Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Order Instructions: Assessments
Assessment #1 – Essay synopsis
This assignment will require you to develop a plan for your second major assignment in this course – the essay. You will need to select one essay topic from the list below, analyze it in terms of its key components, locate and read at least five relevant journal articles and then prepare an essay synopsis (essay plan). This plan will indicate how you will address the topic and what resources and information you will need to locate to address the topic. This assessment assesses Graduate Qualities 2 (lifelong learning), 3 (effective problem solver), and 6 (communicates effectively).
Essay Topics
Choose ONE of the five topics listed below. This is the topic you will also be writing your Essay (Assessment 2) on, so make sure you think carefully before making your decision.
1. Describe the trait theory of personality. Select one “factor” or “trait” from a prominent trait theory and discuss the relative strengths and weaknesses of someone who strongly exhibits this trait.
2. Jean Piaget proposed a step-wise sequence of mental development during childhood. Provide an overview of Piaget’s core ideas, discussing the evidence for and against these ideas.
3. Discuss the factors that affect the likelihood that people will engage in prosocial behavior. What is the evidence for these effects, and how might changes in our society affect the likelihood of people acting pro-socially?
4. Describe the main social factors that influence attraction between people. Select one of these factors and describe the empirical support for its influence.
5. Select a psychological disorder that features in the current version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Describe this disorder, providing evidence for the major contributing factors to the onset of the disorder.
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Presentation
Your work must be word-processed, font size 12, with a 3cm margin and with double-line spacing. American Psychological Association (APA; 5th edition or later) referencing conventions must be strictly adhered to both in the body of the synopsis for in-text citations and in the Reference List at the end of the synopsis. The recommended writing guide contains important information on APA style referencing & citation as well as how to prepare and present an essay.
The Essay Synopsis will be given a mark out of 15% of the total course grade, and you will be graded on the following criteria:
1. Topic analysis
2. Coherence and structure of the plan
3. Clarity of expression
4. Adherence to word length (800 words)
5. Relevance of references
Note: A copy of the Feedback Form that will be used to help grade your work for the Essay Synopsis will be posted on the course website.
***More detailed information, including examples, will be provided in class***
Assessment 1 – Essay synopsis
This assignment will require you to develop a plan for your second major assignment in this course – an essay. You will need to select your essay topic from the list below, analyze it in terms of its key components, locate and read at least five relevant peer-reviewed journal articles and then prepare an essay synopsis (essay plan). This plan will indicate how you will address the topic and what resources and information you will need to locate to address the topic.
Essay Topics
Choose ONE of the five topics listed below. This is the topic you will be writing your Essay (Assessment 2) on so make sure you think about it carefully before making your decision.
1. Describe the trait theory of personality. Select one “factor” or “trait” from a prominent trait theory and discuss the relative strengths and weaknesses of someone who strongly exhibits this trait.
2. Jean Piaget proposed a step-wise sequence of mental development during childhood. Provide an overview of Piaget’s core ideas, discussing the evidence for and against these ideas.
3. Discuss the factors that affect the likelihood that people will engage in prosocial behavior. What is the evidence for these effects, and how might changes in our society affect the likelihood of people acting pro-socially?
4. Describe the main social factors that influence attraction between people. Select one of these factors and describe the empirical support for its influence.
5. Select a psychological disorder that features in the current version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Describe this disorder, providing evidence for the major contributing factors to the onset of the disorder.
Presentation
Your work must be word-processed, font size 12, with a 3cm margin and with double-line spacing. American Psychological Association (APA; 5th edition or later) referencing conventions must be strictly adhered to both in the body of the synopsis for in-text citations and in the Reference List at the end of the synopsis. The recommended writing guide contains important information on APA style referencing & citation as well as how to prepare and present an essay.
The Essay Synopsis will be given a mark out of 15% of the total course grade, and you will be graded on the following criteria:
1. Topic analysis
2. Coherence and structure of the plan
3. Clarity of expression
4. Adherence to word length (800 words)
5. Relevance of references
Note: A copy of the Feedback Form that will be used to help grade your work for the Essay Synopsis will be posted on the course website.
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Sample Answer
The main social factors that influence attraction between people include; people’s perception of their own attractiveness, beauty, similarity and re, reciprocity. The perception of a people about their attractiveness is also referred to as self esteem (Brown, 2014). Beauty is a contributor to attraction between people. This quality of people makes them feel the ease and urge to meet and socialize on many levels (McGinley, et al., 2015). This is why it is important to have such proximity between people who are attracted to one another (Brown, 2014).
Beauty is defined as the experience of pleasure or satisfaction based on perception. That is why beauty can only be seen and not felt (Weidenfeld & Leask, 2013). What people see as beautiful is often a creation of their social setting. It is a form of influence that ends up making the person to feel that what they see as beautiful is not as beautiful or appealing as they suppose. Beauty is thus a form of influence that is borne out of what the society considers to be appealing or not. Beauty is however the greatest contributor to perceptions about attraction (Launay & Dunbar, 2015). Where there is an attraction, beauty is often a factor that is critical and central to the theme.
Beauty is about the traits that make one seem to have a beautiful character and to some extent, beautiful build and look. It applies to both persons of the male and those of the female gender (Talamas, Mavor & Perrett, 2016). Despite the variations in perception across various cultures, beauty remains to be one of the most influential factors in establishing attraction between people. In such a case, beauty becomes defined by the intrinsic features that a person possesses and not their outward appearances (Launay & Dunbar, 2015).
There are various stereotypes that are related to beauty. Most people tend to think that people naturally get attracted to those individuals whom they have certain common features with (McGinley, et al., 2015). This stereotyping concept involves both men and female, and in this example, the proponents of this belief argue that the existing high number of integration, interaction, marriage, and business establishments between people of the same ethnicity proves that people get attracted to others whom they share a certain common (Brown, 2014). In other words, one does not need to be beautiful or to possess certain features for them to be loved by another individual.
There are two major forms of beauty that are in existent at the moment. These are; augmented beauty and natural beauty. Whereas naturally beauty is acquired naturally and one may possess it from the time they are born, augmented beauty is acquired artificially (Diessner, et.al, 2012). To acquire augmented beauty, a person uses various artificial beauty products and solutions to enhance their appearance by becoming more beautiful than they were previously (Launay & Dunbar, 2015). Even though both these two types of beauty make one attractive, there are various concerns about the longevity of augmented beauty.
Vacker & Key (2013) argue that beauty only causes short-term attraction. Similarity in people’s perception of beauty is really what matters. It is the views they hold about a beautiful place, beautiful hoses, activities and people that male them attracted to one another for long (Vacker & Key, 2013). Similarity is the state of resemblance between entities. (Mitteness, et al., 2016). When people share similar feelings, they have a likeness for same places, beliefs, tangible things and approaches to life (Mitteness, et al., 2016). Similarity is one aspect that traverses all other concepts in attraction because there is a significant relationship between the concept of beauty, perception of attractiveness and reciprocity on similarity. Each concept requires that there be another person sharing a similar opinion as another before a bond can be established (Brown, 2014). This unites the people on a common ideology or belief.
The importance of being beautiful creates the need for one to put in the effort so as to become beautiful (Talamas, Mavor, &Perrett, 2016). This is because, without beauty, a person may not be attractive to others. As a result, they may end up feeling dejected and living a lonely life. Since human beings are social species, it is wise to put in an effort to enhance beauty so as to live a comfortable and soothing life with many admirers as compared to living unfulfilling life as a result of lowbeauty levels (Weidenfeld & Leask, 2013). Therefore, as Englis, Solomon and Ashmore (2014) argue, that it is more sensible to put in the effort so as to improve a person’s beauty as compared to leaving it the way it is and undergoing a tough social life.
Many people consider the feeling of attraction to be related to the symmetrical shape of the person, shape or thing. Many people are attracted to beauty and not value. There is thus the general feeling that most human beings will often proverbially ‘read a book by its cover.’ This is a concern among persons who mask their attractive qualities by not being very outgoing and expressive about their characters.
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders References
Brown, J. D. (2014). Self-esteem and self-evaluation: Feeling believes. Psychological perspectives on the self, 4, 27-58.
Diessner, R., Solom, R. C., Frost, N. K., Parsons, L., & Davidson, J. (2012).Engagement with beauty: Appreciating natural, artistic, and moral beauty.The Journal of Psychology, 142(3), 303-29. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/213828232?accountid=45049.
Englis, B. G., Solomon, M. R., &Ashmore, R. D. (2014). Beauty before the eyes of beholders: The cultural encoding of beauty types in magazine advertising and music television.Journal of Advertising, 23(2), 49. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/236550542?accountid=45049
Launay, J., & Dunbar, R. M. (2015). Playing with Strangers: Which Shared Traits Attract Us Most to New People?. Plos ONE, 10(6), 1-17.doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0129688
McGinley, S., Zhang, L., Mattila, A., & O’Neill, J. (2015). Attraction to Hospitality Companies: How Processing Fluency Moderates Value Fit. Journal Of Human Resources In Hospitality & Tourism, 14(1), 25-44.doi:10.1080/15332845.2014.904171
Mitteness, C. R., DeJordy, R., Ahuja, M. K., &Sudek, R. (2016). Extending the Role of Similarity Attraction in Friendship and Advice Networks in Angel Groups. Entrepreneurship: Theory & Practice, 40(3), 627-655. doi:10.1111/etap.12135
Talamas, S. N., Mavor, K. I., &Perrett, D. I. (2016). Blinded by Beauty: Attractiveness Bias and Accurate Perceptions of Academic Performance. Plos ONE, 11(2), 1-18.doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0148284
Vacker, B., & Key, W. R. (2013). Beauty and the beholder: The pursuit of beauty through commodities.Psychology & Marketing (1986-1998), 10(6), 471. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/230393591?accountid=45049
Weidenfeld, A., &Leask, A. (2013). Exploring the relationship between visitor attractions and events: definitions and management factors. Current Issues In Tourism, 16(6), 552-569. doi:10.1080/13683500.2012.702736
