Using social identity theory and research, explain and discuss what advice you would give a country’s government to ensure the population complies with COVID related recommendations.

Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Humanities

Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Humanities (Psychology Major)

2019/2020

The Task

Using social psychology theory and research, explain and discuss what advice you would give a country’s government to ensure the population complies with COVID related recommendations.

Sources

• Module Learning Materials: Much of the content relating to Social Psychology
  can be drawn upon in this paper. Specifically, content relating to the way our
  membership of social groups impacts how we treat those outside that group may be especially useful.
• Appropriate wider reading in social psychology textbooks. Additional reading outside the module learning materials and suggested core textbooks will be essential for this assignment.

• Source academic journal articles on the topic from the online databases providing access to Psychology journals, reports and books may be accessed through the PsycInfo and PsycArticles and Science Direct databases: http://www4.dcu.ie/library/index.shtml

Guidelines

The task requires you to write an evidence-based paper discussing how you as a social psychologist can support governments to ensure that people comply with COVID related recommendations.

Your paper should be written as an appropriately structured essay, including relevant literature on social psychology theory and evidence on social identity theory, social learning theory, social norms, group conformity and obedience (and potentially other relevant works). You should refer to the context of COVID in today’s world, but do not dwell on the economic and political aspects of COVID – relevant social psychological processes should be the main concern of your paper.

You might want to consider some or all of the following questions (although do not feel constrained by them):

• How and can governments ensure conformity of groups?
• How and can governments ensure obedience of groups?
• How and can governments change societal norms?
• How do groups learn new social norms?
• How do groups learn to conform?
• What role does identity play in group conformity?
• How are groups or individuals who do not conform viewed by others?

In your paper, you should:

• Show ability to write at a good academic standard;
• Show knowledge of relevant theories and concepts relevant to social psychology;
• Utilise a selection of peer-reviewed published literature in your work;
• Demonstrate capability to present and work with the evidence-base;
• Construct a coherent and persuasive paper, which is clearly structured and logical.

Evaluation Criteria

This assignment will be evaluated in accordance with the Assessment Grading System which is available from the Humanities Course Handbook.

Deliverables

Submit one file to the appropriate online assignment submission drop box by the due date. Please adhere to this naming convention when saving your file: PY200_A1_2020_initial of your first name, your surname.doc. For example, PY200_A1_2020_JBloggs.doc

When submitting your assignment to the online submission area, it is your responsibility to ensure that you have submitted all parts of your assignment in full and in the correct format. Resubmission of assignments or part of assignments will not be permitted. Your tutor will grade your work based on the document you submit to the assignment submission drop box within the online learning environment.

All assignment marks are provisional until confirmed by the Progression and Awards Board (PAB), which meets after each diet of examinations.

Plagiarism and Academic Integrity

The reputation of Dublin City University and of its graduates depends on upholding the highest standards of learning and research.  Students have a right to be assessed on the quality of their own work, and have the corresponding duty to present only their own work for assessment.  Plagiarism is a serious academic offence. DCU’s Academic Integrity and Plagiarism Policy is available at https://www4.dcu.ie/registry/examinations/index.shtml. Please refer to the Humanities Course Handbook for further information relating to plagiarism and academic integrity.

Referencing

Correct referencing is an important part of any academic work. Marks will be deducted from your assignments for incorrect citing and referencing as this will impact the overall quality of a student’s work. Please note that there are a number of referencing systems used in different academic disciplines.  Psychology students use the latest American Psychology Association (APA) referencing system. If you have any queries about the correct use of this, please ask your tutor.