Four Psychological Concepts In Men's Sequence

Great Essays
During the last centuries many psychologists have been trying to understand behavioural processes of living beings. After decades of experimenting with animals and humans, it became clear that behavioural processes, learning strategies and personality development are closely linked and complex. This complexity resulted in the development of a great variety of psychological theories to explain human behaviour.
This essay is an analysis of four psychological concepts displayed by characters in the DVD, “Men’s Sequence”. A father and son are left to organise a family member’s birthday party without the help of the mother. Two social psychological concepts that are evident in the scenario are obedience and attribution processes. Two behavioural
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The mother is regarded as holding the position of authority. Both father and son therefore obey her command.

Attribution Theory is a compilation of different theories that try to understand people’s behaviour and predict how people will react in certain situations.
“Attribution is the process of explaining the causes of people’s behaviour, including our own” (Bernstein, D. & Nash,P., 2008, pp.520).
According to Fritz Heider (1958) people assign causes of behaviour either ‘within a person’ or ‘outside a person’. People attribute theirs and others behaviour in a particular situation either to internal causes, or to causes in the environment (external causes) (McLeod, 2010).
These explanations “have an important effect on our perceptions of other people and our decisions about them” (Weatherall & Wilson, 2007, p.56). Carless and Waterworth (2012) conducted an experiment in which they established that recruiters attributed different causes to job applicants’ past behaviour, effecting their expectations for the future performance of those
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(2009). Psychology: The science of mind and behaviour. (5th ed.). London, Hodder Arnold.

Heider, F. 1958The psychology of interpersonal relations. New York: WileyHeiderThe Psychology of Interpersonal Relations1958.

McLeod, S. A. (2011). Attribution Theory. Retrieved from http://www.simplypsychology.org/attribution-theory.html

Milgram, S. (1963). Behavioral study of obedience. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 67(4), 371.

Rohter, L. (1989, November 7). Isolated Desert Community Lives by Skinner 's Precepts. The New York Times

Skinner, B. F. (1948). 'Superstition 'in the pigeon. Journal of experimental psychology, 38(2), 168.

Verlinden, M., Tiemeier, H., Veenstra, R., Mieloo, C. L., Jansen, W., Jaddoe, V. W., ... & Jansen, P. W. (2014). Television viewing through ages 2-5 years and bullying involvement in early elementary school. BMC public health, 14(1), 157.
Weatherall, A., & Wilson, M. (2007). Psychology in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Auckland, N.Z.: Pearson.

Weiten, W. (2014). Psychology themes and variations: Briefer version. (9th ed.). Australia, Wadsworth Cengage Learning
Wilson, M. (2012, November 3). Rolling with the punches. The New Zealand Listener,

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