Current Events Project: Intro to Psych Studies 202

Dr. Sherri Lantinga | Dordt College  | http://homepages.dordt.edu/~lantinga/IPS/index.html | Spring 2009

Purpose and overview:  Awareness of the world in which we live is critical for living faithfully as servants in a global culture.  Daily news stories inform us of recent psychological research findings and situations of human suffering, both of which are related to psychology. Your task is to regularly review headlines, summarize relevant articles, and reflect on how each topic relates to psychology and a biblical view of persons.

Finding and writing about current events:  At least once per week, skim the headlines from any on-line daily news source that has national and international coverage (for example, New York Times, US News and World Report, CNN, Toronto Globe & Mail).  Select articles that reflect topics in psychology (for example: love, depression, prejudice, memory) and/or describe human suffering (for example, abuse, crime victims, addictions).

For each article, give a one-sentence summary, reflect on how that topic fits with psychology and with a biblical view of persons, and reflect on how a Christian psychologist could respond to that particular situation.  Write an APA-style reference for each article. Here is an example:

    Recent psychological research on divorce indicates that marriage dies more often from lack of communication than lack of passion.  In psychology, the topic of love and attraction includes marriage.  Some psychologists believe that love includes intimacy, commitment and passion; it's possible that communication is part of the commitment aspect, so that committment is a more important aspect of marital love (or long-term love) than passion.  Love is connected to our relational nature and so is communication; passion is connected more to our physical nature as it reflects emotion (adrenal glands, etc.).  Some couples have long-distance relationships because of their jobs; the research suggests that it would be very important for them to communicate often (phone, e-mail).  I'm not sure that just communication would be enough for a good marriage, though - passion would have to play some sort of role. Christian psychologists doing marriage counseling could help couples improve their communication skills; Christian psychologists doing research on divorce should also study what different people mean by communication - is it just the amount of talking that matters or what they talk about?  Does building strong communicaiton (prayer) with God help people communicate better in their marriage? I wonder if we should also help non-psychologists recognize signs of communication problems in marriages (church elders, pastors, etc.).

    Benton, S. (2009, January 3). Talking to love: divorce a silent solution. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com

You should collect and report on at least 25 articles over the course of the semester (January 26 to April 20); entries will be collected twice (March 6 and April 10) and you should have at least 10 entries completed for each date (in other words, don't submit just 1 entry the first time and 24 the next).  You may choose to have all 25 submitted by April 10 or continue to review headlines until April 20 and include the final summaries with your reflection paper.  Each set of collected entries is worth 30 points.

Reflection paper:  Write a 3-page paper (APA-style) that reflects on your experience of collecting articles related to psychology.  Re-read your article summaries and reflect on the following points as you write your reflection paper.

• What kinds of articles most attracted you? Do you see any patterns? Why do you think those topics attracted you?

• How does psychology as reported in the media reflect a biblical view of persons?

• Evaluate how this experience developed your self-insight and your understanding of what it means to be human

  • For example: your desire to serve others, your desire for further experience or education etc.

  • Make explicit connections to our course (for example, biblical and psychological views of the person, career options, ethical standards).

• Attach an APA-style title page

This paper will be evaluated based on the depth of content/insight and writing ability; it is worth 40 points.  Attach all of your article entries.

Class Presentation:  During the last week of the semester, you will give a brief class presentation on the current events you reviewed this semester.  This presentation should include a description of the main themes you identified in the articles you reviewed (e.g., love, loss, aggression), the degree to which a biblical view of persons was conveyed in the media, and how these articles developed your self-insight and understanding of psychology.  The presentation should be approximately 5-10 minutes long, should engage the class through examples and stories, and allow time for questions at the end.  Presentations are worth 15 points based on the rubric below:

page last revised January 2009