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Cognitive dissonance is the mental discomfort that a person experiences when he/she has contradictory beliefs, ideas, or values toward others or toward society.

Here are some examples of this psychological phenomenon:

First Example of Cognitive Dissonance

I was reading some news articles and op-eds about pipelines.

The information I was reading was pretty left-wing and listed things that were against pipelines.

It talked about the harm it can cause to the environment. It also talked about how it won’t benefit people as much as it would benefit the oil corporations.

I thought I had a really good understanding of it.

When I went out to eat with some friends, they brought up pipelines. They were saying how it needs to be built and all this positive stuff.

I brought up how it can be harmful to the environment.

So they said that pipelines are the safest way to transport crude oil. Continue reading “What is Cognitive Dissonance?”

The Asch Conformity Experiment was an experiment conducted by Solomon Asch. The intent of the experiment was to see how much social pressure plays a factor in conformity.

Have you ever had a discussion with your friends and agreed with a belief that the majority of them believed in, even though you didn’t actually agree with them?

I have. And many, many, many times too.

This psychological effect is something psychologist Solomon Asch called conformity.

In 1951, Asch wanted to investigate the powers of social pressure and how it affects conformity.

He wanted to understand a person’s threshold when it came to conforming to a group’s beliefs. Continue reading “The Asch Conformity Experiment and What It Reveals About Society”

The Stanford Prison Experiment was meant to research participants’ behaviours in a simulated prison environment. But after a few days, it showed us so much more.

In 1971, a research psychologist from Stanford University conducted an experiment that would impact our knowledge of power and authority for decades.

The experiment, Stanford Prison Experiment, was done in August of 1971.

The head researcher, Philip G. Zimbardo, wanted to measure the effects that role-playing, labelling, and social expectations had on an individual’s behaviour.

To do it, he created a fake prison with fake guards and prisoners. He acted as the prison warden.

The roles of guard and prisoner were determined by random selection.

A total of 24 applicants participated in this psychological experiment. Continue reading “What is the Stanford Prison Experiment and what does it reveal about humans?”

‘A Class Divided’ was an experiment conducted by third-grade teacher Jane Elliot. It was an attempt to explain how it felt to be discriminated against.

1968 was not a very progressive time, especially in America.

The United States was still fighting in the Vietnam War, Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated, and Tommie Smith and John Carlos, who won the gold and bronze medals for the 200-metre dash, respectively, had their awards stripped by the International Olympic Committee for protesting the injustices against African-Americans.

These are just some of the bad events that happened.

Noticing this discrimination, Jane Elliot, a third-grade teacher, wanted to do something about it.

Pacing around her classroom after all her students had gone home for the day, she pondered what she could do to create some change in society (I’m guessing this is what she probably did).

After an hour or so of contemplation and jotting down ideas on her blackboard, a light bulb lit up.

She finally had her idea (again, this is probably what happened. I wasn’t there so I don’t really know. Give me a break!)! Continue reading “How ‘A Class Divided’ Explains Social Privilege”

Are you curious about the type of stuff that is learned in psychology? The following list of core psychology theories will help you out.

I’m going to be honest with you –I didn’t major in psychology when I was in college.

However, I did take a few courses.

I found psychology to be really interesting; just learning how the brain and mind works were intriguing.

But at the same time, it required me to take too many science courses, so I decided to take sociology instead.

But in those three or four psychology courses that I did take, there were some theories that really stood out to me –theories that caught my interest.

Mind you, these are all intro theories or concepts you would learn in the introductory psychology courses.

So if you are someone who doesn’t know much (or anything) about psychology, this list of 5 core psychology theories will be perfect for you. Continue reading “5 Must-Know Core Psychology Theories”

Ever wonder what psychology is? This article discusses what this science is and the major psychological perspectives.

What is psychology? In simple terms, psychology is “the science of mind and behavior.”

It is the study of how the mind works and how it develops, and how this affects a person’s behavior.

Additionally, there are two main branches of psychology – experimental and applied. In the experimental field, psychologists do research to find answers to the questions “why” and “what.”

For instance, they want to answer “why is this person acting like he is?” And “what is going on in his mind during this act?”

Psychologists in the applied field seek to apply the research that’s done by the experimenters.

These types of psychologists are usually clinical psychologists, therapists, and counsellors. Also, they search for answers to the question “how.” For example, “how can I improve this community?” Continue reading “What is Psychology?”