Research Methods, Social Cognition, and Social Perception - Assignment Example

?Research Methods, Social Cognition, Social Perception Research Methods, Social Cognition, Social Perception Question The study where a researcher would be interested in measuring the relationship between two social phenomena would entail attempting to understand the relationship between children who watch wrestling and their aggression personality (Reis & Judd, 2000). This research would be better studied using correlational method. This is the best method because it helps predict the relationship between the two variables about watching wrestling and aggression personality (Reis & Judd, 2000).  Demand characteristics entail the scoping procedures for the population to study. In this case, it will entail the children and understanding from the outset whether they watch wrestling. The demand characteristics can be dealt with through choosing an appropriate research methodology that conforms to the correlational technique (Reis & Judd, 2000). This will entail adopting survey technique in which the respondents are asked information about their social behaviour. Furthermore, random sampling of the targeted population ensures that this challenge is dealt with. Third variable problem is a situation where the two dominant variables chosen by the research for investigation could present another hidden variable that potentially controls behaviour. For instance, watching wrestling and aggression behaviour are two major variables (Reis & Judd, 2000). However, a third variable could be some children who see people around them fight every now and then thus adapting aggression behaviour. This can be dealt with through studying the causal factors in either of the first two variables (Reis & Judd, 2000).  Question 2 The cognitive biases include issues of how people perceive the behaviour of others and how they perceive objects. In other words, all often depends on how people perceive reality that influences behaviour and not the reality itself. This is so because perception engages the minds of participants and concerns how they look at diverse people. This is to mean that the way people perceive situations then transmits that perception to their interpretive lenses informs the experiences they develop out of the process (Moskowitz, 2005). Furthermore, person perception allows an individual to go beyond the provided information in order to understand other hidden issues they can perceive. In object perception, it is notable that people perceive objects differently thus varying account on similar items. The transfer of thoughts when one perceives a situation then interprets in the lenses and experience emerges. The emerging experience points to a behaviour that may not be based on the reality but on the perception of the object (Moskowitz, 2005). Furthermore, there is always a notion that people are given information about certain objects but they still take their time to go beyond the provided information in order to understand the object fully and develop experiences based on facts. Question 3 “Younger children may not fall for certain schematic (false) memory effects but older children and adults do. What could explain this unexpected age trend? What does it reveal?” The area of schematic memory is still undergoing massive studies because of the unresolved issues including why younger children may not fall for such effects than adults. There are developmental reversals that are considered in explaining this realization (Brainerd, Holliday, Reyna, Yang & Toglia, 2010). Many specialists have argued that false memory sharply declines with age between early childhood and early adulthood. The explanation for this unexpected age trend is associated with the developmental reversal effects. Most important of these effects entails the interplay of emotions (Brainerd et al, 2010). It is argued that events that children frequently remember are emotionally charged. On the other hand, adults undergo diverse emotional experiences that affect their false memory. It is notable that negative emotional experiences cause’s diminished levels of false memory as opposed to positive emotional experiences and this often requires Adults to comprehend and pay more attention to processing the contents of positive emotional experiences than negative emotions (Brainerd et al, 2010). This makes adults to attend to surface details of the negative experiences thus reducing their false memories. Therefore, developmental reversal effect frequently emerges more when people remember positive emotional experiences than when they remember negative emotional experiences (Brainerd et al, 2010). This reveals that adults have more pronounced emotional stability than children and those emotional experiences in adults is an important factor for determining the reduction in false memories. Question 4: Policy Related Suggestions Social psychologists should make policy suggestions that will guide the researchers against conducting and generating prejudicial findings (Barone, Maddux & Snyder, 1997). This is important because studies that attempt to reveal biases and mental shortcuts may end up promoting the generation of faulty findings since people involved in research already show certain biases on the participants or the studied community. It is common for psychologists to write about many study findings on social problems upon undertaking investigations at the community level (Barone, Maddux & Snyder, 1997). However, it is very scandalous for such studies to fail to recognize and appreciate the crucial knowledge of human history and culture. Therefore, it follows that social psychologists can only comprehend social behaviour whenever they understand historical conditions. There should be a prescribed educational policy that social psychologists study historical records and human societies (Barone, Maddux & Snyder, 1997). This will help in the development of social sciences since such studies will help comprehend complex individual behaviour. Furthermore, social psychology research shall also be guided by the need to ensure the welfare of participants (Barone, Maddux & Snyder, 1997). The researchers also make vital discoveries that benefit society in diverse ways. Therefore, the policy on research needs to make the participation of individuals at the core of any research. Question 5: Briefly discuss the differences between object perception and person (social) perception While studying social psychology, two major forms are discussed including object and personal perception. The two forms of social psychology exhibit certain differences, which sets them apart. Social theorists such as Heider maintain that the primary difference between the two entails a conversion in the analysis, focusing on physical properties in the case of object perception while person perception integrate behaviours and emotions (Moskowitz, 2005). It is for this reason that person perception emerge as an in-depth understanding of emotional patterns in order to make inferences. Stability also plays a role in differentiating object perception from person perception. The change in behaviour among individuals occurs whenever one shifts interaction partners. Therefore, a person’s perception of others stabilizes concerning instinctual analysis of the individual’s behaviour. However, object perception fails to show intentional features as well as non-observable traits (Moskowitz, 2005). Person perception has mutual observation where individuals develop a perception of each other. On the other hand, object perception lacks the implication of the self thereby ensuring that one object cannot imply meaning to the perception of a different object. The person perception also has self-presentation characteristics where the persons may exhibit similar features (Moskowitz, 2005). On the other hand, object perception does not provide easy way of verifying the accuracy of observations. References Barone, D. F., Maddux, J. E., & Snyder, C. R. (1997). Social cognitive psychology: History and current domains. New York [u.a.: Plenum Press. Brainerd, C., Holliday, R., Reyna, F., Yang, Y and Toglia, M. (2010). Developmental Reversals in False Memory: Effects of Emotional Valence and Arousal. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology. Volume 107, Issue 2. Pages 137–154. Moskowitz, G. B. (2005). Social cognition: Understanding self and others. New York [u.a.: Guilford Press. Reis, H. T., & Judd, C. M. (2000). Handbook of research methods in social and personality psychology. Cambridge, U.K: Cambridge University Press. Read More