Current research in Social Psychology

For the past 5 weeks we have covered a variety of topics that are central to understanding social psychology. To gain a better understanding of these topics in social psychology it is important to review current research.

For this assignment you will first provide a detailed description for each of the following topics.

Topics

1. Self-esteem
2. Self-efficacy
3. Self-serving bias
4. Self-perception
5. Cultural diversity
6. Gender (in terms of social psychology)
7. Persuasion
8. Conformity/obedience

Article review:

• Choose 3 topics from the list above and find a scholarly journal article for each.
• Find current (not more than 5 years old) scholarly research articles from the South University Library databases only.
• Remember the articles must be related to psychology.
• Provide an in-depth analysis for each article, integrating information from your course and text readings

textbook

Myers, D. G., & Jean M. Twenge. (2022). . McGraw-Hill Higher Education. ISBN: 9781266580468.

Submission Details:

• Support your responses with examples.
• Cite any sources in APA format.

The Milgram study, by today’s standards, is considered an unethical research experiment. However, it is still being used as one of the classical experiments describing obedience.

• Search the Internet to find another research study (not one from the textbook) explaining similar principles as the Milgram’s study.
• Compare and contrast the study you found with the Milgram study.

Justify your answers with appropriate reasoning and research from your text and course readings. To support your work, make sure to utilize your course and text readings. When asked, utilize outside sources. As in all assignments make sure to cite your sources in your work and provide a reference for that citation utilizing APA format.

Textbook

Myers, D. G., & Jean M. Twenge. (2022). . McGraw-Hill Higher Education. ISBN: 9781266580468.

Course reading 1

Conformity and Obedience

This week, you will analyze the dynamics of conformity and obedience and how they influence individual behavior. In your everyday life, you conform to various rules and standards. One of the best examples is driving a car. You conform and obey traffic laws without conscious consideration of why you do so. There are times, though, when conformity and obedience may not be in the best interest of an individual. Even in such situations individuals conform to rules and standards under pressure from others. This week, you will examine the reasons why individuals may be obedient under the pressure from others; and therefore conform.

Myers (2008) defines compliance as “conformity that involves publicly acting in accord with an implied or explicit request while privately disagreeing” (p. 188). According to this definition, individuals who comply with the driving rules secretly disagree with those rules. They believe they should be allowed to drive as fast or as slow as they want and disregard stop lights whenever preferred. Compliance can be measured only through the observance of being compliant (or noncompliant). Asking people about their attitudes about a rule does not necessarily coincide with their actual compliance to the rule. Therefore, a better definition for compliance is to focus on the act rather than the desires behind the act.

Your experiences are categorized in a manner that allow you to function effectively. For instance, if you have been driving for several years you may have noticed you dont need to pay attention to the rules. You automatically turn on your signal light when taking a turn while completely focusing on the activity of driving.

The question is, “Why am I compliant?” Let’s discuss compliance and conformity at the macro level to find an answer to this question.

Myers, D. (2008). Social psychology (9th ed). Boston: McGraw-Hill.

Course reading 2

Understanding Conformity and Obedience

Myers (2008) defines culture as “the enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, and traditions shared by a large group of people and transmitted from one generation to the next” (p. 156). According to this definition, conformity and compliance are part of what defines a culture. You can expand Myers’ (2008) definition by stating that a culture is a large group of people who conform to an enduring set of behaviors, ideas, attitudes, and traditions. Complying with the cultural traditions is reflected in how you are dressed, the food you eat, the ceremonies you participate in, and even your attitudes and beliefs.

Are conformity, compliance, and obedience part of what you accept in your everyday lives because of your conditioned response to life-long training?

One way to analyze this question is by reevaluating the Milgram obedience experiment mentioned in Myers (2008). The original experiment occurred in the early 1960s. However, it was replicated several times after that, producing similar results (Burger, 2009).

Question: Besides the ethical issues regarding the experiment, what does the experiment tell you about the underlying nature of compliance and obedience?

Experts Opinion:

The experiment may suggest conformity to social norms and obedience to those who seem to be in authority as more than a generational or even a cultural norm. Your seemingly instinctual nature to conform may stem from conforming to authority from the moment of your birth. As children, you are put on a schedule designating the time for you to get up, to go to bed, to play, and to eat. Children look to their parents (caregivers) as the primary authority figures in their lives. This significantly ingrained learned set of behaviors seems to set the stage for accepting conformity.

Next, lets discuss conformity and obedience on a personal level.

Burger, J. (2009). Replicating Milgram: Would people still obey today? American Psychologist, 64(1), 111.

Myers, D. (2008). Social psychology (9th ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill.

Course reading 3

Conformity and Obedience on a Personal Level

There is an old adage “I just can’t say no.” Many of you, especially at your workplace, are challenged with saying no to a request. Why is it so? One explanation could be that conforming to a set of rules or being obedient is reinforcing. However, the definition of reinforcement is something that is based on a behavior that increases the likelihood of the behavior occurring again. So how is conformity or obedience reinforcing?

Consider a situation where the mother of a child (Johnny) wants him to clean his room, which is strewn with clothes and toys from one end to the other. The mother approaches Johnny and tells him to clean his room. Johnny agrees to his mother’s request, but after a few minutes decides to go and play video games. An hour or two later, the mother approaches Johnny again and asks him why he didn’t clean his room. In reply, Johnny said he liked his room the way it was. Johnny’s mother gives him a long sad look of disappointment. Later, realizing his mother’s disappointment, Johnny decides to clean his room to please her. His mother praises him for doing a great job and gives him a reward of juice and carrot sticks (his favorite).

As a child, many of you learn from the consequences of your actions, be it rewards or punishments. For example, Johnny’s mother could have taken away his video game for not cleaning his room. Johnny was reinforced for pleasing his mother because it likely had an intrinsic (a good feeling) reward and also an extrinsic (juice and carrot sticks) reward. Complying with his mother’s request or, in other words, conforming to her standards and being obedient results in a consequence that reinforces his behavior.

EDIT/ APA FORMAT / NO AI/Plagiarism

I need a research proposal on my title, which also includes a prisma flow diagram of the selection process and the elimination criteria. According to my research title please provide the appropriate papers which can be used for my systematic review.

Produce a research report use a paired samples t test to analyse the data provided and write a full research report. Word limited must be 1800.

Your full report should comprise a Title what was your study 25 words see week 17 section 2.1

Abstract (summary of the whole report 150 words see week 17 section 2.2

Introduction overview of past research rationale for your study what you predict to find 525 words see week 17 section 2.3 and 23 section 2.1

Method participants design materials and procedure 400 words see week 17 section 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 and week 23 section 2.1

Results what did you find 200 words see week 17 section 2.9 and week 22 section 3&4

Discussion what do your results tells us how do they compare to previous research where do we go next 525 words see week 17 section 2.10

References list of all cited sources see week 17 section 2.11

There is an example of how your full research report should look like.

Your research report should include screenshot of your spss output in appendix. All materials are provided must not use any outside material.

Overview In the Week 7 assignment, you devised a translational study proposal. Your final assignment is to create a poster in which you include any adjustments provided in your feedback as if you are presenting this at a local or regional conference. You will need to also include at least one APA formatted graph that aligns with your research design that exemplifies the best-case scenario for the outcome(s) of your study. Instructions For this assignment, you will create an academic poster as if you have completed this study and are now focusing on disseminating your results as if you had actually conducted the experiment. This poster will be created using the Week 9 Assignment Template [PPTX], which is a PowerPoint slide. Remember that posters are intended to be a snapshot of the information discussed in a formal paper. You will need to condense the information you provided in the proposal to fit adequately. On the poster, you must include the following components with any changes required from the feedback you received during Week 7: Description of the historical and current experimental literature. Your research problem and question including how your study extends the current literature. Population and sampling methodology. Research method and design. Findings of your study including at least one relevant APA formatted graph. Ethical considerations of the research. Limitations and future directions of your research. Refer to the MS in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) Research Guide Links to an external site. as needed. Additional Requirements Written communication: Written communication is free of errors that detract from the overall message. APA formatting: Resources and citations are formatted according to current edition APA style and formatting guidelines. Refer to Evidence and APA Links to an external site. for citing and referencing tips. References: At least five scholarly resources. Make sure to include all slides in APA formatting on a separate slide. Refer to the rubric to ensure you understand the grading criteria for this assignment. Competencies Measured By successfully completing this assignment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and rubric criteria: Competency 1: Evaluate research in the experimental analysis of behavior. Describe the historical and current experimental and applied literature. Competency 2: Distinguish features of experimental analysis of behavior (EAB) research from applied behavior analysis (ABA) research and identify features of translational research that bridge both types. Discuss the limitations of the study and the future direction of research. Competency 3: Identify experimental analysis of behavior (EAB) origins in current applied behavior analysis (ABA) and translational research and in current ABA practice. Describe the research problem, research question(s), and how this research extends the current literature. Describe the population and sampling methodology. Describe the research methodology and overall findings. Competency 4: Evaluate the core ethical requirements of behavior analytic research. Describe the ethical considerations of the research. Competency 5: Communicate in a manner that is scholarly and consistent with expectations for professionals in the field of psychology. Create a well-organized poster that follows assignment guidelines. Demonstrate compliance with APA style, citation, and referencing guidelines. Week 9 Assignment: Research Proposal Presentation Week 9 Assignment: Research Proposal Presentation Criteria Ratings Pts Describe the historical and current experimental and applied literature. 30 to >25.5 pts DISTINGUISHED Describes the historical and current experimental and applied literature and provides a rationale as to why the study contributes to the current understanding of behavior. 25.5 to >21 pts PROFICIENT Describes the historical and current experimental and applied literature. 21 to >0 pts BASIC

• Write 250 words minimum, 1-2 page essay (NOT including title and reference page)
• Include an APA title page, in-text citations, and reference page
• Utilize a minimum of 1 scholarly reference
• Assignments should be written in narrative, essay format (12 pt text, Times New Roman Font, double-spaced sentences, 1 inch margins). Please do not include assignment instructions or questions in your assignment.

You must use the following questions to write your short essay. Remember, do not include the questions within your writing. Answer each fully and critically:

• Describe the nervous system, regions of the brain, and states of consciousness.
• Identify the substance you have chosen. How does the drug interact with the nervous system and brain? Which part(s) of the body and brain are the most impacted by this drug and what happens?
• Compare consciousness prior to taking the drug, when the drug is obtained and ingested, and after the drug has been metabolized.
• Describe how you might obtain the same experiences of the drug without taking another substance.

A proposal must include:

a) Background but just enough so we understand why the research question is so interesting and novel.

b) Hypothesis Clearly state your hypothesis, and support it, showing that it is not trivial, could plausibly be wrong, and is derived from theoretically meaningful ideas in the specific field of research. A smart idea is to build a critique of a previous paper into a new testable hypothesis

c) Methods detailing both the behavioural (task) methods and brain-activity (e.g., EEG or fMRI) methods, including what you will measure and what you will compare.

d) Potential Diagnostic Results referring to a prediction figure (see next). Be very specific, explain how you would evaluate the results with respect to your hypothesis, and include at least two plausible outcomes that could each tell us something different, and state what those different conclusions would be. Dont include anticipated details of the results that do not directly speak to your hypothesis (e.g., no passive lists of brain regions).

e) Prediction Figure A fully labelled figure illustrating your chief prediction *and* alternative prediction. Walk the audience through the key aspects of the results that are illustrated in the figure, that would specifically inform the hypothesis. The figure may be hand-drawn and scanned, or created in a draw/paint program, or modified from a journal article figure or other source (but in that case, the original source must be fully referenced).

(Usually you will want an illustration of the task/procedure or timeline of the experiment).

Wrap up the proposal nicely, with a take-home message bringing home for the audience what we stand to learn, depending on the anticipated results and alternatives.

Think of the goal as persuading a hypothetical funding agency to fund your project. So you want the viewer to understand where the idea comes from, that it is novel (but only very minimally because it needs to be feasible too), and show how your experimental design is sure to answer one question one way or another: so that’s why illustrating two plausible but different results can be extremely compelling: we might get outcome A or B, but we don’t know which we will get, and if it is A, we will learn X; if B, we will learn Y.

I have already chose a topic that I want to write this research proposal on but it needs some work,

this is was the hypothesis. (Following sleep deprivation, threat-related emotional stimuli (e.g., fear and anger) will elicit greater amygdala activation and reduced prefrontalamygdala functional connectivity compared to non-threat negative and neutral stimuli.)

then this was the evaluator’s response to it was (This was okay but could have been conceptualized a lot stronger. No alternative hypothesis (nor what we could learn from a different outcome). Very little about your brain-activity measure, nothing about the timing of your task but that is the hardest thing about fMRI research. )

now I want you to take these comments into account and structure the research proposal accordingly you can change the hypothesis but I need you to propose it to me before starting the paper so I can run it by the person, and see if he approves.

this is the guidelines for the research proposal. I will attach everything you need to complete this paper, but please stay away from ai.

• Topic:
• a) Have some tie-in to the course
• b) Have some clear outcome measure
• c) … and some idea of alternative outcomes that could tell us something different.
• Content: be sure to include
• –Slides.
• –A hypothesis you are thinking of testing with the experiment
• –Some impression of the background literature, other research that has been done, that you plan to draw upon
• –Some idea of why the experiment could be interesting
• –Some idea of what you might measure
• –A statistical test that would test a prediction that follows from the hypothesis
• A good research proposal is:
• –Novel
• –Interesting/informative in some way
• –Feasible [that means it is best to work closely based on methods that have already been proven in published research]
• Have a look at what work has been published, on the topics you are considering. My best advice: pubmed, via the library’s web site (search under “databases”) – if you do that, then the “Get It” links usually work, and let you download the pdfs by way of the library’s subscriptions which they have already paid for, for us. Web of Science is also good – and it is particularly good for citations searches – e.g., if you find a good classic article, find it in web of science, then click on the *number* of times it was cited – that brings up the list of papers that did the citing, which would be more recent. In that way, you can often find more up-to-date works that are relevant for the topic you are interested in.
• NOTE: References on slides- I find those not so useful, because the slides go by too fast. My favourite style is the short in-line reference (Miller et al., 1956) and if it might be ambiguous, then the journal name as well. People can jot that down quickly, at least. [But don’t assume other instructors have the same expectations]. Full reference lists, of course, are essential for papers.

If you have any question please reach out to me and ask before you began so I can clarify any misunderstanding.

Module 3: The Self (Review)

Review

As a quick review from this weeks module, you studied and learned how the importance of a complex self in a cultural animal, summarized the different sources and motives of self-knowledge, described how the sources of self-knowledge lead to self-concept, analyzed the benefits and drawbacks of high self-esteem and positive illusions and evaluated the different functions of self-presentation.