psy 101 jounal
Journal Writing Assignment 1 – Choose TWO chapters and answer ALL of the questions for that chapter
The purpose of the following question or series of questions is to encourage you to engage with the chapter material on a personal level. Be sure you respond to every part of each question for the chapters you choose.
Your responses should be typed, using 12-point font with 1 Inch margins. You do not need to include questions. Please write in essay format and check your spelling and grammar. Responses should be 3-4 pages total (1 1/2 – 2 pages for each chapter.)
This assignment is worth 100 points.
Grading Criteria
85 – 100
All parts of the prompt are answered with clear, detailed and accurate responses. Response reflects thoughtful consideration of the prompt. Minimal spelling/grammatical errors. Response follows guidelines for length, font and margins.
70 – 85
Response lacks sufficient detail, clarity and/or exposes minor misconceptions regarding the content. Several spelling/grammatical errors. Response falls short of guidelines regarding length, font and margins.
69 – or less points
Response is severely lacking in detail, clarity, and/or exposes major misconceptions regarding the content. Numerous spelling/grammatical errors. Response falls very short of guidelines length, font and margins.
0 points
No response was submitted.
Journal Prompt Chapter 1
What topic(s) are you most excited about learning in this course? Why?
Name and explain at least 3 topics.
What type of career do you see yourself in?
How might an understanding of psychology be relevant to you in this career? Give at least 2 examples.
Reflect on the 4 basic criteria (from the textbook) people should consider when evaluating information.
Why is critical thinking so important?
Reflect on your own critical thinking skills. Do you ask critical questions? Give a specific example from your life.
How do you think psychology can help you further develop your ability to be a good critical thinker? Give at least 2 examples.
Journal Prompt Chapter 2
How might a psychology professional help parents or teachers understand the neuroimaging techniques and brain areas associated with ADHD?
Give at least 2 examples.
If a college student has ADHD, what aspects of their school or personal lives might be impacted with problems of vigilance or cognitive control?
Give at least 2 examples.
What sort of problems might arise for individuals taking ADHD medications when they do not have the symptoms of the disorder?
Give at least 2 examples.
See the section “Applying Psychology to Everyday Life” in your textbook.
Journal Prompt Chapter 3
What is the difference between top-down and bottom-up processing? Explain.
Give a specific personal example of how you have used each of these processes to understand your world or make a decision.
Consider our five senses discussed in this chapter (vision, hearing, taste, smell, and touch).
If you had to choose one of your senses to lose which would it be and why? Based on what we have learned in this chapter, how would your behavior change?
Journal Prompt Chapter 4
Describe your current sleeping habits.
Approximately how many hours of sleep do you get?
What time do you typically fall asleep and wake up?
Is it consistent every night?
Do you feel like you get good sleep?
Activate the APP Sleep Cycle (or a similar APP) on your phone. Make note of the information provided by the app and compare that information to the information regarding sleep cycles in your textbook.
For example; how many sleep cycles per night do you have?
Are your sleep cycles typical – deeper sleep and less REM earlier in the night and less deep sleep and more REM towards the morning?
Sleep is extremely important to both our physical and psychological functioning.
Outline a personal plan for yourself to improve (or maintain if they are already great) your sleeping habits.
Be specific about what actions you will take and how you plan to implement them. Give at least 3 examples.
Journal Prompt Chapter 5
Learning principles are often used to shape our behavior. Sometimes they are used deliberately to change our behavior in a planned way, and other times we are not even aware that our behavior is changing.
Identify a target behavior you want to modify. Maybe this is bad habit that you want to decrease the occurrence of (e.g. biting your nails) or maybe it is a behavior you want to increase (e.g. going to the gym.
Describe how you could implement principles of operant conditioning to modify your behavior and produce the desired outcome.
Identify how you could use at least two of the four consequences (positive reinforcement, positive punishment, negative reinforcement, and negative punishment)
Explain which you think would be most effective. Give specific examples to illustrate what you plan to do.
Journal Prompt Chapter 6
Psychologists have identified specific strategies to help people encode, store, and retrieve information.
How can the information presented in lecture and the text help you study for your classes more efficiently?
List at least five strategies and explain how each strategy will improve how you encode, store, or retrieve information in memory.
Create a specific and detailed plan for how you will implement using each strategy into your schedule and studying routine. Then do it!
Journal Prompt Chapter 8
Reflect on your own emotional, social, and cognitive development through childhood and adolescents.
Respond to the following are questions
What attachment style(s) do you think you have formed with your caregivers?
How has this influenced your emotional development? Give at least 2 examples.
What parenting styles do your caregivers display?
How has this influenced your behavior and attitude? Give at least 2 examples.
Describe your identity development during adolescents.
Was this a challenging part of your social development like it is for most? Give 2 examples as explanation.
