Think Like a Psychologist Paper #2 A Suitable Girl
Purpose & Skills: The purpose of this essay is to help you connect psychological concepts and theories with the real-life topic of arranged marriage, using a multicultural perspective. Developing this essay gives you the opportunity to practice the following skills that are vital to your success not only in this course, but also in your professional life beyond college.
Time Commitment: 3-4 hours, including time to watch the assigned documentary, review concepts in your textbook and supplemental source on Sternberg’s triangular theory of love, develop your paper, revise/edit, and submit.
Learning Outcomes: How is this connected? This paper will also help you to become familiar with the following learning outcomes for this course:
1. Explain how different theoretical perspective influence applications.
2. Understand the interaction of heredity (nature) and environment (nurture) as each affects cognitive and psychosocial milestones throughout the lifespan.
3. Explain the psychological issues and pressures of adolescence, such as identity formation.
4. Describe psychosocial functioning in young adulthood.
5. Discuss the impact of intimate relationships and lifestyles on human development, including love, marriage, divorce, blended families, alternative lifestyles, and parenthood.
Assignment Directions: Here’s What You Need to Do You are a developmental psychologist who has been tasked with exploring arranged marriage in Indian culture. Your goal is to examine how marital practices are similar and different between India and America, as well as to apply theoretical perspectives to arranged marriage.
There are 2 steps involved in this assignment: STEP 1 Assigned Documentary: “A Suitable Girl”
Watch the assigned documentary “A Suitable Girl.” As a PSCC student, you have FREE access to Kanopy, which is where you will access the documentary:
1. Go to this link: https://pstcc.kanopy.com/video/suitable-girl
2. Kanopy will open. Click the “log in” box in the top right corner.
3. If you do not have an account already, click the small text at the top that says “Don’t have an account yet? Get started”
4. Set up an account. Use only your PSCC email address. (your @pstcc.edu email address). Any password you choose will work. 5. Once you are logged in, Kanopy should bring you back to the initial video. If not, close the page and click the link again (without logging out).
STEP 2 Develop your Assignment:
Open a Word document and set it to double-spacing, 12 pt. Times New Roman font.
• Discuss how family is involved in the process of arranged marriage: Which family is involved in the process? Whose voices are heard, and whose voices are NOT heard?
• Based on your observations from the documentary, compare and contrast how arranged marriage is both different from and similar to how marriage occurs in the United States. • Apply Erikson’s psychosocial theory, to arranged marriage, using Stages 1, 5, and 6. (Chapters 4, 10, and 11, respectively) o Explain how you believe Stage 1 (trust vs. mistrust) is related to arranged marriage? How is this crisis resolved (or not resolved) in the Indian culture?
o Explain how you believe Stage 5 (identity vs. role confusion) is affected by the situations you saw in the film. How is this crisis resolved in the Indian culture? o Explain how you believe Stage 6 (intimacy vs. isolation) is affected by what you saw in the film. How is this crisis resolved in the Indian culture?
• Identify and apply TWO (2) types of love you saw demonstrated/evolve in the film, in accordance with Sternberg’s triangular theory of love. Identify and apply at least TWO forms of love; more are welcome. (FREE Social Psychology eBook provided as a resource)
• Refer to chapter 4 in your textbook: Using the cognitive term working model, explain what marriage means in Indian culture. Describe how this differs from how marriage is viewed in the United States. • Refer to chapter 13 in your textbook: Examine Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Discuss which needs you believe are unmet in the arranged marriages shown in the film. According to arranged marriages in Indian culture, which needs seem to be prioritized the most? • Discuss which woman’s story (Dipti, Amrita, and/or Ritu) affected you the most. Explain why you were affected the most by that woman’s story.
Your paper must be a MINIMUM of 2 full pages, EXCLUDING the Title and References pages.
Important Note: While your personal opinions are welcome, this paper requires you to apply information you have learned from outside sources, so credit must be given where credit is due. List every resource you used for this paper, including the eBook, the assigned Social Psychology eBook, the documentary, and any supplemental empirical articles you may have used.
Papers submitted without an APA style references page and in-text citations will receive an automatic grade of zero points. Credit must be given where credit is due.
Submit your work to Brightspace Assignments: Remember that Brightspace Assignments only accepts .doc, .docx, .rtf, and pdf files. If I cannot open your paper, I cannot grade it. Play it safe and use Microsoft Word. Double-check that your paper submitted, and that you submitted the paper you intended to submit for this assignment. We are all humans, and humans make mistakes.
Criteria for Success: A grading rubric has been provided in Brightspace Assignments so that you can see how you will be graded on this paper and what you need to do in order to be successful.
