1. Explore and read the APA website section on “Divisions of APA”  (http://www.apa.org/about/division/).  Students should review the diverse nature of the APA, explore links to several of the divisions of the APA, and explore additional links within each division (e.g., Division 14 society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology provides a link to the SIOP website).  Save this link to your Learner Toolbox for future use.

2. Watch one of the following TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) presentation videos of key leaders in their chosen fields of psychology.

The New Era of Positive Psychology (Martin Seligman): http://tedtalkspsychology.com/the-new-era-of-positive-psychology-with-martin-seligman/

How Reliable is Your Memory? (Elizabeth Loftus): https://www.ted.com/playlists/173/fascinating_psych_experiments

The Good News About PMS (Robyn Stein DeLuca): https://www.ted.com/talks/robyn_stein_deluca_the_good_news_about_pms

The Surprising Science of Happiness (Dan Gilbert: https://www.ted.com/talks/dan_gilbert_asks_why_are_we_happy

Flow, the Secret to Happiness (Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi): https://www.ted.com/talks/mihaly_csikszentmihalyi_on_flow

The Happy Secret to Better Work (Shawn Achor): https://www.ted.com/talks/shawn_achor_the_happy_secret_to_better_work

Your Body Language May Shape Who You Are (Amy Cuddy): https://www.ted.com/talks/amy_cuddy_your_body_language_shapes_who_you_are

The Psychology of Evil (Philip Zimbardo): https://www.ted.com/talks/philip_zimbardo_on_the_psychology_of_evil

3. For your initial discussion post, please address the following: What is the psychological construct or “big idea” shared by the presenter? Based on what you discovered when exploring the “Divisions of the APA” website, which subfield(s) of psychology would the presentation you watched be applicable to? Explain why you believe this to be the case based on what you learned about the different Divisions within the American Psychological Association. How has the information this week impacted your career interests?  What questions arose in your mind while you watched the presentation?

IMPORTANT: cite your sources in-text (i.e., the body of your discussion), and provide a “References” list.  We understand this may be your first time applying APA Style, citing sources, and creating a reference list, but just try to do your best.  We will develop these skills during the first few weeks of class.

LESSON: Learning to format an initial discussion post.

Create an initial discussion post using the following format (applying this format will help you learn how to effectively format discussion posts throughout your program).  There are three primary sections (i.e., each bullet point) in the previous discussion that need to be addressed: 1) Presenter’s construct or “big idea”, 2) connection to APA website, and 3) questions that arose in your mind.

Hello Class, (or specific student/professor name if responding directly to them)

Paragraph One: Provide a brief introduction of what you plan to address in your discussion post.

Section Heading

Paragraph Two: Presenter’s construct or “big idea”

Section Heading

Paragraph Three: connection to APA website

Section Heading

Paragraph Four: how impacted career interests and questions that arose in your mind

Summary

Paragraph Five: summarize and conclude your findings

References

List references you cited in-text using proper APA Style formatting