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factors contributing to attraction

1. proximity

mere exposure effect: repeated exposure to stimuli increases our liking for them

2. similarity 3. competence

but not too much that it makes us feel bad (dang lol)

pratfall effect: a person becomes more likable when the are clumsy or make mistakes

#goingintopsychology #psychology #social psychology

hello

damn it’s been a while... time to start uploading again! starting uni so i will have new psych terms (maybe?) and concepts to upload yay

#goingintopsychology #psychology #it's been a while lmao #how did i gain followers i do not know #but hello nonetheless

Hi bro

COVID-19: opioid crisis

how is the COVID-19 outbreak affecting the opioid crisis negatively? this post contains information from the article “Covid-19 will worsen the opioid overdose crisis if we don’t prepare now” by Ximena A. Levander and Sarah E. Wakeman from Stat News, which is linked below.

the CDC and WHO strongly recommends social distancing and not being within large groups of people. this is extremely hard for those taking part in opioid addiction programs. most of these opioid addiction programs require those in recovery to go to the program every day, to pick up their daily dose of methadone.

because of the lack of opioid addiction programs in the US, inevitably, there are large numbers of patients attending each program. this arises many concerns about the well-being of the patients as well as the health workers at such programs:

1. patients may go to the programs when they have COVID-19, whether they are aware of it or not, or

2. patients may choose not to go to the programs because they have COVID-19, worsening their addiction.

this is a great problem, because it’s not the best to give multiple doses of controlled substances like methadone. proper solutions need to be made for the opioid addiction patients, so that they are not in danger of addiction or contracting COVID-19. these solutions need to accommodate every single patient.

source

#goingintopsychology #psychology #brain #biological psychology #covid-19 #coronavirus #opioid crisis #opioid

COVID-19: opioid crisis [intro]

some of this information is from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, under the “How do medications to treat opioid use disorder work?” section of the “Medications to Treat Opioid Use Disorder” research report.

psychoactive drugs: chemicals that change the chemistry of the brain and induce an altered state of consciousness

withdrawal: what happens when the person’s body prepares to counteract the anticipated effects of a drug that is no longer present

physical dependence: a physiological need for the drug, indicated by the presence of withdrawal symptoms when drug isn’t taken

psychological dependence: a strong craving to use a drug based on the desire to recapture the good feelings experienced in the early stages of drug use

agonist: drugs that mimic naturally occurring neurotransmitters

antagonist: drugs that block receptor sites of naturally occurring neurotransmitters

opium: a depressant, used to induce sleep and relieve pain

methadone: a synthetic opium, used to treat severe pain and severe opium addiction, is an agonist that attaches to opium receptors, but activates slower and does not induce euphoria

source

#goingintopsychology #psychology #brain #biological psychology #covid-19 #coronavirus #opioid crisis #opioids

COVID-19: social biases

links to COVID-19: cognitive biases [pt.1] [pt.2]

fundamental attribution error: the tendency to overestimate the influence of personal traits and underestimate the influence of the situation when explaining another’s actions; app. one may think that another is hoarding food and supplies because they’re selfish, when that person is doing it because of previous experience with disasters

group attribution error: the tendency to believe that the traits of the individual group member are reflective of the whole group; app. (similar to stereotypes) those who see video clips of Australians fighting over groceries may think that all Australians are as aggressive

ingroup bias: the tendency of people to behave preferentially to people of their ingroup; app. one may behave preferentially and give more assistance to another because they are of the same race

just-world hypothesis: the tendency to believe the world is just and that people therefore get what they deserve and deserve what they get; app. believing that COVID-19 patients deserved it, perhaps because they may have done an injustice in the past

puritanical bias: the tendency to accredit the cause of misbehavior on one’s moral deficiency or lack of self control rather than considering social determinants; app. saying that someone is hoarding all the toilet paper because the lack morals or self control, when they could’ve been motivated by the bandwagon effect

source of inspiration

#goingintopsychology #psychology #social psychology #covid-19 #coronavirus #social biases #social bias #biases #bias

COVID-19: cognitive biases [pt.2]

link to pt.1

hostile attribution bias: the tendency to view someone’s actions as hostile, when in reality, it was just ambiguous or benign; app. while taking a walk outside, one thinks another walker is intending to spread COVID-19 by crossing the road towards them, when that walker doesn’t have the virus and is merely crossing the road to get to the other side

identifiable victim effect: the tendency to offer greater assistance/strongly respond to a small group of identifiable victims, and less to a large group of unidentifiable victims; app. paying more attention to identifiable COVID-19 patients in a small group, but not to unidentifiable patients in large groups (more)

normalcy bias: the tendency to predict that the future will be exactly the same as the present, therefore underestimating the probability of a disaster and its consequences; app. people never expected that a disease would be the thing wiping out tens of thousands of people and making the economy decline in 2019/20

optimism bias: the tendency to be overly positive; app. believing that the COVID-19 outbreak will “calm down” in the next few weeks

ostrich effect: the tendency to ignore dangerous or negative information; app. people going out to beaches to hang out, despite the dangers of contraction and spread

pessimism bias: the tendency to be overly negative; app. believing that the COVID-19 outbreak will wipe out half of the world’s population

plan continuation bias: failure to realize that one’s original plan is no longer suitable for the new/changed situation; app. failure to realize that hoarding food is no longer viable, since now supermarkets are empty, with nothing for the economically challenged folks to purchase

restraint bias: the tendency to overestimate one’s ability to restrain oneself against temptation; app. a person overestimating their ability to not reach for the phone to receive new COVID-19 updates

salience bias: the tendency to pay much more attention to prominent information and less attention to unremarkable information, even when they have no difference in objective value; app. people paying more attention to the number of COVID-19 deaths in a more developed country as opposed to a less developed country, although the death counts are similar

stereotyping: making and believing widely held beliefs that people have certain characteristics because of their membership in a particular group; app. stereotype that a Chinese person has COVID-19 because they are Chinese

source of inspiration

#goingintopsychology #psychology #cognition #covid-19 #coronavirus #cognitive biases #cognitive bias #biases #bias

COVID-19: cognitive biases [pt.1]

how can psychological biases impact your response to the recent COVID-19 outbreak? this post was partly inspired by “How Psychological Biases Shaped My Response to This Pandemic”, by Amie M. Gordon, Ph.D (link below). please keep in mind, although i researched these biases, i have not learned most of them in my ap psych class, so some may be over-simplified, or slightly incorrect. please correct me on any information i stated incorrectly. lastly, feel free to add any that i missed! (app. = application to COVID-19 situation)

attentional bias: paying attention to certain factors while not paying attention to other factors; app. not paying attention to the survival rate of COVID-19 and fixating on the death rate/spread of COVID-19

bandwagon effect: doing an action because other people are doing it as well; app. buying several packs of toilet paper rolls because everyone else is doing it

compassion fade: causes people to be more compassionate to a small number of identifiable victims, rather than a large number of unidentifiable victims; app. people become less compassionate as the number of cases increase, because they’re “used to it”

confirmation bias: the tendency to only seek information that is likely to support one’s decisions and beliefs; app. only searching for US teens not practicing social distancing to support one’s belief that all US teens are ignorant in regards to social distancing and COVID-19 (hint hint.. those young adults in Florida)

continued influence effect: phenomenon to explain how incorrect information continues to have influence on people even after it’s refuted and proven wrong; app. (similar to belief perseverance) believing in a fake cure even after it’s been proven wrong by WHO

declinism: bias/belief that the past was better than the present, and that the future will only get worse (related - rosy retrospection); app. looking back to life before the virus outbreak and romanticizing it, and feeling immense doom of the future, believing that the “curve” will not be flattened substantially

empathy gap: bias that makes it difficult for people to understand the strength of influence that emotions have on one’s own/people’s behaviors; app. a student thinks they will be so productive during this shelter-in-place, but when the time comes, their emotions take over and prevent their productivity (ahem me)

focusing effect: tendency to place too much emphasis on a single aspect of an event; app. people focusing on getting myriad items like food and hand sanitizer

framing: refers to how decision issues are posed or how choices are structured; app. people may be more willing to change their actions if they are told that this is a group effort, rather than if they are told that every person has their own responsibilities to fulfill (more)

frequency illusion/Baader-Meinhof phenomenon: tendency to see that once something is brought to one’s attention, the person sees it more and more often; app. a person getting informed about the shelter-in-place guidelines, and then noticing the guidelines “everywhere” on social media

source of inspiration

#goingintopsychology #psychology #cognition #covid-19 #coronavirus #cognitive biases #cognitive bias #biases #bias

COVID-19: psychological effects of social distancing/isolation

as many of us have to stay inside our homes and limit out time outdoors, some may have a hard time adjusting to this new lifestyle. this new lifestyle–without school, without work, without hangouts–is something some people have never imagined or had before. this lack of social interaction/stimuli can result in various negative psychological effects, as outlined by the APA, and elaborated on by me. check it out!

1. fear that one may (unknowingly) contract COVID-19 and possibly pass it onto family members, fear that one will run out of resources (food, money, etc.) during shelter-in-place and economic depression; may trigger anxiety

2. lack of social interaction and sensory stimuli; those who interact with people daily (for their jobs, or because of school) feel a void in themselves because they can no longer see or talk with people; may cause low mood or loneliness

3. since many people, in their “ordinary” lives, live with a set schedule with work to do every day, those people may feel lost, bored, sad, or anxious about having no tasks to complete or no consistent schedule; may result in low mood or loneliness

4. adjusting to new situations is harder for some people, especially those who (bullet points); may result in anger, frustration, irritability at the outbreak situation, their workplace/boss, society, and themselves

are from minority groups and/or of low socioeconomic class

have been laid off or temporarily “fired”

have had their businesses/stocks deteriorate

those who are immunocompromised or elders, or those with family members/friends who are immunocompromised or elders

those who have mental disorders, or any other disorder

and more

5. stigmatization–people often stigmatize Asians, as if all Asians have COVID-19, and fear that they will spread the virus; results in social disunity and disorder

6. constantly being bombarded with new COVID-19 updates on death counts, the exponential spread, etc.; may result in hopelessness and feelings of doom

source

#goingintopsychology #psychology #disorders #social psychology #covid-19 #coronavirus #social distancing #isolation