Description
Touchstones are projects that illustrate your comprehension of the course material, help you refine skills, and demonstrate application of knowledge. You can work on a Touchstone anytime, but you can’t submit it until you have completed the unit’s Challenges and Milestones. Once you’ve submitted a Touchstone, it will be graded and counted toward your final course score.
As you continue to practice the concepts of psychology throughout the duration of the course, you will further develop the problem-solving and self and social awareness skills that are necessary in order to help you better navigate through social situations as they may arise in your personal life as well as your career. You may improve upon the means to apply these skills towards understanding individual behaviors, relationships, and making informed decisions based on reliable information. You may recognize that no matter what kind of situation you encounter at school, home, or work, you have better learned how to recognize and manage your emotions, so that they do not get in the way of your better judgement.
Touchstone 3.2: Workplace Styles
SCENARIO: Monica and Jennifer are coworkers that have been assigned to work on a project together. Jennifer is very organized and wants her and Monica to do really well on this project. To get started, Jennifer took some initiative and prepared a list of to-do items along with the due dates. She even color-coded the list to indicate who will do which item. Shortly after, Jennifer sends an email to Monica with the to-do list attached. Jennifer wants her partner to know that she is serious about their success.
Monica is happy her teammate has shown initiative but is surprised by Jennifer’s to-do list and feels a bit uncomfortable as she is feeling like Jennifer is micromanaging her. Monica wants to do her part on the project but is feeling anxious because she doesn’t know where she fits in. Monica is worried about working on the project. She wonders if she can succeed in this project since Jennifer is already the leader. Prior to this situation, Monica worked for a separate employer who asked her to work on a similar project. She felt anxious about her ability to successfully complete the project and attempted to communicate her feelings with a co-worker. However, her co-worker didn’t seem to understand Monica’s concerns and said that she should just ignore her feelings and get the work done.
As Monica ponders having a conversation with Jennifer, she starts to feel overwhelmed and thinks it might just be easier to be removed from the project.
ASSIGNMENT: Now, it is time to practice the skills and concepts that you have learned to help your friend Monica navigate through a difficult workplace situation. Using your problem solving and self and social awareness skill, as well as what you have learned about personality traits and emotions, answer the questions in this case study assignment. Remember, you are to help Monica calm her anxiety and find a solution to her problem
In order to foster learning and growth, all essays you submit must be newly written specifically for this course. Any plagiarized or recycled work will result in a Plagiarism Detected alert. Review this tutorial for more about plagiarism and the Plagiarism Detected alert: Touchstones: Academic Integrity Guidelines. For guidance on the use of generative AI technology, review Ethical Standards and Appropriate Use of AI.
A. Assignment
DIRECTIONS: To complete the assignment, you will answer the following four questions in 5-7 sentences each:
What are the “Big 5” personality traits? Name and describe each of them, using specific details and information from the case study and course lessons.
Consider the different approaches to the project taken by both Monica and Jennifer. On which of the Big 5 personality traits do they most differ? Discuss these differences in their personality traits.
Using what you learned about emotions, what advice would you give to Monica? Describe a specific strategy that Monica can use to manage her emotions and successfully complete the project.
If you were in this situation, how confident are you that you could successfully resolve a workplace conflict like the one that Monica faced? What past experiences or knowledge influence your answer? Explain how your experience or knowledge can resolve a similar workplace conflict.
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PSY1010 – Touchstone 3.2
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Smarter Decisions through Psychology
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Using your problem solving and self and social awareness skills and what you have learned
about personality traits and emotions, answer the questions in this case study assignment.
Remember, you are to help Monica calm her anxiety and find a solution to her problem.
For each question, you should write a paragraph-length response (5–7 sentences) to receive
credit for this assignment. You may use your Sophia tutorials as a resource.
Question 1: What are the Big 5 personality traits? Name and describe each of them.
Question 2: Consider the different approaches to the project taken by both Monica and
Jennifer. On which of the Big 5 personality traits do they most differ? Discuss these differences
in their personality traits.
Question 3: Using what you learned about emotions, what advice would you give to Monica?
Describe a specific strategy that Monica can use to manage her emotions and successfully
complete the project.
Question 4: If you were in this situation, how confident are you that you could successfully
resolve a workplace conflict like the one that Monica faced? What past experiences or
knowledge influence your answer? Explain how your experience or knowledge can resolve a
similar workplace conflict.
Aging
by Sophia
WHAT’S COVERED
This lesson is going to cover the later years of life. You will explore how your problem solving and self
and social awareness skills can either decline or get stronger. Our discussion breaks down as follows:
1. Aging
Aging generally refers to the later years of life, approximately age 65 years old until a person’s death. Erik
Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development states that this is a period of time for reflection on a person’s
life. It is the time when they look back at the accomplishments that they’ve made over their entire lifespan. It’s
important to note, however, that this isn’t solely a time to look back at the rest of their life and to not “do”
anything.
Many people are still very active during this period of time in making significant contributions to the world
around them. This is a time of change and personal growth in people’s lives as well. It’s a time when people
realize the onset of death and try to accomplish more with the time that they have remaining. They also
deepen their self and social awareness skills as they have spent more time getting to know themselves and
others.
There are several physical and psychological effects of aging. Physically, a person during this time might be
losing muscle mass. Muscles tend to begin degenerating slowly, and certain abilities might be becoming a
little bit more difficult for them to perform.
There is some mental or brain degeneration that occurs at this time as well. People start to have lower speeds
of processing of information, especially in their working memories. This is especially true when people retire
from work and may not use their problem solving skill in the way they once did.
They also experience a loss of long-term memory. Diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease, can speed this
process up.
It’s important for a person to stay active and healthy during this period, especially to stay mentally sharp. This
means staying physically active by going to a gym or working out. This can offset some of that loss of muscle
mass and ability. It is also important to stay mentally active by engaging in intellectually stimulating activity.
This can mean engaging in social activities or doing puzzles to keep the brain active. Learning new things can
also build the problem solving skill in more advanced years—some people learn a new instrument, take up a
hobby, or enroll in community college to keep their minds stimulated.
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TERM TO KNOW
Aging
Growing older, especially ages 65 until death.
2. Reactions to Death
Because later adulthood is approaching the period where most people pass on, it is important to know what
reactions people have to death during this time. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, who was a thanatologist, noted that
there are five different categories of reactions to death. These are not stages that everybody goes through.
Not everybody will have all the same reactions to death, and a person’s reaction to death will generally mirror
the way that they live.
The five reactions are:
Denial and Isolation. A person may think that the information is a mistake or try to deny or ignore
information about death.
Anger. A person may become angry at themselves or at death in general. This can also extend towards
people that are living.
Bargaining. A person starts to make deals with themselves, with God, or a higher power of some sort.
They may say that they’ll right past wrongs, live a better life, or dedicate themselves to doing some
specific kind of task in exchange for survival.
Depression. People start to realize the onset of death and feel the futility of it or the exhaustion that’s
involved with this. In addition, they generally feel an overall sadness for the onset of death.
Acceptance . This is when a person comes to terms with their imminent death. They feel peaceful, or they
feel a sense of resolution with their lives.
3. Ageism
The concept of ageism goes hand in hand with aging. This is a discrimination towards a person based on their
age. This can manifest in ways like thinking that someone is too old or feeble, making them infirm. Patronizing
language like talking too loudly and slowly to an older person can be a form of ageism. Changing behavior in
some significant way because of a person’s age, like being overly polite, can also be ageism.
Self and Social Awareness: Why Employers Care
People are working later in life thanks to great health leading to longevity. Employers need to be
aware of ageism and how people talk to and about older employees.
It is important to note that older people lose certain types of mental and physical abilities. They’re not
necessarily as quick or changeable or flexible as they were before. However, this is often made up for with
learned or routinized knowledge and skills. In other words, it offsets some of the effects of aging.
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It is also important to know that ageism is culturally relative. In some cultures, age is seen as a sign of wisdom
and elicits respect.
EXAMPLE In Asian cultures, the elderly are assigned an elevated position in society.
TERM TO KNOW
Ageism
Discrimination or prejudice based on a person’s age
SUMMARY
Aging refers to the later years of life. According to Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development, this
is a time for reflection on the life a person has lived. This can strengthen your self and social
awareness skill. However, there is still a lot that a person in this stage of life has to contribute. Due to
some degradation of muscle and cognitive abilities, it is important for an aging person to stay mentally
and physically active. For example, in retirement, you want to consider learning something new to
continue to sharpen your problem solving skill.
People in this stage of life are also approaching death. There are five reactions to death a person
may have. These include denial and isolation, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Ageism
is discrimination of a person based on their age and is culturally relative. Employers and employees
need to use strong self and social awareness skill to be aware of how older employees are treated.
Good luck!
Source: THIS TUTORIAL WAS AUTHORED BY SOPHIA LEARNING. PLEASE SEE OURTERMS OF USE.
TERMS TO KNOW
Ageism
Discrimination or prejudice based on a person’s age.
Aging
Growing older, especially ages 65 until death.
© 2023 SOPHIA Learning, LLC. SOPHIA is a registered trademark of SOPHIA Learning, LLC.
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