The Integration Assignment: Introductory Psychology
BACKGROUND INFORMATION FOR THE ASSIGNMENT:
Throughout the semester you have been introduced to a wide range of topics, demonstrating the diverse nature of psychology. You have also been exposed to a variety of philosophical and theoretical perspectives used to examine and explain those topics. Different philosophical and theoretical perspectives make different assumptions about human behavior and mental processing. Consequently, they often seek to understand human behavior by focusing on different aspects of that behavior and/or different causal variables. The purpose of this final assignment is to help you better appreciate the scope of psychology by examining how different philosophical and theoretical perspectives seek to explain a given psychological topic. Doing so will help you understand how psychologists working from different philosophical and theoretical perspectives make different contributions to our understanding of particular psychological topics and how the integration and/or competition between these explanations helps the discipline (at large) advance its understanding of human behavior and mental processing.
THE PURPOSE:
Knowledge:
After completing this assignment, you will understand:
1) The scope and diversity of psychology as a discipline.
2) How psychologists working from different philosophical and theoretical perspectives make different contributions to our understanding of particular psychological topics.
Skills:
After completing this assignment, you will be able to:
1) Assess the strengths and weaknesses of various explanations for your topic.
2) Explain how the Integration and/or competition between explanations from various perspectives helps psychology advance our understanding of human behavior and mental processing.
YOUR TASK:
Your task is to select ONE psychological topic you find particularly interesting. This may be a topic we have covered in the course or a psychological topic we have not covered. You will then examine this topic from three different philosophical or theoretical perspectives within psychology. For example, you could examine your topic from any of the following philosophical perspectives: physiological, behavioral, cognitive, social, humanistic, evolutionary, psychoanalytic, etc). Alternatively, you could opt to examine your topic more specifically using three different theories, which may or may not differ in their philosophical perspectives. For example, imagine that you choose "bullying" as your topic. You could examine how bullying is explained from a biological, behavioral, and social perspective (three different philosophical perspectives). Alternatively, you could choose to examine how three different theories attempt to explain bullying. Two of these theories might be theories from a "social" perspective and one might be a theory from a "biological" perspective.
In either case, you must utilize and cite original sources for those perspectives in your analysis/discussion. This means that you must research your topic to find three different explanations for your topic. Your analysis cannot be based on personal opinion alone.
Write-up: Your write-up should begin with a general overview of your topic and the reasons why it is particularly interesting or relevant to you. This introduction should be followed by an analysis of your topic from three different philosophical or theoretical perspectives. Your analysis should demonstrate a general understanding of your topic and the fundamental principles used by each philosophical or theoretical perspective to explain that topic (using at least three academic sources outside of your textbook as source material). In addition, you should discuss whether the explanations offered by the different perspectives are complimentary to one another or contradict one another. Finally, your analysis should include your own personal reflection of these perspectives and an informed assessment of what you see as the strengths and weaknesses of each based on your research of them.
Format your assignment according to the following formatting requirements:
1. The answer should be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides.
2. The response also includes a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student's name, the course title, and the date. The cover page is not included in the required page length.
3. Also include a reference page. The Citations and references should follow APA format. The reference page is not included in the required page length.