Demonstrator 3-B Writing-AP Psychology-Researching Using Technology

Students have been given the task of researching criminal behavior.  After the research process, they must write a paper APA Style Documentation as well as give an oral presentation using visual help from Prezi or Power Point.

Images 1-2  Research in the library:

Image 3- Typing up the Paper; 

Image 4-Creating the Power Point  

Images 5 and 6_Student doing presentation: 

AP Psychology Behaviorism-Criminal Behavior Project-Writing Standard Demonstrators 1B-2B-4A--- Speaking, listening and language usage.

Psychology In Action

Criminal Behavior

Name _____________________________

Criminal You Choose: _______________________________________________________________________

TASK

In this assignment you must choose and research a criminal and give a detailed report on his criminal record.

Step I

Look at the list attached and choose a criminal that you would like to research.

Choose carefully as everyone will chose one, you will not be able to change your mind once you have decided. This list is not complete by any means but is some of the better known criminals.  Please feel free to explore on your own just let me know what you find and get it approved by me. 

 Step II

Use various resources to research your criminal. You may use sources

such as websites, encyclopedia and CD Roms and books (** Maximum of 2 internet

sites **)

Step III-Decide if your criminal has this behavior due to nature or nurture.  Then write a position paper about it.  An introduction with a thesis statement, supporting paragraphs and conclusion are required.  Please use psychological theories to date and other information you find. The paper must meet the following requirements below. You must also have a power point and/or visuals to accompany your report and presentation. You will present your findings in class and there will be a 7 minute time limit for presentations.   

Instruction for the assignment!

Write a research paper using the following criteria.

• Between 700 and 1000 words
• Do Not Plagiarize-If you are not sure what plagiarism is, ask me!
• Do not use Wikipedia, it is not a creditable site. 
• Google, Ask, yahoo are not web addresses, they are search engines.
• Use APA style documentation for the entire paper.
• Cover Page Required
• Double Spaced
• 12-14 Font, no bigger and no smaller
• Bibliography Page Required

Student has researched information to present to the class.  She is demonstrating good speaking and performance skills in her presentation.  Information is appropriate for content. 

Project Me-Demonstrator 4-E

Project Me!

Psychology/Sociology

Aug. 2013

          You will have 2-weeks to complete this project.  The due date for it is Aug. 29. Please take the time to complete this assignment to the best of your ability. Incomplete projects will be assigned an incomplete grade. 250 pts.

1.    One Hundred Goals: Type 100 goals that you want to accomplish in your lifetime.  (e.g. to travel to Italy before age 50). You will need to take 5 of those goals and explain in detail how you plan on accomplishing them.

2.    Self-Portrait: Draw a picture of yourself ten years from now engaged in the activity of your choice (this could be a picture of what you will be doing in 10 years.). You will not be graded on artistic ability however, please do your best. Be prepared to share with the class.

Project Me-Demonstrator 4-B-Arts&Humanities

Project Me: AP Psychology



Project Me!

Psychology/Sociology

Aug. 2013

          You will have 2-weeks to complete this project.  The due date for it is Aug. 29. Please take the time to complete this assignment to the best of your ability. Incomplete projects will be assigned an incomplete grade. 250 pts.

1.    Me Mobile: These mobiles should tell the story about who you are just by looking at the pictures and things you choose to put on your mobile.  I will be hanging them around the classroom.  You will be given the opportunity to share your project with the class.

Writing Demonstrator 2-C and 3-B

Psychology In Action

Criminal Behavior

Name _____________________________

Criminal You Choose: _______________________________________________________________________

TASK

In this assignment you must choose and research a criminal and give a detailed report on his criminal record.

Step I

Look at the list attached and choose a criminal that you would like to research.

Choose carefully as everyone will chose one, you will not be able to change your mind once you have decided. This list is not complete by any means but is some of the better known criminals.  Please feel free to explore on your own just let me know what you find and get it approved by me. 

Step II

Use various resources to research answers to questions below. You may use sources

such as websites, encyclopedia and CD Roms and books (** Maximum of 2 internet

sites **)

Step III-Decide if your criminal has this behavior due to nature or nurture.  Then write a position paper about it.  An introduction with a thesis statement, supporting paragraphs and conclusion are required.  Please use psychological theories to date and other information you find. The paper must meet the following requirements below. You must also have a power point and/or visuals to accompany your report and presentation.

Instruction for the assignment!

Write a research paper suing the following criteria.

• Between 700 and 1000 words
• Do Not Plagiarize-If you are not sure what plagiarism is, ask me!
• Do not use Wikipedia, it is not a creditable site. 
• Google, Ask, yahoo are not web addresses, they are search engines.
• Use APA style documentation
• Cover Page Required
• Double Spaced
• 12-14 Font, no bigger and no smaller
• Bibliography Page Required

LIST OF CRIMINALS TO

PROFILE

1. Jonbenet Ramsey (on going case)

2. OJ Simpson

3. Ronnie Biggs

4. Rory Conde (prostitute killers)

5. The Red ripper (Lucian Stanick)

6. John George Haigh (Acid Bath Murder)

7. Martin Bryant

8. Julian Knight

9. Robert Lee Yates (Spokane Serial Killer)

10. Theodore Bundy

11. Adrian Babb (The Birmingham Rapist)

12. Albert Henry Desalvo (Boston Strangler)

13. Charles Manson

14. Lee Harvey Oswald

15. Menendez Brothers

16. Kitty Genovese

17. Louise Woodward (Nanny Murder trial)

18. The Green River Killer

19. Diana Lumberra (Serial killer)

20. Jack the Ripper

21. John Wayne Gacy

22. Jeanne Boyler (Unabomber)

23. Peter Sutcliffe (Yorkshire Ripper)

24. Edward Gein

25. Mary Bell

26. Billy Milligan

27. John Francis Duffy (The Railway Rapist)

28. Angelo Buono and Kenneth Bianchi (The Hillside Stranglers)

29. Andrei Chikatilo (The Rostov Ripper)

30. Peter Kurten (The Vampire of Dusseldorf)

31. Wayne Williams (Atlanta, 1981)

32. Michael Sams (England, 1991)

33. Henry Lee Lucas (Texas, 1983)

34. Colin Ireland (London, 1993)

35. Jeffrey Dahmer (Milwaukee, 1991)

The Effect of Media on our Lives!

For the past few weeks we have been looking at television shows as our form of media.  While it is not the only form of media that impacts our lives today it is one of the most time consuming forms. We watch t.v. to escape, to learn, to laugh and to cry.

Other forms of media do impact our lives as well.  NEWS!  NEWSPAPERS! MAGAZINES! SOCIAL MEDIA! TALK SHOWS! and yes....Video Games! .....Obviously I could go on and on but I think you get the point. So the next time you are watching, reading, listening to some form of media, think about how it impacts your life.  Media creates so many life altering moments in our lives.  Here is a picture and article that I would like you to read. 

Do Video Games cause violence and other behaviors?



---

February 11, 2013

Shooting in the Dark

By BENEDICT CAREY

     The young men who opened fire at Columbine High School, at the movie theater in Aurora, Colo., and in other massacres had this in common: they were video gamers who seemed to be acting out some dark digital fantasy. It was as if all that exposure to computerized violence gave them the idea to go on a rampage — or at least fueled their urges.

                                                                  But did it really?

     Social scientists have been studying and debating the effects of media violence on behavior since the 1950s, and video games in particular since the 1980s. The issue is especially relevant today, because the games are more realistic and bloodier than ever, and because most American boys play them at some point. Girls play at lower rates and are significantly less likely to play violent games.

     A burst of new research has begun to clarify what can and cannot be said about the effects of violent gaming. Playing the games can and does stir hostile urges and mildly aggressive behavior in the short term. Moreover, youngsters who develop a gaming habit can become slightly more aggressive — as measured by clashes with peers, for instance — at least over a period of a year or two.

     Yet it is not at all clear whether, over longer periods, such a habit increases the likelihood that a person will commit a violent crime, like murder, rape, or assault, much less a Newtown-like massacre. (Such calculated rampages are too rare to study in any rigorous way, researchers agree.)

      “I don’t know that a psychological study can ever answer that question definitively,” said Michael R. Ward, an economist at the University of Texas, Arlington. “We are left to glean what we can from the data and research on video game use that we have.”

     The research falls into three categories: short-term laboratory experiments; longer-term studies, often based in schools; and correlation studies — between playing time and aggression, for instance, or between video game sales and trends in violent crime.

     Lab experiments confirm what any gamer knows in his gut: playing games like “Call of Duty,” “Killzone 3” or “Battlefield 3” stirs the blood. In one recent study, Christopher Barlett, a psychologist at Iowa State University, led a research team that had 47 undergraduates play “Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance” for 15 minutes.

     Afterward, the team took various measures of arousal, both physical and psychological. It also tested whether the students would behave more aggressively, by having them dole out hot sauce to a fellow student who, they were told, did not like spicy food but had to swallow the sauce.

     Sure enough, compared with a group who had played a nonviolent video game, those who had been engaged in “Mortal Kombat” were more aggressive across the board. They gave their fellow students significantly bigger portions of the hot sauce.

     Many similar studies have found the same thing: A dose of violent gaming makes people act a little more rudely than they would otherwise, at least for a few minutes after playing.

It is far harder to determine whether cumulative exposure leads to real-world hostility over the long term. Some studies in schools have found that over time digital warriors get into increasing numbers of scrapes with peers — fights in the schoolyard, for example. In a report published last summer, psychologists at Brock University in Ontario found that longer periods of violent video game playing among high school students predicted a slightly higher number of such incidents over time.

      “None of these extreme acts, like a school shooting, occurs because of only one risk factor; there are many factors, including feeling socially isolated, being bullied, and so on,” said Craig A. Anderson, a psychologist at Iowa State University. “But if you look at the literature, I think it’s clear that violent media is one factor; it’s not the largest factor, but it’s also not the smallest.”

     Most researchers in the field agree with Dr. Anderson, but not all of them. Some studies done in schools or elsewhere have found that it is aggressive children who are the most likely to be drawn to violent video games in the first place; they are self-selected to be in more schoolyard conflicts. And some studies are not able to control for outside factors, like family situation or mood problems.

     “This is a pool of research that, so far, has not been very well done,” said Christopher J. Ferguson, associate professor of psychology and criminal justice at Texas A&M International University and a critic of the field whose own research has found no link. “I look at it and I can’t say what it means.”

Neither Dr. Ferguson, nor others interviewed in this article, receive money from the gaming industry.

     Many psychologists argue that violent video games “socialize” children over time, prompting them to imitate the behavior of the game’s characters, the cartoonish machismo, the hair-trigger rage, the dismissive brutality. Children also imitate flesh and blood people in their lives, of course — parents, friends, teachers, siblings — and one question that researchers have not yet answered is when, exactly, a habit is so consuming that its influence trumps the socializing effects of other major figures in a child’s life.

     That is, what constitutes a bad habit? In surveys about 80 percent of high school-age boys say they play video games, most of which are thought to be violent, and perhaps a third to a half of those players have had a habit of 10 hours a week or more.

     The proliferation of violent video games has not coincided with spikes in youth violent crime. The number of violent youth offenders fell by more than half between 1994 and 2010, to 224 per 100,000 population, according to government statistics, while video game sales have more than doubled since 1996.

In a working paper now available online, Dr. Ward and two colleagues examined week-by-week sales data for violent video games, across a wide range of communities. Violence rates are seasonal, generally higher in summer than in winter; so are video game sales, which peak during the holidays. The researchers controlled for those trends and analyzed crime rates in the month or so after surges in sales, in communities with a high concentrations of young people, like college towns.

     “We found that higher rates of violent video game sales related to a decrease in crimes, and especially violent crimes,” said Dr. Ward, whose co-authors were A. Scott Cunningham of Baylor University and Benjamin Engelstätter of the Center for European Economic Research in Mannheim, Germany.

No one knows for sure what these findings mean. It may be that playing video games for hours every day keeps people off the streets who would otherwise be getting into trouble. It could be that the games provide “an outlet” that satisfies violent urges in some players — a theory that many psychologists dismiss but that many players believe.

                                              Or the two trends may be entirely unrelated.

“At the very least, parents should be aware of what’s in the games their kids are playing,” Dr. Anderson said, “and think of it from a socialization point of view: what kind of values, behavioral skills, and social scripts is the child learning?”

Research Help

As we continue to dig into to Cultural Diversity I pray that your research is progressing as well.  I know that you are feeling a little stressed about presenting information about something you have never experienced but it's all good.  We are in this together so have fun. 

I have included a few sites that might be of some assistance to you in your documentation as well as research for those cultural traits and patterns that you will present. 

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/section/2/10/

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/

http://www.amish.net/lifestyle.asp

http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/sociopolitica/sociopol_newage04.htm

http://www.unomaha.edu/itwsjr/ThirdXV/JervisAfrikaners.15.htm

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/

http://www.didjshop.com/shop1/AbCulturecart.html

Sociology

It's a new year and we have so much more to learn about.  As 2013 brings about some new and interesting journeys, we will embark upon them together as we learn about the second half of this class. 

Sociology, according to Dictionary.com it is

Pronounced....
so·ci·ol·o·gy (ss-l-j, -sh-)

n.

 

Defined:

1. The study of human social behavior, especially the study of the origins, organization, institutions, and development of human society.

2. Analysis of a social institution or societal segment as a self-contained entity or in relation to society as a whole.

 

 

Based on the definition alone, you can only imagine what we will be doing.  You guessed it....people watching!  Who doesn't love to watch people?  Well, sometimes........ I realize that there are times when it is a little disturbing.  It just depends upon your definition of normal.  Oh wait, that was last semester.

 

Anyway, we are going to watch others, learn about ourselves, define social deviance and establish some rules for our little society called Sociology Class otherwise called, Group Norms. 

 

Group Norms for Sociology Class

1. Absolutely no making fun of people. (My contribution to the group norms)

 

 

Please comment and add to our list.  What would you like to see as part of our socioety?