature icon in the edit window makes it simple. To get started, you may

 * Take a guided tour and learn to edit.
 * Visit a (kind of) random random project.
 * Browse everything on Wikiversity, or visit a portal corresponding to your educational level: pre-school, primary, secondary, tertiary, non-formal education.
 * Find out about research activities on Wikiversity.

 * Read an introduction for teachers and find out how to write an educational resource for Wikiversity.
 * Discuss Wikiversity issues or ask questions at the colloquium.
 * Chat with other Wikiversitans on #wikiversity-en.

And don't forget to explore Wikiversity with the links to your left. Be bold to contribute and to experiment with the sandbox or your userpage, and see you around Wikiversity! Erkan Yilmaz uses the Chat (try) 07:35, 3 August 2008 (UTC)

title: User talk:Bbrezvan


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User:MandaG

Student Expectations Page
Hey guys! So it turns out lecturers are seeking ways to improve the way us students learn. To aid them in their efforts feel free to comment.

 * Student expectations of lecturers

Lecture and Tutorial Thoughts

 * Week 1 Lecture 1: Introduction, History and Research
 * Week 2 Lecture 2: The social self
 * Introductory Tutorial
 * Week 3 Lecture 3: Social Thinking
 * Week 3 Tutorial: Communication
 * Week 4 Lecture 4: Aggression
 * Week 5 Lecture: Prejudice
 * Week 6 Tutorial: Prejudice and Aggression
 * Week 10 Lecture 6: Relationships (or lack thereof)
 * Week 11 Lecture 7: Groups and Leadership
 * Week 12 Lecture 8: Prosocial Behaviour
 * Week 12 Tutorial: Prosocial Behaviour and Hugh Mackay
 * Week 13 Lecture 9: Environmental Psychology

The End is Nigh
So it's about midnight on Monday 3rd of November, I have about 8 hours to finish the assesment and I'm sitting here wondering why I took this course, what I have learned and what the point was/is. Social psychology has been extraordinarily interesting for me on a number of levels. First and foremost because I am a very social person. I am interested in why we all act as we do in certain situations and this course has explored some of the reasons out there. While I certaintly don't agree with all of them it is good to have the knowledge anyhow, it's also fun to give names to things happening and make people think I am knowledgable. The second use is because as psychology is one of my degree's its nice to have a fun interactive class and subject matter to motivate me to complete the assesment pieces and to engage in activities in tutorials. As my second degree is law and at the end of this exceptionally long road I am planing to spend a long part of my career working with victims of crime hopefully with the AFP then doing some prosecuting work with the DPP, the extra knowledge and theoretical background of social circumstances and ideals that may lead to crime and how people react to and in certain situations is something that is interesting to me now and hopefully useful in the future (ie: The bystander effect, Depersonalisation, Mob mentality etc). I have really enjoyed this course and even keeping this portfolio which I thought I was going to hate! Mainly I enjoyed reading other people's but I also hope I have made you think, giggle or something...

"“The purpose of psychology is to give us a completely different idea of the things we know best”- Paul Valery"

"My psychology belongs to everyone.”- Alfred Adler"

title: User:MandaG