Pro-social Behaviors

Topic

Pro-social Behaviors

Instructions

Required for each are a 300 word minimum length essay format.

  • Which of the psychological disorders do you think would be the most challenging to have and why? Which of its symptoms would prove the most difficult for you? What would you most need from society and loved ones if you had the disorder you selected? What might be some treatment options you could pursue to alleviate symptoms of your selected disorder?
  • One of the most famous psychological experiments of all time, was conducted by Dr. Philip Zimbardo and his colleagues at Stanford University. To read more of the details of this experiment, visit http://www.prisonexp.org. Take some time to watch the video on the Zimbardo Prison Experiment by clicking here. After reading about the experiment, exploring the website and watching the video, answer the following:

Was it ethical to do the prison study in the way that Zimbardo conducted it?  Why or why not?  Explain your position substantively.

What social psychological constructs did the study reveal? Would the same information have been learned if the study had been conducted differently? If yes, how might you adapt the study to address ethical concerns and still obtain results relevant to our understanding of behavior in social settings?
How do the social psychology concepts of conformity and the power of the social situation that we are studying this week relate to what happened during the brief period of time that the prison study ran.  Where in the description of how the study unfolded did we see evidence of these concepts?

Requirements for the Presentation

Much of what we tend to focus on when we study social psychology are topics that often have a negative connotation such as conformity, prejudice, aggression or obedience. A huge component of the study of social psychology; however, focuses on prosocial behavior – behaviors that focus on compassion and helping others. For this activity, you will focus on this more uplifting aspect of social psychology. Topics that fall under the area of prosocial behavior include altruism, helping, bystander intervention, empathy, and compassion, among others.

For this exercise, pick one day and seek to structure your thoughts and behaviors entirely around helping others. With each interaction or action you take, pause to think and ask yourself “is there a way I might help another here?” Hold a door for someone, offer your seat, share a smile, give a sincere compliment, show empathy to another, attempt to be more patient or understanding, etc. Your efforts should be in social settings that involve interactions with others (rather than something such as donating to a charity for instance). The goal is to be as thoughtfully prosocial in your interactions throughout the day as possible.

  • At the beginning of the day, jot down your general mood, feelings, attitude, etc.
  • Then throughout the day, whenever possible, carry a small notebook with you or make notes in an app on your phone to jot down meaningful encounters or experiences as you attempt to engage in prosocial behaviors.
  • At the end of the day, again reflect and take notes on how you feel, your general mood, feelings and attitudes, etc.

In a 5-7 slide PowerPoint presentation, not counting title or reference slides:

  • Summarize your experience. Describe the prosocial behaviors you engaged in, others’ reactions to these behaviors, and your assessment of any changes in mood, attitude, good fortune, or anything else of note you experienced.
  • Connect what you learned or experienced through your day of conscious, prosocial behavior with the terms, concepts, and theories from your research. Integrate at least two academic sources (your assigned readings/resources can comprise one of these sources), citing any references used in APA format.
  • Describe any new insights you gained through this experience about your interactions with others on a daily basis, including any behaviors you wish to change or to continue.
  • Use the features of PowerPoint to your advantage to communicate your ideas – include pictures, audio recorded narration, speaker’s notes, video, links, etc. as appropriate to enhance your ideas.
  • Include an APA formatted title slide and reference slide. APA components such as an abstract, headings, etc. are not required since this is a PowerPoint presentation.

Answer preview

The worst psychological disorder that I feel will be the worst for someone to undergo is bipolar disorders. This is a condition in which one suffers from lapses in moods and change of activity as a result of suddent shifts in energy levels. The disorder in most cases usually involves one having changes in moods more often and thus one cannot at any one point claim any form of mood stability especially when they are suffering from it as well (Butcher, 2015). It is even thought to be bringing madness because the involved patient does not usually have a balanced mood as there are always some possibilities that they can change their mood at any time that is possible as such.

Slide count: 8

Word count: 858