Thinking, Feeling, and Believing
Case Study
PSYC FPX 3520 Assessment 3: Susan’s case highlights a frequent problem for many people returning to school or changing career paths: combining personal goals with present realities and self-perceptions. Susan struggles with her appearance and how it affects her potential career as a psychologist as she starts on her new educational path. Her comparison of herself to Dr. Paul, as well as the adjustment of her long-term goals as a result of these comparisons, highlight the impact of societal expectations and self-image on individual ambition. Despite these challenges, Susan’s determination to finish her degree and take a step-by-step approach indicates perseverance and a continuing commitment to her professional goals.
Susan’s decision-making process reflects the social psychology theory of confirmation bias. As she pursues her psychology degree, Susan begins to compare her looks to that of Dr. Paul and wonders if she has the “right look” to be successful in her new field. This contrast reflects her existing belief that beauty is important for professional success. Her focus on information that supports her opinion, such as the perceived benefits of having a specific appearance, exhibits Confirmation Bias.
Susan is mistakenly viewing her position via the lens of her pre-existing ideas and expectations, which has an impact on her long-term goals and professional ambitions. This cognitive bias highlights how personal concepts and self-image can impact one’s choices and impressions of success.
Related Assessment:
PSYC FPX 3520 Assessment 2 Self And Self Control
Research Support
Research Summary
The first research Article, “Does Self-Relevance Affect Information Processing?” Ertac’s 2011 study, “Experimental Evidence on the Response to Performance and Non-Performance Feedback,” aimed to assess the function of self-relevance in information processing. The study (PSYC FPX 3520 Assessment 3) was conducted at UCLA’s California Social Science Experimental Laboratory (CASSEL), with 230 undergraduate students participating in 19 distinct sessions.
These sessions consisted of both performance-based activities, which required skill and effort, and non-performance tasks, which focused on objective statistics updates. Participants were also given preceding questions, quizzes, and a survey at the end of each session. The study aimed to determine whether self-relevance affects how people perceive feedback and update their information in performance and non-performance situations (Franziska Brotzeller & Gollwitzer, 2024).
The second research article, “The Curious Case of Confirmation Bias” (2019) by Klein, investigates the concept of confirmation bias using an experimental study first presented by Peter Wason in 1960. In the research, 29 individuals were given a sequence of numbers, 2-4-6, and taught that it followed a certain rule. Participants were then invited to create their own number triples and received comments on whether they followed the rule. The study aims to address how people’s biases toward confirming their previous views affected their approach to testing and uncovering the real rule (Klein, 2019).
Research Interpretation
The two research articles I examined highlight (PSYC FPX 3520 Assessment 3) how confirmation bias is a common phenomenon that affects everyone. The first study discovered that individuals performed better on activities with personal significance but struggled with those that were self-irrelevant. The second article showed that participants preferred to produce and test only number triples that validated their previous assumptions about the rule, but the true rule was simply any sequence of three ascending numbers, such as 2-3-4.
Based on these findings, I believe there is strong evidence to support the theory that people are typically attracted to seek out and understand information in manners that support their existing concepts. When given an option, individuals prefer to gravitate toward those who share their beliefs.
Application of Confirmation Bias
Susan’s case study demonstrates how confirmation bias could affect professional goals. After meeting a gorgeous psychologist through a mutual friend, Susan decided to pursue a psychology degree. However, when she began her studies, she discovered that the huge time commitment was affecting her family and personal life. Susan started worrying if she had the necessary look to excel in the field after meeting with the psychologist.
She came to assume that beauty was an important
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