Assignment Question
Procrastination
Part I: The Self-Improvement Project
You should write this up in the form of an empirical psychology paper. Use APA to format your paper and cite your sources. Refer to the APA Guidelines in the Course Information for information on APA. Be sure to include the following sections in your paper:
Introduction: Why did you decide to change what you (hopefully) changed? What factors facilitated and impeded this change?
Methods: explain how you went about changing yourself. What techniques did you use?
Results: What happened? You must present evidence here beyond your own impressions. A narrative addressing your successes and failures, reports from friends and family on the changes you made, etc. would be appropriate.
For example: unsolicited comments such as, “Hey, you’re smiling so much more these past few weeks. What’s your secret?”), objective health indicators (e.g., fewer sick days used), and behavioral measures are all appropriate.
Discussion: What have you learned about self-change and positive psychology? What would you do differently if you had the chance to do it again? Why? You might talk about your strengths and weaknesses, difficulties of changing one’s self, the importance of recognizing your ideal self as an evolving and developing individual.
Part II: Your Ideal Future, or Future Self
The focus of positive psychology is to help you think clearly about who you are and what you want, or should want. People often fall into traps and pursue goals that leave themselves worse off, even when they are successful. We began the term with an activity addressing our strengths and weaknesses, and throughout the term we considered a variety of aspects of happiness, virtue, and personal growth. Now that we are at the end of this course, you should know a lot more about yourself, your strengths and weaknesses, what makes you happy, what you want for your future, and how you want to change your future self. In this part of the final paper, sketch out a vision of your future life, or future self. Drawing on many of the readings for the semester, explain why this life would be a pleasant life, a good life, or a meaningful life. Talk about what growth would mean for you and the means by which you hope to grow into your future self. Talk about limits and obstacles as well as about facilitators.
Here are some general comments about the final paper The most important thing about this paper is to show me that you have learned to think like a positive psychologist. Be sure to draw on many of the readings and ideas that came up in class discussions. minimum of 4 double-spaced pages for the main text. Appendices, such as charts of progress or daily data recording sheets, should be included in addition. At least one (1) reference (not including your textbook or in-course readings) must be included. You should use first person throughout; this is of course a very personal paper in both parts.