Discuss the idea that being able to create mental images may be harmful. Cite examples from published research.
What will be an ideal response?
Student examples will vary. A sample answer follows. Although being able to create mental pictures can make us more intelligent, capable, and empathetic, there can be a downside to mental imagery. Elizabeth Loftus has created studies that show it is possible to implant false memories in research subjects. Once the memory is implanted, people make up details to go with the memory without even realizing it. Thomas and Loftus (2002) have shown that if people imagine performing a bizarre task a few times, they may come to believe that they actually performed it instead of just imagining it. People, corporations, or governments could use these memory manipulations for harmful purposes, such as influencing elections.
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The type of learning in which voluntary responses come to be controlled by their consequences is
a. observational learning. b. classical conditioning. c. operant conditioning. d. reinforcement.
Early research on classical conditioning was performed with dogs. In certain variations of this research, experimenters repeatedly presented dogs with meat powder just after ringing a bell. The dogs (who would naturally salivate after being exposed to meat powder) learned to associate the bell with the meat powder, and began to salivate as soon as they heard the bell. In this research, the bell
served as a(n) ____. a. unconditioned stimulus that became a conditioned stimulus b. conditioned stimulus that became an unconditioned stimulus c. neutral stimulus that became a conditioned stimulus d. unconditioned stimulus that became a neutral stimulus
Which statement about the causes of childhood obesity is true?
A) All children are equally at risk for excessive weight gain. B) Genetic, rather than environmental, factors put children at risk for obesity. C) Children who were undernourished in their early years are at risk for later excessive weight gain. D) Children whose parents restrict when, what, and how much they eat are not at risk for weight gain.
Which of the following exemplifies homophily?
A) Boys in middle childhood consider girls "the enemy" and vice versa. B) Children in middle childhood tend to choose friends who are like them in many ways. C) Girls tend to get along better with their fathers than with their mothers in middle childhood. D) Some children in middle childhood enjoy spending time with children of the opposite sex.