Psychology:
1) When we see a healthcare professional, we put a lot of emphasis on getting a correct diagnosis. Based on what you have learned this week, discuss why this is both more problematic and less important in the field of mental health than it is in most areas of medicine
2) What surprises or puzzles you about the personal inadequacies of people suffering from mental illness?
3) We read and hear a great deal today about the treatment of mental health problems with prescription medications. Drawing on what you have learned this week, discuss why you think this has happened and whether it is a positive development.
4) What have you learned this week about abnormal and clinical psychology that you can apply to your own experience? Be sure to make reference in your answer to specific psychological terms and principles
5) Which mental disorders are best treated with at least some “talk therapy”,regardless of whether medication is also used?
6) In therapy, why is transference regarded by the therapist as a useful,and positive turning point in the patient’s progress?
7) Discuss what psychologists know or currently are thinking with respect to the relationship between stress and health
8) From what you have read this week, just how different, if at all, do you think men and women are with respect to their motivations
9) What have you learned this week about emotion and motivation that you can apply to your own experience? Be sure to make reference in your answer to specific psychological terms and principles.
10) What do you find works best for you in relieving your stress
11) When you try to motivate yourself to do something challenging, what works best for you?
12) What works best for you when you look and listen for someone else’s emotions, and what works best for you in responding appropriately to other people’s emotions?
13) Tell us how your personal choices are influenced by groups in terms of your clothing, recreation, musical preferences, food favorites and/or career objectives
14) To what extent do you attribute your choice of a RESEARCH topic to be influenced by your membership in or conditioning by some social group?
15) Tell us about some group you belong to where it’s obvious to you that you behave differently in that group than you normally do outside that group
16) What have you learned this week about social psychology that you can apply to your own experience? Be sure to make reference in your answer to specific psychological terms and principles.
17) In an online lecture this week, you were asked to complete the phrase “I am….” Assuming that your answers included many group identities, discuss why this is both a good and a bad thing.
18) The research of Asch and Milgram revealed very high rates of conformity and obedience, but their studies were conducted 50 years ago. How powerful do you think the forces of conformity and obedience are today?
19) Defend one of Eric Eriksen’s human development stages as a helpful way understanding your own personality.
20) Given the complexity of human development, what advice would you give young parents today?
21) Describe the weird behavior of someone you know of, either in the movies (or in real life , but please use fictitious names) and try to explain that behavior in terms of personality theory
22) How does your personality influence your choice of your research topic from among the list of topics allowed in our course
23) What have you learned this week about personality and human development that you can apply to your own experience? Be sure to make reference in your answer to specific psychological terms and principles
24) Given all the different stages of human development, and all the different processes that develop, which among them do you believe to be the most important aspect of development? Explain your reasoning
25) Some psychologists question whether the concept of “personality” actually has any value, arguing that we change a great deal over time, that we act very differently from one situation to another, and that there is no way to measure someone’s personality. Discuss these issues in terms of what you have learned this week.
26) Psychologists like to study gambling behavior because it is believed that people who are gambling are acting very much like B. F. Skinner’s rats and pigeons. Use what you have learned this week to describe some of the principles of learning that might be observed in gambling behavior (and note that I am referring to any gambling behavior, not just pathological gambling or gambling addiction).
27) Social scientists have devoted considerable energy to a discussion of the effects of media violence. Thinking about what we know about observational learning, what can we conclude about what adults and children are learning from watching sports, violence, reality shows, cartoons, and observing families and other relationships in current TV shows? And is this changing how people think and live?
28) What have you learned this week about learning that you can apply to your own experience? Be sure to make reference in your answer to specific psychological terms and principles.
29) What have you seen in the newspapers or online news that confirms theclaims of some psychologists that our culture is becoming “unglued”, i.e.,that normal social constraints and self-control are diminishing rapidly, with serious consequences for our safety and productivity?
30) What do you think must happen if we want to reduce violence in our streets, based on what you have been reading this week
31) To what extent do you find this week’s readings about learning useful in understanding why some children misbehave and present a real challenge to the parents who are trying to raise them: particularly children who are rebellious and stubborn?
32) Our Memory Demonstration this week actually illustrated a number of important principles about memory. What are some of those principles? Might any of those principles be relevant to how juries react to evidence in criminal trials
33) Most scientists believe that there is very little credible scientific evidence for extrasensory perception or psychic predictions, yet many people believe in it anyway. What have you learned this week about how people think and reason that would help you to understand this?
34) What have you learned this week about memory, language, and intelligence that you can apply to your own experience? Be sure to make reference in your answer to specific psychological terms and principles
35) What have you found that works for you when you try to study for an exam or remember people’s names, or locate something you misplaced? Explain your successful procedures in psychology terms.
36) Why do you suppose some people can be incredibly “intelligent” when itcomes to “book learning” while incredibly “stupid” when it comes to “common sense” handling of everyday matters?
37) Explain how your expectations and motives contribute to how well you can remember events and situations