Module 2 – Assignment
Keith Henderson
T00061337
PSYC 1211

Multiple Choice 1. b 2. a 3. c 4. d 5. c 6. d 7. a 8. b 9. d 10. c 11. a 12. b 13. a 14. a 15. b
Written
1. a. Approach 1 – to study adopted children. The adopted children’s traits are compared with their birthparents and the adoptive parents to compute heritability
Approach 2 – to study identical twins that were raised apart. Therefore any of their similar traits must be related to heritability as they share all the same genes. These are also compared with traits of fraternal twins to obtain a better estimate. b. No you should practice if you want to keep improving. While some genes may make you a better flute player than average, you still require practice to improve your play. Many genes and gene expression influence musical ability, and these alone will not make you an excellent player. 2. The fatal flaw here, is that black children and white children have a much different upbringing on average. Black children grow up with worse nutrition, self-belief that they are not as smart, etc.
The example used in the book relates this to two genetically identical tomato plants will grow differently depending on their environment. If one plant is grown with poor soil and light then it will grow poorly. These different growing pots can be related to the childhoods or growing pots of black and white children. They are much different, are therefore you cannot imply that black IQs are lower due to genetics. 3. In Milgram’s study the participants obeyed the demands only when the experimenter was in close proximity. The participants feared conflict and felt discomfort and so obeyed. Some critics would say that the Nazis carried out atrocities without this direct supervision, and that the authority figure was often distant. 4. This could be considered a fundamental attribution error as you have failed to considered situational factors. There could be situational factors involved, such as pool availability, prior commitments, etc. 5. Having an ally – someone supporting you will be an obvious boost to the chances you will intervene
Perception – if you perceive and know that help is needed
Cultural norms – if you are in a culture that tends to intervene and act virtuously more this could make if more likely to participate
Cost-benefit – if you see low personal risk to yourself you will be more likely to intervene
Entrapment – once you take one small step towards intervening you are much more likely to go all the way 6. Stereotypes help us with cognitive efficiency. They help us quickly process info and make decisions. Also they help us predict future behavior. 7. For two groups in the middle east that have different religious views and deep seeded prejudice (eg. Christians and Muslims in Syria). You could ensure all have equal legal status and freedom of religion under the law. Also all police, community institutions provide support for both groups. You could pitch the common goal of rebuilding Syria and Aleppo. Agents could be spread to help promote both sides working together. Work would be given to both groups with opportunity to work side by side. You could also hold social gatherings where individuals of both groups could get to know each other when a milestone in rebuilding is met. 8. Ethnocentrism and prejudice. One of the best examples I can think of is over in the Middle East with the many fundamentalist Islamic groups there. Islamic State believes they are superior to all others and the form of Islam that they follow is superior to all. They feel they must impose this on others and rule others under Sharia Law. They do not like others that do not follow their religion and have shown this by beheadings, torture, and other atrocious acts.
Exploration activity 1 1. It has been discovered that children actually learn inherent grammar rules, not merely memorize words they hear. This is proven when children learn nonsense words like wug or chen. When applying changing tense of these words they have never heard, children will apply the rules as they know them. Changing wug to wugs or chen to chening. 2. Chomsky’s theory that children possess the ability to learn a universal grammar is supported by Pinker’s work as he shows that children have learned these grammar rules and not simply are repeating what they have heard others say. 3. By restating children’s grammatically incorrect sentences parents can influence and help children improve and develop their speech ability. 4. a. Criticism 1- The belief that the mind is not biological and that much behavior is innate. Pinker would state that this is not the case and that it is mostly biological in nature. b. Criticism 2- Genes accounting for so much will create a scary world where people will blame genes for their actions. However Pinker would say that genes are not making the decisions for us, merely creating and influencing the environment where we make our decisions. c. Criticism 3 - the fact that genes are the only thing that matters. While genes matter, many other things in our environment influence our development and personality, such as nutrition, accidents, and chance encounters.
Exploration Activity 4 – Stanford Prison 1. The good guards did not object or countermand the bad guards for a few reasons. The biggest was that they wanted to conform to the group. No one wanted to be the whistleblower to create conflict in the group. This is also related to the diffusion of responsibility. The good guards as they were part of a larger group felt that they didn’t want to be the person to take action. It was easier to hope and let someone else do this. 2. I believe they were experiencing the just-world hypothesis. They thought that the prison system is inherently fair, and that given the appropriate intervention within the rules, this would correct things back to normal. 3. A fundamental attribution error. People tend to ignore situational attributions when they can use dispositional ones. The students found it easier to blame the guard’s brutality on their individual character rather than the situation. 4. I feel that this study was ethical as long as there was informed consent. When the situation become worse, then the study was stopped. We gained valuable knowledge and insight into something that will benefit us for many years. The negative effects are minimal and most students that participated in this study can be proud that they were a part of it and suffered most likely no lasting ill effects. 5. They both show how far people will go when presented with the demands of an authority figure. I think it is a good thing these studies were done, as it gives us a lot of understanding into the human mind when it comes to obedience. People can be inherently good people and carry out horrible deeds. This was something that previous to these studies was not proven. 6. I would start by recommending increase of the use of house arrests instead of incarceration. We use prison too often for many relatively minor crimes. If our prison system truly is to rehabilitate someone then the sentence would be better carried out in a more conducive environment.