Psychology Essay Exam
Psychology Essay Exam
The Final Essay Examination will cover the material we have studied in Modules 5 – 8. You will need to choose four of the six essay questions to answer. Each question requires a three to five paragraph (250 – 500 word) response, using the correct vocabulary related to the topic. Your answers need to be supported with information from the textbook or other appropriate sources such as peer-reviewed (professional) journal articles. Do NOT use wikipedia or other encyclopedias, dictionaries or online sources such as Ask.com. Be sure to us APA style citations to show where sources were used in your response. For sources other than the textbook, please list them as references at the end in APA format. For maximum points, make sure your work is written using your own words.
For your final exam submission, please respond to four of the following questions:
- You are the commissioner of a state lottery system that sponsors daily and weekly drawings. Lottery tickets have not been selling well over the past few months. Describe at least two ways you could take advantage of people’s use of the availability heuristic to boost sales. Explain why you would judge your tactics to be fair or unfair to your customers.
- Imagine you have a friend who just last month adopted a set of siblings, a thirteen-month-old and a four-year-old, from an orphanage in a developing country. The orphanage was not a stimulating environment and the four-year-old can only speak a few words in her native language. The thirteen-month-olddoes not seem to speak words in either her native language or in English. Both children appear physically healthy and have started to adjust quite well, emotionally, but your friend is concerned about their language development. Discuss whether their language development is typical of children their age and theextent to which each child can be expected to learn English fairlywell in the next couple of years.
- Latisha’s history teacher asked her why so many German people complied with Hitler’s orders to systematically slaughter millions of innocent Jews and others. Latisha suggested that the atrocities were committed because the Germans had become unusually cruel, sadistic people with abnormal twisted personalities. Use your knowledge of the fundamental attribution error to highlight the weaknesses of Latisha’s reasoning and then propose an alternative explanation.
- Abraham Maslow suggested that “a person who is lacking food, love, and self-esteem would most likely hunger for food more strongly than anything else.” Conversely, the novelist Dostoyevski wrote, “without a firm idea of himself and the purpose of his life, man cannot live even if surrounded with bread.” What evidence from the field of psychology might support each statement.
- Andy, a high school sophomore, lacks self-discipline, fails to plan ahead, and is excessively anxious. He is quickly frustrated by challenging tasks and frequently becomes overly critical of others. Use the psychoanalytic, humanistic, and social-cognitive perspectives to give three contrasting explanations of Andy’s behavior.
- Geraldo, a second-year college student, is so fearful of medical procedures that he has avoided routine dental checkups for over three years. He has recently decided to seek help in overcoming his fear. Compare and contrast (what are the similarities and differences) the methods that would be used by (a) a behavior therapist and (b) a psychoanalytic therapist.ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS
Discussion Questions (DQ)
- Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words.
- Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source.
- One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words.
- I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.
Weekly Participation
- Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately.
- In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies.
- Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work).
- Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.
APA Format and Writing Quality
- Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required).
- Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation.
- I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.
Use of Direct Quotes
- I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly.
- As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content.
- It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.
LopesWrite Policy
- For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.
- Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.
- Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?
- Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.
Late Policy
- The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.
- Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.
- If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.
- I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.
- As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.
Communication
- Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me:
- Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.
- Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.
Psychology Essay Exam
Psychology Essay Exam