In: Psychology
Pick five of the following questions to write about in essay form, merci (an essay is comprised of at least five sentences)!
1. Discuss the distinction between inductive and deductive reasoning and give an example of each.
2. Your friend Jane is having difficulty "taking in" the information in her history class so she asks you to use your expertise in psychology to offer some suggestions on how to improve her memory performance. Discuss how attention, deep processing, elaboration, and the use of mental imagery can affect the encoding process.
3. Patricia wants to decrease the frequency of her teenage daughter's misbehavior. Give examples of positive and negative punishment techniques Patricia might consider in order to encourage her daughter to behave properly.
4. Describe the four stages in Piaget's theory of cognitive development. What major milestones are achieved at each stage?
5. If you were asked by some coworkers to help settle a controversy about whether heredity or environment is more important in shaping development, what would you tell them?
6. What is the difference between positive reinforcement-negative reinforcement and positive punishment-negative punishment?
7. Emily and Samantha were in a boating accident and both now suffer from amnesia. Emily has been diagnosed with retrograde amnesia, whereas Samantha has been diagnosed with anterograde amnesia. Describe what Emily and Samantha will likely forget.
1) Inductive reasoning can be defined as moving to general conclusion based on a set of sppecific observations. An example of inductive reasoning could be drawing the conclusion that all dogs bark when you walk fast in front of them based on a few experiences of the same sort. On the other hand, deductive reasoning can be defined as moving to a specific conclusion from a general reasoning. An example of deductive reasoning could be drawing the conclusion that you need to be wary of a colleague who belongs from a certain town just because people of that town are believed to engage in falsehood. It is also deductive reasoning which is used to develop a hypothesis in research based on an already existing theory.
2) Jane can make use of a few ways to enhance her memory performance. First, by targeting her attention on what she needs to remember later, she can support the encoding process in a better way. Second, engaging in deep processing which includes using connections through analysis of language to provide meaning to the information. A key technique in this is elaboration, that is forming associations of the newly acquired information with previous knowledge or giving them a specific meaning to encode information more effectively. Fourth, she can form mental imagery related to the information to be encoded, as visual stimulus usually works as a strong basis for recall.
3) Positive punishment is the addition of something unpleasant to decrease a particular behaviour. Positive punishment techniques Patricia can use to disclipline her daughter could be adding extra chores to her schedule. Negative punishment is the removal of something pleasant to decrease a particular behaviour. Negative punishment techniques Patricia can use could be grounding her daughter so that she cannot visit her friends for some time or disallowing her from doing a preferred and liked activity.
4) The first stage in Piaget's cognitive development is the sensori motor stage, lasting from birth to two years. Major milestones achieved in this stage are object permanence, early development of language and early representational thought. The second stage is preoperational stage, lasting from 2 to 7 years. Major milestones include thinking symbolically, using words and pictures to represent objects. The third stage is concrete operational stage, lasting from 7 to 11 years. Major milestones include thinking logically, understanding the concept of conservation and starting to use inductive logic. The fourth stage is formal operational though, which begins from 12 years. Major milestones include thinking abstractly about hypothetical situations and using deductive reasoning.
5)The debate between heredity and environment is a long drwan one. Here are some arguments in each's favour-
heredity - genetic predispositions, difficult to change genetic make-up, tendency to switch back to one's original way of being, studies on twins and siblings demonstrating importance of heredity
environment - role of parents and society critical, adopted children show change in tendencies basis their environment, brain plasticity can result in constant learning and change
6)Reinforcement always serves to increase behaviour. Positive reinforcement looks at increasing behaviour by adding something pleasant and thereby producing a pleasant consequence. Negative reinforcement looks at increasing behaviour by removing something unpleasant or doing away with an unpleasant consequence.
On the other hand, punishment always serves to decrease behaviour. Positive punishment is the addition of something unpleasant to decrease a particular behaviour. Negative punishment is the removal of something pleasant to decrease a particular behaviour.
7)Emily has been doagnosed with retrograde amnesia, which means she is unlikely to remember details of her past, such as, who her family and friends were, where she studied etc. Samantha has been diagnosed with anterograde amnesia, which means she is unlikely to remember events that happen in the future as well as short-term memories of the recent past.