Social Dynamics & Communication Skills

Grading criteria

• Your answer needs to explain both of the following:
  • How does the speaker’s ideas or information help us better understand different types of personal variables—biological, cognitive, and/or social/emotional—that can shape human behavior?
  • How does the speaker’s ideas or information help us better understand how development is shaped by both immediate variables (i.e., personal factors, microsystem, mesosystem) and wider variables (i.e., exosystem, macrosystem, historical context)?
• Did you relate the video or your additional thoughts to at least 3 separate course concepts? Remember that when you cite the concept, you will need to include a page number (or section number, if reading the book in Revel) in parentheses.

1. Watch one of the videos from the list at the bottom of this page. Each is around 15-20 minutes long. You may only choose from this list.
2. Write a short reaction paper, approximately 2-3 double-spaced pages, in which you relate the talk to at least 3 separate course concepts. These can be terms that relate directly to what’s in the video, or terms that come up as you reflect further. How does the speaker’s ideas or information help us better understand the different types of personal variables—biological, cognitive, and/or social/emotional—that can shape human behavior? And how do those ideas help us better understand how development is shaped by both immediate variables (i.e., personal factors, microsystem, mesosystem) and wider variables (i.e., exosystem, macrosystem, historical context)?
   • Note: When you cite course concepts, you will also need to include a parenthetical citation with the page number (or the section number, if you read the book in Revel).
   • You can use pretty much any course concepts in your paper, except for the different levels of Bronfenbrenner’s model.
3. At the end of the paper, you will need to include a reference list. It starts on a new page, but should not be a separate Word file. The only items on the list should be the TED talk and your textbook, unless you choose to bring in other resources (which is very definitely not required). You will also need to ensure you don’t plagiarize from either source, and that you include parenthetical citations for any direct quotes, plus page or module numbers in parentheses for information from the book.