Strayer PSY105 All Weeks Discussions Latest 2018 October

PSY105 Introduction to Psychology

Week 1 Discussion

Please introduce yourself to the class. What’s your name? Where are you from? What degree are you working toward? When do you plan to graduate? Feel free to add any other fun facts related to your work, family, pets, hobbies, etc.

As we start to study psychology, some students wonder, "If I’m not a Psychology major, why do I need this class?" It’s a fair question, and educator Kendra Cherry has some answers. Please read her essay, “Why Do You Have to Take a Psychology Class?”

Cherry shares three key benefits that students get from studying psychology:

Better understanding of other people

Better understanding of yourself

Improved critical thinking—a key to good decision-making.

Choose ONE (1) thing you’d like to gain from this class. In the discussion, share how that benefit may help you toward your professional or personal goals.

PSY105 Introduction to Psychology

Week 2 Discussion

Do you have free will? Or does your brain chemistry make decisions for you?

This week you’re learning about the electrochemical reactions that happen every time you think, feel, sense, or act. So does that mean you aren’t in charge? Does body chemistry direct your choices and eliminate your control?

This TED video explains the specific ways caffeine affects your mood, alertness, and performance, all through your nervous system. Watch it and then write a post offering your opinion: Free will, or brain chemistry? Or is there some way to reconcile the two?

PSY105 Introduction to Psychology

Week 3 Discussion

Do people’s personalities ever really change? Or are we destined to make similar choices throughout our lives? This article explores the question through the dramatic example of a man in prison for a heinous crime.

PSY105 Introduction to Psychology

Week 4 Discussion

It's time to practice your focus and memory! Watch this video and play along with the focus game. Be sure to write down how well you did.

Start your discussion post by sharing how you performed. Did you get most of the words right, or not? Did you notice other details or did you miss them? What did you learn about your memory from this experience?

Along with your initial post, make sure to respond to 2 of your classmates’ posts in order to receive full credit.

PSY105 Introduction to Psychology

Week 5 Discussion

For this discussion, we will explore psychological disorders by hearing from those who have experienced one of these disorders in a personal way. Choose ONE of these stories and watch the accompanying Ted Talk. In your post, discuss what you learned from the talk about psychological disorders?

Elanor Longden (schizophrenia); https://youtu.be/syjEN3peCJw

Nikki Weber Allen (anxiety & depression); https://youtu.be/shG0ezBeeJc

Ji Hae Park (depression); https://youtu.be/ZMGZQZRIsJE

Kevin Briggs (depression & suicide); https://youtu.be/7CIq4mtiamY

These individuals share their stories about living with and addressing psychological disorders. Reading about these experiences is different than hearing these stories. In your post, share what you learned from the story. How does this story teach you about psychological disorders? Thank you!

PSY105 Introduction to Psychology

Week 6 Discussion

Review the following article: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/intense-emotions-and-strong-feelings/201012/it-or-not-emotions-will-drive-the-decisions-you

Assume that you are a team leader, and your team is responsible for achieving a number of tasks in a relatively short time. You have noticed that some of your team members tend to get overwhelmed and make emotional decisions that don’t always work out to the team’s benefit. Other team members seem to thrive in those situations and deliver in tight situations. Based upon this article, make a list of things you can do as a manager to make sure you balance the emotional profile of your team so they can be productive. For instance, how would you pair people to work together? How would you communicate (i.e. in-person, via email, one on one, etc.)?

PSY105 Introduction to Psychology

Week 7 Discussion

In the article, How Companies Can Profit from a “Growth Mindset”, there are a great number of benefits to encouraging employees and team members to grow and develop their skills, talents, and competencies. You started at your company as an entry level employee and have worked hard for several years. For a long time, you never thought you would be a good supervisor, but you decided to apply for the job. Now you find yourself as a manager at your company that believes in a fixed mindset approach. You’re the only person to be promoted within the organization to a manager level. All of the other managers have been hired from outside of the organization. How could you go about creating change within the organization and encouraging your company to foster a growth mindset? For instance, how would you deliver feedback to your team members that would promote a growth mindset?

PSY105 Introduction to Psychology

Week 8 Discussion

Assume for a moment that you are responsible for planning your family’s next summer vacation. Using the concepts of algorithms, schema, and heuristics, describe how you would go about planning this vacation. If you’re unfamiliar you can find definitions for these terms in Chapter 8 of the webtext. Think about how you decide on where to go, how you find your accommodations and/or travel arrangements, and what tools you decide to use to come to a decision.

PSY105 Introduction to Psychology

Week 9 Discussion

Congratulations! You've been promoted to be a new training manager for your department. Your first task is to train your team to use some new software. In your psychology class, you learned about two different approaches to learning 1.) Operant conditioning; 2.) Observational learning.

In your discussion post, share which approach you would use to train your team in using the new software. Be sure to use EITHER operant conditioning OR observational learning. In general (just a few sentences), describe what your training would be like based on the approach. Why do you think that approach will successfully teach your team to use the new software?

Remember to have a total of 3 posts to earn full credit for the discussion.

PSY105 Introduction to Psychology

Week 10 Discussion

In this interview (https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/functioning-flourishing/201801/are-you-tougher-you-think), Emilia Lahti offers five specific actions you can take to build up Sisu so that you can endure and even thrive in moments of extreme stress. For this discussion, pick one of the five and describe how you will work to build your capacity to do this. How will cultivating this specific action help you?

Remember to have a total of 3 posts to earn full credit for the discussion.

PSY105 Introduction to Psychology

Week 11 Discussion

In the spirit of prosocial behavior, this is a chance for you to share your advice with future students. As you think back on the past 11 weeks of PSY105, what advice would you give to future students who take this class? Remember to have 3 posts in this discussion.