Adjusting to Life

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CHAPTER 1

• Adjusting to Life

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What is adjustment?

• Adjustment the psychological process of adapting
  to, coping with, and managing the challenges of
  everyday life
• Dealing with hassles

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What are contexts?

• Contexts the historical, economic, social, and
  cultural factors and settings that influence us
• Where you come from
• With whom you spend time
• What has happened to you

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What is the ecological theory?

• Developed by Urie Bronfenbrenner
• Made up of five systems
• Microsystem
• Mesosystem
• Exosystem
• Macrosystem
• Chronosystem

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What is diversity, and how is it related to
adjustment?

• Diversity All the ways in which people are
  different
• culture, ethnicity, race, gender, sex, sexual
  orientation, age, religion, social class,
  communication style, family background, learning
  style, personality, etc.
• Diversity influences what we do, how we think,
  and how we and feel.

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Diversity (cont)

• Myths of diversity
• Diversity women minorities
• Diversity deficiency
• Diversity divisiveness
• Diversity is to be feared.
• Diversity is best when ignored.

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Culture

• The patterns, beliefs, and all other products of
  a group of people that are passed on from
  generation to generation

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Cross-cultural Studies

• Definition involves the comparison of one
  culture with another (or others)
• Example?
• Cultural differences in the greeting methods of
  North American men and Iranian men were studied.
  Findings North American men generally shake
  hands or pat one anothers shoulders upon
  greeting, while Iranian men tend to greet one
  another with a kiss (Huffman, 2004).

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Ethnicity Race

• Ethnicity Rooted in cultural heritage,
  nationality, race, religion, and language
• (African American, Latino, Asian American,
  European American, Native American, Italian
  American, etc.)
• Race a controversial classification of people
  according to real or imagined biological
  characteristics (e.g., skin color, hair texture,
  blood group, eye color, etc.)included in ones
  ethnicity (White, Black, Hispanic, etc)

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Gender Sex ??

• Psychological vs. Biological

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What is critical thinking?

• Definition the process of thinking reflectively
  and productively, and evaluating the evidence
• Three attitudes to stimulate critical thinking
  (Brooks Brooks, 2001)
• Be open-minded and curious.
• Be intellectually careful.
• Be skeptical.

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Six Critical Thinking Strategies

• Describe and interpret behavior carefully.
• Identify values and challenge assumptions about
  behavior.
• Examine the influence of context and culture on
  behavior.
• Seek multiple points of view and alternative
  explanations.
• Appreciate individual and group differences.
• Engage in self-reflection to improve
  self-knowledge.

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Subjective Well-Being and Adjustment

• What is subjective well-being?
• Definition the scientific term for how people
  evaluate their lives in terms of their happiness
  and life satisfaction

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Characteristics of Happy People
?

• Good social relationships
• Mentally healthy
• Cope well with stress
• High levels of creativity, self-esteem, optimism,
  extraversion, and self-control
• Good work ethics
• Spirituality and faith
• Likeability
  
• Altruistic (unselfish)

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Myths Related to Happiness

• Rich people are happier.
• Beautiful people are happier.
• Younger people are happier.
• Couples with children are happier.
• Skinny people are happier.
• Healthy people are happier.

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What is psychology?

• Definition the scientific study of behavior and
  mental processes
• Four goals of psychology
• Observe
• Describe
• Explain
• Predict

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The Three Aspects of Psychology

• 1. Behavior everything we do that can be
  directly observed
• vs.
• inferences conclusions that we draw from
  behavior
• 2. Mental processes consist of thoughts,
  feelings, and motives that each person
  experiences privatelythey cannot be observed
  directly
• 3. Science scientific methods are used to test
  inferences

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What is the scientific method, and how is it used
to test hypotheses?

• Definition a four-step process used in
  conducting research
• Identify/conceptualize the problem.
• Collect research information/data.
• Analyze the data.
• Draw conclusions.

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The Scientific Method (cont..)

• Hypothesis a prediction that can be tested
• e.g., Children who eat pure sugar become
  more
• hyperactive than children who eat
  sugar
• substitutes.
• Theory a broad idea or set of closely related
  ideas that attempt to explain certain
  behaviorsbased on a hypothesis
• e.g., Pure sugar causes children to become
  
• hyperactive.

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Two Types of Research Studies

• Experiment a carefully regulated procedure in
  which one or more factors believed to influence
  behavior being studied are manipulated while all
  other factors are held constant (cause and
  effect)
• Correlational research research in which the
  goal is to describe the strength of the
  relationship between two or more events or
  characteristics (correlation equals
  relationshipit does not equal causation)

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Elements of an Experiment

• Independent variable the manipulated,
  influential, experimental factor in an experiment
  (e.g., pure sugar)
• Dependent variable the factor that can change in
  an experiment in response to changes in the
  independent variable (e.g., hyperactivity)
• The dependent variable (level of hyperactivity)
  depends on the independent variable (whether or
  not one is given pure sugar to eat)

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Elements of an Experiment (cont.)

• Experimental group a group whose experience is
  manipulated in an experiment
• e.g., group that receives pure sugar
• Control group a group that is as much like the
  experimental group as possible and is treated the
  same in every way except for the manipulated
  factor
• e.g., the group that receives the sugar
  substitute (placebo)
• Random assignment when the researcher assigns
  participants to experimental and control groups
  by chance

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Why do correlational studies?

• Unethical experiments
• Post hoc investigations (i.e., issues
  investigated after the fact) e.g., effects of
  childhood experiences on adult behavior
• Inability to manipulatee.g., effects of
  terrorist attacks on survivors

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Four Types of Resources for Improving Adjustment

• 1. Mental health professionals
• Clinical psychology
• Counseling psychology
• Psychiatry
• 2. National support groups (e.g., for dealing
  with issues related to alcohol, death, divorce,
  abuse, etc.)

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Four Types of Resources for Improving Adjustment
(cont.)

• 3. Self-help books
• Bibliotherapy
• Psychobabble
• e.g., Youve got to be you Im okay,
  youre okay Get in touch with the real you
• 4. The Internet