LMU Student in College Pressed for Time Paper

(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 psychological science that can be used to address the challenge.

Below, you will find a list of paper topics. You should choose one as your topic. Each topic contains two parts: (a) an applied challenge, and (b) a scientific paper relevant to that challenge. Once you choose a topic, your assignment is to:

(1) describe the theory and research presented in the scientific paper listed for your topic 

(2) 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 is font size 12, 1-inch-margins, and 3.5 – 4 pages of actual text that you yourself write. (This would total roughly 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 probably spend about an equal amount of space on each of the two tasks; your paper thus would 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 plagiarism: Anytime you are discussing someone else’s words you need to give the author credit by citing them. Otherwise, this is plagiarism. By citing the author, you are adding credibility to your argument and avoiding plagiarism. An example of an in-text citation looks like this: where you first list the ideas of an author followed with an in-line citation: Psychology is the scientific study of person, the mind, and the brain (Cervone, 2014).

Below are four topics (please choose only one) from which to choose in writing APSP#2, and the scientific paper that you should read and discuss for each topic.

Motivation and Self-Control

Imagine that you are an academic counselor here at UIC. A student comes into your office and says “I’m plenty smart, Mr/Ms. Counselor, but I’ve got no self-control, and there’s nothing I can do about it. During the semester, I never know exactly what to do to study, and I can’t keep track of how I’m doing, and I forget to do stuff – sometimes I totally forget to study for exams. There isn’t anything to do to change this, is there.” Is there anything to do? Might you have any tips on how the study can improve his or her self-control?

Relevant Scientific Paper

Inzlight, M., Legault, L., & Teper, R. (2014). Exploring the mechanisms of self-control improvement. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 23, 302-307.

Education and Student Interest

Imagine that you’re a teacher. You want to make class interesting for the students. To this end, you try to make your reading assignments easy, try to keep projects as simple as possible, and try to make the class fun for students by showing a lot of wacky TV shows and cartoons during class. Yet the students seem bored. What might you be able to do differently to enhance student interest?

Relevant scientific paper
Silvia, P. J. (2008). Interest—the curious emotion. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 17, 57-60.

Gender Differences and Memory

Suppose that two friends of yours – let’s call them Joan and John – are in a romantic relationship, and have been in the relationship a long time. One day, while you’re visiting them, they get into a big argument about memory. Joan says women have better memory than men. John says men have better memory than women. Joan says she can prove it, and does so by recalling what the couple said to one another when they first met (which John can’t remember). John says he can prove it, and does so by recalling the exact route from their old first apartment to their old favorite restaurant (which Joan can’t remember). The argument – “Women have better memory.” “No, men have better memory” – goes on and on. What can you say to resolve the argument?

Relevant scientific paper
Herlitz, A., & Rehnman, J. (2008). Sex differences in episodic memory. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 17, 52-56.

Student in College Pressed for Time

Imagine that you are a student in college, and that you have a busy schedule. You struggle to find enough time to study, and hope to use study methods that are not only effective, but also efficient. What should you do? Should you study the same material over and over? Should you study for a while, and then take a break and come back to the material later? Do these different strategies make any difference at all? What exactly would you do to meet the challenge of studying efficiently and effectively?