PSY393 Exam Essay Topics

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San Francisco State University *

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752

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Psychology

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Nov 24, 2024

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Uploaded by angshuman210191

Write an essay response to any TWO (2) of the following topics. Total word count: 1600 words. Within that allowance, you may choose to allocate your words as you wish. There is no penalty for a shorter response. Grading criteria can be found below. 1. Why do young children perform so much worse than adults on tasks such as conservation and searching for hidden objects? Outline some of the real- life implications of your answer for the caregivers of young children. 2. To what extent are the changes in cognitive abilities that we observe through the lifespan simply the product of learning? How do we know? Are there any changes that learning theory cannot account for? 3. Some cognitive theorists argue that executive function plays a critical role in intelligent behaviour. On the other hand, advocates for embodied intelligence argue that intelligent behavior can emerge from “dumb” structures and processes with little or no need for conscious control. What is your view on this issue? Why? 4. “Designing a study in developmental psychology is simple: just take two different age groups and compare them on a standard cognitive task.” Do you agree? Discuss. 5. How many human intelligences are there? Explain your reasoning and provide empirical evidence. Describe a situation in which the answer to this question might make an important difference in someone’s life. 6. To what extent do genes determine a person’s cognitive ability profile? Provide evidence for your answer. Does it matter? Explain why or why not.

FAQs Q – Do I submit each essay separately? A – No. Write both your essays into a single document and submit through LMS by the due date Q – Do I have to include a reference list? A – No. Q – Should I reference every point? A – For this assessment, referencing does not need to be as comprehensive as for a nonexam essay. Demonstrating your understanding of the topic is much more important than including lots of names and dates. As a guide, if your lecturer spent ~30 minutes discussing a particular person’s theory, then that theorist is probably important and it would be reasonable to refer to him or her by name. If you wish to discuss a specific empirical study in detail, please reference it. If you decide to include material from outside PSY393 content, please supply the author’s name and publication year so that your marker can verify the material, if necessary. To conserve words, for multiple author papers, please use “First Author et al.” reference format throughout. Minor details drawn from lecture content do not require referencing in this context Q – Am I expected to do my own research on the essay topics? A - This exam is assessing your learning in PSY393. While I don't forbid you to use knowledge from elsewhere if it is relevant, make sure that you actually demonstrate yourlearning in this unit. (If the essay I read could have been written by someone who never took the unit, there is a high likelihood that it will not pass.) Q – I have never done anything like this before in my life. How should I approach the task? A1 - Imagine that a real person actually asked you the question. Your job is to provide your very best quality professional answer to that question. (Not to some other question that you wish you had been asked!) A2 - Focus. Everything you write should play an obvious role in answering the question. For example, the fact that you want to mention one aspect of Piaget's theory does not mean that you are obligated to describe every single detail of the theory. Similarly, the fact that there are thousands of different definitions of intelligence in the literature does not mean that listing them all is good use of your word limit. Choose one that works well for your purposes and get on with answering the question. (For some reason, Piaget and Intelligence often seem to trigger major deviations from the topic among PSY393 students!) A3 – Be resourceful. For an exam essay, start by asking yourself what you already know from the unit that you could use to answer the question, then work it into a strong, compelling argument. Don’t outsource the brain-work to the internet.

A4 - Your exam essays may well be “leaner” than non-exam essays, but your answer should still take the form of a logical argument, clarifying the topic, identifying alternative possible answers, weighing up evidence, thinking critically about the evidence and arriving at a conclusion. A5 – Read the Marking Guide and think strategically about how to maximise the quality of your response within the word limit.

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Grading Criteria for Exams Essays HD (80%+) – An excellent essay. The set question is answered. All information presented is relevant to the set topic, and its relevance is made clear to the reader. The student presents a structured, logical argument for his/her conclusion, articulating and evaluating the main possible perspectives. The student uses empirical evidence to support theoretical claims, identifies the empirical observations that would be necessary to test a theoretical idea, and/or applies theoretical ideas to a specific real life problem. The student distinguishes between theoretical ideas and empirical facts, critically evaluates methodological strengths and weaknesses of any empirical studies used as evidence for theoretical points, and takes these factors into account in interpreting the findings. The student successfully integrates PSY393 unit material from different sources (e.g., lectures, tutorials, readings) to address the major issues of the topic. The student communicates clearly, and demonstrates a high level of independent thinking. D (70-79%) – A very good essay. The set question is answered. The student successfully identifies information presented in PSY393 that is relevant to the topic, and also shows some evidence of independent thinking (e.g., through thoughtful and relevant critique of theory or empirical work, through integration of ideas or findings, through integrated discussion of implications of conclusions beyond the essay topic, or through ability to structure information into a logical argument). The essay shows some of the characteristics of the HD essay but not all. C (60-69%) – A good essay. The student demonstrates sound knowledge about the topic, describes the major points of view in the area and draws a conclusion. The student successfully identifies at least some PSY393 course material relevant to the topic but may also include some irrelevant material, or neglect to show its relevance to the topic. The student makes some attempt to support theoretical claims with empirical research, but linkage may not always be clear. The student may tend to accept published opinion without fully evaluating whether or not it should be trusted. Writing may not be perfect, but is clear enough to convey the main points. A credit level essay will tend to lack clear signs of independent thinking on the topic, or may offer personal opinions that are not well integrated with the published literature. P (50-59%) – A fair essay. This essay makes a recognisable attempt to answer the set question but may also make mistakes. The student will demonstrate familiarity with some the PSY393 unit content through their choice of resources, but this may be limited in scope or may contain irrelevant material. Discussion may tend to be superficial. Logical argument may be absent or faulty. Evidence for points may be absent, lacking in relevance, or misunderstood. Although this essay will not demonstrate a complete understanding of the major issues relevant to the topic, it will demonstrate an adequate grasp of some components of the topic. Writing may be poor, but it should still be possible to understand most of the time.

N (<50%) – A fail essay will not provide a satisfactory answer to the set question. It may be extremely limited in the resources it uses and superficial in its treatment of the topic. It may make claims that are logically incorrect, or clearly not supported by the literature cited. It may be off the topic. It may be so poorly written that it is impossible to understand. It will not demonstrate learning of PSY393 unit material.

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