Nicole Rodriguez 1. Provide a description of 2 topics (4-6 sentences per description) from the social cognition presentation material that caught your attention. (3 points). Effortful processing vs. Automatic processing- I did not know the difference between these two until now. Effortful is intentional and time-consuming processing to things that we encounter. Trying to remember lyrics to a song that you hear someone singing is an example of this type of processing. Automatic processing is involuntary, it happens without a person putting much thought into it. Retail workers consistently use their automatic processing when thoughtlessly greeting the customers that walk through the door. Priming/ Donald’s Story- The experiment presents participants with either negative or positive words that they were asked to memorize, then given a story to read and formulate an opinion on Donald. The words that they were given to memorize prior were not supposed to be associated with Donald but their opinions were still influenced by whether they were assigned positive or negative words. This is due to the concept of priming, or putting ideas in someone’s head that will influence their behavior or judgement. 2. Provide a description of 2 topics (4-6 sentences per description) from the emotions presentation material that caught your attention. (3 points). Charles Darwin’s Theory- Darwin believed that emotions should be universal across cultures and species. Meaning, all humans and animals show emotion through very similar behaviors. He believed that our emotions have their own biological signature or facial expressions that identify what we are feeling, and these are also universal. He also believed that emotions should develop early in life, before one has experienced anything. Folk Psychology vs. James-Lange Theory vs. RJT vs. Cannon Baird- These are two separate interpretations of how emotions and our body work when processing a stimulus. Folk Theory says that we experience the stimulus, feel the emotions, followed by whatever physiological reaction occurs. Whereas, the James-Lange theory says that we experience the stimulus, our body reacts, then lastly we feel the emotions. I think the Folk Theory makes a little more sense than the James-Lange because after your body has reacted, you feel relief and your body is now recuperating rather than getting all riled up with emotions after you’ve already taken action. Overall, I believe Cannon Baird is the most accurate because it feels like our body and emotions are working simultaneously. 3. Describe a situation when your use of automatic processing in a social situation failed you. Be sure to use the terminology from this material in your response and describe the event in detail (2.5 points). Nicole Rodriguez An example of this would be thinking on your toes as a retail worker. When you work with people, you have to be really quick with your thought process and responses. It’s regular for me to be social and greet the customers. But, I can’t even count the amount of times where someone has walked in and greeted me quickly and I start stuttering over words/freezing up because my brain is moving too fast. Driving, walking, or singing a song you know the lyrics to are more examples of this. 4. Describe a situation where an emotion that was evoked within you helped you navigate through that situation more successfully. Be sure to use the terminology from this material in your response and describe the event in detail (2.5 points). A situation where I got emotional and it actually helps is rare for me to be honest. However, it has happened on a few occasions when I have been scared. When I’m fearful, is when I’m the most motivated, I think. Being a woman can be kind of scary at times, so there was a time where I felt I was being followed and that fear that I felt motivated me to take a few self-defense classes. It made me more aware of my surroundings whenever I am out and about. Emotions will definitely motivate you to take action.
