Theories of psychology are, in many ways, a product of the context that they com
ID: 129689 • Letter: T
Question
Theories of psychology are, in many ways, a product of the context that they come from. We have discussed the role of culture, cohort, and environment in identifying factors that create differences in behavior and thought. A robust theory of psychology can address universal (culture free) and individual (culture specific) differences in explaining the HOW and WHY of behavior. For this assignment, you will be addressing the following cultural scenarios and will need to evaluate psychological theories from this new point of view: Television images, movies and glamour magazines promote the elderly as role models. Your sense of self esteem is tied to how "old" you are perceived as, with success in work and relationships based on age related criteria Younger members of a group are marginalized and clear messages about the value of age are communicated with even very young members of society (children). There are industries in your society dedicated to helping provide society with valued markers of age (think hair dye and plastic surgery to age individuals). Imagine what your experiences would have been growing up and how your sense of identity would be like as a college student. For this assignment, please reflect on what ways such a situation might affect their personal experiences. (What would be different, specifically?) Next, speculate how the theories in the field of psychology might be changed as a result. Describe this in terms of at least three approaches or theories in psychology (Freud, Piaget, Social Learning, Milgram, Zimbardo, etc.) You will need to discuss why these changes would impact their experiences and the world at large (ex., would Freud be more widely accepted without the changes in access to education for women in the 30s and 40s that gave women more status and would current theories of personality be different due to this change. Think about if these changes in the world would have altered the theories of psychology and what a specific alternate theory would look like.).Explanation / Answer
Note: This response is in UK English, please paste the response to MS Word and you should be able to spot discrepancies easily.
(Answer) Social Learning Theory Suggests that people learn from observing people in social settings. Ergo, people who do not socialise often don’t learn much. This means that a teenager who spends most of their time socialising in class, at a party, with their friends etc. Tend to learn more.
What: Introverted teenagers who don’t interact in class, go straight home from school, don’t socialise etc. will learn just as much these days.
How: The internet is a breeding ground for information, courses study, tutorials, books etc. This is how they can learn.
Why: The social learning theory would have different dynamics today. This theory implies that once you have passed the age of social interaction, the learning curve takes a slump. However, even if the age of interaction is changed with one of no interaction, this does not affect the information absorbed.
(2) Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development:
Child’s cognitive development between ages –
0-2 – Co-ordination
2-7 – Thinking
7-11 – Concepts
11+ Theorises
What: Media and technology have changed the dynamics of the stages at which a child conceptualises.
How: The number of 3 and 4 letter disorders have begun to increase comparatively in modern. ADHD, ADD, OCD etc. This is because a child’s attention span and cognition have been largely impaired by overexposure to social media and youtube content.
Why: Piaget’s theory may be applicable even today. However, with the change in upbringing and media exposure becoming more and normal daily activities and curricular activities decreasing, the theory is probably becoming out-dated.
(3) Milgram’s Agency theory – He observed that “the participants arrive in an autonomous state, go through the Agentic Shift, experience moral strain and become agents for the authority figure, carrying out acts that went against their conscience.” (Source: agency theory – psychology wizard)
What: In the 1960’s a job shift at a certain age was not as fluid as it is today. A coal miner was only trained in coal mining, a seamstress only knew how to make clothing, labourers were not as educated and hence had to do the job they were given. Today, however, the situation is a little different.
How: Today, however, the situation is a bit different. People are easily trained in multiple faculties. An office administrator can switch to accounting through a course. A post-man can switch to package delivery for Amazon and so on. Young professionals find it easier today to switch the course of their profession today than they did before.
Why: People in the 60’s and before were forced to succumb to the pressures of an authority figure. This is because their jobs were passed on from generation to generation or varied training wasn’t as easily available. Because of this milieu, finding a different job was tough. This caused people to go against their personal convictions and perform tasks required of them. Eventually, their personalities were altered.
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