Chapter 1 ( Prologue Questions Are at the End)

Essays

Chapter 1 ( Prologue questions are at the end)

1. / When your best friend hears that you are taking a psychology course, she asserts that psychology is simply common sense. Explain why your awareness of both the limits of everyday reasoning and the methods of psychological research would lead you to disagree with your friend's assertion.
2. / The table below lists the scores of eight subjects on a test to measure anxiety, as well as the typical number of cigarettes each person smokes daily. Scores on the anxiety test can range anywhere from a low of 0 (indicating very low anxiety) to a high of 30 (indicating very high anxiety).
Anxiety / Cigarettes
Subject / Test Score / Smoked Daily
1 / 8 / 11
2 / 9 / 3
3 / 15 / 11
4 / 14 / 16
5 / 21 / 26
6 / 12 / 10
7 / 22 / 24
8 / 17 / 18
Construct a scatterplot to represent the correlation between smoking and anxiety. Describe the direction of the correlation and give two possible explanations for it.
3. / Speaking at a college graduation ceremony, Professor Robson compared college graduates with adults who are less educated. She correctly noted that college graduates pay more taxes, vote more frequently, engage in more volunteer activities in their communities, and are less likely to go to jail than less-educated adults. The professor concluded that colleges obviously do great things for society. How might you reasonably challenge the way the professor reached her conclusion?
4. / Design an experiment to test whether alcohol consumption influences people's tendency to become socially aggressive. Be sure to specify your experimental hypothesis and identify your dependent and independent variables, as well as your experimental and control conditions. Identify any experimental procedures that would help to ensure the validity of your research.
5. / Five students received the following test scores: 7, 11, 5, 6, and 11. Calculate the mode, median, mean, and range of this distribution of scores. Which measure of central tendency would change the most if an additional test score of 2 was included in the distribution?

Chapter 2

6. / The ancient Greek physician Hippocrates believed that four basic body fluids (blood, black bile, yellow bile, and phlegm) influenced human behavior, emotions, and personality. Use your understanding of the body's rapid and slower chemical communication systems to support or refute Hippocrates's theory.
7. / Over the last few weeks, Mr. Klein has been bothered by nausea, frequent fainting spells, and severe headaches. Describe two ways a physician might seek to determine whether Mr. Klein's symptoms result from a brain disorder or injury.
8. / After a mild stroke, Mr. McGeorge showed some signs of aphasia. What pattern of symptoms would lead you to believe the damage occurred primarily in (a) Broca's area, (b) Wernicke's area, (c) the angular gyrus?
9. / After Jordan brilliantly performed a challenging and emotionally vibrant violin concerto, the orchestra conductor proudly proclaimed that Jordan was obviously a right-brained personality.What type of explanation is the conductor giving for Jordan's artistic skills? What's wrong with his statement? Provide an alternative reason for Jordan's talent.

Chapter 3

10. / Many would consider it ironic that men are more likely than women to feel comfortable about having casual sex with multiple partners and yet at the same time more likely to feel jealous rage over a mate's having sex with someone else. How would an evolutionary psychologist explain these gender differences? What are the strengths and weaknesses of this evolutionary explanation?
11. / Describe one of your personality traits that you believe to be highly heritable and another trait that seems to be much less so. Provide evidence to support your answer, and explain why you would expect genetics to exert a much greater impact on some personality traits than on others.
12. / Mr. Firkin is a shy and reserved person who often feels tense and nervous. In therapy, he recalled that he had an unhappy childhood, feeling that he did not receive enough attention from his mother and resenting the conservative family discipline and life style enforced by his father. He blames both parents for his current anxiety, unhappiness, and loneliness. In light of your understanding of the interactive influences of nature and nurture, explain why Mr. Firkin's complaints about his parents may be somewhat unfair and unhelpful.
13. / Describe ways in which our society might change in the future--in the home, school, and workplace, for example--if all children were raised in families that discouraged traditional gender-typing and distinct gender roles. Consider the advantages or disadvantages of such changes while you develop an argument as to whether you would or would not recommend the development of that kind of society.

Chapter 4

14. / Three-year-old Ivan frequently takes other children's toys from them, showing little concern for their feelings, even when they cry. When he does this, his mother tells him to “imagine how other kids feel when they lose their toys.” Use your understanding of cognitive development to explain Ivan's antisocial behavior. Why is his mother's comment unlikely to influence his behavior? How would you encourage Ivan to stop behaving this way?
15. / Mrs. Karina spends a lot of time stroking, cuddling, and rocking her infant son and seems to be highly aware of the baby's actions and needs. Mr. Karina worries that his wife's interactions with the baby may eventually lead the child to (a) cry easily when frustrated, (b) fearfully cling to his mother, (c) become unfriendly toward other people, and (d) become withdrawn and uninterested in his surroundings. Describe research on social development that supports or refutes each of the father's concerns.
16. / Mr. and Mrs. McDonald believe in the importance of stern discipline; they impose strict rules which they expect their children to obey without question. They penalize misbehavior harshly, frequently with a spanking. Mr. and Mrs. Reynolds use milder forms of punishment to enforce their rules. They also have regular family meetings in which their children help them to establish household rules and penalties for breaking them. What do you see as the advantages and disadvantages of these two disciplinary approaches? Explain the reasons for your answer.
17. / Thirteen-year-old Philip has begun to challenge many of his parents' values and to express his own set of highly idealistic standards. Compare and contrast the explanations for Philip's behavior that would be given by Kohlberg and by Erikson.
18. / As Brianna begins experiencing symptoms of menopause, she worries about the loss of (a) health and vitality, (b) intellectual capacity, and (c) life satisfaction. Describe research that would serve to justify or minimize each of Brianna's concerns.

Chapter 5

19. / Use your understanding of absolute thresholds, sensory adaptation, and pain control to argue that sensation is often influenced by our motives, expectations, and psychological states of mind.
20. / You are the president of a corporation that owns several large department stores. A board member has a plan for preventing shoplifting: In each store play musical soundtracks containing subaudible and consciously imperceptible verbal messages such as “don't steal” and “shoplifting is a crime.” Carefully discuss your reasons for supporting or rejecting this proposal to engage in subliminal persuasion.
21. / In what sense is there a correspondence between the experiences of hue and pitch? Discuss how the Young-Helmholtz theory of color vision and the place theory of pitch perception are conceptually similar or different.
22. / A friend believes that the five human senses--seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, and feeling--are distinct and independent. Explain what is wrong with your friend's belief.

Chapter 6

23. / You have been asked to paint a picture that includes buildings, fields, a river, and a mountain. Describe how you would use at least five monocular cues to give your painting a sense of depth.
24. / The moon typically appears larger near the horizon than when high in the sky. The height of the Gateway Arch in St. Louis typically appears greater than its width. Explain these two perceptual illusions and show how your explanations for both illusions are similar.
25. / Explain how research on size constancy, restored vision, perceptual adaptation, and perceptual sets serves to support and/or refute John Locke's emphasis on the importance of learning in perception.
26. / Last night one of your mother's best friends had a car accident. Your mother feels guilty because three days ago she dreamt of such an accident but failed to warn her friend. How would you explain your mother's experience? What advice would you give her?

Chapter 7

27. / Because he has difficulty falling asleep at night, Professor Hogan doesn't go to bed until very late. Before he retires, he tries to wear himself out by running around the block several times. Then he treats himself to a beer and perhaps a pizza while preparing his lecture for the next day's early morning classes. What specific advice would you give the professor to help him fall asleep?
28. / Franco studied all evening for a chemistry test the following morning. That night he dreamt that he copied test answers from a female classmate sitting nearby. Compare and contrast a Freudian and an information-processing explanation of Franco's dream.
29. / A good friend of yours hopes that hypnosis will improve his memory and help him study longer and more effectively. He worries, however, that he might not be easily hypnotized. Your mother hopes that hypnosis will help relieve her arthritis pain but fears that under hypnosis she might do something embarrassing. Discuss the extent to which the hopes and fears of your friend and your mother are realistic. Where appropriate, use research evidence to support your conclusions.
30. / A classmate believes that alcohol, marijuana, and cocaine all have similar effects on behavior and that therefore all three drugs ought to be legalized. Carefully evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of your classmate's position.

Chapter 8

31. / (a) How would you classically condition an adventuresome 2-year-old to be more fearful of running across a busy street near her house? (b) How would you classically condition a preschool child who is afraid of dogs to enjoy playing with a neighbor's friendly dog? Be sure to identify the UCS, CS, UCR, and CR in both answers.
32. / (a) Several days after drinking an excessive amount of alcohol, Karen becomes nauseated simply by the smell of liquor. The sight of the half-empty liquor bottle from which she drank does not, however, upset her. What does Karen's pattern of response indicate about the limits of associative learning? (b) If George is spanked immediately after his baby sister cries, he is likely to become fearful every time she cries. If Ken is spanked immediately before his baby sister cries, he is not likely to become fearful when she cries. What do the different reactions of George and Ken suggest about the role of cognitive processes in associative learning?
33. / Mr. Byrne can't understand why scolding his seventhgrade students for disruptive classroom behaviors makes them more unruly. Explain Mr. Byrne's predicament in terms of operant conditioning principles. Show how he could use operant conditioning techniques to (a) reduce disruptive behaviors and (b) increase cooperative behaviors.
34. / For Vina, cigarettes reduce feelings of tension and anxiety. Because of her heavy smoking, however, she has a bad morning cough and breathing difficulties.How can the principles of operant conditioning help to explain the development and continuation of Vina's self-defeating smoking habit? Explain the extent to which the reinforcement for Vina's habit is positive or negative, primary or conditioned, immediate or delayed, partial or continuous.
35. / Although Mr. Wright often tells his children about the importance of donating time and money to charitable causes, he rarely does so himself. He believes that this hypocrisy will not rub off on his children, however, as long as he has plausible excuses for his lack of charity. Use your understanding of learning processes to explain how Mr. Wright's children are likely to be affected by their father's behavior. What advice would you give to Mr. Wright?

Chapter 9

36. / A friend claims that the faster you read, the more you remember. Use your knowledge of effortful processing and effective encoding strategies to refute your friend's claim.
37. / Describe three mnemonic devices that would enable you to remember the following list of grocery items: milk, eggs, margarine, oranges, rhubarb, ice cream, eggplant, and sausage. Explain why each would be effective.
38. / Although you genuinely enjoyed studying hard for a biology exam, during the test you are feeling frustrated and irritable because you can't recall the answer to a series of fairly easy factual questions. What techniques could you use to effectively remember the information previously learned?
39. / Professor Markus is a brilliant mathematician who is 70 years old and still enjoys teaching. Over the past few years she has experienced increasing difficulty remembering the names of her students. Suggest several possible explanations for the professor's increasing memory failure.
40. / During the process of psychotherapy, Elaine accurately recovered some long-forgotten and painful memories from her childhood. This experience led her to conclude that these memories must have been repressed for many years. Use your understanding of the nature of memory to refute Elaine's conclusion.

Chapter 10

41. / Describe several heuristics that you might use or that you have used when deciding whether you should (a) study especially hard for a test and (b) ask someone for a date (or accept a date). Under what circumstances are these heuristics likely to contribute to poor decision making?
42. / You are the commissioner of a state lottery system that sponsors daily and weekly drawings. Lottery tickets have not been selling well over the past few months. Describe four ways you could take advantage of people's use of the availability heuristic in order to boost sales. Explain why you would judge your tactics to be fair or unfair to your customers.
43. / Heike's older brother has suffered from chronic depression for several years. Unfortunately, Heike has been incorrectly informed by her parents that there is a 40 percent chance she will also suffer from depression. Explain how the availability heuristic, framing, the confirmation bias, and belief perseverance might lead Heike to conclude that she will definitely be a victim of a severe depressive disorder.
44. / After returning from a shopping trip with his mother, little Tommy reported, “I goed to the store and eated candy.” Why might a behaviorist such as B. F. Skinner have had some difficulty explaining Tommy's incorrect grammatical construction? What does his error suggest about the process of language acquisition?

Chapter 11

45. / You have been hired by a large public school system to construct a musical aptitude test. Describe how you would standardize your test and assess its reliability and validity. Explain why it might be more difficult to develop a valid musical aptitude test than a reliable one.
46. / Although Susan is a brilliant pianist and highly acclaimed ballet dancer, her high school intelligence test scores were only average. What does Susan's experience suggest regarding (a) the reliability and validity of intelligence tests, (b) the nature of intelligence, and (c) the desirability of currently popular “gifted child” education programs?
47. / A classmate makes the following claim: “Despite numerous federally funded Head Start programs and nationwide efforts to desegregate public schools, Blacks continue to lag behind their White counterparts in intelligence and academic achievement. Clearly, Black Americans must be genetically inferior to White Americans.” Use research evidence and logical arguments to intelligently refute your classmate's statement.
48. / Juan is the oldest son of Mexican parents who immigrated to the United States less than five years ago. Juan's high school teachers perceive him to be fairly intelligent, but his SAT scores are low and he is having trouble getting into college. Juan's mother angrily claims that “intelligence tests are biased against Hispanics.” Juan's father sadly counters, “It's not the tests that are biased; it's American education that is biased.” Carefully explain why you would agree or disagree with the comments made by each of the parents.

Chapter 12

49. / Abraham Maslow suggested that “a person who is lacking food, love, and self-esteem would most likely hunger for food more strongly than anything else.” Conversely, the novelist Dostoyevski wrote, “without a firm idea of himself and the purpose of his life, man cannot live even if surrounded with bread.” Give evidence that would lead you to support both statements.
50. / Although Jan appears to be underweight, she is afraid of becoming fat and consistently restricts her food intake. Although Gene appears to be overweight, he enjoys eating and always eats as much as he wants. Explain how their different reactions to food might result from (a) differences in their inner bodily states and (b) differences in their reactions to external incentives.
51. / The rate of teenage pregnancy in the United States has risen sharply in the last 40 years, despite the increased availability of contraceptives. Suggest how parents, teachers, religious leaders, government officials, and teenagers themselves could help remedy this situation. Include at least one concrete suggestion for each of these groups.
52. / People often refer to homosexuals as persons rather than referring to homosexual behavior as something persons do. In fact, those who experience homosexual desires or engage in homosexual practices are often assumed to be gay or lesbian in the same sense that they are male or female. Describe the potential advantages and disadvantages of this assumption, and critically evaluate how it might influence research on the origins of differing sexual orientations.
53. / Describe the contrasting effects of directive management and participative management on employee morale. Discuss these differences in terms of Maslow's hierarchy of motives. Explain why the effectiveness of each style would depend on the personality traits and cultural background of the employees.

Chapter 13