Mr



Mr. Nelson – Psychology

nelsonsaphumangeography@ (contact)

nelsonspsychology. (class website)

Final Project

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THIS IS MANDATORY – YOU MUST PRESENT!

Assignment: Create a presentation for class (Prezi or PowerPoint only), based on a psychological topic of your own choosing.

Assignment Details: see the visual on the next page

Due Date/Presentation Date: ALL projects are due, via email, on MONDAY, MAY4th, 2015 – there will be severe penalties for lateness. Please note that everyone’s projects are due on the same date, although the 1st and last presentations will be separated by several weeks.

Time from today’s date: 21 days (including weekends, so get started!)

On Presentations: Think of it less as a presentation where you stand in front of a room talking for 42 minutes, and more of a facilitation of a discussion. You’ll present your topic, review some articles on the topic, then facilitate a conversation where the majority of the talking will be from the rest of the class, not you, so let the anxiety of presenting go. You can present sitting down, standing up, from your seat, from behind the desk, whatever makes you more comfortable. *Those who took Sociology 101 with me will know this already.

Order of Presentations: To be determined, once I have a sense of your topics, I’ll most likely group topics thematically (for example, if 3 people are doing topics surrounding parenting or child rearing, I’ll have them present together. This will be solidified when I get back your preliminary form regarding your topic.

How to Choose a Topic/Make Your Presentation:

Start with a general topic (relationships)

Narrow it down (romantic relationships)

Narrow it down even further (dating in high school)

Find 2 Articles on Psychology Today that relate (e.g. – “Adolescent Dating: What Makes a Good Relationships” by Carl Pickart, P.h.D. & “Middle School Dating Is Bad?” by Dr. Barbara Greenberg, P.h. D.)

Think of 10 discussion questions for the class, based on your topic and articles (e.g. – Is dating in high school good or bad for future relationships, at what age should kids start dating, should the age differ by gender, how do parents react to their children dating in high school, etc.)

Create either a Power Point or a presentation of 20 minutes in length. In your presentation include the following 3 elements:

Summary of main idea/topic Relate topics to class content

of your 2 articles (what are they (development, memory, etc.)

about? How do they relate? Do

you agree/disagree with

arguments?)

Your 10 discussion questions (yes, 10 – not 7, not 9, 10!) for the class

*You may also include video clips, visuals, interviews, or anything else.

How to Make General Topics More Specific:

Music…

Types of Music…

Types of Music and Personality/behavior…

• What does our taste in music say about our personality?

• Are Hip-Hop fans inherently different people than Rock fans?

• To what extent do musical lyrics impact our behavior?

• Do hip-hop lyrics impact how men view women?

OR…

Family…

Family Relationships…

Sibling Relationship…

Birth Order & Sibling Relationship…

• How does being the oldest sibling impact your life?

• What burdens, responsibilities and pressures does the oldest child face that younger siblings don’t’?

• How do parents raise their first children differently than successive children?

OR…

Social Media…

Social Media, Communication, Development, Personality…

Instagram…

• Has Instagram impacted how people think and speak?

• What do people’s Instagram pictures say about their personality?

• What does the success and popularity of Instagram say about our need to know information about others?

• Why is Instagram more popular among teenagers than adults?

Psychology Final Report Card Grade: Remember that your final course grade is calculated by multiplying each of your marking period grades by 2, adding your final presentation grade, then dividing that number by 5. To show an example:

Student marking period 1 grade = 65% (this counts twice)

Student marking period 2 grade = 75% (this counts twice)

Student final presentation grade = 80% (this counts once)

65+65+75+75+80 = 72

Final Average on Report Card = 72%

Grading Rubric for Final Project: Your grade will be out of 100 points, then multiplied by 2, based on the following 4 criteria:

1. Format (did you follow directions and get in all bullet points of the presentation format and research I asked) – 25%

2. Preparation (were you ready when it was your turn, or did I have to give you extra time and deduct points? Is it obvious that you put time and effort into your presentation, or does it look thrown together?) – 25%

3. Quality & Clarity (does your question, research, and presentation reflect effort and understanding of course materials? Is your presentation clear and easy to follow?) – 25%

4. Presentation (is your presentation engaging does it keep people’s interest, did you formulate good discussion questions that kept the class engaged and talking?) – 25%

*Participation Grading: To help everyone’s grade and to encourage active engagement in other people’s presentations, I will give extra credit for every time an audience member raises their hand to ask a question, answer a question, make a comment, or reply to another student’s comment during a presentation. I will literally keep a tally, and then determine an extra credit grade that will be added to your average. Basically this is a way for you to earn points while someone else presents.

Lateness: You will lose a significant amount of points for each day that you are late in presenting your project. Even if you were to go first, you still would have had an entire month to prepare; there is no reason for lateness.

Resources:

This is where you can find the necessary articles & supplemental videos for your project. This is not a complete list – you can find articles/videos from elsewhere, this is just to help you out.

Psychology Today Magazine

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How to Use the Site:

1. Go to the link above

2. Drag cursor over the “TOPICs” bar (third from left) on top of screen

3. You will see a list of topics in alphabetical order, beginning with ADDICTION and ending with THERAPY

4. Click on the topic that pertains to your specific final presentation

5. Look through the various articles on the topic and incorporate into your presentation

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Other Article Resources:

The New York Times (psychology articles)



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Scientific American Magazine (psychology section)



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Video Resources:

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*These tend to be anywhere from 15-20 minutes, so if you choose to include any of these, pick appropriate clips, don’t just hit play, sit back for half of class, and call it a presentation!

Suggested Topics: again, this is not an exhaustive, complete list, by any means. It’s simply there for those who are stuck with a topic and need guidance. I encourage you to choose something original, that interests you, rather than pick off of a prepared list, but you can certainly use this as it helps you.

Developmental Psychology… looks at how BOTH biological and environmental factors impact how we grow, change, and develop throughout life cognitively (the way we think), behaviorally (the way we act), emotionally (the way we feel), and ethically (the way we develop a sense of right and wrong).If you chose a topic that relates to this, think of comparing two groups of people – for example:

1. How poor people might parent differently than rich people

2. How children raised by adopted parents might develop differently than those raised by their biological parents

3. So, using an example from below, a question could be “How do children raised by authoritarian parents different from those raised by democratic parents?”

Child Development:

• Impact of parenting styles on development (authoritarian, authoritative, dismissive) – how do more/less strict parents impact our development? How does this impact different areas of our lives (school, work, behavior, attitudes, relationships, etc.)?

• Impact of socio-economic statues (rich, middle class, or poor) on development – how do people of different social classes parent differently? Why is this? How do their children turn out differently from other types of parents? Why?

• Disciplinary styles (hitting vs not hitting, different behavioral techniques for helping children learn right from wrong

• Psychological impact of: divorce, abandonment, death, or abuse – how do family dysfunctions impact our development at different ages? Our views of relationships and family? Our behaviors?

• Impact of birth order (include psychology of twins/multiple births) – how does being the oldest, youngest, middle, or only child impact our development (personality, intelligence, attitude, etc.)? What are the pros/cons of each position in birth order? How does this vary by culture (e.g., does being an older brother in an Asian culture have a different meaning than it does in a Western culture in terms of role/behavior, etc.)?

• Psychology of having immigrant parents

• Psychology of adopted children

• Psychology of twins/multiple births

• Impact of older/younger parents on their child’s development

• Impact of same-sex parents on child development

• Overprotective parents and development

• Impact of bullying on psychological development and socialization

Emotional Development:

• Gender differences and emotion – how do boys and girls differ in terms of feeling, expressing, and perceiving emotion? Why? What influences this in terms of parenting, culture, etc.?

• Is emotion culturally specific – are certain cultures more/less emotional than others? Do cultures express emotions differently? How so?

• Emotional Intelligence – how does our emotional intelligence (being in touch with our own feelings/understanding the emotions of others) impact our lives in different wyas (personal relationships, our jobs, college, etc.)?

Moral/Ethical Development:

• General themes – where does our sense of right/wrong come from? Is it universal or cultural? How does it change the way we act/perceive the world?

• Crime (when is it ethnical moral to commit different criminal acts, do our laws punish different crimes based on our society’s ethics/moral code

• The Taking of Life/Killing (abortion debates, euthanasia, suicide, physician assisted suicide, psychology of how ordinary people commit genocidal acts, psychology of soldiers involved in a war, the death penalty

• Morality/Ethics in a relationship – Is cheating ever justified? To what extent do different genders (males/females) cheat for differing reasons?

• Parenting and Ethics – how do parents impart a sense of right and wrong through reward and punishment systems? Which styles are more effective in doing this? What role does culture play in this?

• Apathetic Bystander syndrome (*episodes of “What Would You Do?” on YouTube work well for this topic) – how do people respond when they witness something they perceive as wrong? How do different people (e.g. different ages/races/religions) respond differently to the same type of situation (e.g., would an elderly person speak out against an injustice more than a teenage? Why or why not?)

Socialization & Adolescent Development:

• Dating (Physical and Psychological Attraction, Jealousy, Commitment, Break-ups, impact of social media on teen relationships)

• Peer Pressure and socialization (the teen brain and social rewards) – how do peer groups (friends) impact different types of teen behavior? Which types? How does this differ from how adult peer groups influence them?

• At-Risk Behavior (substance abuse, sex, teen pregnancy, and other dangerous behavior) – reasons for it, reactions to it, impacts of socialization on

• Stress of school – how does school stress impact adolescent/early adult development? How do teens respond? How does this stress help/harm development?

• Changing relationship with parents/family – how does our relationships with our family change during adolescence? In what ways? How is this positive and negative?

• Role of social media (Facebook, Instagram, etc.) on social interactions and learning

• Role of general technology (cell phones, social media, etc.) on interactions and communication

• Eating Disorders – how does socialization impact the frequency and severity of teen eating disorders

• Serious relationships post-high school

• Tattoos, Piercings, and other Body Modifications in adolescent communities – how does body modification reflect the psychology of the adolescent? What are the motivations? Do these differ in different gender/racial communities of teens? How so?

Intelligence & Learning

• Impact of teacher and student personality on learning

Memory:

• Strategies for remembering/studying in school

• Impact of negative memories on a person’s life

• Impact of positive memories on a person’s life

• False memories

• Pregnancy Brain (myth vs. reality) – impact of pregnancy on women’s memory

• What makes us remember things the most?

• Impact of substances use (e.g. drugs/alcohol) on memory

Sexuality *please take a note about sensitivity and maturity regarding these topics, both as a presenter AND as an audience member – any discriminatory/derogatory/immature/generally ignorant terms, questions, or comments will not be tolerated. While these topics can be discussed (or even debated) intellectually, there is sometimes a fine line between a valid analytical question (e.g., ‘to what extent do both biology and environment impact homosexuality?’) and ignorant, stereotypical, pseudo-bigoted comments/questions (e.g., ‘gays love to go shopping, right?’), so please refrain from anything that comes close to that line.

LGBT Community Topics

• Homosexuality & Environment – influence of biology and/or environment in homosexuality

• Perceptions of homosexuality in differing ethnic/racial/cultural communities

• High suicide rates among people in the LGBTG communities

• Cultural perceptions of same sex: marriage, child raising

• Gender Identity and the transgendered community – is it really a disorder?

• Transgendered children and their experiences

Sexuality and Gender

• Differing perceptions of male and female sexual expression

• Psychology of gender violence (rape) in general, or on college campuses

• Psychology of rape victims – how does it impact victim’s lives, the psychology of the rapist themselves, how does our society treat the crime itself?

• Gender and the military – female officers and male subordinantes

Other Topics (these don’t necessarily fit so easily into one category)

Dress – how does our style of dress reveal things about our personality, our attitudes, and the way in which we communicate who we are to the world?

Fear – where do our fears come from? What are the most common fears and why those? Are fears culturally specific? What do fears reveal about our history as human beings? About our social experiences?

Music

• What choice of music reflects about personality?

• Do musical lyrics impact behavior in children/adolescents?

• What impacts does music have on our moods, emotions, and behavior?

Athletics:

• Motivation and athletics

• Athlete response to pressure

• Personality and athletics

• Gender and athletics

Examples of articles to show you the types of topics you can choose from

National Geographic:

Twins: Alike But Not Alike

Scientific American Mind:

• Do Gays Have a Choice? (2006) Science offers a clear and surprising answer to a controversial topic

• He Said, She Said (2010) – Women and Men speak their own languages, but research reveals the conversational divide is not as stark as it seems

• His Brain, Her Brain: It turns out that male and female brains differ quite a bit in architecture and activity. Research into these variations could lead to sex-specific treatments for disorders such as depression and schizophrenia

• Can We Cure Fear? We naturally view any risk we witness as a personal threat – even when it is on the opposite side of the globe and we see it only on T.V. Is popping a pill the answer?

• Likely Story: Myths persist in modern culture because of the brain’s biological need to impose order on the world

• Control Your Anger: Should you regulate your emotional reactions or let them rip?

• Abnormal Attraction: Most people are repulsed by the idea of sex with children. But keeping children safe from pedophiles means trying to discover how their disastrous craving comes about – and how to tame it.

• The Psychology of Pain: Our expectations, mood and perspective on pain powerfully influence how much something actually hurts – and the decisions we make every day.

• Perfect? Can You Be Too: Striving to be faultless can foster failure – or drive success- depending on the type of perfectionist you are.

• What Makes Us Moral? Empathy and goodness are writ as deeply in our genes as murder and savagery. We did not choose to have two parts to our nature, but we can choose which to embrace.

• The Social Cure: Membership in lots of groups – at home, work, the gym- makes us healthier and more resilient. Here’s how and why.

Time Magazine:

• The Case Against Over-Parenting: Why Mom and Dad Need to Cut the Strings

The New York Times:

• The Facebook Resisters (the psychology of getting rid of your FB account)

• Genetic or Not, Gay Won’t Go Away

• Internet Use Affects Memory, Study Finds

• The Moral Life of Babies

• Hysteria and the Teenaged Girl

• Using Menu Psychology to Entice Diners

• Texting May Be Taking a Toll on Teenagers

• Video Games and the Depressed Teenager

• Chronic Arguing Between Parents Found Harmful to Some Children

• Addictive Personality? You Might Be a Leader

• The Critique of Pure Horror (about why we like horror films and being scared)

• Comparing Yourself to Others: Not That Bad

• It’s Not Me, It’s You (how to end a friendship)

•

Psychology Today Magazine:

General:

• Are you addicted to your cell phone?

• Making a good impression on a first date

• 11 Ways the World Will be Better When Being Single is the Norm.

• Boys Have Trucks, Girls Have Dolls (gender)

• What Makes Videos Go Viral?

• The Mike Rice Situation and the Damage of Homophobia

• How To Motivate Athletes

Ethics and Morality:

• When Teachers Fall in Love with Their Students

• Sports Team Gang Rapes: Are We Breeding Sexual Offenders?

• Guns, Butterflies, and the Developing Brain

• Medical Marijuana: The Doctor’s Dilemma

• Social Media: Some Consequences

• A Foolish and Barbaric Practice (about the death penalty)

• Media:

Opiate Addiction in the Limelight: Lil Wayne

• Sex and Bodies in Search of Exotic Cultures (body image in media)

• Can Video Games Cause Violence?

• When Brands Take a Stand on Gay Marriage

• Why We Can’t Stop Watching “The Real Housewives”

• WonderCon Psych 2013: Comics and Zombies and Siths, Oh My!

Relationships:

• Why Do We Fall in Love?

• Fact or Fiction: Top 10 Relationship Complaints and What to Do

• You Said You Would Change!

• Does Cohabitation Lead to More Divorces?

• Tests of Trust: Important Moments in Relationships

• Middle School Dating is Bad?

• Fifteen Reasons We Need Friends

Race & Ethnicity:

• Are Kids Racist?

• The Reality of Race in Everyday Life

• Cross-Cultural Research and the Nature of Music

• What does it Mean to be American?

• Django Unchained: A Film Analysis

• Thinking Psychologically About Race

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