Questions on Philosophy and Psychology

– Choose 1 Q for Philosophy

– 1 Critical Exercise on Philosophy

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Psychology Part 1 

1. 
Define psychology. How is it different from
intuition or common sense?

2. 
Define and provide your own example of the
following:

a. 
a positive correlation

b. 
a negative correlation

why are correlations important to
psychology?

what are the problems with correlations?

3. 
Can science answer question A or B below? If so,
briefly explain why or why the question is not a good candidate for scientific
inquiry. Address both questions. (Note: Do not try to answer the question
itself, just weather or not it could be answered through scientific
inquiry.) If the question can be studied scientifically, identify what method might be used to study it,
and identify the independent and dependent variables.

1. 
Does jogging lead to a positive mental attitude
?

2. 
Will people be more moral in the year 2020 than
they are now?

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Psychology Part 2

Choose ONE of these studies to review.  

Milgram: Obedience to Authority

 In psychology there are certain studies that are classic. You can’t escape an introduction to psychology course without knowing about certain individuals, i.e., Freud, or certain studies such as this one and the Stanford Prison Study (next topic).

Your textbook in the chapter on “Social Psychology” (starting on page 39, Ch 14)  http://www.saylor.org/site/textbooks/Introduction%20to%20Psychology.pdf  discusses Stanley Milgram’s famous social psychology experiment, Obedience to Authority.

Here is a video clip that contains some of the original footage of Milgram’s experiment.

http://youtu.be/fCVlI-_4GZQ 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_LKzEqlPto

For this assignment, please answer the following four questions…..

1) What did Milgram find out? 

2) What were the ethical implications (see the APA ethical requirements in the e-Readings “Psychological Science”? 

3) How can Milgram’s findings be applied? 

4) Any comments/impressions about this research? 

OR

The Stanford Prison Study

This study by Phillip Zimbardo is another classic study that all psychology students should know.

To see Zimbardo explain a little about the experiment watch this trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKW_MzREPp4 (2 min)

However, for some original footage of the experiment itself go to this website  (Class, note that some of this footage is very disturbing, and you do not have to watch this video if it disturbs you.  Instead, read the next article below) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZwfNs1pqG0 (14 minutes)

Forty years later, the participants in the Zimbardo experiment are interviewed and reflect on the experiment:  http://www.stanfordalumni.org/news/magazine/2011/julaug/features/spe.html

Answer the following questions:

What happened?

What did you learn?

Were you surprised at the results of the study?

Was the study ethical?  Should this study have been conducted?

Does Zimbardo’s study apply to the Abu Ghraib Prison (answer optional for this one)?

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Philosophy

Reply to at least ONE of the following in at least 150 words:

1) Provide an example of your own of a deductive argument. It can be on any topic you like. The idea is to try to persuade us something is true.  Be sure that the argument has at least two premises (label them 1., 2., etc.) and a conclusion (put it after the premises and put the word ‘Therefore,’ at the start of it). Explain why your argument is deductive. Explain why it is true. 

or

2)  Provide an example of your own of an inductive argument. It can be on any topic you like. The idea is to try to persuade us something is true.  Be sure that the argument has at least two premises (label them 1., 2., etc.) and a conclusion (put it after the premises and put the word ‘Therefore,’ at the start of it). Explain why your argument is inductive. Explain why it is true.  Explain why it is not a false generalization.

or

3) Provide an example of your own of an argument from analogy. It can be on any topic you like. The idea is to try to persuade us something is true using analogical reasoning.  Be sure that the argument has at least two premises (label them 1., 2., etc.) and a conclusion (put it after the premises and put the word ‘Therefore,’ at the start of it). Explain why your argument is not a false analogy . Explain why it is true. Explain why the comparison between the two things is sufficient to draw the conclusion .

http://www.iep.utm.edu/argument/

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/reasoning-analogy/

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Short Critical Exercise : approx 200 words (APA style)

Reflect on a problem that you experienced at work or in your personal life.

How did you analyse the situation at the time? In retrospect, how would you change that analysis? What additional facts and information would you want?