Indicate the structures of the brain that are involved in emotion and motivation. (How could a person’s emotions related to fear drive their behaviors during this pandemic?)

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Instructions

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), in 2019, a new strain of the coronavirus disease was discovered. Also known as COVID-19, this strain of the virus had previously not been identified in humans. A worldwide pandemic ensued as the virus quickly spread across the globe, impacting countless lives, including many individuals in the United States.

In an effort to contain the virus, numerous countries’ leaders encouraged social distancing, which is an infection control strategy aimed to help lessen the spread of a contagious disease. This directive was given by leaders in the United States as well. Two schools of thought emerged. In fact, many people were skeptical about the authenticity of this pandemic due to perplexing and often conflicting messages that were received across social media and news outlets. Therefore, numerous Americans assumed business as usual and maintained their daily living and social rituals. On the other hand, scores of others quickly retreated to their homes, embracing the warning provided by some of the nation’s top infectious disease experts.

This assignment provides you with an opportunity to analyze a real-world, peer-reviewed, psychology journal article that contains research examining the social psychology aspects of motivation and emotion. You will then demonstrate your understanding of the article by relating the research and conclusions contained therein to current events.

Begin by visiting the CSU Online Library to locate and choose a journal article in which motivation and emotion are viewed under the lens of social psychology. The article must be peer-reviewed and should be no older than 7 years.

NOTE: You are not required to locate an article about COVID-19; instead, you must find a peer-reviewed journal article concerning research that specifically examines motivation and emotion. You will then be critiquing the article and framing the research and conclusions presented in the article in the context of how they can be applied to behavior and social psychology during such an event as the COVID-19 pandemic.

A good place to start your search is the PsycARTICLES database or the Academic Search Ultimate database. You can access these databases from the Databases box on the library homepage.

For assistance in locating your article, you may find the following tutorial How to Find Journal Articles helpful. Additionally, you may find this tutorial How to Search in PsycARTICLES useful.

Once you have chosen your article about motivation, emotion, and social psychology, you will write an article critique that addresses the following elements.

  • Explain the research methodology that was used in the study.
  • Discuss social factors that influence people or groups to conform to the actions of others.
  • Indicate how behaviors and motivation are impacted by the presence of others. (How does this apply to COVID-19?)
  • Indicate the structures of the brain that are involved in emotion and motivation. (How could a person’s emotions related to fear drive their behaviors during this pandemic?)
  • Examine the article’s generalizability to various areas of psychology.
  • Why would some people choose to follow the orders to avoid social contact and others allow desire for human interaction to be their driving force?

In addition, your article critique should clearly identify the article’s premise and present an insightful and thorough analysis with strong arguments and evidence. You should present your own informed and substantiated opinion on the article’s content and its relation to social psychology during the COVID-19 pandemic. You should use the textbook as your second source to support your analysis and to supplement any information that is not contained in the journal article.

Your article critique must be a minimum of three pages in length, not including the title and reference pages. All sources used must be properly cited. Your article critique, including all references, must be formatted in APA style.

Review the personality trait assessment you completed for the Discussion and your results, as well as any other assessments you explored.

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Assignment: Reflecting on Personality Trait Theories

PLEASE READ CAREFULLY

You have experienced firsthand one or more personality trait assessments this week. Take a moment to recall the assessment(s). Reputable tools like those in the Week 4 Learning Resources are developed based on personality trait theories. Through the readings in the text, you are examining those theories and the contributions of three key theorists: Gordon Allport, Raymond Cattell, and Hans Eysenck. In this Assignment, you will consider personality trait theories applied to your own life, evaluate the effectiveness of personality trait theories in explaining human behavior, and discuss the theorists about whose ideas you feel the strongest.

To prepare:

  • Review this week’s Learning Resources on personality trait theories and theorists.
  • Review the personality trait assessment you completed for the Discussion and your results, as well as any other assessments you explored.
  • Think about how you would apply your assessment results and personality trait theories in your personal and/or professional life. Be prepared to address two specific areas of functioning, such as academic, occupational, social, or others of your choosing.
By Day 7

Submit a 2- to 3-page paper that addresses the following:

  • Explain how applying personality trait theories to your assessment results might help you understand yourself and your relationships in two specific areas of functioning (e.g., academic, occupational, social, or others).
  • Explain whether you find personality trait theories more effective as an explanation for human behavior than psychoanalytic or humanistic theories, and provide your reasoning.
  • Describe personality trait theorists with whom you particularly agree and disagree, and explain your reasoning.

Although this Assignment has elements of a personal reflection, you must demonstrate your understanding of the week’s topics. Be specific and provide examples.

Note: Support the responses within your Assignment with evidence from the assigned Learning Resources. Provide a reference list for resources you used for this Assignment.

Submission and Grading Information

To submit your completed Assignment for review and grading, do the following:

  • Please save your Assignment using the naming convention “WK4Assgn+last name+first initial.(extension)” as the name.
  • Click the Week 4 Assignment Rubric to review the Grading Criteria for the Assignment.
  • Click the Week 4 Assignment link. You will also be able to “View Rubric” for grading criteria from this area.
  • Next, from the Attach File area, click on the Browse My Computer button. Find the document you saved as “WK4Assgn+last name+first initial.(extension)” and click Open.
  • If applicable: From the Plagiarism Tools area, click the checkbox for I agree to submit my paper(s) to the Global Reference Database.
  • Click on the Submit button to complete your submission.
Grading Criteria

To access your rubric:
Week 4 Assignment Rubric

Check Your Assignment Draft for Authenticity

To check your Assignment draft for authenticity:
Submit your Week 4 Assignment draft and review the originality report.

Submit Your Assignment by Day 7

To submit your Assignment:
Week 4 Assignment

What unanswered questions are there? What holes are in the research that you have not yet found answers to? What contradictions are in the research will you seek to explore?

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Literature Review

You are to write a 1050 to 1750 word literature review (in addition to the title page and references page) on the articles you selected for Week 2, synthesizing the findings in the articles that you found on your topic. You may incorporate other articles or references to support your discussion, as needed. Use APA citation and reference guidelines.

What is a literature review?
A literature review is a synthesis and critique of the published research in a given area of research. Your focus is on the findings of the studies you are exploring – their methods, approach, results, and implications – rather than the broad topic overall. It should synthesize findings in specific areas. Thus, you should look for themes in the range of articles and write about them as you group common themes.

Synthesize the material you found. In other words, find connected themes in the different areas you cover. Occasionally you might discuss individual articles, but only if the article is very unique and no other article has similar findings. The synthesis should focus strictly on existing, published research.

What else should you include besides a synthesis of research?
Be sure to include in your review other potential areas that still need to be explored. What unanswered questions are there? What holes are in the research that you have not yet found answers to? What contradictions are in the research will you seek to explore?

Examples of Synthesized Findings for Literature Review:

. Describe the contract negotiations. In what way were these negotiations a departure from the way you would have expected negotiations to be conducted?

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Project: Cultural Rapport

Remember: This course has major project assignments that will be due in weeks 3 and 5. It will take more than a week’s effort to adequately complete them. Plan time to start the research and other work for those assignments earlier than the week in which they are due.  

This week, read The First Meeting at NTC and The Second Meeting sections of the case study provided in W1 Project. Also, review discussion questions 6 and 8 at the end of the case study document. Do not skip ahead to future sections of the case study or other discussion questions in the document for this week’s work. Many important issues for the case study lie below the surface and require both background research and critical evaluation to uncover.

Based on this week’s assigned sections (and all previous assigned sections of the case study), address the following topics:

  • Continuing Issues
    • Building upon the key themes and cues discovered in the week 1 portion of the final project, what cues exist in this week’s assigned portions that provide further insights on the business practice, task/relationship, communication, and structure issues?
  • Cultural Awareness
    • What cues exist that reveal the practices of cultural awareness (present or lacking) in the case? In particular:
      • How can a negotiator recognize needs and concerns of both parties?
      • How can a negotiator identify options and alternatives?
      • What can a negotiator do to understand strengths and weaknesses of both parties?
  • Conflict Management
    • What conflict management approaches are being used by the parties in the case study?
    • What better conflict management approaches could be used to create an enhanced negotiation environment and outcome?
  • Cultural Rapport
    • Based upon the cues within the context of the case study and the research you have completed, provide at least 3 best practices that international negotiators might use to develop cultural rapport. Defend your recommendations with research. 

Important hint: You might find it helpful to begin each section of the paper by discussing the key themes and cues you observe. Then, do research on those key themes to both broaden and deepen your evaluation of the case and your understanding of the important issues. In the final product, about half your written evaluation of each topic should be research. About half should be application to the case study.

Recommendation for the level one headings for the body of your paper: 

Continuing Issues

Cultural Awareness

Conflict Management

Cultural Rapport Best Practices

  • Submit your evaluation in a four page paper

Case Study

Case 2.1. System Modification for Japan by Junichi Yoshida (Reprinted by permission of Junichi Yoshida and Infosys) Note: This section was adapted and used by permission of the author and of Infosys. This case study was developed by Junichi Yoshida, a Japanese Infosys engineer, for use in internal Infosys training to illustrate cultural differences in the way business is conducted in Japan and India. The events in the case are compiled and simplified from several different experiences the case writer observed while working for Infosys. The case itself therefore is a fictitious event. Background As the broadband penetration rate in Japan increased, Nippon Tele Communication (NTC) thought that there was a business opportunity for Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service to Japanese consumers. NTC selected the system used by American Tower Corporation (ATC), a U.S. company, for its information technology (IT) system for this application, although it realized that significant modifications and enhancements would be required for the Japanese context. Infosys had worked with ATC to develop this application. Infosys Japan thought that Infosys had a good chance of getting the opportunity to do the system modifications and enhancements for the NTC project. Tanaka-san, a Japanese Infosys sales manager, visited NTC in early November 2003 about bidding on the work but was told by NTC’s head of IT that NTC was in the process of choosing Nippon Information System Processing (NISP) to do the system modifications. Tanaka-san asked why Infosys Japan had not received a request for proposal (RFP) for this Japanese localization work and was told there had not been an RFP. Not ready to give up on this opportunity, Infosys asked ATC to recommend Infosys to NTC. This tactic worked well. ATC recommended Infosys to NTC. NTC then asked Infosys to form a team to make a proposal for the work, offering to pay Infosys for the expenses associated with submitting a proposal. Tanaka-san then requested that Infosys corporate headquarters (which are located in India) send a consultant to help Infosys Japan develop a proposal for NTC. Infosys corporate was reluctant to allocate resources for this project because no contract had been signed with NTC. After a long teleconference between Tanaka-san and Infosys corporate, Infosys corporate decided to send a relatively junior engineer named Sachin. Sachin had an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering from Bangalore University. He was an expert in Java programming, and during the five years he had been at Infosys since graduation, he had been involved in several projects. Recently, Sachin had been the technical architect on the ATC project. The First Meeting at NTC Sachin was not quite ready when Yoneyama-san, an Infosys Japan project manager and engineer, arrived at Sachin’s hotel to take him to the first meeting with NTC. They took the train, meeting Tanaka-san, the Infosys Japan sales manager, in the NTC lobby five minutes before the meeting was to start. Most of the meeting was conducted in Japanese. Sachin was bored, uncomfortable because the room was too hot (he took off his jacket), and tired from the long trip. He was asked only one question—about how many orders the ATC system processed daily. Sachin wasn’t sure but said 10,000.  Page 2 of 3 LEA6185_International Negotiations © 2009 South University The Second Meeting After the first meeting, Infosys and NTC engineers met several times, working to develop enough information so that Infosys could estimate the costs of the desired system specifications. Communication at these meetings was challenging. For example, at the second meeting, Sachin had questions to which he needed answers, but he hadn’t written them down. Some discussion was held in English, but for the most part (especially regarding technical issues), Sachin asked each question in English and Yoneyama-san translated the question into Japanese for the NTC engineer. Then the NTC engineer would make a call, get the answer, and pass it on to Yoneyama-san for translation back into English for Sachin. During this second meeting, Sachin believed that the NTC engineer was saying yes, agreeing to most of Sachin’s qualifications and conditions even when Sachin explained that the ATC system only processed 5,000 orders, not 10,000 as he had mistakenly said previously. When Sachin modified his estimate, he also explained that NTC could use faster equipment and be able to process 10,000 orders. At the end of the second meeting, Sachin orally summarized what had been discussed and politely refused to go out for a drink with Yoneyama-san and the NTC engineer, since he did not drink alcohol. More Meetings and Cost Estimate Negotiations After several more meetings and more preparation, Infosys submitted a cost estimate of $220,000. NTC requested a price reduction, since the total cost was almost 50 percent more than NISP’s competing proposal. Infosys objected but ultimately reduced the price by 20 percent. NTC also requested that the time be cut from 16 weeks to 14 weeks. Although doing so would require overlapping the design and coding phases of the project, Infosys agreed to the time reduction. Problems Executing the Project In the course of development, NTC invited end users to test the system and entered the issues these users raised into the tracking system. Sachin thought most of the end-user issues were cosmetic, since they did not block the users from using the system. However, there were far more issues than Sachin had anticipated. Fixing them all would adversely affect the cost of the project or the schedule or both. Sachin told this to his NTC counterpart, trying to make the point that NTC should have frozen the requirements when the contract was agreed to. NTC’s response was that Infosys had been doing what it wanted to do without really knowing what NTC wanted. NTC also said that no delay in delivery was acceptable because NTC was already advertising the new VoIP service. NTC refused to pay extra for the new work associated with solving the end-user issues. Discussion Questions 1. What did you notice about the way the opportunity for this project came about that was an unusual business practice for Infosys? 2. Describe the contract negotiations. In what way were these negotiations a departure from the way you would have expected negotiations to be conducted? 3. Why do you suppose NTC accepted Infosys’s 20 percent reduction, which still made its proposal more expensive than the other vendor’s? 4. Shouldn’t Infosys have asked for something in return for reducing its price? What might Infosys have asked for? 5. Once NTC got a price reduction, it asked for a two-week time reduction. Infosys agreed to that, too. Who was Infosys negotiating with? What should Infosys have done at this stage of the negotiation?  Page 3 of 3 LEA6185_International Negotiations © 2009 South University 6. Communication during the meetings to develop specifications was difficult. Is there anything that Infosys could have done to facilitate communication, reduce the transaction costs associated with developing the bid, and minimize conflict once the project was launched? Keep in mind that translation in Japan is expensive. 7. When Sachin tried to make the point that NTC should have frozen the requirements when the contract was agreed to, NTC responded that Infosys did what it wanted to do without really knowing what NTC wanted. What might have led to this response? 8. Should Sachin have gone out for drinks with Yoneyama-san and the NTC engineer? Did Sachin need to drink alcohol?