Psychology:  Here’s the link to the Psychology Research Guide

For this assignment you will complete a form, providing information about 4 things:

1. The program (discipline) that  interests you
2. The program guide you would use in that field and things in it
3. Analysis of one organization or website from the discipline
4. Tips for communicating with folks in that discipline

What is a discourse community?

You learned earlier that writing does not exist in a vacuum, that it is a conversation between writer and reader. One scholar, Erik Borg, says that “We do not generally use language to communicate with the world at large, but with individuals or groups of individuals…these groups are gathered into communities.”

Each of us belongs to a number of these groups (called discourse communities). If you stop at a coffee shop routinely, you are a member of that community. Members know what the “rules” are for communicating with each other, what kind of greeting is used, what the standard length of comments is, what kind of comments are acceptable, and what kind are not. Other discourse communities might be related to activities with children, fitness, or church. You can probably think of examples of a conversation topic or a greeting that would be acceptable at the gym but not at church. In this assignment, you are going to look at the communication that occurs in one of your discourse communities, the one formed by an interest in a specific field of study (major, program, or discipline).

How do I learn about the discourse community in my field?  

What will you be looking for? You will be looking at the kinds of reading and writing members of the community do; the expectations and rules (conventions) for the communication; the way they communicate with each other online; and other tips that help you understand this group. Psychology:  Here’s the link to the Psychology Research Guide.

How will you do this exploration? You will start by looking at the information linked below, first the course catalog and then in guides designed by the APUS Library staff to help researchers in the field. If your program is not listed in the 10 programs shown below, then go to this link to find your program (or one that interests you if you haven’t selected a program yet):  Research Guides by Program.  The university catalog has info on all programs, in case yours isn’t listed below.

Once I’ve learned about my field’s discourse community, what do I do with that information?

After you have looked at the catalog description, the research guide, and information in that guide (including an organization or website), complete the following report about the way the people in your program communicate.  A template of this report is attached for your convenience. Replace the sample answers with your own words. Save it with a title like this: Smith Robert Report on Communication.

Compose a 400 words or less discussion to respond the following:

Discuss the difference between normal dieting and an eating disorder.

Baby Boomers in Older Adulthood

The largest segment of the U.S. population, the “baby boomers,” are moving into older adulthood.  The advertising and marketing industries study this age cohort, and it has been increasing in visibility in primetime television, print ads, and in digital advertising, pop-ups, and internet solicitation.

Find at least 4 images or video clips of advertising or other popular media that illustrate this point. Use a caption for each piece of media to explain the advertisements mirror the specific physical and cognitive changes in development referred to in our readings and resources this week. Your captions should combine for a total of no fewer than 500 words.

Use at least 2 resources (other than the images or clips) to support the claims you are making. Cite these using APA formatting. Your references need to relate to concepts learned about middle adulthood and must be scholarly/academic in nature. Use of .com websites is not appropriate. Please use references other than those included in our Lessons to extend your research and knowledge.

For this assignment, I want everyone to break a social norm. Then you will discuss how breaking the norm made you feel, and how it might have made other people feel.

Step 1:

First you need to identify a social norm. Some examples are:

• Appearance (you can wear pink slippers to school or around town instead of shoes; put a blue dot on the tip of your nose; wear your shirt backward / inside-out; overdo your makeup)

• Interpersonal Behavior (stand too close or too far away from someone you are talking too; avoid eye contact; scoff at a person’s every comment)

• Social Etiquette (violate elevator norms – that is, instead of turning around to face the elevator doors when they close, face the other people in the elevator and stare them in the eye!; eat with your mouth open; talk loudly in a library; fly a kite inside the mall, something one of my former students actually did!)

• THESE ARE ONLY EXAMPLES. PLEASE TRY TO BE CREATIVE & COME UP WITH SOME ORIGINAL IDEAS ON YOUR OWN. Another one of my former students stood behind people at water fountains chanting “Chug! Chug! Chug!” loudly.

Note: You may want to do the behavior several times in different places to note any interesting patterns. Do people’s reactions may differ as a function of sex, age, location?

Step 2:

Incorporate the following points in a short document (400 words minimum, 700 words maximum):

1). What implicit norm(s) did you violate? (4 points)

2). Describe how you violated it (them). (4 points)

3). Analyze your thoughts and feelings while you violated the norm(s). (4 points)

4). Analyze what other people were probably thinking about your violation (4 points)

5). Did you gain any insight into your own or others’ behavior? What about the power of the situation? (4 points)

6). Include AT LEAST ONE key social psychological principle in your work. You may want to include something about role-playing, conformity / nonconformity, normative social influence, cognitive dissonance, self-monitoring, etc. Your choice, but have AT LEAST ONE! (5 points)

Step 3:

I want to make some of the funniest works available to the entire class, so don’t mention your name in the text if you would like it to remain anonymous.

**See example attached **