Recommended Viewing: Worcester Massachusetts State Hospital

Link to Life Magazine series

Final Update to PowerPoint Slides

Human Relations-Psychology in a Changing World

Recommended Viewing: Witchcraft and the Mentally Ill

Punishments for witchcraft in 16th century Germany. Woodcut from Tengler's Laienspiegel, Mainz, 1508

"As a physician and researcher, she factually explains the fallacy of witchcraft. Looking at historical documents dating back to the 15th century, Dr. (Beatriz) Quintanilla was able to match the symptoms of people condemned as witches with associated neurological and psychiatric disorders, such as epilepsy and hysteria. [Editor’s Note from Psychiatric Times: Natalie Timoshin]"



http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/schizoaffective/content/article/10168/1596272

Timeline of Mental Illness Treatment

Click on images to enlarge!

Study Guide Chapters 13-16

Here's some areas to study carefully for the test upcoming on Chapters 13-16. This listing is not all inclusive, but is intended to give you an idea of how well you know the material now. If some or all the questions make no sense, you need to continue to carefully review the material. Caution: this is not a list of questions on the test!

Don't forget to use the study tools in your textbook and at your textbook web site, too!

Review your notes, especially for material not in the book, but on the class web site or part of class discussions.

Studying as part of a small group helps, even if it's just 2 persons.

Chapter 13 Sexuality

• What are some of the changing views of sexuality, including some of the gender stereotypes regarding sex drive?
• What does androgeous means?
• Where does more than half of the pleasure of the sexual response come from?
• Are most partners comfortable talking about sex? How come?
• What are some important thins to consider re: sexual communication with a partner?
• What does John Gottman say regarding four (4) destructive patterns of sexual communication?
• Why is knowing your partner's sexual history important?
• Can you name and decribe the five ( 5) stages of the sexual response cycle?
• What does "refractory" refer to?
• What are some of the differences in the male and female sexual responses?
• What does "skimmmig" refer to re: orgasms?
• What are some of the various sexual orientations? How has our government responded (or not responded)?
• Who are homophobic?
• Do you know the difference between romantic and companioate love? Consummate love: what is that?
• Sometimes there are persistent problems with engaging in sexual activities. What are some of these problems for men and women?
• Where does the burden of birth control decision-making fall? On whom?
• Do you know the basic dfferences between all the STDs?
• How prevalent is sexual victimization in the United Stes? what form does it take?
• Who is often the perpetrator of abuse against children? What is in their history that may be a factor in their becoing abusers?
• Who are often the victims of child pornography?
• What is "force" in the case of date rape as experienced by women or men
• How long due the effects of rape last in rape victims?

Chapter 24  Psychological Disorders

• What are the seven (7) criteria to indicate an "abnormal" condition?
• Mental health/abnormality is a continuum? What does that mean?
• You may want to review some of the problems with objectivity over time re: abnormality. What did Thomas Szasz say about the mental health profession?
• Some key figues in the history of classifying mental disorders were ________________?
• The 5 Axes in DSM-IV are____________. Know what each one describes.
• The etiology of psychpathology refers to what aspect of mental illness?
• Whhat are the four (4) basic approaches to the cuases of mental illness? Describe a lttle bit about each one.
• Have a good sense of the types of Anxiety Disorders. Are phobias a rational fear of  __________? What is social phobia? What is a compulsion? How do the persons view their compulsions? What causes PTSD? How many people hace experienced a traumatic event? What % of our population experience a PTSD in a lifetime? Have good sense of the four basic treatment aproaches for anxiety disorders. Be cognizant of the genetic basis for these and the other disorders.
• Have a good sense of the  2 basic types of Mood Disorders, and the causes and genetic heritability. Who suggested the notion of "learned helplessness? What is the cogntiive triad of depression? How about explanatory style. How does this affect one's response to situations? How well do depressed persons remeber happy occasions?Why are women more often depressed? Is youth suicide a "spur-of-the-moment" thing?Guns vs. pills: who uses what?
• Personality Disroders (10 types): know what each characterizes. (See Table 14.4). Know more detail about borderline, antisocial, somataform and dissociative personality disorders. What are the nown aspects of causation for each?  Hypochondriasis, conversion and somatization disorder. what are these?
• Schizphrenic Disorders: Five (5) types. Pay particular attention to the possible causes of schizophrenia, including brain markers and family aspects( incl. expressed emotion factors).
• Psychological Disroders of Childhhod: Autism and ADHD. Key distinguishing aspects of each What are the possible causes of these mysterious disorders? Why is the diagnosis of ADHD particularly difficult?
• Mental Health Stigma: what role does the media play? Society in general? Self-fulfilling proecy at work here? Is it beneficial to have some contact with these individuals? Have you had experiences interacting with persons having a significant disrder?

Chapter 15 Therapies for Psychological Disorders

• Four (5) basic types of therapies
• Who are the therapists and where do they work?
• Have a good sense of the overall trends over time in viewing and treating the mentally ill, from 1400s to now
• Effects of deinstitutionalization; good or bad or both. What is the "revolving door" of care?
• Psychodynamic Approaches
• Free Association and Catharsis: what happens here?
• What is going on wuth resistane?
• Dream analysis and symbolism
• Transference and Countertransference
• Sullivan's and Klein's approaches
•  Behavior Therapies
• Counterconditioning
• Exposure therapies-Wolpe
• Aversion therapies-pairing of stimuli
• Contingency management
• Positive reinforcement  and Extinction strategies
• Social learning
• Imitation and Social Skills
• Generalization  Techniques
• Cognitive Therapies
• False Beliefs
• Cognitive Therapy for Depression-Beck: automatic thoughts
• REBT Therapy-Ellis:irratonal beiefs>emotional reactions
• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy-False beliefs paired with reinforcement contingencies
• Humanistic
• Human potential movement
• Client-centered therapy-Rogers
• Gestalt therapy-Perls
• Group Therapies
• Couple and Family Therapy-Satir
• Communicaton patterns for couples
• Systems for families
• Support Groups
• AA, etc.(Akron-based)
• Biomedical Therapies
• Drug Therapy
• Antipsycholtic drugs
• Antidepressant drugs
• Antianxiety drugs
• Psychosurgery-Moniz
• ECT and rTMS
• Evaluation
• What is "spontaneous remission"; why is the rate important?
• What's a meta-analysis?
• What have been the basic findingf of effectiveness of various therapies?
• Role of prevention strategies in mental health: primary, seconday and tertiary

Chapter 16 Good Grief and Death

• Denial vs. acceptance; how do people think about death?
• How much anxiety of death do you feel?
• Overestimation of a "sensational" death; role of the media in focusing on dramatic deaths. Why do they do this?
• Choose your parents carefully to ensure good genes and a long life! (Just kidding but you get the point.)
• Avoidance of thinking of death. Why? Can't we "be real" and accept the reality. Or is that asking too much?
• Are older folks more fearful of death?; Role of faith.
• What about near death experiences? What happens if you're lucky enough to be brought back?
• Kubler-Ross's stages of death; will we all reach acceptance of our mortality?
• What are the elements of bereavement, mourning, and grief
• What exactly is "grief work"? Parallels the experience of dying.
• What is the norm for the length of grief work?
• Unresolved grief; shut off from bereavement or ruminating to excess
• Effect of death of spouse, male and female
• "Good" Grief-a growing process; ways to express our emotions are varied (physical activity helps; assisting the family effort)
• Death is coming more slowly, and often in a hospital
• Importance of the "right-to-die
• Role of doctors
• Living wills-what do they do?
• Organ transplants-pressure on families at a tragic time
• A Natural Death
• Death more of a problem for the living than the dying!
• Hospice movement
• Home care-likely to expand
• 3 months ideal
• Often stay is very short; family tends to prolong the life-sustaining processes, leading to late entry into hospice
• 63% want to die at home
• Funerals
• Were held for the dead (afterlife transition); now they're for the living
• Now more materialistic; oriented to honoring the deceased w/recognition
• Oriented toward the survivors
• Lavish appurtenances; exploitation by funeral practices
• Death and "Growth"
• Puts a limit on our lives
• Prompts one to live one's life to fullest
• Those with unfinished business struggle at the ende with the finality of death

Study Guide Final Exam

Here's some material to review. Look over your other quizzes and tests. Review material previously placed on the class web site, practice tests in book and on the book web site, review material at end of each chapter to make sure you've absorbed all the key "concepts", terms and key people. Don't forget to hand in your extra credit after the exam!

Chapter 1 Self-Direction in a Changing World

• Are there any characteristics that the industrial age and the technological age share? Which ones?
• What are some characteristics in our diverse society that are increasing? Declining?
• It is important to take charge of your life, given all the pressures and complexities. Those who are "self-actualized" embody some characteristics worth noting. What are they, and who are affected?

Chapter 2  Research Methods in Psychology

• In order for psychological research to be publicly reviewed and validated, there are some essential aspects that must be followed by the researcher? What are they?
• One of the important aspects in designing an experiment is to make sure the design of the study allows the observer to be objective, and not biased in any way, otherwise what will occur with the results?
• There are several study design types mentioned in your text. One method ensures that the observers and the participants have no idea who is being "treated", or subject to an "independent" variable that is being made available, and who is part of a control group that is not being "treated" by the variable. What kind of study is this?

Chapter 3 Understanding Human Personality

• The results of early study of personality back in the era of the ancient Greeks live on today. What are the key understandings in those earliest days of scientific study?
• Freudian psychology, the earliest of the modern studies of personality, has several key elements that are essential to the psychodynamic theorists. Know what these bases of behavior and personality are and how they function.
• What are some of they key aspects of the humanist study of personality. What aspect of childhood and adulthood received the attention of Carl Rogers?

Chapter 4 Seeking Selfhood

• What defense mechanism do we use to minimize the effect of negative information or threatening events to preserve our self-concept?
• There are some interesting aspects of gender differences in gender role perceptions and expectations. How do men and women differ in terms of their clarity of self-beliefs?
• How do the self-concepts of persons change as they mature, especially in terms of self-actualization? How do we respond if we are uncomfortable with ourselves, or deny that certain emotions and needs are present. How does this conflict translate to our relationships with others? Over time, do these struggles resolve themselves?

Chapter 5 Stress!

• There are several types of stress. What function does each serve, and what are the identifying characteristics?
• Coping well with stress is an important part of life in the 21st century. A couple of different ways or styles, of effectively coping are discussed in your text in terms of reacting to stress. What are they and how are they different?
• Instead of modifying your internal response to stress, it is often best to consider modifying your environment instead. What are the several types of managing your environment?

Chapter 6 Toward Better Health

• Attractiveness is something we're born with. Does it make us Smarter? Funnier? Friendlier? More sociable? More worthy? Just plain better? How come?
• Being aware of our bodies,what we put into our mouths, and taking an active role in our wellness is a good thing. Being obsessed with every blemish, sore muscle, headache, sniffle, or occasional cold or virus is not so positive. Why isn't of being hyper vigilant about our health a problem?

Chapter 7 Affirmative Aging-Adulthood

• As time passes, do we become more like everyone else, or do our differences tend to become more pronounced? Why? What has happened over the years to cause this differentiation?
• Erik Erikson, a noted developmental psychologist, has identified some defining characteristics of certain periods in our lives. What two (2) defining characteristics does he designate as possible directions for middle adulthood?
• As we age, varied aspects of our cognitive capabilities change, including types of intelligence. Some aspects are diminished, some are enhanced.
• An aspect of older adults is the importance of having control over their lives. Being unable to drive, or maintain a house or apartment can have a negative effect on overall internal sense of well being and positive thinking. What is the aspect of control referred to in your text?

Chapter 8 Social Cognition and Relationships

• Harold Kelley expanded on attribution theory, and covariation, by identifying three (3) things we analyze for each event. What are they?
• A self-fulfilling prophecy is often made with an initial unsubstantiated (not based in fact) statement, followed by interaction with the target that reaffirms the initial statement such that positive or negative regard is enhanced. Who is affected mose significantly by this phenomenon, especially in education?
• Know the special aspects of cognitive dissonance, and how it affects your reaction when something happens that you did which is in conflict with your beliefs, feelings and values.
• Are stereotypes readily dispelled by factual information? Why not? If the information is at variance with your beliefs, will you accept this new information?

Chapter 9 Social Processes, Society and Culture

• Did the participants in the Stanford Experiment have any past exposure to some of the types of relationships they experienced in the prison? What are implications of this?
• Social norms are very resilient to change. With norm crystallization, what occurs? What happens when the person leaves the group. Does the new information and beliefs he/she processed live on, or do the participants revert to an earlier pre-group basis?
• It's very useful to know about in-groups, out-groups, majorities, minorities and group think processes. What is the "status quo" and Who defends it? How come?

Chapter 10 Communicating Effectively

• We are witnessing great technological changes in communication. But talking to each other face-to-face or by email, etc.  is still important. And words are even more important. Knowing how to interpret a conversation accurately is essential. Know the difference between the denotation of a word vs. it's connotation. It can get confusing in a conversation when the intended meaning of a word is not clearly specified.
• The "Johari Window" is a useful paradigm relative to self disclosure. Know the 4 quadrants! Know some examples, too!
• Verbal exchanges is often how we communicate. It can get complicated! How can you reply to someone, and devalue what she just said with what you say in reply?

Chapter 11 Making and Keeping Friends

• Can we assume that persons who are not attractive are usually not smart and poorly adjusted?
• Can we judge a persons character by their hair color, eye color, skin color or whether they have a disability?
• Some people have a high degree of EI. What's that, and why is it important to survive in this world of relationships?

Chapter 12 Love and Commitment

• So, are there any differences between friends and lovers?
• Sternberg's Triangle of Love is a useful paradigm relative to a theory of how love works. What are the three (3) main points of the love triangle?
• One of four women in our country experience domestic violence. Know the key defining characteristics.

Chapter 13 Sexuality

• You'd think that sexual partners would be chattering constantly about their mutual experiences. How come there is such a lack of communication?
• Your text lays out the standard periods related to sexual response cycles. Know what happens when, keeping in mind that there's plenty of variety and variation beyond what the text presents.
• Paint a picture of the typical response to sexual abuse? Who is it, how do they respond, how long does it take to get well?

Chapter 14 Psychological Disorders

• Know the subtleties of what is "normal" in earlier and present-day societies
• One of the most severe Anxiety disorders if PTSD. Know the origins, symptoms and treatment programs available.
• There are gender differences in many types of disorders. How about depression? Why might women be more vulnerable than men to depression?

Chapter 15 Therapies for Psychological Disorders

• Was abnormal behavior always thought to be curable? Who led the way to the mentally ill being treated as persons with an illness to be cured?
• The text discusses many treatment "modalities". Know key distinguishing aspects of each, including, for example, aspects of therapy with Freudian psychotherapists.
• Certain therapies are particularly effective in treating phobias. What are some examples of aversive and social modeling therapies with phobias.

Chapter 16 Good Grief and Death

• How can "grief" be good?
• Is denial of one's eventual death a healthy characteristic? Isn't it better to be always thinking of your eventual death?
• When do you fear death the most? As an infant? As a young adult? Middle age? Oldster?
• Our culture has unique ways of dealing with the death of a family member, ranging from mourning the loss, experiencing grief, and dealing with the experience of the loss (bereavement). What role to undertakers play? Are funerals expensive? How expensive? Should they be expensive? Is it awful to shop around for the least expensive funeral in town? Are people vulnerable during the period of grief?

Assignment #7 Where Do You Go When You Die?

Please take a look at the sample of responses below through the link for this simple, but complex, question:

Sample responses

Provide your answer to this great mystery. You may 1/ give your own point of view, or, 2/ you may provide a summary of the beliefs about "existence post-death" that you are familiar with. If you'd prefer not to publicly mention your own beliefs, use option #2! Due Thursday!

Kyle, Jeff, Richard, Kiara and John...please prepare some remarks on this topic for discussion at beginning of class Thursday. Thanks! If I've missed anyone this semester let me know, but I think all of the class will have given a brief oral presentation by end of this week. Let me know if I goofed.

Helen Fisher on Love Lecture: Check It Out!

Assignment #6 What Does "Being In Love" Mean

C.S. Lewis, a lay Chrisitian theologian, provides some insight into the difference between being "in love" and loving someone. Review the following excerpt from his book "Mere Christianity", and comment on his views, indicating 1/ insights you have gained, 2/ areas with which you agree and 3/ areas with which you might disagree with his discourse on this challenging subject in today's world:

Due Tuesday, November 30. Kiara, Christina, Tiffani, Ryan and Jen, please a provide a brief oral overview of your thoughts, expanding on what you have indicated in your post on this article. Focus on one part of his views that you found the most challenging or illuminating.


Love and Commitment
C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, pp. 97-99
The idea that "being in love" is the only reason for remaining married really leaves no room for marriage as a contract or promise at all. If love is the whole thing, then the promise can add nothing; and if it adds nothing, then it should not be made. The curious thing is that lovers themselves, while they remain really in love, know this better than those who talk about love. As Chesterton pointed out, those who are in love have a natural inclination to bind themselves by promises. Love songs all over the world are full of vows of eternal constancy. [This] law is not forcing upon the passion of love something which is foreign to that passion's own nature; it is demanding that lovers should take seriously something which their passion of itself impels them to do.

And, of course, the promise, made when I am in love and because I am in love, to be true to the beloved as long as I live, commits one to being true even if I cease to be in love (emphasis added).  A promise must be about things that I can do, about actions: no one can promise to go on feeling in a certain way (emphasis added).

Being in love is a good thing, but it is not the best thing. There are many things below it, but there are also things above it. You cannot make it the basis of a whole life. It is a noble feeling, but it is still a feeling. Now no feeling can be relied on to last in its full intensity, or even to last at all. Knowledge can last, principles can last, habits can last; but feelings come and go. And in fact, whatever people say, the state called "being in love" usually does not last. If the old fairy-tale ending "They lived happily ever after" is taken to mean "They felt for the next fifty years exactly as they felt the day before they were married," then it says what probably never was nor ever could be true, and would be highly undesirable if it were. Who could bear to live in that excitement for even five years? What would become of your work, your appetite, your sleep, your friendships?

But, of course, ceasing to be "in love" need not mean ceasing to love. Love in this second sense--love as distinct from "being in love"--is not merely a feeling. It is a deep unity, maintained by the will and deliberately strengthened by habit; reinforced by the grace which both ask, and receive, from God. They can have this love for each other even at those moments when they do not like each other. They can retain this love even when each would easily, if they allowed themselves, be "in love" with someone else.

"Being in love" first moved them to promise fidelity: this quieter love enables them to keep the promise

Updated Powerpoint Slides

Human Relations-Psychology in a Changing World

Recommended Reading: She Talks A Lot, He Listens

Interesting article by Elizabeth Bernstein of WSJ on differences in communication style between talkers and non-talkers.

Graphic by Russ Green, WSJ

She Talks A Lot, He Listens

Recommended Reading: Non-Verbal Communication by "Limbic Resonance"

Limbic Resonance

Our capacity to emotionally bond with another is mediated through a phenomenon known to physiologists and behaviorists as “limbic resonance.” Limbic resonance is the tuning in to another’s internal state; it is the most reliable way a mammal can know the emotional state of another without the necessity of translation (facial expressions, language). Limbic resonance occurs in all mammals, but is absent in reptiles, fish, and most birds. It occurs through eye contact, and the sensations multiply through mutual recognition and the continual back and forth feedback. Two nervous systems for an instant become in sync. Limbic resonance is the foundation of the “love at first sight” phenomenon, combined with other factors such as programmed attractors described below. Limbic resonance is responsible for that tickle in the pit of your stomach when you look into the eyes of someone you adore. When you feel that tickle, so does the other, and the feeling propagates and augments the growing attraction, building the affectionate attachment.

Because feelings can “leap from mind to mind” so to speak, the absence of such feedback is disturbing—as in meeting someone you instantly dislike, and can’t put your finger on why. Many have lost their ability to fully emotionally resonate with another—becoming insensitive, even cold towards others in favor of reason and logic. People know when they are liked, when others feel comfortable around them. Likewise, a negative internal response from another may be reflected back to them in ways we cannot fully understand, and the feelings of discomfort, of dislike, amplify. It is difficult to befriend or even like someone who cannot resonate with you.

The limbic activity of others around us allows us to achieve almost immediate congruence—it can be felt in a movie theater, or as a surge of emotion as panic propagates through a crowd. The ability to read another’s emotional state is older than our own species, yet we distrust it, devalue the sheer joy of being alone with another for the pure experience of his or her inner state, and further isolate ourselves. This is society’s legacy of alienation and loneliness, and we suffer immeasurably for it.

The inner state of others must matter to us. It is essential to our survival and to our individual health more than most of us are aware."

source: http://www.cyberlepsy.com/love.htm

Assignment #5 Body Language

Watch this brief video by Tonya Reiman on body language, a form of non-verbal communication. What do you think? Is she right on....or full of baloney? In the next couple of days, be conscious of your own body language. Then, pick some examples of how you consciously or unconsciously might have used body language to express an emotion you felt, and jot them down. Or, if you feel your body movements and related non-verbal actions have no relationship to your emotions, note that as well.

This assignment will be due Thursday, November18.

Ashley, Cordell, Joe, John, and Rosanne, please prepare some oral remarks for Thursday on this assignment, some examples from your own experiences, and other thoughts you may find thought provoking. Thanks!

PS: Here's a brief critique of Reiman 's observations

(Her degree is from Pace Iniversity in "General Studies", so we're not talking about the words of a trained psychologist here)

Final Exam Info

Our Final Exam is on Tuesday, December 7 @ 10AM in our current room.

Just a Reminder! Quiz on Chapter 10 on Tuesday, November 16

Just a Reminder! Quiz on Chapter 10 on Tuesday, November 16

Recommended Reading: Is True Altruism Possible?

NY Times Graphic

Is True Altruism Possible?

Study Guide Chapter 9-12

Here's some areas to study carefully for the test upcoming on Chapters 9-12. This listing is not all inclusive, but is intended to give you an idea of how well you know the material now. If some or all the questions make no sense, you need to continue to carefully review the material. Caution: this is not a list of questions on the test!

Don't forget to use the study tools in your textbook and at your textbook web site, too!

Review your notes, especially for material not in the book, but on the class web site or part of class discussions.

Studying as part of a small group helps, even if it's just 2 persons.

Chapter 9 Social Processes, Society and Culture

• Importance of the Situation
• Rules, explicit and implicit: give some examples of both
• Stanford Prison Experiment: basic importance; what happened to guards and inmates?
• Social norms=should
• Role of the group
• Deviation from the norm: consequences?
• Conformity
• What is informational vs. normative influence
• What does counter-normative mean?
• Asch experiment basics
• Norm crystallization
• The autokinetic effect illusion: what happens?
• Norm perpetuation and transmission
• Minority opinion aspects
• Group Thinking
• Polarization by the group
• Information influence
• Social comparison-representing an extreme position; effects?
• What is "group think"?
• Situational Power
• "No man is an island" aspects of
• Altruism/Prosocial Behavior
• Roots
• Facilitators of altruism: kinship, etc.
• Reciprocal altruism
• Role of distress when favors offered
• Indirect altruism
• Prosocial Behavior
• Motives (4)
• Empathy-altruism factor
• Genovese Effect
• Who was Kitty Genovese?
• Role of bystanders
• Diffusion of responsibility
• Need to:
• Notice
• Label as emergency
• Feel responsible
• Aggression
• Lorenz' theories of human aggression based on observation of animals
• Counter-theories re: evolution
• Physical vs. social aggression differences; genetic bases
• Role of serotonin and cortisol
• Impulse vs. instrumental aggression differences
• Personality traits linked to aggression: which ones?
• Role of the Situation: blocked in reaching goals
• Escalation w/direct provocation
• Cultural connectivity or no?
• Exposure to violence a factor
• Family history
• Conflict and Peace Psychology
• Milgram's Experiment
• Level of conformity?
• Demand characteristics
• Variation in results of Milgram's experiments (Fig. 9.7)
• Genocide and War Psychology
• Set of forces
• Who is the enemy and how are they portrayed?
• Why go to war? Motivations?
• Family nexus
• Fears of persecution
• Protect of resources, identity
• Peace Psychology
• The authoritarian, the group and leadership style
• Authoritarian, lasissez=faire vs. democratic governance
• Contact!
• Change in small increments

Chapter 10 Communicating Effectively

Basics

• Key components of communication
• Encoding/decoding: who does what?
• What interferes with processing?
• Content and relationship factors (power and status)
• Transactional nature: what does that mean? quick bursts or ongoing communication?
• Example of context of communication?

Verbal Communication

• Speaking
• Denotation (objective) and connotation (subjective)
• Consider the audience; problems with the abstract
• Simplicity rules
• Verbal and non-verbal consistency
• Listening
• Hearing vs. listening: what is difference? When does learning occur?
• 5 key strategies for better listening
• Self-Disclosure
• What 4 aspects of SD does the Johari Window show?
• Gender differences
• Importance of trust
• Timing in relationship: relevance?
• 5 Strategies for Increasing Self-disclosure
• Conflict
• 4 ways we deal with conflict
• 6 Ways to Become More Assertive
• Trends in Western countries
• Gender and Verbal Communication
• Rapport vs. Report Talk: Opposites
• Gender differences
• Barriers
• Judging
• Proposing/Pushing Solutions (non-collaborative)
• Avoiding Other's Concerns
• "...speaking of"
• One-upping
• 5 Strategies for Good Verbal Communication

Non-Verbal Communication

• Characteristics
• Ambiguous often
• Hard to hide
• "The truth will out..."
• Non-verbal leakage
• 6 ways to detect
• Clusters of non-verbal; may conflict w/ verbal
• Cultural differences
• Gender differences in non-verbal communication

• Body Communication
• Gestures: motion of limbs or body
• Facial: cultural differences
• Eye communication
• 4 Functions
• Touch
• Expresses ____________________?
• Status and power aspects
• Gender differences
• Spatial (Proxemics)
• 4 distance categories and differences
• Power and status conveyed
• Who has more space and privacy? Why?
• SSSHHHHHHH!
• Is silence comfortable to everyone? Why not?
• What does a good listener do  with silence?
• Types and examples of paralanguage
• How can you convey different meaning through various elements of paralangauge for the simple sentence "My dog has fleas"? (Try with examples in Fig. 10.9)

Chapter 11 Making and Keeping Friends

• Intro
• More contacts, fewer close friends
• Friends now based on shared interests/pleasures/satisfactions
• Search for closeness; possibility of loneliness greater
• Expectations exceed understanding of what is involved
• Both types of friends needed
• First Impressions
• Durable
• Based on sketchy information
• Negative given more weight; mistakes viewed as "intentional"
• Also, first impressions involve social comparisons
• Components
• Attractiveness
• Attractive people viewed as "better"
• Certain physical attributes. Which ones?
• American perspectives on who is "attractive"
• Ethnocentrism a factor
• "Settle" for what type of person (as far as appearance)?
• Handicapped persons are attractive, in spite of your book's claims, even though they are "different" from the rest of us.
• Reputations
• Similarity
• Personality aspects: similarities and complementary aspects
• Propinquity-Closeness
• Get to know subtle aspects: the  little things
• Interaction linked to liking (kind of obvious, yes?)
• Non-verbal
• 'You remind me of............."
• Gazers vs avoiders
• Verbal-paralanguage
• Mistaken Impressions
• False consensus
• Signs of status? Real?
• Stereotypes: a natural tendency
• "Devil' or "halo" effect
• Fundamental attribution
• Shyness
• What is it?
• What % of Americans say they have a problem with shyness (as opposed to social phobia or social anxiety disorder)?
• Similar across cultures
• 3 basic types
• What % of population has the more extreme form?
• Why does our culture "shun" persons who may be shy? Why?
• Is it genetic? Learned?
• 5 steps to manage shyness
• Keeping Friends
• Extraordinary value of friendships: name some great aspects
• "A friend in need is a friend indeed": significance of this well-known phrase
• Self-Disclosure
• Health benefits: what are they?
• Some situations of SD can backfire. When?
• High self-esteem helps
• Gender differences: describe some
• Same Sex-Opposite Sex Friends
• Intimacy among women
• Also tensions, jealousies, rejection
• Men: dominance, property money
• Sex a factor between sexes
• Who benefits more from opposite sex friendships?
• Motives (6) why people want to "keep it platonic"
• Staying friends
• Trust!
• Life transitions cause break-up of friendships: name some transitions that might cause a friendship to wither
• We're trusting less overall: why is that?
• Loneliness
• Quality and quantity is lower than desired
• Health linkage
• Duration, not intensity, key
• Declines over time
• What parental situation causes serious loneliness in some
• 4 aspects of EI (Emotional Intelligence)
• Our focus (obsession) with self-fulfillment....good or bad?
• Lonely persons exaggerate internal, diminish external as a cause of loneliness

Chapter 12 Love and Commitment

• The Ingredients of Love
• Friendship/Love overlap: where?
• Differences w/friendships
• Theories of Love
• Hatfields conclusions: passionate and companionate love
• What conditions to qualify for falling "madly" in love?
• Sternberg's "Triangle of Love": so what are the 3 components, he says?
• Cultural variations: where do people come from who place love on a "pedestal"?
• Attachment styles (3)
• "Apple doesn't fall far from the tree": what does this refer to with styles of relationships?
• Male vs. Female differences?
• Commitment
• Cohabitation: define
• General characteristics (demographics)
• What is the "cohabitation effect"?
• What are definitional features of "battering abuse"
• Are they confined to one particular group of persons in terms of social, ethnic or economic factors?
• Marriage-legal union
• What is a common law marriage?
• Is gay marriage legal?
• Do Americans support gay unions? marriages? raising children in a gay marriage?
• Are people waiting longer to marry? Why?
• Are marriages between older people likely to last longer?
• What is meant by "voluntary marriage"?
• What shift in form of love occurs later in a marriage?
• Various aspects of negative and positive aspects of interaction in a marriage, esp. Gottman, Fincham, Kalmijn studies?
• What does 5:1 refer to?
• What's "consummate" love?
• Various aspects of adustments to sharing, communication and conflict
• Are marriages more egalitarian?
• What about perceptions of inequity in household chores?
• Issues with multiple roles.
• Several approaches to solve above problems
• Dynamics of sex itself
• Frequency or quality?
• Age factors
• Double standard of heterosexual sex: what is it exactly? Is the frequency of affairs becoming equal for men and women?
• What factors are more likely to lead a person to engage in extramarital affairs?
• Divorce
• Who initiates a divorce?
• Who makes more plans to divorce
• Who is more likely to follow through with a divorce?
• Who is more likely to talk with friends re: possible divorce?
• Who thinks more about it before actually getting a divorce ? (see a pattern here?)
• Est. time to recover?
• Single Parent Families and Remarriages
• Does divorce make children more vulnerable to psychological stress and depression?
• Does remarriage cause stress
• Is there some relationship between a single Mom and potential for economic hardship? What is statistical increase in likelihood of poverty  for kids for single-parent kids vs. married couple family?
• What is likelihood of success for a remarriage vs. first marriage?
• Are adolescents a source of difficulty in the success of remarriage?

Assignment #4 Is Racism Inherited?

Review the following article in Scribd; reread the section of Chapter 8 in your text dealing with the origins of prejudice.

Are-We-Born-Racist by Susan T. Fiske

What are your thoughts now on the genetic vs. learned aspects of prejudice and discrimination?  Note the comments at the end re: ways to combat prejudice by way of the contact hypothesis (working together on common goals).
Due via on line commments Thursday.

Bobbi, Jeff, Stacy, Shovonna and Deanna: Please give a brief presentation Thursday first thing to the class on your response to this assignment, also providing any personal observations on prejudice (gender, religion, race, body type, disability, etc.) or racism you feel would be useful to the discussion.

Thanks!

bf

Your Extra Credit Assignment

Attend one of the following before the end of the semester:

1/ An Alcolohics Anonymous meeting, or

2/ A Laughing Club meeting at the Cuyahoga Falls Library

For either choice, write a journal article of your visit, describing what happened while you were there (at least one page). What was the purpose of the meeting? Who else was there (in general...no names)? What was done at the meeting? Who led the meeting (I don't need his/her name, just whether there was a leader)? From your perspective, was the meeting successful? Were you eventually comfortable at the meeting? Any other thoughts?

If you visit an AA meeting, go to the web site below to select a meeting. Remember, some are open, some are closed to the public. Go only to an open meeting.

Meeting locations

For the Laughing Club:

Cuyahoga Falls Public Library
Saturdays 10:00AM
2015 Third Street Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio 44221
Questions? Call Carol Bailey-Floyd at 330-836-4456

Group meetings like the AA form of meeting is an example of Psychodynamic therapy.

Laughter as a healthy response we make to our lives is something we have discussed earlier this semester.

You may substitute a meeting with another related local organization, if you wish. Prior approval is required.   Assignment is due at the final exam.

Good luck and enjoy your assignment.

Recommended Reading: The Hidden Side of Happiness

A little out of synch with chapters, but worth reading (no questions on this on the test tomorrow)

The Hidden Side of Happiness

Study Guide Chapters 5-8

Here's some areas to study carefully for the test upcoming on Chapters 5-8. This listing is not all inclusive, but is intended to give you an idea of how well you know the material now. If some or all the questions make no sense, you need to continue to carefully review the material. Caution: This overview is not a list of questions on the test!

Don't forget to use the study tools in your textbook and at your textbook web site, too!

Review your notes, especially for material not in the book, but on the class web site or part of class discussions.

Studying as part of a small group helps, even if it's just 2 persons.

Chapter 5 Stress

• What are some of the effects of stress in the workplace?
• What are some of the ailments associated with stress?
• What economic group experiences stress more often?
• Name some external and internal sources of stress
• Is most stress caused by multiple smaller events or a single major event
• Are there any benefits of stress? What are they?
• Describe the 3 types of stress according to Hans Selye
• Characterize the difference between chronic vs. acute stress; give some examples
• Major life events can be listed in order of level of anticipated stress; what are some of the highest on the list? Holmes & Rahe assignment)
• Who is more prone to stress: men or women? Young students or retired seniors?
• Personality differences: what type of personality have more stressl-prone traits?
• Do persons experiencing or perceiving possible prejudice experience an addiitonal level of stress?
• Can stress be an unconscious response?
• Do persons experiencing high stress tend to be more or less rigid  in their responses?
• Can a person experiencing stress be excited or exhilarated?
• What are some of the behavioral effects of stress?
• How do women respond to stress in comparison to men? Who feels stress more often? Men or women?
• Who exhibits "problem-focused" coping?
• What is "hardiness (3 characteristics)? Resilience (5 characteristics)? What are 2 features of commitment?
• 3 methods of reducing stress by managing the environment
• Know thew 5 types of compromise (book mentions 4; I added a 5th in class)
• What might be down-side of conformity?
• Managing stress by altering your lifestyle ( methods)
• Is it useful to experience stress in one's young life. Why? For what purpose? 

Chapter 6 Toward Better Health

• What is unembodiment in reference to body image?
• How conscious (aware) are most of us of our body in our waking hours?
• How does the media present "ideal" body images? How does that effect most of us?
• What types of body images cause some distress in men?
• What are current ideals for men/women?
• How accurate are women in terms of what they think men find attractive in the female form? 
• What is "systems " theory as applied to mental/physical health
• What does the immune system  do?
• Is the link between the mind and body fully understood?
• Can stress cause cancer; or does it weaken the immune system leading to susceptibility to various diseases?
• Can a bad marriage lead to illness?
• What personality traits are found to be beneficial to physical health?
• Persons who are strong in "self-efficacy" evidence what characteristics?
• Name the 3 most common hazardous behaviors that damage health?
• Successful formula for weight loss/stability
• What % of american have a healthy BMI?
• You hear about the "Magic All-Lettuce" diet. What should be your response to the value of this strict program?
• % of peole who still smoke? How many?
• Alcohol and tobacco? A healthy combo?
• How do you keep yourself "primed" with nicotine during a normal day?
• Possible smoking cessation methods?
• Is alcoholism hereditary in nature?
• What % of hospital beds on a given day have a person with an alcohol-related illness?
• What's a psychoactive drug? (discussed in class)
• What are 3 environmental problems possibly leading to illness?
• What's a hypochondriac?
• What function does "downward comparison" serve with illness?
• What are some of the roadblocks to good coping with possible health problems?
• What are, in fact, 3 key factors in influencing treatment success that are universal?
• Ways to improve patient response with treatment providers?
• Know the 10 key factors in ongoing wellness?
• What's a down side of being a so-called "good" patient?
• What are implications of the statement that "...the largest amount of American are killing themselves with a knife and fork"?
• Possible functions of dreaming
• What are "carbs"
• What percent of adult Americans are "active"?
• Is it more important to exercise intensely or regularly?

Chapter 7 Affirmative Aging-Adulthood

• What are the 2 components of human development?
• When does it end?
• What traits of personality tend to change as one ages?
• What are some age-related changes; what are some non-age-related changes?
• When your author says "it's the symbolic aspect of leaving home" that matters, what does she mean?
• How  often do children return home after leaving for a period of time?
• What are some "nester" issues/problems?
• In the search for a "career", what two forces must be balanced?
• Change in goals of young career seekers from 50 years ago. Describe.
• What are characteristics of "delays" by young people at this point of early adulthood?
• Relationship of previous "identity" issues with relationships with others
• Who holds the power in a relationship where one is more "committed" than the other?
• Give some characteristics of today's family formation as compared to the past
• Which generation do middle-agers consider (or wish) themselves to be a part of? (sorry for poor syntax)
• Life is 1/2 over realization. How much time do I have left?
• Erikson: a period of generativity
• What is the "unrealized" self?
• What is "yenvy"
• Health consequences of multiple outside interests?
• Turning point for (some adult cognitive capabilities. What is it (approximately)
• Decline in which cognitive components; which may be as good or better?
• Describe male and female climacteric periods
• Do middle-agers appreciate their partners more than young marrieds?
• What are some "euphemisms" for aging?
• What is the tendency to stereotype older persons called?
• What is infantilism?
• Are all the problems of ageing due to physical decline? If no, what are the causes?
• Do you have more fluid intelligence than a senior citizen?
• How about crystallized" intelligence/
• What form of memory is particularly problematic for many seniors/
• What is ILC (Internal Locus of Control"? Give an example of a senior lifestyle with a good ILC?
• Who are more frequently living alone as seniors? Men or women?
• Who copes better? Why
• Where do seniors live commonly?
• Types of retirement? Which is better?
• Difference between "perceived" vs. "actual" income. Implication of difference for senior well-being
• What is "integrity?
• Despair vs. integrity are two poles of Erikson's stage for seniors.
• Role of reminiscing with life's "final chapter" (yes...another euphemism  :(  for time preceding death)

Chapter 8 Social Cognition and Relationships

• Social context is the big picture: what is it made of?
• Social cognition, by selective encoding and perception, leads to one's social reality and attitudes Examples?
• Can two people look at the same activity, and see two quite different events? Why? Bias?
• Behavior is driven by internal (dispositional) or external (situational) forces
• How do you decide what causes certain behaviors under conditions of uncertainty?
• Covariation: is causal factor there when behavior occurred....or not?
• Three factors to consider of behavior observed
• Distinctiveness (a specific occasion only?)
• Consistency (happened in past?), and
• Consensus (others?)
• What is the fundamental attribution error? (FAE); what are basic tendencies when gauging causality?
• Cultural aspects of FAE
• Do people make the FAE at their own expense? What is the opposite tendency called?
• What might be impact of FAE when friends involved as partners?
• What happens with a self-fulfilling prophecy? What role does the originator play? What about the subject(s)? An example?
• What are tendencies with behavioral confirmation? Paul's initial impression of Sam is that he is not particularly bright. Will Sam's behavior tend to be in concert with Paul's impressions?
• What exactly is an attitude? 3 components of attitudes (CAB)
• Accessibility concept: how applied to attitudes predicting behavior?
• Direct vs. limited experience
• Specific vs. non-specific? What are "exemplars"?
• Persuasion: Elaboration Likelihood Model
• central and peripheral routes to effectively persuade (hi vs. lo elaboration)
• Factors influencing use of direct vs. peripheral routes:
• Timing
• Match between type of attitude and type of "argument"
• Dissonance theory
• when does dissonance occur?
• What do you do if dissonance is significant? (self-persuasion or rationalization)
• Your attitudes change your behavior, but can your behavior change your attitudes? When might this "truism" be useful in your life?
• Some basics of self-perception theory: what is going on?
• Three types of "compliance"?
• Prejudice is learned or genetic?
• What are your "in-groups"? "Outgroups"?
• Can you favor your "in-group", but not be prejudiced toward others?
• Do the brains of persons with high tendency toward prejudice differ from those with a low tendency toward prejudice?
• Racism as an outgrowth of prejudice
• Do some people tend to not categorize people into "in" or "out" groups?
• Universal orientation scale
• Are some aspects of stereotyping unconscious?
• Reversing prejudice
• Contact hypothesis
• Elements of the Robbers Cave study
• Jigsaw technique
• Making friends (a logical technique with positive results)
• Self-identification and empathizing
• Deprovincialization

A Whole Episode on Phobias! (Corner Gas-Canadian Sitcom)

Assignment # 3 Holmes-Rahe Life Changes Inventory

Please take the following brief inventory of major life changes/events and see where you fall on the stress/ illness forecast. Remember, this test does not absolutely predict physical ailments. But studies have shown that a correlation exits between the accumulation of these events and physical ailments. You'll note the "points" for certain life changes are fixed. In fact, people vary in the relative importance of a given event. We're dealing with overall averages of impact. Respond on-line by Thursday with an observation of how you deal with managing the stress of certain events in your life.

The following students will provide a brief oral summary in class Thursday of the survey itself, their  stressful experiences/responses, or any related observation you think we'd appreciate hearing (3-5 minutes is fine):

Evan, Dana, Shannon, Rachel, Dennis

Holmes & Rahe Self-Inventory