Post by ambercyw on Oct 27, 2017 3:13:12 GMT
The idea of social construction has been presented several times in Moghaddam's earlier chapters under different ideas. To name a few:
Intelligence: The skills that determine a person's intelligence are somewhat arbitrary. For example, Alfred Binet tested comprehension, attention, and other mental capacities while Gardner tested logic, spatial and mathematical reasoning, musical ability, etc. There has been no unanimous agreement on the "right" way to test intelligence, and whether intelligence is unitary or whether there are multiple intelligences. Whether a person is viewed as "intelligent" depends largely on the context and there are many different styles of intelligence as well. In addition, different cultures may value different forms of intelligence.
Stage models of development: Different psychologists focus on different aspects of development. For example, Freud focused on psychosexual development, Erikson on psychosocial development, Piaget on cognitive development, and Kohlberg on morality. There are no "universal" stages of development to be discovered. How we define "childhood" and "old age" are also obscured in a way as well because the definition of those periods in life have changed and continue to change. For example, in the past when life expectancy was much lower, childhood was defined as a much shorter period of time. Also, people are becoming more active during the stages of "old age." So our ideas about these stages of our lives and the development we undergo during those stages are based on the progression of society and not predetermined.
Personality: There are many different interpretations of personality types. William Sheldon came up with the "Big Three," Eysenck had the idea of the three dimensions of personality, and today the Big Five is the most widely accepted classification of personality. But there is a discrepancy when measures of personality are applied to different cultures. Using Western measures, psychologist Fanny Cheung found the dimension of inter-personal relatedness in Chinese culture. This shows that personality types may arise from the social norms of the group of people in question. People construct personality as a means to categorize others and predict behaviour.
Moghaddam's final great idea enhanced my understanding of this previous material by emphasizing the importance of social interactions and its influence on the making of meanings and interpretations in society. He brought to my attention the many ideas in society that I thought of as "natural" and took for granted.
Intelligence: The skills that determine a person's intelligence are somewhat arbitrary. For example, Alfred Binet tested comprehension, attention, and other mental capacities while Gardner tested logic, spatial and mathematical reasoning, musical ability, etc. There has been no unanimous agreement on the "right" way to test intelligence, and whether intelligence is unitary or whether there are multiple intelligences. Whether a person is viewed as "intelligent" depends largely on the context and there are many different styles of intelligence as well. In addition, different cultures may value different forms of intelligence.
Stage models of development: Different psychologists focus on different aspects of development. For example, Freud focused on psychosexual development, Erikson on psychosocial development, Piaget on cognitive development, and Kohlberg on morality. There are no "universal" stages of development to be discovered. How we define "childhood" and "old age" are also obscured in a way as well because the definition of those periods in life have changed and continue to change. For example, in the past when life expectancy was much lower, childhood was defined as a much shorter period of time. Also, people are becoming more active during the stages of "old age." So our ideas about these stages of our lives and the development we undergo during those stages are based on the progression of society and not predetermined.
Personality: There are many different interpretations of personality types. William Sheldon came up with the "Big Three," Eysenck had the idea of the three dimensions of personality, and today the Big Five is the most widely accepted classification of personality. But there is a discrepancy when measures of personality are applied to different cultures. Using Western measures, psychologist Fanny Cheung found the dimension of inter-personal relatedness in Chinese culture. This shows that personality types may arise from the social norms of the group of people in question. People construct personality as a means to categorize others and predict behaviour.
Moghaddam's final great idea enhanced my understanding of this previous material by emphasizing the importance of social interactions and its influence on the making of meanings and interpretations in society. He brought to my attention the many ideas in society that I thought of as "natural" and took for granted.