According to a March 2010 article on the CBC News website, half of all U.S. households donated to Haiti following the earthquakes that struck in January of 2010. But there are always new disasters around the globe. Why do people give to one disaster and not to another, and more importantly, why do they feel differently about disasters in other regions of the world? Through research, interviews and critical thinking, try to determine the psychological reasons for the ways in which individuals are affected by different worldwide catastrophes, and also try to determine the psychological tricks employed by private and government agencies to persuade a person to donate money or goods.
We are making progress in stereotypes in areas such as race and gender, but what new stereotypes are emerging in the 21st century in our ever-advancing technological world? For a proposal idea, begin tracing the dividing lines in work and personal life between the technologically savvy and less-technologically inclined. How does the permanently wired segment of our population view the more technologically conservative element, and vice versa, and how are these technologically related stereotypes affecting the way we work and live? Take your findings and try to predict the belief structures and stereotypes of these groups 20 or 50 years into the future.
In the 21st century, U.S. citizens want to see many changes in the way the U.S. functions in terms of health care, defense and other major platforms. The 2009/2010 health care reform battle demonstrated the difficulty in changing people's minds. For a proposal idea, research the recent health care reform movement and other past landmark changes in the United States and try to get to the psychological heart of the matter. What fundamentally causes people to decide one way or another, and more importantly, what causes people to stand up and act and sacrifice in order to fight for change? Through this research you may be able to form some insightful theories that could lead to effective change at some level.