Social Psychology Concept Matrix

Social Psychology Concept Matrix

Sammy Felix Jr.

PSY 110, Assignment 1

Professor Marina Stakic

February 2, 2014

Social Psychology Concept

Definition

Application to Society

Provide Example

Application to

Criminal Justice

Provide Example

Application to the Individual

Provide Example

Survey Research

The type of research that consist of predetermined set of questions or statements that is given to a group of people in order to collect information based on each individuals attitude, belief, value, or behavior tendency (Franzoi, 2009, p. 43).

Survey research can apply to society by gathering information about a particular topic in order to understand what effects it might have on those dealing with it in our society. For example, a survey research can be used to understand how children at different age levels are coping with their parents getting a divorce.

Survey research applies to Criminal Justice when the law enforcement agency needs to see whether or not the crimes being committed in a city are getting worse. For example, a police department might use survey research to analyze which crimes have increased or decreased from the year before.

Survey research applies to the individual when they need to understand certain things in their life that they might not know themselves. Survey sampling is a method used for identifying a set of observations from a population and making inferences about the population from those observations (Brick, 2011, p. 873). For example, an individual can do a survey research to understand why all sorts of different relationships work or fall apart with other people their close to, and how to fix a problem within their relationship.

Self-Esteem

An evaluation of a person's self-concept (Franzoi, 2009, p. 85).

Self-esteem is the way we see ourselves that influences our way of behaving in society. Identity theorists stress that actors’ sense of self is derived from their social position and earlier interactions (Harrod, 2013, p. 42). For example, a teenager has low self-esteem on how they look because some people in society kept giving negative messages about them self since they were young, which causes the teenager to be more shy and isolated around others.

Self-esteem applies to Criminal Justice in different areas where high or low self-esteem occurs by people who work within the Criminal Justice system. For example, some police officers that have worked in the law enforcement agency for over 10 years can develop low self-esteem due to the difficult situations that they had to endure in their job. The police officer can develop stress, depression, negative behavior towards others, and even start becoming an alcoholic drinker because they have low self-esteem.

Self-esteem is one of the most important traits that an individual has. Successful identity enactments result in positive emotions and high self-esteem (Harrod, 2013, p. 43). For example, an individual with high self-esteem has a strong belief in their self-worth as well as understand the value of their opinions and don't need other people’s approval, rather than an individual with low self-esteem that will be the complete opposite.

Self-Handicapping

A strategy that is used by a person to create obstacles and excuses for themselves so that if they do poorly on a task, they can avoid blaming themselves (Franzoi, 2009, p. 81).

Self-handicapping occurs more often than usual in society when it comes to something important. For example, society uses products everyday for everything that has chemicals that they know that it is harmful to the world’s environment. Society doesn’t feel like they are hurting the world’s environment, and would blame the companies that make those types of products instead of buying more eco-friendly products to prevent hurting the world’s environment.

Self-handicapping happens a lot in Criminal Justice due to the stressful environment that people work in. For example, a person that works in the Criminal Justice system as a social service worker have to do a lot of paperwork before the next day, but feel like they won’t be able to get it all done in one day because they are tired and stressed. If they don’t finish all of the paperwork in time, they can blame the fact that it was just too much to do in one day instead of working overtime hours to get it all done.

Self-handicapping is sometimes used by individuals to make excuses for different situations in their life because they fear that they are going to fall. For example, a student has a big final exam tomorrow and doesn’t feel like they are going to do well because they are sick. If the student gets a low grade on the final, they can blame it on being sick instead of their lack of skill or preparation for the final exam.

Hindsight Bias

The tendency that a person often believes that they knew the outcome of an event before it actually happened because it seemed to be more predictable than it really is (Franzoi, 2009, p. 113).

Hindsight Bias in society happens a lot every day, especially when it comes to large events. For example, people in society that love sports make predictions on which teams will win before the game starts. They pick their predictions based on how easy it is for them to know who is definitely going to win against another team.

Hindsight bias can happen in Criminal justice by law enforcement during the day when they are working. For example, a police officer predicts that a young teenage driver is going to get into a car accident today because it is going to rain all day. When the police scanner says that a young teenage driver had skidded on the road hitting another car, the officer tells them self that they knew that it was going to happen because of the weather condition.

Hindsight bias is very common when it comes to individuals making predictions about different things. For example, an individual noticed looking outside in the morning that the clouds in the sky are beginning to look gray. The individual says to them self that they bet that it is going to rain today in the afternoon. When it actually does rain, the individual tells them self that they were right when they saw the clouds in the sky turn gray earlier.

External Attribution

An attribution that consists of any explanation as to what the cause might be that is external to the person under scrutiny such as luck, the action of other people, or the nature of the situation (Franzoi, 2009, p. 127).

External attribution can happen in society based on situations that could have a great effect on the majority of society. For example, many families in society have a hard time paying for their child’s education because the college tuition and book fees went higher. Society believe colleges raise tuition and book fees because they love to have more money instead of thinking how much money it actually takes to run a successful college, since everything in the United States economy has gone up in cost such as food, utilities, materials needed to teach in a class, products needed for maintenance in the college, and much more.

External attribution can happen in Criminal Justice based on law enforcement’s long history of experience dealing with teenagers. For example, two police officers had to find a teenage girl around 2 o’clock in the morning. They heard on the police scanner that someone called in saying that they saw a teenage girl who looks 17 years old by herself at a gas station with a backpack. The two officers believe the 17 year old girl is trying to run away from her parents instead of listening to what she has to say first.

An individual’s behavior can be due to certain things that happen in their life based on their beliefs that could be considered to be external attribution. For example, an individual is driving to the movie theater with their family to watch the movie Frozen, and the car suddenly breaks down in the middle of the road. The individual believes the reason why it happened was because their car is old instead of their ignorance about cars.

Cognitive Dissonance

A theory proposed that although we may appear logical in our thinking and behavior, we often times engage in seemingly irrational behavior to maintain cognitive consistency (Franzoi, 2009, p. 162).

Society always has a certain perception when it comes to politics in the United States due to cognitive dissonance. For example, the president of the United States gave a speech about what the government is doing to help build the economy that really sounds great to the rest of the society. Society might think that the president is only saying these things in order to look good in front of everyone without any results yet.

There are certain instances where cognitive dissonance has happen in Criminal Justice when dealing with criminals. For example, a man was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol with their child in the car with them. A few weeks later he said that he won’t ever do it again after being found guilty for DUI. The Criminal Justice system thinks that he isn’t telling the truth because he is most likely to commit the same crime, and become a repeat offender due to his addiction to alcohol. The mother of the child also doesn’t believe him, and doesn’t trust the father to be alone with their child.

Individuals often deal with cognitive dissonance when someone does something or says something that makes an individual think a certain way. For example, if a person that an individual doesn’t like does something nice for them, the individual might think to them sell that the person only did something nice in order to make the individual feel guilty for not liking them.

Media Persuasion

Convincing people to think and act in a particular way about themselves, other people, or a topic (Franzoi, 2009, p. 174).

Media persuasion has a great effect on society today due to advance technology that makes it easy to influence information being given. For example, young people in our society today are constantly being overwhelmed with stories, images, and opinions by the media in order to persuade them to think that they have to look or act in a certain way, and in some ways young people do get influenced by the media. Men and women that viewed a reality TV show featuring a woman's cosmetic surgery transformation both responded with similar emphasis on the importance of physical attractiveness, the psychological benefits of beauty, and the entertainment value of the reality TV show (Markey & Markey, 2012, p. 209-219). Women who had a positive response to the TV show reported a greater likelihood of interest in obtaining cosmetic surgery as well (Markey & Markey, 2012, p. 209-219).

Media persuasion is constantly happening in Criminal Justice when it involves news networks covering stories of crimes. For example, the news on the television broadcast stations or in newspapers always likes to tell certain aspects of a crime story that would persuade the public’s perception of victims, criminals, deviants, and law enforcement officials.

Individuals are always attacked by media persuasion no matter where an individual could be at everyday. For example, an individual is watching television at home when suddenly they start to feel hungry, so the individual was going to get up to find something to eat in their refrigerator when an advertisement for Burger King showed on the television to change their mind. The individual went to Burger King to eat lunch instead because the advertisement persuades the individual with pictures that made the food look better at Burger King.