Today’s Psychology

Flora, Carlin. (2005). “Mirror Mirror: Seeing Yourself As Others See You.” Psychology Today, Volume 38, No.3, May/June, pp. 54-59.

Social acceptance and how other’s perceive one’s personality play an ever growing role in psychological interdependence. Our ability to interpret how other’s see us enable us to form authentic connections to others as well as satisfying our need for acceptance. Psychologist have come up with a term that correctly identifies this behavior as “metaperceptions”, which is defined as the idea of how other’s form ideas about us and our need to understand why.

The most common two traits others judge us tentatively on, fall into the categories of the visible and the invisible. There is evidence that people tend to notice others who are more aggressive, physically attractive, and charming. These types would be classified as “the visible.” The general population seem to rate these individuals higher socially than those in the “invisible” category. The invisible person tends to be more anxious in public settings which leads to lower social acceptability. Social anxiety also causes people to come off negatively as well. Many “invisible” people tend to be shy, which sometimes causes others to view them as self-centered. Since the socially shy become anxious very quickly, they tend to forget to ask others questions about themselves which causes them to be seen as rude and self-centered.

The feedback produced from others perceptions create a person who will either accept or reject this information. Those who can handle feedback learn to regulate their emotions which ultimately create a better impression of themselves as opposed to those who reject feedback. When one rejects feedback, they tend to behave or act out in ways which prevent feedback from even taking place.

An equal balance of feeling good about one’s self and knowing how you are perceived is the key factor to a healthy appreciation of your self. Worrying too much about what others think can make you over analyze and misinterpret other’s reaction. This unhealthy practice create unpleasant emotions such as embarrassment, shame and guilt and can lead to self-destructive behavior. In all, the more appreciation you have for your self, the better impression you will leave behind.

This article is very accurate in describing our need to know what others think of us, as well as accurately examining the characteristics of social acceptance. I, for one, chose this article because of my own personal need of acceptability among my peers as well as the general population.

Lawson, Willow. (2005). “Addiction: On the Wagon”. Psychology Today, May/June, pp.20.

A very popular saying; Once an addict, always an addict is now under critique according to a government study. The study found 40 percent of alcohol- dependent people fully recovered within a year of treatment. 20 percent of the alcoholics in this particular study completely abstained from alcohol where as the other 20 percent occasionally drank without relapse.

The other 60 percent of the alcoholics in this survey still struggled with long-term abuse. One half of the long-term abusers were either still dependent or only partially in remission.

During the conduction of the study, life circumstances played a role in recovery. Older adults and women were more likely to beat addiction through abstinence than others. There was also a report of a non-abstinence recovery among the married or cohabitation.

This statistic- based article has brought light to the topic of dependency upon alcohol. I found this article very interesting as well as informative. I think the topic of addiction needs more publicity to help people understand why there are so many problem with addiction. I was very glad to come across this article.

Flora, Carlin and Jen Drapkin. (2005). “The Superpowers”. Psychology Today, May/June, pp.40-50

“There are regular folks, and there are the rockstars in the room: people with the magnetism of Oprah, the charm or Audrey Hepburn and the bubbly joie de vivre of Sponge Bob...” (Carlin Flora, pp.40). There are many different traits which people possess which distinctly categorizing them into 4 main attributes; Charisma, chutzpah, joie de vivre, and grace. These attributes are commonly known as the “x-factors.” An easy definitions of these enviable dispositions is immediate recognition and highly admirable.

Charisma or “spellbinders”