Thursday, September 22, 2011

honors 1.5 lit


Thomas Jefferson
Read the letter from Thomas Jefferson to his daughter, Patsy, on page 124 of your text.
  • In a paragraph of six or seven sentences, describe what you feel is the relationship between Jefferson and his daughter.
  • Be sure to support your opinion with examples from the text.

psych 2

Here is a Journal Activity for you to complete that will require you to apply what you've just learned. Read the following passage on comparing points of view.

Next, answer the questions in the Thinking Skills section. Your Journal answers should be constructed using a word processing program. Label each Journal entry with the appropriate title, Journal Activity 3, and number each of your answers to correspond with the question.

Analyzing Data

Psychologists use field observations, laboratory experiments, and other methods to gather data relevant to their research questions. When sufficient data have been collected, the researchers analyze the data in order to make inferences about the research topic. The focus of data analysis is the identification of relationships between the various elements of the data. Researchers look for the following types of relationships.

The relationship of necessary condition.

A necessary condition is a condition without which a certain event or effect cannot occur. For example, for a procedural memory of a skill to occur, you must first learn the skill. You may not always remember a skill you have learned, but you can never remember it if you have not learned it. There are four possible relationships (R) between a necessary condition (A) and a certain effect (B).

R.1. If A occurs, then B may or may not occur.

R.2. If A does not occur, then B cannot occur.

R.3. If A occurs, then B must have occurred.

R.4. If A does not occur, then B may or may not have occurred.

The relationship of sufficient condition.

A sufficient condition is a condition that can produce a certain effect. The same effect, however, can be produced by other conditions. For example, brain injury can cause amnesia, but amnesia can also be caused by other conditions. There are four possible relationships between a sufficient condition C and a certain effect D.

R.1. If C occurs, then D occurs.

R.2. If C does not occur, then D may or may not occur.

R.3. If D occurs, then C may or may not have occurred.

R.4. If D does not occur, then C did not occur.

The relationship of necessary and sufficient condition.

If all necessary and sufficient conditions EF occur, then a certain effect G will always occur. If these conditions do not occur, then the effect will not occur. For example, to create memory of an incident, the brain must encode information. Without encoding, there will be no memory of the event. The following are true.

R.1. If EF occurs, then G will occur.

R.2. If EF does not occur, then G will not occur.

R.3. If G occurs, then EF has occurred.

R.4. If G does not occur, then EF has not occurred. 

Thinking Skills:

Refer to the information about relationships to answer the following questions regarding analysis.

   1. True or false? If data shows that saying a number over and over is a 
       necessary and sufficient condition for committing the number to 
       memory, then people who want to memorize a phone number must 
       repeat it several times. 

   2. A research study looking for early signs of Alzheimer's disease studied 
       the brains of 14 deceased nuns and examined the autobiographies of 
       the nuns, which were written early in their lives. Of the 5 nuns 
       diagnosed with Alzheimer's, all showed low-idea density in their writing,  which means they included very little descriptive information in their 
       writing. The writing of the nuns without Alzheimer's did not show this 
       characteristic. The researcher's believed that low-density writing might 
       be a predictor for the development of Alzheimer's. Using A for 
       Alzheimer's and LDW for low-density writing, write a statement that 
       describes the relationship between Alzheimer's disease and low-density        writing demonstrated by this study.
 
       Is the relationship one of necessary condition, sufficient condition, or 
       necessary and sufficient condition?
 
       Do you think this study is sufficient to come to that conclusion? Why or 
       why not? 

  3. Suppose experimental data showed that memory reliability has been 
       increased by 12 percent in people taking medication X and also has 
       been increased in people who have had training in using mnemonic 
       devices. Using DX for taking the drug and IM for result of improved 
       memory, write a statement that best describes the relationship. 

   4. Todd ate two bowls of popcorn while studying for his psychology test. 
       The next day he got an A on the test. Can he conclude that eating lots 
       of popcorn is a necessary condition for memorizing psychology 
       information? Why or why not? 

   5. Depict a scenario describing each of the three relationships with their 
       required conditions as discussed earlier in the Analyzing Data section of  this Journal Activity. 

psych

Here is a Journal Activity for you to complete that will require you to apply what you've just learned. Read the following passage on comparing points of view. Next, answer the questions in the Thinking Skills section.

Your Journal answers should be constructed using a word processing program. Label each Journal entry with the appropriate title, Journal Activity 2, and number each of your answers to correspond with the question.

Identifying and Manipulating Variables

A key factor in the effectiveness of an experiment is the accurate and skillful identification and manipulation of the variables. The first step is to identify the dependent variable, which is the factor that changes as a result of what happens to another factor.

For example, a doctor in a large medical practice with two waiting rooms noticed that the patients who waited in room A showed a greater level of anxiety than those who waited in room B. The rooms were about the same size and were decorated identically. To discover the source of the raised anxiety, the doctor conducted an experiment. She identified the dependent variable as the level of patient anxiety after waiting.

Next she thought of differences between room A and room B that might affect the dependent variable. She listed the temperature of the room, the presence of a television set, and a clear view of the laboratory across the hall. All of these factors are independent variables; they operate independently of each other or any other factors. The independent variables must be tested one at a time.

To accurately identify cause-and-effect relationships, one independent variable is tested while the others remain constant. In the doctor's experiment, she first tested the temperature by adjusting the thermostats so that room A's temperature exactly matched room B's. When there was no change in patient anxiety levels, she returned room B's temperature to its previous level and removed the television set. Again there was no change in patient anxiety. She returned the television set and had the clear glass door to the lab replaced with one of frosted glass. Patient anxiety dropped. The doctor had identified the independent variable that affected patients while they waited for treatment.

Thinking Skills:

Read each situation below and answer the questions that follow.

Tom and Juanita conducted an experiment to test the effect of age on difference threshold in children 5 years of age and younger. They created an experimental setup that included cards mounted with 12 pairs of paint chips of the same hue but of various shades. The difference between the first pair was fairly obvious, but the difference between each subsequent pair decreased. The last few pairs of chips seemed almost identical. The process that Tom and Juanita used was to show the pairs to a child and to note the smallest amount of difference the child could detect when asked to identify the darker chip on each card. They tested three children from each of these age groups: 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5, 4, 4.5, 5.


1. What is the dependent variable?

   2. What independent variable was tested?

   3. What unidentified independent variables might have influenced the
       results?

Ronald and his classroom research group were conducting an experiment to test people's ability to touch their noses when their eyes were shut. They were testing their hypothesis that males were more skilled at this task than females. The group also had a theory that noise could alter a person's ability to carry out the task. They asked several classmates and teachers to perform the task. Sometimes, Ronald or someone else in the research group would whistle or shout while a person tried to do the task.

   4. What dependent variable did Ronald's group identify?

   5. What independent variables can you identify?

   6. Were the variables effectively manipulated? Why or why not?

   7. How could you improve the experiment?

   8. Now construct your own experiment, measuring both dependent and
       independent variables to determine how a lack of sleep influences
       performance on a math quiz which emphasizes solutions to word
       problems.


Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Read textbook Lesson 5-2, pp. 229 - 231
Work problems 1, 5, 7, 19, 21, 23, 25 and 27, p. 231


Read textbook Lesson 5-2, pp. 229 - 231
Work problems 11, 29, 33, 35, 41, 45 and 49, pp. 231 and 232



Read textbook Lesson 5-3, pp. 233 - 236
Work problems 3, 13, 15, 17, 21, 29, 41, 51 and 53, pp. 236 and 237



Read textbook Lesson 5-4, pp. 239 - 242
Work problems 5, 7, 17, 23, 27, 29, 31, 35, 47 and 55, pp. 242 and 243