Sometimes learning about psychology in the context of a textbook can make it difficult to apply the information to the real world. The goal of this writing assignment will be to practice applying the principles of the scientific method as well as what you’ve learned about psychology to the world around you. Towards that goal, you will be taking on the role of an observational researcher! You will be tasked with taking time to simply observe the world around you and interpret it through the lens of psychology. Ideally, this exercise will give you the opportunity to not just describe an experience in life, but also understand why it happens, make predictions based on what you know, and ultimately propose how you might change it.
Towards these goals, you’ll be identifying some phenomenon or event you can see using any personality theory you’ve learned about in the course. In order to better understand your experience, you will apply the basic goals of psychology you learned about in Chapter 1: to describe, explain, predict, and control. You will be observing at least one other person in the world, describing their behavior, and relating it to a personality theory or theories you’ve learned about in the course.
An application paper in psychology provides an opportunity for students to apply established research findings and theories to contemporary problems and issues in psychology. An application paper can be a first step to a longer research paper because it enables one to think through research and theory as it connects to social phenomenon one would like to better understand.
TASK:
Perform non-invasive, observational research. In order to prepare, you need to identify a safe location where you can observe the behavior of at least one other person without interfering. You can observe yourself or another person to observe. To the best of your ability, do not act in a way that would change the behavior you are observing.
Take notes as objectively as possible about the behaviors you observe. Try not to interpret what they are doing, but rather simply what they do and the context in which they are doing it.
Some things to think about are: What behaviors are you observing? What caused the behavior to happen? Where is the behavior occurring? Is this something you’ve seen happen before?
Do background research on the behaviors you took notes on.
You can start this background research by answering a few questions: What kinds of behaviors did you observe? What theories did you learn about that apply to what you observed? What experiments have been performed on this topic or related topics? Who are the notable figures in psychology that studied what you observed?
Begin writing your paper by providing a broad overview of the paper (i.e., introduction to the paper).
The next section of your paper should provide an overview of the theories you use to support your observations.
Based on your reading and background research, what theorists, theories, and experiments are related to the behaviors you observed. What perspective of psychology makes the most sense to you when it comes to explaining your topic? What perspective is the most useful way to understand your topic? What difficulties did you have in coming up with an explanation? Is there anything else you would need to know to better be able to explain what this behavior is?
Remember, many people have explained human behavior from many different perspectives. Try to determine which does the best job explaining why things work the way they work. For example, Freud had a lot of ideas about personality development. Do you think his theory makes more sense than the social perspective?
The third section of your paper should provide an illustrative biography (i.e., developmental overview) of the observed individual.
Lastly, you will discuss factors (i.e., biological, societal factors) that may have influenced their personality development. Also, discuss any potential adjustments that would or did help better their personality development.
This section of your paper should make connections with the explanations for the developmental overview you provided earlier.
Review your paper for proper spelling and grammar. Double check the rubric and guidelines to ensure that you have met all of the expectations of the assignment.
Your paper must be 6-8 pages in length (including title page and reference page); must be APA format (i.e., double-spaced, level 1, 2, 3 headings, in-text citations, and a readable font such as Arial, Times New Roman, or Tahoma); and must have a minimum of three scholarly sources.
Submit your paper in the assignment drop box in D2L.
CRITERIA:
Research, write, and submit a 6 -8-page paper (must have title page and references page [up to 3 sources] – both of which need to be included) using APA style (12-point, Times New Roman font; 1-inch margins on top, bottom, and on both sides; in-text citations; level 3 headings; etc.). You can write this paper from the first-person perspective (i.e., using “I” or “me”), use a pseudonym, or choose a celebrity figure if you like.
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