This document contains Eric Youmans' ePortfolio which includes a personal statement, resume, reflection, and table of contents for courses taken at Argosy University. The personal statement indicates Eric was raised in Michigan and now lives in Florida, with long term career goals in teaching, counseling, or social work. The resume highlights Eric's communication skills, organization, typing speed, research abilities, fitness, and experience working as a polysomnographer. The reflection discusses finding statistics challenging but fun and needing occasional improvement in APA format. The table of contents outlines assignments on critical thinking, children and violence, intervention programs, research skills, and communication skills.

1. 1 Undergraduate Studies ePortfolio Eric Youmans B.A. Psychology, 2011

2. Personal Statement Raised in Michigan, now living in Florida. Long term career goals are to help others through teaching, counseling or social work.

3. Resume ERIC J YOUMANS 503 RIVIERA BLVD WNAPLES, FL 34112 USPhone: 239-961-0766 Objective Psychology major seeking an entry level position. Ability Summary Strong public speaker with excellent communication skills, both verbal and written. Organized and adept with software programs such as Excel and Word. Type 60 WPM, avid researcher with natural curiosity, also excellent writer of both fiction and nonfiction. Exercise regularly and keep very fit, play guitar and do great impersonations. Good clean driving record. Team player, who can take initiative and work independently when it is required. Experience in EEG application using the 10/20 system. My work as a polysomnographer included collecting, and analyzing neurology data. This experience also involved maintaining clinical labs, restocking supplies, sterilizing equipment and data entry.

4. Reflection My time at Argosy University was a time a great learning and living. I found the statistics classes challenging, but very fun. My strengths are in my writing, which is very powerful. My weakness is occasional errors in my APA format.

5. Table of Contents Cognitive Abilities: Critical Thinking and Information Literacy Children and Violence Course Project: Intervention and Prevention Programs Course Code: PSY301 Submitted by: Eric Youmans Date: 03/06/2011 Early intervention is critical for the long term health and success of children who are exposed to family violence. This intervention can take place at various locations, Such as community centers, schools and social service agencies. In Florida, there is the Boys and Girls Club which provides after school activities for kindergarten and elementary school children. This facility has tutors and counselors on site to work with troubled youth. Teachers and counselors in the public schools should also be prepared to identify and report suspicion of abuse to appropriate authorities and play a supportive role in the well being of the child. The primary aspect of intervention is that of safety (Argosy University Online, 2011). The child must be moved to a physically safe environment, even if that is outside of the home. If a parent in the home is abusing the child, the first step in helping that child is to provide a safe haven. The second goal of intervention is psychoeducational. The child needs reassurance that he/she bears no guilt in the abuse, and effective counseling can help the child gain the proper perspective on the family violence. Survivors of this type of violence need to understand appropriate methods of anger management and conflict resolution. They should learn that violence is not the normal reaction to conflict, and seek to develop alternate methods of coping with inevitable human conflict that arises. To help instill resilience in the child, counselors should attempt to boost the child’s optimism, self reliance, self esteem and coping skills (Argosy Online, 2011). Programs can be designed to increase the autonomy and confidence of abused children. Within the intervention approach, the identity of the child should be respected and nurtured, as that applies to gender and ethnic culture. If a child is devoutly religious, then the approach should be tailored to that belief, while a nonreligious child should not receive the same type of approach. A girl may need different intervention than a boy, and children should not be pushed into a “one size fits all” approach when it comes to intervention. Ethically, the intervention presents a tangled web of difficult choices. It should never be taken lightly to remove a child from his/her home. Even when abuse occurs, the child may have no other source of love other than the parents. If a child is removed from his/her primary caregiver to provide physical safety and security, that removal may also deprive the child of his/her only familial intimacy. To remove a child from his/her home is obviously a decision that is fraught with ethical issues and moral dilemma. However, if the child’s life is in danger, it should be obvious that removal from the home is necessary. References Argosy University Online, Psychoeducational and Intervention Strategies, Retrieved on March 3rd, 2011 fromhttp://myeclassonline.com/re/DotNextLaunch.asp?courseid=4891148&userid=6252154&sessionid=a0a8402e12&tabid=9cIFWB2aHsQEzS+rnyzSz8kEUcmen59fV9h+ Research Skills Social Psychology | PSY310 XF Instructor: Melissa Ryan Assignment 2 Project By Eric Youmans April 11, 2011 The F scale does a good job at measuring the authoritarian personality. The questions are good at revealing just how likely a person is to not only attempt to exert authority over others, but also how apt he/she is at submitting to authority. I scored a 3.06, which reveals that I am a bit more libertarian in my leaning that authoritarian. The first statement is that obedience is the most important virtue humans should learn (Anesi, 1997). Whether one agrees with this or not is one of the most telling responses. In my opinion, children should respect authority, but they should also learn that there comes a time when they must question authority. There are shades of grey here. I thought that statement number 9 was not very indicative of how authoritarian a person is. The statement was that no sane, normal or decent person could ever think of hurting a close friend or relative. This does not really fit on the scale, because a person of any ideological bent may agree or disagree with this, and it does not reflect on their authoritarianism or libertarianism. The problem with authoritarianism is that it places too much faith in human nature. Authority is needed for greater coordination of human efforts, which chaos cannot provide. This leads to human accomplishment on a grand scale, such as construction of monuments and hospitals and complex structures and institutions, but it also leads to massive destruction. If the scientists who were involved in the Manhattan project were to stop and disobey authority, the atomic bomb would not have been built. Some of the questions are far less relevant today than they were fifty years ago. The statements of numbers 11, 3, and 4 make reference to some form of labor or the value of industry (Anesi, 1997). Technology has rendered human labor nearly obsolete in the last 50 years, with more and more functions of humans being automated. For example, observe an auto manufacturing plant in 1955 vs. 2005. The functions that were done by humans in the past, such as welding and screwing small parts, are now done by robotic vices and clamps. This automation of human labor has displaced humans in the workforce in every sector of our economy. It is strange that this point is never discussed in the media despite the constant talk of high unemployment and it’s repercussions for society. In the 1950’s and 60’s, the value of hard work was apparent. In today’s world, not so much. It is more important that we work smarter, not harder. However, there is a certain anti-intellectualism present in some strains of authoritarianism that will deny and ignore the growing techno-scientific wave. Change is constant, but so is the human tendency to resist and fear change. My score was 3.06, and the test informed me that I am a disciplined, but tolerant American. I fell within the median range of the scores, not out on the fringe one way or another. This is accurate, but it fails to show that in some ways I am quite liberal and even have contempt for authority in any form. Authority, however, is a necessary evil, like beaurocracy. There doesn’t seem to be any way for people to work together without some form of authority to make decisions and delegate and direct human labor, channeling the efforts of many toward a common goal. What authoritarians fail to recognize is that humans could never lead as efficiently and morally as a super advanced artificial intelligence, such as a computer program. Within a couple decades it is likely that technology will create an AI that is capable of taking inventory of human resources on a vast scale, compute within the parameters of time and space and its own mandates (imposed by human programmers), lead and coordinate human efforts better than a person ever could. This of course would be a new form of government, replacing the old forms of monarchy, democracy, oligarchy, etc. It would be rule by logic, free of human flaw such as greed, stupidity and corruption, yet the authoritarians would likely not respect such rule, due to their fear and loathing of the unknown. References Anesi, C. (1997). The f scale: final form. Retrieved from http://www.anesi.com/fscale.htm Communication Skills: Oral and Written Social Psychology | PSY310 XF Instructor: Melissa Ryan M3 A2: Persuasive Power By Eric Youmans 20 March 2011 I am going to design a test to measure the persuasive power of the pro-recycling message. This will involve getting people to see the message, hopefully analyze it centrally rather than peripherally, and find some way of determining whether the message was persuasive to them. Central analyzing involves more thought and attentiveness than peripheral analyzing (Kenrick, D. T., Neuberg, S. L., & Cialdini, R. B. 2007). To begin, I would select members of the community via random sampling which means I would not target a specific demographic such as age, gender, ethnic group or religion. This would give me a sense of how appealing the message is on a universal level, which allows for greater generalization of my findings. I would post ads in newspapers, on Craigslist, and on bulletin boards at local grocery stores, colleges, and libraries. The ad would indicate that I seek volunteers to view a brief presentation and that free food and drinks will be offered. All volunteers would be welcome, and I would likely be able to recruit a sample with good to excellent diversity. I would use another random method to divide the volunteers into (A) control and (B) experimental groups. This could be accomplished by assigning each person a number, based on the sequence in which they arrive, and then sending the odd numbers into one room and the even numbers into another. Near the entrance would be placed recycling bins and toward the back of the room would be placed garbage receptacles. The control group would view a public service announcement about the importance of preventing forest fires, and the experimental group would view the public service announcement about the importance of recycling. Free drinks and snacks would be offered as promised, all in recyclable containers. After the presentations are viewed, there would be a short questionnaire given to the participants. It would ask them whether they thought the message was persuasive or not. This questionnaire would be the self reported measure, but there would be a covert measure of persuasiveness as well. It would be carefully noted how many people from each group discarded their used containers in the garbage rather than go out of their way to put it in a recycle bin. If more people from group B used the recycle bin than from group A, then it could be assumed that the message was persuasive. If less people, or an equal amount used the garbage vs. recycling, then it could be assumed that the recycling message was not persuasive. This way, I could measure the results in both self reporting and unobtrusive ways. The advantage of self reporting in this experiment is that it is simple and easier to conduct, but the disadvantage is that people who are self reporting may give a false positive, i.e. may say that the message was persuasive for reasons of being amicable or appearing politically correct, but the covert measure of whether they used the recycle bin would reveal the truth of whether they were convinced. I certainly would have stronger confidence in my results if there were 200 participants rather than 10. The greater numbers would give the study more generalizability, i.e. the degree to which we could assume that the results apply to the population at large. References Kenrick, D. T., Neuberg, S. L., & Cialdini, R. B. (2007). Social psychology: Goals in interaction. Pearson. Retrieved on March 20, 2011, from http://digitalbookshelf.argosy.edu/#/books/0558220088/pages/2610488

6. Critical Thinking Ethics and Diversity Awareness Diversity | PSY312 XA Instructor: Cynthia Edins Module 6 Assignment 2 By Eric Youmans 08/07/2011 I interviewed a gay man who works at a 7-11 gas station near my home. It was a bit awkward for me to ask if he was gay, but I had a feeling he was because I have been in that store many times and he works as a clerk there. When I asked, he asked me why I want to know. I told him I need to interview a gay person and he confirmed that he was gay. He is comfortable being gay and admitting it openly. He stated that he feels discriminated against in a number of ways. His parents don’t fully accept him, although they know about his sexuality, it is never discussed and his parents are uneasy about it. He never introduces any romantic partners to his parents because of this. He feels that is the biggest tragedy, discrimination coming from his own family. He also stated that he can never hold hands, kiss or be affectionate in public with his partner, because it cranks up hostility against them. In public he and his boyfriend have to fairly platonic or people around them become agitated, giving dirty looks and making cruel comments. So even though people know he is gay, even at his workplace, he can’t be too demonstrative about it. He says that people can accept his homosexuality as long as they don’t have to see it or hear about it. Most people would prefer to remain purposely oblivious, pretending as if he is hetero rather than gay. In order to reduce this, he says that people should not be uptight prudes. I pointed out to him that our country is full of uptight prudes even about mainstream hetero sex as well, and he agreed. Perhaps our cultural shame of the human body and nudity, and sexuality in general needs to be addressed in order to change the cultural attitude toward gays. I asked him what he thinks about homophobia, which is the irrational fear of gays or lesbians (Argosy University Online, 2011). He said that people who are extreme homophobes are probably harboring latent homosexual urges themselves, and the homophobia is the outward manifestation of denial and fear. The interaction affected me by making me want to not be repulsed by gay displays of affection. I am bothered enough by public displays of affection between heterosexual couples, which I find inappropriate except during wedding ceremonies or special occasions. Gay public displays of affection, like seeing two men kiss in a public area, are downright disturbing to me. I honestly don’t know how I can change this about myself, if occurs on a visceral level, beneath my conscious thought. References Argosy University Online, 2011 Sexual Minorities retrieved from http://myeclassonline.com/re/DotNextLaunch.asp?courseid=5371107&userid=6252154&sessionid=cd2d01396d&tabid=IPBd8lsjUFsoCJYeaEfWFTeUQ4A4nsmwxnbrF+we7fUaX9OzZIS+G+zds5uMamKz&sessionFirstAuthStore=true&macid=

7. My Future in Learning Learning is a lifelong process. In my future, I will continue to evaluate my experiences in an open minded way, being able and ready to change old attitudes in light of new evidence.

8. Contact Me Thank you for viewing my ePortfolio. For further information, please contact me at the e-mail address below. torremalku7482@yahoo.com