Identify a future personal or professional obstacle or goal

PSYC XXX – Spring 2022 – FINAL PAPER GUIDELINES

The task for the final paper is to identify a future personal or professional obstacle or goal and then review the social psychological research that would inform your behavior in overcoming that obstacle or meeting that goal.

For example, you may have a personal goal of being a good parent. Or, if you want to be a top executive someday, you may have to overcome the professional obstacle of becoming an effective leader. What knowledge from social psychology can help you achieve these goals? You will be charged with explaining your goal or obstacle and how knowledge gained from social psychological research could help you in achieving this goal or overcoming this obstacle.

The paper should be about 4 pages long, double-spaced (Times New Roman, 12-point font, 1” margins). The paper should include an APA-style title page (see attached sheet), a references section, and in-text-citations. Your paper should be broken down into the following sections. I provide approximate page lengths here, just as a guide.

1. Introduction (½ – 1 page): Your introduction section should include a short summary of the goal/obstacle you’ve chosen. You can be broad in your goal/obstacle (e.g., I want to be happy; I have trouble committing to relationships) or specific (e.g., I want to start my own business; I want to run a marathon before I’m 30). Explain what steps you may need to take to achieve your goal or obstacle.

For example, I could describe a goal of being an effective faculty mentor. This may require me to learn how to motivate undergraduate and graduate students. As another example, I could describe a goal of improving my relationship. This may require me to be more open and communicative with my partner. As a final example, I could describe a goal of wanting to help reduce racial inequality in society. This may require me to learn how to intervene when I witness an act of prejudice.

2. Supporting Evidence (2 – 2½ pages): Apply social psychological theory, research, and findings to shed light on how you may be able to accomplish this goal or overcome this obstacle.

For example, what does social psychology research say about strategies for increasing people’s motivation? What does social psychology research say about the qualities that people perceive in good leaders?

Or, what does social psychology research say about the impact of self-disclosure on relationship satisfaction? What does social psychology research say about how to increase openness in couples?

Or, what does social psychology research say about the best ways to confront other people when they say something biased? What does social psychology research say about how to promote collective action in communities?

Use evidence from three peer-reviewed empirical research articles from social psychological academic journals*. Your evidence should be clearly stated and reflect that you understand the research you are presenting. Give a clear summary of what question each article sought to answer (i.e., hypothesis), what each article did (i.e., methods) and what each article found (i.e., results).

Do not just “dump” a bunch of articles into the paper. Cite articles in support of points you are trying to make. For each article, clearly tie it back to your goal and describe how the findings from the article help you better understand how to accomplish this goal.

3. Conclusion (½ – 1 page): Your closing paragraph should briefly summarize everything that you just presented. What was the goal/obstacle, and what steps can help you achieve it? What was the evidence to support it?

*A list of acceptable journals:

Academy of Management Journal

Basic and Applied Social Psychology

Behavioral and Brain Sciences

British Journal of Social Psychology

Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology

Emotion

European Journal of Social Psychology

Group Processes & Intergroup Relations

Journal of Applied Psychology

Journal of Applied Social Psychology

Journal of Consumer Psychology

Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied

Journal of Experimental Psychology: General

Journal of Experimental Social Psychology

Journal of Organizational Behavior

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

Journal of Research in Personality

Journal of Social and Personal Relationships

Journal of Social Issues

Judgment and Decision Making

Nature

Personality and Individual Differences

Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin

Personnel Psychology

Political Psychology

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Psychological Science

Science

Self and Identity

Sex Roles

Social Cognition

Social Psychological and Personality Science