Introduction to Psychology

(Spring, 2014)

Book Review (20% of final grade)
Your essay should be between 3,000 and 3,500 words.
It should begin with a careful summary of one of six books (see below). This
should take about 1,000 words.

Then you have an option. You can either

1) Begin the second section of the essay with the heading Argument. Then
you should argue against the main theme of the book. That is, you should
spend 2,000 2,500 words bringing together evidence and theory that
the book is mistaken in its main approach.

OR


2) Begin the second section of the essay with the heading Application. Then
you should discuss how the work in the book has a single real-world
application. For instance, it might help create better schools, or a stronger
military, or more enjoyable parties, or whatever. The application has to be
your idea, not something already discussed in the book. You should
spend 2,000 2,500 words discussing and describing this real-world
application, carefully explaining how your application connects to the
theme and arguments of the book.

Advice

There are six possible books, all available online and in actual bookstores. I
suggest that you choose and purchase and read your book as soon as possible.

Some other details

Your essay should have your name on it. Next to your name it should have the title
of the book that you are discussing. It should have reasonable margins (an inch on
each side is standard), a readable and non-silly font, and be double-spaced. It must
be carefully written and proofread, free of typos and spelling mistakes. It should be
between 3,000 and 3,500 words.

A note on style: One common problem is to include too many quotes. Many good
essays dont have any quotes at all. Never use quotation as a substitute for
summarizingonly use quotes if there is a specific reason to do so, such as when
the author has said something in a particularly clever way, or where the exact
words of the author are critical for your argument.

External sources

You do not have to use external sourcesyou can write a perfect essay without
any. If you choose to do so, you can cite references using any format MLA or
APA, for instance so long as the citations are complete and consistent. See here
for a discussion of citations: http://www.yale.edu/bass/writing/sources/why.html

If you are unsure what to do here, one option is APA format, which is what the
Dans do in their textbook. For instance, you might write:

"There is considerable evidence that ice cream is delicious (Smith, 1978)"
OR
"Smith (1978) makes a convincing case that ice cream is delicious."

Then you would have a reference page, which will include:

Smith, J. (1978). Is ice cream delicious? Yes! Journal of Dairy Psychology, 31,
109-178.


Academic Honesty

The paper is intended to be your own work, and students are not to work together
on it, or (obviously enough) pay or persuade anyone to write it for them. This
should be original work. In addition, this essay must not duplicate another
assignment you have done or are doing for another class.

There are endless discussions and reviews of the six books available on the
web. My suggestion is that you do not look at these until you have completed this
assignment. But, in any case, to copy from any of them, paraphrase from any of
them, or take ideas from any of them without attribution counts as cheating. Please
note that even if you change all of the specific words, this still can count as
cheating. There is a good discussion of plagiarism here, and I urge you to read it.

http://www.yale.edu/bass/writing/sources/plagiarism/index.html

Suspected incidents of cheating will be referred to the Yale College Executive
Committee. If cheating is found to have occurred, the student will fail the course.
(This is in addition to any penalties imposed by the Executive committee, such as
suspension.)

If you have any questions on this policy, please speak to me or to one of the TFs.
Due dates of outline and final paper

On or before 6:00 PM on Wednesday, March 26, you should send your TF a
short email (300-600 words) that names the book you are using, and provides a
tentative outline of what you plan to say. (This is a mechanism to ensure that
people dont wait to the last minute to start their essays, and also provides the TFs
with the chance to provide helpful feedback.) If you fail to do this, one point will
be deducted from your essay grade (out of 20).

The paper is due by noon on Wednesday, April 16. Your TF will be in touch with
you concerning details about how to submit it.

If you hand it in later on Wednesday, one point will deducted from your essay
grade. If you hand it in on Thursday, two points will be deducted. No papers will
accepted after midnight on Thursday without a Deans excuse.

The books
1


All of these books are written for a sophisticated general audience. They are all
recent and all connect to topics that we focus on in the first 3/4 of the course.
(There are some excellent books on the topics of clinical psychology and
happiness, but I chose not to assign them, because I want to point people towards
areas that they might be less likely to read on their own.)

Alter, A. (2013). Drunk Tank Pink: And Other Unexpected Forces that Shape
How We Think, Feel, and Behave
Bering, J. (2013). Perv: The Sexual Deviant in All of Us
Bloom, P. (2013). Just Babies: The Origin of Good and Evil
Chabris, C., and Simons, D. (2010). The Invisible Gorilla: And Other Ways
Our Intuitions Deceive Us
Churchland, P. (2013). Touching a Nerve: The Self as Brain
Greene, J. (2013). Moral Tribes: Emotion, Reason, and the Gap Between Us
and Them

"
One of the books is by me, and so I should note two things. First, it will neither help nor hurt your
grade to choose my book. (I do not grade the essays). Second, I recognize that there is a potential
conflict here, since I profit from the sale of my book. To address this, I will assume that everyone
who writes an essay concerning Just Babies has bought the book specifically for the course, and I
will donate my royalties from that number of sales to Oxfam. (The amount I get varies depending
on how you buy the bookamazon vs. bookstore vs. e-bookbut its always less than $2.50/book,
so I will donate $2.50 for each sale.)