Random Acts of Kindness: Helping Behavior
Applied Learning Activity: Essay- Random Acts of Kindness: Helping Behavior
Before the Assignment:
Random acts of violence are infrequently reported in the media, but it is unusual to hear about random acts of kindness. As a society, we notice when life goes wrong and often do not consider the number of times when life goes well or people do good. Consequently, we are likely to overestimate how often bad events occur. Therefore, for this week’s assignment, you
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commit three RANDOM acts of kindness. In other words, you intentionally commit a random act of kindness for three different people that requires you to go out of your way to accomplish or to be intentional about being kind. You then discuss your random acts of kindness and experience in an essay. Keep notes of the random acts of kindness you do, as well as the thoughts and feelings you had while doing these acts. You should also note the response of the person who received your act(s) of kindness. do three acts of random kindness. In other words, you do a random act of kindness on purpose for three different people. To do this, you have to go out of your way or be deliberate about being kind. You then write an essay about your random acts of kindness and what you learned from them. Write down the random acts of kindness you do and what you were thinking and feeling at the time. You should also write down how the person who got your act of kindness felt about it.
Read Chapter 12 in the textbook. https://b-ok.cc/book/11638157/5ed814
Watch the “Helping” videos.
Attachment Style and Close Relationships. (n.d.). What is your attachment style?
SoulPancake.(2014). The secret of intimacy: The science of love. The Science Of…[Season 2, Episode, 6]. YouTube.
Akkari, M. E. (2017). Building bridges between communities through the power of pro social. TEDxBYU.
Intentionally commit THREE random acts of kindness, keeping notes.
Assignment:
Explain from your textbook how you understand helping behavior and why it is important to both society and individuals. You must identify the helping concepts that relate to your random acts of kindness. (See Chapter 12 of your textbook).
Describe your three random acts of kindness and include the following:
● Discuss how you feel about committing these acts of kindness and how you felt
afterwards.
● Explain how the recipient of your random act(s) responded. Describe their
reaction.
● Discuss which theory from Chapter 12 (Helping Behaviors) related most to each
of your acts of kindness. Remember that you are looking at your acts of kindness through the lens of social psychology; be sure to relate your random acts to what you have learned this week from the course materials.
Instructions:
● Paper length is approximately 500-750 words (2-3 pages; do not go over 1100 words). ● Include both cover and reference pages.
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● Begin with an introductory paragraph that includes a clear thesis statement. Be sure that you are writing one cohesive essay.
● End the paper with a concluding paragraph that restates your thesis.
● Cite at least TWO sources. This must include the textbook and the video(s). When in
doubt, cite. It is better to over cite than to under cite.
● Explain- do not simply summarize- the social psychology concepts. Use your own words
and paraphrase throughout your essay.
● Do not use “quoted material” unless the author’s original words are critical to
understanding the point (i.e., MLK- “I have a dream.”). Otherwise, all information should be paraphrased. An exception is if the person who responded to your random act stated something that is specific and relevant to the act.
● Define research terms and give real world examples where appropriate.
● If you need help with these writing components, review the required writing
resources
for this class and/or the APA tutorial.
● Refer to the rubric for grading criteria.
