PSYC 2302: Social Experience Assignments
In this course, you will write a short (no more than two single-spaced pages) Social Experience assignment. The purpose of this assignment is:
1. to point out the relevance of social psychology to everyday life
2. to stimulate critical thinking about social psychology
3. to give you an opportunity to demonstrate mastery of course concepts
See the Course Calendar for a list of due dates.
This assignment will be turned in on Blackboard through the Turnitin link provided.
Guidelines
You should choose one specific major concept that you would like to write about. You can choose your concept by looking at the list of major concepts that is posted on Blackboard, but keep in mind that this list is just a suggestion. You may find it helpful, but you arent limited to the concepts on the list. You are free to select any process, phenomenon, theory, or psychological tendency that is relevant to the material were currently covering in class. Your textbook and the material discussed in lecture will be helpful in generating ideas for you to write about.
Once youve selected a concept, your assignment is to write about how it relates to a recent event in your life. The body of each entry should begin with a description of an event or experience in your life in four or five sentences. A page-long story about how you spent your weekend is too long, and one line reading, “I went out with my friends” is insufficient. You should pick a specific event or interaction and describe it in enough detail so that your subsequent discussion will make sense to someone who was not there. If you cant apply the concept to an event in your own life, you can also write about events youve heard about from other people, current events in the news, or even interactions that you watched on TV. Next you should describe how the social psychology concept you have chosen is relevant to this event. Check out Sample SE Assignment #1for a good example of an experience summary followed by a discussion of its relevance to a particular concept, the Fundamental Attribution Error. Once youve made the connection between the experience you described and the concept youve chosen, the rest of your discussion should address some (but not necessarily all) of the following questions:
How does your current awareness of this psychological phenomenon change the way you interpret what happened during this event?
If you (or others) had been aware of social psychological research about this phenomenon during the event, how might the outcome of the interaction have been changed?
How will your learning about this phenomenon influence your attitudes/behavior/perceptions in the future?
What questions do you now have after considering the event in light of psychological theory?
What type of experiment(s) might help address these issues? Dont be too formal just a couple of sentences about research idea will be sufficient.
You can also discuss an event that seems to be inconsistent with the topic you have chosen to write about. Take a look at Sample SE Assignment #2 for a good example of a discussion of a situation that seems like it could have led to the Fundamental Attribution Error, but didnt. In such cases, you might also want to consider some (but not necessarily all) of the following questions:
How was this interaction inconsistent with the theory or phenomenon you have chosen?
Why do you think the outcome of this interaction seems to be inconsistent with the phenomenon you chose?
What aspects of the situation, if changed, would have resulted in a less surprising outcome?
What type of experiment(s) might help answer these questions?
Format
Im not going to be nitpicky about formatting on these, because I want this writing assignment to be as informal as possible. However, here are some general guidelines you should keep in mind in order to get full credit for your work:
Your entry should be typed, spellchecked, and absolutely no more than two single-spaced pages. One shorter paragraph summarizing the experience and longer paragraphs of discussion is a good model to follow.
Dont change margin widths, font sizes, or line spacing. These are really obvious attempts to make your work seem longer than it really is, and Im very experienced at spotting them.
Do not plagiarize! If you use the ideas of others, you must cite.
No quotes! I am looking for your ability to write about the idea. I am not testing your ability to find a string of interesting quotes.
You can use the Sample SE Assignments Ive posted on Blackboard as a template for your writing. If youre concerned about formatting issues, come see me and Ill be happy to show you what an acceptable entry should look like.
Grading
The assignment will be worth 30 points, and you can earn up to a total of 30 points.
Papers that receive full points will:
Demonstrates deep understanding of the chosen psychological concept
Display insight & creativity in identification of everyday social experience and fully describes the event
Writing is tightly focused, logical, and free of grammar & spelling errors
Final Remarks
I look forward to reading about your experiences with social psychology! I encourage you to take advantage of this opportunity to learn more about yourself and about social psychology. Be creative and challenge yourself. As you know, my exams focus on application and inference rather than rote memorization. This SE assignment will give you a chance to process the course material on a deeper and more meaningful level, which is a good way to practice the critical thinking skills youll need to succeed on the exams.
Nothing relevant happened to me this week” is not an excuse for not writing. Remember, you can always write about something that happened to you previously or about something that happened to someone you know. If all else fails, watch any TV sitcom or reality TV show for a half-hour and youre bound to find good material to write about. Fiction is full social psychological material. My personal recommendations are The Office, Lost on DVD, or really any reality show.
Make sure the topic you choose is specific and interesting enough to be useful to you and your learning about social psychology. Something like “this interaction is relevant because I made an attribution” is not informative or very sophisticated. Writing “in this interaction I made a self-serving attribution that allowed me to maintain high self-esteem” conveys more information, deals with a more specific phenomenon, and is more interesting to read.
Remember that these assignments are not anonymous. Dont write about anything you would be embarrassed to have me read, and please dont write about any involvement you may have had with illegal activities.
PSYC 2302: Social Experience Assignments
Major Concept List
This chart lists most of the major concepts that are associated with each of the chapters well be covering out of your textbook. Any of these topics would be a good foundation for an SE Assignment. Keep in mind that this list is just a suggestion. You may find it helpful, but you arent limited to the concepts on the list. You are free to select any process, phenomenon, theory, or psychological tendency that is relevant to the material were currently covering in class. Your textbook and the material discussed in lecture will also be helpful in generating ideas for you to write about.
