Category: Psychology

You will complete a journal article review of peer-reviewed psychological research related to human development (each assignment should be around 2 pages typed. For each assignment, you will conduct a search of the literature using the Psychology database at Victor Valley College. Acceptable topics MUST be related to the course objectives for PSYC 110. The article must have been written in the last 10 years. To complete the journal article successfully, you will:
Summarize the main issue or question the research investigates (1 page).
Outline the method(s) used (1 paragraph per method).
Explain the results found (1 paragraph).
Identify 3 follow-up questions raised by the results of the article or questions/ comments about future research
(1 paragraph).
Attach the original article to your assignment.
12 pt Times New Roman font, double spaced, APA style
Include a title page, body, and references

Topic: How does the interplay between objectivity and subjectivity influence perception and decision-making processes in cognitive psychology?
Write a 3-page paper that summarizes and critiques on ONE of your primary sources (i.e., experiment, study, etc. conducted by the author and published in a peer-reviewed academic journal). The primary source should relate to the original research question you generated in Discussion 4 (topic question). Your source analysis should demonstrate your ability to identify the key components of a study or experiment as well as your critical thinking and analysis of research.
Your paper should:
Introduce your topic;
Provide a summary of the research method that the authors used by identifying the purpose of the study or experiment and the hypothesis or research question.
Describe the findings, conclusions, and implications of this study, as well as future directions for research suggested by the author/s.
Provide a critical analysis of this source. Your writing should be a coherent presentation of your analysis of the authors’ research design, their conclusions about their findings, and the relevance of these findings to your own research question
Your APA style paper should be three pages, not including a title page or your reference page. Be sure to include an APA style reference page for the article that you reviewed and any other sources that you used.
Please choose ONE source to discuss from this list: Alhadad, S. S. J. (2018). Visualizing Data to Support Judgement, Inference, and Decision Making in Learning Analytics: Insights from Cognitive Psychology and Visualization Science. Journal of Learning Analytics, 5(2), 60–85.
Aleksey A. Dyachkov. (2023). Psychological Mechanisms of Cognitive Subjectivity Development. Russian Journal of Education and Psychology, 14(6), 422–442. https://doi-org.proxy.ccis.edu/10.12731/2658-4034-2023-14-6-422-442
Eva, K. W. (2018). Cognitive Influences on Complex Performance Assessment: Lessons from the Interplay between Medicine and Psychology. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, 7(2), 177–188. https://doi-org.proxy.ccis.edu/10.1016/j.jarmac.2018.03.008
Klempe, S. (2013). Kierkegaard and Psychology as the Science of the “Multifarious Life.” Integrative Psychological & Behavioral Science, 47(3), 367–375. https://doi-org.proxy.ccis.edu/10.1007/s12124-013-9235-1
Li, L. (2023). The other side of false belief: Constructing the objectivity of reality. Infant & Child Development, 32(3), 1–13. https://doi-org.proxy.ccis.edu/10.1002/icd.2416

Consider self-esteem. How might circumstances in the workplace increase or decrease a person’s self-esteem. Give an example, real or hypothetical.

You will watch an hour of film, for which I will provide the video along with the login information. This will be a reaction paper, 1-2 pages double-spaced.  After watching the film, you will write about two main points raised in the film and write about your reaction to those two points. Please, whatever two points you discuss, provide wherever the point was in the video so I can take a look. 

Reflect on which values you believe will most influence you as a family therapist.
My Values: family roles,  autonomy, intimacy, emotional expression, and attachment. 
2. Identify how the values may affect your work as a family therapist. You may discuss how it will make your work more difficult or how it may enhance your work.
3. Critically evaluate what family therapy situations may pose the greatest ethical dilemmas for you and why.

Assignment #1 is a Short Essay on the critical and specific roles of adults in early childhood. You must use the lectures and readings from our course to support your points. I would like to see how you integrate the research. TOPIC: Describe three issues in the course to date that have made a particular impression on you. In In a short (2-page) essay explain why these issues are important to you and to society more broadly. Support your points with research from the lectures and from at least three of the course readings. You may include other sources with proper citations. 
* Examples for citations : Readings: e.g., Gunnar et al, date; Lectures: e.g., Lecture 1, Topic). I also want to see how you express yourself in writing with these specific sources. Your reference list will not count as part of the 2 pages – and will be in APA formatting. 
Describes three areas based on references from lectures and readings
Cites all sources ataached multiple times (please cite the lecture slides too, no need to do extra researches, just cite what I have attached)
Excellent language and communication  

Euthanasia
For the “Euthanasia” topic, you will need the following content found in the Topic 3 Resources to complete this assignment:
Read “Euthanasia: A Debate – For and Against” by Kumar, Mehra, & Avasthi, from Journal of Postgraduate Medicine, Education and Research (2021).
Read “Euthanasia, Medically Assisted Dying or Assisted Suicide: Time for Psychiatrists to Say No” by Gale & Barak, from Australasian Psychiatry (2020).
The articles provided for each topic provide information regarding both sides of the controversy. In 1,250-1,500 words:
Briefly describe both sides of the controversy, including citations from the articles provided.
Evaluate the evidence provided for each side of the controversy. Identify any logical fallacies, research limitations or overgeneralizations. (Important: You are not choosing a side; you are analyzing each argument without bias.)
Describe what side of the argument you believe has the strongest evidence. Incorporate at least four scholarly articles in your decision.
Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center.
This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.
You are required to submit this assignment to LopesWrite. A link to the LopesWrite technical support articles is located in Class Resources if you need assistance.
Benchmark Information
This benchmark assignment assesses the following programmatic competencies:
MS Psychology
1.1: Describe key historical perspectives and theories in psychology.
1.2: Differentiate among current perspectives and theories in psychology.
1.3: Describe applications of psychology          
Rubric Criteria
Expand All Rubric CriteriaExpand All
Mechanics of Writing
9 points
Development, Structure, and Conclusion
10.5 points
Brief Description of Both Sides of the Controversy (B)
30 points
Evaluation of Strongest Evidence (B)
37.5 points
Format/Documentation
6 points
Evidence
9 points
Evaluation of Evidence (B)
37.5 points
Thesis, Position, or Purpose
10.5 points
Total150 points

Respond to the following in a minimum of 175 words:
Imagine you are a teacher for a class on statistics and you want to teach your students about correlation using the class data on hair length and height in inches.
Answer these questions for yourself before you run any data:
Do you think these two characteristics—height and hair length—are connected in any way?
How will you know if they are related to each other?
Do you expect them to be correlated? Why or why not? If yes, would you expect this correlation to be positive or negative? Strong or weak?
If you think there is a correlation, do you think it is based on causation? Why or why not? If yes, is this causation direct or indirect?
Use the data in the chart below to figure the Pearson (r) Correlation Coefficient for this data set.
Height in Inches
Length of Hair
70
1
70
1.5
70
2
65
2
68
1
65
3
62
5
58
4
60
4
55
5.5
67
2
58
7
59
6
52
7
65
9
66
8
58
10
53
9
52
11
72
2
68
2
70
1
60
5
64
9
78
2
54
8
Watch the following video on how to complete correlation in Excel:
How To Perform A Pearson Correlation Test In Excel.
Now that you have run the data, answer these questions for discussion.
Did you see the results you expected?
What did you anticipate correctly?
What did you not get correct? What do you think caused you to be incorrect?
Now let’s look at it visually. Watch the following video on how to create a scatterplot, Creating an XY Scatter Plot in Excel. You are making a basic two-column correlation, which is described first in the video.
Create your scatterplot using the same data. Can you see how the scatterplot makes the “number” you got visual?
Answer the following questions for discussion:
How precise is this information?
Can you think of an example of how to use it in real life? 
Who would find such information useful?

Case Assessment and Intervention Planning: Students will complete three case reports. Utilizing your beginning understanding of crisis work, for this assignment you are being asked to perform a case assessment on a clinical scenario assigned by the instructor.  Rate the client in each of the three domains (Affective, Behavioral, and Cognitive) using the Severity Scale included with each domain on the Triage Assessment Form (TAF) and total the scores. Describe, in detail, the rationale for your ratings
 Summarize diagnostic skills and techniques that can be used to screen for addiction, aggression, and danger to self and others, as you note these risks in your client, such as the Hybrid Model and the ABC’s of Assessing Crisis Intervention found
in Chapter 3 of your text. Similarly, a possible co-occurring mental disorder (such as substance abuse) may become apparent during a crisis, disaster, or other trauma-causing event that ties in with your assessment during the client’s crisis.  Include your judgment about how intense and directive the treatment should be based upon the total TAF score. Drawing on the theoretical and research literature, develop and propose intervention designed to address the crisis. Your assessment will ideally provide the rationale for your proposed intervention, as will crisis theory and clinical research literatures. The proposal should be sensitive to issues of diversity. Nara, age 40, lost her husband of 20 years approximately 4 years earlier after an acute illness. He had been well up to 2 days prior to death, and they had imminent travel plans until the point his illness turned grave with complications. Nara is still shocked that her husband died so suddenly. She felt like “someone had cut her in two with a saw.”
Nara was a successful professional who had maintained the apartment she and her husband shared as though it were a museum. She has been unable to live there after his death and instead has moved in with her elderly mother and older sister in an apartment. She periodically visits her own apartment for which she continues to pay rent, but cannot tolerate spending the night there. Nara is aware that she is unable to move on with her life. Even more than missing her husband, her primary issue is a paralyzing sense of guilt. This is the result of her perceived failure to honor her religion’s tenets and practices in terms of a wake, funeral and burial (she was raised as a strict Catholic) after his death. Contrary to her beliefs, he requested that he be cremated and that she do whatever she wanted with his ashes as long as it did not include a ceremony of any sort, including a memorial. She feels that she did not give him the proper send-off.
Nara has stopped going to church and her gym, has lost 20 pounds and has been noted by family members to just sit in her chair for multiple hours at a time without talking or watching television or listening to the radio.

Science depends on research, it’s how discoveries are made and theories are tested. Often it’s useful to pull together the findings from several different studies to get a more general picture of what’s been found within some particular area of inquiry. Do the various studies agree regarding basic findings or are there contradictions? Does one general theory cover all the relevant data or are there competing theories and interpretations? These are the questions a research paper is designed to answer by summarizing reports from a number of related sources. That’s the task here. You are to write a research paper on a specific topic from within one of the general topic areas listed. Writing Your Paper
Your paper should summarize a minimum of three sources. It should be around five double-spaced pages in length using a 14 point font (nothing too small or too big). I also prefer half-inch margins. Given all that it should come out to around 1500 words. Since this is a psychology course I want you to reference your sources according to APA (American Psychological Association) style. More on that later. However, that is my only concern regarding APA style. Other than that, write this as you would any other paper for a course. You don’t need a title page, an abstract, running header or even page numbers. Keep it simple! But do remember to have a title and to put your name on it. 🙂 I would encourage you to work with a partner. That generally produces better papers as you edit each other’s work. However, I also realize coordinating efforts can be complicated. So, working with a partner is optional. If you decide to do so, get together early on so you can decide on the specific issue to research and plan how you’re going to divide up the work. Working with a partner should be a true collaboration, a joint effort. That is not the case if you write the first half, and your partner writes the second half. You’ll have to find ways to coordinate your efforts and pull it all together into a comprehensive paper. The requirements and grading criteria will be the same whether you work alone or with a partner. Partners will both receive the same grade for the collaborative effort. However, the way Canvas works each partner will need to submit a copy of the paper with both names on it to insure proper credit.
Regarding your sources, you should cite at least three, but you certainly can have more. Proper sources include textbooks, scholarly book chapters, peer-reviewed scientific journal articles, and legitimate videos from sources like PBS and Ted Talks. Use good sense and avoid Wikipedia, personal or corporate blogs as well as social media. The Cuyamaca LIbrary Resources page within this Module provides guides for determining if a source is legitimate, ways to search the college databases of psychology related journals and properly citing your sources.
In particular, you’ll need to cite your sources in the paper as you use them and in a reference list at the end of the paper. For APA style that means using just the last name(s) of the author(s) and the year such as ‘according to Jones (2024) …’ in the body of the paper. That’s it, nothing else. Any and all additional information goes in the citation in the reference list at the end. That should be alphabetical by author and each citation should contain all the information a person would need to find that particular source. Start with the name(s) of the author(s), then the year of publication, the article title, the journal title and the page numbers. Similar details if you cite a video. Simply providing a link or url address is not providing a reference. Those can change at any time and I may want to access the article from a different website. I’ve also set up a voluntary, non-graded discussion board in this Module for questions about the research paper. I’ll monitor that and try to provide answers. But help each other out as well. Some of you are more experienced with writing this kind of paper than others. That discussion board could also be used to connect with a partner, exchange ideas, share resources and anything else related to the paper.
When writing your paper, your intended audience should be fellow students. Do your best to be clear and concise. Don’t assume any knowledge on the part of the reader. Define concepts and spell out acronyms the first time you use them. Even a non-expert should be able to easily follow along and understand the ideas you’re presenting. Although your paper should follow the basic rules of grammar and proper spelling, keep in mind that I’m not an English professor. I’m not going to be overly zealous or technical when it comes to matters of grammar. But it should be of higher quality than a text message. 🙂
The paper is due at the end of Week 15 by 11:59 pm Sunday evening. That’s the week before the final week, giving me time to read and grade them. There’s plenty of time, but the earlier you get started the easier it will be to find resources and pull them all together. Choosing Your Topic
There are two general topic areas from which to select your topic. Now, you cannot address a large global issue effectively in 1500 words. So, once you’ve decided which general area interests you, you’ll need to narrow that down to a specific aspect of the larger issues to research for your paper. You can always ask for help in the Writing the Research Paper Discussion Board, or message me through Canvas Inbox, if you’re having trouble narrowing your topic to something manageable or finding relevant sources. General Topic Area 1
In the United States there has recently been growing concern regarding the effects of social media on young people. A number of states joined together in a lawsuit against Meta, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok. The U.S. congress is considering legislation to ban TikTok entirely. The government claims include national security issues, collection of data from children and teens, the prevalence of misinformation, foreign governments influencing public opinion and elections among the threats. When TikTok put out a message for users to contact their congressional representatives to protest and thousands upon thousands of children, teens and young adults did so it really didn’t help their case. Social scientists have also raised concerns about social media. One claim is that social media employs aspects derived from gaming, such as particular colors and sounds, to stimulate the brains of users. In essence, the apps are addictive. A new term, FOMO (Fear of Missing Out), is now used to describe the feelings of anxiety felt by young people when they don’t have access to social media. The images of people presented are often cherry picked, retouched and otherwise enhanced. They represent an unrealistic and unattainable body image, particularly to young females. The resultant rise in cases of depression and body dysmorphia has led to a significant increase in eating disorders. The representation of unhealthy choices and lifestyles to impressionable young people is another issue. Cyberbully poses an inescapable form of harassment for the victims. Finally, there are concerns about the effects on creativity, independent thought and critical thinking. The prevalence of anxiety, depression and suicide among young people are all at record highs. How has social media contributed to this? For the assignment, pick one of these areas and examine what the danger might really be. Are the claims we hear from the government or mainstream media exaggerated? Is there scientific research to support that a danger exists? What is the degree of danger, the potential threat? Do the research findings match your personal experiences with social media? Yes, your own experiences are relevant to this debate. General Topic Area 2
The Covid-19 lockdowns and the disruptions in people’s lives a few years ago had devastating effects on mental health and well-being. There were problems concerning stress, anxiety, depression, social isolation, addiction, drug abuse, domestic abuse, child abuse and education. Certain groups, generally those already disadvantaged, were disproportionately affected because they lacked the resources required to effectively manage all of it. For the assignment select one specific facet of all this that really interests you. Then extensively research the latest findings. Using those resources, write a research paper on what we have learned over the course of this experience. That means current stuff. What are the experts saying right now about what happened, how it was handled and the lingering issues still affecting people? I would suggest examining one factor and how it affected a particular age group. For example, what was the effect of social isolation on the normal course of social development among teens during the Covid lock downs? Or, what was the effect on academic achievement for grade school children as a result of distance learning during Covid?
Final Comments
I think there are ample opportunities here to find something of interest from within the two general topic areas. However, if there is some topic that you have a keen interest in and would like to research to learn more that would also be acceptable. After all, the best papers are always based on topics that students have a genuine interest in pursuing. Just message me by way of Canvas Inbox to get your topic approved.
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