Cognitive Dissonance Essay

 

 

ESSAY: Write a 10- to 12-page essay.  Select a topic that intrigues you from the following list, or suggest your own. If you want to write on a topic not listed here, get your instructor’s approval first.

social norms

individualism vs. collectivism

social exchange

how salience and accessibility influence information processing

how cognitive heuristics influence social judgment

cognitive reappraisal

looking-glass self

social comparison

self-presentation

the principle of attitude consistency

sleeper effect

cognitive dissonance

impression formation

attribution bias

culture and conformity

informational social influence versus normative social influence

social power (French and Raven)

communal and exchange relationships

attachment style

altruism

the social psychological variables that influence helping behavior

emotional vs. instrumental aggression

how the social situation influences aggression

social identity and group influences

social loafing

group polarization and individual decision making

social categorization

reducing discrimination

strategies for producing cooperation

The structure of the essay is of your choosing. You may present an argumentative, comparative (compare and contrast), persuasive, reflective, or research easy.  This is an upper-division course.  This flexibility affords you the opportunity to explore newly acquired concepts and write a paper meaningful to you (e.g., career interests, personal connections).

Leverage the writing of the essay to showcase effective communication of social psychological principles and applications relevant to your selected topic.

Support discussions (topics and logic) with sound research, evident through the integration of properly applied and cited theory and facts collected from a minimum of five (5) peer-reviewed journal articles.

Peer-reviewed articles are vetted for quality and adherence to editorial standards, and published in scholarly journals (such as the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology). This link to the UMGC library provides excellent instruction, support and resources addressing scholarly articles.  Use the UMGC library database to find peer-reviewed articles.  It is your responsibility to make sure that the journal articles you select are appropriate. If you are unsure about the relevance of your articles, contact your instructor for approval.  The five (5) peer-reviewed articles must meet the following criteria:

Scholarly – Articles should address an original research study, meta-analyses, summary, editorial or theory.

Refereed – Articles must come from peer-reviewed journals found in the UMGC library.

Social Psychology Connections – Articles must be relevant to social psychology.

Recent – Articles must have been published within the last 10 years.

For example, the following would be a relevant peer-reviewed journal article for investigating the influence of emotional intelligence on academic performance:

MacCann, C., Jiang, Y., Brown, L. E., Double, K. S., Bucich, M., & Minbashian, A. (2020). Emotional intelligence predicts academic performance: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 146, 150–186. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000219

The peer-reviewed minimum is just that, a minimum.  You are encouraged to explore and to use more than five peer-reviewed resources.  This is because your use of scholarly works:

expands your exploration of relevant concepts, theories, empirical findings and historical trends

invites you to implement critical and creative thinking

inspires skeptical inquiry as you approach your topic with the goal of developed information literacy

empowers the development, organization, and expression of your understanding of your selected topic

These benefits occur because the peer-reviewed articles will enable you to analyze and discuss your topic from a point of insight and understanding that comes from quality research that represents current knowledge in the field.

How quality, appropriately applied peer-reviewed articles support your writing within this assignment…

Number of quality, appropriate peer-reviewed articles

The points below assume the articles selected and incorporated are relevant and appropriate for the topic discussed within the 10 to 12-page essay.

6+

A+

Incorporating and appropriately applying sound empirical support enables the expression of critical, careful thought.  Well placed evidence from a variety of scholarly articles will amplify your ability to provide vivid and specific examples.

5

A – B+

The depth the assignment invites is why five peer-reviewed articles has been set as a minimum.  Five foundational, scholarly articles can support central idea development, and the presentation of relevant examples, when the five articles are strategically applied to express critical thought and analysis.

4

C

When fewer than five relevant articles are leveraged, it can become difficult to authentically develop the paper’s central idea.  This is because the scope of the paper becomes comes constrained by the lacking variety of evidence and examples to draw upon.  This in turn can potentially result in lacking support for points discussed, or excessive reliance on the four articles to carry the discussion forward.

3 or less

D

When the number of peer-reviewed articles leveraged to support this assignment drops below three, it becomes more challenging to fully develop the discussion.  Central ideas may remain underdeveloped due to lacking examples or presentation of relevant evidence.  In turn, the limited number of scholarly resources make it challenging to establish a critical analysis of the topic covered.

In addition to the five peer-reviewed articles, you may also use sources from the Web, your textbook or other books. Magazines and newspapers are generally not acceptable. For instance, Psychology Today would not be a preferred scholarly choice. If you are not sure, ask your instructor.

FORMATTING: Structure your paper utilizing APA style (7th Edition) appropriate for student papers; this includes headings, double-spacing, appropriately sized sans serif or serif fonts (e.g., 12 Times Roman), one-inch margins (left, right, top, and bottom), page numbering, and logical flow from topic to topic. Include a title page and references page(s).  The page count requirement excludes the title page and references.

Information and/or quotes from selected sources should be relevant and thoughtfully placed. Consult the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Seventh Edition, for proper form of in-text citations and references.

EVALUATION CRITERIA: The following criteria will be considered in the evaluation of your paper. Please review the Applied Final Project Rubric that accompanies the instructions in Assignments for point allocations.

Accuracy—Are your stated facts or ideas correct?

Clarity—Is your essay clear and easy to follow? You may want to read your essay out loud to yourself. This will help you catch incomplete sentences or lapses in logic.

Depth—Are the issues and implications well thought out and explored?

Originality—What is your thesis (the main point of your essay)? Have you stated your own views and articulated them well? Use your own words. Do not copy material directly from your text or other sources without quotation marks. If you want to use the author’s exact words, put them in quotation marks and cite the page number from your text or other source material. Don’t forget to express your own opinion.

Supporting evidence—Are your ideas supported with empirical evidence? This is a crucial part of any well-written essay. You may support your ideas with theories, previously conducted research, or other information you encounter in the text and other sources (journal articles and so forth). You may also use personal experiences as supporting evidence when appropriate.

References—Did you use appropriate references to support the main points of your paper? Be sure you have these references—that is, that you have the articles on hand if you used them, and make sure that your references relate to the point you are making or support your inferences.