Psych 1 Take-Home Final Exam SP 14 VERSION 2

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1 Name: Class: Date: Psych 1 Take-Home Final Exam SP 14 VERSION 2 Psych 1 FINAL EXAM SP As of May this is version 2 and questions 4, 5 & 6 have changed. For 17 points answer each of the 6 essays. Please NUMBER each essay (include the chapter you are referencing) and write about 1-page (single spaced and typed 12 pt font) for each essay. You should use the answer suggestions to guide your essay and to get an idea of what I am looking for, however your essays should clearly be your own. In most cases they will include making use of personal examples integrated with the textbook information. You should also cute page numbers from your textbook for example (p.117). You must your answers to me by Tuesday May 19 at 10pm. I will respond to you by Tuesday May 27 with final comments. Your final Grade will be available on Web Advisor on Wednesday May NO LATE PAPERS via . NO EXCUSES. If you are worried, you may also mail a hard copy to me postmarked no later than May 19 (ATT: Professor Reyes, Psychology Dept HASS room 420 Cabrillo College 6500 Soquel Dr Aptos, CA For those who need to return a textbook please give it to Olga Diaz in the Division office 4420 upstairs here in Watsonville. Ask her to put it in my mailbox. Have a great summer! If you see me, say hi! :-) 1. Chapter 11. Psychologists like Jean Piaget and Erik Erikson theorized that humans go through stages in their development throughout life, growing from infancy to old age. Piaget outlined stages of thinking or cognitive development, and Erikson described stages of personality or psychosocial development. How can you use this information to better understand your own life? What stages of cognitive and psychosocial development have you gone through since you were an infant? Which stages will you go through as you develop into adulthood and old age? In a multi-paragraph essay, describe all the different stages of cognitive and psychosocial development throughout your lifespan. Be sure to provide examples to illustrate the thoughts, emotions, and behavior typical of each stage. Include details from class materials, readings, and research on human development to support your discussion. 1

2 Name: 2. Chapter 12. What do many psychologists believe is the process for developing self-esteem? Does it change over time? What might be the evolutionary purpose of self-esteem in humans? Provide an example of different responses to a situation based on whether the individual has high self-esteem or low self-esteem. 2

3 Name: 3. Chapter 13. Describe the conditions under which groupthink is more likely to take place. Have you ever experienced groupthink? Analyze a personal example of groupthink, or one taken from the news, in terms of what conditions may have led to the decision. 4. Chapter 14. For centuries, people have believed myths and misconceptions about psychological disorders and the people who suffer from them. Modern psychological research has allowed us to correct some of these misconceptions. As a result, many people have changed their ideas about mental and emotional disorders. Think of a common misconception you have observed in society or in your personal experience. How could information from research be used to change people's views of psychological disorders? How can this information help us to better understand people who experience mental and emotional disorders? In a multi-paragraph essay, describe the misconception you observed and discuss how information from research could be used to change this misconception about psychological disorders and the people who suffer from them. Be sure to include details from class materials, readings, and research on psychological disorders to support your discussion. 3

4 Name: 5. Chapter 15. Imagine that you are an experienced mental health professional. Choose a psychological disorder and describe the type of treatment plan that you would initiate for such a disorder. Describe how you would modify your treatment plan for certain patients if they do not respond well to your typical treatment paradigm. 6. Chapter 16. Describe the process by which excess cortisol can accumulate in the bloodstream due to chronic stress, after its release by the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. What are some of the adverse health effects of excess cortisol? 4

5 Psych 1 Take-Home Final Exam SP 14 VERSION 2 Answer Section ESSAY 1. ANS: Answers will vary. PTS: 1 DIF: Evaluate REF: How Does Cognition Change During Infancy and Childhood? OBJ: LO2 MSC: Vantage 2. ANS: Many psychologists believe that the process of developing self-esteem begins very early in childhood. Long before the child has a working model of the self, he or she is experiencing the emotional consequences of acceptance and rejection. Children form a variety of attachments with their primary caregivers. A child s pattern of attachment in infancy predicted his or her self-esteem at the age of six. Self-esteem does not appear to change much over the lifespan. Early differences in self-esteem seem to be magnified and reinforced over time, as having high or low self-esteem influences both the selection of activities and the reactions of others to the self. Self-esteem contributes to belongingness, or the maintenance of good social relationships. Because social rejection could have such devastating effects on survival in our evolutionary past, self-esteem could have emerged as a way of estimating the likelihood of rejection. Self-esteem drops following the experience of social exclusion. A drop in self-esteem serves as an early warning signal that rejection by the group is imminent and that behavior designed to regain the favor of the group should be initiated. Student examples may vary as to different responses to a situation based on whether the individual has high self-esteem or low self-esteem. One possible example would be that people with high and low self-esteem respond quite differently to failure. The low self-esteem person tends to overgeneralize from failure. In other words, people with low self-esteem who fail one exam might assume that they are going to fail all their classes. This tendency to overgeneralize may explain why people with low self-esteem are more prone to depression. In contrast, people with high self-esteem respond to failure in one domain by exaggerating their abilities in other domains. If a person with high self-esteem fails an exam, she is more likely to remind others about how great she is in sports, appearance, or dating. PTS: 1 DIF: Understand REF: What Does It Mean to Have a Self? OBJ: LO3 3. ANS: Groupthink is especially likely in cohesive groups with high morale whose members already share similar attitudes. Members of cohesive groups are less likely to consider risks or alternatives associated with their chosen plan of action. In many cases, the group is far from unanimous, but individuals are unwilling to step forward in dissent and tend to go along rather than rock the boat. This illusion of a unanimous group further stifles serious consideration of alternatives prior to making a decision. Students will analyze a personal example or an example from the news. PTS: 1 DIF: Analyze REF: How Do Groups Work Together? OBJ: LO5 1

6 4. ANS: Answers will vary. PTS: 1 DIF: Analyze Evaluate REF: What Does It Mean to Have a Psychological Disorder? OBJ: LO1 MSC: Vantage 5. ANS: Students may choose to discuss a variety of disorders and treatment options. Anxiety: Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT); medication with antidepressant or antianxiety drugs Personality disorders: Learning models for antisocial personality disorder; dialectical behavior therapy for borderline personality disorder PTS: 1 DIF: Evaluate REF: How Are Specific Disorders Treated? OBJ: LO5 6. ANS: Normally, activity of the HPA axis is regulated by a feedback loop involving the hippocampus. As the text analogizes, the hippocampus works like a rev limiter in an automobile engine that prevents the driver from going over a certain speed. The hippocampus contains large numbers of receptors for cortisol and other stress hormones. (you would continue and say more...) Students may describe some of the following adverse health effects: Long-term exposure to cortisol can produce a number of harmful effects, including the death of neurons. Studies in humans who have a medical condition (Cushing s disease) that results in unusually high cortisol levels suggest that cortisol abnormalities might contribute to reduced hippocampus volume, memory problems, abnormal sleep patterns, and depression. You would continue citing and integrting textbook studies and evidence for one full single spaced page. PTS: 1 DIF: Understand REF: What Are the Biological Correlates of Stress? OBJ: LO1 2