Cypress College Becoming a Critical Consumer of Information Discussion

 

 

Purpose:

Being aware of what is happening in the psychology community  and becoming a critical consumer of information/research overall is of  great value. It is also important to become aware of the “dark side” of research, journals, and publishing (for example, neoliberalism and the privatization of research, as well as gatekeeping).

Your Task:

• During the semester, you will search for and share about one recent article  (either a recently published journal article or a news article for  example pertaining to social psychology). Make sure the article is not  older than one month at the time of your post. You may use the LBCC  Library to search for articles (via EBSCO or ProQuest): https://lbcc.libguides.com/c.php?g=1050566&p=7626147  (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.)You  may also consider the following websites/listservs: American  Psychological Association, Science Daily, Simply Psychology, and Psych  Central.
• You will then share that article/news piece/event with the class  through the discussion forum (include a hyperlink or the attach the  actual document).
• You will discuss what you understood about that article/what you  learned, and whether anything surprised you/stood out to you in  particular.
• You may also critique the article (as far as its strengths/what was  done well and limitations, or what was not done well/what is not being  considered/what is being overlooked). Are the findings credible, valid,  and reliable? Are there any conflicts of interest or ethical  considerations? Can this be a trusted source? Why or why not? How can  you tell?
• Make sure to highlight/explain how this article relates to social  psychology/illustrates a social psychological  topic/construct/phenomenon, how it furthers our understanding of a  particular idea/topic/concept within the field, and how it contributes  to the (dis)advancement of the field/discipline as well as our  understanding of human behavior in the social environment.
• You will also respond to at least one of your classmate’s  posts. The goal is to facilitate meaningful dialogue here. I encourage  you to ask your classmates questions when responding to them, rather  than simply “great response” or “I agree”. Challenge and help one  another to dig deeper and engage in critical discourse.

POST 1

This article highlighted the relationship between civic engagement, social connection, and antisocial behavior among young immigrant Somali adults. Analyzing the progression of civic development with both Somali males and females, I learned that active involvement in one’s community does have an effect on the social behaviors of individuals. While this finding made sense, I was shocked that even with progressive civic engagement some males from this study lacked a social connection in the activities they performed and as a result decreased their civic engagement over time. Additionally, I learned that Somali females from this study resulted in having lower antisocial behaviors or attitudes, which I thought was an interesting result and difference between male and female outcomes.

Overall this article was fact based and professionally constructed, but it did lack a substantial amount of research and was limited to only males and females of Somali culture. Considering the research method and performed studies as well as the researchers, the findings presented are credible and valid, but again the specific scope on Somali immigrants makes it harder to compare and contrast these conditions with other cultures.

Given the present relation to social connections and antisocial behaviors, this article relates to social psychology because it connects the impact of our individual interactions with others to the progression of social/anti social behaviors within ourselves. The scope of this study also contributes insight into the psychology of political involvement in relation to individual behavior.