Importance Of Psychology In Everyday Life

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Importance of Psychology in Everyday Life This quarter I have learned a lot in my psychology class. I have learned a lot about introductory psychology on topics including learning, motivation, perception, personality, and physiological basis of behavior, but more importantly, I have learned a lot about implications of psychology in my everyday life. Studying psychology has been very influential to me and has given me a better understand of my thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Three concepts that stand out to me that apply specifically to my life (past, present, and future) are parenting styles, memory techniques, and the powers of social influence. Parenting style does not necessarily apply to my present life now, but in the future, I…show more content…
A permissive parent style is basically when a child “walks all over” the parents and does whatever he/she pleases. This happens when a parent is too lenient on a child and does not set any demands. This leads a child to be immature, overly-demanding, and to lack independence. I admit that I have some friends that have permissive parents; sometimes they are described as the “cool” parents. However, it is clear that these friends of mine are definitely immature and overly-demanding. On the other hand, an authoritative parenting style is when strict guidelines are expected to be met and obeyed. These parents are unwilling to compromise with their children and resort to harsh punishment to practically force obedience. When I think of an authoritative parent, I think of a having a drill instructor from the military as a parent. The parent’s demand can definitely be too much for a child to handle. This leads a child to be anxious, withdrawn, and hostile. It is easy to imagine how having an authoritative parent could cause…show more content…
The powers of social influence are way of affecting a person’s thoughts, feelings and behavior. Before learning about this topic, I had never realized how prevalent the powers of social influence are in everyday life. Compliance is when a person changes their behavior based on a request. Three compliance techniques are pre-giving, door-in-the-face, and foot-in-the-door. Each of these techniques has informed me on ways of manipulating people to do what I ask, and also to avoid being manipulated by other people. These techniques have statistical evidence of being effective and are fascinating, yet simple methods of changing a person’s actions or feelings. Conformity is when an individual person behaves like the overall group. The Asch experiment shows how an individual will conform even if they know is it wrong. This shows that the common statement of “Just because everyone is doing it doesn’t make it right” is relevant. I have realized that I should avoid conformity if I know the solution is not right. The third power of social influence we discussed in class was influence of violent media. Everyone should be aware that violent media correlates with aggressive behavior. I feel that changes should be made in today’s media to limit the violence which is especially impressionable on children. Overall, I feel that learning about the powers of social influence was interesting and
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