Is attention merely a matter of selection?
Is attention merely a matter of selection? Attention is "the act of concentration on any one of a set of any subjects or thoughts". (Collins dictionary). Selective attention is "the process by which a person can selectively pick out one message from a mixture of messages occurring simultaneously" (Collins dictionary). As the two definitions suggest, only in the case of selective attention the person selects where to direct his attention. But attention is not always selective; it is often automatic, instinctual, conditioned or biased. This essay rejects the statement that "attention is merely a matter of selection" by looking at several attentional processes in which no selection takes place. It is structured as follows: First it looks at selective attention. It then examines the role automatic attention plays in divided attention. Following that it will determine the hindering effects that instinctual attention, conditioned attention and attentional biases have on being able to selectively attend to something. Finally it presents disciplines, in which increased control over the capability to use selective attention is sought after. It concludes that although in some situations selective attention is applied, in most situations what people attend to is determined by automatic attention, conditioned attention, instinctive attention and attentional biases. Selective
Social Psychology
Social Psychology Before answering this question it is important to set out clear definitions of the key terms 'social psychology´ and 'scientific.´ According to the Collins English Dictionary for something to be scientific it has to: '...conform with the principles or methods used in science.´ In this essay we will determine whether social psychology is scientific by answering two questions. Firstly, we will need to ask whether social psychology has been able to use the principles or methods used in science in the study of social psychological phenomenon. However, it would be unreasonable to classify social psychology as scientific simply because it uses these methods, for social psychology to be classified as a science we will need to look at the way in which these methods are used. Based on this, the second question we will be asking is whether the goals science are appropriate to the study of social psychological phenomena. Malim et al.(1992) state that there are four goals to any science: to describe events as objectively as possible, to use such descriptions to predict future events and propose hypotheses, to gain greater knowledge through hypothesis testing and finally, to give us a greater understanding of the world around us through understanding cause and effect. Scientific method is the means by which a scientist develops theories and collects data. A
Outline what is meant by trait psychology, illustrating and explaining its contribution to the study of personality.
Outline what is meant by trait psychology, illustrating and explaining its contribution to the study of personality. Many theories have been postulated in an attempt to clarify personality. One approach is known as individual differences research, which seeks to not only explain personality but to identify its biological and genetical basis. Within this individual differences framework is trait psychology. This essay will give an overview of this approach and give examples of its main contributions to the study of personality. My position, however, is that while trait psychology has provided substantial data about behaviour, it has not contributed to a better understanding about personality or its causation. Outline of trait psychology In brief, trait psychology attempts to examine the differences (and similarities) of personality traits within a given population in order to determine the root causes of such differences. Its basic premise is that traits are organic in origin and consistent over time. Traits are defined as 'dimensions of individual differences in tendencies to show consistent patterns of thoughts, feelings and actions' (McCrae & Costa, 1990) and are described using adjectives from everyday language that 'label' aspects of an individual's personality. For example, a person might be considered 'easy-going', 'good-natured' or 'fun-loving'. Further definitions
Are people rational?
Are people rational? The idea that "man is a rational animal" goes back to Aristotle, and rationality has often been described as a defining human trait. However, humans can also act irrationally and many researchers have demonstrated our faulty reasoning habits. To reconcile these conflicting viewpoints, we need a clear understanding of what 'rationality' refers to. 'Following the laws of formal logic' is one way of defining rationality, but as we shall see later, this is not the only way, and probability theory provides an alternative normative theory of rationality to logic that seems to work better on a descriptive level of how we actually reason too. Taking formal logic as a starting point for defining rationality, there has been much research showing that people often use faulty logic on reasoning tasks, indicating that they are not very rational. For example, Marcus & Rips (1979) found that participants presented with conditional rules (of the format "If A, then B") often made illogical inferences, such as inferring A from the presence of B (affirmation of the consequent) or when told A is false, inferring that B is false also (denial of the antecedent). These invalid inferences were not endorsed by participants as often as valid inferences were, but were still endorsed 20-30% of the time, rather than the expected 0% if participants were making entirely rational
Nature - Nurture Debate.
Question: "The age old nature-nurture controversy about the underlying causes of the course of development continues today, with some theorists attributing the course of development to genetic influences while others believe that the complex forces of the environment are responsible." Discuss the evidence for each of these positions and indicate how this debate will influence your future work. The nature versus nurture controversy about the underlying causes of developmental progression continues to be debated. There are many theories for both genetic influence and learning environment, there are also theories about the interaction of nature and the environment, each with its own theory of relative influence. As an educator, it is useful to have knowledge and understanding of why children develop the way they do and how teachers can help children to reach their full potentials. "Developmental psychology has a relatively recent history, with different theoretical approaches based on philosophical thought as well as well as a tradition of research that began in the 1800s." (Berk, 1997 Cited in Vialle, Lysaght and Verenikina, 2002. Page 7.) Hence theories on developmental psychology are relatively brand new. Consequently there is no genuine proof that any individual theory is accurate or erroneous. Lefrancios (1973) published a book about child development. In it was a
TO WHAT EXTENT DO THE GRAND THEORIES TAKE ACCOUNT OF THE ROLE OF SOCIAL EXPERIENCES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT?
TO WHAT EXTENT DO THE 'GRAND THEORIES' TAKE ACCOUNT OF THE ROLE OF SOCIAL EXPERIENCES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT? Nowadays it is widely accepted that social context greatly influences a person's development in many aspects and throughout their lives. Developmental psychology aims to describe how children develop and its grand theories emerged to "offer general explanations of child development as a whole, rather than just certain areas" (Oates et al., 2005, p. 49). In this essay, the main elements of the four 'grand theories' of child development are discussed, exploring in more detail which aspects within the social experiences are explored by each grand theory. For the purpose of this essay, when discussing social experiences we will refer to any social aspect of human experience, including socio-cultural contexts and social relations and their products. Some of these experiences have been taken into account by the field of developmental psychology in order to study and investigate how children's minds and behaviour change throughout their lifespan. This field of study has produced many theories that propose hypothesis to explain different aspects of child development. Among these, four theories stand out and are sometimes referred to as 'grand theories': behaviourism, social learning theory, constructivism and social constructivism. The reasons why they are referred to as
What is punishment, and does it really work?
What is punishment, and does it really work? Abstract Punishment has generated as one of the most effective technique for suppressing social behavior, and also one of the most controversial. Punishment is a reduction in the likelihood of a response due to the presentation of an aversive stimulus. Does it really work? Research has shown that the use of punishment on children with developmental disabilities has helped to eliminate self-injuries and self-stimulating behaviors as well as in suppressing an undesirable behavior temporarily. A punishment that immediately follows the behavior that you want to suppress is effective as well. If a punishment is perceived as fair or reasonable, it may be considerably more effective as explanation helps to clarify which response was punished. It is blatant that when punishment is delivered in a variety of setting, accompanied by a clear explanation, it can be a very powerful tool for elimating undesirable behaviour. On the contrary, punishments elicit emotional reaction such as fear and anger and aversive stimuli directly elicit aggression. So, effectiveness of punishment remains intensely controversial. Punishment is one of society's oldest techniques for controlling behaviour (Lieberman, 1993) and it is also being used to modify undesired behaviours. Punishment can be carried out in many different ways which not necessarily
Why should we and how can we study the media?
November 2003 Student Number 532403 Why should we and how can we study the media? Since starting the course in Media, Culture and Society, it has become evident to me that studying the media is not only interesting but a vital tool in analysing contemporary society. So far in our lectures and seminar sessions we have examined the role of the media, the message and the audience. During this essay I aim to provide a deeper understanding of the importance in studying the media and the shifting ways of approaching its study. There are many different ways of defining what the media essentially is, which therefore makes the study of it all the more challenging. Throughout our daily lives, we come across diverse forms of media and interact with them in a variety of ways. According to many writers, it is the media that creates 'who' and 'where' we think we are. We rely on the media, or more specifically the mass media, for information, entertainment, ideas and education whether we realise it or not. According to Michael Real, (1996, cited in O'Sullivan et al, 1998, page 3) the variety of differing modes that modern media takes form in, are particular ways of creatively participating in the life of modern culture, namely by reading, watching and listening to certain entities around us. In this essay, I focus on the mass media as the driving force of media itself since it has
