PSY-100 Week 7 Life Action Plan Assignment Paper

Rationale

1. To develop your ability to understand, comprehend, critique and report on a scientific article
2. To develop your ability to identify, understand and apply psychological theories and concepts
3. To develop your ability to identify and integrate appropriate sources of evidence
4. To develop your ability to communicate effectively
5. To develop your digital literacy skills
6. To develop your ability to receive critical feedback for improvement

Task

Your task is to explain the research of a published scientific article to a casual, non-academic reader. You need to use professional, accessible and non-technical language. To do this, you need to select one of two articles provided to you on Moodle to complete your assignment. You will need to deconstruct the article you have chosen and explain:

1. Theories, concepts, or ideas that underpin the article
2. Other research articles to provide background to the primary DRR article
3. Why the study was conducted
4. How the study was conducted
5. What the findings were and how they can be applied in the real world
6. How the findings have extended upon previous or have been used to inform subsequent research
7. Some future avenues of research

You will submit your DRR online in the form of a word processing document in Word or PDF format via Moodle.

Articles to Choose from

There are two primary DRR articles you can choose from. You only need to select one article to complete your DRR on. The articles to choose from are:

• High-frequency gamblers show increased resistance to extinction following partial reinforcement. By Rachel R. Horsley, Matthew Osbourne, Christine Norman and Timothy Wells (2012, PSY-100 Week 7 Life Action Plan Assignment)

OR

• Executive functioning in chronic alcoholism and Korsakoff syndrome. By Malini Maharasingam, Jamie A. B. Macniven and Oliver J. Mason (2013)

You only need to write on ONE of these articles. Please read both and decide which of the two articles you would prefer to write your assignment on. Choosing an article you enjoy is one of the key characteristics of doing well in this assessment – if you like the topic, you’ll want to read and write about it more!!).

Referencing Style

Psychology has a specific referencing style that you will use throughout your studies and beyond. The referencing style for this assignment is the American Psychological Association (APA) version 6. You need to format your assignment according to APA format. The reference guide for this unit is Taines (2015) – A Practical Guide to Writing (this comes with the textbook bundle and can be purchased from the DUSA bookshop – http://dusabookshop.com.au/order). Deakin University also has an in-house APA 6 guide and can be accessed from this website – http://www.deakin.edu.au/students/studying/studysupport/referencing/apa-6

Assignment Solution Sample

Our experts provided the below solution to the student and helped her score high-distinction.

Introduction

Human psychology differs from person-to-person and relies a lot on the living conditions and the place where a person lives in. A character is not innate but something which is formed through the experiences that a person has. It is therefore recommended that a child should be brought up in a good environment so that the character of the child goes in a right direction. The childhood IQ also has something to do with the socioeconomic factors and this IQ will stay in there until the child’s adulthood (Burkert, 2013). The following factors will be discussed in the upcoming sections and the whole idea of childhood IQ and mortality will be acquired.

Rationale

Every study is built on a rationale and here the rationale is fixed on the socioeconomic systems, childhood IQ and adult mortality. It must be understood that the society plays a very cardinal part in building the status of intelligence in children. Intelligence is something which is inborn, but it can be developed through various ways and also by observation. The socioeconomic status is an important factor and it is divided into three: A high socioeconomic status, an average socioeconomic status and finally a low socioeconomic status. A high socioeconomic status builds a high IQ in a child; an average socioeconomic status provides an average IQ and finally a low socioeconomic status has a low influence in a child’s IQ (THOMAS EILERTSEN, 2016). Though it is not necessary that a child’s IQ exclusively depends on the socioeconomic status but, the majority of the job is done by the former and hence, kit is important that children must be provided a good socioeconomic background while growing up. Every individual is different from the other and the intelligence quotient also differs in a big way.

Socioeconomic Factors on Childhood

As mentioned above, the socioeconomic status plays a significant role in molding the intelligence quotient in a child. The socioeconomic status factors can be either financial, health or even educational factors. All these factors together build a status and become a pivotal aspect of the growing process of the mental and behavioral part in a child. The childhood is a significant part of any person and it can be noted that children who are deprived of any happiness; be it economic, social or personal; tend to have a regressive nature, which is not good for the society. These days, it can be seen that there are many children who have a criminal mentality; who indulge in drugs; who kill innocent people and do other anti-social things. In most of the cases it has been found out that these criminal minded kids were deprived of having a high or average socioeconomic status. These children might have gone through a lot of bad experiences and this might have led them to become an anti-social from inside (Thomas Deckers, 2015). There is a tendency of being aloof from the society and friends; even family is not taken into account by such children. There have been many cases, including rape cases in which the juvenile masses have indulged in. by looking at these facts, one can understand that it is about setting a good society for a child and giving that child, all the basic requirements of childhood. This is why children are often known as the future of the society, because the way they can contribute means a lot.

Socioeconomic Factors on Adult Mortality

Now that the socioeconomic factors have been discussed and it is almost clear that for every child a good socioeconomic status is required, therefore, by default the focus shifts to the adults. Studies have found out that the childhood of an adult plays a major role in the individual’s behavior and health. It has been proved that children who have a doomed childhood often are prone to illnesses that are either chronic or fatal. But, these diseases are developed with time and it is only in the adulthood that these are affected. Many studies have been carried out regarding this and most of the studies support the same. An unhappy child can form problems like anxiety, insomnia and even depression; these problems can develop in heart diseases, Alzheimer’s and other chronic illnesses. It has also been found out that, children who have a bad childhood don’t live longer and therefore the adult mortality of an unhappy child is on the higher and early side. The adults who have had adverse experiences in their childhood are often addicted to alcohol and drugs and most of these adults would be loners or extremely social with no sense of responsibility (Anikputa, 2014: PSY-100 Week 7 Life Action Plan Assignment). One can take many cases of deaths due to alcohol or drug abuse and the majority of the people who have succumbed to death for the same reasons might have had an unhappy childhood. Therefore, the socioeconomic status is applicable here as well and the childhood is a first step or the basic foundation of a healthy and sane adulthood.

Influence of Education on Childhood IQ and Adult Mortality

Education is an important factor and therefore it is being focused by most of the countries across the globe. It can be said that education teaches an individual about the society he/she is living in and how his/her behavior towards others will make an impact on the society. It is only through education that a child learns about what is going around the world and who all are there who form the society. The societal norms and standards are taught to a child by education and the teacher is considered to be the prime guide of a child’s journey of life. Children learn a lot about others, the world and many other aspects from their schools and therefore, in most of the education centers or institutions, it is mandatory to teach only good things to the students (Anikputa, 2014). The age in which the students spend their time in the school is quite pivotal and many phases of age is spent in the schools itself. Therefore, educational institutions also contribute in a big way in an individual’s socioeconomic status.

Studies

Here, the article “Executive functioning in chronic alcoholism and Korsakoff syndrome” will be discussed. As it has been mentioned in the above section, children who have a bad childhood often end up having some or the other chronic or even fatal illnesses. There have been many studies carried out on people who suffered from a condition called Korsafoff syndrome. People who were suffering from chronic alcoholism and Korsakoff syndrome were examined together. The studies show that people who had Korsakoff syndrome were in much bed condition than the chronic alcohol patients. Korsakoff syndrome is a condition in which the patients are caught with either anterograde amnesia or retrograde amnesia (Oliver.J.Mason, 2012). In anterograde amnesia, the patients tend to forget what happened in the past but they remember the present. On the other hand, a patient suffering from a retrograde amnesia remembers everything which has happened in the past but tends to forget whatever has happened in the present. People who suffer from chronic alcoholism are just slightly better than the former one, but; even their condition is not worth appreciating. In chronic alcoholism, it could be seen that the patients suffer from shivering and other health issues when they don’t get their daily dose of alcohol.

Recommendation

There are many recommendations that can be provided for this topic as it is related to the psychology of a human being. Spreading awareness about the above-mentioned diseases can be done and the parents or the guardians of the children can be taught about the negative effects of a bad or unhappy childhood. Seminars or even personal counseling can be done to both children and their parents or guardians; individually or even in a group. People must understand how important a child’s socioeconomic status is; also, they must understand that education, is an important part of any individual. It is not necessary that children who had a low socioeconomic status have all turned into being an anti-social but the majority studies abide by that.

Conclusion

While concluding, it can be said that a child’s IQ and adult mortality are both, some way or the other linked to the socioeconomic status.  Therefore, building a good environment for the growth and development of the child must be started from his/her home and schools. Only by doing so, a healthy next generation can be formed who can contribute to the society in a positive way.

References

Anikputa, T. P. (2014). Early-Life Socioeconomic Status and Mortality in Later Life: An Integration of Four Life-Course Mechanisms. The Journals of Gerontology, 451-460.

Burkert, N. T. (2013). The Influence of Socioeconomic Factors on Health Parameters in Overweight and Obese Adults. Plos One, 1-23.

Oliver.J.Mason, M. M. (2012). Executive functioning in chronic alcoholism and Korsakoff syndrome. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 501-508.

Thomas Deckers, A. F. (2015). How Does Socio-Economic Status Shape a Child’s Personality? Discussion Paper Series, 1-27.

THOMAS EILERTSEN, A. L. (2016). Parental socioeconomic status and child intellectual functioning in a Norwegian sample. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 399-405.