Whenever I have been asked the question five years from now.... I never thought that I could or ever would apply it to what I learned in a class. Now that I have to answer this question it has me thinking about everything else I have learned and taken with me in my day to day life for the last five years. For Psychology it is honestly really hard for me to pinpoint just one thing that I will remember above all else five years from now. I think I have to say that I will remember what I learned about conformity the most. Not only was I shocked at the studies and videos we watched on the Asch study and the Milgarm Study, but I found it so hard to believe the staggering number of people that went along with the group or followed a man because he had a lab coat on. Learning about conformity has made me realize that I do tend to be quite agreeable, but I am not sure that I could ever conform as whole heartedly as the people in these studies did. These studies will always remind me that it is ok to do what I think is right no matter what or whoever tells me that I should do something else. I will always remember to ask questions when I am not sure of a situation and for that I thank you Psychology!
hinde053: April 2012 Archives
In reading the section about Lying and Lie Detection I was honestly shocked about how many misconceptions I had about the subject. To find out that so many professions have the same 50/50 chance of spotting someone lying as any regular person was a little bit of a shock. I just always had assumed that those in police work and psychologists would be able to tell someone is lying. I guess I, like most people, have been watching too much TV. We fall prey to what I call the "CSI effect" and believing what they portray as real when it is not. Even those that administer a polygraph have the same odds as the rest of us for spotting a liar. There is no Pinocchio Response as we have learned from our book. Our noses will not grow when we lie. So if there is no Pinocchio Response how can some people tell when others are lying? I must admit that I seem to always believe the best of people and therefore believe them. Unless they have lied to be previously, then I would be a little more wary about what they tell me. Have any of you caught someone lying or had someone lie to you and you could tell just by talking or watching them that they were lying to you?
