Humanities Homework Help

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USF Psychology Discussion

 

GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR ASSIGNMENT

  • Students are required to write a research paper. The paper will be a research-based literature review that expands on one of the concepts covered in class (see steps 1-4 below). Students will pick a topic covered in class (step 1), expand on the idea by researching relevant literature (step 2) and relating it to a published theory (step 3), PARAPHRASE and cite supporting articles for evidence, and conclude with a unique/relevant hypothesis-based proposal (step 4).
  • Students are required to use scientific writing style. This is different from essay/reflection writing style.
  • Students are required to turn in their paper in 2 stages 1) first submission and 2) a final submission that has been revised according to Professor’s feedback. It is in the best interest of students to fully complete the paper for the first submission because I will be very tough when grading the initial submission. Instructions for the first and final submissions are identical, however the final submission should address Professor’s feedback. Papers must be typed using Microsoft Word and correct APA format. Do not use Pages or any other word processing software because it prevents me from properly checking your formatting. .
  • Students are expected to PARAPHRASE AND USE IN-TEXT CITATIONS. Please avoid using direct quotes. Avoid giving summaries of each and every article you read. Students that write individual paragraphs on each article without synthesizing and integrating several related research articles with their own thoughts will automatically receive a C (70%) for their paper.

SPECIFIC INSTRUCTIONS

Step 1: Select a concept covered in class. You must pick one of the following topics that were covered in Psychology of Learning class. Note that each choice is a pair of ideas including one learning procedure accompanied by one psychological topic:

    1. pavlovian conditioning & fear
    2. pavlovian conditioning & prejudice
    3. pavlovian conditioning & paraphilia
    4. pavlovian conditioning & taste aversion
    5. pavlovian conditioning & advertising
    6. pavlovian conditioning & drug addiction
    7. pavlovian conditioning & health care
    8. operant conditioning & parenting
    9. operant conditioning & spouses/cohabitants
    10. operant conditioning & student behavior in the classroom
    11. operant conditioning & self-injurious behavior
    12. operant conditioning & delusions
    13. operant conditioning & paralysis
    14. operant conditioning & employee performance
    15. operant conditioning & animal behavior/training
  • operant conditioning may refer to reinforcement or punishment. Do not try to cover both in your paper. You won’t have room to effectively discuss both reinforcement and punishment and stay within the 2 page limit.
  • A good way to select a topic may be to base your idea off an interesting statement made during lecture or a cool finding reported in one of the chapters. The first paragraph of your paper will use several different in-text citations to broadly define and describe both your learning procedure (pavlovian or operant conditioning) and your psychological topic (fear, parenting, etc. ….).

Step 2: Research your topic. The second paragraph of your paper will get more specific and will discuss your topic in relation to published peer-reviewed scientific/experimental articles.

  • A good way to start this is to use the course textbook as a citation on your topic. You can do this by examining the reference page at the end of the textbook. You will want to look specifically for references that are original peer-reviewed research articles that have an Intro, Methods, Results and Discussion section. Articles with graphs and figures will be easier for you to understand. For example, if I was interested in learning more about how classical conditioning can be used to model drug-seeking behaviors, I would look in the textbook chapter that covers classical conditioning for any statements similar to my topic. I would then see if the chapter cited any good research articles to read. I would then go and read those original research articles and start to build a background section.

Step 3: Relate your topic to a published theory. The third paragraph (or section) of your paper will relate experimental findings on your topic to a relevant theory DISCUSSED IN OUR CLASS. To do this you should look for additional articles that link your topic to one of the following theories:

If you selected pavlovian conditioning as your learning procedure in step 1, you must pick one of these theories:

      1. Stimulus-substitution Theory
      2. Preparatory Response Theory
      3. Compensatory Response Theory
      4. Rescorla-Wagner Model

If you selected operant conditioning as your learning procedure in step 1, you must pick one of these theories:

      1. Hull’s Drive-reduction Theory
      2. Relative Value Theory
      3. Response-Deprivation Theory
      4. Two Process Theory of Avoidance
      5. One Process Theory of Avoidance
      6. Two Process Theory of Punishment
      7. One Process Theory of Punishment
  • For the theory section, you will want to look specifically for review articles. You can do this by adding it to your search terms in PsycINFO. For example, if I were interested in classical conditioning as a model for compulsive drug-seeking behavior in females, I would specifically search for review articles on Rescorla Wagner Model, classical conditioning, and drug-seeking. I would likely come up with articles describing how the brain codes for salient stimuli involved in drug-seeking behaviors and how these stimuli control compulsive behaviors. I would relate the results from experiments I discussed in step 2 to the theory I found in step 3. I would then critique the theory and determine if the available research did a good job of supporting the theory. In this section, it is OK to give your opinion, however it is not ok to use first person (e.g., don’t use I, me, we, our, I believe, ect). Students should cite at least 1 review article in their paper. An example review article is posted under Canvas Module #1
  • Step 4: State a hypothesis and propose an original experiment. In the last paragraph, you will propose an experiment. After properly researching your topic and any related theories, you should develop a hypothesis about your topic. Remember a hypothesis is a research question. It is a question that experimenters ask before they conduct an experiment. Your hypothesis should be based off the literature you read but should be an original hypothesis. Then propose an experiment that you would want to conduct to test your hypothesis. Briefly describe the experiment as if you were writing an abstract. However, your description should include a few more details regarding the research design. Be sure to indicate the following:
    1. hypothesis
    2. independent and dependent variable
    3. if a between subjects vs. within subjects vs. mixed design would be used
    4. what type of technique/procedure would be used to test your effect
    5. what type of statistical test you would use to analyze your results
    6. a prediction describing expected results. Remember a prediction indicates what results are expected if you were to actually conduct the experiment. Predictions differ from hypotheses (see Research Methods review lecture in Modules)

**You do not need to write an entire methods section. This is much shorter than what you likely did in Research Methods.GRADING RUBRIC

  • Title page (Professional Style):
    • Header
      • must be inserted ½ inch from the top margin, not manually entered.
      • Left aligned
      • all letters capitalized
      • a shortened form of the paper title
      • no more than 50 characters (including spaces and punctuation)
      • right aligned page number on same line as header.
      • font style and size matches the rest of the paper
      • no longer needs the words “Running head”
    • The byline appears centered on the page and consists of the following three lines:
      • Full title of paper
        • 12 word maximum
        • centered on the page
        • boldface
        • upper & lower case
        • should be longer than your header
        • is 4 lines down from the top margin
      • Your name centered (no titles or degrees)
      • Your institutional affiliation centered
  • Body of the Paper: Literature search on your research topic.
    • The full title also appears centered on the first line (upper & lower case).
    • At least 8 articles from peer-reviewed psychology journals related to your paper topic (websites do not count).
      • At least 7 are original research articles and appropriately PARAPHRASED
      • At least 1 is a review article and appropriately PARAPHRASED
      • Direct quotes were avoided. A maximum of 2 quotes are allowed.
      • Every work that is cited in the body is listed on the Reference page. Likewise, every reference on the Reference page has been cited at least once in the body.
      • In-text citations formatted correctly in APA style
        • Never include initials
        • Do not include page numbers (unless it is a quotation)
        • For 1 author (Last name, year)
        • For two authors (Last name & Last name, year)
        • For 3+ authors (Last name et al., year)
      • Appropriate use of in-text citations (i.e., no plagiarism)
    • At least 1 section discussing the literature and how it relates to your topic (step 2)
    • At least 1 section discussing the literature and how it relates to a theory (step 3)
    • The final section of your paper is a mini proposal that describes an experiment (not correlation). This section should be written in future tense. Please include the following items:
      • State hypothesis (“The aim of the proposed experiment is to determine the effects of….”)
      • List independent variable(s) and levels (level 1, level2)
      • List dependent variable(s) (give units if applicable ex: sec, days, mg/kg, ect)
      • List technique/procedure used to measure your DV
      • State design of experiment (between subjects? Within subjects? Mixed?)
      • State statistical test used to analyze data (independent samples t-test, paired t-test, one-way ANOVA, 2-way ANOVA, 3-way ANOVA)
      • List prediction/expected results
    • Summary paragraph for entire paper
  • References
    • The title “References” appears centered on the Reference page and is boldface, no colon.
    • References appear alphabetically by first author’s last name.
    • Use hanging indent
      • The first line of each reference is not indented.
      • Subsequent lines are indented ½ inch.
    • Follow APA style formatting for references (see APA manual 7th edition)
    • Last name and first initials of author names using APA style formatting
    • Publication date in parentheses following author names
    • Article titles: Only the first letter of first word and proper nouns are capitalized (and first word after a colon).
    • Journal names are italicized and use upper and lowercase letters. Do not capitalize “of”, “in”, “on”, “and”, “an”.
    • Volume numbers are italicized.
    • Issue numbers appear in parentheses and are not italicized.
    • Include both the first and last page numbers on journal article references.
    • Include the DOI number as a hyperlink (if applicable)