September 25, 2017
1. Moghaddam presents several arguments supporting the idea that intellectual ability is strongly influenced by environment or culture. Summarize the argument that you find most convincing and explain why it impresses you.
2. Some psychologists have proposed that we should elaborate a concept of “emotional intelligence” in the same way that we now think about analytical intelligence. If you were advising these psychologists, what characteristics would you advise them to look for in order to identify someone who was emotionally intelligent? Do you think the elements of emotional intelligence that you have described are more likely to be innate characteristics or learned ones?
3. Galton examined his society and saw that many of the most eminent people came from just a small number of different families. Why is this observation insufficient evidence to conclude that intelligence is an inherited (native) ability rather than a product of environmental influences?
4. How does the study of twins help us understand the nature-nurture controversy with respect to intelligence better?
5. Explain what is meant by the idea of eugenics and why most people today find the concept offensive. How is it linked to the theory of evolution?
6. Many York students moved to Canada as young children when their parents immigrated here. Suppose these students and their parents were all asked to take an intelligence test such as the Stanford-Binet today. What are some reasons that the students might do better than their parents even though their actual abilities are pretty much the same? Why would such a result be important in the nature-nurture debate?
7. Moghaddam organizes his chapter on intelligence tests around the four questions below. Prepare a brief answer to at least one of these questions based on Moghaddam’s discussion:
a. Why are intelligence tests important?
b. What are the contributions of nature and nurture to intelligence?
c. Is there one or are there multiple types of intelligence?
d. At what age, if ever, does intelligence become fixed?
8. Describe what Bartlett means by schema and provide an example of schema from your own experience. What makes schema a cognitive concept rather than a behaviourist one?
9. Provide an example of an everyday purposive behaviour that might be analyzed into a set of “TOTE units” organized by means of a “plan.”
10. Summarize Chomsky’s view of language as presented by Moghaddam and explain why it is more consistent with a cognitive approach to Psychology than with a behaviourist one.