Psychology Project

[Reikikuro]

I am doing a research project for psychology. my paper is going to be on the study of love. I need really good resources. I'm just looking for a little help on what you guys know about it. This means a lot to me. So please let me know on anything you come across pertaining to the psychological veiw points on love. I also need the sources. I'm not aloowed to use anything from "psychology today" or abstract. Anything will help.

[Reikikuro]

I'm really just looking for an idea here, a starting point. I should have mentioned this before. I'm not trying to be lazy and manipulate my way out of this project. I just don't know where to begin

[Clockwork]

If you do any part of your paper, I think the most important part should be deciding what it's about.

Otherwise, I haven't looked much into the science of love, beyond the technical terms for its variants and the triangular topography that exists for romantic love... and as I've saved no sources, I'm mostly useless here.

[badteccy]

Try wikipedia lol.

[Reikikuro]

That is what I am trying to find out. What are the good topics?

I just put something in Black

[Reikikuro]

Wikipedia is deemed untouchable by the professor. She says it isn't exactly acurate.

I wonder if anyone reads these?

[d.Nox]

Here's a few ideas (not sure where you'll find research material, though):

1. Is love altruistic, or is it ultimately self-serving?

2. To what extent is love hard-wired, and to what extent a cultural phenomenon?

3. What are the boundaries of love? At what point does it blend into obsession, or co-dependence, or what have you?

4. What is the "life cycle" of love? What things attract us, and what happens once we get what we're looking for? What makes lovers fall apart?

I'm not sure you could make a proper paper on any of these--they're all a bit broad--but a bit of research on them could turn up something interesting.

[Miss Cogs]

Are you looking into the behavior and process of love or are you looking into the chemical balance and messaging to the brain that gives off that feeling of love? If your looking into behavior, I suggest that you ask a few couples to observe. Love is not the same for every couple. It can be similar and have alot of similar behavior, but it is never the same. Which is why I suggest the observing.

Love is something that you can not read about, I think it's more of a observantion or a personal experience. More personal then observing though. If you have a signifiacant other, then you could try comparing your relationship with others as well. Ultimately, if you do choose to observe the few couples, study their body movement, the way they speak to each other, the way they look at each other, how they kiss, how they hug, and how they hold hands. Listen for the things they say. Prehaps you can also ask them questions. Together and seperatly. Ask them how they feel about each other when they are together and then ask the same question seperatly. Look for differences. That is about as much advice I can offer, without rambling.

Good luck on the project. I hope it turns out great for you.

[LadyLucretia]

Your professor is 100% right that wikipedia has no place as a reference in an academic paper.

What you want to do is use a search engine like PubMed or PsychINFO to search peer-reviewed psychology journals for articles on the topic. You should have access to these via your school library. You may need to vary your search terms a bunch to get interesting results. If "love" doesn't work, they may suggest other related topics, which could give you topic ideas.

Next read through the articles - skipping to the discussion where they explain what their study found is fine. You probably want at least 3 articles that all discuss the same topic for a basic 3-5 page paper.

I was a very successful psych major, and found that opinions have no place in psychology writing - every idea you state should be cited with references. So start with doing research, highlighting main ideas, making a paper outline off of that, etc. Having a narrow topic in mind before you know that there is research to support it is a waste of time; do the research first.

[badteccy]

Originally Posted by Reikikuro

She says it isn't exactly acurate.

I wonder if anyone reads these?

Ya I know rite?