Psych 105: Popular Media Assignment
Due: This assignment is due at the beginning of class. Please refer to the course syllabus for the due date.
Point Value: 15 points
Your Completed Assignment MUST Include:
- TWO media case studies (i.e. articles, shows, websites) that provide coverage of two different
psychological topics.
- A 2-3 page write-up (12 point font, double-spaced and 1 inch margins) in which you explain how the
topics covered by the media would be explained or understood by applying a psychological concept, principle, or theory, and cite a research source for the concept/principle/theory you have selected.
3) Full citation of your two research sources in APA format.
4) A copy of the grading rubric (found at the end of this assignment).
Background: Psychology is an “applied” science. That is to say, we are interested in using the information obtained through scientific inquiry to solve problems in the real world. To do this, we must be able to understand how experiences in the laboratory and classroom relate to issues in the real world. This assignment will ask you to adopt the mindset of a psychologist and form those connections, focusing on specific, functional connections between the course material and information presented in popular media formats.
Activity: Over the next few days, your task is to pay attention to information presented in popular media sources, such as newspapers, magazines, TV programs, and the internet. You are looking for topics presented in these sources that you can discuss/interpret/analyze using the information that you are learning in this course (i.e., psychological terminology, principles, concepts, and/or theories).
Write-Up: Select TWO media case studies on two different psychological topics. These case studies can be taken from newspaper or magazine articles, TV programs, or the internet. For each case study, provide the following details:
1) Date of the article/program/website posting.
2) Source of the case study (i.e., the name of the article and the publication in which it appeared; the
URL for the website)
- Brief Case Description. Provide a summary of the article’s/posting’s/program’s main points. This
summary should include enough detail so that someone who had not read the article would still have a complete picture of what it had included.
4) Psychological Application. The application will provide a functional connection between
your case study (i.e., the media story) and relevant course material (i.e., a specific psychological concept, principle, or theory). Be sure to discuss the topic in the case study using the psychological terminology you have learned in class. Your discussion must also include a specific library reference (cited in APA editorial style) that provides support for each psychological application. You cannot use the textbook as your reference for either case study. Rather, you are required to find at least one article in a peer-reviewed journal to support your psychological application for each media case study.
5) Complete Reference. Provide a complete reference entry for each library source cited in your
psychological application discussion. The APA tutorial from Assignment 1 covers citation and APA format for journal article references. You are encouraged to take advantage of library and writing center resources to help with APA formatting.
Below is an abbreviated example of a fictitious entry to give you an idea of how the media case study description and psychological application could be related to one another. In this example, the author selected a case study of a nervous system-related disease state. Your psychological application section should clearly demonstrate your ability to identify and explain the related basic concepts, principles, and/or theories within psychology as well as identify how the psychological principles relate to your observations in the popular media. Again, your entries need to have more information/detail than the example below!
Observation 1
Date: 9/15/2011
Location: Magazine article (You should be more specific for your assignment!)
Case Description:
The magazine article described several patients with Parkinson’s disease, a progressive muscle weakening
disease. These patients revealed decreased abilities to perform motor behaviors such as lifting objects,
coordinating complex voluntary movements, and running, hopping or fast walking.
Psychological Application:
This case study is an example of progressive decreases in the synthesis and release of the neurotransmitter
dopamine in the basal ganglia structure of the brain. The basic information was included in the textbook chapter
on the Biological Bases of Behavior and emphasized the important relationship between detrimental changes in
levels of neurotransmitters and consequences upon every day behaviors. As the disease progresses, it often
negatively impacts memory formation and retrieval as well. Parkinson’s disease was named after Dr. James
Parkinson who first described this disease in 1862. This disease has been further detailed by Dr. A. H. Schapira
(2009).
References:
Parkinson, J. (2002). An essay on the shaking palsy. Reprinted in the Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical
Neuroscience, 14, 223-236.
Schapira, A. H. (2009). Etiology and pathogenesis of Parkinson disease. Neurological Clinician, 27, 583-603.
REMEMBER: Your write-up should consist of complete, understandable sentences with proper grammar, punctuation, and spelling. Clearly label your work following the example given above. Carefully proof-read your paper before submitting it to avoid losing points.
Psych 105: Popular Media Assignment
Grading Rubric
ATTENTION STUDENT: The following is the grading rubric that will be used to evaluate this assignment.
You MUST print this rubric and staple it to your assignment for use during grading.
EVENT/OBSERVATION 1:
______ (1 pt) Date and publication source of the media case study (i.e. article, website posting, TV
Program).
______ (2 pts) Complete Case Study Description (i.e., description provides enough detail to describe the article/web posting/TV program for someone who did not witness it first-hand).
______ (2 pts) Accurate Psychological Application (i.e., student relates a particular psychological concept/theory/mechanism to the article’s/posting’s/program’s topic accurately and
completely)
______ (1.5 pts) APA Reference (student correctly uses APA formatting to cite a reference for the
psychological concept/theory/mechanism applied to the observation)
EVENT/OBERVATION 2:
______ (1 pt) Date and publication source of the media case study (i.e. article, website posting, TV
Program).
______ (2 pts) Complete Case Study Description (i.e., description provides enough detail to describe the article/web posting/TV program for someone who did not witness it first-hand).
______ (2 pts) Accurate Psychological Application (i.e., student relates a particular psychological concept/theory/mechanism to the article’s/posting’s/program’s topic accurately and
completely)
______ (1.5 pts) APA Reference (student correctly uses APA formatting to cite a reference for the
psychological concept/theory/mechanism applied to the observation)
OVERALL:
______ (2 pts) Quality of the write-up (grammatically correct; sentences flow naturally)
Was the assignment late? _________
(1 pt deduction per/day including the due date if assignment was submitted after class)
POINT TOTAL: ______ pts/15 possible points.
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