Grandpa’s Memory (by: Jennae Haug)

Memories are interesting in that they can so easily be warped. One piece of information, accurate or not, can alter one’s memory forever. This is known as the misinformation effect, which states that misinformation is incorporated into a memory.

My grandpa is a rather hilarious elderly man. The memories he has, whether they were in his childhood or two days ago, can be altered so easily. Although it may be unethical, my roommates and I often have fun with this realization at dinner on Sunday evenings. This past Sunday, my grandfather told a story regarding his time as a car salesman. I remember him selling cars, so it was not unreasonable for me to place my own memory in his. However, the memory I mentioned was nonexistent. As he talked about how he sold his first hybrid, I mentioned that I was there bringing him lunch as the buyer was filling out paperwork. Grandpa continued on with his story, failing to acknowledge my comment. Once he finished his story however, he said, “Oh yes! I remember now! Then Jennae brought me my favorite Subway sandwich!”

My grandpa is affected by the misinformation effect on close to a daily basis. This particular example displays the effect because I was rarely at his work, and I most certainly do not remember being there the moment he sold his first hybrid. Furthermore, I never took him a subway sandwich. Ever. My misleading him with my own false memory subjected him to the misinformation effect as he implemented my memory into his own memory, which is now forever altered.

Social Norm Violation: Interrupting Others (By: Jennae Haug)

In our culture, it is typically impolite to constantly interrupt someone when that person is talking. Doing so may be considered rude and even selfish. So what happened when I chose to interrupt those who attempted to have a conversation not just with me but even around me for an entire day? That’s right. All day I interrupted people who were having conversations. I started out with those who were talking with me. They would get a sentence or two into what they were trying to say, then I would interrupt with a semi-relevant comment that turned into something completely off topic. Those people tended to get back on subject when it was once again their turn. However, after the fourth interruption, the majority of people gave up trying to hold a conversation. Towards the end of the day, I also began interrupting other people’s conversations. For example, I got home and my roommates were discussing dinner, and I immediately popped in. This was not as bothersome at first, but by the end of the night when I had interrupted every conversation they attempted to have, they went for a walk.

The common initial response to being interrupted was understanding. People understand that others want to get a word in, and I think in our culture, that is alright. However, once being interrupted became a pattern, frustration began to fume, and people left the conversation as quickly as possible. I initially felt uncomfortable violating the norm simply because it was rude, and I genuinely am interested in what others have to say to me. I apologized the next day to all those I interrupted and even offended, and they were very understanding.

Grumpy Grandpa (By: Jennae Haug)

Unfortunately, the world today is filled with people who live lives in a state of depression. Often, that depression can get the best of people, and their realities can become significantly distorted. Whether or not distortion occurs, it is common for those who are depressed to perceive life negatively. Doing so is known as a negative explanatory style, which is one’s habitual way of expressing life in a negative manner.

My sweet grandfather has recently experienced a number of physical discomforts, all of which the doctors he has seen have been unable to explain. My grandmother was diagnosed with Dementia almost five years ago, and because they live rather isolated, my grandfather has been the one who must take care of her round the clock, not to mention watch her memory deteriorate on a daily basis. When one doctor suggested that my grandfather may be depressed, no one objected, including him. It is now apparent that in the midst of everything, my once jolly grandfather is now pessimistic and negative. He frequently makes statements expressing the desire to pass away or regarding the irreversible state of the love of his life. When others share happy news, instead of joining in on the conversation, adding to the celebration, he either stays out of it, or makes small, pessimistic remarks referring to how short lived or miniscule the accomplishment will be.

My grandfather exhibits negative explanatory style because it has become natural for him to explain things pessimistically. He constantly blames the government for everything that has gone wrong in his life, not to mention himself for living in Wyoming where he and his wife have been essentially on their own since they can remember. By blaming his set backs, or as he would refer to them, failures, on himself or the government, he displays living a negative explanatory style.

Opposites May Attract, but Similar is Better (Jennae Haug)

Relationships are perhaps the largest part of the world. People do not live well isolated, and thus, they form relationships with others. Research proposes that relationships between people who are attracted to one another thrive best when the couple shares similarities with one another. This is known as the similarities hypothesis. This hypothesis may thus also support the notion that when couples do not share similarities, the relationship may not thrive as much as it otherwise could.

A few years ago, my aunt married the love of her life. They dated for many years prior to the ceremony, and felt it was the right decision to wed! Everyone was ecstatic. They did share a lifestyle difference. My aunt is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints while my now uncle, is not. This had never proven to be an unbearable obstacle in their time dating however, and they had high hopes of the difference not posing a problem in their marriage. Unfortunately, when they had their first child, their religion differences did get the best of them, and things have been unstable ever since.

Because my aunt and uncle do not share a religious similarity, their relationship is not currently thriving as much as it perhaps could if they did share similar religious beliefs. With a child to consider, their relationship has not thrived as much as it did when religion only affected each partner, and perhaps, even then their relationship did not thrive as much as it could have if both were members of the same faith. Therefore, my aunt and uncle’s relationship demonstrates the similarities hypothesis.

Effects of Empathy (By: Jennae Haug)

In an effort to understand others’ feelings, people try to empathize. Empathy  involves one imagining themselves in another person’s situation in an attempt to understand the feelings of that person.  Empathizing can allow one to properly console another when in need, and is a true act of kindness.

Links: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2T_obaO46Bo (bad example)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjdd7V-Bk3U (good example)

In the first link, Curtis and his “new mom” do not attempt to understand each other. While she truly believes that she is doing what is best for Curtis and his family, neither she nor Curtis are making an effort to see things from the other’s point of view. Therefore, they do not display empathy. Instead, they stick to their own opinions, and get little accomplished.

The second link shows a father empathizing with his daughter. He follows the steps outlined in the text. First, he shows empathy, relating back to when he was her age and remembering how everything seemed as though it was the “end of the world.” His motivation is altruistic as he attempts to relieve Maggie’s distress. Finally, his behavior does reduce Maggie’s stress. Maggie’s dad empathizes with her, making sure she understands that he at least has an idea of how she is feeling, then helps her see a new perspective, and ultimately fully relieves her distress.

The Avenger’s Aggression (by: Jennae Haug)

Introduction: People often times react to frustration with anger or hostility. Anger can release the built up frustration, and can thus become an effect of frustration. The theory behind this chain of events is named the Frustration Aggression Theory.The theory states that frustration triggers aggression, and thus, when one becomes frustrated, one may respond with aggression.

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oKYxviU5Vw

Conclusion: After an already difficult battle, Loki continues to bring in more troops from another world. The Hulk is already impulsive, but just prior to this infamous moment, he announces that he has figured out how to control his aggression. Therefore, when his frustration leads to aggression, it is not necessarily innate or uncontrollable as it has been in the past. Therefore, the aggression is a direct result of the frustration the Hulk experiences from the battle and is an example of the Frustration Aggression Theory. on Theory.

We Are The Best (by: Jennae Haug)

As human beings, we form judgments about others on a regular basis. By judging others, we tend to categorize them, and inevitably categorize ourselves. When we categorize ourselves into our group, we most likely favor our group. When doing so, we exhibit ingroup bias.  Ingroup bias is displayed when one makes favorably comments or judgments regarding the group one belongs to, when making unfavorably comments or judgments regarding the outgroup, a group one does not belong with.

My mother is a consistent example of displaying ingroup bias. Recently, my home town had mayor and city council elections. My mom, being the involved town member she is, became a campaigner for a select group of candidates who teamed up together. My mom thus considered herself a part of what became known as the NFL group. When NFL lost the vote, my mom designed well articulated excuses for them, explaining that NFL simply did not want to invest as much money into the campaign, which would have been a burden to voters. She also made statements reflecting how much good NFL could have done with a second term in office, while the newly elected candidates will not know how to get things started.

My mom exemplified ingroup bias when she favored her own group during and even after the election. She campaigned for them and defended them upon their defeat. She did not switch groups when she realized NFL would lose, but instead she began making excuses for them that would highlight the group favorably in the public eye.

Girls Will Be Girls (By: Jennae Haug)

Often times, groups tend to make more extreme decisions than individuals normally would. While this phenomenon known as group think occurs for a variety of reasons, one is the illusion of invulnerability, members of the group begin to have such a great amount of optimism that they lose sight of the potential negative consequences. When group members show signs of illusion of invulnerability, the decision the group makes is most likely more extreme than is logical With everyone’s supposed support, the illusion continues to persist and ultimately wins.

I was recently part of a group that began to be influenced by the illusion of invulnerability. My roommates and I were going on a road trip to a wedding. The day we planned to leave, the check battery light appeared on the car. My roommate and I were driving back to our apartment from getting gas when it initially came on. Together, we decided it would be a better idea to go get it looked at than to risk anything happening on the trip. When we got back to the apartment to pick up our other roommates and told them the situation, we all decided to take the car into the shop. The mechanic told us that the car needed a new battery, and that it would take an hour or two to install. Considering that we were all anxious to hit the road, one roommate asked if I had an problems with starting the car or other things the battery is of use for. I replied no. Suddenly, everyone took their turn, stating that we should not get the battery replaced right now. Surely it would last the weekend if I have yet to have issues with it. At the very least, we should get a second opinion. Our attitude shifted from wanting nothing less than to get the battery fixed prior to starting the road trip to wanting nothing less than to get on the road that instant.

The attitude shift is an example of my roommates and I falling subject to the illusion of invulnerability. When it was just one roommate and I, we were confident that the right decision was to fix things before leaving for the road trip. Even the remaining two roommates agreed, until we found out how far behind the fix would put us in relation to our goal time. It only took one roommate’s opinion to sway the rest of us. We had completely lost sight of the potential consequences of not getting the battery fixed. If the battery gave out at any point in the road trip, we would not have had many options to replace it until we returned to Utah. However, that scenario seemed to never cross anyone’s mind as we were so eager to forget about the battery. Thus, we were under an illusion of invulnerability.

Who Is She? (By: Jennae Haug)

People may fall victim to normative influence on a daily basis. Everyone wants to be liked, and therefore, even if it is not what one would typically do, may conform to meet the likes of others. When this occurs, one has fallen subject normative influence, which motivates others to conform based on the desire to be liked.

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEiRaQ-JsHA (watch 1:30-2:28)

Stephanie chose to not clean her room when her father asked her the second time because she wanted to be liked by Gia. Although Stephanie has been an obedient daughter otherwise, she chooses to not obey her father’s request to clean her room because she does not think it is “cool” after Gia clearly expresses her opinion. Stephanie does not feel the desire to be liked by her father. However, as it is the first day of school and Stephanie wants to be part of Gia’s crowd, she feels the undying desire to be liked by Gia. Therefore, Stephanie has fallen subject to normative influence by disobeying her father in order to be liked by Gia.

Social Facilitation: The Cure to Poor Work (by: Jennae Haug)

Often times, people perform daily tasks with little effort as they can become mundane. However, when others are around, daily tasks may be performed to a higher standard. This phenomenon is known as social facilitation, which occurs when a simple task is completed better around people than in isolated settings. This may be done for a number of reasons including the desire to impress one in the setting.

My roommate demonstrated social facilitation while doing the task of washing the dishes. She was splashing water on the dirty dishes, scrubbing the clearly visible residue off, and throwing them in the cupboard, without drying them. However, when her fiance came over, she wanted to show him that she will be a great wife, and she immediately began washing the dishes to a higher standard, cleaning all the residue off, using a substantial amount of soap, and even drying them before putting them neatly away in the cupboard.

Social facilitation was demonstrated in this situation because my roommate was not doing the dishes as well as she could have prior to her fiance being in the apartment. However, as soon as he arrived, she instantaneously began putting a greater effort into washing the dishes. She therefore performed the task to a higher quality while another person was around than when she was on her own.

Just One More? (by: Jennae Haug)

People use the foot in the door phenomenon as a persuasion technique in an effort to convince others to support a cause. The phenomenon occurs when a person asks another person to support the cause in a small way, then later asks the same person to support the cause in a larger way. By convincing a person to support the cause in a small manner, when approached to support the cause in a larger manner, the person finds it much easier to agree as he/she has already begun supporting.

My mom recently used the foot in the door phenomenon. Between winter semester and spring term, my mom had a procedure that kept her bed-ridden for a few days. Consequently, I went home to help her out around the house. When she did not recover as quickly as we had anticipated, she asked me to stay for just one more day, the first day of class for spring term. Hesitantly, I agreed. After her next doctor’s visit, she returned asking me to stay through the week instead of just the one extra day. I again agreed which resulted in me missing three days of class that move at an accelerated pace.

My mom demonstrated the foot in the door phenomenon because had she asked me to stay an extra week initially, I most likely would not have agreed. However, by the time she asked me to stay through the week, I only had 2 more days of class left to miss, making it seem a lot less problematic. By asking me to stay just one extra day and me agreeing to do so prior to her asking me to stay four extra days, she successfully used the foot in the door technique.

Like Old, Like New (By: Jennae Haug)

People use the representative heuristic frequently due to past experiences. One does not typically want to make the same mistake twice, or if a good outcome resulted from a situation one time, one may want to duplicate that outcome by making circumstances similar to those in the original scenario. Using the representative heuristic may otherwise be known as stereotyping. One takes his/her experiences and projects an opinion on potential similar experiences without knowing much about the situation.

I recently used the representative heuristic with a new roommate. My old roommate got married, and consequently, a new roommate moved in. My old roommate was very clean, quiet, and non-confrontational. She never left dirty dishes out, her room always looked spotless, and her clothes were always neatly hung. The new roommate has her own room. Her bed is made every day, she does not come out of her room much, and she always has a smile on her face. I immediately concluded that she is just like my old roommate, who was also a great student and does not stay up late. As a result, when the rest of my roommates and I decided to go out to eat late one night, we did not invite her as we assumed she was sleeping. The next morning, she asked us where we went, and she asked us to invite her next time, something my old roommate would have never done.

I used the representative heuristic by concluding that my new roommate is very similar to my old roommate simply because of her tidiness and reserved personality. Because both roommates have had spotless rooms since we’ve known them and do not necessarily engage in conversation as much as the remaining roommates do, I assumed that the two had similar sleep schedules as well. Because I made this assumption with no prior knowledge about the new roommate herself, only about the old roommate, I in essence stereotyped her to be like the old roommate. Thus, the representative heuristic is exemplified.

What is Normal? By: Jennae Haug

There are many reasons one may feel out of place in a situation. One of these reasons is social comparison, the idea that one may feel normal acting in a certain way in one setting but out of place acting the same way in a different setting. People who experience social comparison may be part of a minority in the social setting or suddenly be around people who are very different than those who experience social comparison are typically around.

Social comparison is quite apparent in my life as I have grown up a member of the LDS church in a largely non-LDS community. I have recently been under much skepticism from friends back home as relationships move rather quickly at BYU compared to many other places. While I feel completely confident in our relationship while I am at BYU, I just recently went home to many questions and concerns about how well I really know him and how successful our marriage will be. I even began questioning things myself, though as soon as I returned to campus, I regained my confidence and felt as though our relationship is completely normal.

The fact that I began to be concerned while I was at home about the relationship I was so confident in while at BYU exemplifies social comparison. While I was in a setting where people meet and get married in only a few months on a regular basis, I felt as though things were progressing at a normal pace. However, when I realized that the vast majority of people outside of Provo think that marrying someone that quickly is completely absurd, I eventually became very concerned about the commitment I was once prepared to make. Social comparison is shown in this example because what I felt normal doing at BYU, I did not feel normal doing at home. Nothing changed in the relationship itself, only the social setting.

Mother Knows Best (By: Jennae Haug)

Mother Knows Best

By: Jennae Haug

Introduction

Outcomes are constantly presenting themselves. Because people have an innate desire to be right, people often falsely claim to have correctly predicted an outcome. Once the outcome has presented itself, a person may state that s/he foresaw exactly what happened when in reality, the prediction s/he originally made was not similar to the actual outcome. In other words, a person may claim to have known it was going to happen all along. This phenomenon is known as hindsight bias.

Descriptive

Although this phenomenon has just recently been named in my life, it is a rather constant occurrence, particularly with my mother. Because she wants to correctly predict her children’s future, she often claims to have seen a consequence coming, when in reality she predicted a completely different outcome. Most recently, my sister’s legs developed a series of painful blisters. After seeing a number of doctors and doing our own research online, my mother diagnosed my sister with Brazilian Blister Beetle Bites. This did not make incredible sense as my sister has never been out of the country. However, my mother was convinced, and she began treating the blisters as such. Days later, the pediatrician finally diagnosed my sister with not Brazilian Blister Beetle Bites, but rather scalding skin staff. When my mother and sister returned from the doctor, I was eager to find out what the professional had to say. My mom quickly responded with, “It was just what I thought, staff!” I kindly pointed out that she had never mentioned staff before, and she quickly reminded me that the treatment is the same, so therefore, she was right.

Conclusion

My mom exemplified hindsight bias well. Although she was wrong in her own prediction of the Brazilian Blister Beetle Bites, she claimed to have known the Staff diagnosis all along. Again, hindsight bias, in this case, has a lot to do with my mom’s desire to cure my pained sister. She wanted the credit of beginning the healing process rather than the condemnation of not eliminating the horrid irritations the blisters were causing. She saw how uncomfortable my sister was at any given time, and she did not want to be blamed, even though no one was placing fault. This is just one of many examples of hindsight bias I encounter regularly.