text:
User talk:Misscourt

Well done!
Well done on setting up, Misscourt! 'Official' wikiversity welcome below. Let me know if I can do anything. -- Jtneill - Talk - c 10:12, 27 July 2008 (UTC)

 Hello Misscourt, 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

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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 10:12, 27 July 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:Misscourt


text:
User talk:CVaughan

Well done!
Well done on setting up, CVaughan! 'Official' wikiversity welcome below. Let me know if I can do anything. -- Jtneill - Talk - c 10:12, 27 July 2008 (UTC)

 Hello CVaughan, 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 10:12, 27 July 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...

comment

 * >what attributes do effective leaders have: I always joked around when talking about this: they probably could sell an Eskimo a fridge :-) (Leaders)
 * >universal ideal of beauty: When reading this I had to think of also questions like: why are all people attracted to babies. Could it be because they assume babies still have what they don't have anymore ? Their pureness, innocence, showing feelings openly ? About beauty: perhaps being attracted because of what they not possess or a recognition of oneself by "them" (like: when a beautiful person likes you too, you must also be beautiful?). But thank God taste is different and will change over time (since also society manipulates one a lot and inner values are not seen fast enough). Perhaps you are also interested besides Physical attractiveness in this in the future ?
 * There was recently started a learning resource about Aesthetics
 * Category:Design
 * Standards of beauty within certain cultures and time periods (perhaps you create this one in the future :-)) Erkan Yilmaz uses the Chat (try) 11:28, 2 August 2008 (UTC)

Some feedback + links
Hi CVaughan, your e-portfolio is looking excellent in terms of regularity and depth of thinking/consideration around the various components of the unit. You're also making effective but judicious use of images, plus providing links to further information. If you check the history of your page, you should be able to see that I've made some edits to include use of "thumb" images (which allow inclusion of image captions), plus I've changed the wikipedia links to "internal style" and for external links changed some to hyperlink the text (as opposed to adding a footnote style number). But these are really very minor improvements (which you might nevertheless consider applying elsewhere) on your rich content. Later on I'll respond to some of your material more "substantively" (i.e., to the actual content). Sincerely, James -- Jtneill - Talk - c 03:43, 20 August 2008 (UTC)

Comment
Hi CVaughan, I just wanted to say how much I enjoy checking out your e-portfolio. It's fantastic! It looks good and is always an interesting read! Jenny O

A bit more feedback
Hi CVaughan. Wow, you've been busy and this e-portfolio continues to develop and enrichen, demonstrating ongoing depth of reading and thinking. My sense is that the exercise is "working for you", in that what you're presenting seems to be a natural flow from your engagement with various ideas, etc. So, this is really just give you a bit of assurance that you're very much (from my point of view) fulfilling the expectations I had envisaged for the e-portfolio experiment. Please let me know if I can do anything - e.g., if you would specific responses to anything in particular. -- Jtneill - Talk - c 13:00, 30 September 2008 (UTC)

Image formatting - gallery
FYI, one other option for presenting images is "gallery" e.g., it can do this:

 * -- Jtneill - Talk - c 13:03, 30 September 2008 (UTC)

Thanks James, I was wondering if there was a way to put borders around multiple pictures.

title: User talk:CVaughan


text:
User:Sarah Q

e-portfolio: Social Psychology

22.7.2008 (Week 1) - Studying the Behaviour of People in our Social World
Today was my first social psychology lecture and tutorial (T/03 – 16.30-18.30). Wow, I am absolutely blown away by how much today has uncovered and stimulated my interest in this topic. I can really tell that I am going to enjoy this course.

In the tutorial we were asked to provide an individual and group definition of what social psychology is. In our group we came up with this definition – “The influence of social context(s) on a person’s thoughts, feelings and behaviours”. I think that this is a good definition as it sums up the concept of social psychology concisely. This is truly a broad topic, as you soon come to realise that the “social contexts” that we referred to in our definition can be anything ranging from anything that has a situational social focus and that can even extend it self across cultures. I think I will find as a progress through this course and do my own research, that it will quickly become apparent the diversity involved with social psychology in a cultural context.

When we were asked to think about the knowledge we have already acquired about social psychology, I relied on University subjects that I have already taken in psychology, politics and gender. A countries political landscape and subsequent leaders have a major influence over the way society operates. Social interaction is exclusive and unique in many ways to either a male or a female as society values (more often than not stereotypically and in favour of the male) each of the sexes for different reasons. Political and gender influences over social interaction are something that I would like to examine further throughout the duration of this course.

I have started to think about essay topics. I was at the bookstore today and picked up a copy of Social Intelligence by Daniel Goleman. I have already read both Emotional Intelligence and Working with Emotional Intelligence written by Goleman, they were both really great reads. His work on social intelligence, specifically the angle he introduces from, that focuses on the influence that technology has had on human social interaction has really got me thinking about social psychology from the perspective of the ‘age of technology’. Has technology helped or hindered our ability to form genuine social relationships? Has our reliance on forms of communication such as telephone, text messaging, faxing, email, blogs, myspace, facebook etc, improved our social interactions or stripped us from traditional face to face communication, denying us the chance to form meaningful social friendships? News reports into the social e-communication phenomenon facebook, have suggested that for every 100 facebook friends a person has, only 1/100 of those friends are ‘genuine’ or ‘real’ friends. It would be interesting to delve further into the impact technology has had on social psychology.

5.8.2008 (Week 2 and 3)- Humans: Living in a technological world, what is the end result?
Further to my last entry, I have decided on an essay topic and James has helped me with the question. The question is – “New technology and communication: To what extent are new technologies facilitating or undermining our capacity for interpersonal communication?” The topic is exactly what I was looking for to express my interest with the influence that technology has over social communication in our society. Goleman talks about social disconnection and how technology has taken our focus away from what is important. Although, I am pretty sure that there is going to be a divide in opinion as to whether technology has indeed facilitated communication or undermined it.

James has pointed me in the direction of an ABC radio interview – “Txting: The Gr8 Db8” with Professor David Crystal. The interview delves into the positive side of ‘texting’ and how it had enhanced our language skills and interaction with language, and most importantly, each other. It was a fascinating article, however I think the focus was more on language rather than interpersonal communication as such. If anyone would like to check the transcript out then check out this link: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/mediareport/.

I am yet to explore the journals available on this topic. I cannot wait to get started on going through the literature though. I have been telling everyone that I work with about this essay (they can’t believe I am so excited about an essay) – and trying to get their own personal views on the topic. People so far have been extremely willing to share their opinions with me, and the opinions are almost always vastly different. Older people seem to have more negatively focused opinions, whilst younger people appear to have more positive opinions (perhaps a reflection of younger generation’s embracement of technology and older generation’s rejection).

Lastly, on the Frontline Rwanda documentary viewed in week 4 lecture. How disgraceful. I was completely enraged that this type of thing can go on under our own eyes. Being exposed to this type of information instantly makes you want to become involved social groups that oppose these types of horrendous violations of human rights. You cannot help but feel a sense of guilt, because Australia is a county that is so politically interconnected with the political agendas of the USA. So much pain and suffering inflicted upon people due to the ignorance of the worlds most powerful nation. All you can do is ask yourself – how does this happen and who lets this happen? Surely compassion and commonsense could of prevailed over the bureaucratic red-tape that saw almost a million humans perish?

19.8.2008 (Week 4 and 5) - People and Aggression: Unleash the Demon
The text book breaks aggression down into four sub-types. Firstly, ‘hostile aggression’ which is defined by behaviour coloured by anger and impulse and often present when the individual wishes to harm someone. Secondly, ‘instrumental aggression’ which is often calculated and premeditated dangerous behaviour. Thirdly, we encounter the term – ‘passive aggression’ which expresses itself in a way implied by its name, for example failing to tell somebody the floor is wet with the intention of watching them fall. Lastly, ‘active aggression’ is when a person seeks out proactively to harm others through exhibiting aggressive and dangerous behaviour.

The content of the textbook focuses largely on the negative aspects of aggression and the impact this has for society. This is an interesting view as aggression also has its positives. I recently attended Assertiveness Training with a group of people from my company. There we were taught the value of being assertive although not aggressive in the way we communicate with our colleagues at work. Assertiveness and aggressiveness share some of the same traits although there is a fine line between the two. In business if you are not aggressive in some aspects of your job you will often find that you will not achieve the outcome that you have set out to complete. So an interesting thing to consider is that although aggression has caused some social disasters, on the flip side it has also probably attributed to some of societies great successes. For example, a sports person needs to have an element of aggression in they way he/she plays sport so motivation remains high to achieve the outcome of the win. Aggression, assertion and passion all work together to motivate individuals to overcome the hurdles present during the course of life.

Self control is an interesting topic approached by the text. This is the way that humans can contain selfish urges of anger. Self control is also perhaps a way that humans can modify aggression and use it in a positive and motivational drive to achieve success.

1.9.2008 (Week 6 and 7) - People: Born to follow the leader and move with the pack?
Our guest lecturer Melisah Feeny was really great and engaged the class from retelling her experiences of prejudice experienced throughout her work with the Australian aboriginal population. The importance of group membership was expressed as one of the largest contributors to prejudice. Because we belong to a particular social group, other groups of people that have contrasting and different ways of living in comparison to our own ways we often display prejudice towards these people. A large number of the time our prejudices are based on cultural misunderstandings and basically the incapacity to understand, appreciate and tolerate differences.

Melisah based most of her lecture around prejudice towards Aboriginals in Australia. Although I believe it is important to realise that this exists. However, other groups in our country also experience racism and prejudice. Muslims are a cultural group in Australia that also experience prejudice, particularly after the terrorist attacks of September 11. The following article is interesting because it illustrates the struggles faced by Muslims in Australia post September 11. The Muslim writer introduces the concept of prejudicial assumptions -http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/06/21/1087669912119.html. The text book refers to these as stereotypes which are the heuristics that people often (falsely) rely on to make inferences about people before actually getting a chance to know the person for who they really are.

In overcoming prejudice in society it is clear that each person needs to be educated on what prejudice is and how to consciously prevent it from happening. Melisah explained how sometimes prejudice is works innately, for example you will often sit closer to someone who is more like you and avoid those that look different to you. Sometimes we display prejudice without even knowing it because it is often ingrained in our minds and the prejudicial beliefs are often those that have been passed down through the generations.

1.10.2008 (Week 10 and 11) - Humans, the product of Living a Fleeting Life in an Unstable World
Social Capital

Thinking about this construct in terms of ‘human capital’. Perhaps a way in which we can use social skills to achieve desired outcomes. Networking with others establishes links to other groups, cultures and social experiences. The more positive social capital a group has the better its position in the context of the other groups that surround it.

Social Disengagement (Mackay, 2005)

Fundamentalism

Fundamentalism has no place in describing the human condition; there is not always one single answer to issues concerning people and their place in the social realm.

Social Economics

Mackay speaks of how the distribution of the economy in Australia has brought about many social, political and attitudinal changes amongst the population. Perhaps we are now branching into a time when these changes will be reversed as the looming financial crisis sets in.

Divorce Rate - Teflon Society

Australia now has a 45% divorce rate. Nearly half of all marriages will end in divorce? What does this do to our social landscape? Are we now a Teflon society? If it slides then let it, it is just a contract. There are plenty of options to consider and invest in if it doesn’t all work out. At least the lawyers will remain wealthy out of regulating the social chaos we create. We are too easy to commit and even more fickle when it comes to disconnection.

Leadership – Where are the Enlargers?

Enlarging our society’s vision. When I think of leadership, I think of George Bush. Now what a fine leader he has turned out to be. There is no one stand out political leader I can think of across this globe during my 21 years of life that has inspired me or added depth to my vision for the future. Right now we are seeing political leaders across the globe pulling banks out of the deep end. When have the banks ever pulled us out of the deep end? We are now living in an era where our taxes are being recruited to make banks feel more secure. What about everything else our taxes could be going towards? This is where I agree with Mackay’s statement to draw on your own inspiration instead of waiting for it to come from somewhere else. You might just be the next leader this world is craving.

7.10.2008 (Week 12) - Social Intelligence in Humans: The good samaritan
Prosocial Behaviour: doing something that is in the best interests of others and society as a whole (Baumiester & Bushman, 2008).

Forgiveness is an interesting point touched on under the topic of pro-social behaviour. Modern society does not really faciliate forgiveness, as the speed of our lives do not really accomodate the act of spending the time to forgive someone unless they are closely associated to you. If someone weakly associated to you does the wrong thing by you, the time is not usually spent to forgive them, it is more likely spent distancing yourself from the person who has wronged you. The study that revealed that forgiveness is usually more likely in the context of an apology being offered is quite reflective of personal social experiences. You are much more likely to forgive someone if they acknowledge that they have wronged you and feel regret for acting in the way that they did. However, it also depends on the degree of wrong that they have placed against you. Sometimes forgiveness is not possible.

The phenomenon, belief in just a word: where the assumption is made that people get what they deserve is a concept that I feel reflects societies views well. A wise mathematics teacher I had in high school told our class before we sat for our HSC, not "good luck", "do your best" or "study hard", but instead - "I hope you all get what you deserve". Some of us probably did and some of us didn't get what we deserved due to a number of influencing factors. So perhaps this view-point is not entirely accurate, but nevertheless, reflective of a large portion of societies views.

Group influence, or the bystander effect demonstrates how people behave in response to assisting those in need when others are present. The beliefs here are mixed. Others just feel that other people will be the ones offering assistance, why lend a hand when the person next to you has already lent their hand? Our presumptions are not always correct when it comes to lending assistance. Maybe it is just the inherent laziness that people have acquired due to the technological age and the isolation that this has brought about for many. Many people now live as individuals, in their own world. Social awareness is underdeveloped and washed out by technology and the isolated lives we now choose to live. Social psychology is particularly interesting in the fact that not much study has been done on the impacts of technology on our social existence and behaviour. If I was to go onto honours this would be my topic for investigation, as I believe it is important to understand the impacts of what is currently going on in our social world in terms of people that choose isolation over socialisation.

13.10.2008 (Week 13) - Humans: Social Animals in a Diverse Environment
Environmental Psychology

Stokols & Altman (1987): The study of human behaviour and well-being in relation to the socio-physical environment.

Russell & Snodgrass (1987): The branch of Psychology concerned with providing a systematic account of the relationship between a person and the environment.

Bell, Fisher, Baum & Greene (1996): The study of the molar relationships between behaviour experience and the built and natural environments.

http://environmentpsychology.com/

The environment has a significant impact on psychosocial well being. For example, my essay on new technology and communication delves into research that explicates the impact an environment characterised by modern technology has on the mental health and psychosocial well-being of people (Van Den Eijnden, Meerkerk, Vermulst, Spikerman & Engels, 2008). A person that is constantly communication via cell phone, email, facebook, web-cam etc has an environment that is partially void of face to face communication. Face to face communication is our traditional and genuine method of communication. Perhaps the value of it in terms of environmental psychology is yet to be explored by researchers in great detail.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_psychology

Judith Harris has produced some particularly insightful literature concerning the environmental influences over childhood development. Harris believes that the environment plays a major role in the way a person begins to see the world they live in. The general consensus amongst research psychologists is that both biological (nature) and environmental (nurture) forces, contribute to the formation of human personality (Eaves & Eysenck, 1975). The environment a child is brought up in, consisting of their parents, siblings, peer-group and a number of other associates influence the development of the child’s personality (Pike & Eley, 2004). Recently focus has shifted to the influence of the child’s peer-group, as research indicates that the peer-group has a substantial impact on behavioural development, perhaps more than any other identified environmental influence (Harris, 2000). Goleman (1998) argues that genes endow people with a series of set-points that manifest and influence behaviour at varying degrees as a result of environmental experiences.

Baumiester and Bushman (2008) apply the logic behind environmental psychology to consumerist behaviour and the experience a store offers to a consumer. The focus of marketing in our current time always adds emphasis to the experience a potential customer has in a store, as GEN Y is characterised by always seeking out enriching life experiences, from travel to shopping. The more aroused and stimulated a person is by a stores atmosphere the more likely they are to part with the money in their wallets. The dominant response however, can have the reverse effect, when a shopper becomes over-aroused by the store and their inherent tendency to escape arousal comes into play with the shopper leaving the store.

We cannot underestimate the power and influence the environment has over our social behaviour.

25.10.2008 (Week 14 and 15) - Wrap Up: Bringing Social Psychology Into Perspective
The study of this unit has made me realise why psychology is so important to the bigger picture of human existence itself. To be able to survive the challenges brought about by our environment and ourselves in the future, we need to have a complete understanding of what it means to exist in the social world.

Essay: In my essay, through the investigation of social psychological theory and research into interpersonal communication in the context of the modern technological age I have discovered what the implications and benefits are for the use of technology on human communication. The way we communicate with one another provides the basis for our behaviour and social interactions with one another. This is why I found it so important to investigate this topic, as technology has changed the way we communicate with one another. For example, this e-portfolio demonstrates how social communication has changed. We have a group of University students communicating at the highest level with one another via the internet. Interpersonal communication through this medium is not really achieveable, nor perhaps the desired goal of this e-portfolio. However, for us to be able to preserve the fundamentals of genuine human connections it is so important that we understand what technology has brought to the mix.

Environmental Psychology: The environment plays a very important role over human social interaction. Sights, sounds, smells all contribute to social cognition. However, the environment is not the only driver of social behaviour, as genes also play in the decision making processes and social outcomes for all of us. How can this be applied practically? Being more aware of the certain forces and motivations behind some peoples behaviour. There can be more than one reason for someone acting in a particular way.

Prosocial Behaviour: For there is good in every one of us. Altruism is something that needs to be taught, preserved and encouraged. The lives we live are not really conducive to altruism and taking time out of your already tightly scheduled day to stop and lend a hand to someone in need. In the society we currently live in, time is money and money is time. In saying this, a large portion of people are still willing to act out of self interest and in the interests of those around them. Thank the lord above for these people as they make for a pleasant social world.

Social Disengagement: Hugh Mackays speech really stimulated my thoughts on social psychology. In social psychology you study people in their environment and reflect and comment on the positive and negative aspects of your observations. Social psychology is the ultimate branch of psychology. Our world is changing and the demand for people that can shed light on these unprecendented changes will be the individuals that stand out from the crowd in the future. Practically Mackays speech highlighted the importance of self motivation and self leadership, as the 'enlargeners' are few and far between and those in leadership positions currently throughout the world are not always worthy of these positions. Its time to make your own way there and turn the light on at the end of the tunnel for yourself.

Groups: The need to belong. Group membership stems from the human need for affiliation. We want to associate and be close to those who share the same interests as us and the same beliefs.

Prejudice: Prejudice stems from the human need for group membership. Prejudice thrives in group situations as a whole number of people that believe strongly in the same thing allow for ideas to become completely indoctrinated into the individuals in the group. Religion is a perfect practical example of the results of wanting to be involved in a group. Prejudice on the other hand in a religious context comes when the members of this group are so strongly motivated by their views that they have little or no tolerance for differences or groups of other people that do not share their same beliefs.

Aggression: Aggression comes from prejudice, intolerance, confusion and at times psychopathology. All of these things can often work together to formulate some of the most horrendous crimes and social moments in our history.

Final Thought, What really is social psychology? Social psychology is who we are, what we think and most importantly where we are headed in the future as a result of our beliefs and understanding of the world we live in. If we do not take the time to evaluate and reconsider our social thoughts and preferences and how they are influencing our social future, on a global scale, than the human race will surely cease to exist. Some people feel we need to study genetics, formulate new medications to treat the ill and find cures for diseases. These are in no doubt the most highly valued areas of science and with all valid reason. However, how we exist and relate to the world is important. This is why social psychology should be held in the highest of regard for psychologists in general as it is social phenomenons we need to understand in order to preserve our species.

title: User:Sarah Q


text:
User talk:Sarah Q

Well done!
Well done on setting up, Sarah Q! 'Official' wikiversity welcome below. Let me know if I can do anything. -- Jtneill - Talk - c 10:15, 27 July 2008 (UTC)

 Hello Sarah Q, 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 10:15, 27 July 2008 (UTC)

 Hello , we are the Baah and Bahh twins and we'd both like to welcome you to Wikiversity. While you sit back and explore Wikiversity, enjoy some of our fresh goat milk. You can help us learn by creating new learning resources or help us by improving the guided tours and other exploration tools. We look forward to seeing you around. Baaaahbye for now.

title: User talk:Sarah Q


text: User:Jtneill/Hardware

title: User:Jtneill/Hardware


text: Firefox/Portable

title: Firefox/Portable


text: Category:Web browsers

title: Category:Web browsers


text:
Category:Web Design project

This category is used specifically for pages in the web design project, originally started by User:Michaelnelson in 2005.

title: Category:Web Design project


text: Template:Web design/header

title: Template:Web design/header


text:
User:Bengkulu

Bengkulu is a province in Sumatra Island, Indonesia. It is also the capital of the province.

title: User:Bengkulu


text:
User:Rursus

Hi!
I'm User:Rursus, and the wiki system says my home wikimedia foundation site is w:User:Rursus english wikipedia. So from there, reach me.

 * /modern.css - fix style.
 * /vector.css - new style.

title: User:Rursus


text:
User:Rursus/modern.css

/*************************************************************************** || This style sheet is Free-something, released under the conditions of || || GFDL, see link belowest on this page. This license is only due to the || || Wikileaders saying so - otherwise it would simply have been PD.      || ||---|| || A slightly complex style sheet making all personal links, and the    || || search/look-up facility a menu fixed at the top, and the article     || || contents fixed at the upper right. || ***************************************************************************/

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title: User:Rursus/modern.css


text:
User:Igor Flor

Igor Flor is the creator of the bioeconomic philosophy and the author of the book "BIONOMICS. Analysis based on bioeconomic analogies" published in Russia in 2005. Igor Flor is the founder of the International Bionomics Institute. Today he is preparing his new book titled "Political Bionomics" to publication.

title: User:Igor Flor


text:
User:Reido

Introduction

 * Hi guys welcome to my page cant wait to get into this subject looks so interesting im very excited!! hope you all feel the same!! chat soon!!!

 * Reido :)

Confused and Puzzled
hi everyone

I found today’s lecture so interesting when James was talking about how we are more interested in the causes of our events than the actual events themselves. It made me think that I do this all the time as I sit and analyse quite small events in my life and wonder what caused these things to happen instead of worrying about the actual event, which causes the event to completely blow out of proportion. I guess what I really want to know is why we do this? I get that we are looking for a sense of cognitive control which in turn might help us predict the future, which will then hopefully prepare us for how we should react! But why do we need to do this, why cant we just let things flow and not worry???

 * Reido :) 5/8/2008

The Social Self

 * The purpose of a self is to enable us to relate to others and helps us claim, sustain and  feel accepted within a culture or society

 * Its seems to be that the concept of the social self is a lot like Freud’s concept of our ego as the self (ego) has strong impulses to want what is best for itself (Id) but must be kept under control by our social conscience (super ego) so that we operate effectively in our social world.

 * According to our text our self is made up of three parts:

1) Self knowledge (also known as our self concept) – This is personal information about ones self, it is our self awareness, self esteem and self deception. It enables us to develop our own sets of beliefs, feelings and thoughts about ourselves. I feel this is true as I am and I’m sure many others are always reflecting and judging our beliefs, feelings and thoughts about our selves, whether it be in a good way or a bad way

2) Interpersonal self – This is our public self, the self we show to everyone we meet. I feel we need this self for protection from society and it is not until you truly know and trust someone that this mask of protection falls down. I also feel that in some circumstances no matter how well you know that person that this mask of protection will never fully come off and maybe it’s because you know subconsciously you don’t trust that person or you feel pressured to act a certain way with them?? I also feel the mask of protection must stay on in certain situations as we all must act in a certain way to be accepted by society as we all want social acceptance but why can’t we just simply be accepted for who we are??? Really why do we need this interpersonal self??

3) Agent self or executive function – we all need one of these as it is the self that makes our decisions and takes both self control and in some situations control of others to get things done, as we are all doers with some stronger then others!!

What makes the self the Individual or Society?????

 * I feel that it is mostly society that makes us ourselves of course with a touch of biological processes. But as I see it society is what we as a population are trying to be accepted in as we all have a need to belong and seek approval (with some more then others) which therefore I feel is in a way controlling how our selves act! But what I want to know is why, why do we need to have acceptance?? Does it come down to the sociometer theory where our self esteem rises with the more social acceptance we have, therefore making us feel better or what???

 * Reido :) 13/8/2008

Thoughts on the Genocide in Rwanda

 * Watching the Ghosts of Rwanda documentary was an eye opener into how cruel and prejudice people really are. I never heard about the Rwandan Genocide until now and it just made me feel sick watching it. I was completely shocked that just about everyone knew what was going on but no one was willing to help. Just listening to Laura Lane and how she tried to push for help but nobody wanted to take the risk of American casualties, just made me feel disgusted in America and ashamed to be associated with them. Why is it in today’s society that when one person tries to do something that is morally right no one will help because the majority doesn’t want to. Why is what the majority says always right and considered word. Did nobody do anything because Rwandan’s aren’t Westernised people as Clinton said “…it is not in the interests of America to save these people…” But why? They are still human beings like us?? Just because they are different in colour and cultural ways does not make them any less human then we are does it?? Is westernised culture really that self absorbed and we will only help those of the same colour and culture?? I’m pretty sure that one of the seven American core values for their Armed Forces is ‘Respect – treat others as they should be treated.’ What happened here America??

 * Reido :) 18/8/2008

Aggression

 * Aggression is any behaviour intended to harm another person who is motivated to avoid the harm. According Baumeister and Bushman (2008) there are three parts to aggression.

1) Aggression is behaviour because you can see it. Aggression is not an emotion such as anger nor is it a thought that you mentally rehearse.

2) Aggression is intentional and the intent is to harm.

3) An act of aggression is only aggression when the victim wants to avoid harm so therefore situations such a suicide and sadomasochistic sex play are excluded because the victim is actually seeking harm. In saying this though I feel that such acts of suicide or sadomasochistic sex play should be seen as aggression as it’s not always the actual person seeking out harm but it is the emotional problems and feelings within them that are inflicting this harm upon them????

 * There are two types of aggression according to social psychologists and they are:

1) Hostile Aggression: this type of aggression is known as “HOT” as it is impulsive, angry behaviour that is motivated by a desire to harm someone. For example it is aggression that stems from emotional states, such as aggression towards someone you are arguing with (Bardens & Horowitz, 2001).

2) Instrumental Aggression: this type of aggression is known as a “COLD” pre-mediated calculated behaviour that is motivated by some other goal. For example shooting a homeowner during a burglary (Bardens & Horowitz).

 * The problem with these distinctions is that motives for aggression are often mixed. I support this as well because what if someone was robbing a house because that person always argues with them in class and they end up shooting them just because they don’t want to get caught????

 * There are also many more distinctions in aggression such as verbal aggression vs physical aggression and passive aggression vs active aggression.

Nature vs Nurture debate:

So in looking at aggression is aggression instinctual or a learnt behaviour????

Well the way I feel many behaviours such as aggression are learned and although behaviours such as aggression are innate it is the environment that teaches us how to use these behaviours. In other words we may all have a little aggression in us but we learn from parents, role models and the media what to do with our innate behaviours such as aggression. This therefore supports the theoretical model of social learning as it suggests that people learn aggressive behaviours through observing others. A perfect example of this is in Bandura’s BoBo Doll experiment (see link) Banduras experiment looked at social learning through people learning from imitation. He used children because they haven’t been exposed to social conditioning as much as adults. In his experiment he exposed children to adult models exhibiting aggressive or non aggressive behaviour. After the children were exposed to the two conditions they were placed in a mutual environment where they were observed to see whether they imitated the adult role model’s behaviour. Basically it was found that the children exposed to the aggressive model were more likely to act in an aggressive manner then the children exposed to the non aggressive model. Therefore I feel this is demonstrating my point that aggression is more of a learned behaviour then an innate one. Again an advertisement by Children Friendly Australia (see link) Also demonstrates a good example that behaviours such as aggression are learnt. In conclusion it is hard to fully take one side about aggression, but I feel I am leaning more towards the learning side then the instinct side as our environment clearly has a big influence on the way we act, and although it is an innate behaviour how would we know how to use aggression without someone or something modelling it for us???

 * Reido :) 19/8/2008

Prejudice

 * Prejudice is a negative attitude or feeling toward an individual based solely on that individual’s membership to a certain group.

 * Prejudice is an innate and natural human function and can be positive or negative (but I think it is mostly negative)

 * Prejudice illustrates racism which can be defined as prejudiced attitudes towards a particular race. However in today’s society racism is more subtle and is often seen as aversive racism, which can be defined as someone who simultaneously holds egalitarian values and negative feelings towards minorities. An aversive racist will often believe in racial equality and equal opportunity but they also feel uncomfortable around minorities and try to avoid them when possible.

 * Prejudice feelings also sometimes lead to people discriminating against others, meaning they give unequal treatment to different people based on the groups or categories to which they belong.

Some common terms belonging to prejudice:

 * Stereotypes: Beliefs that associate groups of people with certain traits

 * Subtypes: Categories that people use for individuals who do not fit a general stereotype e.g. career women, athlete

 * Outgroup members: Often referred to as ‘Them’. They are people who belong to a different group or category than you or I do.

 * Ingroup members: Often referred to as ‘Us’. They are people who belong to the same group or category as you and I do.

 * A well known example of prejudice is the Ku Klux Clan to read more about them click here on link

 * As a society I think we need to be less prejudice especially against certain subtypes and stereotypes, such as obese people and people from different races as we have become a very multi-cultural place. In order to do that we need to consciously override our automatic system and change our views consciously; increase available contact as well as contact under the specific conditions such as the members from different groups must be of equal status, the contact must be positive, and the outgroup members must be perceived as typical members of their group (read chapter 12 for more information on this); and set subordinate goals between different groups so they get a chance to work together.

 * Reido :) 22/8/2008

Jane Elliot's Brown Eye Blue Eye

 * I thought Jane Elliot’s brown eye blue eye experiment was one of the most interesting things I have watched I really enjoyed it. The aim of her experiment was to teach her little third class children about prejudice after Martin Luther King got killed. On the first day the blue eyed children were seen as the superior race and brown eyed children were discriminated against because of their eye colour. It was just so interesting to see little kids discriminating against each other because of eye colour in such a short period of time. This obviously shows how easy it is to form discriminative opinions against others, therefore supporting what was said in our text about the automatic system. On day two Jane Elliot changed the conditions and the brown eyed children became superior and the blue eyed kids were discriminated against, thus giving them all a chance to see both sides. I thought this experiment was very effective as watching the follow up 14 years later and seeing what those children had to say was just amazing. The children (now adults) said that they really learnt a lot out of that experiment and it has helped them change their views towards racism. It has also helped them as parents teach their kids about racism, as they said “our kids won’t learn prejudice first hand.” I think after watching something like this maybe all schools should implement this in early years of schooling to help consciously override that tendency we have to automatically process information about prejudice thoughts and racism. It was also interesting that this experiment changed children’s grades for the better within a space of 24 hours, therefore again suggesting that it is an effective tool for learning and should be placed in more schools today!

Here is information on the experiment I totally recommend you watch it, it is great!!!

 * Reido 4/9/2008

Social Thinking

 * Social psychologists study how people think about people as it something we think about more than any other topic. I think it is so true when it is said that people are lazy when it comes to thinking because I know just being a busy uni student I never want to think about stuff because my brain gets so fried from studying.

 * There are three types of goals that guide how people think:

1- People want to find the right answer to a problem or question

2- To confirm the desired answer to a problem

3- To reach a pretty good answer of decision quickly

 * Some thinking is automatic whilst other thinking needs conscious control. The four elements that distinguish automatic thinking from a controlled process of thinking are:

1-Intention

2-Control

3-Effect

4-Efficiency

 * Automatic thinking relies on knowledge structures that can be defined as organised packets of information that are stored in memory. They are created by sets of related concepts that are frequently brought to mind or activated. Once activated these knowledge structures simple run their course like an airplane set on autopilot.

Schemas: are knowledge structures that represent substantial information about a concept, its attributions and its relationships

Scripts: are knowledge structures that contain information about how people (or other objects) behave under varying circumstances

Priming: means to activate a concept in the mind which in turn can influence the way we interpret new information.

Framing: means that we see every decision as having potential gains and losses.

SELF SERVING BIAS

 * As I was reading chapter five I came across the part about attributions and it’s not my fault explaining success and failure and found it very interesting. They suggested that the attribution theory was a map into how people interpret success and failure. Fritz Heider analysed what he called the “common sense psychology” by which people explain everyday events. Heider suggested that there are many explanations for behaviour but most fall into two categories.

1- Internal factors – such as ability, attitudes, personality, mood, and effort 2- External factors – such as the task, other people, or luck

 * After reading about this all I could think was when something goes wrong are we more likely to blame it on external factors compared to internal factors?? I feel the answer is yes because that is what the self-serving bias suggests that we are more likely to give credit for our successes and attribute our failures to external circumstances such as bad luck and task difficulty. But why? According to Rosenfeld (1990) the traditional view is that these self-serving biases result from a person’s need to enhance, maintain and defend self-esteem through the attribution of success to the self and failure to the environment to protect their self esteem. Rosenfeld also offered an alternative view and that is that the self-serving bias can be explained by a persons need to have high self-presentation or impression management, meaning it is mediated by a desire to gain a positive public image rather than by a concern for one’s private image. Although both explanations seem like valid points research shows that the self-esteem theory best explains the self serving bias meaning that we have this bias to protect our self esteem (Rosenfeld). What do you guys think??

Rosenfeld, P. (1990). Self-esteem and impression management explanations for self serving bias. Journal of Social Psychology, 130, 495-500.

 ATTITUDES

 * What are attitudes? Attitudes are global evaluations toward some object or issue. According to Eagly and Chaiken (1993) attitudes are “a psychological tendency that is expressed by evaluating a particular entity with some degree of favour or disfavour.”

 * Are attitudes the same as beliefs? No because are pieces of information about something, facts or opinions.

 * Dual attitudes are defined as different evaluations of the same attitude object. There are twos parts:

1- an implicit attitude: are automatic and nonconcious evaluative responses 2- an explicit attitude: are controlled and conscious evaluative responses

 * The dual model means that a person can have different competing attitudes in the conscious as opposed to the automatic parts of the mind.

 * So why is it we have attitudes? Well as I see it life is complex and with out some form of attitude how will we make decisions and get through life. They help us in many ways such as helping us to adjust to new situations, help us seek out things that reward us and avoid things that punish us. With out some form of attitude you could get very lost in this big wide world!

 INFLUENCES

 * As social influence is such a broad topic social psychologists distinguish between two major forms of social influence.

1 - Normative Influence: this means a person will go along with a crowd in order to be liked and accepted within the group. This may stem from our survival instincts to insure we are not excluded from a group as being with a social group enhances your survival rate. Many people learn to conform to group rules for example when living with someone you have to agree on common beliefs and values or in a work place you have to abide by certain rules to stay there. A good example I can think of is when people first met on ressies and everyone had a need to drink just so they could fit in and not be rejected from the group. Being rejected can be very painful for some people and is maybe why normative influence is so powerful. A famous experiment that demonstrates normative influence is by Asch in the 1950’s click here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asch_conformity_experiments to see. In his experiment people followed the group when judging the lines even when the group was wrong. This just shows how powerful groups are and our great need to belong.

2- Informational influence: means that people go along with a crowd because they feel the crowd knows more than them. Two types of situations produce informational influence:

1- Ambiguous situations – meaning people do not know how to behave 2- Crisis situations – meaning people don’t have time to think for themselves

 * When reading about informational influence all that came to mind was that so many people do this in new situations or in situations of panic for example so many people on the first day of uni were just like follow the crowd of people surely they know where they will be going, I even remember doing this myself. When thinking about the influence of a group in a crisis all I could think is maybe that’s why everyone panics without even knowing what is going on for instance in the boxing day tsunami people probably didn’t even know there was a tsunami but they saw everyone else in a panic so they would have been more likely to get themselves in a panic, even though that’s probably the worst thing they could do. I guess it’s like a form of observational learning??

 * I found it very interesting reading the box about “scared into safe sex?” from chapter 13. It was basically about people trying to stop AIDS by using fear-inspiring anti-AIDS films. The findings suggested they didn’t work on people engaging in sexual behaviour because people often try to resist feeling bad. They also found that people tended to lower the risks for themselves contracting AIDS, maybe meaning that people have an optimistic bias about the risks for contracting AIDS. However findings also found that the fear-inspiring films did work on virgins and suggested this is because they were able to attend to the films as they were not currently at risk for getting AIDS. The reason I thought this was so interesting is because all I could think about was the fear-inspiring anti-smoking ads on TV. Are these ads really helping people quite smoking or just creating a higher optimistic bias towards the effects of smoking? I guess if you based this question off the AIDS findings it’s helping maybe prevent non-smokers from taking up smoking which is good, but it wont be helping people quite smoking or lower their optimistic views about the effects from smoking. So although these fear-inspiring ads may prove useful for influencing non-smokers they might not be very useful for influencing people to quite and reduce their levels of optimism towards their health. What do you guys think??

 * Reido :) 11/8/2008

Relationships

 * Whooo the “L word” it can be overused and nothing for many but it also can be such a cherished and special word for others! What is this word we call Love anyway??

According to much research over the years the experts suggests there are two types of love:

1) Passionate Love: Passionate love means having strong feelings of longing, desire and excitement toward a special someone. Passionate love may also be called “Romantic Love.” Passionate love makes people want to spend as much time as possible together, to touch each other and engage in other physical intimacies. People who have this type of love often find joy in just seeing the one they love. 2) Companionate Love: Companionate love is also called “Affectionate Love.” It is less strongly emotional and tends to be calmer and more sincere. People who experience this type of love often perceive each other as their soul mate or special partner. It signifies a high level of mutual understanding and caring and in many cases a commitment to make a relationship succeed, such as marriage. Someone who has high levels in this type of love will often say something along the lines of “my wife is my best friend.”

 * Something I found super interesting whilst reading was that people who feel passionately in love have higher levels of phenylethylamine and this chemical is responsible for that tingling feeling when you are with the person you love!

 * But why is it we make relationships with certain people?? It is obvious that we seek out someone to love and love us back because we have a need to belong but what is it about a certain someone that draws us to them??

 * Firstly I feel physical attractiveness plays a large role. Physical attractiveness seems to significantly effect how society views that person. Physically attractive people are often seen to be happier, have greater sexual warmth, are more popular with others, have a greater intelligence and are often more successful. Therefore a person is more likely to choose someone as a potential partner based on their external appearance. Buss (1994) suggests that both heterosexual and homosexual men are more likely to put greater emphasis on physical attractiveness! Why? Well Buss suggests this may fall back on the evolutionary perspective as men selected partners based on their secondary sexual characteristics, for example symmetrical features, level of fitness, age and physical appearance. These characteristics displayed by a woman were signs of a high fertility rate which means the man viewed a greater reproductive success rate for them and their potential partner. In today’s society I also feel the media has placed emphasis on having a physical attractive partner because any magazine you pick up is smothered in celebrities (both male and female) who are air brushed, super thin, tanned and made symmetrical looking to appear attractive. Even when you type in good looking people to google these types of images pop up. I feel that this may be unconsciously making an ideal partner who is physically attractive in people’s heads, which consequently makes them feel they need to have this ideal person to be accepted in our society. For example, according to magazines good looking men are supposed to be tanned and muscular, therefore to be accepted in society a female may need to find this tanned and muscular male to be with. But this is jus what I think anyone agree??

 * Leading on from attractiveness is similarity. Similarity may play a role in who we pick as a potential partner. The matching hypothesis proposes that we do not seek the most attractive person but that we are attracted to individuals who match our own attractiveness. One of the reasons we do this is to protect ourself from rejection (Eyesneck 2004). There is limited research in the area but one of the most known studies is by Walster and Walster (1969) (cited in Eysneck) where they repeated their computer dance experiment and found support for the matching hypothesis. But why do we pick similar people to ourselves is it because we have been naturally selected for culture and we evolved under the conditions of competing cultures, and it would be to our advantage to be with someone similar or is it a social thing we have facilitated through groups to help each other live better?? I was thinking about this and thought to myself what about all the people out there that aren’t equal in attraction?? Is our decision based on our self esteem? Is it all about how good we feel, for example a person who thinks they are really good looking will go for a really good looking person because that’s their equal according to them, even though when other people look at them physically they are not equal in terms of their attraction. Maybe other characteristics such as personality and intelligence over ride the physical characteristics, but again attractiveness is usually the first thing that draws us to person so I don’t know?? Any thoughts???

 * What about proximity? Proximity or nearness can apparently influence our choices of friends and romantic partners. In the 1930’s Bossard looked at 5000 marriage licences in Philadelphia and found for couples who got married they did previously live in close proximity before they were married. Now I do think that proximity plays a role in some cases as I speak from experience because living on ressies and going to school can make relationships a bit incest at times, but do you think this applies to today’s western world?? I think proximity might not play such a big role anymore because in western society we have a lot of technology to help us communicate with people all around the world. For example you can now date over the net and potentially meet or find someone you want to be with and they could come from Europe or America.

Reference:

M.W. Eysenck (2004) Psychology: an international perspective. Published by Taylor and Francis

Buss, David [1994] (2003). The Evolution of Desire (hardcover), second, New York: Basic Books, 57, 58, 60–63.

 * Reido :) 25/9/2008

Playing Hard To Get

 * Does playing hard to get make the human female more attractive to the human male? Well this was my first essay question I received but as there appears to be a paucity of research in the area and consequently I had to change. The only relevant article about this topic is by Walster, E., Walster, G. W., & Piliavin, J. (1973). “Playing hard to get” understanding an elusive phenomenon. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 26, 113-121. The article suggests that according to folklore the woman who is hard to get is a more desirable catch than the woman who is too eager for an alliance. The researchers conducted five experiments based on three theoretical models (Dissonance theory, Learning theory, & Schachterian theory) to test the suggestion that a hard to get female is more desirable than an easier to catch female. Researchers basically found that all experiments failed to offer any support. Therefore a sixth experiment was done and hypothesised that a selectively hard to get woman (meaning a woman who is easy to get for the subject but hard to get for other men) will be especially liked by her date compared to a hard to get woman for everyone or an easy to get woman for everyone. Results demonstrated that this hypothesis was supported and basically found that for a man’s choice in a date the selective woman is far more popular. As this article was done so long ago do you still think these same results would be found? I think there is a need for further research in the area as I asked many people this question (both male and females) and they all answered ‘yes it does!’ what does everyone else think??? (Please look it up and read it, it is  very interesting).

 * Reido :) 26/9/2008

Groups

Groups can be defined in many ways:

 * A group is a collection of people usually people who are doing or being something together
 * A group can even be a dyad (meaning 2 people) as they can make decisions jointly, but in saying this, a group of two people would have very different dynamics than a large group of three or more people.
 * Groups can be seen as whole culture, football team, study group, friend group, even people on a bus can be a group. However some groups are more of a group than other groups!

What makes a group feel united? Social facilitation:
 * Have a common identity
 * Interact frequently
 * Depend on each other
 * Work towards similar goals
 * Have common beliefs, values and practices
 * Members are often similar to each other
 * Can share emotionally powerful experiences
 * One of the main linking factors in a group is whether members of a group feel similar to each other because if they are too diverse they may find it harder to bring themselves together as a group. Also groups usually have some type of outgroup like an enemy or rival and this also distinguishes them as a group.
 * From an evolutionary perspective groups are important because loners equal losers and groups are people that have survived and passed on their genes. Groups can also be social and culturally orientated.

Power:
 * Robert Zajunc proposed a theory called the social facilitation theory and it stipulates that being in the presence of others is arousing, which in turn makes you breath faster, makes your heart beat faster, makes adrenaline pump through your system and so on. Zajunc’s theory suggests that being in the presence of others increases your dominant response tendency. Your dominant response tendency can be defined as the most common response in that situation therefore meaning that what ever you are use to doing in a situation you are more inclined to do when in the presence of others. I feel this theory might help explain why athletes and football players might perform better with a bigger crowd in the stands, as they are so use to performing well in those situations and the more people the greater chance have of having a dominant response tendency. Although in looking at this theory if an athlete gets too aroused by the crowd could they be at risk of not performing so well or choking, even though they are so familiar with what they have to do to perform (meaning they are not an amateur)? Therefore maybe the theory should explore to what point arousal makes us perform what we know so well, for example is there an optimal arousal point in which we must be at to perform a well known response and if so when we go above this or under this optimal arousal will performance suffer??

 * Power in a group context means that one person gets control over another person or others. Power can be very addictive and once you have had a taste of it, it is hard to stop sometimes. An imbalance of power within a group can cause many different effects most of which are harmful. Lord Acton, a British nobleman quoted that “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” A good example of power becoming harmful and out of control is the Stanford Prison Experiment, as prison guards who became in charge of the prisoners let the power get to their heads and the experiment as I’m sure you all know got out of control. Don’t get me wrong I do believe power is ok in small and controlled doses (just like Keltner, Grunford and Anderson suggested in their theory that power has five crucial effects) but it can easily get out of hand and people need to be cautious of this. Click here for more information on the Stanford Prison Experiment  and
 * Reido :) 1/10/2008

Prosocial Behaviour

 * Prosocial behaviour can be defined as doing something that is good for other people or for society as a whole. It includes behaviour that respects others or allows society to operate. It is the opposite of antisocial behaviour which means doing something bad for others or for society. Prosocial behaviour is about obeying rules, conforming to socially accepted standards of proper behaviour and cooperating with others.

 * People may wish to engage in prosocial behaviour for many reasons such as self-interest, reciprocity, altruism, social status, guilt, reward, or convenience But do our reasons for engaging in prosocial behaviour mostly stem from the fact that we are born to be fair. Fairness is said to be a part of culture and humans are said to be cultural animals with an impulse to belong to a culture. We have been designed by nature to belong to a culture that works on fairness and social exchange. It is said that if we don’t subject ourselves to sharing (meaning we don’t share with others) it makes us feel bad as a person and can cause psychological disorders such as depression. Therefore it is important to be fair to live a happy healthy life I feel. There has been a distinction between two types of unfairness. These are:

1-Underbenefited - meaning you get less than you deserve

2- Overbenefited – meaning you get more than you deserve Humans who understand fairness fully will understand both these concepts well.

 * Something I thought was so true and very interesting is the effects the rule of law has. A society in which people respect and follow the rules is said to have an effective rule of law and with out laws or ignoring existing laws, the rule of law is said to be lacking and people become unhappy. This can create total chaos for example I remember at school being in a classroom that didn’t have strict rules the class would just run wild and nothing would get done, so I can’t even imagine how life would be without rules in the real world. What do other think???

 * Something I also found interesting whilst reading this chapter (Chapter 8) is that the basic motive to bring help and benefit others is uniquely human. But what is it that makes us help others?

1- Egoistic helping – in which the helper wants something in return for helping you, meaning they want to increase their welfare in the situation at hand.
 * Firstly people are more likely to help those who are of the same genes and this is known as kin selection. This applies in any situation where help is needed but strengthened immensely by life and death situations for example rock climbing and two people fall one being your brother and one your mate your more likely to save your brother first. This has also been supported through many twin studies as monozygotic twins are more likely to help one another than dizygotic twins (segal 1984).
 * Secondly there are there are two types of motives for helping people

2 – Altruistic helping – in which the helper expects nothing in return for helping you out, meaning the helper does not want to increase their welfare in the situation at hand.

 * The main difference between the two is their motive with an egoistic person’s motive being egoism and an altruistic person’s motive being empathy. That is according to the empathy – altruism hypothesis empathy motivates people to help reduce other people’s distress no matter what, whereas someone with a egoistic motive will only want to reduce their own distress by helping the person in need or if they can’t reduce their personal distress that way they will leave the person suffer. Therefore an egoistic person may fall under the negative state relief theory which states that people help others in order to relieve their own distress.

 * Something I found funny is that males are more helpful than females in the broader public sphere towards strangers and in an emergency. This got me thinking why is this? Is it because our world has become so scary due to crime that females feel unsafe to help strangers such as a broken down car on the highway, or do you think it’s got something to do with our social norms, or maybe females are seen as more attractive than males therefore linking up with the beautiful victim research????

 * Reido :) 7/10/2008

Social Disengagement

 * I thought Hugh Mackay brought up many interesting issues that I would love to look at in more depth such as issues with marriage going out of fashion and technology growing at the speed of light but one thing that really stood out for me was his comments on antidepressants tripling over the last 10 years. I think that the ever increasing number of antidepressants is disgraceful, the fact that it has tripled in the last 10 years is just astonishing. Is it really because the world is changing that much that we can not handle life? Or is it because professionals such as doctors and psychiatrists are trying to minimise their workload and give people a quick fix? I just feel that using the excuse that world is changing so fast is just not good enough. I feel some of this comes down to laziness. I feel it is times like this the government and communities need to get up and start developing community based programs where people can come and share their problems and find a sense of support. I feel family values need to be promoted more instead of advertising expensive goods that we apparently need, for example trying to make Sunday a family day to have a picnic or roast together, instead of going shopping for material possessions. Obviously if everyone is not coping we all need to slow down then and start realising that things like money and material possessions aren’t the be all and end all, as they say you can’t take them with you. We just all need to stop for a while and make time for ourselves family’s and friends. I also feel that professional need to seriously start thinking about other ways to approach mental health such as therapy sessions either group or individual and stop turning to drugs just because they are seen as easy because they are less time consuming. I know that in some cases drugs might be the only option and are sometimes needed straight away but in all other cases I feel other approaches are needed before the drugs are introduced. Maybe the fact the APA is thinking about letting psychologists administer small amounts of antidepressants might actually be a good thing as psychologists will be more likely to use therapy before drugs!

 * Reido :) 8/10/2008

Environmental

 * Till this day I have never heard of environmental psychology so it was so interesting to read all about it and listen to James talk about it. Environmental Psychology studies the interactions between people and their environments. Traditionally the field only looked at how the physical environment affects human thoughts, feelings, and behaviours but now it focuses on our actions against the environment. Environmental psychologists can work with many other professionals to study all the aspects about the person/environment relationship. They work with people such as architects, city planners, geographers, sociologists, political scientists or engineers.
 * According to the readings crowding is one of the most heavily studied topics in environmental psychology. Density is a term that refers to the number of people in a given space at a given time. Crowding actually refers to the negative subjective feeling people get when there are too many people in a given space at a given time. People have the ability to adapt to crowding but in some cases it really can decrease a person’s performance, because the feeling of being crowed is considered a stressor. For example I hate crowds and people touching me in a certain space it really frustrates me especially when the temperature is hot and sticky!!
 * There are many areas in which an environmental psychologist can study the how the physical environment affects human thoughts, feelings and behaviours such as:

1) Environmental stress: this term refers to environmental conditions that interfere with optimal human functioning. For example cataclysmic events (like a tornado, tsunami), stressful life events and daily hassles (noise and temperature).

2) Environmental risks: looks at peoples perceptions of the risk posed by our environment and their reactions to this perceived risk. For example we take many risks everyday like crossing the road and eating different types of food.

3) Behaviour settings: looks at how our surroundings such as our physical and social settings influence our behaviours, such as the settings we live in, work in, and play in. But how is it we know what to do in these certain settings like be quite at church and loud in the park is it through observational learning or what???

4) Architectural psychology: focuses on the interaction between the environment and behaviour and how we should design our buildings to meet human needs such as our comfort levels, safety and happiness.

5) Assessing environments: attempts to describe and predict how physical attributes of different places affect our thoughts, feelings and behaviours.

6) The natural environment: looks at how we enjoy and prefer natural settings over man made settings. I totally agree with this one! Since I have moved to Canberra for uni I have missed the beach terribly because I find Canberra so man made and full of concrete it makes me a bit claustrophobic and depressed! Why is this but? Well apparently viewing a natural scenery stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system which causes us to relax especially when we are under stress.

 * When looking at the part about how deep are you? I felt I fell into level 2. This is because I understand nature exists for human use but so many people are polluting and damaging our earth. People definitely need more education about the environment and I feel that proper laws and regulations need to further enforced to help manage our planet wisely so that all the future generations great and small can enjoy what we enjoy today!

 * According Sundstorm (1996) the trends of environmental psychology are publication, research, and theory. Since theory would be the basis of the other two here we will look at some of them because environmental psychologists can not seem to make their minds up on a theory so there is a choice of many. So some of the theories for environmental psychology are:

1) Arousal: looks at the influences environmental features such as sound and temperature have on us as humans. The arousal hypothesis predicts optimum performance and satisfaction under conditions of moderate arousal.

2) Environmental load: the overload hypothesis assumes that humans have finite capacity for processing stimuli and information. If we do have an overload we can cope by using selective attentions and ignoring certain bits of information.

3) Stress and adapting: suggests that we have environmental stressors such as temperature and noise but we have certain adaptive mechanisms to reduce stress and its impact. The only thing I thought of with this is I don’t think these mechanisms would work so well under prolonged periods of stress??

 * In looking at environmental psychology I feel it is a very important part of life because we need to understand how our environment influences us but even more so what we can do to preserve it and keep it useful for future generations. Without our environment, who are we going to be because it’s our environment that help us live so we need to help it live too!

 * A good link to find information and get started in helping the environment is right here

 * Reido :) 20/10/2008

Review

 * Wow what a unit! I am so glad I got the opportunity to study Social Psychology it has really opened up my mind to many new aspects of psychology. I loved every topic! I also really enjoyed the assessments you gave us James for example I really liked doing the e-portfolio as it gave me a chance to reflect on my readings and lectures and i never normally take the time to do that! It has also been a good way to express my opinions as you don't always get that opportunity in class! I also have found Wikiversity pretty easy to use so I definitely think you should continue using this program! Another good aspect about this unit was the free choice to write about an essay topic that i enjoyed for once! Not many units will let you do that and I really think more units should. I hope my e-portfolio is as useful to everyone else as it has been for me! thanks for everything James!!

 * Reido :)2/11/2008

title: User:Reido


text:
User talk:Reido

Well done!
Well done on registering a user name. Check out the 'official' welcome below; especially, I would recommend the Guided tours for getting started. -- Jtneill - Talk - c 00:10, 28 July 2008 (UTC)

 Hello Reido, 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 00:10, 28 July 2008 (UTC)

 Hello , we are the Baah and Bahh twins and we'd both like to welcome you to Wikiversity. While you sit back and explore Wikiversity, enjoy some of our fresh goat milk. You can help us learn by creating new learning resources or help us by improving the guided tours and other exploration tools. We look forward to seeing you around. Baaaahbye for now.

Re: Confused and Puzzled
Perhaps because of:
 * perhaps because society or the people one communicates with demand/pressure one to be perfect ?
 * wanting to show that due to cause x there is no fault of oneself ?
 * reimagining things to train oneself - the more one trains something, the better one gets at it ?
 * one solution ? imagining how old/big the universe is and taking regarding this some things more relative ? Putting every 10 m in the world a station with Nitrous oxide or sweets ? Erkan Yilmaz uses the Chat (try) 19:26, 5 August 2008 (UTC)

Image tweaks
Hi Reido, I tweaked the image sizes for several images and put several on the right. You can see the edits here and you may like to adjust some of the others too. -- Jtneill - Talk - c 21:42, 2 November 2008 (UTC)

title: User talk:Reido


text:
User talk:Cogdog

Hi cogdog
There's not many cogdogs around - welcome. I followed a little bit your down-under tour last year on Twitter.

 Hello Cogdog, 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 00:13, 28 July 2008 (UTC)

 Hello , we are the Baah and Bahh twins and we'd both like to welcome you to Wikiversity. While you sit back and explore Wikiversity, enjoy some of our fresh goat milk. You can help us learn by creating new learning resources or help us by improving the guided tours and other exploration tools. We look forward to seeing you around. Baaaahbye for now.

title: User talk:Cogdog


text:
User:Gwernol

My main account is on en.wikipedia.org

title: User:Gwernol