Finalize your submission for your third and final project, your final reflection

Question

Finalize your submission for your third and final project, your final reflection. Project 3 will be either a presentation or a paper. Be sure to refer to the Project 3: Final Reflection Guidelines and Rubric and the Final Reflection Submission Checklist before submitting. Also review the exemplars that have been provided.

Below is an example of a final paper that is needed to social science class and it would be great to get some help with this. Thank you

Example paper:

-SCS 100 Project 3 Paper Exemplar My social scientific question is, how do cognitive biases influence our behaviors to adhere to gender stereotypes? Cognitive biases impact our perception of others. I have learned throughout this course that our perception influences the assumptions we make about others, which in turn influences our behavior. My question is important because it begins to question why we do what we do. It is important to me as a member of society because I engage in behaviors that adhere to gender stereotypes and I want to understand the motivation behind these behaviors. I would use this information to make an informed decision about continuing to adhere to these stereotypes. Major developments within the social sciences have changed the way we study individuals. According to the History of Psychology Timeline in learning block 3-2, cognitive psychology, which was created in 1956, is focused on cognitive states and studying concepts such as cognitive biases. It was the development of this subfield that led to key understandings of how our brain processes and perceives. In turn, this led to understanding of how unconscious biases influence our behavior. There have been major developments within the field of social science that have impacted the way groups of people have been studied. Gender inequality within the United States is important, but it is also important to look outside of the United States. In learning block 3-1, we learned that globalization has led to more research being done in other countries and that new technology has led to rapid dissemination of news stories from all over the globe. These advancements have allowed us to read about stories like that of Malala, who was shot because she was a girl who wanted to go to school. These major developments have made it possible for us to see the importance of gender equality research. In the Sociology and Anthropology Timeline in learning block 3-3, we learned that towards the middle of the twentieth century, myths of racial difference were debunked by sociologists and anthropologists in North America. These research findings are major developments that were the foundation for policy change that called for greater equality. The timeline also highlights the current notion that research can be a form of social activism. Social scientific research has changed in the face of globalization and new technology. The learning block 3-1 overview describes how neuroimaging techniques have led to advancements in identifying structures of the brain associated with perception, love, altruism, and aggression. Therefore, new neuroimaging technology is a major development within the social sciences that has led to us understanding concepts like prejudice and identifying cognitive biases. An overall general trend toward equality is highlighted in the American Psychological Association’s Guidelines for the Undergraduate Psychology Major Goal 3: Ethical and Social Responsibility in a Diverse World. A trend in social science toward greater equality allows for researchers to focus on important questions like understanding gender inequality. Finding the answer to this question would be beneficial to all members of society because it would create a better understanding of why we do what we do. Without conscious awareness of our own biases and the shortcuts our brain makes, we can jump to conclusions without objective evidence. Understanding why we engage in gender stereotypes might allow us to make changes to our behavior if we do not wish to perpetuate certain stereotypes. This information would be useful to individuals, families, couples, and even businesses. Gender differences continue to be present within leadership positions in businesses. Finding the answer to my question may be useful to understanding why businesses and corporations continue to adhere to gender stereotypes and why women continue to be left out of positions of power. The American Psychological Association’s Guidelines for the Undergraduate Psychology Major Goal 3, guideline 3.3b, describes the importance of recognizing potential for prejudice and discrimination in oneself and others, and 3.3e explains the importance of being able to articulate psychology’s role in developing, designing, and disseminating public policy. These guidelines highlight the importance of studying human behavior. First, studying human behavior leads to recognition of one’s own and others’ prejudices, for example, continuing to behave in ways that perpetuate current stereotypes. Second, studying human behavior can also lead to changing and developing public policy, which means that the information learned about prejudice can be disseminated to inform public policy change and hopefully contribute to the betterment of society.

Explanation / Answer

How do cognitive biases influence our behaviors to adhere to gender stereotypes

Our perception of the world around us is majorly influenced by our cognition. Most of the times, our cognition is biased which leads to improper perception of the world, which is based on fallacies rather than reality. Studying about this question is crucial for everyone because we are a part of this society and we need to know how the mechanism of cognition woks under social situations and to what extent does it influence our behavior. Stereotypes about certain groups are the beliefs and expectations we have concerning what members of those groups are like. Stereotypes are formed by generalizing a particular experience with one member of some group to all the members of the group. It's important to study about gender stereotypes so that we can know about how our brain works and how it makes decisions without objective evidence and prevent such biases and that would prevent us to behave in certain discriminative and prejudiced ways towards the other gender. Prejudice reflects our negative response to another person based solely on that person's membership in a particular group. Certain evidences of glass cieling, a barrier that prevents qualified women, as a group, from reaching top positions in the workplace have depicted gender stereotypes. As of 2005 in United States, women occupied 37 percent of all management positions (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2006). However, their proportion of high level managers remains low- under 5 percent, with only about 1 percent CEO positions in Fortune 500 companies occupied by women (Catalyst, 2002). These important studies have made us want to delve into research about stereotypes and why do we hold them. We often act as cognitive misers, trying to invest the least amount of cognitive effort possible in many situations, and by holding stereotypes we conserve the cognitive effort that's required to percieve the person as an individual. Keeping stereotypes can also motivate us by helping us feel positive about our own group identity im comparison to other social groups. But, why it is important to study about human behavior is to describe, explain, predict and control the unfair and biased behavior of human beings- as the four goals of psychology suggest. Secondly, studying the human behavior and cognitive processes underlying it will ultimately lead to changing the current and developing the new public policies, so that the information learned about prejudice and stereotypes can be disseminated to eliminate the role of cognitive biases prevailing in public policies for the betterment of the society.

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