Psychology 13: Social Psychology

Paper 2: Literature Review (Instructions: Fall 2019)

Overview:

This paper is worth 10% of your total grade and will require you to write about 5 pages, double spaced, 12 point font, 1 inch margins for the top, bottom, right, and left margins.  This assignment was designed in order to allow you to delve a bit deeper into some facet of social psychology than we’re able to do in class. Learning how to do a literature review taps into and develops critical thinking skills in that you will learn how science progresses, integrate the science with things you already know or will know, and to extrapolate the concepts to new situations.  When we extrapolate, it means we can see applications of what we’ve learned, outside of the narrow situations in which the original information is presented.

In this paper you will write about one of four article choices accessible through the Pierce College website (online library database).  Instructions regarding how to access this database and find these four articles are provided on page 4 of these instructions.  Please browse through these articles and choose which one you find most interesting to you.  NOTE THAT YOU MUST CHOOSE ONE OF THE ARTICLES LISTED BELOW.  CHOOSING ANY OTHER ARTICLE WILL RESULT IN AN AUTOMATIC ZERO.  You will need to have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer to access these articles.  Most computers already have this installed.  If you do not, you can download it for free at… http://get.adobe.com/reader/

 

Possible Articles.

1. Social Cognition and Perception… The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy; Feldman & Theiss; 1982; Journal of Educational Psychology
2. Persuasion… Helpful or Hurtful?; Johnson & Downing; 1979; Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
3. Prejudice and Discrimination… Aromatic Discrimination; Baron; 1983; Journal of Applied Psychology
4. Attractiveness… Ugly Equals Bad; Dion; 1972; Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

 

Format Requirements:

Your literature review must have a cover sheet (this does not count as 1 of your 5 pages) with the name (you create your own title) of your literature review centered on the page in about 16-point font, and your name, institution, and date of submission in 12-point font, centered below the title.

Example: 

Does Prejudice and Discrimination Lead to the Development of Generalized Anxiety Disorder?

Chadwick J. Snow

Pierce College

1. The first page of your review should begin right at the top margin.
2. You will include proper referencing (APA) of the article you review at the very end of your paper. If

you’re not sure how to reference the paper, you can look at the reference list of the article you review  for correct formatting.

NOTE: You should only have ONE reference (the article you chose to review) AND note that the articles listed above are NOT properly referenced.  I want you to look up proper referencing on your own.

3. NO QUOTING!!! You must be able to write this review in your own words.
4. MAKE SURE THAT YOU PROVIDE SECTION HEADINGS FOR EVERY SINGLE COMPONENT

THROUGHOUT YOUR PAPER.

5. Page 5 of these instructions explains the point breakdown for each part below.

Content Requirements: Part I

Summary:

1. Begin the first page with a brief introduction which gives some background about the issue you’re reviewing. Why is it an interesting and/or important topic to study? (AT LEAST HALF OF A PAGE)
2. You will summarize the research paper by:

1. Stating what the authors’ purpose/hypothesis(es) of the study were. (2 to 4 sentences)

1. Describing what they did in the study: the method (including participants / procedure / materials, etc…) they used to test their hypothesis(es). (AT LEAST TWO-THIRDS OF A PAGE)

1. Describing the results of the study. I do not expect you to report statistics, only to give the gist of what the results showed. Was the hypothesis supported or not supported?  How or how not?  Explain thoroughly. (AT LEAST TWO-THIRDS OF A PAGE)

1. Briefly discussing the implications of the results…what do they mean? Don’t just repeat the results; tell me what the researchers think their results mean. (AT LEAST HALF OF A PAGE)

NOTE: Keep in mind that I have read the study you’re reporting on.  So, I know it very well.  This means you must describe it well enough so that I know you fully comprehend the article you are reviewing.

Content Requirements: Part II

Analysis:

1. An Unanswered Question(s) (1 to 2 sentences): Discuss at least one question you have about the issue you reviewed that was not answered by your reading of the study.

2. Proposed Modification (AT LEAST TWO-THIRDS OF A PAGE): Propose a way the study can be modified that might help to answer your unanswered question(s).  Issues to address in the proposed modification:

1. Would you use the same type of participants or different participants? For example, if your study involved children, would you stick with children in your proposed modification or would you switch to adults?  Why?

1. What different testing materials would use and why would you use them?

1. What is the value of doing this modification (i.e. what makes it special and important)? Explain thoroughly.
   

Proposed Modification.

For example: if the study you reviewed was about how sexually abused girls become fearful of romantic relationships later in life, might you redesign the materials to determine if there is a specific form of sexual abuse that increases the likelihood of being afraid of getting involved in romantic relationships later in life?

3. Application (AT LEAST HALF OF A PAGE): Finally, you’ll explain how what you learned

from the study you reviewed might transfer or apply to a different domain.

For example: if the study you reviewed was about how sexually abused girls become fearful of romantic relationships later in life, how might verbally abused girls react to social situations, such as parties or friendships; might they become more introverted?

NOTE: The more different your application is from the original study (but still preserving the underlying concept), the higher your grade for the application section will be.

Your application MUST be different than your proposed modification.  REMEMBER, your modification is a variation of the study you read about.  Your application is creatively applying what you learned to a different (but related) domain of study.

 

Below are examples of what are NOT applications.

1. So, sexual abuse is a real problem in our society and can have a negative impact on those who get abused. (This is a conclusion).
2. So, if sexually abused girls become fearful of romantic relationships later in life, then they might develop serious psychological disorders related to anxiety and depression from being alone all the time. (This is a consequence).
3. We need to stop sexual abuse now! A massive effort needs to be launched to educate people regarding sex to help prevent sexual abuse from happening. (This is a prescription).
4. Given that sexual abuse is a problem and needs to be stopped, we must also stop people from eating fatty foods to reduce obesity. (This is an unrelated topic).
5. Clearly sexual abuse is a problem. The world is so full of problems that we need to eliminate this problem in order to free up time to solve other problems. (This is a piece of crap).
6. Sexual abuse is a real problem. It’s a mess, just like the world.  Sexual abuse is truly a problem.  The world is such a disaster.  Sexual abuse is horrible. (This is hoping that Prof. Snow is tired from reading all these papers, will see that I have written many words down in this section, and won’t bother to actually read them).

Instructions for Accessing the Four Possible Article Choices using Pierce’s Online Library Database

NOTE: Some students have had trouble accessing these articles using Internet Explorer.  You may want to use Google Chrome or some other web browser.

1. Go to: www.piercecollege.edu.

2. Click on “Library”.

3. Click on “Databases A – Z”.

4. Click on “P” and then scroll down and click on “PsycARTICLES”.

6. Follow the login instructions for “Students”.
7. In the search box, copy and paste EXACTLY the following from below (one article at a time of course)

The Teacher and Student as Pygmalions: Joint Effects of Teacher and Student Expectations.

Deindividuation and Valence of Cues: Effects on Prosocial and Antisocial Behavior.

“Sweet smell of success”? The impact of pleasant artificial scents on evaluations of job applicants.

Physical Attractiveness and Evaluation of Children’s Transgressions

7. Under the article title that comes up in the search click on “PDF Full Text”. (NOTE: if more than one result comes up, make sure you choose the one that lists the author mentioned on Page 1 of these instructions).