Psychology 101
Dr. Marcia McKinley
M 3/4/13
BEFORE CLASS, THINK ABOUT…

How did you study for the mid-term? What will you do differently for the final?
CLASS #8 OUTLINE
I.
Quiz
II.
Administrative issues
A.
Improving grades
Think about:
Time spent on the material: College work requires 6-9 hours/week of work
outside of class.
Check on note-taking
Evaluate where in the process you are having problems:
*
Are you encoding the information presented in class and the book?
That is, are you in class each week? Do you pay attention? Are you
taking good notes? Are you studying (not just reading) the book?
*
How are you retaining the information from class and the book?
What study techniques are you using? (See my handout from the
beginning of the semester on study techniques.)
*
Can you retrieve the information you learned at the time of the
exam? If not, why not? Are you anxious during quizzes/texts?
Have you learned the information well enough that you have
retrieval cues? (Overlearning material is always a good idea.)
B.
Extra credit for next class
Learn the information from mid-term questions 1-9 and 12. (See below.) I will
give an in-class quiz (format to be determined) on the content required for these
essay questions next class. It will be worth 20-25 points.
C.
Next quiz
In addition, next class you will have a quiz on chapter 3 (developmental
psychology).
D.
Writing assignments
If you have not yet turned in any writing assignment, you will need to complete
the remaining 2 assignments. (Each assignment is worth 100 points, so if you
don’t do one, it will drop you down by a letter grade.) The next assignment (the
Virtual Child, on developmental psychology, is due 4/1 and requires a LOT of
work. Please don’t wait until the last minute to do this assignment!
E.
Review of research credit hours: Only 1 person has completed this requirement.
Please remember to do this!
1
II.
Big question in developmental psychology (which impacts all other areas of
psychology, as we just saw when talking about personality): Nature vs. nurture
A.
History of this question
1.
Which one?
2.
How much? (the “additive question”)
3.
How? (the “multiplicative question”)
One example theory: Gottesman’s range-of-reaction principle
B.
Twin research
Identical twins vs. fraternal twins
C.
Epigenetic research: Watch Ghost in Your Genes
See http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/genes/ for more information, including
program transcript. Also see the following articles listed below.
AFTER CLASS…




Have a great break!
The class after break (3/18), you will have 2 quizzes:
The regularly scheduled quiz (on chapter 3)
The extra credit quiz on the mid-term essay questions (see above)
For more information about epigenetics, see the following:
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1952313,00.html (Time
article “Why DNA Isn’t Your Destiny” gives a good overview of epigenetics
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn23109-stresss-impact-can-affectfuture-generations-genes.html?cmpid=RSS|NSNS|2012-GLOBAL|health
(about epigenetic inheritance resulting from stress)
Think about the implications of epigenetics
For you and your descendants (see, for example,
http://news.health.com/2011/06/08/lifestyle-you-lead-today-may-affectgenerations-to-come/)
For public policy: If stress can be epigenetically inherited, what is/should be
our role in addressing this for the sake of future generations? How might
epigenetics be involved in the rise of certain diseases? (See, for example,
http://www.clinicalepigeneticsjournal.com/content/4/1/6, which suggests a
role of epigenetic inheritance in autism.)
2
MID-TERM EXAM QUESTIONS
(for upcoming extra credit quiz)
For the extra credit quiz on 3/18/2013, you should know the answers to the following
questions. I suggest writing out model answers and then learning that content very
well. If you have any questions about the answers or about what a model answer
would look like, please let me know.
1.
Draw a neuron and label the following parts on/around it:
Dendrites
Synapse
Myelin sheaths
Receptor sites
Terminal branches
Neurotransmitters
Vesicles
Cell body
Terminal buttons
Axon
2.
Use the drawing above to explain how neurons transmit messages to each
other. Include both the chemical and electrical components of neuronal
communication.
3.
What are the 3 things that a researcher must do, as a part of his/her study, if
s/he wants to make any kind of causal conclusion about the research?
4.
What is the fight-or-flight response? What brain systems are involved in the
fight-or-flight response? What brain systems counter it?
5.
What is a split-brain patient? What part of the brain is affected in such
patients? How is their behavior affected? What do split-brain patients tell us
about brain functioning, in general?
6.
Consider the behavior of the Flight 93 passengers on 9/11 (when it appears
that they intentionally crashed the plane into a field in Shanksville, PA rather
than allow the hijackers to crash it into the Capitol). Explain their behavior
from 3 theoretical perspectives. You may choose from the following
perspectives:
behaviorist
evolutionary
cognitive
social learning
humanistic
psychoanalytic/psychodynamic
7.
Suppose that you read a newspaper article that claimed that vitamin D
improves memory function. Before running to the store and buying up all the
vitamin D, what 5 things would you want to know about the research study?
Why are these questions important? Please take your questions from all of the
steps and substeps of the research process, not just from one.
8.
Name and describe 3 forces that brought about the Cognitive Revolution. And,
what was the significance of the Cognitive Revolution?
3
9.
Pick one of the countries discussed in the movie Happy. Describe the
characteristics of that country that contribute to its citizens’ happiness? (See
http://www.thehappymovie.com/ for more information.)
12.
Pick one area of life (e.g., sex, athletics, parenting, etc.) and explain how the
brain is involved in that area of life. Hint: Think about the articles that I asked
you to read.
4