A brief Biology lesson on the structure and function of cells with a short quiz at the end.

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An important aspect of human development within the context of society is obtaining the necessary skills to integrate with society. This is known as “socialization.” This graphic presentation runs down the primary points of the socialization process.

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Do humans create math, or do they discover it? This paper makes the case that math is a universal constant which exists with or without human knowledge of those constants. This concept of math as a universal truth has potentially unsettling philosophical consequences depending on one’s metaphysical inclinations.

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            This is a survey of the literature exploring prominent theories on how individuals come to conclusions about personal identity (self) and conclusions about the thoughts, feelings, and intentions of others. These are concepts which had previously lain exclusively in the field of philosophy (Fiske & Taylor, 2017) but became an inevitable field of inquiry upon the rise of cognitive science.

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This literature review attempts to provide a brief history of psychology as it relates to social cognitive theory. The readings herein focus on questions of how individuals perceive the world of other social entities (as opposed to the world of objects), and the metacognition (reflections on one’s own thoughts) related to social cognition. Fiske and Taylor (2017) outlined a variety of models that theorists have discussed. Heider (Hamilton, 2005, pp. 33-35) outlined how one’s perception of the nature and motivations of a person will affect one’s conclusions regarding the actions taken by that person. Finally, Frith (2008) explains the difference between learning by observing others versus learning from direct instruction.

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This paper explores the relevant research on the subject of stereotypes – how they form, and how they operate. Stereotypes, according to Gopaul (2021), are defined as cognitive biases which occur between groups separated by the kinds of automatic heuristic sorting discussed in previous literature (see also Fiske & Taylor, 2017). This sorting may group individuals into categories such as nationality, gender, or political and religious affiliation. Once the sorting has occurred at the automated level, automatic cognitive processes will engage when encountering members of a category, and attitudes will activate to determine the thoughts and behaviors one has toward this distinctive group.

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This is a phenomenological study of the experience of watching a video presentation by Simon Sinek in which he talks about the behaviors and attitudes of Millenials in the workplace. The experience of viewers was gauged by a qualitative examination of 100 comments on the YouTube video. Comments were catalogued into six categories: Agree/Profound, Agree/Helpful Talk, Agree/Matches my Experience, Disagree/Overgeneralization, Disagree/Times Have Changed, and Disagree/Not my Experience. Two thirds of commenters agreed with the talk, with the majority stating that the speaker’s observations matched their experience. Among those who disagreed, only 8% stated that Sinek’s observations regarding the behavior of Millennials in the workplace were wrong, with the other 24% stating that Sinek was either making an overgeneralization, or that the behaviors were the result of some other factor Sinek had overlooked. Other research observes the persistence of the stereotypes Sinek ascribes to Millennials suggesting that these stereotypes are socially pervasive and profound.

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In the unit under consideration in this paper, Social Cognitive Development literature contains a number of studies on the subject of the formation and function of attitudes. Attitudes, according to Fiske and Taylor (2017), are defined as some variable believed to modify the response that a behaving individual has to a stimulus experienced by that individual. In other words, it serves as a kind of perceptual filter for stimuli which modulate the response to those stimuli. Things brought under consideration in this unit included how persuasion is instrumental in changing attitudes, the structure of attitudes, how attitudes function in connection to other concepts in the field, such as heuristics, motives, and automated versus controlled processes. This paper will attempt to summarize and synthesize the concepts discussed in the literature.

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This article ties together readings and a lecture which explore a wide variety of concepts related to social cognition. The concepts introduced included Automatic Processes, Controlled Processes, Motivations, Goals, and Representations in Memory. This paper will summarize and synthesize the five processes mentioned above as presented in the three readings and the lecture.

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This article surveys several studies related to early childhood exposure to technology (notably smart phones and tablets) from a Social Cognition perspective. These articles find that early exposure of children to technology as well as parental use of technology has significant effects related to executive functions and self-regulation in the children. Higher behavioral difficulties were also attributed to early use of technology.

This paper seeks to examine and ask probing questions about a study which utilized Attribution Theory. This paper finds that the purpose of the study was to assess a socially relevant question: why adults with hearing loss frequently fail to take advantage of hearing aid technology. The variables under examination were internal and external attributions for the behavior according to an attribution theory framework. This paper finds the form of measurement to be valid, as it utilized a method of measurement with a history of success in the field. The study uses Attribution Theory and identifies nine factors which explain the failure to take advantage of hearing aids. Four of these factors were internal, including a perceived lack of necessity, the fear of being stigmatized, a failure to integrate the technology into daily life, and being uniformed. It identified five external causes which included the fact that hearing aids were uncomfortable, unaffordable, burdensome, not trustworthy, and not high on the list of priorities. This article asks if these findings can be applied to some practical interventions for the improvement of social concerns, and finds that it can in the means by which it informs the healthcare industry and physician’s approach to patient’s concerns.