A) Why might news media outlets engage in propaganda , sophistic objectivity , or sociocentrism ?
B) What alternative sources of information would you suggest in terms of securing less biased information and news sources? Why do you suggest these?

According to Schaller, Park, & Mueller (2003) Past research has indicated that men report higher levels of racism and ethnocentrism than women. why do men report higher levels of racism and ethnocentrism than women? why not?

Give an brief example of each of the following: declarative, procedural, contextual knowledge

Assignment Question

Sensation and Perception: Signal Detection

Psychologists have always been interested in the relationship between physical stimuli and the cognitive interpretations of the sensations and perceptions these stimuli produce. This field of study is called psychophysics. One of the major contributions of psychophysics is signal detection theory (SDT). The concepts behind SDT had a very practical beginning. They were first developed as a way to help the military pick the best sonar and radar operators during World War II. For example, detection of an enemy plane on a radar screen requires picking a target “signal” (the enemy plane) among lots of other extraneous signals (called “noise”) that may show up on the screen. Humans vary in their ability to do this, and SDT provides a way to analyze this variability.

From a psychological perspective, SDT is really a way to factor a human’s decision-making behavior (called “criteria” or “bias”) into a perception activity that involves sensitivity to a stimulus. Consider a lab experiment in which a subject wears headphones and is asked to indicate whether or not a very weak sound has been presented on a given experimental trial. Typically, there is ambient background noise (called “white noise”) present on every trial, so the subject must pick out the sound within the context of the background noise. The subjects respond “Yes” if the sound is heard or “No” if it isn’t. The sound could either have been present on the trial or not. If the sound is present and the subject decides “Yes”, this is a correct response, called a Hit. If the sound is present and the subject decides “No”, this is an incorrect response, called a Miss. If the sound is absent on the trial and the subject decides “Yes”, this is what is called a False Alarm. If the sound is absent on the trial and the subject decides “No”, this is a Correct Rejection.

We could arrange the possibilities from our example in a simple chart, which is called an SDT table:

Stimulus (Sound) Actually Present?

Subject’s Response

Yes (Signal + Noise)

No (Noise Only)

“Yes, I hear it”

Hit

False Alarm

“No, I don’t hear it”

Miss

Correct Rejection

Now, let’s put some real numbers into our example. Suppose that there are 100 trials in our experiment, with 50 trials, randomly selected, in which the sound is present (called a Signal + Noise trial, because the stimulus sound is presented “on top of” the background noise) and 50 trials on which the sound is not present (called a Noise only trial, because the only thing present is general background white noise). If, on the 50 Signal + Noise trials, the subject said “Yes” on 40 trials and “No” on 10 trials, then that subject got 80% (40/50) Hits and 20% (10/50) Misses. Note that the Hits and Misses are complementary, so if we know the Hit percentage, we can find the Miss percentage by subtracting the Hit percentage from 100%. Similarly, if on the 50 Noise only trials, the subject said “Yes” to 20 trials and “No” to 30 trials, then that subject made 40% (20/50) False Alarms and 60% (30/50) Correct Rejections. Once again, the percentages are complementary.

Now let’s see how we can use these concepts to differentiate the detection abilities of humans. Assume we run both Subject A and Subject B through our above example of 100 trials, 50 with the sound present and 50 with it absent. Let’s say Subject A correctly detects the target sound 25 times, and Subject B correct detects it 17 times. The question is: “Who is doing better?” You might want to say Subject A since he got more Hits, but the frequency of False Alarms clearly needs to be factored in. If Subject A has 20 False Alarms and Subject B has 5 False Alarms, then B is better at distinguishing the trials in which the sound is present from the trials in which the sound is absent. Specifically, these results would seem to indicate that A is pretty much guessing that the sound is present but is wrong (i.e., exhibits a False Alarm) as often as right. Subject B is more selective about saying the sound is detected but rarely says the target sound is there when it is not. Thus, it could be argued that B is in actually doing better at the task.

This example suggests that we need a measure of performance that includes both Hit rates and False Alarm rates in order to successfully differentiate among the signal detection abilities of different people. To this end, researchers have developed a measure of signal detection sensitivity called d’ (pronounced d-prime) that can be computed for an individual who has participated in an SDT task. While the derivation of this measurement is well beyond the scope of PSYC, it is important to understand that the larger the value of d’ the better the subject is at distinguishing the target signal from the noise.

The computation of d’ is fairly complex, but I have provided an Excel spreadsheet for the calculation given Hit and False Alarm rates. To continue with our example above, Subject A has a calculated d’ = 0.253. Subject B has a calculated d’ = 0.869. (You can verify these numbers using the spreadsheet.) This shows that Subject B, while having a lower Hit rate, is actually the better overall performer in our SDT task.

The experiment you are to conduct for Assignment #1 (with you as the subject) measures face recognition abilities of people using these same SDT principles. Humans have an uncanny ability to recognize faces of people they have previously seen, and SDT is a good tool to investigate individual differences in this ability.

Procedure

Questions/Tasks

1. Explain in a paragraph or two the concept of signal detection.

2. What is the independent variable(s) in this experiment?

3. What is the dependent variable in this experiment?

4. Define “Hit”, “Miss”, “False Alarm” and “Correct Rejection” in the context of this experiment.

5.Using your scored results, construct an SDT table that summarizes your performance. Your table should have the same format as the table on the top of page 2 in this handout with the only difference being that you are to put your performance percentages in each cell of the table.

6. Using the “d’ Calculator” Excel spreadsheet, find your d’ value and record it here. This is a measure of your “sensitivity” (i.e., skill) in the face recognition task. While a higher value is associated with greater sensitivity and skill, it is more useful for comparative purposes, so you might want to ask your fellow students in PSYC what their d’ values were – and, of course, brag if yours is higher than theirs!

7. Consider a radiologist who is in charge of reading lung x-rays to detect possible cancerous tumors. Using the Presence of Stimulus as the Presence of Cancer in this case, build an SDT table (like the one above) that shows the four possible outcomes in response to reading a patient’s x-ray. Consider the two possible errors (False Alarm and Miss) that the radiologist could make. In the context of the task, explain these two errors and comment on the ramifications of each one. Many medical people would argue that one of the mistakes has more serious consequences than the other. Which one? From an SDT perspective, how might you “coach” or “train” a radiologist in order to minimize the more consequential mistake?

What do we know about trade and exchange as major activities leading to wealth and progress during the Medieval times in Europe during the years 1100-1500?

Please respond with a few facts in detail or a 3-4 sentenc paragraph.

Jane was attacked by an unknown man. She was able to free herself and ran to a nearby house, with the man chasing close behind. She screamed and knocked at the door of the house. The occupants of the house opened the door, and she requested refuge. The occupant refused, but Jane forced her way into the house. To gain entry, Jane had to strike the occupant. Once inside, she used the telephone to contact the police, who responded within minutes. At the insistence of the occupants of the house, Jane has been charged with trespass and battery. Does she have a defense? Explain.

define task performance and contextual performance. discuss the differences between them and challenges faced in conducting such approach.

Skinner has suggested that it is best to focus on reinforcement and success rather than on punishing failure. Why is that? Please give examples of each (positive reinforcement and negative
reinforcement)

(With references please)

Write a 2-3 page double-spaced paper using APA format to answer/discuss the following topics:

Discuss and describe the differences and similarities between the terms “race” and “ethnicity.”

Compare and contrast the terms “discrimination” and “disparity.” Explain why this is important to know if one is to become culturally competent.

Identify and discuss the “melting pot” concept.

_____________________ is the alcohol we drink. It is created through a process of ___________________________. Binge drinking is defined by consuming more than ___________ drinks for men and __________ drinks for women at one time. There is good evidence that alcohol acts on the ________-_______________ receptors. There is also evidence that it impacts _________________ and __________________ activity. BAC stands for ______________ ___________________ _________________ and can be measured practically and precisely through _________________ _____________________. Alcohol can have _______________-______________________ to other CNS suppressants. The LD of alcohol is a BAC of ___________% to _____________%. As the major metabolic site of alcohol, the ________________ is highly vulnerable to alcohol’s toxic effects. Damage occurs in 3 ways: _________________ __________________, ________________ ________________, and ________________________. When addressing alcohol use and misuse, it is important to consider biological, psychological, and social factors. This is called the _____________________________________________ Approach.

People across the United States are fearful - and fed up- with crime. Dogs for protection, special locks, and security systems have never been more popular. And no wonder: Almost half of U.S. adults claim that they are afraid to walk alone at night in the vicinity of their own homes. Government spending on crime prevention has risen steadily during the past thirty years, but so has the crime rate. At the same time, as noted at the beginning of this chapter, violent crime has gone down in the last few years. New York City is a case in point: Murders in the Big Apple dropped from 2,245 in 1990 to 803 in 1997. Are we beginning to learn something more about controlling crime? Three factors seem to account for the New York turnaround. First, more police are on the streets than ever before. Second, a program of "community policing" makes police commanders directly responsible for controlling crime in their district. Third, and probably more important, police are less focused on making arrests and more concerned with preventing crime in the first place. For example, police officers have begun stopping young men for jaywalking or even spitting on the sidewalk in order to check them for concealed weapons (as a result the word is getting around that you risk arrest for carrying a gun) and even blocking off streets to traffic if that's what it takes to put local drug dealers out of business (the policy seems to work: the drug trade is down). Travis Hirschi (author of control theory) offers his own version of a community approach to crime. Hirschi notes that criminals today have two things in common. The first is age; most offenders are young. Crime rates are high in the late teens and early twenties, and they fall quickly thereafter. Second, most offenders take a short-term view of their lives. Lawbreakers, as Hirschi sees it, are people who have trouble working toward any long-term goal, including an educational degree, a career, a successful marriage, or even keeping a steady friendship. More than anything else, in fact, offenders are people characterized by low self-control. That is why, according to Hirschi, our present criminal justice system can never control crime effectively. For one thing, going to jail is too uncertain (most crimes go unpunished) and too far removed in time (catching, trying, and jailing criminals often takes a year or more) to deter the typical offender. Thus, Hirschi explains, popular calls for "stiffer sentences" actually have little effect in suppressing crime. Moreover, by the time many offenders are sent to prison, they are moving beyond the "crime years" simply because they are growing older. Statistically speaking, then, offenders aging in prison represent a crime threat already shrinking on its own. Therefore, rather than locking up adults, Hirschi argues that society needs to focus on younger people before they commit crimes. /similar to the new approach in New York City, Hirschi's approach calls for closer attention to teenagers - those at highest risk for criminal behavior. Effective crime control depends on devising policies to keep teens away not only from guns and drugs, but also alcohol and, if necessary, cars. Ultimately, though, the most effective way to control crime, Hirschi concludes, is to teach children self-control . This is a reasonability that falls upon parents. Government can help, however, by intervening in dysfunctional families and by developing strategies that help build strong-preferably two parent- families. Eliminating pregnancy among teenage girls would do far more to reduce crime, Hirschi contends, than all the actions of today's criminal justice system. QUESTIONS 1. Do you thing we need more prisons? Is that an effective way to deal with the crime problem? What else might be done? 2. Hirschi's recommendations are controversial because he opposes the popular practice of building more prisons. What do you thing? 3. If we don't lock up today's offenders swiftly and surely, how can we satisfy society's demand for retribution? 4. Do you think that New York City's new crime approach and Hirschi's suggestions attack the broader conditions that breed crime, such as poverty, racial prejudice, and weak families? Why or why not? 5. Does lethal injection illustrate the "medicalization of death"? How or how not? 6. Does lethal injection "sugar coat" capital punishment by making suffering less apparent? Is lethal injection more humane? Why or why not?

Does an unconditionally - guaranteed income promote fairness for all members of society , including the least economically advantaged and those who are already economically successful ? Why or why not ?