Psychology in the News Assignment

This assignment is designed to get you critically thinking and writing about how the psychological concepts you have learned in this course apply to the "real world". For this assignment, you will find three recent news articles or items. Make sure your news items are not more than two to four months old. You may use any article or item from one of the popular news magazines, i.e., Newsweek or from a newspaper or use one of the news or science websites.

Please use the printed media not radio or TV unless you have a written transcript to reference. Be sure to properly reference your sources, i.e., provide a reference and/or weblink to the item so the reader can locate it.

a) Summarize the news article. What is it about? Identify the source (publication, date and page # or website. If you quote please quote properly (see the plagiarism tutorial).

b) Find a psychological concept in your textbook that relates to each or your news articles. Provide sufficient detail from your textbook about this concept. Mention research, theories or information that might be important for understanding this concept from a psychological point of view.

c) Locate a peer-reviewed research article from the Psyc INFO database relating to each concept. Click here for instructions on finding your journal articles. Provide a summary of this research.

d) Explain how the research article relates to the news item and course concept. What are the connections between the news item and psychological theories or concepts from your textbook and the research evidence you present from your research articles?

e) Discuss the importance of understanding the concept you have chosen in relation to the news item and research article. What might be the benefits of knowing something about this concept, and/or the dangers of not being aware of this concept?