So...now that you've done this can you....?

Robert Cialdini has outlined a number of different request strategies, one of which is the foot-in-the-door technique. The foot-in-the-door technique can be defined as a two-step compliance technique where the person making the requests gets the individual to agree by first having the individual agree to a smaller request (Cialdini, 2007). In other words, this is a strategy that one would implement if he or she were trying to get someone to do something that this person would not otherwise agree to initially. Therefore, the requester asks their target to perform a very small task or favor (smaller in comparison to the ultimate task or favor). Following this, the requester can return to his or her target and ask him or her to perform the ultimate task or favor, and at this point, it is more likely that he or she will agree to do it. Why is this? This agreement can be attributed to a person's desire to be consistent with his or her self-perception. Because he or she has agreed in the past, then he or she feels that he or she must be consistent with previous actions and agree again. He or she is committed to being consistent, because we are consistency-seekers.

This concept can be applied to my life pretty much everyday. I have a friend who asks me for everything, and I have this sad problem of saying no. I just don't know how. At first, the requests were little things like borrowing items, or using things but would later be returned or I would be given some appreciative gesture. These were fine. As long as you know you show your appreciation for what I've done then I'm fine with you continually borrowing or using my things. However, it has now escalated to where I don't even get an appreciative acknowledgement. It almost feels more like commands when this person asks for things. These things are not little anymore either. They are acts that cost me time and money, both of which, as a college student, I do not have a lot of. In addition, it just gets really old because it happens everyday without fail. Also, I do not think this person understands that it has now become a burden for me to assist this person. I feel really bad, but I just don't think he or she understands that these grand gestures require me to go out of my way. I wish I could say no, but because I have said yes every time in the past, I feel like I can't. I also think he or she would no longer be happy with me and think that I am mad or something. I don't really know how to handle this situation, but I do know I won't have to deal with it much longer because school is almost over.

30 days until senior week begins.

Cialdini, R. B. (2007). Influence: The psychology of persuasion. New York: HarperCollins.

No, I really do like sports.

Since I was about five years old, my parents have forced me into every activity that they could think of. Apparently, I was a girl scout...for about a day. They got my involved in piano lessons and soccer, but the one that stuck with me was tennis. I have been playing tennis on and off for the past fifteen years of my life. Too bad I didn't play consistently, then maybe I wouldn't have money problems? Anyways, I did not like tennis at all when I was younger. My parents made me practice all the time and were really harsh coaches, which I think was the root of the problem. My parents kept making me feel like tennis was an obligation. I had to be outside practicing and working out, and that I had to play like a pro. Well, much to my parents' disappointment, I only made it a year and a half in college level tennis. I was ranked first during high school, but that didn't mean anything when I advanced to this level of competition. Regardless of how negatively I felt about tennis, I continued playing it. Soon, I began to enjoy the sport and now play recreationally. I need to play tennis or else I feel that something is not right with me.

These actions can be explained through the theory of cognitive dissonance. Cognitive dissonance can be defined as an imbalance between our beliefs and our behaviors, and when this dissonance is created, we are driven to reduce it by changing our beliefs (Festinger, 1957). My initial attitude towards tennis was dislike and unenthusiastic participation, but my behavior was consistent(ish) play. However, because the attitude I had was in disagreement with my behavior, I began to change my attitude. I told myself that tennis was worth it because I was a) getting a great work out in b) working on my mental toughness c) learning skills that can be applied to everyday life and d) gaining more confidence. By looking at the positives that tennis can bring, my attitude changed to love and enjoyment of the sport rather than ew, I really have to run and swing a racket?

Thanks cognitive dissonance for helping me see the benefits of tennis. Unfortunately, I am in my off season. Summer should bring it back... I hope.

Festinger, L. (1957). A theory of cognitive dissonance. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

Participant Observer Blog - IAT

We all unconsciously sort people into different categories and make quick perceptions about people. Sometimes these unconscious judgments won’t meet our approval because they are against what we present to others, but how can you deny automatic responses?

The Implicit Associates Test (IAT) was designed to illustrate that we are under an illusion that we are better than how we really are. More specifically, it was designed to point out that there are unconscious feelings that we have hidden from ourselves and others. A person is either unwilling or unable to admit to something. The person is either unconsciously hiding something from themselves or from other people. The IAT was designed to measure implicit attitudes (Nosek, Banaji, & Greenwald, 2002). Implicit attitudes can be defined as actions or judgments that are controlled by an automatic response that the person is unaware of (Greenwald, McGhee, & Schwartz, 1998).

The IAT offers a set of test options to view your unconscious feelings towards certain stereotypes or prejudices. For example, there are tests over age, sexuality, and skin-tone. The age IAT requires the test taker to distinguish between old and young faces, which indicate the test taker’s preference for either old or young. The sexuality IAT tests over whether a person can distinguish words and symbols that represent gay and straight people and which they have a preference for. The skin-tone asks that the test taken distinguish between light and dark-skinned faces and shows which skin-tone he or she has a preference for. The IAT can be considered a reliable test because it resists self-presentation strategies. Because the tests require the test taker to respond automatically, or the results cannot be interpreted, then the test taker is forced to respond with their true unconscious decisions (Greenwald, McGhee, & Schwartz, 1998).

I took two IAT tests and retook one of them to see if I received the same result. The two IATs I took were the Gender-career IAT and the Weapons IAT. My result for the gender-career IAT indicated that I have a slight association preference for Male with Career and Female with Family compared to Female with Career and Male with Family. For the Weapons IAT, the results showed that I have a slight association of White Americans with Weapons compared to Black Americans.

The Gender-Career IAT results both surprised and did not surprise me. It did not surprise me because I am an extremely family oriented person who was primarily raised by her mother, which is also odd because my mom worked two jobs while my dad worked one. I also like to see myself as a the person who, when this situation applies, to want to be a stay at home mom until my kids are old enough that it is acceptable for me to go back to work. Although, I am also the type of person that wants to have a successful career, much like everyone else. However, the words from the test are words that I would to be associated with me (e.g., professional, and manager).

My results for the Weapons IAT were also not very surprising. I watch television shows that mostly focus on white suspects, if that counts for anything. Also, for someone who wants to maybe work for a rap/hip hop label or artist, I do not think it would be a good idea if I showed a preference to associate Black Americans with weapons over White Americans. It just wouldn’t be in my best interest. In addition, of all the Black Americans that I know, I cannot associate anyone one of them with a weapon, but I have plenty of White American friends that I can associate with weapons.

Based on my results, I believe that they accurately portray me for who I think I am. I do still kind of like to believe in the ideal of a female being with family and the male with the job that provides, but I do wish that I was ranked neutral because I want a female AND male to fall under both categories. In a relationship the male and female should share both responsibilities. I think it would help each partner understand each other better. My Weapons IAT result is one that I do not believe defines me, nor would I care to change it just because it goes against the majority of people according to Project Implicit. Like I mentioned, I do not think it defines me in any way. I believe that that is just how I see things based on my own experiences.

Completing these IATs did slightly make me think a little differently about stereotypes and prejudice than I did before, but that’s just because it was available to me. I will not change my opinions based on results of these tests. If my results do change it will be based off of any personal experiences I gain, or what information is available to me at the time that I retake the test. Like most people, I try not to stereotype or be prejudice against others, and I think I do this to the best of my ability. However, when I wait tables, trust me when I say I stereotype. There has only been one table out of the hundred plus I have waited on that has completely surprised me in tipping. I do not wish to say what race it was because it isn’t one that will immediately come to mind, but this table left thirty percent, which made my entire night. I was only expecting maybe thirteen percent. I try my best to wait tables all fairly and without discrimination because I think they’ll tip me poorly, but honestly, it’s not something that I can help. Because in those first few minutes, I can pretty much tell how you’re going to tip me and I know that there isn’t much that I can improve on to squeeze another couple bucks out. I also have co-workers that refuse to wait on certain races because of bad experiences; I don’t want to be like that. I try to look past this stereotype and give them the benefit of the doubt.

To see if my results were consistent, I retook the Gender-Career IAT. Ironically, my results changed. The results indicated that I have a slight association for Female with Career and Male with Family compared to Male with Career and Female with Family. I thought this was extremely funny. Either, I really am neutral and it just depends on how I am feeling and what information is available to me at the time, or I thought too much when taking the test the second time. I do remember seeing more red x’s the second time around, though. I don’t know if this changes my opinion about the IAT. I still think it is a valid and reliable test because it does account for self-presentation strategies by only interpreting valid automatic responses.

I think the IAT is an awesome development, and when I am able and willing to see what the results will be for the others tests, I want to take them.

Nosek, B. Banaji, M, & Greenwald, T. (2002). Background Information. Retrieved from https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/demo/background/index.jsp.

Greenwald, A. G., McGhee, D. E., & Schwartz, J. L. K. (1998). Measuring individual differences in implicit cognition: The implicit association test. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 1464-1480.

Social Identity Theory- Do I Belong Here?

Not everyone is fully confident with themselves, but we all do what we can to think positively of ourselves. Our self-esteem is comprised of our positive and negative self-evaluations. We have a strong desire for high self-esteem, and when we need to enhance it, one method we can use is social identity theory. Social identity theory states that people favor ingroups over outgroups in order to enhance our self-esteem. Ingroups are defined as groups in which an individual feels a sense of membership, belonging and identity; whereas, outgroups are groups in which an individual does not feel a sense of membership, belonging or identity.

To enhance our self-esteem using social identity theory, there are two pathways in which an individual can take: personal identity and social identity. Through personal identity, one will gloat about personal achievements. For example, I know someone that takes pride in her academic achievements, which we are all entitled to do, but she does it in a manner that is unhealthy. In taking pride in her high grades, she belittles those around her who did not do as well and make them feel worse. She is not relating to anyone else, only to herself. Another such example would be a guy that I knew back in high school. When I was on the tennis team in high school, we had a guy who didn't want to socialize with our team. He was always about himself and not the success of the whole group. He flaunted his personal accomplishments (e.g., gold medals and advancing to higher competitions), but he didn't work with the team to ensure everyone was reaching their potential. Both of these people feel better about themselves when they do better than others.

Social identity is when self-esteem is enhanced through group accomplishments. For example, this past weekend, we executed a wonderfully successful event, as we do every week. As a council, UPC, is consistently getting complimented on our efficiency, team work, and leadership. We have a cohesive collection of leaders and followers. We are a well balanced organization. We take direction well and interact with others in a professional and respective manner. We had multiple compliments from professional staff congratulating our success, and I feel that I am a more worthy person just being apart of UPC. Also, in high school, I was on our track team. We won our distract conference four years in a row. Though I wasn't the most valuable player on the team, I still felt like I belonged. I got along with everyone and was associated with all the success that our team experienced.

There are also other drives to enhance self-esteem than just the desire to acquire a more positive outlook about oneself. Threats to one's self-esteem can also lead a person to seek membership in an organization. Honestly, I am guilty of doing this. I do enjoy being an officer in organizations that I am involved in, but I need to feel that I am more than just an expendable member. I run for offices or leadership positions to feel that way, and it works.

Kassin, S., Fein, S., & Markus, H. R. (2008). Stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination. In Social Psychology (7th ed., pp. 135-153). Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.