Assignment: Write a paper of 5-6 stapled double-spaced pages in which you take a simple behavioral problem from your own life and discuss insights into the problem using concepts from at least 4 separate textbook chapters. Behavorial problem: not showing emotion or thoughts in a given situation when you’re suppose to show. First, very briefly explain the behavioral problem (if it needs more than one sentence to explain, you should pick a simpler problem or simplify it for the purpose of the paper). Then analyze the problem using theories, principles, and/or research findings that you learned about in this course. You may, for example, use the course material to address possible causes of the problem, possible complications, or possible solutions. Be sure that you apply concepts from at least 4 separate chapters of the textbook, and that you apply them in a sufficiently substantial and detailed way to make it clear that you understand them well. That is, actually define and explain the concepts and apply them to your problem in an explicit and detailed fashion, as if you were explaining to someone who didn’t take this class and isn’t familiar with these psychological concepts. The rubric that we will use to evaluate your paper is indicated below. Important: By “behavioral problem,” we mean a simple dysfunctional behavior such as difficulty waking up on time, difficulty studying, procrastination, shyness, fear of heights, fear of public speaking, a bad habit, and so forth. Additional ideas are listed below. We do NOT mean any significant emotional problem such as being depressed or suicidal or greatly distressed, having alcohol or substance abuse problems, being a perpetrator or victim of violence, having an identity crisis, expressing seriously deviant or criminal behavior, and so forth. This paper is not the appropriate place to raise serious emotional or debilitating problems. Students who wish to discuss such matters are urged to seek professional mental health counselling available via the Health Services office. Neither the instructor nor any of the teaching assistants for this class is a therapist. Neuroscience: What regions of the brain are associated with negative emotionality? What regions are associated with behavioral control and reasoned action? Learning and conditioning: In what ways might you be reinforcing the tantrum behavior? How could you use principles of operant conditioning to reduce the frequency of tantrums and increase the frequency of more desirable responses to frustration? What could you do to extinguish the tantrum response? Might the tantrum behavior have been socially learned? Cognition: What are some problem-solving strategies your child could use in place of getting angry? What might be some impediments to effective problem solving for your child? Motivation and emotion: What approach to motivation best accounts for your child’s behavior? What might be the roots of your child’s angry emotions? Why is frustration so unpleasant? Sexuality and gender: How might gender socialization affect how your child responds to frustration or expresses emotions? Development: Could your child’s behavior be an indicator of his or her attachment style? How might it be related to your parenting style? What might be some undesirable outcomes of your efforts to control your child’s behavior? Stress and coping: In what ways are your child’s tantrum behaviors consistent with a stress response? What coping strategies could your child use? How might your own stress and coping be affected by your child? What if nothing you did could stop your child’s tantrums? Personality: How might Freud’s psychoanalytic theory explain your child’s poor self-control? Psychological disorders: Is your child’s behavior consistent with the symptoms of a childhood psychological disorder? Treatment of disorders: What are some approaches a psychologist might use to diagnose and treat any emotional problem your child might have that could be underlying this behavior? How might a psychologist help you with your own distress? Social psychology: Could any principles of social influence be applied to change your child’s behavior? If so, how would they work? Why are temper tantrums a bad way to get what you want? 

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