A.

PREPARATION:

When reading a Literary work, it is advisable for you to keep a journal. Write your reaction to each chapter as you read it. If you see a quote that you may want use in your paper, be sure to write the page number of the quote in your journal. This will save you a ton of time when it comes to writing your paper.

B. WRITING: Your paper should consist of the following:

1. For our purposes, we will use MLA format for the first semester and APA format for the second semester. Use the guidelines found on the MLA page of this web site.

2. Content: Your 4-6 pages of writing should contain the following five sections. Address the questions in essay style, dont just answer questions.

a. Summary: In two to three paragraphs, you are to summarize the material to which you are reacting. Do not merely repeat the text. Should you feel the need to selectively use quotations from the material, put them in quotes and follow the end of the sentence with a parenthetical citation (e.g., Bishop 24). Failure to cite your material constitutes plagiarism and may result in having your paper returned to you with a grade of zero.

b. Critique: In two paragraphs or more, you are to critically analyze the material you to which you are reacting. Note, critique does not mean simply saying something negative about the text. Your analysis should address issues such as one or more of the following:

* Does the writer present these ideas fairly or are they slanted? How so? * What are the strengths of the content of this Literary work? Weaknesses? * What could be added to this material to make it better or more complete?

c. Meaning: All papers will devote several paragraphs to this question:

This is a major part of your paper. Choose a major theme from the work and show how the author develops the theme. Give specific examples (be sure to cite them). Show how the theme is presented in various parts of the work.

d. Reaction: In two or more paragraphs, give your personal reaction to this material. Your reactions could include any or all of these points:

* Why do you think this work was a good/bad choice for you to read? * Did you like the reading? Dislike it? Explain.

* What did you find surprising about the reading? What angered or delighted you? Explain.

e. Application: All papers should conclude with two or more paragraphs addressing this question:

How does this material relate to your own life experience ? Explain.

This may seem like much work but if you follow this format you will have a well organized, coherent paper. Believe it or not, it will actually save you time as well.

ample Reaction Paper

All of the readings this week deal with emotions and their influence on our perceptions and judgments. Even though Ive been interested in emotional research for awhile, this is the first time that Ive had an opportunity to read empirical studies that examine the phenomenon. The Bodenhausen, Kramer, & Susser article was particularly interesting because it combined emotional theories with stereotypic judgments, another topic that I am inherently I'm interested in. The article was also a great example of the methodological process and theory development and testing, something you have been stressing to our class all semester.

Based on Macraes stereotype rebound article that we read, I was thinking that stereotype suppression might be an alternate explanation for Bodenhausens findings. Bodenhausen et al. showed that happy individuals made more stereotypical judgments than neutral mood individuals. Experiment 2 showed that these stereotypical judgments occurred even when the happy participants were not cognitively distracted. Perhaps the feeling of happiness suppresses all other negative thoughts, including stereotyping. Our neutral emotion state is one in which we are aware of both our negative and positive thoughts. A state of happiness suppresses negative thoughts, including stereotyping and elevates our mood. When negative thoughts are brought back into our consciousness, like being asked to make a judgment call, then these thoughts are more negative than usual. This is evidence by the fact that Bodenhausen et al.s participants in a happy mood rated stereotyped targets more negatively than the non-stereotyped targets. This was not seen in the neutral group because their negative thoughts had not been suppressed via a feeling of happiness. Therefore their negative judgments did not rebound and subsequently the stereotyped and non-stereotyped individuals were rated equally. Experiment 4 can also be explained along this line of logic. Participants who were held accountable for their judgments were less stereotypic than those who were not accountable in the happy condition. The fact that participants were going to be held accountable made their processing conscious and more effortful. They may have become aware of their rebound

effect and tempered their judgments. If Macraes participants would have been told that they were going to have to explain their paragraphs about the skinhead or explain why they chose to sit in the seat they did, Im sure their stereotypic reactions would have been tempered as well. I was also intrigued by the Sinclair, Mark, & Clore article and how it related to Bodenhausen et al. Both articles demonstrated how participants in happy moods rely on automatic processes or mental heuristics when interpreting information or making a judgment. Sinclair et al. demonstrated how happy people are influenced the same by strong and weak persuasive arguments. However, unhappy people engage in more effortful processing and therefore more influenced by stronger arguments and discount weaker ones. Unlike Bodenhausen et al., Sinclair et al. showed that when participants are aware of the cause of their mood, the effects of mood disappear and the argument quality affects attitude. It would be interesting to take this paradigm and apply it to a stereotype judgment situation like in Bodenhausen et al. What if Bodenhausens participants had been made aware of the fact that their recall experience had influenced their mood? It seems likely that the effect of happiness on participants ratings would be attenuated. There should be no differences between the neutral mood condition and the happy mood conditions on stereotypical judgment ratings. The participants should be

come aware of the external influences on their emotion and therefore could not use their mood to cue their processing (automatic vs. conscious). I am also a little confused about the influence of negative emotions on stereotypic judgments. Both Sinclair et al. and Bodenhausen et al. suggests that happy people use more automatic mechanisms in processing information. On the other hand, unhappy people engage in more motivated an conscious thinking because they are, lets say not at an ideal goal state or their rate of movement towards a goals state is not ideal, in the terminology of last weeks authors. Why then do unhappy people and happy individuals both make stereotypic judgments? If unhappy people are engaging in effortful processing shouldnt they realize that they are stereotyping and be more likely to not make stereotypic judgment, in a Devine-like interpretation? Bodenhausen appears to be saying that happy people will make stereotypical judgments because they are using heuristic cues and also people in negative mood will make stereotypical judgments because they are more deeply processing environmental cues. The two statements are contradictory. Would motivational accountability also attenuated stereotypical judgments in people with negative affect as well? This also seems like a good follow-up study.

APPLYING THIS OUTLINE for example to the SONA 2009 of PRESIDENT GLORIA MACAPAGAL-ARROYO these are the questions that you need to answer: 1. What do you think of what you are reading? It is a SONA 2009 so you expect that the speech is all achievements of the administration in different areas such as economics, education, telecommunications, health, peace and order and law-making. 2. What do you agree or disagree with? Based on your observations (not the comments or remarks of the opposition or critics of the administration ) write if you agree or disagree with what have been said. 3. So you will be needing a lot of these phrases. I think that I see that I feel that It seems that In my opinion, Because A good quote is In addition, For example, Moreover, However, Consequently, Finally, In conclusion,

2. Organizing your REACTION PAPER The reaction paper has three main parts: 1. The INTRODUCTION 2. The BODY 3. The CONCLUSION THE INTRODUCTION The introduction should have at least two paragraphs. The first sentence should include the TITLE, THE AUTHOR OR THE SPEAKER AND WHERE AND WHEN IT WAS DELIVERED: So the first sentence in your Reaction on the SONA 2009 would be the title which is the STATE OF THE NATION ADDRESS, 2009 (the date is very important because there have been past SONAs. The Speaker of course was President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo although she may not be necessarily the writer of the speech. Indicate where and when it was delivered. The following paragraph should give a short summary of the SONA. The last paragraph should contain the thesis statement which is the purpose of the REACTION PAPER. Are in you agreement? Do you disagree with most of what have been said or you are just evaluating the validity of statements. What is the thesis statement? 1. The thesis statement is not a fact or observation. It is an assertion. Example: Fact or observation: May politicians criticize the SONA Assertion: The SONA failed to fully explain the governments plan on combatting the crisis faced by the nation. 2. A thesis statement represents the position of the reactor to the content of the SONA and not just a announcement. Announcement: The President enumerated the accomplishments and the plans of her administration.

Position: The accomplishments and plans enumerated are not adequate enough to save the country from the economic crisis. 3. A thesis is not a title. It is a complete sentence. A title- Philippines and the economic crisis. Thesis statement: The accomplishments and plans enumerated are not adequate enough to save the country from the economic crisis. THE BODY The body should contain Ssentences/paragraphs that provide support for your thesis. Make one paragraph for one idea or topic. YOu can structure your thesis into: What the speaker said and what do you think about it. THE CONCLUSION: A conclusion should * stress the importance of YOUR THESIS statement on SONA. * give the paper a sense of completeness, and * creates a final impression on your reader. You do not repeat what have been written in the body but you can mention the introduction to relate to your conclusion. Or you can challenge the reader by asking what do they think? Or you can look into the future and ask the reader if your idea still applies. Hope this helps. The Ca t