MOOC "Social psychology". Module 7

This week we are to study the 7^th module of social psychology course. It was mostly about contradictions and conflicts.  

In the 1^st lecture I learnt about some features of conflict. The professor told about such types of social interaction as cooperation and competence. It was interesting to find out that conflict can be not only destructive and have bad results, but also it can be constructive.

In the 2^nd lecture there was some information about the structure of conflict. The aims of conflicts can be:

·                   Instrumental (the desire of opponents to get something valuable)

·                   Connected with relationships

·                   Connected with one’s self-concept

There are different types of conflicts:

ü    Cognitive (conflict of people’s beliefs)

ü    Motivational (conflict of interests, needs)

ü    Conflict of roles

The third lecture was about development of conflict. The lecturer talked about stages of escalation of conflict. It was useful to know about actions one can take in conflict. I immediately remembered examples of conflicts that I have seen in my life and I was amazed how differently people solve contradictions.

The 4^th lecture was devoted to the topic of solving conflicts. However, this time the professor gave more detailed knowledge.

In the 5^th lecture I studied about social dilemmas. The basis of the study of social dilemmas is the theory of interdependence. This theory suggests that people can get benefits from each other when they interact. Moreover, there was information about types of social dilemmas.

In the 6^th lecture Olga Gulevich kept talking about social dilemma. People can act differently when they have social dilemma. That is why psychologists divide different orientations in interaction with others:

ü   Individual (a person tries to get the most of remuneration)

ü   Competitive (a person tries to get more of remuneration than his partner)

ü   Prosocial (a person works with his partner and shares the remuneration equally with him)

ü   Altruistic (a person acts in favor of his partner)

Here is my result of the test at the end of the 7^th module:

This module seemed to me very interesting and exciting. I think that the knowledge I got is very valuable and important.

What about your attitude to this module? Did you find it useful? Let me know in the comments down below!