Personal experience involving an emotional experience

This is a paper that is focusing on the personal experience involving an emotional experience. The paper also provides further descriptions to use in writing the assignment paper.

Personal experience involving an emotional experience

PAPER INSTRUCTIONS
Paper topic: In this paper, you will discuss a personal experience involving an emotional experience (e.g., anger, sadness, happiness, fear, disgust).  Use judgment when selecting the emotional experience you will describe. I have the right to not read (and give a student 0 points) for a topic that is not appropriate to the academic environment (the paper must be rated G or PG and appropriate to discuss with your grandmother). Please do not discuss an intense experience that you are processing through therapy or that you have never told someone about before. This paper is an academic assignment that will allow you to display your knowledge about theories and research on emotions.

Contents of paper: When discussing this experience, include a description of the antecedents of the event, including situational factors, (e.g., your mood prior to the experience; your anticipation or lack of anticipation of the event; the environment where the event occurred, including the people around you at the time), and dispositional factors (how your personality may have played a role in the experience; how you were raised and cultural and social factors that led you to respond in a certain way).  In addition, mention the consequences, if any, of your emotional response.

Personal experience involving an emotional experience

When describing the emotional experience itself, discuss the precipitating factors (what happened in the environment) and your reaction to the event, including your subjective response (affect), cognitive response (your thoughts during the event), physiological response, and behavioral response (what you did) that comprised your emotional experience. Discuss how long the emotional experience lasted, and the intensity of the experience. After the event was over, discuss your memory for the event. When writing about your cognitive, subjective, physiological, and behavioral emotional response, discuss a theory of emotion that best describes your emotional reaction. If no theory accurately describes your experience, clearly state why a theory does not correspond with your personal experience.

Finally, describe how someone else might have experienced this same event differently than you did.
Discuss how social/cultural factors, gender, or age differences may influence how this event would be experienced.
Length: The paper should be 5-7 pages, typed, double-spaced, no more than 12 point font in APA format.
Cited references in the paper: You must include at least 5 different citations from either the lectures or readings. Of these, at least 3 must be from the readings and 1 from an article not from the syllabus. This article should be from an APA journal (e.g., Health Psychology; Abnormal Psychology, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology; Emotion). Include a reference section.

Grading criteria: Overall spelling, grammar, and clarity of the paper and the reference section; antecedent situational and dispositional factors; description of the event; subjective response; cognitive response; physiological response; consequences of your response; how and why someone else may have experienced it differently; integrating readings and lectures in the paper; thoughtfulness and creativity.