Posted: April 1st, 2015

Knowledge and Application of Psychology

Knowledge and Application of Psychology

Project description
The purpose of this writing assignment is to assess your knowledge of learning concepts and your ability to apply that knowledge to situations in life in the context of the Six Principles of Scientific Thinking outlined in the previous writing assignment. Learning concepts are covered in Chapter 6 of the Lilienfeld text.
General Instructions
This assignment should be between 3-5 pages in total. You should have an introductory and a concluding paragraph. Use APA style in the text and in the reference section (bibliography) to cite your 3 sources (the textbook and two additional sources). Use 12pt Times New Roman font, Double spaced, 1 inch margins. Each General Psychology instructor determines their own specific grading policies, consult with your instructor if you have grading questions. Papers shorter than 3 pages or longer than 5 may result in loss of points. This paper is not a full research report, so you do not need an abstract, cover-page, Materials and Methods section, results or discussion sections.
Here is a link to a guide for APA style when citing references from various types of sources:
http://www.ucdenver.edu/academics/colleges/CLAS/Centers/writing/resources/Documents/Resources/APA%20Citation.pdf
Specific instructions
1) Describe and contrast (in your own words, not the textbooks) classical and operant conditioning.
2) Classical Conditioning: Discuss and explain how classical conditioning is already found in both of the topics (claims) you wrote about in writing assignment 1 earlier this semester. Briefly (one to two paragraphs) describe how you could apply classical conditioning to alter behavior in each of the topics. Briefly outline a hypothetical study you could perform to measure the effect of your classical conditioning manipulation (two to three paragraphs for each claim). State how your study would use one of the scientific principles.
3) Operant Conditioning: Discuss and explain how operant conditioning is already found in both of the topics (claims) you wrote about in writing assignment 1 earlier this semester. Briefly (one to two paragraphs) describe how you could apply operant conditioning to alter behavior in each of the topics. Briefly outline a hypothetical study you could perform to measure the effect of your operant conditioning manipulation (two to three paragraphs for each claim). State how your study would use one of the scientific principles.

4) For both of the claims, you must cite your source. The sources must be cited both in the text of your paper and in the reference section (bibliography) using APA format.

5) Briefly sum up the importance of classical and operant conditioning principles in everyday life. In other words, how does an understanding of these principles affect everyday life?