Imagine that our country is under threat of an imminent nuclear attack. You must make the important decision of who to let into the nearest fall-out shelter. There are 12 people vying to get in, but you can choose only five. Your choices include:

a 40-yr-old violinist who is a suspected narcotics pusher
a 60-yr-old architect
a 26-yr-old lawyer who will only go in if he can bring his wife
the lawyer’s 24-yr-old wife who has just gotten out of a mental hospital
a 70-yr-old rabbi
a 34-yr-old retired prostitute who was so successful that she has been living on her annuities for five years
a 12-yr-old girl with a below-average IQ
a male high school student who needs a wheelchair to get around
a 20-yr-old gang member
a 23-yr-old female Catholic graduate student who speaks publicly on the virtues of chastity
a 28-yr-old male physicist who will only come into the shelter if he can bring his gun
a 19-yr. old college student who has just come out of the closet
Determine which five you will choose for the fallout shelter.

Once you have made your five selections, write up an explanation for your choices. Why did you pick those five? And why not the others? What thoughts and/or feelings did you have about this type of decision?

Think about the following social psychology concepts and/or other concepts from your unit readings:

Attitudes and social influence (e.g. norms, systematic vs. heuristic persuasion)
Attributions
Group categorization
Stereotypes
Prejudice (positive and negative)
Discrimination
Survival: Frustration-aggression, reproductive selectivity, and/or evolution
Correspondence bias
Reciprocal altruism
Cognitive dissonance

Which concept(s) was most relevant to your selections, and why? Define the concept(s) and explain how it applies. Cite your readings using APA-formatted in-text citations, and include a reference page. Also, include at least one way that this assignment applies to your real-life and might cause you to change how you interact with other people in your life. Your paper should be at least 2 pages, double-spaced, with an APA-formatted reference page at the end.

The Research Essay asks that you formally explore an issue raised in the texts we are studying; some research topics connected to the issues we will discuss over the course of the semester include Parker Palmers ideas about education, civil rights, civil disobedience and wellness; Wangari Maathais ideas about the relationship between environmental activism and human rights; and Joe Carters ideas about the power of music, specifically the African-American spirituals (or sorrow songs).

The writing you produce in response to this assignment will draw upon the texts we have studied as well as the research you complete independently in your Research Assignments and Critical Reflections. Your final Research Essay will:

develop a clearly articulated thesis statement (argument);
incorporate a logically organized structure;
demonstrate the composition skills you have been developing;
integrate supporting quotations and in-text citations from a variety of sources;
and showcase your knowledge of MLA style.
To this end, we will all participate in an introductory Library Information Session led by a BCC Librarian who will walk you through how to access the Librarys resources, discuss the many resources available to you, clarify the importance of incorporating peer-reviewed resources in your academic research, and offer strategies on how to manage the tremendous amount of information available to you.