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Psychology 236 Lifespan Development Carolyn R. Fallahi, Ph. D.

Columbine

1. Why is it human nature to want to blame someone? How did politicians and the media handle the blame of Columbine? Give some examples. 2. Can we account for a person’s behavior in complex situations? Use Zimbardo’s prison study to help answer this question. 3. Can normal people act differently in abnormal situations? Use the massacre at Jonestown in 1978 and The Heaven’s Gate Suicides in 1997 as examples in your answer. What about Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold? 4. What specifics about these two young men can we point to in understanding why it was difficult to predict their behavior? 5. What about the Cassie Bernall story? Is this yet another example of the difficulty in predicting behavior? Explain. 6. What was the potential role of media violence in this example? How does media violence affect young boys and girls? 7. Is it easy/difficult to predict suicide or homicide if you are a trained professional? Explain. 8. What is the gun argument according to Sociologist Dane Archer? 9. What about adolescence? What is going on during adolescence that makes it more difficult for young boys and aggression? 10. What is the role of emotional intelligence? 11. What is the boy code? Explain. 12. What are some of the gender differences with regards to violence and aggression that are prevalent in this society? 13. Should we teach moral development in school? Please cite the studies involving the Oregon High school and Olewus’ Norway project. 14. What about the role of depression and adolescence? 15. Please explain some of the similar issues in the Daniel Scruggs suicide case in Meriden. 16. Know Kohlberg’s theory of Moral Development.

Media Violence

1. What are the predisposing factors that make some children more susceptible to the effects of media violence? 2. What does Bandura’s research teach us about modeling? 3. When children are allowed to view violence, they form social scripts and world schemas. What does this mean? What is a hostile attributional biasis? 4. Explain the desensitization theory. 5. Explain Huesmann’s social comparison theory. 6. Explain the third variable theory. 7. Define priming & general arousal. 2

8. What does the research say about gender differences in media violence? 9. Explain Walder’s longitudinal study on the effects of media violence. 10. Explain Huesmann’s longitudinal study on the effects of media violence across 5 countiries where initial levels of aggression were controlled. 11. What are some of the factors that influence the outcome of early medial viewing for children? 12. What does habitual media violence viewing correlate with? 13. Why do we continue to put out violence in the media? 14. What is the V-chip experiment?

Divorce

1. What does it take to be “good enough” parents according to Scarr (1993)? 2. How is this theory different from Baumrinds? 3. Does parenting differ between those who work and those who don’t? Is there a difference in the outcome of children? 4. What makes a good parent? 5. What did the grading mom survey have to say about what children want from parenting? 6. How do the relationships with siblings differ from those relationships with parents? 7. Within the divorce literature, why were the early studies flawed? 8. What do the current researchers say about divorce? 9. How do children fare with divorce? 10. Gender differences with divorce? Age differences? 11. What do the father absent studies have to say about childhood adjustment? 12. What does the research say about cohabitation?

Personality Development

1. What is personality? 2. Historically, personality has been measured via categories. This is called typology. A student of Aristotle’s, Theophrastus, viewed personality or typology as descriptions of people, e.g. the slacker. Using the slacker example, provide a description of personality. 3. How is personality different from mood? 4. What is a personality disorder? What are the main symptoms of borderline personality disorder? 5. Using an evolutionary perspective, how might personality be adaptive? 6. Freud provided our first developmental stage approach to personality. Understand his psychosexual stages. 7. Be able to define the following: hysteria, libido, the unconscious 8. How did Freud make the unconscious conscious? Be able to include all the ways, e.g. psychoanalysis (talking therapy), hypnosis, dream interpretation, free association. 9. Understand the following: catharsis, id, ego, superego. 3

10. Understand the Oedipal complex & how neo-Freudians currently understand the Oedipal complex. 11. Understand fixation. 12. Understand how defense mechanisms work, e.g. repression, regression, reaction formation, projection, rationalization, displacement. 13. What is the difference between projective & objective personality tests? Be able to talk about how projective tests work & provide some examples (e.g. TAT, Rorschach) versus Objectives & how they work (e.g. MMPI2). 14. How did neo-Freudians differ from Freud? Erik Erikson?

Gender & Gay and Lesbian Parenting

1. What does the scientific evidence say about the effectiveness or risk to children raised by Gay & Lesbian parents? 2. What does the research say about comparisons of Lesbian Mothers to Heterosexual Mothers? Divorced & single mothers? 3. Are children who are raised with Gay & Lesbian parents more likely to show gender issues and/or a higher prevalence of homosexuality? 4. Know the following definitions: prejudice, discrimination, stereotypes, & unintentional racism. 5. What is the difference between sex and gender? 6. Understand the social discourse on gender.

Moral Development

1. How does Piaget conceptualize moral development? 2. Know Kohlberg’s (1958) stage theory of moral development. 3. Know Carol Gilligan’s (1982) Care perspective.

Lanugage

Language – know the story of Genie & specifically, the notion of sensitive or critical periods & language. Know Chomsky’s theory with an understanding to what the LAD is as well as possible proof for his theory & arguments against his theory, e.g. behaviorist theory

Identity

Know Marcia’s Identity Development theory

Readings for the 3rd exam: Pay careful attention to the following: (1) chapter 11 - I won't cover the trait theories or the big Five factors of personality, but I'll expect you to know them. (2) sexually transmitted infections. (3) sexual identity. (4) Chapter 13 - moral development, parenting, & religion. (5) chapter 14 - parenting, cohabitation, divorce, step families, & sibling 4 relationships. (6) chapter 15 - aging and the social world. (7) bullying. (8) chapter 17 - death & dying, especially Kubler & Ross' stages of dying. (9) primis readings