Showing 55–63 of 475 results

  • PowerPoint Presentation on a Scale Construction

    $35.00

    Week 7 Assignment: Develop a PowerPoint Presentation on a Scale Construction

    Activity Description

    For this task, imagine that you were asked to give a scale construction proposal to a group of hypothetical PhD students. The PowerPoint presentation should include the definition of the construct that you intend to make a scale on, the existing tools measuring it, and other related studies. Also include your justification and rationale for your construction. More importantly, discuss how you will construct the items and the item response scales, how you will analyze the items’ reliabilities, and establish the scale’s validity.

    Incorporate appropriate animations, transitions, and graphics as well as speaker notes for each slide. The speaker notes may be comprised of brief paragraphs or bulleted lists.

    Support your presentation with at least five scholarly resources. In addition to these specified resources, other appropriate scholarly resources may be included.

    Length: 12 slides (with a separate reference slide)
    Notes Length: 200-350 words for each slide

    Be sure to include citations for quotations and paraphrases with references in APA format and style where appropriate. Save the file as PPT with the correct course code information.

    Learning Outcomes

    1.0   Critique the meaning and implications of measuring psychological constructs.

    2.0   Analyze the literature on a particular construct and the current tools that have been designed to measure it.

    3.0   Select methods used in the creation of items that measure psychological constructs.

    4.0   Appraise different approaches to establishing item and instrument reliability.

    5.0   Evaluate the different approaches to instrument validation.

    6.0   Discriminate methods of establishing criterion or predictive validity.

    This week, you will prepare an outline for the Signature Assignment that is due on Week 8. You will create the bullet-point outline for this proposal and it should include the construct of interest the topics that will serve as the titles and subtitles of your Signature Assignment. However, provide a very brief description of what the content under each section will be like. For example, under Introduction, you can write “Here I will provide a conceptual definition of the construct;” or, under Method, you can write “I will discuss that the item-total reliability will be performed in this section.”

    Be sure to review this week’s resources carefully. You are expected to apply the information from these resources when you prepare your assignments.

    Complete the following Spotlight on Skills if you need assistance with the tools used to complete your assignments.

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  • Physiological and Neurological Aspects of Fear and Anxiety

    $60.00

    Physiological and Neurological Aspects of Fear and Anxiety

    Week 12 Assignment: Prepare a Literature Review

    Signature Assignment

    Activity Description

    For your Signature Assignment, choose one of the primary emotions (happy, sad, fear, anger, disgust, or surprise), and then identify research that has been conducted on the emotion you selected. Your investigation should include research conducted on this emotion as it relates to the various topics discussed in this class. For example, if you select “anger” you could search for research conducted on the emotional regulation of anger, areas of the brain activated during an anger response, physiological changes occurring during an anger response, individual differences in the expression of anger, etc.

    The literature review should not simply consist of a series of article reviews; the literature review should provide an integrated synthesis of the research in the particular areas you select to include in your paper.

    In addition to the articles you used in your annotated bibliography, be sure to locate another five references from scholarly sources to support your assignment.

    Length: 12 pages

    Your literature review should demonstrate thoughtful consideration of the ideas and concepts presented in the course by providing new thoughts and insights relating directly to this topic. Your response should reflect scholarly writing and current APA standards

    Learning Outcomes

    1.0   Assess the concepts and theoretical framework of emotion, motivation, and cognition.

    2.0   Interpret the critical research findings related to emotion, motivation and cognition.

    3.0   Assess cultural and social influences on emotions, motivation, and cognition.

    4.0   Evaluate the development of emotional, motivational and cognitive skills throughout the lifespan.

    6.0   Synthesize concepts of emotions, motivation and cognition using a variety of communication tools.

    Week: 12

    Signature Assignment

    Introduction: 

    Your Signature Assignment for this course represents a culmination of your learning about cognition, emotion, and motivation. As you work to complete your literature review integrating research on a selected emotion, take a minute to reflect on what direction future research into cognition, motivation, and emotion may take. For example, the National Institute for Mental Health has laid out a research domain matrix that is an attempt to categorize areas, or domains, of research into mental health issues that show what is known and thus, provide some direction for future research.

    Additionally, as we continue to gain understanding of human behavior, particularly related to cognition and emotion, we likely will see the introduction of new therapeutic approaches or adaptation of existing methods to address psychological disorders reviewed in this course. For example, researchers have investigated treatment options for returning war veterans presenting with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Kopytin and Lebedev (2013) studied the therapeutic effects of art therapy among a group of Russian war veterans and found humor, long associated with positive emotion, increased.

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  • Create a Brochure (Schizophrenia)

    $15.00

    Week 11 Assignment: Create a Brochure

    Activity Description

    Your task this week is to create a double-sided, tri-fold brochure that describes the symptoms, their impact on emotional processing, their effects on cognitive processing, and specific treatment options for the psychological disorder you selected last week.

    The intended audience for this pamphlet is college-educated adults.

    Support your assignment with at least three academic scholarly sources and these sources should be cited throughout the text in your brochure. The references for these sources should be provided on the back page of the brochure.

    You are allowed to use appropriate clip art to enhance your brochure. Remember to incorporate the research you located in Week 10 to support your assignment. Other resources also may be used.

    Length: 1 double-sided tri-fold pamphlet

    Your brochure should demonstrate thoughtful consideration of the ideas and concepts presented in the course by providing new thoughts and insights relating directly to this topic. Your response should reflect scholarly writing and current APA standards.

    Learning Outcomes

    1.0   Assess the concepts and theoretical framework of emotion, motivation, and cognition.

    2.0   Interpret the critical research findings related to emotion, motivation and cognition.

    4.0   Evaluate the development of emotional, motivational and cognitive skills throughout the lifespan.

    6.0   Synthesize concepts of emotions, motivation and cognition using a variety of communication tools.

    Emotions, and Cognition > Week 11

    Week: 11

    Psychological Disorders, Emotion, and Cognition

    Introduction: 

    Earlier in this course, you reviewed the physiological and neurological aspects of emotion. Last week, you read about some of the psychological disorders, their effects on emotional and cognitive processing, and treatment options. This week, you will consider how physiological changes may affect an individual’s emotional and cognitive states. Specifically, you will examine how neurological disorders, including those on the dementia spectrum affect not only how the individual may express emotions, but also how he or she may interpret others’ emotions.

    Not only do these disorders have evident physical symptoms resulting from the damage to the brain and nervous system, but they also have emotional consequences as the individual can have difficulty accepting or adjusting to the diagnosis. In addition, it is not uncommon for medications prescribed to these individuals to result in some emotional changes. Finally, there is also the aspect of how the disorder’s progression may affect the individual’s interactions with others.

    Be sure to review this week’s resources carefully. You are expected to apply the information from these resources when you prepare your assignments.

    Warm-up Activity 11.1: Creating a Brochure

    You will create a brochure for the Week 11 assignment. To learn how to make a brochure quickly and easily please review the tutorial “How to Make Brochures on Microsoft Word” located under your weekly resources. This resource applies to Word 2007 and Word 2010. This resource describes how to use the existing templates in Word to create a brochure.

    If you have problems finding the templates, click “File”, then “New”. In the “Search Office.com for templates” area, you can type “tri-fold brochure” in the search field, and then click the arrow to the right or hit the “enter” key on your keyboard.

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  • Prepare a Reliability Chart

    $15.00

    Week 5 Assignment: Prepare a Reliability Chart

    Activity Description

    For this task, you will create a chart describing the different methods of establishing the reliability of a psychological instrument. In one column write the method (e.g., test-retest method) and on another column, write a brief description for each of the methods.

    Length: 2 page

    Learning Outcomes

    4.0   Appraise different approaches to establishing item and instrument reliability.

    Week: 5  Reliability

    Introduction: 

    Measuring instruments have to yield consistent results. It would be a distressing experience if your bathroom scale tells you that you are 65 kilograms one moment and 70 kilograms a minute later. That would be unreliable or inconsistent results because we do not usually expect a weight increase of that magnitude to happen in 60 seconds. Consistency or repeatability is an indispensable characteristic of measuring tools within the physical or psychological sciences. Psychological scales have to ensure that the scores individuals are measured on yield more or less the same figures for the same individuals at different times. Some test-makers re-administer the same scales after a period, and then analyze whether the results are stable. Other test-makers construct two sets of scales measuring the same construct or split the items into two halves, with the first half measuring the same construct as the second half. These two sets or halves are then compared and analyzed for reliability.

    Be sure to review this week’s resources carefully. You are expected to apply the information from these resources when you prepare your assignments.

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  • Compose Items and Response Scales

    $25.00

    Week 3 Assignment: Compose Items and Response Scales

    Activity Description

    For this task, complete the readings for this week; and then, write a paper in which you answer the following questions and complete the following assignments:

    1. Determine the major issues that must be addressed in item construction.
    2. Discuss the general types of response scales used in measuring a construct and provide brief examples for each.
    3. Indicate a more appropriate response scale that your instrument could use. Justify your use of the response scale.
    4. Construct three sample items (even without the benefit of SMEs or a focus-grouped discussion) that represent your construct of choice. Include an appropriate response scale.
    5. Use Rauthmann’s proposed item format taxonomy to analyze your partially-constructed three-item scale (i.e., point of reference, general item format, construct indicator, and conditionality).

    Length: 5 pages, not including title and reference pages

    Your assignment should demonstrate thoughtful consideration of the ideas and concepts presented in the course by providing new thoughts and insights relating directly to this topic. Your response should reflect scholarly writing and current APA standards.

    Learning Outcomes

    3.0   Select methods used in the creation of items that measure psychological constructs.

    4.0   Appraise different approaches to establishing item and instrument reliability.

    Assuming that you already have a good grasp of the construct that you intend to make a scale on, the next steps involve item construction and face validation. Some test developers would first gather a group of 7-12 individuals who have personal experience with the chosen construct. A focused-group discussion (FGD) may then be conducted in order to get a general idea about what items to generate. Other test developers on the other hand prefer to brainstorm among other professionals and subject matter experts (SMEs) and generate the items from the established and well-defined parameters of the construct. This happens when the construct has pretty much been universally agreed upon and well-defined such as a particular diagnostic category in the DSM-5 where the set of items can be immediately composed based on the pre-set diagnostic criteria in the manual.

    Be sure to review this week’s resources carefully. You are expected to apply the information from these resources when you prepare your assignments.

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  • Create a Blog Entry

    $10.00

    Week 9 Assignment: Create a Blog Entry

    Activity Description

    For this task, imagine that you have been asked to contribute comments for a blog that discusses research on emotional regulation throughout the lifespan. This includes developmental changes during childhood as well as how emotional regulation changes in adults over age 60. The intended audience for this blog is a general population of adults who may not necessarily have a psychology background or be familiar with terms such as “emotional regulation” and “inhibitory control.” Although you should not provide formal “dictionary” definitions for these terms, you should clearly explain these terms throughout your blog.

    Length: 450-500 words

    Your blog entry should demonstrate thoughtful consideration of the ideas and concepts presented in the course by providing new thoughts and insights relating directly to this topic. Your response should reflect scholarly writing and current APA standards.

    Learning Outcomes

    1.0   Assess the concepts and theoretical framework of emotion, motivation, and cognition.

    2.0   Interpret the critical research findings related to emotion, motivation and cognition.

    4.0   Evaluate the development of emotional, motivational and cognitive skills throughout the lifespan.

    6.0   Synthesize concepts of emotions, motivation and cognition using a variety of communication tools.

     

    Week: 9

    Emotional Development Throughout the lifespan

    Introduction: 

    As you learned during Week 7, emotional intelligence consists of many factors related to the regulation of emotions within ourselves, along with the perception and interpretation of emotions in other people. Emotional regulation is crucial to success in social situations and research has found that children, who are better able to regulate their emotions, also are more successful in school and in social settings with their peers.

    The ability to regulate emotions is a developmental process that appears to develop at a young age. Hudson and Jacques (2014) discuss several factors important for the development of emotional regulation and one of these is inhibitory control. You may remember from Week 4 that inhibitory control is considered an executive function and the development of which may be linked to continued brain development in children, particularly the development of the prefrontal cortex. As you may recall from your other classes, the frontal lobes are the last areas of the brain to develop in children with some research suggesting that this development continues throughout adolescence. Interestingly, we see that the frontal lobes are one of the first areas of the brain to show age-related decline in older adults (over 60 years of age).

    Although frontal lobe declines tend to be negatively related to deficits in executive function, Isaacowitz and Blanchard-Fields (2012) provide evidence that emotional regulation actually increases in adults over the age of 60. These researchers suggest that this may be due to the changes in motivational strategies in older adults.

    Your assignment this week is to write a newsletter article that summarizes the research on emotional regulation. This should include development during childhood as well as how emotional regulation changes in adults over the age of 60.

    Be sure to review this week’s resources carefully. You are expected to apply the information from these resources when you prepare your assignments.

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  • Classification of statements into Concepts

    $10.00

    Below are statements coming from different psychological scales constructed by different authors; what the scales are measuring nor the number of scales that are represented by these items are identified. Since the psychological variables measured by the items are fairly easily identifiable, create a table in which you will group those items that represent a common concept. Then, invent a construct or variable name for these items. This is an exercise that tests your intuitive abilities to spot the supposedly hidden constructs represented by these items. Consider this assignment as an “armchair” factor analysis.

    Items:

    1. I feel irritable, easily agitated, and am impatient a few days before my period.
    2. I feel anxious watching a teacher work on an algebraic equation on the whiteboard.
    3. This is the dreariest time of my life.
    4. I am just as happy as when I was younger.
    5. My life could be happier than it is now.
    6. I have cramps that begin on the first day of my period.
    7. I don’t feel good being required to enroll in statistics.
    8. I expect some interesting and pleasant things to happen to me in the future.
    9. My breasts feel tender and sore a few days before my period.
    10. I feel old and somewhat tired.
    11. As I look back on my life, I am fairly well satisfied.
    12. I hate buying a math textbook.
    13. I feel depressed for several days before my period.
    14. I have backaches which begin the same day as my period.
    15. I don’t like reading and interpreting graphs or charts.
    16. I take prescription drug for the pain during my period.
    17. I’ve gotten pretty much what I expected out of life.
    18. Compared to other people, I get more the share of bad luck.
    19. I don’t like being told how to interpret probability statements.
    20. For several days before my period I feel exhausted, lethargic or tired.
    21. Most of the things I do are boring or monotonous.
    22. I’m feel my chest pound when I walk into a math class.
    23. I have abdominal pain or discomfort which begins one day before my period.
    24. I would not change my life even if I could.
    25. I’m anxious when I am waiting to get a math test returned even when I expect to have done well.
    26. The pain I have with my period is not intense but a continuous dull aching.
    27. I feel weak and dizzy during my period.
    28. I feel restless listening to somebody explaining a math formula.
    29. As I grow older, things seem better than I thought they would be.
    30. I have gotten more of the breaks in life than most of the people I know.

    Psychological Constructs, Concepts, and the Nature of Measurement > Week 2

    Week: 2

    The Construct Under Investigation and Conceptualizing a Tool to Measure it

    One of the indispensable parts in scale construction is to first get a good grasp of the ‘concept’ under investigation. Then, review the information written on the concept of interest. Only then can you decide whether there are subcomponents or dimensions under that concept. Be sure to provide a working definition of this concept, which may be based on a theory. Providing a definition for the concept and setting certain parameters based on a theory transforms the concept into a construct. Once this is clear in your mind, then you can start composing items that represent the construct.

    Although many authors use the terms concept and construct interchangeably, a concept refers to observed instances in the empirical world that are argued to be related enough and are imported at an abstract level. Once this concept is narrowed for the purposes of setting parameters within a research context, it becomes a construct. Pushing the envelope further, once the definitions are concretized and rules are set (for instance in an experiment) on how to measure or produce the constructs—they become variables.

    But first, it is important to have a very clear understanding of the concept or construct of choice.

    Be sure to review this week’s resources carefully. You are expected to apply the information from these resources when you prepare your assignments.

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  • Conduct a Mock Interview

    $15.00

    For this task, you will prepare a mock interview. Assume you were asked to interview a psychologist who is an expert on cultural differences. Your questions to the fictitious researcher should focus on the major differences in the expression of emotions, cognitive processes, and neurological differences.

    Your interview should be conversational in nature by critically discussing the following questions:

    What are the major differences in the expression of emotions among the various cultures?
    What are the major cultural differences in cognition?
    What does the research suggest about the influence of culture on the brain? How do these differences influence cognition?
    What are some of the limitations of the research?
    What aspect of cultural differences are you currently investigating?
    Support your interview with references from at least two peer-reviewed articles. You may elect to use information from this week’s assigned readings as well as other scholarly resources.

    Length: 3 page transcript of your interview

    Your mock interview should demonstrate thoughtful consideration of the ideas and concepts presented in the course by providing new thoughts and insights relating directly to this topic. Your response should reflect scholarly writing and current APA standards.

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  • Evaluate the Research on Emotional Intelligence

    $15.00

    Social and Developmental Aspects of Emotion, Cognition, and Motivation

    Evaluate the Research on Emotional Intelligence 

    Your task this week is to provide a critical evaluation of the concept of emotional intelligence.

    After completing your readings for the week, prepare a paper that addresses the following questions:

    • Can emotional intelligence be taught or is this an innate ability?
    • Conclude with your assessment if evidence exists for separate, but related, constructs such as social intelligence and ecological intelligence? Explain your answer.

    Support your analysis with at least two references from scholarly sources.

    Length: 2 pages

    Your paper should demonstrate thoughtful consideration of the ideas and concepts presented in the course by providing new thoughts and insights relating directly to this topic. Your response should reflect scholarly writing and current APA standards.

    Learning Outcomes

    1.0   Assess the concepts and theoretical framework of emotion, motivation, and cognition.

    2.0   Interpret the critical research findings related to emotion, motivation and cognition.

    3.0   Assess cultural and social influences on emotions, motivation, and cognition.

    6.0   Synthesize concepts of emotions, motivation and cognition using a variety of communication tools.

     

    This week, you will read about several theories of emotional intelligence (EI) and some of the research on this topic. Although definitions and theories of EI vary, Mayer and Salovey (1997) described EI as consisting of four “branches” consisting of perceiving emotions, facilitating thoughts about emotions, understanding emotions, and managing emotions. Similar abilities were described by Danial Goleman in 1995. Other theories of EI are described in Cherniss (2010). Tests developed by Mayer and colleagues along with other researchers can be used to assess levels of EI in people.

    Some research suggests that individuals with higher levels of EI have better social relationships and better psychological health whereas those people with lower levels of EI are associated with greater stress and other negative outcomes such as drug and alcohol abuse.

    Austin, Farrelly, Black, and Moore (2007) suggest that there is also a “dark” side to high levels of EI. Their research suggests that being skilled in the perception and understanding of the emotions of others can serve as a mechanism to manipulate people and situations.

    Goleman, Barlow, and Bennett (2010) discuss how the early ideas about EI have been expanded into a new area called “Ecological Intelligence.” Ecological intelligence involves an awareness and understanding of how human actions impact the environment.

    You should also consider as you are reading these articles whether EI is an innate ability or something that can be improved with training.

    This week, you will provide a critical evaluation of the construct of EI by answering the questions in the description of the assignment.

    Be sure to review this week’s resources carefully. You are expected to apply the information from these resources when you prepare your assignments.

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