This essay will cover the theme of “Social Psychology is Multiply Determined (or Not?).” Please include answers to the following questions. Your response should be between 3-5 double-spaced pages using 12-point standard font and 1” margins. DO NOT EXCEED FIVE PAGES. The maximum total extra credit points you can get from this assignment is 8 points.
Why do we do the things we do? Philosophers and social scientists alike have long been focused on questions underlying the origins of human behavior. In this assignment, you will choose a specific social psychological phenomenon/piece of research (e.g., self-serving bias, representativeness heuristic) that you find most interesting, and describe the various reasons for why this phenomenon occurs.
You can draw upon material from any part of the course, including the textbook, lecture and section material. You are also free to draw upon material that you have encountered independent of the course (e.g., research from other courses or that you have read about elsewhere), or even your own reasoning. Importantly, you should highlight how each of these reasons fall under the 4 major theoretical perspectives discussed in Chapter 1. Chapter 14 also contains further discussion of the 4 perspectives, and may be useful to read ahead for this assignment. (Note: that you can use material from the textbook does NOT mean you can just copy and paste words verbatim from the text. Always paraphrase. If you are not sure about this, talk to your TAs.)
You should describe at least 3 reasons. The three reasons can all be from the same theoretical perspective, or they can be spread across the different perspectives. Clearly describing each of the 3 reasons and explaining how they drive the phenomenon of interest will be worth 1 point each (3 max). Showing understanding of the relevant theoretical perspective and categorizing the reason under the correct theoretical perspective will be worth another 1 point each (3 max) (e.g., “…parental investment theory is an evolutionary explanation because…”).
For the remaining 2 points, what you will need to do is to discuss these 3 (or more) reasons and specifically, how you think they can be either (1) mutually compatible (i.e., all of them can hold true and don’t necessarily contradict each other), or (2) mutually incompatible (i.e., not all of them can be true).
To give a more concrete guide:
Writing something like “I think that the three reasons are compatible. That’s that” will give you zero points.
Writing something like “The social structural hypothesis and parental investment theory are compatible in understanding the sex differences in mate preferences for resources because XYZ…” will net you 1 point.
Writing something like “The social structural hypothesis and parental investment theory are compatible in understanding the sex differences in mate preferences for resources because XYZ…But at the same time, based on the lecture material, the social structural hypothesis does not seem to explain for why those who already have resources prefer resources even more…It does however explain for why societies with greater gender equality tend to show reduced sex differences in resource preference” will get you the full 2 points. This final point will be the most difficult one. To get it, you can do one of several related things, including (1) discussing the strengths and weaknesses of each of the explanations (what about the phenomenon they can or cannot explain), (2) discussing how they can be both compatible and incompatible depending on what aspect of the phenomenon we’re focusing on, or (3) extending your discussion to other social phenomenon. Remember that you need to discuss all three of your reasons.
Let me or your TA know if you have any questions about this assignment. Remember that you need to check with your TA to get approval on your topic before March 2.
This essay will cover the theme of “Social Psychology is Multiply Determined (or Not?).” Please include answers to the following questions. Your response should be between 3-5 double-spaced pages using 12-point standard font and 1” margins. DO NOT EXCEED FIVE PAGES. The maximum total extra credit points you can get from this assignment is 8 points.
Why do we do the things we do? Philosophers and social scientists alike have long been focused on questions underlying the origins of human behavior. In this assignment, you will choose a specific social psychological phenomenon/piece of research (e.g., self-serving bias, representativeness heuristic) that you find most interesting, and describe the various reasons for why this phenomenon occurs.
You can draw upon material from any part of the course, including the textbook, lecture and section material. You are also free to draw upon material that you have encountered independent of the course (e.g., research from other courses or that you have read about elsewhere), or even your own reasoning. Importantly, you should highlight how each of these reasons fall under the 4 major theoretical perspectives discussed in Chapter 1. Chapter 14 also contains further discussion of the 4 perspectives, and may be useful to read ahead for this assignment. (Note: that you can use material from the textbook does NOT mean you can just copy and paste words verbatim from the text. Always paraphrase. If you are not sure about this, talk to your TAs.)
You should describe at least 3 reasons. The three reasons can all be from the same theoretical perspective, or they can be spread across the different perspectives. Clearly describing each of the 3 reasons and explaining how they drive the phenomenon of interest will be worth 1 point each (3 max). Showing understanding of the relevant theoretical perspective and categorizing the reason under the correct theoretical perspective will be worth another 1 point each (3 max) (e.g., “…parental investment theory is an evolutionary explanation because…”).
For the remaining 2 points, what you will need to do is to discuss these 3 (or more) reasons and specifically, how you think they can be either (1) mutually compatible (i.e., all of them can hold true and don’t necessarily contradict each other), or (2) mutually incompatible (i.e., not all of them can be true).
To give a more concrete guide:
Writing something like “I think that the three reasons are compatible. That’s that” will give you zero points.
Writing something like “The social structural hypothesis and parental investment theory are compatible in understanding the sex differences in mate preferences for resources because XYZ…” will net you 1 point.
Writing something like “The social structural hypothesis and parental investment theory are compatible in understanding the sex differences in mate preferences for resources because XYZ…But at the same time, based on the lecture material, the social structural hypothesis does not seem to explain for why those who already have resources prefer resources even more…It does however explain for why societies with greater gender equality tend to show reduced sex differences in resource preference” will get you the full 2 points. This final point will be the most difficult one. To get it, you can do one of several related things, including (1) discussing the strengths and weaknesses of each of the explanations (what about the phenomenon they can or cannot explain), (2) discussing how they can be both compatible and incompatible depending on what aspect of the phenomenon we’re focusing on, or (3) extending your discussion to other social phenomenon. Remember that you need to discuss all three of your reasons.
Let me or your TA know if you have any questions about this assignment. Remember that you need to check with your TA to get approval on your topic before March 2.
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