| Course | PSYC 110N Psychology |
|---|---|
| Week | 7 |
| Paper type | Alternative explanation paper |
| Length | About 530 words, 5 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Chamberlain University |
| Program | BSN general education |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for PSYC 110N Week 7
Alternative Explanation Paper on Pressing Snooze: Reinforcement and a Delayed Body Clock Given Equal Room, Where They Agree and Where It Stops Mattering, the Observation That Splits Them and a Decision Sized to the Evidence
Student Name
Chamberlain University
PSYC 110N: Psychology
Instructor Name
Month Day, Year
Alternative Explanation Paper on Pressing Snooze: Reinforcement and a Delayed Body Clock Given Equal Room, Where They Agree and Where It Stops Mattering, the Observation That Splits Them and a Decision Sized to the Evidence
The Episode
I press snooze an average of 3.4 times on class mornings, with my first class at 8 a.m.
Account 1: Reinforcement
Pressing snooze stops an unpleasant noise and keeps me in a warm bed, which reinforces the behavior each morning. Every press works, so the behavior is learned quickly and repeated (Spielman et al., 2020). The prediction: if pressing no longer stops the alarm, for example with the phone across the room, the behavior will fade within a week or two.
Account 2: A Delayed Body Clock
Many young adults have a later internal sleep timing, with a natural tendency to fall asleep and wake later than school schedules require. On this account, I press snooze because at 6:30 a.m. my body is still in its biological night, governed by a circadian rhythm that runs later than my schedule (Spielman et al., 2020); the behavior reflects sleep need, not learning. The prediction: on days without an alarm, I will wake much later than 6:30, and moving the alarm will make me get up but leave me groggy and short of sleep.
Where They Agree and Where It Stops Mattering
Both accounts predict that I will press snooze on class days and that I will be tired in the morning. For deciding whether I am "lazy," they agree that I am not. The disagreement matters for what to change: the alarm's placement or my sleep schedule.
The Observation That Splits Them
My weekend wake time. Reinforcement makes no prediction about it. A delayed body clock predicts I will wake much later on weekends. I checked my phone's sleep log: on the last four Saturdays, I woke without an alarm between 9:40 and 10:20 a.m., more than three hours later than on class days. That large weekend shift supports the body clock account.
Also Checked
After I put the phone across the room for a week, presses dropped to zero, as reinforcement predicts, but I was more tired by Thursday. Both accounts have support.
A Decision Sized to the Evidence
The evidence supports both, with the body clock explaining why I am tired and reinforcement explaining the specific snooze pattern. I will keep the phone across the room and move my bedtime 30 minutes earlier for two weeks, and log both wake time and tiredness. Sleep guidance recommends 8 to 10 hours a night for teenagers (Paruthi et al., 2016); at 20, I average under seven on class nights, which fits the body clock account's picture of short weeknight sleep.
What Was Not Available
A clinical sleep assessment or a measure of melatonin timing, which would test the body clock account directly.
References
Paruthi, S., Brooks, L. J., D'Ambrosio, C., Hall, W. A., Kotagal, S., Lloyd, R. M., Malow, B. A., Maski, K., Nichols, C., Quan, S. F., Rosen, C. L., Troester, M. M., & Wise, M. S. (2016). Recommended amount of sleep for pediatric populations: A consensus statement of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, 12(6), 785-786. https://doi.org/10.5664/jcsm.5866
Spielman, R. M., Jenkins, W. J., & Lovett, M. D. (2020). Psychology (2nd ed.). OpenStax. https://openstax.org/details/books/psychology-2e
Reading the PSYC 110N Week 7 instructions
Return to a behavior you explained earlier and give a rival explanation equal room. State the episode briefly. Write each account with its mechanism and the prediction it makes, citing sources. Show where the two agree, including where the disagreement stops mattering for practical purposes. Then name an observation that one account predicts and the other does not, and check it. Report any other checks that supported either account. Make a decision sized to the evidence, which may keep both accounts for different parts of the behavior. Close with what evidence you could not obtain. Avoid declaring a winner when the evidence supports both. Give each account about the same space on the page.
How this PSYC 110N Week 7 example is built
The episode section restates the snooze average and the 8 a.m. class. The reinforcement section explains the noise removed and warmth kept, citing Spielman et al. (2020), and predicts fading with the phone across the room. The body clock section explains later circadian timing and predicts much later weekend waking and grogginess. The agreement section notes both clear the writer of laziness. The split section reports Saturday wake times between 9:40 and 10:20. The also-checked section reports presses dropping to zero and fatigue by Thursday. The decision keeps both, moves bedtime earlier and cites Paruthi et al. (2016). The last section names a sleep assessment and melatonin timing as missing.
Where the points sit in the PSYC 110N Week 7 rubric
Instructors grade whether the rival gets equal room and a deciding observation is named. A paper that sets up the rival only to dismiss it loses the most. Credit goes to two accounts with mechanisms and predictions, agreement shown honestly, an observation that splits them, a check reported and a decision that matches the evidence. Reporting a result that supports both earns marks. Sleep and health facts should be accurate and cited in APA. The decision should be practical and testable, with a time frame and a way to record the result. A decision that keeps both accounts for different parts of the behavior, with a plan to log both, shows reasoning proportioned to the evidence.
PSYC 110N Week 7 help from the desk
Papers most often lose points by giving the original explanation a page and the rival a sentence. Another common gap is an observation that both accounts predict equally, which cannot split them. Some papers declare one account correct after one check. Others give health advice beyond what the evidence supports. If both accounts survive, say which part of the behavior each explains best. A paper whose decision could be tested over two weeks with a simple log turns a comparison of explanations into a plan the writer can actually follow. Choose your splitting observation before you look at the data, so the result cannot shape which observation you pick.
Get a PSYC-110N Week 7 example written to your instructions
Send the assignment instructions and the marking rubric your own section uses, and a PSYC-110N Week 7 paper is written to them inside 24-48h, both explanations given equal room, the splitting observation identified and the decision kept proportional. Nothing is charged for the first. If your section fixed the two principles, name them and the example uses those.
More PSYC 110N papers and BSN general education samples
- PSYC 110N Week 1: What Psychology Asserts Post
- PSYC 110N Week 2: Classical Conditioning Paper
- PSYC 110N Week 3: Reinforcement Analysis of Snooze
- PSYC 110N Week 4: Attitude and Persuasion Write-Up
- PSYC 110N Week 5: Personality Traits Write-Up
- PSYC 110N Week 6: Social Influence Analysis
- PSYC 110N Week 8: Motivation and Leadership Essay
- PSYC 290N Week 7: Adulthood and Aging Paper
PSYC 110N Week 7 questions, answered
What if both explanations still fit once I am finished?
Then say so and say why. That outcome is legitimate and frequently the more honest one. The paper is marked on whether you looked for the splitting point, not on whether the episode happened to contain it. Name the observation that would have decided the matter, explain what about this episode kept it out of view, and describe the occasion on which it could be collected.
Do the two explanations have to come from different weeks of the course?
Usually they do not have to, though drawing on two different areas often produces a cleaner split. Two principles from the same area can work well because their disagreement is narrow and precise, which makes the splitting observation easier to state. What matters is that the two really do forecast different things somewhere, rather than being two names for the same mechanism.
Can I reuse the episode from an earlier week?
Many sections encourage it, since the point of the assignment is the comparison rather than fresh material, and a familiar episode leaves more room for the analysis. Check what your classroom says about resubmitting your own writing, and where it is allowed, rewrite the account rather than pasting it. The episode usually needs different details visible this time anyway.
Where can I find a free PSYC 110N Week 7 sample paper?
This page holds the full PSYC 110N Week 7 paper weighing reinforcement against a delayed body clock as the reason for pressing snooze.
What observation splits the accounts in the PSYC 110N Week 7 sample?
Weekend wake time; on four Saturdays the writer woke without an alarm between 9:40 and 10:20 a.m., which the body clock account predicts and reinforcement does not address.