{"id":654,"date":"2012-05-10T21:53:18","date_gmt":"2012-05-11T01:53:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cedarsdigest.wordpress.com\/?p=654"},"modified":"2012-05-10T21:53:18","modified_gmt":"2012-05-11T01:53:18","slug":"final-exam-for-my-history-of-psychology-class-take-home-open-book-open-notes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/riener.us\/WP\/uncategorized\/final-exam-for-my-history-of-psychology-class-take-home-open-book-open-notes\/","title":{"rendered":"Final Exam for my History of Psychology class (take home, open book, open notes)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here is my final exam for the class I teach of all seniors in psychology. It is a capstone course, intended to provide a capstone experience for the majors in psychology, a required element for all students at Randolph-Macon. I thought some of my readers might find it interesting, and honestly, I am a little bit proud of the kind of thinking that it asks students to do. This is the last assignment that they will do as senior psychology majors, and I like how it asks them to apply the things they have learned both in this class, as well as in other classes in the psychology major, to the world outside of college, both in popular media (several of the questions) as well as interpersonal situations they are bound to confront.<\/p>\n

In case you are curious, here is the syllabus:\u00a0Psyc 433 Syllabus S12<\/a><\/p>\n

Here is the final:<\/p>\n

Essay Questions \u2013 Pick 5 and answer in approximately two pages each (double spaced)<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Operationism is a critical concept in the history of psychology as well as its present status as a science.\u00a0\u00a0 Explain how operationism applied to both Titchener\u2019s psychology, as well as how it applied to behaviorism.\u00a0 How did their approach to operationism help explain behaviorism\u2019s appeal, and its replacement of structuralism as the dominant school of psychology.\u00a0 Use (and refer to) Stanovich\u2019s chapter 3 to expand your definition of operationism.<\/li>\n
  2. Watch an episode of one of the following TV shows (or really, any TV show, or movie, that you like) \u00a0Lie To Me, \u00a0Psych, The Marriage Ref, Monk, My So-Called Life, SuperNanny, The Dog Whisperer. \u00a0Then pick one of the historical psychologists that we have studied and apply their theories to the show, and to the episode that you have watched.\u00a0 Your answer should include at least 3 specific elements of theory linked to at least 3 specific elements or scenes in the show.<\/li>\n
  3. Here is a fun little article<\/a> about myths in how popular media portrays science and scientists.\u00a0Take 3-4 of the myths, relate to a concept discussed in Stanovich. For at least one of the myths, find an example in how popular media (movies or TV) portrays the science of psychology using this myth.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
      \n
    1. In Chapter 7, Stanovich addresses the concern that psychology experiments are not \u201creal life\u201d because they take place in artificial situations or laboratories.\u00a0 Apply this chapter to Thorndike\u2019s puzzle boxes.\u00a0 Would Thorndike say that his results applied to cats, or helped us form general laws of learning and behavior?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
        \n
      1. Read the following book review<\/a> about the new \u201cepidemic\u201d of loneliness. \u00a0Discuss this article, and the scare that it describes, in light of the concepts in Stanovich\u2019s book. You should use at least 4 of the following terms (but please feel free to use them all, and others): operationism, essentialism, falsifiability, multiple causation, magic bullet, converging evidence, correlation, causation.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
          \n
        1. Goldberger\u2019s test of how pellagra was contracted<\/a>\u00a0was a compelling anecdote in the\n
          \"Joseph<\/a>
          Jonah Goldberger (from CDC Public Health Image Library)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

          Stanovich book.\u00a0 Why is this not an instance of a \u201cperson-who\u201d and a testimonial evidence?\u00a0 How does probabilistic reasoning apply or not apply in this case?<\/li>\n

        2. Throughout this course, we have discussed how the history of psychology has shaped the college student\u2019s experience. More recently, with the Stanovich book, you have reflected on the shape of your own courses, and the psychology curriculum here at R-MC. Here is an article<\/a> I found interesting about whether colleges can manufacture motivation.\u00a0First, consider one of the historical thinkers we have studied this semester (anyone in Schultz&Schultz, or your figure) and what they might have thought of this approach. \u00a0Second, I want you to think about Dr. Chambliss\u2019s study. Is it a case study? Is it psychology research? How would Stanovich evaluate it? \u00a0Finally, consider whether R-MC (and the psychology department in particular) might need to enact an intervention to address this problem. What would you suggest?<\/li>\n
        3. \u201cOh, graduating with a psychology degree?\u00a0\u00a0 So, are you going to analyze me?\u201d\u00a0 Frame a coherent and brief answer to your joking great-uncle, outlining why psychology is a science, and why it is applicable to more than just analyzing people\u2019s worries, picking an example of an specific instance of psychological science that is related to what you hope to be doing after graduation.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

          Here is my final exam for the class I teach of all seniors in psychology. It is a capstone course, intended to provide a capstone experience for the majors in psychology, a required element for all students at Randolph-Macon. I thought some of my readers might find it interesting, and honestly, I am a little…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,14,32,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education","category-history","category-psychology","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4Pqh9-ay","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/riener.us\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/riener.us\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/riener.us\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riener.us\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riener.us\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=654"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/riener.us\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/riener.us\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riener.us\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riener.us\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}