The purpose of this discussion is for you to demonstrate your understanding of the material. Approach your response as though it is a mini essay with complete sentences, distinct paragraphs, and correct spelling and punctuation. Grammar and spelling matter. Online courses demand the same standard of academic communication and use of grammar as face-to-face courses.

Review the section in the text covering psychology’s intellectual roots and respond to the following prompts using a minimum of 300 words: In addition, you are expected to provide a supportive and/or reflective comment to the post of one classmate. In order to receive the maximum possible 10 points, you must accurately and thoroughly answer each part of the discussion prompt using at least 300 words (including the prompt in your response is not included in the word count) and comment on the post of one of your classmates.

1. Why is it important to approach psychology from a sociocultural perspective? Give an example from something you have observed or experienced which demonstrates the huge impact that factors such as ethnicity, religion, occupation, or social class, have had on your or others’ mental processes and behavior.
2. What thoughts do you have about why the biopsychosocial model has gained wide acceptance?

(classmate post:

1. The biggest reason that I believe we should approach psychology from a sociocultural perspective is that it influences a person the most. When people grow up, I think that their environment, and factors like the economic status they are in play a big role in how their beliefs are formed and how they act. People tend to be around other people from the same communities that they are in, religious, economic, social, etc. The people in those communities shape each other. Take religion, for example, and how it guides people from “right” and “wrong”. Every religion will give you a list of things you can or cannot do, like the 10 Commandments. When people argue that homosexuality is a sin, religion is their justification for that. On the contrary, people do good deeds, following whichever book they worship, hoping it will help them get into heaven. Since religion is typically taught to children from a very early age, it plays a big role in the formation of their values and beliefs, so people who are religious tend to have a different set of beliefs than someone who is not religious. From what I see, social classes have the biggest impact on one’s mental processes and behaviors. This is because you grow up and live in a different world. Someone in the upper class does not necessarily have to deal with struggles and are less empathetic. While people in the lower class, know what it is like to struggle on a day-to-day basis, and do not know what it is like to live comfortably. I have lived in places where there is a huge gap between different classes and I can see first hand how people act. In one place, I would see more crime, rundown areas, but I would see more down to earth people. A mile down the road I would see posh areas, less crime, but more stuck up people. Not to generalize entire groups of people, but that is just what I observed and typically see in my life
2. Psychology can be interpreted from many different points of views if you can recognize more than one. I think that the biopsychological model has gained widespread acceptance because it takes all of the seven perspectives and intertwines them into one. If you examine one’s behaviors or actions through just one psychological perspective, you have a very narrow tunnel that you are looking through because a behavior can be influenced by many different things. For example, let’s say a kid is upset and crying. From a behavioral perspective, maybe the sun melted their ice cream so they are upset. From a cognitive perspective, maybe some bad news was broken to them so they were sad about it. From a biological perspective, maybe they are genetically more sensitive. From a sociocultural perspective, they are sad because their family got evicted because they were not able to afford their rent. With all the different perspectives, it is easy to only see things from one point of view and unconsciously ignore other possible reasons for a behavior. However, from the biopsychological model, psychology is not as narrow. Maybe more than one of those things I mentioned above contributed to the child being upset causing him or her to cry. But the different reasons would not be recognizable under one perspective. But under the biopsychological model, you can see things from all the different points of views, not just one. For example, last year when there was a terror attack in London, there was a Muslim woman wearing a hijab on her phone who was photographed. This was only seen from one perspective and she was reported as just ignoring the people in distress around her. When in reality, she was in distress and letting her family know she was okay after helping other people out to safety. This is an example of seeing only one perspective versus seeing all. I also think that it is more widely accepted because it is just easier to remember. Trying to remember the seven different perspectives can be difficult, as opposed to just remembering one model that has different factors at play.)

Read and respond to EACH number in a non- essay format with at least 100 words and no more than 150 words. Must be a minimum of 100 words for each numbered question/response.

1)Everyone,Megan is correct that asking questions is an important part of critical thinking. According to Paul and Elder (1996) “The key to powerful thinking is powerful questioning. When we ask the right questions, we succeed as a thinker, for questions are the force that powers our thinking.”

What kinds of questions will you ask to get at the truth?

(Paul, R. and Elder, L. (May 1996). Foundation For Critical Thinking

2)The text talks about the three categories of questions, question of fact, preference, and judgment and these are the types of questions you ask to think critically. These kinds of questions will get you knowledgeable answers and “lead you to more questioning” Paul, R., & Elder, L. (2012), which is all a part of thinking critically. You want to ask questions that take some thought and reflection and you may even ask questions that make you uncomfortable or make you feel not so smart, but these questions will only open your mind and allow more thought and questions which is critical thinking and will lead you to the truth. respond to this students post

3)Asking questions, the right questions goes to the heart of critical thinking. Paul & Elder (2012), identify the three categories of asking questions; questions of fact, questions of preference, and questions of judgment.

Let’s start this discussion talking about each of these types of questions.

Please select one category of questioning and explain it in your own words.

Reference: Paul, R., & Elder, L. (2012). Critical thinking: Tools for taking charge of your learning and your life (3rd ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.

4)RESPOND TO THIS STUDENTS POST

Questions of judgment in my own words would be, questions that are primarily up for debate. There are many possibilities but in this category, it’s important to find the best possible answer. The only way to find the best possible answer is by debating what is right and what is wrong and evaluating every answer rationally. Doing this rationally requires evidence and in my opinion lots of patience. You can’t rush questions of judgment. For examples in a court of law this type of questioning is common, you can’t make an impulsive decision because it may cause more damage than good. In the text, it gives an example, “what is the best thing we can do to save the earth?” This is certainly a question of judgment because you need to evaluate and debate until we get the best possible answer of what to do to save the Earth, we can’t just make a decision without ruling out whats right and whats wrong.

5)Everyone,

When we talk about argument, we are interested in understanding the diverse points of view that exist within our world. When supporting our own point of view it is important to remove emotion and focus on supporting details.

After watching this video discuss how critical thinking can help you analyze and construct arguments.

6)One way people may think about arguments is that they are ‘fights’ or ‘quarrels.’ However, when we discuss arguments, in logic and critical thinking, an argument is a claim or statement supported by evidence. When considering your own point of view on a topic, the stronger you are able to support your “side” the more likely you will be able to convince others to go along with you.

When constructing an argument the narrator suggests we should consider two things; a differing point of view and possible questions or objections.

Why would this be important?

Reference: Evidence in argument: Critical thinking [Video file]. (2009). Retrieved August 11, 2017, from https://fod.infobase.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?wID=…

7)How can you determine if an argument is valid?

8)This video gave a lot of detail about valid and invalid arguments and how to tell if an argument is valid. From this video, I understand that arguments can’t be true or false they can only be valid or invalid. There are two premises and one conclusion in arguments. The premises are the statements that are doing the supporting and the conclusion is the statement that is being supported. The argument is valid only if its premises guarantee the truth of its conclusion.

Write a one-page paper summarizing the readings, articles or report. Students should analyze by answering two or more of the following questions:

How significant is the question?

How convincing or persuasive is the argument?

Is there a different methodology the author could have used?

How logical are the causes and outcomes behind the argument?

Is the empirical evidence and methodology sound, why or why not? Are there alternative explanations the author could have considered?

What solutions does the reading propose to solve a specific issue and do you agree with them and have others to propose?

Required Readings/ Recommended Readings

Sean L. Yom, “Introduction: The Middle East and North Africa in Comparative Perspective,” in Mark Gasiorowski and Sean L. Yom (eds.), The Government and Politics of the Middle East and North Africa (Boulder, Co: Westview, 2017): pp. 17-25. (text book)

Eva Bellin, “The Robustness of Authoritarianism in the Middle East: A Comparative Perspective,” Comparative Politics 36.2 (January 2004): pp. 139-157. (attached as pdf)

Philippe C. Schmitter and Terry Lynn Karl, “What Democracy is… and is not?” Journal of Democracy (Summer 1991): 75-88.Preview the document (attached as pdf )

Assignment

• 500 words!
• Choose a subject appropriate for a narrative essay, using one specific experience from your own life.
• Your body paragraphs will take the reader through the story itself; your introduction and conclusion will situate the story.
• You will use first person in this essay.
• Bring your description skills to your work! I look forward to seeing your richly describe the setting, characters, and actions.
• Dialogue is acceptable but not necessary. I’d rather have you write the scenes and events without significant or lengthy dialogue.
• Make sure that you follow the narrative arc and have the story grow from a central problem that provides the story’s purpose and exigence.

Grading Overview (also: see our rubric)

• Sensory details — do you paint a clear picture of your moment and scene for the reader?
• Organization and development – do you use transitions that work to improve the flow of your paper? Does your paper have a chronology to order it?
• Focus and perspective – please do not refer to the act of writing the paper or the assignment itself.
• Dominant impression – what idea do you want your reader to come away with after reading your story?
• Mechanics – see your textbook, or visit the Writing Center, for help with this.

Rubric

Essay Rubric

After you write your narrative essay, take 100-150 words to answer these questions:

• What is strongest in my essay? (What am I proudest of?)
• What are my areas of weakness in this essay? What do I need to work on as I continue writing essays?
• What would I change if I had another week to improve or revise this essay?
• What did I learn from writing this essay that I’ll bring to my future essays?

You can submit your work via a Word or *pdf document attached to this assignment.