Chapter 12 Impression Post

--Original published at Zachs College Blog

For this weeks impression post, we had to the Implicit Association Test and interpret itself and our results. The Implicit Association test is a test that can be taken to assess certain biases that might be outside our conscious awareness. Before taking this test, I had never heard of this type of exam that will provide results for biases in our unconscious awareness. For the first test, I chose to take the Alcohol Brief Implicit Test. Throughout this test, we had to answer personal questions regarding our past medical issues, if we were liberal or conservative, and had to even press the letter E or I regarding certain terms like drinking or abstinent or vice versa. As a result of this test, I was told that I moderately identify more with abstaining than drinking. I feel that these results accurately depict myself as a individual and follows what I am. I believe the way the information to conclude on this thesis were a bit strange as questions about being liberal or conservative do not play much of a role into your ideas on drinking alcohol or not. Nextly, the second test I chose to take was the Depression Implicit Association Test. In this test we were asked many of the same basic questions including if we were liberal or conservative, medical questions, etc. It also included a section where you would have to click E or I for a certain word that popped up which related to a category like happy/sad. My results to this eating test stated that I strongly identify more with happy than sad. Overall, I feel that this data is accurate as I personally feel that Im a very happy person and do not experience much sadness at all. I feel that the methods of generating results for people with the E or I letter activity and certain medical questions, etc, was a weird but effective way of generating accurate results and both were for me. In conclusion, both of the implicit tests I chose to take provided accurate descriptions for me personally and both were short tests that required limited effort.

Social

--Original published at Tiffany'sCollegeBlog

I have located three articles that explain peer pressure tips and what to do so that you don’t end up falling under peer pressure. Peer pressure is influence from members of one’s peer group and a feeling that one must do the same things as other people of one’s age and social group in order to be liked or respected by them. A peer is someone you look up to like a friend, someone in the community or even someone on TV. Peer pressure can be both a positive and negative influence and will challenge us do things whether they are right or wrong. Peer pressure can influence several areas in your life like; academic performance, who you choose for friends, it can influence who you mat choose for a boyfriend or girlfriend, it can influence decisions about sex, it may change your feelings about alcohol and drug use, and it can even determine your fashion choice. Though it’s different in many ways from high school, there is still pressure at college to “fit in” and to be liked by others. There is often peer pressure to do things you wouldn’t normally do “because this is college” and you are trying to meet new friends. For some people peer pressure may come from you directly, this may be because you are feeling different than everyone else even if they are not suggesting you join. Other times groups of friends can have certain activities and habits they do together. If you find that hanging out with people who tend to do things you wouldn’t normally do and you feel unaccepted unless you follow through, “get out” so you don’t fall into the pressure to “fit in.” There are many things you can do to get away from peer pressure. The first is simply to just say “no.” Other ways to handle not dealing with peer pressure would be: stick with what you believe is right, don’t judge others, try to find a new crowd, take action for others who are being pressured, and if all else fails, go to the college counseling center for support.

The first article that I have found talks about parents and how they should help their child resist peer pressure. The article has ten steps that help you inform your child of what to look for and how to handle peer pressure. The ten steps are: establish good communication, stay involved in your child’s daily life, maintain reasonable rules, help your child establish healthy friendships, encourage healthy activities and hobbies, talk to your child about smoking, alcohol, and drugs, teach your child to trust her instincts, help your child say no and mean it, establish a code phrase, and count on the support of good friends. With establishing good communication, having a close relationship with your child can make it easier for them to resist peer pressure. Having daily conversations with them, listening, offering support and advice and answering their questions can make it easier for them to come to you from everything. Staying involved and spending time with your child helps as well. Don’t be a helicopter mom but knowing where they are going and who they are going with can show them that you care and they will trust you. Having some boundaries can be beneficial as well as setting rules and having consequences if they are broken. Making sure that your child understands the expectations that you hold can connect a strong relationship between you both. Making sure your child stays with the friend group that helps he/she grow will be important. Making lasting friendships and packs to not do certain things together can build great relationships with others. As well as giving examples of good friends versus the bad ones. Being encouraging and supportive for you child’s favorite activities can help them with their self-esteem and developing healthy relationships. Making it known of what’s good and what’s bad can make it known as to what is important and what is not. Following what your gut says can be important on deciding who to listen to and what to say as an answer for whatever that person asked. I personally enjoy making a pros and cons list and doing that helps me way out what is good and what is not. Having a code word can make it easy for your child to say they need your help in front of someone without actually saying it. Having a good support system at home and at school can encourage your child to let his friends know that they have each others backs. I think all of these can be very helpful as long as you stick to it and make them all happen. It’s not good to start a support system and then have it broken. You have to be careful on who you trust and who you cont on as friends.

http://www.healthcommunities.com/healthy-living-guides/index.shtml/10-ways-to-help-your-child-resist-peer-pressure_102

The next article I chose relates to many ages including college students and parents and how to eliminate peer pressure as best as you can. Peer pressure can involve many things like stealing, drugs, sexual activity, dangerous behavior, and alcohol. The article starts with explaining peer pressure and how some people can get dragged into it. Then it talks about tips that can stop you or persuade you to resist peer pressure. Lots of people are dragged into peer pressure because they are afraid of being rejected by others or they don’t want to be made fun of. They can resist peer pressure by making eye contact, not making excuses, and sticking up for themselves. The article discusses the different types of peer pressure like spoken, unspoken, positive and negative. Spoken peer pressure is the most visible and easily understood form of peer pressure. Unspoken can happen through the power of a look or gesture. It can be sufficient enough to coerce someone into doing something that makes them uncomfortable. Positive peer pressure is the most beneficial influence that opens up new horizons and reinforces the decision to stay away from bad behavior while negative peer pressure encourages a person to do harmful or dangerous things. It can be more subtle and manipulative. The article then discusses tips for parents on how to encourage your student to do the right thing. It goes into how college brings new environments, situations, and expectations. A few tips towards the end that the article gives for kids of all ages are: spend time with those who resist peer pressure, learn how to be assertive, ask for help if necessary, get out of the situation, choose friends carefully, use the delay tactic, think ahead, provide your own positive pressure and go with your gut. I think this article is very, very well written. It gives a sense of peer pressure for everyone and not just one group of peers. I think that there isn’t much more to say because it covered a lot of ground with peer pressure.

https://www.accreditedschoolsonline.org/resources/peer-pressure/

Spotlight #3

--Original published at Loretta Gabrielle

College students

The article gave different ways to combat peer pressure in college and the inevitably of facing it. A way to fight peer pressure is staying busy and avoiding parties. The point this tip is trying to discuss is to avoid situations pressures due to the environment. To do so, leaving and eliminating the party and potential negative environment will avoid these pressures. I find this tip useless and will just have college students get into more trouble than they are. If you say the way to not feel peer pressured is to avoid college parties where inevitability there is alcohol, it is like using absence as the only way of safe sex. The point is, neither method works. The next tip they discussed was the difference between college and home and having more freedom. It later discussed if you are feeling pressure to just politely decline, leave a situation, anonymously call the police, and talk to adults you trust. I find this tip helpful. The idea of this tip can come from obedience pressures. If someone is stressed out because they are in a fraternity and are told to do a task given by their older fraternity brothers, they may feel pressured to go against their beliefs and take on the other person’s norm. The article later listed different way and resources on what peer pressure a student may be facing with different article attached to it. The solution from this is to avoid conformity from the pressures you face in school social settings. Instead of doing the steps which have worked for other people doesn’t always help you. If a student feels the need to take on the beliefs and ideas of another person, they are conforming. The only addition I would add to the article is using the college help centers and therapists the school provides as well. The article trustworthy and mildly resourceful.

Athletes

Athletes deal with pressure in every aspect of their career. When dealing with sports a stressor can deal with an upcoming competition. The expectation can cause a lot of pressure to do well in the sport. The article described different ways in which to deal with pressure. First, reframing the situation and deciding whether or not it is positive or negative pressure. Negative pressure relates to negative thoughts and doubts surrounding the performance while positive pressure are nerves and excitement before a competition. The tactic the article gave is to reframe the pressure which is negative and make it positive. To do this it requires using key words and reinstating the positive pressures you feel. An example of this is connecting being nervous with preforming well so when you feel nervous it is a positive pressure. The next tip is reducing external source of pressure which can come from parents, coaches, friends, and other outside people who add to any uneasy feelings. This idea of pressure coming from your friends and family can correlate with situational pressure. The environment you surround yourself can change your belief or in this case, confidence, and negatively impact one’s performance. The purpose of this tip is to get rid of any external distractions and possible negative pressures. The next tip is reducing internal sources of pressure which come from self-set expectations. This differs from the athlete as some people perform well with internal pressure and some do not, so finding the balance and level of difficulty for the athlete is able to balance the internal pressure. Since some high preforming athletes work well under self-set expectations and internal pressure, as an athlete you may conform to their strategies. Although this may work for one athlete, it doesn’t ensure internal pressure will work for you and conformity will not benefit your preformace. Recognizing the symptoms of being under pressure can be butterflies or heart and breathing pick up. This tip suggested creating high pressure situation in a controlled setting and I understand the purpose and overall benefit of this step but I disagree with it. As an athlete, I do not find stimulating high pressure situations beneficial. I recognize the larger risk but this technique does not help manage peer pressure it just creates ways to detect them. The next tip regards training pressure which can come from other people and trying to match how much and how far they have gone in practice or in their athletic career. This is training with and against different athletes which can have different levels of peer pressure. I disagree with this point as no matter what sport you play you should be working as a team rather feeling peer pressured to keep up with a teammate. The purpose of a team is to support each other not drag each other down which this article alluded to. On the other end, following the training of your mentors and peers can be seen as obedience pressure. Freshman or younger players in sports may look up towards the older players on the team and feel the need to follow their behaviors and beliefs because of an authority figure. The article suggest having a checklist to ensure the athlete has everything they need in place. I didn’t find this article helpful at all. It gave some helpful tips but it lost track of the main question regarding peer pressure which it originally was discussing. I don’t find these tips helpful for athletes at all.

Parents

The parental peer pressure discussed in this article regarded the leniency of what rules to enforce and what responsibilities to allow your child and when. This stems from what other parents allow or don’t allow their kids to do. Other issues regarded social and cultural traditions one family has over the other and the children or other parents doing a certain thing different than how they do it. Parent’s struggle with feeling the need to conform and take on the beliefs and behaviors done by other parents. An example of this can be raising your voice at children. The social group norm in America is to try and not raise your voice at a child while in a Hispanic home it shows you care. If the parent with a cultural background see’s the way other parents raise their children without raising their voice, they may feel pressured to conform and take on the beliefs and lifestyles of other parents. Situational pressures differ and if as a parent you believe that your child shouldn’t have ice cream every day but the other parents let their kids get ice cream, you may feed into the environment. The environment you are surround yourself can impact your judgement based off of the situation.

The article listed several different ways a parent can deal with these peer pressures which were finding your inner strengths, strengthening your support system, go with your gut, be assertive, don’t debate, practice self-care, gain respect, and increase family time. So what does this mean? Finding your inner strength allows the parent to reflect back on how they were raised and the beliefs and lessons they want to teach their children. Strengthening your support system is finding other parents and children’s who have similar parenting techniques. Going with your gun is allowing the advice of other parents but doing what is right for your child and not what was right for some else’s. To be assertive you need to have confidence in what you are instructing or teaching as a parent rather than fall into peer pressure. Don’t debate with other parents as to what is right or wrong, do what works for you. For being assertive and debating, the topic of obedience comes into play. If one parent who seemingly has more experience with children and comes from authority, the parents may feel pressured to adopt their behaviors in parenting. Practicing self-care is important no matter what stage of life you are in, especially parenthood. Self-care helps take on challenges and focus on bettering the parent which betters the children. Gaining respect from children is important throughout development. During a child’s development, the parent isn’t supposed to try and be a friend to their child and please them but to protect them, instill culture, lessons, teach behaviors, and education. Lastly, spending family time for one parent might be a movie night when for another parent it is puzzles, either way it is quality time spent together as a whole. These are all methods on how to resist parental peer pressure and I believe the article did an excellent job in addressing helpful tools and strategies. I find all eight methods in the article to be useful tools parents who feel parental peer pressure should use.

https://www.bestcollegereviews.org/dealing-peer-pressure-college/

https://www.freelapusa.com/6-tips-on-dealing-with-pressure-in-sports/

https://www.courierpostonline.com/story/life/2017/01/20/8-ways-cope-parental-peer-pressure/96835714/

Spotlight Blog 3

--Original published at KatieMillerPSY105

For this spotlight blog, I choose to address peer pressure and the effectiveness of recommendations to resist peer pressure. I wanted to see what recommendations websites promote as the best method to resist peer pressure and how these methods compare with what we learned in class. I found three different articles from web sources that discuss peer pressure resistance methods for college students, athletes and adults.

The first article I found is called “Resisting Peer Pressure in College” by Molly Dutmers on the Inpathy Bulletin website. This article provides insight into peer pressure faced by college students and describes that the college years actually have a significant amount of peer pressure on young adults. The article discusses that “everything you know is questioned” (paragraph 2) the moment that you step foot on campus. The primary reason for the change in college is the new people a student will meet who have different values, beliefs, religions, ethnic backgrounds and socioeconomic status. The college environment is one where people are exposed to new ideas, cultures and norms without the social institutions that they grew up with. Expectations are also set high for college in that it is supposed to be “the best four years of your life,” and the pressure to enjoy the college experience is very high (paragraph 3). With pressure to fit in with a new group, there may be instances where normative social influence will be high. In situations with new roommates and classmates, I may feel a stronger tendency to go along with behaviors even if I don’t necessarily believe that these actions are right.

The article provides some examples on avoiding compliance by holding onto values that you believe are right and to associate with people who have a similar moral compass (paragraph 8). I believe that this advice can be implemented as I start my college process. While I will be attending a school that is quite different from my background (urban setting vs. Central Pennsylvania, diverse student body with different races, religions and beliefs vs. a more homogenous environment), I was fortunate enough to find roommates with similar values and morals. Before selecting our roommates, we took mini profile tests to determine our preferences for people to live with. After finding people with similar interests, we then were able to have further discussions with potential roommates. I was able to have honest conversations with these students on their views on partying and other recreational activities. Since not all of us were in agreement on these behaviors, the group then split into different rooms based on their personal preferences. While I believe that college is a great opportunity to engage in new experiences, I do not want to go against my beliefs. I can still be friends with others who have different behaviors, and I will not judge them for their choices. However, I do want to be sure that I do not adjust my values to seek conformity.

The second article I found is one that gave advice to female athletes called “Female Athletes and Peer Pressure” on the Positive Performance Training website. This article provides a five-step solution to deal with group dynamics in female sports. The article discussed the author’s issue of negative feelings from teammates based on her individual success as an athlete. With her teammates wanting the author to fail, the author started holding herself back from success. This background seems similar to the Asch experiment where individuals change their outlook to fit in with the group. Rather than reach for individual goals, the author changed her behavior and expectations to conform with her team. This informational social influence negatively impacted the author’s desire for individual success. Her five-step solution to resisting peer pressure has some familiar points. Step one is to be aware that wanting to be liked is not a weakness unless it ruins your life. Acknowledging what is important to you and asking the right questions is the second step. The author suggests a more future approach to determine where you want to be in 10 years or whose happiness is most important. The third step is to find support in friends and family that are more similar to you and your beliefs. The fourth step is owning your choice to let go of peer pressure. The final step is to build inner strength.

While the article provides a five-step program, I believe that the advice comes down to holding onto one’s values and avoiding negative situations. This is like the other articles, but the message is not as succinct. I believe that the author has suffered from informational influence and changed her ideas and behavior to fit in with her team. She suggests avoiding this path by holding onto to your beliefs and not adjusting your outlook. The basketball team issue is interesting as one of the options we learned to offset peer pressure was to form smaller groups to avoid a group think mentality. Since the basketball team is a relatively small group to begin with, the author may have to change teams to find people with similar interests. I feel that this article provides more advice on building inner strength than to combat peer pressure.

The final article I read is “How to Deal with Peer Pressure as an Adult” found on the MentalHealthCenter website. This article tied in very well to our lessons learned in class. First, the article discusses that peer pressure can be positive or negative depending on the circumstances. Some of the positive impacts of peer pressure can be to quit smoking because of non-smoking friends or to pursue an advanced degree if your friends are going back to school (paragraph 5). Some of the negative impacts are drinking to fit in socially or to work overtime to afford lifestyles that your friends or siblings have (paragraph 3). These negative examples are described as behaviors that contract your true values. While adults tend to develop their own identities as they disengage from the influence of their parents, some still succumb to negative peer pressure if they had been heavily influenced as an adolescent (paragraph 8). The article describes the impact of negative peer pressure to mental health, including the loss of self-esteem and control over your life (paragraph 9). The article concludes with seven bullet points to handle adult peer pressure (paragraph 10). While most of these suggestions are not unique to adult peer pressure, they seem likely to be successful.

The suggestions include being true to yourself and reflect on core values, being assertive, having a wide range of friends, learning from mistakes, being mindful, not minding critics, and seeking people to affirm your values. These points encourage people to not change their core values which is one area where informational social influence can greatly impact conformity. If someone changes their ideas and behaviors to fit in, they have given up a part of their identity. If that change is harmful, the negative impacts can affect self-esteem and physical health. Another suggestion of keeping a wide range of friends can overcome unanimity as the more diverse a population is, the greater likelihood that they will not always agree. This diverse group of friends can also influence group size and allow a person the freedom to dissent by changing to a smaller group. The article encourages people to be open minded and to learn from mistakes while at the same time understanding what feels right and holding to those values. The article suggests to not pay attention to critics if you are acting true to yourself. That advice can help overcome compliance and normative social influence by not seeking to change behavior based on others’ opinions. This article reinforces many of the issues we learned about group behavior and provides realistic suggestions on avoiding negative peer pressure even as an adult.

Overall, I believe that these articles provided some good techniques on dealing with peer pressure. Most strategies can be best implemented if the individual is mindful of the potential harmful effects of peer pressure and is willing to hold onto their ideas and beliefs.

Links:

http://inpathybulletin.com/resisting-peer-pressure-in-college/

https://www.positiveperformancetraining.com/blog/female-athletes-and-peer-pressure

http://mentalhealthcenter.org/how-to-deal-with-peer-pressure-as-an-adult/

Spotlight Blog 3 Prompts

Regardless of which option you choose, make sure to use the tag “Spotlight” on your post. Also include the tag listed for the option you choose below.

Option 1 – Use the tag “Social”

People are often told to resist peer pressure and think for themselves, but as we’ve learned, this is more easily said than done. Too often, especially for teens, this advice is not followed with concrete recommendation about ways to resist pressure from others. I want you to identify three websites that provide methods for resisting peer pressure and discuss how likely you think the strategies they provide are to be successful. Make sure to explain your rationale using what we’ve learned in class and your textbook. Each of the three websites need to be targeted at a different audience but you may select the audiences you want to use (e.g., college students, athletes, parents, artists). Make sure to include links to the websites as part of your post.

Option 2 – Use the tag “Mental Illness”

Television shows like My Strange Addiction, Intervention, True Life, and others have turned some mental illnesses into entertainment. In particular, the shows Hoarders and Hoarding: Buried Alive showcase people with hoarding disorder trying to get their lives, homes, and relationships back in order. What do you think about this type of show? Is it ethical to do? Does it exploit people with mental illnesses? Here is a sample clip from Hoarding: Buried Alive in case you’re not familiar with how these shows work. Find at least two sources that argue these shows are helpful for the people on the show and/or the general public and at least two sources that argue these shows are harmful. Discuss the evidence each source provides, assess the credibility of the sources, and explain your own perspective on shows like this. Make sure to include links and/or citations for your sources.

Option 3 – Use the tag “Mental Health Treatment”

One of the biggest questions when deciding to seek treatment for a mental health condition is to pick between seeking psychotherapy (e.g., counseling, therapy) and medication. Major depressive disorder is the most common mental illness in the US, and can be treated effectively using either method. Find at least two sources that argue psychotherapy is a better treatment option and at least two sources that argue medication is a better treatment option. Discuss the evidence each source provides, assess the credibility of the sources, and explain your own perspective. Make sure to include links and/or citations for your sources.

Option 4 – Use the tag “Intelligence”

There has been a lot of controversy around the way our educational system works to improve learning outcomes for our children. For this post, you are going to investigate one of these issues and present your conclusions based on the evidence you review. You may select either year-round education (i.e., whether or not there should be a long summer break) or single-gender education (i.e., should boys and girls have separate classrooms). You will need to find two sources arguing for year-round education/single-gender education and two sources arguing against it, review the evidence in each source, and present your conclusion on the issue. Make sure to cite your sources.

I look forward to seeing what you write!

Header image: CC by Flickr user Thomas Hawk

Chapter 12 First Impression

--Original published at KatieMillerPSY105

For this first impression post, I chose to take two of the Implicit Association Tests. I thought it was very interesting that these tests could see some of the biases that I am not fully aware of. It made me more curious to see the ways I may be interacting with other people.

The first test I took was the Age test. This test asked a few questions before getting into the test some being, “how old do you feel you are”, “how old do others think you are”, and asking at what ages do I think you hit certain milestones. After these questions, you had to put your fingers on the keys “E” and “I” to distinguish between the pictures of young and old people as well as “good” or “bad” words. At times, this part was challenging because I wanted to continue to click with the same key I did previously. This challenge, however, did not affect my results for this test. Before I took this quiz, I thought that I saw no difference in people’s age because I enjoyed being with my grandma and her friends as well as helping out people who are older with technology. When the results came in, I saw that they were the same as I thought before. I think this test in particular could help me with my future careers since I want to be a nurse, and depending on what field I pursue, I do not know what the age of the patient could be until they come into the hospital. I can not discriminate anyone for their age or give them different treatment because they are older or younger.

The second test I took was the Gender-Career test. This test started with the categorizing part using the keys “E” and “I”. The categories were family, career, male, and female. This test then asked how my home life was like and who was my main care giver, did they have a job, and who was your other caregiver and did they have a job. Before taking the test, I thought I was more neutral about who could have a career and who could tend to the family. I felt that I performed the same as I had with the other tests on the key clicking, so I was confused when the results told me I had a slight automatic association for male with career and female with family. I was more confused because I know when I want to start a family, I still want to keep my career. I thought that maybe the test was biased since it asked how my home life was when I was growing up. If the test went off of that, then they would have given me these results since my mom did stay home with my brother and I while my dad worked. I think this test is important for college students because it can show them that either gender could perform both roles well.

Overall, I think these tests could be a little skeptical, but both of them could help college students learn something about themselves. All of the tests on the website can help with careers so that you do not discriminate against a certain gender, race, age, or weight.

Chapter 12: First Impression

--Original published at Kirsten's Kreations

I chose option one and chose to do the mental health test and the featured task test. The first one I took was the mental health test. This test was interesting to go through because I though the test was going to be about a rate this on a scale test. However it was way different than I expected. The first part was a test to quickly hit E or I if it relates to self or other and calm or anxious. Words would pop up on the screen and there are five minutes to finish 6 rounds of hitting E or I. Because there were so many it had to be done fast. This is a problem for me because half the time my eyes registered the word but my brain didn’t register what the word is making me hit the wrong button even though I knew which one to hit.

The other problem I have with this test is was asking me if I am currently dealing with some mental issues like depression and anxiety. These can show different and everyone. For some people depression involves them working their but off to make others happy and for others it is wanting to lay around in bed all day ignoring the world. For me this part of the test is slightly ridiculous because I can be suffering from depression and not realize it because I am mistaking it for stress mixed with anxiety. This part should have been a survey that involves a few phrases and rating a scale as to how much that relates to me.

At the end of it all, the results were slightly surprising. The results tell someone if they seem more calm than anxious or vice versa. My results were shocking because it told me I am more of the way I haven’t been feeling lately. I do believe if I took it during the school year they results my have reversed because I am calmer during the summer and more stressed during the school year. I don’t think this test can necessarily be good for college students because I don’t believe the questions used to measure our mental health were good. If anything they seemed to be far from questions that can measure if my mental health is in good shape.

For the featured task test this was interesting for me because it asked a lot about my views of males being breadwinners and the females being stay at home moms. For me, an ideal situation is one of the parents being able to stay home with the kids for the first few years while the other works then both go back to work when they have the chance. However due to the way the economy is and how much trouble there is trying to have both parents be able to make enough for a comfortable living, the ideal situation is to have both parents work but have leeway to be able to spend as much time with the children as possible.

At first I didn’t mind because there were questions like if i agree or disagree. But then there were the E or I questions like there were in the mental heath one. I had problems with trying to chose those the write questions again. When looking at my result it said there are too many errors to get results. This disturbs me because that means most of the results are based on the part where I have to hit E or I fast. This is the part that messes me up because my brain doesn’t register everything as fast as my eyes do. I also don’t believe this is a good test either because it didn’t have good questions that can measure my opinions. I especially don’t think think it is a good test if it tells me it can’t give me results because I messed up the E or I questions too many times because my brain doesn’t register it as fast as it wants me to.

Chapter 12 First Impression

--Original published at Jenna'sPSY105blog

For this week’s first impression post, I chose the first prompt discussing IAT tests and discovering biases.

The first IAT test that I took was about weight. So it would show silhouettes of fat people and thin people and show good and bad words. At the end, it asked questions about my political and religious views, about my weight, and other things to determine if I have any bias towards fat or thin people.

The second IAT test that I took was about disability. It would show pictures of wheelchairs, crutches, a service dog, as well as someone crossing the street, someone skiing, and someone running and then showed good and bad words. At the end of that test it asked about my religious and political views, and asked me if I had any disabilities of my own. I have a chronic, very painful medical condition that technically counts as a disability. So when I answered yes to that question it proceeded to ask me more questions regarding that, such as how much it affects my daily life, how long I’ll have it, how bad it is, etc. Then based off of those answers it determined whether or not I would have a bias towards disabled people.

I consider myself to be a little chunky and I technically have a “disability”, so my results said that I don’t have an automatic negative bias toward either of these groups of people, which I wasn’t surprised by because I definitely agree with that. I am very accepting of everybody and understand everybody has their own issues and obstacles.

I believe that these tests make you more aware of how you interact with others and pre-perceived biases towards people who are different from you. It also makes you self- reflect on your own issues in life and how you view the world. I think that this could be very useful in college because you’re constantly meeting all kinds of people with so many different situations and backgrounds. It is important to be as open-minded as can be, because if you judge people from what you see, you could be missing an opportunity to gain a great friend. You also never know what someone is going through, and some people, like myself, don’t wear their disabilities on our sleeves. At first glance you would never know I had anything wrong with me, when in reality I’m pretty sure I’ve had more surgeries than anyone I know. Everyone is dealing with something, so just be accepting of everyone!

In regards to my career, as an OT I will be working with all kinds of different people and populations, so of course I need to be as accepting and nonjudgemental as can be. I especially will be working with people with all different types of disabilities, and I think it is so interesting to hear people’s stories and learn from them and their experiences. People with disabilities are so strong and preserver through life, and I think they can teach us a lot.

Header image: CC by Flickr user Caitlinator

Header image: CC by Flickr user Thomas Hawk