Worksheet

Instructor: Professor White

PRINCIPLES OF PSYCHOLOGY

HOMEWORK 2
(Chapters 9, 3 & 8 ~ Total Points: 60)

DUE DATE: FEBRUARY 28, 2021 (via Blackboard by 11:59 pm)

DEVELOPMENT OVER THE LIFESPAN: CHAPTER 9 ASSIGNMENT

Lifespan – Part A (10 pts)

Instructions: Answer the following questions thoroughly in paragraph/essay format.

1. How did Margaret and Harry Harlow first demonstrate the importance of contact comfort in the formation
of attachment relationships?

2. What are the three kinds of problems that, according to your textbook, are more common during adolescence than
during childhood or adulthood?

3. How is the brain influenced by physical exercise and mental stimulation during old age/later stages of aging?

4. Describe, in detail, the process of language acquisition beginning in the first months of life and extending to the
age of 2 years.

5. What were the contributions of life span development theorists Kohlberg and Erickson? Identify/describe each

theorist contribution(s).

Lifespan – Part B: Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development (10 pts)

Piaget’s observations of children led to a revolutionary theory of cognitive development. Growth processes and

experiences combine, so that cognitive functioning expands on four qualitatively different stages: the sensory-motor,

the preoperational, concrete operations, and formal operations. Children also attempt to assimilate and accommodate

new experiences. Describe and distinguish Piaget’s stages of development and state of assimilate/accommodate.

1. Stage/State: Sensory-motor Explain:

2. Stage/State: Preoperational Explain:

3. Stage/State: Concrete Operations Explain:

Instructor: Professor White

4. Stage/State: Formal Operations Explain:

5. Stage/State: Assimilate and/vs. Accommodate Explain:

BIOPSYCHOLOGY: NEURONS, HORMONES, & THE BRAIN: CHAPTER 3 ASSIGNMENT (20 points)

Instructions: Answer the following questions thoroughly in essay/paragraph format (complete sentences).

1. Describe in detail the two main parts of the nervous system.

2. Describe three activities that are more closely associated with the left hemisphere and three activities that are more
closely associated with the right hemisphere of the brain.

3. On each cerebral hemisphere, deep fissures divide the cortex into four distinct lobes. Name each of the four lobes
and describe the location of each lobe.

4. Name any four neurotransmitters discussed in the textbook and explain what aspects of behavior, memory, and
well-being each influence.

5. Describe what the implications are of compromised immune function as a result of exposure to chronic stress.

6. Before the advent of modern imaging techniques, scientist and clinicians relied on autopsies of people who
suffered brain injury with resultant change in behavior to determine how different areas of the brain were affected.

What are some of the limitations associated with this kind of approach?

7. Cocaine has two effects on synaptic transmission: it impairs reuptake of dopamine and it causes more dopamine to
be released into the synaptic cleft. Would cocaine be classified as an agonist or antagonist? Why?

8. The theory of evolution by natural selection requires variability of a given trait. Why is variability necessary and
where does it come from?

Instructor: Professor White

MEMORY: CHAPTER 8 ASSIGNMENT (20 points)

Instructions: Answer the following questions thoroughly in essay/paragraph format (complete sentences).

1. One day after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center, individuals were asked questions about
the experience and about a mundane event that occurred within the days prior to the attack. What does research

reveal about flashbulb memories? In what way are neurotransmitters involved with flashbulb memories?

2. What were the contributions of Elizabeth Loftus in relation to her research on memory?

3. According to the Atkinson-Shiffrin model, name and describe the three stages of memory.

4. You and your roommate spent all of last night studying for your psychology test. You think you know the
material; however, you suggest that you study again the next morning an hour prior to the test. Your roommate

asks you to explain why you think this is a good idea. What method is being used that explains this idea and what

do you tell your roommate?

5. Distinguish and describe the differences between procedural memory, declarative memory and episodic memory.
How are these types of memory associated and/or connected with long-term memory?

6. Define the types of amnesia and indicate the comparisons and contrasts between the types of amnesia.

7. Compare and contrast implicit and explicit memory.

8. What might happen to your memory system if you sustained damage to your hippocampus?