Discussion Posts Need to Be:
Substantive and thoughtful; that is, discussion posts must refer to a topic from the week’s readings. All discussion posts must be supported by current journal article(s) found in SFC Online Library Database system. Discussion posts should draw from the information found in this weeks course materials, from personal experience, and from credible sources (peer-reviewed journal articles and sites provided by your professor).
All information gained, read, or acquired from any source that is not your personal information must be cited throughout the document otherwise it is plagiarism. All information must be cited in the body of the document AND full-reference text at the end of the document using APA style & format criteria.
APA style & format criteria:
Peer-reviewed journal articles from SFC Online Library Database System
Current: January 2015 Current month 2020
PDF available
Times New Roman font
12-point font
Black ink
Single spaced work for DISC and RESP assignments only (to save space)
In-text citations appear throughout work
Full-text references appear at bottom of work
The discussion post should be three (3) well-developed paragraphs in length (about 7-9 fully developed sentences each; adhere to APA style & format including in-text and full-text reference citations).
If your professor and/or fellow classmate(s) asked you a question, to follow up, or further explain a point, you are required to do so in addition to your two main responses. Failure to timely respond by Sunday of each week (to follow up questions) will result in reduction of points; 1 point for each entry not addressed.
The main discussion post is due by Day 3 (Wednesday of each week). Please click on REPLY from the main discussion post instructions to submit your assignment.
Credible sources relevant to this course are (this is only a PARTIAL list):
Santa Fe College Library Database system (https://sfcollege.libguides.com/az.php (Links to an external site.))
American Psychological Association (www.apa.org (Links to an external site.))
Society for Personality and Social Psychology (https://www.apa.org/about/division/div8 (Links to an external site.))
American Psychiatric Association (www.psychiatry.org (Links to an external site.) or www.psychiatryonline.org (Links to an external site.))
National Institutes of Health (www.nih.org (Links to an external site.))
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (www.cdc.org (Links to an external site.))
World Health Organization: WHO (www.who.int (Links to an external site.))
REMEMBER: YouTube, Social Media, Wikipedia, etc. are NOT credible sources.
Examples of topics to write about
(Choose only one topic from the examples below OR choose a topic of your interest that pertains to this week’s material):
Cultural Mosaic or Melting Pot?
Discuss how a cultural mosaic celebrates cultural differences, while a melting pot tries to ignore cultural differences. Both ideologies can be viewed as efforts to reduce discrimination, but, the cultural mosaic approach is more successful. As an example, Canada utilizes a cultural mosaic metaphor, while the United States utilizes a melting pot metaphor.
Finding Yourself Acting Prejudiced
Discuss how even people with egalitarian views who consider themselves not to be prejudiced can find themselves sometimes acting in ways that might be perceived as prejudiced. This might occur for majority group members if they are unaware that the norms they endorse as majority members are perceived by minority members as discriminatory.
Stereotype Threat
Discuss the outcome of stereotype threat. If individuals become anxious when reminded of their stereotype, they may disidentify with the domain. For example, women may disidentify from science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers because of subtle indicators that they may not perform as well as men. In what ways might educators contribute to stereotype threat inadvertently by unconsciously favoring males in STEM classes? What is your belief that self-fulfilling prophecies can maintain stereotypes?
Controlling Prejudice
People face the reality of needing to control, at least to some extent, their prejudicial biases and stereotypic assumptions about out-groups. Imagine that on the first day at college you move into the dorm room and meet your roommate. He/she is of a different race and cultural norms, and your internal attitudes say that you should not be prejudiced. Will you be able to set aside any prejudices you might have and avoid stereotyping? Are there any indications of prejudice that you may not be able to control? (How far you sit from the roommate, eye contact, facial expressions, etc.?) If you are not able to control some indications of discrimination, the roommate may pick up on these subtle behaviors and feel uncomfortable. How can you stop the cycle of bias?
