Write a 4 to 5-page essay. Select a topic that intrigues you from the following list or suggest your own. If you want to write on a topic not listed here, get your instructor’s approval first.
social norms
individualism vs. collectivism
social exchange
how salience and accessibility influence information processing
how cognitive heuristics influence social judgment
cognitive reappraisal
looking-glass self
social comparison
self-presentation
the principle of attitude consistency
sleeper effect
cognitive dissonance
impression formation
attribution bias
culture and conformity
informational social influence versus normative social influence
social power (French and Raven)
communal and exchange relationships
attachment style
altruism
the social psychological variables that influence helping behavior
emotional vs. instrumental aggression
how the social situation influences aggression
social identity and group influences
social loafing
group polarization and individual decision making
social categorization
reducing discrimination
strategies for producing cooperation
The structure of the essay is of your choosing. You may present an argumentative, comparative (compare and contrast), persuasive, reflective, or research easy. This flexibility affords you the opportunity to explore newly acquired concepts and write a paper meaningful to you (e.g., career interests, personal connections).
Leverage the writing of the essay to showcase effective communication of social psychological principles and applications relevant to your selected topic.
Support discussions (topics and logic) with sound research, evident through the integration of properly applied and cited theory and facts collected from a minimum of three (3) peer-reviewed journal articles.
PEER-REVIEWED articles are vetted for quality and adherence to editorial standards and published in scholarly journals (such as the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology). This link to the UMGC library provides excellent instruction, support and resources addressing scholarly articles. It is your responsibility to make sure that the journal articles you select are appropriate. If you are unsure about the relevance of your articles, contact me. I am here to help.
In addition to the three peer-reviewed articles, you may also use sources from the Web, your textbook or other books. Magazines and newspapers are generally not acceptable. For instance, Psychology Today would not be a preferred scholarly choice. If you are not sure, ask your instructor.
More information relating to the structure and formatting of the paper are posted in your Assignment folder.
See “Why Three Articles” below for discussion on how scholarly works support your goals for the paper.
FORMATTING:
Structure your paper utilizing APA style (7th Edition) appropriate for student papers; this includes headings, double-spacing, appropriately sized sans serif or serif fonts (e.g., 12 Times Roman), one-inch margins (left, right, top, and bottom), page numbering, and logical flow from topic to topic. Include a title page and references page(s). The page count requirement excludes the title page and references.
Information and/or quotes from selected sources should be relevant and thoughtfully placed. Consult the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Seventh Edition, for proper form of in-text citations and references.
EVALUATION CRITERIA:
The following criteria will be considered in the evaluation of your paper. Please review the Applied Final Project Rubric that accompanies the instructions in Assignments for point allocations.
Accuracy—Are your stated facts or ideas correct?
Clarity—Is your essay clear and easy to follow? You may want to read your essay out loud to yourself. This will help you catch incomplete sentences or lapses in logic.
Depth—Are the issues and implications well thought out and explored?
Originality—What is your thesis (the main point of your essay)? Have you stated your own views and articulated them well? Use your own words. Do not copy material directly from your text or other sources without quotation marks. If you want to use the author’s exact words, put them in quotation marks and cite the page number from your text or other source material. Don’t forget to express your own opinion.
Supporting evidence—Are your ideas supported with empirical evidence? This is a crucial part of any well-written essay. You may support your ideas with theories, previously conducted research, or other information you encounter in the text and other sources (journal articles and so forth). You may also use personal experiences as supporting evidence when appropriate.
References—Did you use appropriate references to support the main points of your paper? Be sure you have these references—that is, that you have the articles on hand if you used them, and make sure that your references relate to the point you are making or support your inferences.
Form, composition, spelling, and so forth—Is your paper neat and error-free? It helps to run spellcheck before submitting your work and to have a colleague or friend read over your work.
APA style—Did you follow the formatting rules of the American Psychological Association (APA) for student papers? You may want to visit the UMGC Library Guide to Citing and Writing.
RUBRIC:
Access to the grading rubric is provided, adjoining the assignment within the Assignment folder.
Mentoring Moment: “Why Three Articles”
The three (3) peer-reviewed articles should meet the following criteria:
Scholarly – Articles should address an original research study, meta-analyses, summary, editorial or theory.
Refereed – Articles must come from peer-reviewed journals found in the UMGC library.
Social Psychology Connections – Articles must be relevant to social psychology.
Recent – Articles must have been published within the last 10 years.
For example, the following would be a relevant peer-reviewed journal article for investigating the influence of emotional intelligence on academic performance:
MacCann, C., Jiang, Y., Brown, L. E., Double, K. S., Bucich, M., & Minbashian, A. (2020). Emotional intelligence predicts academic performance: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 146, 150–186. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000219
Why three articles you might wonder? The peer-reviewed minimum is just that, a minimum. You are encouraged to explore and to use more than three peer-reviewed resources. This is because your use of scholarly works:
expands your exploration of relevant concepts, theories, empirical findings and historical trends
invites you to implement critical and creative thinking
inspires skeptical inquiry as you approach your topic with the goal of developed information literacy
empowers the development, organization, and expression of your understanding of your selected topic
These benefits occur because the peer-reviewed articles will enable you to analyze and discuss your topic from a point of insight and understanding that comes from quality research that represents current knowledge in the field.
How quality, appropriately applied peer-reviewed articles support your writing within this assignment…
Number of quality, appropriate peer-reviewed articles
The points below assume the articles selected and incorporated are relevant and appropriate for the topic discussed within the 4 to 5-page essay.
3+
A – B+
The depth the assignment invites is why three peer-reviewed articles has been set as a minimum. Three foundational, scholarly articles can support central idea development, and the presentation of relevant examples, when the three articles are strategically applied to express critical thought and analysis.
