Homework Option #5
Learning

Assignment requirements:  Answer 1 of the following 5 questions in as much detail as possible using specific examples and definitions.  Be sure to justify your responses with information from class or from the text.  Please be sure your answer is no less than 1 full page and no more than 2 full pages of type-written text.  If you choose to complete this assignment it must be emailed to me before the beginning of class on March 10th.

  1. Do a simulation of classical or operant conditioning or find your way through a maze. Your textbook Website -- Choose Chapter 7 Learning and Choose PsychSim. Complete any of the three activities included in this section: Classical conditioning, operant conditioning or maze learning. After you have completed the entire simulation, write a summary of the activity and how completing the activity extended the knowledge you learned in class on this topic.

  2. How do advertisers use classical conditioning? Pavlov showed that dogs would react to a bell in a manner similar to how they react to food following training.  Advertisers are doing much the same thing when they try to sel you a product – they get you to associate some positive image with their product in hopes that you will have a positive reaction to the product.  Watch a TV commercial or find an advertisement in a magazine and attempt to analyze it in classical conditioning terms.  What could be considered the US, CS, UR, CR?  What group(s) of people is the commercial targeted toward?  Do you think it is an effective commercial, why or why not? If you use a magazine ad, please include a copy with the homework, if you use a tv ad, please describe the commercial briefly.

  3. Albert Bandura's reasearch has demonstrated that social modeling can be a very effective form of learning. His theory has been put to work in the world by the creation of educational serial dramas based on social learning theory. Read this article to find out more The theory heard 'round the world. Discuss the usefulness of this procedure and also consider the TV programming in the US. Would/could we benefit from similar programming? What areas might be most effectively targeted? Do our current typical programs seem to follow Bandura's theories?

  4. Are recovered memories valid? Elizabeth Loftus is a researcher that has staked her career on discovering the basis of False Memories. This is a reprint of a Scientific American article entitled Creating False Memories by Loftus. Read the article and discuss how you now feel about the quality of your memory and the reliability of recovered memories. How did reading the article change your mind (if at all) and how did it extend the information we covered in class?

  5. How accurate is your memory, find out. Your textbook Website -- Choose Chapter 8 Memory and Choose PsychQuest. Complete the activity entitled "Can We Rely on Our Memory? " included in this section. After you have completed the entire activity, write a summary of the activity and how completing the activity extended the knowledge you learned in class on this topic.