PSYC-102 Introductory Psychology

Select five questions from the list below, and answer them to the best of your ability. Each answer must be at least one full page in length (12 point Times New Roman font, double-spaced, one-inch margins). The questions will involve material from your text and the lecture material, but may require you to branch out and engage with other scholarly literature. A reference section is not necessary for each question. Spelling and grammar do count. Each question is worth four points.

1. The Judge Rotenberg Center (http://www.judgerc.org/), located in Canton, Massachusetts, is a residential treatment centre that specializes in the treatment of children with special needs and severe psychological problems. The program at JRC is based on behavioural principles of conditioning, including the use of a token economy. The centre has been the focus of considerable controversy, due to their use of electric shocks as punishers for certain behaviours.  The magazine Mother Jones published an article that was strongly critical of the centre (http://motherjones.com/politics/2007/08/school-shock). Several years of controversy and legal difficulties followed. In March of 2020, the FDA banned the use of aversives at JRC.
Using these links, any other material you happen to find about JRC, and Chapter Six of your textbook, write a one-page essay on the use of aversives in the centre’s therapeutic program. Describe the connections to behavioural theory/research/applications, and either support or criticize the practice. Make sure to provide a thorough defense of your position, grounding it in psychological theory and research. Research publications connected to the JRC’s use or aversives can be found here: https://web.archive.org/web/20140704104009/http:/judgerc.org/school/jrc-publications

2. Describe, in as much detail as possible, Albert Bandura’s “Bobo doll” study, including the theory within which the study took place (social learning theory). The Bobo doll study was originally inspired by Bandura’s concerns about violence in TV/movies; provide an example of how the findings of the Bobo doll study can be applied to a different important issue in people’s lives.

3. On May 3, 1982, in Norfolk, Virginia, Julius Earl Ruffin was convicted of rape, based on the testimony of the victim. Twenty-one years later, DNA evidence proved that Ruffin was actually not the one who committed the crime. Although it makes sense to assume that the victim of a crime is the most reliable source of information about the identity of a perpetrator, the Innocence Project reports that mistaken identifications contribute to more than 75 percent of false convictions. Using the research on memory and eyewitness/victim testimony, explain why mistaken identifications are so common.

4. Using material from Chapter Eight of your textbook, as well as any other scholarly material that you might look up, provide a well-reasoned argument in favour of the cognitive benefits of bilingualism.

5. In this hypothetical scenario, Dr. Hackney has been offered a job at the University of Toronto, and is considering moving his family out there.  Using all components of Sternberg’s balance theory of wisdom, offer some wise advice on whether or not this would be a good move.

6. Public debates surrounding sexual orientation are often polarized around absolute claims about the cause of sexual orientation. Using the material in Chapter Eleven of your textbook, explain why this issue is far more complicated than “born this way” vs “it’s all a choice.”

7. Using the material on emotion in Chapter Eleven of your textbook, along with the lecture material on the psychology of the “art horror” response, provide a well-reasoned explanation for why many people choose scary movies when planning a date with a romantic partner.