Blog Assignment - Week 6

Part 1:

Week 6 already?!  Only 8 assignments to go after this!

The topic of Chapter 6 is The Self, which includes a variety of topics including self-concept, self-esteem, social comparison, etc.

If you haven't caught on by now, I often try to present you with multiple views on a subject to evaluate and form your own opinion regarding the topic.  This week, you'll read about the positives related to self-esteem and how to promote self-esteem.  However, for this week's assignment, I want you to take a look at the down side of promoting self-esteem.  

Please complete the following:

• What is the concept of self-esteem?
• Watch this video on YouTube.
• Thoroughly summarize the content of the video.  Be sure to include the pitfalls of promoting self-esteem.
• Provide your reaction to the video.  What really stuck out to you?
• At the end of your post, please create a list of key terms/concepts that you used from the textbook in your response (can be from this chapter or previous chapters).  This will help encourage you to really use course concepts in your writing by making it more visible to you.

On a side note, I found this relevant to previous discussion in class about social media use.  This research was done at my alma mater and examines the effect of texting during class (as many of you admitted to doing on the blog and I see it during class).  It is just a short brief, but is interesting nonetheless.  Read it here.

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Part 2:

As in the previous weeks, please respond to any 2 existing blog posts (not including this one or posts that you have responded to previously) to get credit for you "blog comments."  Each post has its own instructions to follow in regard to commenting. Note: Replying to other students' comments on blog posts does not count toward your grade, although I encourage you to engage in conversation with your colleagues.

Narcissism

"There's a snake in my boot!"

Chapter 6 (The Self) discusses the difference between high self-esteem and narcissism.  Should you choose to complete, please complete the following in relation to narcissism:

• Read WebMD's description of narcissism.
• In your own words, describe what Narcissistic Personality Disorder is.
• Hop on over to The Huffington Post and find an article related to narcissism and social media (you shouldn't have a problem finding one).  I suggest you get a little more creative than using the first article that shows up in the search history.  Please include a link to your article.
• Summarize your article.

I hope you enjoy the photo of Woody taking a selfie and being slightly narcissistic.  He's still the man.

Individualism and Collectivism

The cultural values of individualism and collectivism are often talked about in the world of psychology. Should you wish to learn more about cultural values for credit, please complete the following:

• What are the cultural values of individualism and collectivism?
• How does one's cultural value (of either individualism or collectivism) shape how they view them self?
• As stated previously, individualism and collectivism are utilized often in psychology.  Do a little searching and find something that interests you in relation to individualism and collectivism.  I prefer that you try to find an article discussing some research.  Here is an example of what I mean by an article presenting some research.  Please provide a link to your article.
• Summarize the article you found.

This is very open ended, so have some fun with it!

Is Laughter Really the Best Medicine?

For last week's assignment, you had the option to complete an assignment on the positive effects of laughter. However, these positive effects may depend on the type of laughter one engages in.  Should you choose to complete this week's assignment for course credit, please do the following:

• Read this article on Psychology Today.
• Summarize what you read.
• Name and describe the 4 types of humor.
• Provide a personal (or from experience with friends, family, etc.) example of each type.
• Do you know which type of humor you typically engage in? 
• If you completed last week's post on laughter, try to tie the two articles together (last week's and this one). 

Facebook and The Self

In the previous weeks, many of you have written about the relationships between social media sites and course topics.  As this seems to be of interest to many of you, here is another post related to social media.

Should you choose to complete this assignment for course credit, please do the following:

• Read these two articles and provide a summary of what you read:
• Facebooking with Care: Social Networking Site Can Hurt Self-Esteem
• Why Does Facebook Make Us Feel Bad About Ourselves?
• What is self-esteem?
• What is the social comparison theory?
• How does this article/social media play a role in these to self-related concepts?
• Try to incorporate examples as well as integrate material from previous weeks of the course.

Blog Assignment - Week 5

Just a couple of housekeeping notes:

I would like you all to take a moment and look at your grades on D2L to make sure they are a reflection of the work you've done.  If you think you are missing points for assignments, please email me.  

*Please review the note at the end of this blog before beginning your assignments.

Part 1:  

This next week we will be discussing the topic of coping (Chapter 4).

For this week's main assignment, I want you to explore the concept of catharsis, as it plays a pretty big role in our lives yet is often misperceived.  Please complete the following:

• Define, in your own words, catharsis.
• Based on this definition, do you engage in catharsis?  If so, what activities do you typically do?
• Do you find cathartic behaviors helpful?
• After completing the first three bullet points, please read this article.
• Provide a thorough summary of the article.
• Based on what you've read, have your views on catharsis changed?

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Part 2:

As in the previous weeks, please respond to any 2 existing blog posts (not including this one or posts that you have responded to previously) to get credit for you "blog comments."  Each post has its own instructions to follow in regard to commenting. Note: Replying to other students' comments on blog posts does not count toward your grade, although I encourage you to engage in conversation with your colleagues.

*Note: I've noticed that some students' comments are becoming pretty brief (not necessarily in length - I just noticed some students are doing the bare minimum to get by).  As the semester progresses, you should be able to make more connections with previous material, and thus, your posts should be getting a little longer, or at least a little more integrative. While I don't expect a novel, I expect to see some evidence that you are trying to apply not only this week's material, but material from previous weeks of the course.  The chapters we have covered these last two weeks have a lot of commonalities, so this shouldn't be too difficult.  If it helps you, I advise you make a short list of keywords that you have used from the textbook in your post to get a better gauge on how much you are applying course material rather than providing your own interpretation/experiences. While your own opinions and experiences are important as this is a field that is very applicable to your life, you should be displaying knowledge of course material.  Please keep this in mind, as I will grade your comments accordingly.

This assignment is due on Monday, Sept. 23 at 11:59p.