Overview
The paper assignment has two major parts:
(a) to address an applied challenge, that is, some challenge faced in the “real world,”
outside of university departments of psychology, by
(b) making use of information in a scientific paper that presents some scientific evidence
that can be used to address the challenge.
In this document is a list of applied challenges and associated scientific papers
from which to choose. You should choose one of these as the topic for your paper. If you
choose a topic that is NOT on this list you will not earn credit for this assignment.
Once you choose a topic, your assignment is:
(1) to describe the theory and research presented in the scientific paper that is
listed for your topic
(2) to explain how that theory and research addresses the applied challenge,
in other words, to explain how the psychological science (the theory and research
in the paper) might help to solve the problem faced by the person with the applied
challenge.
The paper you write should be 3.5 - 4 pages in length, double-spaced. That would
be the length in font size 12, 1-inch-margins; this would equate to about 1100 words of
writing. In these 3.5-4 pages, you should be accomplishing the two asks above: (1)
describe the theory and research presented in the scientific paper you read (answer
questions such as: what is the main idea of the paper? What are the main research
findings supporting this idea? What methods did the researcher use to support their
findings?), and (2) explain how that theory and research can be applied to the applied
problem (explain what the person facing the applied challenge might do differently if
they knew about the theory and research in the paper). You should spend about an equal
amount of space on each of the two tasks; your paper should have about 2 pages
describing the theory and research that is presented in the relevant scientific paper, and
about 2 pages explaining how the scientific information might be used to solve the
applied problem.
Notes on the Readings: You do not have to do any additional outside reading for
the paper, that is, you don’t have to read anything except for the one paperWant to change your personality?
Imagine that you are in a discussion with two friends. One of them says that they
don’t like something about their personality: “I wish I was more extraverted – more
outgoing and sociable than I am now.” The other one says “I’d like to change my
personality, but I’d like to be more conscientious – more reliable, on-time for things, with
better self-discipline. Your friends discuss this, and conclude that even if it’s possible to
change one’s personality, they don’t have the time and money to do it. “We need
something quick and cheap, like an app – maybe some kind of digital coaching. But even
if that exists, it probably doesn’t even work.” What would you tell your friends (in light
of this relevant scientific paper)?