Understanding of social being

In this blog, we will view self and identity through various perspectives. We will begin first by defining what self is. The self encompasses the individual's core nature, which includes emotions, thoughts and experiences. On the other hand, identity is the collection of  characteristics, beliefs, and affiliations that define an individual in specific contexts, such as cultural, and social spheres. For, survival, humans need to interact with others and live in groups and communities. So, it is important to show oneself as important to the group otherwise, they may feel ostracized by the group. In this process to show others that the person is important to the group, they desire improvement in themselves. In this process, the 'I' may explore 'Me' through the following perspectives: (a) a social actor (b) a motivated agent (c) an autobiographical author 'I' discovering self [Image credits: improvewithmetacognition.com] The Social Actor Perspective Huma...

In the realm of human beings, categorization is the process of understanding things by knowing what other things they are similar to or distinct from. It is the central part of human cognition that helps us to process the information that we get from our sense organs. The term category is used in almost the same way as people use the term concept .  Also it is important to note that the same thing can be categorized into different categories by different people, but we are interested in exploring the fact that even a single person can not categorize all things in a specific category. There are many things which we are not able to fit in a well-defined category after a certain level. This is where the concept of Fuzzy Categorization comes into picture. It is very fascinating to see such a cognitive phenomenon which acknowledges the shades of Gray area that exists between boundaries of different categories. Traditional concepts about categorization assume that there are well-defin...

Our minds are continuously at work, interpreting the world around us through a process known as social cognition in the complex world of human interaction. Sensation, perception, and schemas are the three main elements of this cognitive process, and they all work together to help us comprehend and manage the complexity of social circumstances. In this blog, I’ll discuss about them. Sensation and Perception: The Building Blocks of Cognition I hope you know the famous detective Sherlock Holmes and his friend Watson. So, think of your senses as Watson, gathering clues from the world around you. Sensing is Watson picking up details like the aroma, the sounds, and the warmth. Now, comes Sherlock, your brain's perception. He takes these clues and crafts a story. He tells you it's a café – cozy, lively – where you can savor a cup of coffee and chat with friends. Note that both these events are essential for solving any mystery. Our senses of sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell are...

  In this blog, I would like to discuss about 4 major types of categorizations which are studied in psychology, and I would also like to put in my inputs on how learning about them helps us in understanding of social being. I would like to have my blog as a conversation between Raj and Simran (I am utilizing a psychology concept called "mere exposure effect", the familiarity of readers with the names would help me to convey my thoughts more easily) . Raj is a curious undergrad and Simran is his psychology instructor in this blog. The name of the characters having a conversation motivates us to think how the evolution of theories is similar and different from the evolution of movies. The similarity being building over the past and making corrections based on novel observations and the difference being the theories have improved a lot covering more cases but can we say the same thing about movies in general 😕 ? (The answer would be different for different readers) Raj : S...