Psychology

Paper details

2 pages. The journal article you use cannot be listed in my book. So you can call me or message to let me know which you use so I can see if its in the book or not. And please do the format the way it says because I don’t know how to do it:( The book is Invitation to the life span 3rd edition. And where it says compare to a lesson we did you can call me or message me for that too. Step 1: Find a journal article The acceptable journals to use for this course are: 1) Child Development 2) Developmental Psychology 3) Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 4) Journal of Abnormal Psychology The journal article you choose must come from one of these journals. No other sources are acceptable. You have to go online to find an article from one of these journals. Ask a librarian in the library how to do this. Find ONE article that was published in one of these journals within the last five years. Important notes: 1) Make sure the article you choose is an article that is discussing a research study that was conducted. I cannot swear that every article published in the above journals is about a research study that the author (or authors) conducted. To make sure that the article is reporting on a research study, see if the article has all of the following parts. Make sure it has a part that is labeled “Method”, a part labeled “Results” and a part labeled “Discussion”. If the article has all of these parts, then it is an acceptable article to use. If you are not sure, come see me. 2) Some articles, particularly short ones, combine the Results and Discussion section together. I suggest you use an article that has separate Results and Discussion sections (it is easier to understand the article when the Results and Discussion are given separately). Furthermore, some articles, particularly long ones, have more than one Results and Discussion sections. And these are typically followed by a section called “General Discussion”. Again, I suggest you don’t use an article like this either. Step 2: Read the article You will find that the article has four (or really five) parts. First is the abstract (It will not be labeled abstract, however). This is located right under (or right after) the title of the article. It is typically one or two paragraphs long, and gives a summary of the article. Next, is the Introduction section (This is also not labeled.). The Introduction section introduces the reader to a research question. As an example, let’s say the article is about a study that tested Classical Conditioning against Operant Conditioning. The Introduction section may talk about previous research that has found that both Classical Conditioning (For example it may mention studies like Pavlov’s study of dogs which found that when a tone and food were presented together, the dog eventually salivated to the sound of the tone alone.) and Operant Conditioning (For example, a study like the one that found that when a pigeon is given food each time for accidentally pressing a bar right after a light turns on, the pigeon will eventually purposely press the bar each time the light comes on.) have successfully conditioned people and animals to behave in certain ways when presented with certain stimuli. The Introduction section will then explain what we don’t know. For example, it may say that we don’t know which of these two methods of conditioning is stronger, since no Psychologist has ever studied this. The Introduction section will then say that the aim of the present study is to test which of the two conditioning techniques is stronger. This is a somewhat simplistic example of what you will find in the Introduction section of a Journal article. To recapitulate, you will find a discussion of what we do know, and what question(s) we still don’t have answer(s) to, and a statement of intent to run a test to try to answer the question(s) that we still don’t know. The next two sections are called “Method” and “Results”. YOU DO NOT NEED TO READ THESE SECTIONS. In brief, these sections talk about the procedures of conducting the actual study, and mathematically analyzing the data obtained to determine the answer to the original research question posed in the Introduction section. The final section is called the Discussion section. In this section the researcher returns to the original question asked in the Introduction and gives the answer, in plain English, that was obtained in the Results section. For example, the researcher may report that after the tone and the food were no longer presented together to the dogs, and the food was no longer given when the pigeons pressed the lever, it took longer for the pigeons to stop pressing the lever, than it took for the dogs to stop salivating, indicating that Operant conditioning has a longer lasting effect, and is therefore stronger, than Classical Conditioning. The researcher then discusses the big picture, explaining the improved understanding that the current study provides for our understanding of Operant and Classical Conditioning. The researcher then discusses any weaknesses and/or shortcomings in the study (Reasons why the researcher’s finding(s) and conclusions may be debatable. EVERY STUDY HAS THESE.), and talks about questions that are still unanswered, or new questions that have come up due to the current study, and suggests what future studies should look at to try to answer these questions. Step 3: Write the Paper: In your paper, you should briefly summarize the Introduction and Discussion sections. This should take you, I am guessing, about two pages (Single sided, double spaced pages.). Feel free, however, to take as many pages as is needed to reasonably summarize these sections. Then, AND THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT, you need to compare the information in the journal article to the information in the textbook and/or my lectures. For example, extending the fictional example I talked about, you could explain that the textbook discusses studies similar to the one done in the journal article, and that, similar to the journal article, the textbook explains that both Classical Conditioning and Operant Conditioning have been found to be successful in conditioning people and animals to act in certain ways due to certain stimuli. You could then say that the textbook and the journal article are therefore in agreement with each other. BUT, you would then say that the journal article extends the information in the textbook, explaining that, according to the journal article, Operant conditioning has been found to be stronger than Classical conditioning. It is very important for a psychologist that conducts research (A lot of psychologists work as researchers and perhaps some of you will become psychologists in the near future.) to be able to take two different sources (like a journal article and a textbook) and compare and contrast the information in them, seeing how they either agree or disagree, or perhaps how the information in one supplements the information in the other. This part of the paper should take, I AM GUESSING, about a page (Again, use as many pages as you feel is necessary to properly discuss this.). For the final part of the paper, I would like you to give your personal opinion. Do you agree with the researcher(s) of the journal article concerning his/her/their conclusions? Explain why or why not. You might indicate what suggestions you could make to improve on the research being performed. Understand that I am not looking for you to give a simple answer like just saying that you agree or disagree. I want to see that you can critically analyze a research study, finding possible flaws (or, alternatively, persuasively arguing why a paper has few flaws), noting possible alternative conclusions than the one the researcher has noted, or being able to suggest a future research study that would enable Psychologists to better understand the subject matter in the journal article. Again, it is important for a psychological researcher to be able to do this. Take as many pages as you feel is necessary to properly complete this section (If you can reasonably do it
in one or two pages, that’s fine. If you take four, or even five, pages to properly answer it, that’s fine too.). As a word of caution I feel I should point out that the articles published in Psychology journals represent the current, sometimes complicated, research being conducted in Psychology, and they are published by people with “PhD” after their names, and they are meant to be read by other people with “PhD” after their names. So take your time in reading it, it can be difficult for someone new to the field. With a little bit of time you should be able to understand the article you choose. If you need any clarification about anything you don’t understand, you can always ask me for help. One more thing. After you find a suitable journal article, MAKE SURE THAT THE ARTICLE IS NOT MENTIONED IN THE TEXTBOOK. YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO USE AN ARTICLE THAT IS MENTIONED IN THE TEXTBOOK FOR THE CLASS. To find out if an article that you find in a journal is in the textbook, go to the References section of the textbook (It’s in the back of the book.), and check to see if your article is listed there. The References section is in alphabetical order by last name of the first author of the book or journal article. INSTRUCTIONS CONCERNING THE CORRECT FORMAT FOR THE PAPER: First I would like to repeat that you are required to DOUBLE SPACE THROUGHOUT THE PAPER. What follows is an example of how I would like you to format your paper. Suppose the title of the journal article you read is, “A Test of the Strength of Classical Conditioning versus Operant Conditioning” Your Title page should look like this: _________________________________________________________________ Critique 1 A Critique of the Article “A Test of the Strength of Classical Conditioning Versus Operant Conditioning” John E. Doe Bergen Community College Running head: CRITIQUE _________________________________________________________________ Obviously, instead of “John E. Doe” you will put your name. The title of the paper, the student’s name, and the name of the college are supposed to be centered, in the middle of the paper (in other words, your name should appear half way down the page, and the distance from the left side of the page to your name should be the same as the distance from the right side of the page to your name). Also, please notice what appears in the top right corner of the Title page. The word “Critique” should appear in the top right corner of every page of your paper and the page number should appear right below it. Also, notice what appears, centered, at the bottom of the page. This should appear, centered, at the bottom of your Title page as well (but it should not appear on any of the pages following the Title page). Beginning on page 2, you will critique the journal article using the procedure I explained above. After you finish your paper, on the last page(s), you have to list your references. The list of references will include, of course, whichever paper you are discussing. It will also include any other written material you discuss in your paper. This will possibly include the course textbook and any other journal article, book, etc. that you mention in your paper. Here is a sample References page (I am assuming that the References page begins on page 8 of John Doe’s paper): _________________________________________________________________________ Critique 8 References Cole, F., Gumeiny, W. S., & Molina, R. S. (2016). A test of the strength of classical conditioning versus operant conditioning. Child Development, 48, 159-180. Cunningham, C., & Agapito, J. (2017). Developmental psychology. New York: Harper Collins. __________________________________________________________________ Notice that the references in the References page are in alphabetical order by the last name of the first author. The first reference in the References page above is a reference for a journal article. Notice that you are to list the last names of authors followed by first and middle initial(s), then the year in parentheses. Next comes the title of the journal article. Note that ONLY THE FIRST LETTER OF THE FIRST WORD OF THE JOURNAL ARTICLE IS CAPITALIZED. Next is the Name of the journal that the article came from (Child Development, in this case). Notice that the name of the journal is underlined. This is followed by the volume number (48 in this case) and finally, by the page numbers of the article. The second reference shows the procedure for referencing a textbook (or any book). Notice that the title of the textbook is underlined, and that UNLIKE FOR JOURNALS, ONLY THE FIRST LETTER OF THE FIRST WORD OF THE TEXTBOOK NAME IS CAPITALIZED. This is followed by the state where the book was published (New York in this case) and the name of the publisher (Harper Collins in this case). Here is an example of how the student would cite the above journal article within the main body of the paper: “In a study by Cole, Gumeiny, and Molina (2016) Operant Conditioning was tested against Classical Conditioning…” Here is an example of citing the above textbook within the main body of the paper: “Cunningham and Agapito (2017, pp. 214-215) explain that both Operant and Classical Conditioning are effective in changing behavior…” Finally, here is an example of citing from my lectures or any conversations you have with me: “Kaplan (Kaplan, S., personal communication, November 10, 2017) discusses both Classical and Operant conditioning…”. As you can see, you don’t have to list a reference in the References section for any of my lectures or any conversations you have with me. If you have any questions about any of this, feel free to email me (Put “DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY”, in capital letters, in the subject line of the email so I don’t accidentally delete your email, mistaking it for junk email).