Social Psychology Assignment

Assignment Objective You are asked to identify a social problem and present arguments for a desirable change. You will then propose a social psychological intervention plan designed to bring out this change. In short, this assignment asks you to write a project proposal. The aim of this assignment is to

1. strengthen academic skills involving library research and persuasive writing;
2. learn how to identify and design effective interventions for social problems;
3. achieve greater self-efficacy about contributing to social change

Guidelines

1. Identify a social behavior engaged by people that you would like to see changed. Be specific in describing this behavior. Analyze why people engage in this behavior incorporating theories in social psychology. Argue why the target behavior is problematic and why the change is desirable. You should cite references to support your argument.

2. Propose an intervention plan designed to make the target behavior less likely. Your plan needs to be social psychological. A good way to do this is to incorporate social psychology principles in discussing your plan in order to explain why your intervention should work.

3. Describe HOW your intervention works. That is, how your plan is going to change the target behavior. You may want to write information similar to "Procedure" section of a research report, detailing what participants in your intervention plan are asked to do. With this information, your reader should be able to reproduce your plan. Your plan should be feasible-imagine a team of 2-3 students including yourself with a small project budget (~ $500) working on the project.

4. Your intervention plan should be original. You could not simply propose an intervention you found in the literature. Your discussion should make it clear how your plan differs from similar plans you found in the literature, if any.

5. Textbook is an excellent resource in identifying a social behavior to write about and in designing your intervention plan. You should also conduct a literature review and cite at least 5 relevant research reports.

6. Conclude your paper reiterating why the behavior change you are discussing is important and why your interventions plan is worthwhile.

7. Remember your task for this assignment is to write a project proposal. Imagine that your audience is some agency/office selecting worthwhile project to fund. A persuasive project proposal will make a compelling argument why the target behavior needs to be changed and that you have an effective plan to bring out the change.