Describe the research on infant perceptual abilities. Discuss the areas that you think are valid and those you feel are questionable
What will be an ideal response?
Responses should show an understanding of the various areas of research on
perception including affordances (Gibsons' view) and graspability. The student should
also show an awareness that not all the research is perfect. Far too often when
observing various types of infant reactions, researchers assume perception is
occurring and this reliance on these reactions is always problematic. In addition, there
has not been enough replication of this research. It would be expected that the student
will find some areas of this research to be believable and some to be problematic.
Students may note that since the research is based purely on observation and
subjective interpretation of infants' facial expressions, this may create problems. While
we are able to observe outward behaviors, it is always difficult to know what is going
on mentally, so we rely on our best guess.
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If you were attempting to recall a memory, the memory process you would be using is
a. encoding. b. storage. c. retrieval. d. acquisition.
Critics of the Stanford prison study argue that ________
a. the methodology was flawed, because participants were not randomly assigned to either the "prisoner" role or the "guard" role. b. by stopping the study after six days, instead of letting it continue for the two-week experimental period, the researchers had not allowed enough time for dramatic change to occur. c. a makeshift prison in the basement of a university building was not an effective setting to investigate the factors involved. d. briefing the guards at the beginning of the study influenced their behavior, and the study merely showed how willingly people obey orders.
Schlegel and Barry (1991) analyzed information on adolescent development across 186 traditional cultures and found that what percentage had puberty rites for girls?
a. 49% b. 59% c. 69% d. 79%
Sam could read when he was 4 and could do addition and subtraction by the time he was 5. By sixth grade, however, he complained that he didn't understand what the teachers wanted from him, that he felt he was he "stupid," and so he refused to go to middle school. Recognizing his sense of inferiority in the context of knowing Sam's high ability led his teacher to consider that Sam:
A. may have had an undiagnosed learning disability undermining his sense of competence. B. was angry that his teachers didn't recognize his competence. D. did not have the ability to achieve competence.