write about one thingWhy I think this is worth doing:
• Writing is hard, so it’s good to practice.
• Coming up with questions and arguing for why they ought to be
answered is what science is all about.
• Coming up with an answer and trying to convince people that it’s a
good one is an exercise in thinking deeply, which often doesn’t happen
unless you force yourself to do this (e.g., by trying to write about one
thing for 400 words).
• This practice should help you when you write your final paper, and also
future papers. Each paragraph in a paper is usually about one thing.
Here’s what you do:
• Pick one question you have about child development. By that, I mean
literally anything related to children & and their thoughts, feelings, or
behaviours. Anything.
• It’s OK to talk about adults if you’re comparing them with kids.
• Suggest one possible answer to that question. Only one.
• Write about that for 300-400 words. So, for a few small paragraphs.
Don’t go over 400 words.
• You won’t get penalized for writing 300 words instead of 400. You will
get penalized if you end before finishing a thought.
• The 401st word and beyond will not be read by anyone.
Tips for realizing you actually have a lot to say:
• You have to introduce the topic & question, and probably give real-life
examples of what you’re talking about. Otherwise, the reader won’t know
what you’re getting at.
• You should probably explain why the question is 1) interesting to you or
2) important to answer. The first is easier than the second, but the
second is a better thing to write about.
• After you offer an answer to your question, you have to convince the
reader that it’s a good one.
• Sometimes this might involve comparing it to another answer. That’s
OK. You’re still writing about one thing.
An example of why it’s OK to mention another answer:
what people usually think
From Newman & Bloom (2012):
The way in which one’s own personal history influences the value of objects is a major topic of interest within
psychology (e.g., see Keys & Schwartz, 2007, for a review). For example, ownership matters; even though
there may be no tangible difference between a mug that one owns and another identical mug, the owned mug
tends to be more valued—the so-called endowment effect (e.g., Kahneman, Knetsch, & Thaler, 1990; Thaler,
1980). Choice also matters; a classic demonstration in the cognitive dissonance literature is that an object that
a person chooses becomes more valuable simply by being chosen, whereas something that is rejected loses
value (e.g., Brehm, 1956; Egan, Santos, & Bloom, 2007; Festinger, 1957). In addition, objects that play an
important role for memory—for example, to document a special vacation with friends—may also acquire
significant value (Zauberman, Ratner, & Kim, 2008).
one exciting new idea
Here we are concerned with a different though potentially related set of phenomena, in which the relevant
historical properties extend outside the self. Examples of this are common in everyday life: People have paid
considerable money for a tape measure owned by President Kennedy, an autograph by astronaut Neil
Armstrong, and pop star Britney Spears’s chewed-up bubble gum (Bloom, 2004, 2010; Frazier, Gelman,
Wilson, & Hood, 2009; Hood & Bloom, 2008; Newman, Diesendruck, & Bloom, 2011). Such objects are
valued because of where they came from and the people they came into contact with and not because of their
tangible properties or presumed special utility. For example, if the buyer of the tape measure discovered that it
was actually not from the Kennedy household, he would presumably be outraged and want his $48,875 back,
though nothing perceptible or tangible about the object would have changed.
A few more things:
• You’ll get a grade, but not feedback on your writing. This is because, in
my infinite wisdom, I have requested that ~600 of these assignments be
submitted this term. If you want to chat about that grade, come to office
hours.
• I don’t care what format it’s in (e.g., APA) as long as it’s readable,
submitted on NEXUS, and can be opened with Word or a PDF reader.
• Try to use this as practice for really digging into an idea, and an
opportunity to write about something you think is cool.
• Please don’t stress about doing this perfectly. Just give it a shot.
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