Social Psychology is a field that utilizes behavior, emotion, and cognition through scientific studies and experiments in order to analyze how people are equipped to their social environment. There are numerous concepts that are covered within the field, many of which can be applied to our everyday lives.
For example, I am a dedicated member of my school’s debate team, and when studying many of the Social Psychology concepts, I realized some of them applied to my past experiences during debate rounds. Very recently, I participated in a tournament at Cal Lutheran University, where one of the resolutions I had to debate was regarding whether or not teachers should be armed on campus. I was arguing on behalf of not arming teachers, and cited multiple …show more content…
I also explained the consequences of arming teachers in terms of their own stability, and that my opponent brought up no definite plan for solvency. In addition, my opponent had no evidence or statistics throughout his entire speech, which by debate rules should guarantee me the win. Yet, out of the three judges we had that round, two of them voted for me, while one did not. While at first I was confused, I learned of his reasoning when looking at my score sheet after the round. The judge wrote that he “truly believed arming teachers was the right solution for American schools,” and found the arguments of my opponent more convincing despite admitting to the fact that I “had more evidence,” but it was not “evidence [he] liked.” The judge was demonstrating the concept of confirmation bias, where an individual is more inclined to believe and search for arguments that relate to and confirm his or her preconceived notions. In this case, the judge wrote that he indeed believed that teachers should be armed, and though debate rounds should be based on evidence and logical reasoning as supposed to bias, he chose to give my opponent the win because his arguments and his side of the …show more content…
This emphasizes that people living in developed nations, such as North America and Europe, hold an independent, somewhat egocentric view of their self. Meanwhile, individuals in Asia, South America, and Africa tend to base their self-concept on their connections and relationships with other people, especially familial bonds. A few weeks ago, a cousin of mine from India came to visit. I barely knew him, as I had only met him once as a small child. When introducing myself, I described aspects primarily about my life, including the fact that I was an athlete, that I thought of myself as fairly intellectual, and that I was about to enter my senior year of high school. When he introduced himself, he talked about how he was the son of my dad’s older brother. He also mentioned that he had two little sisters, and that they were upset they could not come and visit. This proves the notion of cultural self-concept; I am from the United States, so when I introduced myself, I mainly talked about aspects of my independent lifestyle (such as my intellect and athleticism). I did not mention any of my family members or friends; I simply talked about myself. Meanwhile, my cousin from India gave details about his family, explaining his familial relationship with me, as well as talking about his little sisters. He based his notion of self-concept on connections and relationships with