Assignment Social Psychology
Assignment Social Psychology
ANALYZING A SOCIAL-PSYCHOLOGICAL PROBLEM
Starting at school.
Renske Martje Wemer
Class ICV1a
Student number : 000294554
Hanzehogeschool
International Communication
November 2006
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Assignment Social Psychology
Content
Page
1. Presentation of the problem
3
2. Definition of the problem.
4
3. Explanations of the problem
4
4. Explanations in social psychological theory
5
5. Explanations of problem with theory
6
6. Solutions.
7
Sources
7
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Assignment Social Psychology
1. Presentation of the problem.
Problem
The problem I want to discuss is a situation at school: my start at the
Hanzehogeschool.
Background.
My start at the Hanzehogeschool, in September 2006, was an important
moment for me. It meant the end of high school and the beginning of a
different, higher level of education. I am only sixteen years old, and I
knew I would probably be the youngest of my class. This made me
anxious about meeting my new classmates, who come from different
countries and cultures.
Actually, this day was the start of a new period in my life. In short,
starting at the Hanzehogeschool will have consequences for my education,
friendships, way of life, and future career possibilities.
Situation.
On the way to school, I worried about everything; if I would be on time, if
I would know where to go, if I looked alright, etc. When I arrived I was
stressed, but relieved to be on time.
It wasn’t difficult for me to go in. People often tell me I have good social
skills and I know I have good posture, thanks to ballet, and I am used to
perform in front of an audience, so that helps.
I knew there should be a former schoolmate as well and she came to me
while I was waiting in front of the green tower. It felt good to start out
with someone I knew, if you have someone to talk to, you don’t feel that
everybody is looking at you, which makes it easier.
With all the others, we went into the computer room. There were enough
computers for everyone, so we just sat down. I remember I looked around
and thought “Oh boy, they are all so much older than me!”.
Then we tried to start our computers, but we all had trouble. Suddenly
everybody was talking to each other, trying to find out how to do it. After
this I learned a little about them and I also saw a few people I met before
at other events. At this point I felt the hardest part of the start was over, I
had met my fellow students.
The problem I faced was how to make a good start. I felt this as my
problem, but I realized it was a problem for the other newcomers as well.
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Assignment Social Psychology
2. Definition of the problem.
Definition.
In the situation of starting at the Hanzehogeschool, the problem can be
defined in short as the challenge to start new relationships, in an
unfamiliar environment.
3. Explanations of the problem.
Explanations.
To see the start at the Hanzehogeschool as a problem, can be explained in
the following ways:
- I have to go inside to a large group of people I don’t know yet. So I
wonder if everybody is looking at me, how people will see me and
what I will see. I was very conscious of the fact that I am pretty
young compared to the other students.
- I have to find a way to meet these people. Once I am in the
classroom, what do you do? Just start talking to someone, or wait
for something happening, which will give you a topic to talk about?
So I ask myself what I should do.
- I have to find out how I will like them and how they will like me . Do
they look friendly, how are their looks, how are they dressed? What
do you think of each other?
- I have to learn about rules and behaviour at the school and I have
to find my way around the school. Do I know what is right to do and
will I feel at ease in the school?
Importance.
The explanations above are about all the things that played a role in the
situation. I think the first explanation, about going inside, is the most
important for my problem. Because once I was inside, I didn’t think about
myself so much, I felt more relaxed and interested in the others and
environment.
The other explanations are more about the questions I asked myself
before going to the school. In the class room I felt that things just
happened, without thinking about it.
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Assignment Social Psychology
4. Explanations in social psychological theory.
Theoretical explanations.
The question how to meet new people in a new situation can be seen as a
relationship problem, or rather the problem of how to start a relationship.
In this case, the questions are: how does one present oneself, how do
people make contact, who approaches who and why, what do they think
about each other and about the environment?.
In social psychology, these issues are discussed and explained by theories
and concepts as self-presentation, fundamental attribution theory and
fundamental attribution error, physical attraction and the matching
phenomenon, and the reward theory of attraction. They will be described
below.
Self-presentation.
Self-presentation is what people say and do in front of others and how. It
is based on how people like to see themselves inside, for their internal
audience, and how they would like others, the external audience, to see
them.
Especially in new situations, people are aware of what others will think of
them, so they try to make a good impression. They will look how the
others react and maybe adjust their behaviour to get the desired effect,
this is called self-monitoring. Everybody does it, but some more than
others. It is important to know what the reaction of others means, so selfmonitoring requires social skills.
Fundamental attribution theory and fundamental attribution error.
The fundamental attribution theory and fundamental attribution error
discuss how people explain the behaviour of someone else, and where
they may go wrong.
Fundamental attribution theory says that people assume others act the
way they do because of personal characteristics or because of influences
from the environment.
The fundamental attribution error means a mistake that people make
when they try to explain the behaviour of others by focusing too much on
dispositional behaviour, coming from (internal) personal characteristics,
and paying not enough attention to (external) situational influences, the
environment.
Research shows that people tend to attribute their own behaviour more to
situational influences, and that of others to personal traits and attitudes.
A focus on situational influences, things outside their control, may be used
as explanation or excuse for one’s own behaviour, while stressing personal
characteristics means that the person is responsible for hold .
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Assignment Social Psychology
Physical attractiveness and the matching phenomenon.
The matching phenomenon is a concept that has to do with physical
attractiveness, how people like each other’s appearance. The matching
phenomenon plays a role especially in dating and choosing a partner: men
and women will look for a good match in attractiveness and other personal
characteristics.
Reward theory of attraction.
The reward theory of attraction says that we like people who behave in a
way we feel is rewarding to us or people we associate with rewarding
events.
5. Explanations of problem with theory.
The situation of my start at the Hanzehogeschool can be explained as a
problem of starting new relationships. In social psychological theory, I
found explanations of relationship problems which can be used for this
case. The explanations from section 3 and 4 above, are combined in the
following.
Presentation.
As said before, I think the main part of my problem was to go inside and
face the new people I will study with in the next years. So it was
important for me to make a good impression. This is explained by the
theory about self-presentation. Though it bothered me that they might
think me too young for them, I did not try to make myself look older and
give a false presentation. But I feel it made presenting myself more
difficult.
Meeting the others.
When I went into the school, a girl from my old school came to me, so I
was met by someone familiar, which made us both feel more at ease. This
may be an illustration of the reward theory of attraction, which says we
like people who make us feel good or people we associate with things
which make us feel good.
Together we had something to talk about and this also made it easy to
start talking to others.
Judging each other.
My first impression of my classmates is good. The fact that they come
from different countries and cultures appeals to me and also means that it
may be harder to judge physical attractiveness. I am attracted by people
who are open and friendly, as I think I am, and which is explained by the
matching phenomenon.
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Assignment Social Psychology
How we form an opinion about others is discussed in the fundamental
attribution theory. In a first meeting, with so many people at the same
time, it is difficult to explain the behaviour of individuals and to know if
they behave as they are, or if they are influenced by the environment. I
think people behaved as they are, as a person, but I realize that the
environment was also unfamiliar for them. I hope this doesn’t mean I
made a fundamental attribution error.
6. Solutions.
The situation of starting at the Hanzehogeschool is typically a first time
experience. The problem will be solved if I or others know how to handle
this kind of situations and feel comfortable about it.
To achieve this, the first step is to analyze as well as possible how you felt
during the situation, what made you uneasy and why, how did you cope
with it and which things made you feel better. If you have a good idea of
all those things, you can prepare yourself better for a next time.
The only real solution for me (but probably also for others) seems to me
in doing it, to get training and experience, so you feel confident.
Sources.
Teaching notes Social psychology 2006 Hanzehogeschool.
Myers, David G: Social Psychology. 8th Edition. The McGraw Hill
Companies Inc, New York, 2005.
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