G29, Spring 2009, Psychology 459, Mental Psychology, Avatar Psychology

See also: Schedule of Weekly Readings

Instructions for Typed Report

Due on April 23

Version 4

 

Minimum length is 6,000 words total for WI credit.

You can write this Report on your own, or you can collaborate with another student. Both student names will then go on the Report. Remember the length is 6,000 words per student, so if there are two authors, the total minimum length must be 12,000 words.

 

Part I: Write a Simulated Interview on Mental Psychology (between 2000 and 4000 words)

A former student of mental psychology (man or woman) went on to study it for several years then published a book on it. In the following scene an experienced science reporter (man or woman) is interviewing the author about the book. Construct this interview by giving the answers to the questions below. You can reword the questions if you want, but keep the same numbering order.

 

Most questions require a fairly elaborate answer with some details. Instead of making the answer a long paragraph, you need to use ‘follow up’ questions as a technique for homing in on the specific issues at a more detailed level. Your grade will depend largely on how well you construct these follow up questions in order to bring out the needed arguments or statements to bring out and justify rationally each answer. Rely on all our weekly class Readings to construct your answer, as well as on our class discussions and your class notes. For additional advice on how to construct dialog, read the instructions for the G29 Marriage class Instructional Soap. You might want to explore some of the links to the generational student reports in which they constructed and analyzed dialog.

 

You must number the alternating talking turns as well as mark them: Author: and Interviewer: (do not use an abbreviation)

 

Assume that the reporter has read the book and is very familiar also with mental psychology as we study it in this class, and with science in general. The reporter should probe into different basic issues that are mentioned in the following list. You will need to construct the answers to these questions and put them into a dialog format.

Select between 10 and 20 questions from the list below.

  1. How did the author get into this topic to begin with, and what attracted him (or her) to it
  2. What made him decide to continue studying these unusual topics that include the mind, consciousness, immortality, mental anatomy, heaven, hell, spiritual development, eternal marriage, regeneration, and God’s direct and immediate role as the Divine Psychologist, in our thinking and in the events of the day.
  3. How did his friends and colleagues react to his interest
  4. What were some of the specific questions or issues that were most important
  5. How does he define a human being
  6. What is death
  7. How does God fit into it
  8. What is heaven and hell, and how can these concepts be part of science
  9. What is mental anatomy and why is it important to know about it
  10. How do men and women differ in mental anatomy
  11. How does this difference operate in marriage or relationships
  12. If God is omnipotent why is there suffering and evil everywhere
  13. What are body-mind correspondences and why do we need to know about it
  14. What is the vertical community and why do we need to know about it
  15. What kind of mental traits do we inherit
  16. Why do people need to manage their eternity, and how
  17. What is the relationship between the virtual world and the mental world
  18. What is cyberpsychology
  19. How do you establish presence in virtual world?
  20. What is an avatar body? How does it relate to the physical body and to the mental body. What other body forms do we have?
  21. (others that you can make up yourself)

 

Note: In the next few classes we are going to go over the topics in the list. Be sure to take notes and to ask for clarifications until you understand each topic clearly. You also need to look up each topic in the Readings that were presented in class and in the Sections of the Lecture Notes that they come from.

 

Part II: Explain the Diagrams (between 2000-3000 words)

Select three diagrams from the Diagrams section in the lecture notes and construct a short explanatory lecture on each. Assume that your audience is composed of psychology majors in their senior year. They meet regularly to discuss psychology topics and you agreed to give one of the lectures. After typing out the lecture, you need to make up a question and answer exchange in which several students ask you various questions and you give the answer.

 

Part III. Annotated Web Resources on Avatar Psychology and Related Topics (about 2000 to 3000 words)

Do searches on the Web for concepts critical to the relationship between “mental psychology”, “avatar psychology”, and “virtual psychology” or “cyberpsychology”. Your task is to establish a relationship between these four topics. Try to find things that relate to all four topics. For example the concept of “space” relates to all four, and this is contrastive with “space” in the physical world.  Another example is the concept of “consciousness” as it applies to all four topics. Another example is “God” since this relates to which things happen and their ultimate purpose in eternity.

 

Style Instructions

It’s OK to express criticisms in your report. In fact I recommend that you state your evaluation or opinion of specific ideas and concepts. After presenting the material in each part, you can add a discussion section (in each Part or at the end of the Report), in which you give your evaluation of specific concepts that you presented. You need to follow the usual academic style of giving your evaluation. That is, first state one of the concepts and how it is described or defined in the course. Second, discuss the concept indicating reasons you have for doubting or modifying that concept.  Your grade will not be influenced by whether you express opinions of total disagreement or partial disagreement. The important thing is for you to present the material first, showing the level at which you understood it. Then second, to present your evaluation of specific ideas or assumptions about each concept you want to mention in your criticism. If you review the generational reports you sometimes find statements of disagreement even among the best reports. This is part of the normal learning process that we are all going through when exposed to radically new ideas.

 

Formatting Instructions

(1) Top of the document must have the following:

Title in Bold and Centered

G29 Generation, Spring 2009, Psychology 459

Student author(s) must be a link to student Home Page

Instructor Dr. Leon James: http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy/leon.html

Instructions for this Report: http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy29/459-g29-report.htm

Class Home Page for G29: http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy29/classhome-g29.htm

Introduction: Add a subtitle here

Part I: Add a subtitle here

Part II: Add a subtitle here

Part III: Add a subtitle here

G29 Class Home Page

 

(end of the document)

Note:

Be sure to check the number of words for each part so you stay within the limits. Also, the total should add up to at least 6000 words. Your word processor indicates the word count of your document.

 

See also: INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO UPLOAD:
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy29/g29-ftp.htm

After uploading, check all your links. Points are deducted for bad links in your document.

 

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