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Due Oct 2 11:59pmAvailable until Oct 250 points possibleUnsubscribedManage Discussion

Discussion Topic: Psych Selfie #1Psych Selfie #1

“Psychology Selfie”

This assignment entails you to take a picture of yourself (or have someone take it) that demonstrates a psychological concept from the most recent units (Chapters 1- 7). Please post the photo in the body of your thread.   In addition to your photo, you need to write a paragraph (minimum 5 -7 sentences) that defines the concept in your own words  using in-text citations for your paraphrased definition. That paragraph needs to explain how your photo relates to the concept being depicted.  

You need to then do research about this concept, refer to it, and use it to do any one of the following: Explain the concept better to someone else by going into more detail, comparing what your research says to what your textbook says, explaining how this informed you, or something along those lines. This should be a paragraph (minimum 5 – 7 sentences). You must use in-text citations in reference to the material you use for every source you use.  You should not be  quoting your sources, you should be paraphrasing and using in text citations for  the paraphrases.

In addition, please comment on how understanding/applying this concept could add value to your life or someone else’s minimum a paragraph, (minimum 5 – 7 sentences). You can incorporate your research here instead if that makes more sense. If you incorporate the research here, you must use in-text citations here.

Doing just the bare minimum may not allow you to obtain full credit. Be thorough in your explanations.

You may not use general chapter titles as the main concept (ex. you cannot use “memory,” “learning,” “sensation” etc. but you could use extinction, absolute threshold, aptitude test ex.)
You must have a reference to your textbook and the source you researched and use in text citations for each one.
Those references must be included at the bottom of your post.

To submit the assignment you will post it here by creating a new thread in the forum. When you have finished, go back to the discussion board and insure that your photo is visible to everyone. To insert the photo, go to the rich content editor at the top of the window and click embed image (it’s the fifth icon in that looks like a mountain and a sun) or follow the directions hereLinks to an external site..

SAMPLE  SELFIE

In the photo I have attached, I am doing elementary number theory in a notebook at my dinner table. I am driven to do mathematics by intrinsic motivation, defined as “a motivation to take actions that are themselves rewarding” (Schacter et al., 2015). I find mathematics to be interesting and fun, and in this particular picture I am working on number theory for my own enjoyment, not to improve my grade in any class or obtain any kind of financial reward. Thus, since my motivation for doing the math doesn’t come from any outside reward, it is intrinsically motivated.

Research suggests that whether or not students show interest in mathematics courses is actually correlated with whether or not they believe their parents perceive mathematics as having intrinsic value. In a study by Lazarides, Rubach, and Ittel (2017) on high school students in 11th and 12th grade in Berlin, it was found that if students perceived that their parents found math to have intrinsic value, they would be more likely to believe mathematics had great utility. However, it wouldn’t necessarily follow that they themselves believed mathematics had a high intrinsic value. Interestingly, the study found that girls are much more likely than boys to perceive that their parents did not believe mathematics had intrinsic value and were less interested in mathematics related careers than boys (Lazarides et al., 2017, p. 6).

I think it’s important for us to understand intrinsic and extrinsic motivation because once we understand what we love and what we only do for its extrinsic value, we can gain some insight into the kinds of people we are and what truly matters to us. For me, coming to understand that I really loved math for its own sake opened the door for me to explore all sorts of interesting topics I wouldn’t have otherwise that have greatly enriched my life. I, like all of us, do lots of things for external rewards, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but the things that make my life worth living are all intrinsically motivated. It can be difficult sometimes to figure out whether something is worthwhile to me for its own sake, but understanding what those things are give me a better understanding of myself and the person I want to be.

References

Lazarides, R., Rubach, C., & Ittel, A. (2017). Adolescents’ perceptions of 

              socializers’ beliefs, career-related conversations, and motivation in

              mathematics. Developmental Psychology, 53(3), 525-539.

http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.vccs.edu:2048/10.1037/dev0000270

Schacter D., Gilbert, D. & Wegner, D., & Nock, M. (2017).  Introducing

             psychology. (4th ed.). Worth Publishers.