PSYCH 110 Psychology

Now that you know a bit more about psychology, and as you continue to learn, you may begin to see psychological principles at work in your daily life (an example of the BaaderMeinhoff phenomenon aka, frequency illusion). For this paper, identify and examine three psychological concepts or related techniques in something you happened to come across in your daily life.

 

The “something” can be many things, for example: a movie, song, TV show, conversation (but be mindful of privacy), event, etc.; it cannot, however, be explicitly about psychology—so don’t look through the science section of a paper or magazine, don’t look up a documentary on Netflix about an unethical psychology study, and don’t use the Hidden Brain podcast—if the material is meant to be more informative
than entertainment, then don’t use it. 

Introduction

The psychology developed due to media events or movies impact the daily activities of the individuals largely. As a result, individuals tend to form ideas or make decisions based on it that are hard to change. This report consists of determining the three psychological concepts namely, frequency illusion, irrational escalation and confirmation bias. I saw the television media that left a long lasting impact on me due to a movie by me. The movie showed the terror caused by sharks when some scientists tried experimenting on them in water.  

Psychological Concepts

According to Robinson (2013), Baader-Meinhof phenomenon or frequency illusion is a cognitive bias that individuals develop due to a particular event encountered by the recently. For example, I recently saw a movie on the television named “Jaws” that showed the terror and merciless actions of sharks on some scientists as they were experimenting on them. The group of scientists was in the middle of water without any help and lacked appropriate resources to come out of the situation. As a result, after watching this program I kept seeing sharks or things that remind me of sharks everywhere I went. For instance, a cloud that looks like a shark, a hair clip that looks like shark teeth.

As mentioned by Brockner and Rubin (2012), irrational escalation is a type of cognitive bias that defines or highlights the inherent errors of thinking made by humans based on the information and concepts gathered by the viewer from the movie or a video clip. In spite of knowing the movie was fictional, I developed a phobia for water and fear for animals. However, according to the situation of the scientists, their fear and action were logical as they were handling the situation. On the contrary, my fear about animals and water was irrational as it was formed on the rational decisions faced by other. As asserted by Turino and Soetjipto (2012), irrational escalation prevents an individual from understanding accurately the reality. As a result, I judged my reality and the surrounding environment based on the media content. In spite of being aware of the reality, changing my decision was difficult.

As commented by Asendorpf et al. (2013), confirmation bias also known as the observational bias highlights that individuals are confirmed based on the observations they make. Therefore, as seen in the movie, the horror and terror faced by the group of scientists, I too developed hydrophobia. In spite of knowing that the movie was fictional and nothing showed in the movie was real, the observation made by me in the movie influenced my confirmation. As a result, I was trying to look for or interpret information in order to confirm my observation without considering the facts of reality. For example, as I hated sharks and this movie shows how violent and terrible they are, this confirms the psychological concept of confirmation bias.

Conclusion

In this report, it can be concluded that psychology plays an essential role in determining our thoughts. The movie had a long lasting impact on me due to the observations made by me while watching the media. In spite of knowing the content of media was frictional, I developed hydrophobia and fear about animals without judging and considering the reality.

References

Asendorpf, J.B., Conner, M., De Fruyt, F., De Houwer, J., Denissen, J.J., Fiedler, K., Fiedler, S., Funder, D.C., Kliegl, R., Nosek, B.A. and Perugini, M., 2013. Recommendations for increasing replicability in psychology. European Journal of Personality, 27(2), pp.108-119.

Brockner, J. and Rubin, J.Z., 2012. Entrapment in escalating conflicts: A social psychological analysis. Springer Science & Business Media.

Robinson, J.O., 2013. The psychology of visual illusion. Courier Corporation.

Turino, H.K. and Soetjipto, B.W., 2012. The effect of image compatibility and escalation of commitment on decision performance. The South East Asian Journal of Management, 6(1), p.23.