Notes, summaries, assignments, exams, and problems for Psychology and Sociology

Key Subfields and Specializations in Psychology

• Behavioral Genetics

  Studies the inheritance of traits related to behavior.

• Behavioral Neuroscience

  Examines the biological basis of behavior.

• Clinical Psychology

  Deals with the study, diagnosis, and treatment of psychological disorders.

• Clinical Neuropsychology

  Unites the areas of biopsychology and clinical psychology, focusing on the relationship between biological factors and psychological disorders.

• Cognitive Psychology

  Focuses on the study of higher mental processes.

• Counseling Psychology

  Focuses primarily on educational, social, and career adjustment problems.

• Cross-Cultural Psychology

  Investigates the similarities and differences in psychological functioning in and across various cultures and ethnic groups.

Performance Management and Appraisal

Understanding Performance Management

Performance management is a goal-oriented process that ensures the implementation of processes to maximize productivity at employee, team, and organizational levels. It emphasizes a close relationship between incentives and performance, operating as a dynamic, ongoing, and continuous process. Each component of the system is integrated and linked to achieve continuous organizational effectiveness.

Performance Appraisal

Performance appraisal is a formal system for reviewing and evaluating individual or team task performance. Various methods can be employed:

Traits

This method evaluates employees based on traits such as attitude, appearance, and initiative. However, caution is... Continue reading "Performance Management and Appraisal: A Comprehensive Guide" »

What is Socialization?

Socialization is the ongoing process by which we develop our sense of self and learn the ways of society.

Internalization

Internalization is the process by which people take in the values and norms that the agents of socialization are trying to instill.

Social Groups

Groups consist of two or more people who share an identity, feel a sense of belonging, and interact with each other. We can distinguish between:

• In-group: A group you belong to.
• Out-group: A group you do not belong to.

The Importance of Social Contact

Close contact with others is critical to our development. Strong social ties are linked to well-being, while social isolation is detrimental to humans. "Feral" children are an example of the negative effects of extreme... Continue reading "Understanding Socialization: Key Concepts and Theories" »

Psychiatry: Affective Disorders

Systemic of Affective Disorder (Mood Disorders)

1. 1. 1. What is leadership? How has it shifted from the old to new paradigm. 

      An influence relationship among leaders and followers who intend real changes and outcomes that reflect their shared purpose. The changes are from stabilizer to change manager. From Controller to facilitator. The shift is that effective leaders share power instead of hoarding it. The focus moves toward employees and more empathy. 

      2. How does the trait approach to leadership differ from the behavior approach? Give an example of each.

      The Trait approach bases its approach on characteristics such as intelligence. The idea is that people are already born with these traits or not. The behavior approach focuses less on traits and more on behaviors that leaders engage in and are these

• Cognition: All mental activities associated with thinking, remembering, and communicating. We use concepts (mental group of similar objects, events, ideas, people. Ex: chairs mean many items. Prototypes mental image or best example of a category. Easy method to sorting items into categories. Ex: robin/bird.
• Strategies of Cognition: Algorithm (logical rule of procedure/step by step/guarantees a solution to a problem. Heuristic (simpler strategy/speedier than algorithm/more error-prone. Insight (not a strategy based, flash of inspiration, solves a problem.
• Obstacles of Cognition: Confirmation Bias: Peter Wason, predisposes to verify/search information that supports our perceptions and ignore or contradictory evidence. Mental Set: Fixation, prevent

Understanding the Job Evaluation Process

Job evaluation is performed internally and does not take into account the wage rates in the marketplace or what other firms are doing. It focuses only on the value of the tasks that make up each job.

The 6 Steps of Job Evaluation

1. Conduct Job Analysis: The study of what, how, and why of various tasks that make up the job.
2. Determine Job Specifications: Identify the worker characteristics that an employee must have to perform the job successfully.
3. Write Job Descriptions: Identify, define, and describe each job in terms of duties, responsibilities, and working conditions.
4. Rate the Worth of All Jobs: Use a predetermined system to assess the value of all positions.
5. Create a Job Hierarchy: A listing of jobs in terms

Examine the role of two cultural dimensions on behaviour

Info:

Cultural Dimensions: are traits that are characteristic to certain cultures. The theorist of the Cultural Dimensions theory, Geert Hofstede, conducted a massive study across 50 countries over 10 years to test his theory. At the conclusion of his study, Hofstede observed four dimensions.

• Individualism-Collectivism - where the individual self is more important than societal connections
• Masculinity-Femininity - “masculinity focuses on achievement, heroism, assertiveness, material rewards for success; femininity focuses on cooperation, modesty, caring for the weaker and for a good quality of life”
• Power Distance - “the degree to which the less powerful members of a society accept and

Core Concepts of Motivation in Learning

Key Theories of Motivation

Behavioral Definitions

Motivation is defined as “the anticipation of reinforcement.” Human beings pursue a goal because they perceive a reward for doing so. This reward serves to reinforce behavior, causing it to persist.

Drive Theory

Those who view human drives as fundamental to behavior claim that motivation stems from basic innate drives. Innate predispositions such as exploration, manipulation, activity, stimulation, knowledge, and ego enhancement act to probe the unknown, control our environment, be physically active, be receptive to mental, emotional, or physical stimulation, and build our self-esteem.

Hierarchy of Needs Theory (Maslow)

Motivation progresses from the satisfaction... Continue reading "Psychological Theories of Motivation and Effective Child Pedagogy" »