Instructions for Research Paper: Choose a topic from your textbook, and compare
ID: 3497067 • Letter: I
Question
Instructions for Research Paper:
Choose a topic from your textbook, and compare the information from the text to the articles you select. Your paper should discuss the information you found, and also include one paragraph regarding your opinion on the research. Your paper must include three references: the textbook, a scholarly journal found by searching the Dakota College at Bottineau Online Library and an article of your choice for which you are able to provide an URL link. The paper needs to be 3-5 pages in length, including bibliography, and is worth 50 points (45 points possible during the last week, and 5 points this week for choosing an appropriate topic.)
The paper should be in American Psychological Association (APA) style.
This paper needs to be in your own words. If you use words copied directly from your sources, or just slightly reworded, that is plagiarism. Any plagiarism in a paper will result in a zero grade for the paper. You can acces the online library through our website www.dakotacollege.edu by clicking on library.
TOPIC: The mind of the Human Being.
Explanation / Answer
THE MIND OF THE HUMAN BEING
Understanding the human mind is the most complex and crucial aspect of understanding the human behaviours. As we know that each individual is unique in the way in which he or she thinks, feels, and behaves, it is also common that all of the human beings as a whole also shares certain traits such as having the basic needs to survive, the need to love and to be loved, to acheive success, to live a happy and satisfying life,etc.
TOPIC FROM THE TEXT BOOK:
As human beings we all have Self Efficacy, which is the individual's belief about oneself, that he or she has the innate ability to acheive goals and succeed in what one wants. So, according to this phenomenon, it is evident that human beings tend to work towards Self Actualization, which is the state of achieving or acquiring something which the individual is capable of.
But this might not always be the case, where people might also diffuse their responsibility or try to avoid it by exerting minimum effort, when they are a part of a group. This phenomenon is known as Social loafing.
The individual's social loafing is highly infulenced by the culture in which he or she is.
In a Individualistic Culture like US, social loafing is low, where the individual is highly focused on developing oneself and trying to reach his fullest potential, whether or not his work is recognized by others, he works towards attaining his self actualization.
In a Collectivistic Culture like India, China, social loafing is considerably high because they tend to emphasise more on being together and supporting each other rather than proving oneself to be best over the other.
REFERENCE:
Robert A. Baron & Nyla R. Branscombe. (2012)., Social Psychology (13th edition), Pearson publication.
ARTICLE ON SOCIAL LOAFING:
Social Loafing and Collectivism: A Comparison of the United States and the People's Republic of China., P. Christopher Earley., Administrative Science Quarterly Vol. 34, No. 4 (Dec., 1989), pp. 565-581
From this article, it is evident that the people who belong to a Collectivistic culture (China) tend to have more social loafing than people who belong to a Individualistic culture (US).
OPINION ON THE RESEARCH:
From the above topic on social loafing and its inlfluence by the cultures in which a individual lives, it is observed that when a person belongs to a individualistic the effect of social loafing seems to be less and in a collectivistic culture it is comparatively high. This is because, in Collectivistic cultures like India, China, people tend to rely more on each other rather than being independent as their cultures values on harmony of everyone. Even in a Organization, an individual tend to contribute less effort to the teams performance when compared to that of the individual doing the task by himself. This could be either because the individual feels that his efforts are less likely to be recognized or because they feel that even if they do not contribute to the team they wouldnt be caught or blamed for.
Though many psychologist state that Human beings have self efficacy and tend to work towards attaining their self actualization, in some cases it could also be seen that they work the other way round too, as they might not want to put in their full effort when they are a part of the group and may also diffuses responsibility.
Such is the beauty of the human mind that makes every individual unique and it is also largely influenced by the culture to which one belongs to. But, every individual must put in their full effort in whatever he or she does, whether or not it is recognized because we must work for our own satisfaction rather than being noticed or appreciated by others.