Week 9 Assignment

This week’s assignment is about the creation of my self-efficacy beliefs concerning my performance in, what else – this class! The first way through which self-efficacy is created is through mastery experience. I feel I did moderately well on the first test, and while I would have like to have done better, I was satisfied for the amount of studying that I committed to the test. Vicarious experience, also mentioned for the creation of self-efficacy, played a part as well. On one hand, I felt that because my some of my classmates (with whom I have a better acquaintance) could successfully comprehend the information, I would be able to also. On the other hand, because I was able to explain some concepts to my friends who were unable to fully understand them, I felt that I had, relatively, the upper hand. I can also think of a concrete example of a social persuasion – one of my friends mentioned to me that “It’s only natural that you’ll do well on this test; it seems like everything comes so easily to you!”

The final factor, my somatic and emotional state at the time, was also a great factor. I may not have realized it at the time, but because things were relatively quiet and stress-free at the time, I definitely think I had a greater feeling of “social psychology” self-efficacy. While I’ve been consistently studying about the same amount since the first test, I’m experiencing some stressors (the end of a relationship, a serious illness in the family, and a never-ending cold), and some of the arousal caused by these events may make me feel like studying and really comprehending information for the final is going to be a more difficult task. I feel like I automatically won’t be able to do as well, even though I haven’t begun to really prepare myself for the test.

Week 8 Assignment

I can definitely think of a few instances, especially from high school, when I participated in the self-handicapping phenomenon. (My want to actually share these instances, on the other hand, is another story). One time, before a state-wide solo dance competition, a reoccurring pain in my back from a car accident began nagging me. It wasn’t anything horrible, but it was noticeable. As the dancers were warming up on the performance stage, big-time butterflies were fluttering in my stomach. I was aware of my ache, but it hadn’t worsened. I, on the other hand, made a little bit bigger of a show out of it. How horrible! With my behavior (such as gripping my back, bending over and stretching, etc.), I made my teammates – who knew about the car accident – believe that I was in more pain than I actually was experiencing. It wasn’t intentional to the extent that I had planned to take advantage of the discounting principle, but I completely understand why the self-handicapping phenomenon exists. I actually ended up doing exceptionally well in the competition; however, I think the decrease of confidence during warm-up led me to believe that I wouldn’t perform well, and this in turn led to a self-handicapping effect. Planning ahead, I didn’t want a poor performance to be due so much to my honest dancing ability but rather to an injury from a car accident that was more out of my control.

Week 6 Assignment

For this week’s assignment, I have a great example of the Actor-Observer Effect. I grew up with a girl in high school who just happened to have a nearly identical school schedule as myself; for four years we had nearly every class together. She was bright, but every time she did poorly on a test, she attributed her performance to some situational factor or another. What’s interesting is that these factors differed with nearly every occasion. One time, she told me she didn’t get enough sleep. Another time, the teacher didn’t tell her exactly what to cover. Another time, she just didn’t put forth great effort because the rest of her grades were satisfactory. Yet another time, her dog was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and she was too upset to study (I promise – these are all true). Could the variability in the responses possibly give her more validity as she tried to use situational factors as a cause for her poor performance?

On the other hand, her successes were pretty well boasted about – to the point where she almost became “that girl” in the class who made it aware (whether in subtle ways or not) that she earned a good grade. She would sometimes be coy about it: “Well, you know, the only reason why I did so well was because I started studying last Thursday, you know, before the study guide was even handed out.” Does this method of expression, on the other hand, lend support to the idea that thought she was participating in the Actor-Observer Effect, she didn’t want to proclaim her successes in a way that directly shouted, “Look at me, I’m super”…?

Week 3 Assignment

My high school made a point once every three years to host a “mock car crash” – a realistic-as-possible accident set-up and plot complete with student actors, an ambulance scene, a mangled car, fake blood, etc. Those who were “killed” in the car crash even walked around as zombies all day. It was quite an intense way to promote safer driving and driving without the influence of alcohol.

Someone who contrived the whole idea must have, however, had “helping theorists” in mind. In a post-scene lecture in our auditorium, one presenter asked us that, assuming we had be real witnesses to a real accident scene, what would have been our likelihood to help the victims of the crash (whether directly or indirectly)? Would the presence of my friends influence my decision? What about the number of casualties? I even remember being among most students who were appalled when asked “would you help out of panic, out of distress for others, or just to relieve the distress of yourself?” Towards that question, we thought that this presenter surely didn’t know what he was talking about. J Some of my friends and I decided that we hadn’t really thought about ourselves and our roles in a potential emergency like that, nor why or why not we’d help. I don’t think we came to definite conclusions at the time – ideas that could be backed by Cialdini or Batson – but it did provide some interesting insight into how or why we would help others. I would like to climb up to Camp Muir on Mt. Rainier again soon.

Week 2 Assignment

With nearly 1,000 people in my graduating class, academic GPA and rank were quite competitive. Those of us in a small percentage of the top of the class therefore definitely experienced social comparison throughout our high school years. For example, Tesser (1986) suggested that the success of people similar or close to us can cause envy. This is strengthened with the closeness of the interpersonal relationship and the degree to which the ambition is common or shared. The valedictorian of our senior class was a friend of mine, and there were many times when I was jealous of her academic achievement. (She also was extremely pretty, came from a wonderful family, and had other attributes that weren’t necessarily “goals,” but I wonder if these attributes contributed to my envy towards her high scholarship.)

Also, while grades provide a concrete measurement of academic achievement, it’s still difficult to discern who is more intelligent than whom when you only look at a sample of people with grades that are very close together in merit. In the classroom and in the school environment, there is definitely social comparison. Thinking back, I know I compared myself with those in the classroom with those who were slightly better at expressing ideas, writing papers, taking tests, studying, working on group projects, etc. despite my knowledge (or lack thereof) of the actual grade this person was receiving. I wonder if this actually guided my own achievements upward!