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Example research essay topic: Cognitive Perspective Mental Processes - 1,442 words

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In the summer of 2001, I decided to work at a restaurant as a line chef. After I was interviewed for the position, Mark Hayes, an American born chef with a full resume of culinary accomplishments, hired me. After receiving the position, I attended the first day with an understanding that the other line cooks would be like Mark. But I was blind to the world as I realized that I would be working directly with Mexican immigrants. Growing up in a predominately English-speaking neighborhood, I was unsure of how to react. Here comes a seventeen year-old kid, with little to no experience, about to work with six other Spanish-speaking men from Mexico.

I was incredibly intimidated as my boss Mark introduced me to Luis. Luis spoke very little English. I struggled with what he said and we were really mostly communicating through gestures. I felt very out of place, as it was difficult for me to fit in with these other guys. I talked with my boss, Mark about the situation and he explained some things.

He reassured me that everything was going to be ok and that I would just have to hang in there and do my best to fit in. As the night progressed, I tried to pick up as much as I could (learning the plate settings and dressings) in silence. We closed early because it was slow and I was home by eleven o'clock. I saw my native Spanish-speaking father at home and told him how everything went. He was discouraged to hear that things had not gone well. I explained to him the situation that I was in, being intimidated by these Mexican men.

He told me to use my Spanish, which I had been studying for the past four years in high school. I do not know why I did not think of that earlier. I thought that if I would have used my Spanish with them that it would be insulting. I went to work the next day with an open mind.

As I walked in and got dressed, I made it a point to talk to Mark about the concerns I had. Mark was more than willing to help me in my situation. I made it a point to mention my Spanish experience and willingness to practice and interact with the other line cooks in Spanish. Mark was ecstatic to hear about my speaking ability. He encouraged and supported this new idea. I too was finally encouraged and able to interact with my coworkers.

I began to speak in Spanish with Mariano, another line cook who was bilingual. I explained to him in both English and Spanish my situation and the intimidation I was experiencing and he laughed and told me not to worry. Mariano became my mentor and I began to rely on him to answer questions that arose as time went on. Looking back, I realize that it was foolish of me not to have used my Spanish from the start. I was being hard headed by not practicing my Spanish from the start. As a result of my experience with the other workers, I have learned to never hesitate to use Spanish. 2.

Looking at my social behavior from a behavioral theoretical perspective, it evident that my behavior was largely determined by the possible consequences of the situation. Ignoring what I could have been thinking in this instance would put focus on the behavior based on stimuli and response. The stimuli of my environment at work were the Mexican immigrant workers I was surrounded by as well as the pressures of my first day on the job with my boss watching over me. In response to this environment, I was reluctant to use my Spanish skills and attempted to get by working in silence. The reinforcement that encouraged me to open up and actually speak to the other workers came from talking the problem over with my boss.

My boss supported and encouraged me communicating with the workers, which strengthened my confidence and willingness to speak Spanish in the future at work. Later on, speaking Spanish to my coworkers became an operant behavior. I was able to interact with them at work and better my skills in the kitchen with their help. Through observational learning experiences, I learned how to interact by watching others. However, this theoretical perspective views people as being very passive. I was not passive in this situation because I demonstrated a desire to learn and communicate with the workers.

Behaviorists also believe that stimuli and responses can be connected without 'reference to inner mental considerations' yet a weakness of this is the fact that they do not explain how or why people react to particular stimuli and not others. I disagree with the behaviorists that a person's own account of their mental processes do not help us understand that person's behavior. An opposing theoretical perspective, the cognitive perspective, focuses on what people are thinking and how they are actively interpreting stimuli. Seeing my situation from a cognitive theoretical perspective would emphasize that one could not understand my behavior without understanding my mental processes. Cognitive theorists do not think that people respond automatically to their environment, so my behavior would have depended on how I perceived and thought about my working environment. My coworkers could have perceived me with the same schema as that of a typical seventeen year-old in today's society.

They may have taken one look at me and had thoughts of inexperience, immaturity, and ignorance come to mind. While I could have been thinking that they were uneducated or unmotivated upon first glance as schemas that people may hold as pertaining to immigrants. And my cognition's could have led me to believe that I should not attempt to speak Spanish to these workers because they were fluent and had experience working together. However, cognitive theorists believe that the objective and external environment is not enough to understand social behavior. Therefore I actively received and processed sensory input and was able to engage in decision-making and problem solving that helped me become able to work with and speak to my coworkers. I had to see past the schemas that can lead to stereotypical thinking.

Another weakness of the cognitive perspective is that there is no real or exact way to measure thoughts. People may be unreliable reporters of their own mental processes. Finally, the structural theoretical perspective offers an approach to interpreting how active individuals can be in shaping social interaction. The role theory looks at the behavioral expectations placed on certain positions of everyone in my situation. The socially defined roles affect not just behavior, but also beliefs and attitudes. I, as a new worker at the restaurant, felt that the other workers had authority over me in that they had been previously trained and had more experience working in the kitchen.

I thought that I would need to learn from my boss and my coworkers about how the place operated before I could be of any service to them. In my role as a new worker, I was intimidated to speak up and was working in fear or making mistakes. I could not speak the Spanish I had been taught in school initially because I did not see myself on the same level as the native Spanish-speakers, I did not feel confident or capable enough in my position to do so. According to this perspective I would be seen as very passive as it often sees people in fulfilling their roles.

Yet, this perspective cannot explain those who do not fulfill the expectations society holds with particular roles. Another weakness of this perspective is that it can claim roles to be 'static' or not subject to change, when in fact, roles can and often do change over time. Also there are often conflicts between roles that are problematic to this perspective. 3. I feel that the structural theoretical perspective best explains my social behavior. It showed how my social behavior and views were shaped by the roles designated by society. The role each person had in my situation impacted my behavior as well as thoughts, attitudes, and beliefs.

My nonaggressive behavior on the first day of work was a result of my particular social position (an inexperienced, new teenage worker who did not have the same background as my coworkers). After coming to terms with the fact that I had a solid background in speaking Spanish, I learned that its one thing to complain about a difficult situation but a completely different one to make a positive experience out of that situation.


Free research essays on topics related to: social behavior, speak spanish, spanish speaking, mental processes, cognitive perspective

Research essay sample on Cognitive Perspective Mental Processes

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