ABS200 week 3 Assignment

 

Week 3 – Assignment

Case Study Selection

Prepare: Listen to the short podcast lecture to get helpful tips for completing this assignment. This week, you will select a case study you want to examine throughout the course. Each case study presents a topic and area of applied psychology. These topics will be used to study specific areas of psychology and will provide you with an opportunity to examine the uses of applied behavioral science. For example, if you select Case Study #1, you will explore the topic of severe depression from the clinical psychology perspective. If you select Case Study #5, you will explore motivation from the industrial organizational psychology perspective. For each case, you will also indicate why this topic and area of psychology are of interest to you. See the

ABS200 Case Study List

 to review the case studies and make your choice.

Reflect: The paper should clearly identify your case study selection, explain why you have decided to focus on this particular topic and area of psychology for your Final Paper, and explain the importance of the topic. Begin your paper with a well-written introduction that includes a succinct thesis statement, and end your paper with a conclusion that reaffirms your thesis. For assistance with creating a thesis statement, utilize the

Thesis Generator (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

tool on the Ashford University Writing Center website. Your introductory paragraph must include a description of the basic characteristics of science and a definition of applied behavioral science. Your conclusion must include a preliminary examination of the pros and cons (advantages and disadvantages) of utilizing at least one applied behavioral science intervention method to address the concerns in the scenario you selected.

Write: The paper should be one-to-two pages in length (excluding title and reference pages) and formatted according to APA style. Your paper must contain at least one reference from a scholarly source that is cited according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center and published in the past 10 years. Examples of scholarly sources include peer reviewed journal articles, research studies, professional websites with authored material, and government websites. Popular Internet sites (Wikipedia, Newsweek, New York Times, etc.) are not considered scholarly sources. For further assistance in determining whether or not a site is scholarly, be sure to access the

Evaluating Web Resources tutorial (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

on the Ashford University Library website.

The Case Study Selection paper

• Must be one to two double-spaced pages in length (not including title and references pages) and formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site..
• Must include a separate title page with the following:

  Title of paper
  Student’s name
  Course name and number
  Instructor’s name
  Date submitted

• Must begin with an introductory paragraph that has a succinct thesis statement.
• Must address the topic of the paper with critical thought. View the Critical Thinking Community (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. website for further assistance.
• Must end with a conclusion that reaffirms your thesis and summarizes supporting evidence.
• Must use at least one scholarly source published within the past 10 years.

  The Scholarly, Peer Reviewed, and Other Credible Sources (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. table offers additional guidance on appropriate source types. If you have questions about whether a specific source is appropriate for this assignment, please contact your instructor. Your instructor has the final say about the appropriateness of a specific source for a particular assignment.

• Must document all sources in APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.
• Must include a separate references page that is formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.

Carefully review the

Grading Rubric (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignment.

ABS200 Case Study List

The case studies listed below will be used for your Weeks Three and Five written assignments.
Feel free to download this document for your use. Be certain you are referring to the
assignments within each week and taking note of the specific instructions on how to use these
case studies within each week.

Case Study #1 Clinical Psychology: Major Depressive Disorder
Joe is suffering from severe depression. His father, grandmother, and two uncles suffered with
the same condition. One of Joe’s uncles who met the criteria for Major Depressive Disorder
committed suicide at the age of 57. Joe’s depression started after he was laid off from work, and
became disabling when his wife divorced him, receiving full custody of the kids and their home.

Case Study#2 Health Psychology: Stress & Coping
Jamiel missed his bus, had to walk to work, and was 30 minutes late. Feeling rushed for his first
presentation to the new boss, he went to the computer to print out his notes so he could
compose himself. The file was corrupt and would not open. He turned to get the computer
manual from the desk, spilling coffee all over his desk and suit. Jamiel’s heart was racing, he
had a terrible headache, and was conscious of only one feeling – stress.

Case Study#3 Forensic Psychology: Information Recall / Eyewitness Testimony
June was a witness to violent crime. Twelve months later she was called by the state as a
witness and took the stand swearing under oath that the defendant was the man leaving the
scene of the murder holding something in his hand. There was no DNA evidence or weapon to
be found. Yet due to a weak defense and June’s eye witness testimony, the verdict was guilty
and the defendant was sentenced to life in prison. On appeal the defendant hired a better
lawyer who now attacks June’s testimony and the accuracy of her memories. He points out that
she was wrong about important details and was in fact influenced by wording of the questions.

Case Study#4 Educational Psychology: Learning Disabilities
Eight year old Jimmy is having difficulty learning, and he is showing specific problems in reading
and math. Parents and teachers have worked together to try and understand what is happening.
They have determined the problem is not the result of visual, hearing, or motor disabilities,
mental retardation, emotional disorders, or environmental, cultural, or economic issues. Finally,

after all of this is ruled out, Jimmy is classified as having two learning disabilities: dyslexia
and dyscalculia.

Case Study#5 Industrial Organizational Psychology.

Jasmine is the manager of a large retail store. Her staff lacks motivation to meet stated goals,

resulting in sales numbers that are way down for the year. After being called into the corporate

offices, her direct supervisor has tasked Jasmine with adjusting her leadership style and making

organizational and environmental changes in the local store to motivate her team to meet the

next quarter’s sales goals. If the goals are not met, she will face being removed as manager and

all the staff being replaced.

Case Study#6 Addiction Counseling.
Michael (age 28) is addicted to heroin. He has withdrawal symptoms, stomach cramps, muscle
spasms, a runny nose, chills, dilated pupils, elevated blood pressure and heart rate and, and he
is running a slight temperature. He has no other major medical problems and only reports mild
anxiety symptoms. Initially, he is polite and charming and just wants a referral to a new doctor
who will give him some “meds” as his prior physician will not give him any more. When you
recommend an evaluation first, Michael becomes angry and threatening. He says you are
leaving him no options except to rob someone. He tells you he wants to quit using drugs and he
just get needs a few pills to get him through the night.

Case Study#7 Marriage and Family Therapy

Ronnie and Larry married five years ago after living together for 3 years. They are raising

Ronnie’s daughter from a prior marriage. Ronnie’s and Larry’s now engage in frequent bitter

arguments which are impacting every aspect of their lives (work, childrearing, social

relationships). Personality characteristics they once thought were endearing are now extremely

annoying. They wonder what happened to the love and affection they felt towards each other at

the beginning of their relationship. Now, they argue about money, parenting, entertainment,

meals, clothing, etc. Larry thinks all overtime he works to cover the bulk of the household

expenses is not appreciated. Ronnie feels overburdened with work, childcare responsibilities,

caring for a brother with a disability, and most of household duties. They both feel the other is

not contributing enough.

Case Study#8 Sport Psychology

Last season, Carlos had a basketball game in which he was totally “in the zone.” Everything he

did worked for him effortlessly. He scored 30 points, only missing one shot the entire game

when he was fouled by an opponent. He had 7 steals and 21 assists because he saw the court

so well and just “knew” what his teammates and opponents would do. Carlos later learned he

had experienced being in “flow” (a peak performance experience). Usually, he has been known

as an average player with a moderate level of motivation; however, since he experienced flow,

his passion for basketball has risen to a new high. He desperately wants to experience flow

again and to be able to perform in flow all the time.