Assignments
- Psychology of Helping Participation
Please Note: You can lose participation points for arriving late to class, texting during class, being disrespectful to myself or others in class, falling asleep during class, etc. Please be attentive, punctual, and respectful! Here is a sample of some of the things I will be taking into account when grading participation: 7-10 = Student has substantial comments to say in class and is an active participant; student makes highly meaningful comments that advance the course discussion and are reflective; student’s comments are informed by assigned readings; student does not interrupt others and is respectful of others’ comments; student does not rely solely on personal stories when making comments.
We are facing a challenging public health crisis in which all of us are called on to make a good faith effort to be flexible and to make decisions in the best interest of our North Central community. Lack of attendance as the direct result of the CoVID pandemic (including feeling ill, being symptomatic, being at-risk, being in medical quarantine, etc.) will not adversely affect your grade. However, if you must miss class, it is your responsibility to communicate with your faculty—if possible, in advance of your absence. Students should also:
Stay a few days to a week ahead of assignments so if you get sick you won’t miss assignments that you wait to do at the last minute. Events such as internet outages/computer issues do not constitute emergency situations, so plan ahead to complete assignments. [Note: This section is adapted from similar instructions in Dr. Schacht's seminar. Thank you, Dr. Schacht!]
Short Papers Over the course of the semester, you will be assigned five short papers worth 20 points each. These papers should be 500 words or less, and should clearly state a thesis and support this thesis. In scientific journals, psychology included, writing is necessarily concise. Specific page restrictions are enforced. Redundancy, flowery writing, and ambiguity are to be edited out. This is a difficult exercise, so give some thought to what you want to say and how you will say it. You can rewrite 2 of the papers one time each. You can partner with another student on up to 2 of the 5 papers. Thus, you must complete at least 3 of the papers on your own.
Literature Review Paper The primary purpose of this paper is for you to demonstrate how to answer an empirical question through appropriate use of existing evidence. You can choose to integrate research discussed in class with new research you uncover to answer a research question. For example, you might want to know how empathy develops in children. Or, you might want to know what types of approaches or programs to increase helping towards particular groups or causes are most likely to be successful. Or, you might wonder if conscious or unconscious processes are more powerful in the promotion or inhibition of helping behavior. Or, you might ask why some people are more likely to help than others. In your paper, you would thoroughly explore the research on the question you choose to determine what the answer currently appears to be for that question. To complete a thorough review of research on your question, it is likely that you will need at least 15-20 references. Your paper should be approximately 8-15 typed, double-spaced pages. Additionally, citing of sources in the paper should follow APA format including a list of cited works. Quoting should be extremely limited or, preferably, non-existent. The final paper is worth 100 points. There are many possible questions. To make sure that you are on the right track with your question and paper you will need to have your question approved by me. In the spirit of a writing intensive course, I will also ask you to provide an outline and a draft of your paper along the way. You will also provide some peer review towards the end of the process. Failure to turn in an outline or a draft or providing peer review will result in a loss of points.
Possible Exam Questions
Reading Assignments
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