This is a two part assessment. Part 1 is a 4–8 double-spaced page paper on practitioner self-management. Part 2 is a 2–6 double-spaced page annotated bibliography of four articles on practitioner self-management.
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Introduction
Problem solving is an important process to examine how human's overcome and respond to challenges. According to Basadur et al, 2000 (as cited in Goldstein, 2019, p. 378):
When humans are confronted with a problem—an obstacle to be overcome or a goal to meet—they use a process that includes the following steps in a cycle: (1) problem finding; (2) fact finding; (3) problem definition; (4) idea finding; (5) evaluation and selection; (6) planning; (7) selling idea; and (8) taking action.
As you prepare to complete this assessment, it may be useful to think about:
- What are the components of the problem-solving cycle?
- How do well-defined and ill-defined problems differ?
- What are some of the obstacles and aids to problem solving?
- How does expertise develop?
- What is creativity and how can it be enhanced?
Another area of study that is relevant to this assessment is decision-making and reasoning. Exploring how humans judge, make decisions, and use reasoning to draw conclusions and solve problems, can provide us with insights into both the psychology of people and the neuroscience related to the function and processes in the brain.
As you prepare to complete this assessment, it may be useful to think about:
- What strategies guide human decision-making and reasoning?
- What is deductive reasoning? What facilitates and impedes its use?
- What is inductive reasoning? What facilitates and impedes its use?
- What other forms of reasoning are there?
Reference
Goldstein, B. E. (2019). Cognitive psychology: Connecting mind, research, and everyday experience (5th ed.). Cengage.
Assessment Instructions
This assessment has two parts: a paper on practitioner self-management and an annotated bibliography of four articles on practitioner self-management.
Part 1
This part of your assessment should be 4–8 double-spaced pages. This does not include your APA-style title page and reference list.
Think of a situation, group, or person in a current or previous work environment that evoked a strong reaction from you. Reflect on the thoughts and emotions that you had at the time. Consider the impact of those thoughts and emotions on the situation and on you personally and professionally. Then write a paper completing the following:
- Analyze a personal cognitive reaction to a specific professional situation, population, or person and analysis is supported with scholarly information.
- Describe the cognitive reaction you had to the situation.
- Apply scholarly research to the situation to help you analyze your cognitive reaction.
- Analyze a personal emotional reaction to a specific professional situation, population, or person and analysis is supported with scholarly information.
- Describe the emotional reaction you had to the situation.
- Apply scholarly research to the situation to help you analyze your affective reaction.
- Integrate scholarly information into a plan for self-awareness, self-management or self-care.
- Using scholarly information from the articles that you will annotate in Part 2, create a plan for helping yourself in future situations where you may experience similar reactions.
- Apply principles and standards from a professional code of ethics to a plan for practitioner self-management.
- Citing a specific professional code of ethics from your discipline, explain the ethical importance for practitioners to attend to their own self-awareness, self-regulation, and self-care.
This will also count partly towards your assessment on the following criteria:
- Address assessment purpose in a well-organized text, incorporating appropriate evidence and tone in grammatically sound sentences.
- Format paper, citations, and references using APA style with few errors.
Part 2
This part of your assessment will likely be 2–6 double-spaced pages, depending on citation length and depth of annotation.
Search for scholarly articles on practitioner self-awareness, self-regulation, and self-care. As much as possible, align the research articles with your experiences within the situation that you describe and analyze in your paper.
See the Sample Annotated Bibliography [DOCX] as a guide on format. Note: This sample includes only one article as a guide. It is intentionally unrelated to your assessment on practitioner self-management so that you can focus on the format and not the content. It also does not include a description of how the findings would link to a self-care plan since it is not about self-care.
Then complete the following:
Annotate four research articles. For our purposes with this assessment, in your annotations include:
- The APA style formatted reference.
- 1–2 fully developed paragraphs including the following:
- The purpose of the research.
- The theory base for the research if the researchers included this information.
- The research design.
- The data collection methods.
- The research results or findings.
- Describe the link between the findings and your analysis of your reaction.
This part of your assessment will be assessed on:
- Annotating four scholarly articles on practitioner self-awareness, self-management, or self-care related to a cognitive and affective response.
This will also count partly toward your assessment on the following criteria:
- Address assessment purpose in a well-organized text, incorporating appropriate evidence and tone in grammatically sound sentences.
- Format paper, citations, and references using current APA style with few errors.
Submission Requirements
- Length of Paper: 4–8 double-spaced pages. This does not include your APA-style title page and reference list.
- Length of Annotated Bibliography: 2–6 double-spaced pages.
- Communication: Must be clear, with correct spelling, grammar, and syntax, and with good organization.
- Writing style: APA expectations for scholarly writing include the use of third-person narrative, unless it is awkward to do so. However, because you are talking about yourself in this paper, you may write in the first person.
- APA formatting: References and citations should be formatted according to APA style and format. Refer to the Writing Center for guidance. Include a title page, abstract, and reference list.
- Font: Any APA approved 12-point font.
- Submitting your work: Once you are satisfied with your assessment and have made all necessary revisions, submit your assessment no later than 11:59 p.m. CST Sunday.
Submit the document that includes both your paper and annotated bibliography to your instructor as an attachment in the assessment area no later than 11:59 p.m. central time on Sunday.
Use the resources linked below to help complete this assessment.
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Problem Solving and Creativity
These resources will focus on the problem-solving process and the various components of the cycle, from recognizing a problem to taking action. They will help you to explore how well-defined and ill-defined problems differ, as well as the obstacles and aids that influence our creative thinking.
- Use your Cognitive Psychology text to read:
- Chapter 12, “Problem Solving & Creativity.”
- Assessment 4: Problem Solving and Creativity. Reading List.
Interactive Learning Module: Expertise Development
Different Problem-Solving Strategies
A growing body of evidence in psychological research demonstrates that novices and experts use very different problem-solving strategies. For example, Anderson (1981) presents a stage theory of expertise development:
Stage One: Novice
- Problem solving is specific to one domain.
- Problem solving is slow, tedious, and prone to errors.
Stage Two: Transition
- Knowledge representations (for example, schemas) become compiled, integrated, and collapsed, which decreases working memory load.
- Knowledge is linked to actions.
- Problem solving is fast, automatic, and nonverbal.
- A repertoire of strategies, patterns, and solutions are available.
Click Expertise Development Activity to view the presentation.
- A group of pre-service (novices with no teaching experience) and in-service teachers (experts with at least 10 years of teaching experience) were asked to read a fifth grade social studies text chapter on the Civil War. Next, they were given 75 3x5 cards, each containing one concept (for example, Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address, the Confederacy, and 1861–1865) presented in the chapter. The teachers were asked to spread the cards out on a table in a fashion that represented their mental organization of the chapter, specifically showing how they would present the information to students in a one-half hour lesson. This Expertise Development Activity presentation has two flow charts that are created by novice and expert teachers. How would you compare the novices and experts in this case?
Decision-Making and Reasoning
These resources will focus on decision-making and reasoning, including the strategies that guide human judgment. Take time to explore deductive, inductive, and other forms of reasoning, considering what facilitates and impedes their use.
- Use your Cognitive Psychology text to read:
- Chapter 13, “Judgment, Decisions, and Reasoning.”
- Assessment 4: Decision-Making and Reasoning Reading List.
- These presentations will help you gain understanding of important concepts:
- Click Categorical Syllogisms (Venn Diagrams) Activity to view the presentation.
Human and Artificial Intelligence
One of the emerging considerations in the field of psychology is the intersection of human and artificial intelligence. These resources will provide you with an opportunity to explore how our understanding of intelligence has been shaped by cultural context, and what implications this might have for our relationship with technology.
- Assessment 4: Human and Artificial Intelligence Reading List.
Assessment Preparation
Your final assessment, “Practitioner Self-Management: Cognitive and Affective Reactions”, is a two part assessment. Part 1 is a 4-8 double-spaced page paper on practitioner self-management. Part 2 is a 2-6 double-spaced page annotated bibliography of four articles on practitioner self-management.
Begin to prepare for this assessment by:
- Finding the articles that you would like to use to support your self-reflection, and those you would like to include in your annotated bibliography.
- Review the following writing support resources:
- Provide yourself time and space to reflect on yourself as a practitioner and how you tend to self-manage.
- Review the instructions and scoring rubric. Ask you instructor if you have any questions or confusion related to these.