Your first short paper assignment is an “application paper.” It must be typed, double-spaced, and 2 pages in length.

Your task in this paper is to examine or observe a phenomenon in your life or surroundings, and to describe and interpret it in terms of one or more of the psychological principles, phenomena, and perspectives covered in the first half or so of the course. In short, your task is to apply the psychology you have learned so far to something in the real world. The application can involve any one of a number of possible events or situations you have experienced or observed. For example, it can be a personal experience (e.g., a work, family, or interpersonal situation, a relationship), or something you have noticed in the media (e.g., advertising, social media, political campaigns) or about social behavior (e.g., in the social, business, or cultural world) or the behavior of an individual you know.

The goal of the paper should be describe clearly how psychology applies to the real-world phenomenon or experience and to demonstrate that you understand the principle(s) at work.

Your observations must be about one or more topics covered in textbook Modules 5, 6, 7, 8, 12, 14.1, 15, 16, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23; in others words all of the topics that will have been covered through Week 7