Posted: June 4th, 2015

Answer the questions

Q1：

This DB thread relates to the content in Chapter 6 – Learning. The questions below will help you apply content in the chapter that many students struggle with understanding.

Classical vs. Operant Conditioning

What is the distinction between classical and operant conditioning (3 points)?

 

Reinforcement and Punishment

What effect does reinforcement have on behavior (1 point)?

Give an example of positive reinforcement (1 point).

Give an example of negative reinforcement (1 point).

 

What effect does punishment have on behavior (1 point)?

Give an example of positive punishment (1 point).

Give an example of negative punishment (1 point).

 

Schedules of reinforcement

Define the following schedule of reinforcement and give an everyday example of each (not provided in the textbook; 6 points)

Fixed ratio:

Fixed interval:

Variable ratio:

Variable interval:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Q2：

This DB thread relates to the content in Chapter 7 – Memory. The questions below will help you apply content in the chapter to your own experiences.

 

1. Tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon. Have you ever had an experience where you were unable to recall information that seemed to be on the tip of your tongue? Explain the incident. What were you trying to recall? Were you eventually able to recall the information? What cues were helpful in recalling the information?

-3 points

2. Analyzing your memory. How would you rate your own memory skill? What are your strengths and weaknesses? For example, do you have an easy or difficult time remembering names? faces? numbers? directions? childhood memories? When memorizing information for an exam, what methods do you use to help you store the information in memory and retrieve it during exam time?

-5 points

 

3. Flashbulb memory. Describe a memory that is especially vivid for you. What senses are involved in this memory? Did you experience strong emotions during the original event? Why would you characterize this memory as a flashbulb memory?

-3 points

 

4. Memory storage. Give an example from your own experiences of procedural, declarative, episodic, and semantic knowledge. What are the differences between these types of knowledge?

-4 points

Q3：

For this activity you will explore a variety of media for views of sex-role development, gender identity, and the portrayal of gender stereotypes. The following are suitable sources for analysis:

 

*Books (including children’s books as well as books aimed at parents)

 

*Movies

 

*Magazines (including children’s magazines)

 

*Children’s education shows, cartoons, action shows

 

 

After gathering a variety of sources, please answer the following questions.

 

1. Provide at least three sources (3 points)

 

2. What common themes or stereotypes are found throughout? How is each gender portrayed? (3 points)

 

3. What influence will these portrayals likely have on the development of gender identity and gender role awareness in children? (3 points)

 

4. Which stereotypes seem to be firmly rooted in our culture and resistant to change? Why?(3 points)

 

5. In what ways have stereotypes changed in the past decade? (3 points)

Q4：

This discussion board will help you distinguish among Freud’s various defense mechanisms. For each statement below indicate the defense mechanism that is illustrated. Choose from the following options: Repression, Regression, Reaction formation, Rationalization, Displacement, Sublimation, and Projection (each one is used twice).

 

1. Even a top baseball player will sometimes strike out on an easy pitch. When this happens, his next action may be to throw his bat or kick the water cooler.
2. Soldiers exposed to traumatic experiences in concentration camps during wartime sometimes had amnesia and were unable to recall any part of their ordeal.
3. The mother of an unwanted child may feel guilty about not welcoming her child. As a result, she may try to prove her love by becoming overindulgent and overprotective of the child.
4. Paul, an aggressive child, had problems in elementary school, as he would frequently fight with other children. Paul found when he entered high school that he could channel this hostility into sports such as football and soccer.
5. The habitual drinker may insist that he really doesn’t care much for the taste of alcohol but feels that he is obliged to drink with friends “just to be sociable.”
6. Parents might be reassured to know that children who pull wings off flies and jab pins the dog may eventually find their niche in the areas of dentistry or surgery.
7. The individual who actually likes to have others do things for him may be quick to criticize other people for being dependent and lazy.
8. Reformers may conduct campaigns against pornographic literature in order to fight their own erotic interest in such material. They campaign to convince others of their own purity and goodness.
9. The high school teacher was criticized by the principal for having a disruptive class. When the teacher got home that night, he argued with his wife and kicked the dog.
10. Adults who were sexually molested during childhood often report that all the details of the painful episode have been forgotten.
11. After John was rejected by the admissions office at Yale, he claimed that he wouldn’t enjoy attending such a large school anyway. Besides, he might receive higher grades at a smaller local college.
12. A 6 year old child, who gave up bed-wetting at the age of 3, moves with his parents to a new neighborhood. During the stressful period of adjusting to his new home, he gain wets the bed for several nights.
13. It is typical for the person who is most difficult to convince in an argument to say that everyone else is stubborn.
14. When a new baby arrives in the family, the older child will sometimes cry more than usual and be more insistent about receiving caresses from the parents.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Q5：

For this discussion board, you will act as a “clinician”.

or each of your assigned case studies you will need to provide the following:

 

-diagnosis (3 points)

-symptoms that support your diagnosis (4 points)

-two causes/explanations for the disorder (8 points)

 

7. Sarah has an unrealistic fear of shopping in crowded stores and walking through crowded streets. She has begun to spend more and more time home alone in order to avoid the panicky feeling she gets when she goes out in public.
8. Sam’s friends are starting to worry about him. Normally energetic and fun-loving, Sam has become withdrawn and sullen. He has lost weight, is constantly tired, and hasn’t been showing up to lacrosse practice or to his fraternity meetings. In his conversations with others, he expresses feelings of doubt and unworthiness and seems to be entertaining suicidal thoughts.
9. Because Amy feels “dirty” a lot of the time, she spends much of her day at the sink, washing and rewashing her hands hundreds of times until they are red and raw.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Q6：

This discussion board will test your knowledge of the various types of therapy discussed in Chapter 16.

 

The Specific Types of Therapies

 

Complete the table below by: 1) selecting the specific category of therapy (psychotherapy, humanistic, behavioral, cognitive, or biomedical) and 2) filling in one main point about each of the eight types of therapy.

Type of therapy	Brief Description
Psychoanalysis   EX: psychotherapy	EX: uncovers unconscious impulses and anxiety conflicts from childhood
Client-centered therapy
Systematic desensitization
Aversive conditioning
Cognitive therapy
Family therapy
Drug therapy
Electroconvulsive therapy