How to Write Brilliant Psychology Essays. Paul Dickerson
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images
Piaget:
Critic one:
Critic two:
2. Note formPiaget ran experiments about children’s cognitive development.Piaget emphasised stage-related progress.Some people criticised the way that Piaget conducted his experiments – something about the wording and the difficulty.Some people had a different cognitive approach – something about a more gradual development.What I need to find out and where:What Piaget’s experiments were called and what they involved (I have some lecture notes on this).What his evidence looked like (the textbook covers this).Who raised what specific objections concerning the wording and difficulty of his tasks – and what was their evidence (the textbook covers this).Who suggested that instead of stages children developed more gradually – and what was their evidence (the lecture notes give names and the textbook provides more detail on this).
Note: Identifying where you can find the information is super-important. Without this you will stop because you do not have the information you need to continue, or you will look perhaps half-heartedly for sources – secretly pleased that you have an excuse to stop thinking so hard about your essay. Alternatively, you might quickly check the web, just in case, and then… ‘50 things to do with a water melon – I’ll just check that first’.
Example two
Essay title:
‘Outline and evaluate the deindividuation account of why people engage in acts of aggression.’
How you feel about the essay
Aware of some ideas about aggression, but not clear on what the ‘deindividuation account’ is. There was something about groups and aggression and something else about how we define what aggression is and how it can be debated.
How you can get started
1 Using images
Deindividuation
Group approach
Definition of aggression
2. Note formThe deindividuation approach is one way of understanding aggression.Some approaches challenge the deindividuation approach.Some approaches emphasise thinking of aggression in terms of groups – it might be a weakness of the deindividuation approach if this did not consider the role of groups in understanding aggressive behaviour.Group approaches to aggression can be used to challenge and evaluate the deindividuation approach.Another perspective suggests that we can question how aggression has been defined – it might be possible to challenge or question the definitions within the deindividuation approach as well as within social psychology in general. This idea might challenge most of the literature considered in the essay, so it might work best towards the end.What I need to find out and where:What the deindividuation approach is (I have some lecture notes on this).What the evidence is and how the empirical evidence and the theory can be evaluated or thought about in different ways, from different perspectives (the lecture notes give some information and the textbook provides more detail on this).What approaches challenge the deindividuation approach (I have some lecture notes on this).How group approaches to aggression might challenge aspects of the deindividuation approach (not sure of the best sources of information for this).What is being argued by the approach that questions how we define aggression and whether this can be used to challenge deindividuation and other approaches to understanding aggressive behaviour approach (not sure of the best sources of information for this).
Note: In this list there is uncertainty regarding the best source of information for the last two points. Be alert, wandering around looking for information is as precarious as Frodo succumbing to the power of the ring as he is about to throw it into the fires of Mount Doom, or facing the zombie-like husks of Fortnite: Save the World. It takes a heroic effort not to be side-tracked or lose focus as the procrastination forces are ranged against you. Will you win through? Being aware that you are highly likely to get side-tracked when wondering where to find information can in itself help. You need to get into the mindset of Sherlock Holmes – this is detective work, you are locating and finding out information and you can even do it without a pipe and deerstalker.
Rethinking ‘where do I start’
In the two examples above, the imaginary student was faced with an essay that they did not fully understand but they sketched out some ideas without delay. These ideas gave a potential shape that their final essay might take, highlighting the possible debate(s) that their essays might develop and showing an awareness of how one idea, perspective or empirical study might be used to evaluate the essay target (Piaget’s stage theory and the deindividuation approach to aggressive behaviour). From an unpromising start – with lots of knowledge gaps – a useful plan was developed and more clarity about what needed to be found out was achieved.
If our imaginary students had gone to a search engine to fill in those gaps before they started, (1) the gaps would not be as clearly specified and (2) there would be a real risk of missing the wave – or letting the momentum slip past. How easy it is to transition from a Google Scholar search for information about deindividuation, for example, to distracting YouTube videos about 12 things you can do with an orange that’s past its use-by date.
Reflecting on the chapter: Writing an essay is not like assembling IKEA furniture
Lots of things we do, whether assembling furniture, replacing a phone battery, following a recipe or even watching a film, have a sequential preference – there is (usually) a correct order in which to do these things. Essays are a bit deceptive: they have an order with an introduction, a main body and a conclusion; they should usually be read in that order, but they are not necessarily written in that order. Essay writing is less programmatic than following a recipe. We start wherever we start and from that we form the substance out of which we will create our work. Forming an essay is a little like being a potter – we will work and rework our words, like the potter shaping their clay. We pull form and beauty out of the mass of words and ideas that we have to work with. The main thing is that we do not delay in starting to write something – from that first step all of the others are possible.
Take away points from this chapter
You have reasons for not working right now that should be honestly acknowledged.
You don’t need to ‘know it all’ or ‘understand it all’ before you start.
Your questions are great – they can inform your thinking, reading and writing.
Your writing can be a resource for thinking more deeply about the topic.
You are already working on your essay as soon as you are thinking about it.
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