Write a 1,200 to 1,500 word paper (about 5 double-spaced pages), not including title and reference page which should be written in APA Style, and submit it to your assignment folder.

Instructions

Throughout the semester, you have learned about several theories and practices related to human sexuality and sexual health. This assignment will give you an opportunity to apply some of those major concepts, theoretical perspectives, and empirical findings. In completing this assignment, you will hone your critical thinking skills, recognizing and applying psychological principles, and communicating your understanding of individual, community, and organizational life experiences to a general audience.

Task:

This assignment will enable you to critically analyze the sexual health of a fictional character in popular culture – television, films or literature.

Step 1:

Select a fictional TV, movie, or literary character who will serve as a case study and analyze their sexual health, based on the criteria below.

Step 2:

Review the SIECUS guidelines for sexual health (below):

LIFE BEHAVIORS OF A SEXUALLY HEALTHY ADULT

A sexually healthy adult will:

In human development

  • Appreciate his or her own body.
  • Seek further information about reproduction as needed.
  • Affirm that human development includes sexual development that may or may not include reproduction or genital sexual experience.
  • Interact with both genders in respectful and appropriate ways.
  • Affirm his or her own sexual orientation and respect the sexual orientation of others.

In relationships

  • View family as a valuable source of support.
  • Express love and intimacy in appropriate ways.
  • Develop and maintain meaningful relationships.
  • Avoid exploitative or manipulative relationships.
  • Make informed choices about family options and relationships.
  • Exhibit skills that enhance personal relationships.
  • Understand how cultural heritage affects ideas about family, interpersonal relationships, and ethics.

In personal skills

  • Identify and live according to his or her values.
  • Take responsibility for her or her own behavior.
  • Practice effective decision-making.
  • Communicate effectively with family, peers, and partners.

In sexual behavior

  • Enjoy and express his or her sexuality throughout life.
  • Express his or her sexuality in ways that are congruent with his or her values.
  • Enjoy sexual feelings without necessarily acting on them.
  • Discriminate between life-enhancing sexual behaviors and those that are harmful to self and/or others.
  • Express his or her sexuality while respecting the rights of others.
  • Seek new information to enhance his or her sexuality.
  • Engage in sexual relationships that are consensual, non-exploitative, honest, pleasurable, and protected against disease and unintended pregnancy.

In sexual health

  • Use contraception effectively to avoid unintended pregnancy.
  • Prevent sexual abuse.
  • Act consistent with his or her own values in dealing with an unintended pregnancy.
  • Seek early prenatal care.
  • Avoid contracting or transmitting an STD, including HIV.
  • Practice health-promoting behaviors, such as regular check-ups, breast and testicular self-exam, and early identification of potential problems.
  • In society and culture
  • Demonstrate respect for people with different sexual values.
  • Exercise democratic responsibility to influence legislation dealing with sexual issues.
  • Assess the impact of family, cultural, religious, media, and societal messages on his or her thoughts, feelings, values, and behaviors related to sexuality.
  • Promote the rights of all people to accurate sexuality information.
  • Avoid behaviors that exhibit prejudice and bigotry.
  • Reject stereotypes about the sexuality of diverse populations.
  • Educate others about sexuality.

Source: SIECUS (2005). Guidelines for Comprehensive Sexuality Education: Kindergarten -12th Grade, 3rd Ed. New York, NY: SIECUS.

Step 3: For each one of the criteria from the SIECUS list determine whether or not the character displays that behavior and think of an example from the film, book, or television show that illustrates your determination regarding that criteria. You must discuss at least one aspect from each of the six categories on the SIECUS list.

Step 4: Review writing resources, write an outline, write a thesis statement, write an introduction, and integrate information via summarizing, paraphrasing, or, as necessary, directly quoting sources, all with proper attribution.

Step 5:

Write a 1,200 to 1,500 word paper (about 5 double-spaced pages), not including title and reference page which should be written in APA Style, and submit it to your assignment folder.

Tip: Begin with a brief synopsis discussing the character or issues that arise in the book, film, or television show to give context to the reader.  Next, integrate the criteria you have chosen and discuss how they are related. From your synopsis, you can then formulate a thesis statement and craft an outline that will be the basis of your paper. Once a draft has been written, you may want to contact the Effective Writing Center for feedback.

Checklist of expectations

In order to be successful on this paper, be sure that you address all of the following:

__ Support your ideas with citations from the course readings or your peer-reviewed resource(s)

__ Be sure that your ideas are put together in a coherent and logical way

__ Be creative in enhancing your topic

__ Write an introduction that previews your main points

__ Be sure the body of the paper develops and elaborates your ideas

__ Include a conclusion that summarizes your main points

__ Proofread carefully to ensure that your paper is free of misspellings and typos

__ Proofread carefully to ensure that your paper has proper sentence structure

__ Include a cover page, references and citations in APA Style

identify at least one benefit of using this method, as well as at least one drawback of using this method

Developmental psychologists employ many types of research methods in order to study development and changes in individuals over time. In this assignment, you will explore one of these research methods in-depth and create a short presentation on your chosen research method.

Select one of the following research methods to explore:

  • Experiment
  • Correlation
  • Case Study
  • Observation
  • Interviews / Qualitative

Create a short PowerPoint presentation (approximately 6-8 slides) in which you:

  1. describe your chosen research method
  2. explain under what circumstances this research method would be used in the field of psychology
  3. identify at least one benefit of using this method, as well as at least one drawback of using this method
  4. describe a topic in developmental psychology that you would be interested in studying and how you would use your chosen research method to study that topic. Be specific! Describe who your population would be, how you would collect your data, how you would analyze your data, any independent/dependent variables, etc. Demonstrate your understanding of this research method.

You must cite a minimum of one outside source within your presentation. Include APA-formatted in-text citations within your slides, and also include a slide at the end with a list of references in APA format.

Keep in mind that I’m not looking for you to copy and paste information from the reading/websites and stick it into your slides. You can use a direct quote if you feel you need to, but it must have quotation marks around it to indicate that it is a direct quote. Everything else will need to be in your own words (paraphrase), followed by an in-text citation to indicate where the information came from. I want to see your writing, not what you’ve copied and pasted from other writers.

At least 80% of your assignment needs to be in your own words.

Note: You will need to create a PowerPoint presentation for this class. If you haven’t taken advantage of this opportunity to get MS Office for free you should do so now.

Locate and read a recent, full-text article from the Capella Library about sleep disorders (such as narcolepsy or sleep deprivation), then answer:

(Part 1) Motor Cortex:

Locate and read a recent, full-text article from the Capella Library on the motor cortex, then:

 

Describe the location of the motor cortex within the brain and outline its organization.

Describe the major motor pathways and the movements they control.

Integrate information from the paper you located in your research study activity.

Cite and reference your article using APA formatting.

 

(Part 2) Sleep Disorders:

Locate and read a recent, full-text article from the Capella Library about sleep disorders (such as narcolepsy or sleep deprivation), then answer:

 

Why is sleep important to human functioning?

What was the central finding of the article?

How can you use the results of this article within your area of specialization? Be specific in your examples.

Cite and reference your article using APA formatting.

 

(Part 3) Correlation versus Causation

If “correlation does not imply causation,” what does it imply? Are there ever any circumstances when a correlation can be interpreted as evidence for a causal connection between two variables? If yes, what circumstances?

 

(Part 4) Interpreting Correlations

A meta-analysis (Anderson & Bushman, 2001) reported that the average correlation between time spent playing video games ( X) and engaging in aggressive behavior ( Y) in a set of 21 well-controlled experimental studies was 19. This correlation was judged to be statistically significant. In your own words, what can you say about the nature of the relationship?

Reference:

Anderson, C. A., & Bushman, B. J. (2001). Effects of violent video games on aggressive behavior, aggressive cognition, aggressive affect, physiological arousal, and prosocial behavior: A meta-analytic review of the scientific literature. Psychological Science, 12(5), 353–359.

 

 

(Part 1 & 2) Readings

Complete the following:

In your Physiology of Behavior text, read:

Chapter 8, “Control of Movement,” pages 255–287.

Chapter 9, “Sleep and Biological Rhythms,” pages 288–322.

Read Brain Facts: A Primer on the Brain and Nervous System, pages 20–24.

Optional Internet Resources

—If you choose, you may explore the following:

NIH: Sleep IQ – Quiz.

International Association for the Study of Dreams: Dreaming Journal.

 

(Part 3 & 4) Readings

Use your Warner text to complete the following:

 

Read Chapter 7, “Bivariate Pearson Correlation.” This chapter addresses the following topics:

Assumptions of Pearson’s r.

Preliminary Data Screening for Pearson’s r.

Statistical Significance Tests for Pearson’s r.

Factors Influencing the Magnitude and Sign of Pearson’s r.

Effect-Size Indexes.

Interpretation of Pearson’s r Values.

Read Chapter 8, “Alternative Correlation Coefficients.” This chapter addresses the following topics:

Correlations for Rank or Ordinal Scores.

Correlations for True Dichotomies.

Correlations for Artificial Dichotomies.

Chi-Square Test of Association.

Present an overview of both Freud’s theory and Jung’s theory of the role of the unconscious mind as it pertains to personality and behavior.

Freudian and Jungian Theories of the Unconscious Mind [WLOs: 1, 2] [CLOs: 1, 5]

Prior to beginning work on this discussion be sure to read Chapters 2 and 3 in the course textbook, read the article A Brief Comparison of the Unconscious as Seen by Jung and Lévi-Strauss, and view the video Sigmund Freud: The Unconscious Mind (Short Version) (Links to an external site.). In addition to these required sources, research a minimum of one scholarly source in the Ashford University Library on this topic. All sources plus the text should be cited in your post.

To assist you in completing the library research required for this assignment, view this Ashford University Library Quick ‘n’ Dirty (Links to an external site.) tutorial, which introduces the Ashford University Library and the research process and provides some library search tips.

The unconscious mind is a core concept in most psychoanalytical and psychodynamic theories, but Freud and Jung’s theories are the most developed and prominent. Their concepts and ideas differ in the many areas which then impact their views on how the unconscious minds contributes to personality development, such as the role and meaning of dreams, the centrality of sex and sexuality in human motivation, the elements of the self, and the makeup of the unconscious. In your initial post of a minimum of 350 words:

  • Present an overview of both Freud’s theory and Jung’s theory of the role of the unconscious mind as it pertains to personality and behavior.
  • Compare and contrast the basic assumptions of the two theories and note the similarities and the differences as they relate to human behavior.
  • Based on your reading and research explain which interpretation of the unconscious mind you support and why.

Guided Response: Respond to at least two of your peers who did not support the theory you selected, if possible.  Explain whether or not your peer’s comparison of the two theories appropriately noted similarities and differences as they relate to human behavior. Suggest other elements your peer might wish to consider in this comparison. Ask questions to further the conversation about your peer’s analysis and support of the chosen theory.  Your response posts must be a minimum of 200 words, and your questions to your peers must be substantive and focused on the theories of the unconscious mind as they relate to personality development