What technniques are used to look for the effect of genes on behavior and character? What's the difference between fraternal twins and identical twins? Why are genetic traits not likely to be "racial" traits? What characteristics are thought to have a genetic basis? If something is strictly inherited, how often will you have it if one of your parents has it? What is heritability? What does it mean for something (eg, height) to be 90 percent heritable? What is temperament? Why is it thought to be genetic?
Briefly describe the five major environmental influences present in Myers. What is the difference between sex and gender? Which is determined by genes? Why do gender roles vary over place and time? Why do many psychologist now say "nature AND nurture" rather than "nature or nuture"?
Describe the following theories of development and be prepared to apply them to hypothetical examples:
Define the following: absolute threshold, difference threshold, Weber's Law. When we are talking about sensation, what is adaptation? Give an example. What does signal detection theory say about our ability to pick out stimuli?
What gives light its hue (color)? Briefly explain the tristimulus theory and the opponent process theory of color vision. Draw and label a picture of the eye. When we are talking about sensation (vision in particular) what is feature detection? Give an example. Why do we say that visual processing is hierarchical (ie, what is different about the processing that happens in the retina and the cortex)?
What gives sound its pitch? Describe the place theory and the frequency theory of hearing.
Why are taste and olfaction called the chemical senses?
Is there one sense of touch or more than one? What do sorts of things do we perceive via our sense(s) of touch?
In what ways are the five senses (vision, hearing, skin senses, taste, smell) similar? In what ways are they different?
Describe the gate theory of pain. Why is pain beneficial?
What are top-down and bottom-up processing? Give an example of each. How do perceive depth? How is it possible to judge depth using only one eye? What does Gestalt mean? What is the figure-ground principle? Describe the Gestalt laws of grouping.
Anthony G Benoit
abenoit@trcc.commnet.edu
(860) 885-2386
Revised