24.1~11
Research Question: To what extent are cultural dimensions valid when predicting individual differences in coping mechanisms?
Reflection 1: Before acknowledging the existence of EE, I was interested in researching tears. Specifically, it all started when I got annoyed at my mother for telling me to stop crying, which brought “negativity.” So, I desired to display a research paper stating the opposite. Therefore, it was certain that I would be researching tears for EE. However, a specific behavior was required, leading me to expand from tears to grief as I considered emotions that possibly lead to tears. During this process, I naturally connected to personal experiences, leading me to picture the different expressions of emotions of my brother and me when my father passed away. Although we shared the same blood, we possessed distinctive reactions, leading me to wonder what component led this to occur. So, with discussions with my supervisor, I decided to expand grief to the expression of emotions and research about gender, culture, and biological factors.
Reflection 2: I learned the importance of having clear behavior. I realized that the grief was too broad, leading me to shift my focus to coping mechanisms. This shift helped me to understand what I was initially curious about: the individual response to the grief, coping mechanism, rather than grief itself. Specifically, my EE research question originated with the question, “Why do we act differently when we experience a traumatic experience?” and “What makes us react differently?” Narrowing and refocusing to the behavior of coping mechanisms was significant to me as I was able to research with the correct keywords, and therefore find research papers that aided my research question. This approach, therefore, allowed me to unlock what I desired to identify at the beginning. The next step is to evaluate the research papers I discovered to create arguments that further aid or contradict the points I made about gender and age.
Reflection 3: After finishing my EE, I learned several factors: the value of a literature review and how to write a psychology research paper. I recognized the importance of a literature review by the end of the writing process. Due to the shifted context from grief to a coping mechanism, the literature review was not effectively utilized. Soon, I realized that the research I selected may have been unintentionally done to refocus on the concepts I desired; in other words, confirmation bias. After some discussions with the supervisor, I learned how to approach in a more open-minded mindset, preventing possible biases. Specifically, I learned how to avoid researching with preconceived ideas. I started to let the evidence determine what the argument could be. Through the realization, I was able to not only understand the importance of acknowledging how I could possibly portray bias in the essay, but also learned how to effectively utilize a large range of evidence. Another aspect I learned was the formatting of the psychology research paper. After reading multiple articles, I noticed a specific trend: long and specific introductions to clarify the concept that will be discussed later. This will positively impact my future research paper in university!
