Explore the Social Psychology Network website, and get comfortable searching for

Question

Explore the Social Psychology Network website, and get comfortable searching for information. Scan the professional profiles of social psychologists and learn about their social psychological research.

After you have completed your reading, write a paper of 500-750 words in which you include:

The names and descriptions of two social psychologists you learned about

Descriptions of two different research areas you either searched for or which appeared in the categories of the Social Psychology Network

(One suggestion is to visit Dr. Sonja Lyubomirsky's professional profile and read about her research on human happiness.)

Explanation / Answer

Dr. Sonja Lyubomirsky's professional learnings comprise of her intensive study in the field of happiness. The primary reason behind this is the fact that happiness has perpetually been considered as something desirable, significant, a worthy goal, since it’s considered a primary element of human experience, including human emotions. Since it has seen to be beneficial to people in the past, a review has been done by Dr. Sonja Lyubomirsky and her team. A healthier society is created by happier individuals and that is the basic foundation of the study. In her study, she focuses on three aspects- 1) what is it that makes people happy? 2) Is happiness a worthy goal? 3) How and why can people learn to lead happier and more flourishing lives?

It has been seen that many individuals are seen to be higher in their resilience and are able to lead happier lives despite living in adverse circumstances such as stress or trauma. The idea behind this was studied through a comparative study wherein happier individuals were understood in comparison to unhappier ones to understand the difference in cognitive processes and motivation. It was seen that both the groups have significant differences in the way events and experiences in their lives are interpreted. A recent experiment showed that doing acts of kindness for others or altruism leads to alterations in immune cell gene expression associated with disease resistance. This means that happiness index has a direct relationship with improving immunity in one’s body. Factors like acts of kindness for others, reflecting on positive experiences, being grateful and re-counting positive aspects are seen to play a role in the happiness index. Moreover, the team is now attempting to understand hedonic adaptation as to how it may act as a barrier to happiness once an individual becomes accustomed to it (taking happiness/positive experiences for granted).

The second research paper read was by Carey J. Fitzgerald University of South Carolina – Beaufort which focuses on mindfulness and its impact in analytic thought as well as decreasing belief in a just world. Mindfulness has seen to bring about profound changes in individuals in terms of decreasing stress, increasing well being, reducing chances of racism and many other positive long term effects. Individuals who listened to the mindfulness recording answered more Cognitive Reflection Test (a 10 minute recording was provided to them) questions analytically while participants in the control group answered them more instinctively. Participants in the mindfulness condition also indicated significantly lower scores on the Belief in a Just World scale. This means that such individuals tend to believe in the fact that the world may not entirely be just and yet make peace with it (given the psychological benefits they derive from mindfulness engagement). Other forms of cognitive improvements have also been observed in people who practice mindfulness. It tends to improve memory, exercise self-control, reducing implicit biases, and enhancing rational thinking. The given study is mostly in sync with what previous studied on mindfulness have stated regarding its psychological benefits.

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