Psychology in the News It is sincerely hoped that after you complete this course you'll continue to think about psychology and apply its ideas to what’s going on in the world and to aid in your critical thinking. The purpose of this exercise is to find a NEWSPAPER article (not from a magazine or psychology website) that illustrates psychological concepts. Your assignment is to prepare one recent newspaper article (feature article or editorial) from a mainstream newspaper (e.g., Santa Cruz Sentinel, San Jose Mercury, San Francisco Chronicle, New York Times; it can be printed off the Web) since February 2017. On 1-2 typewritten pages (double-spaced, 1-inch margins, 12-font): 1. Identify the source and date of the article. 2. Summarize (briefly) the newspaper article. 3. Write a description or explanation of how the article relates to a theory, concept, or research finding presented in class or in the textbook. Be sure to include a summary of the material from the lecture or the book and make sure the relevance is clear. 4. Discuss specific ways the newspaper article could have been improved or was misleading. For example, did you find information in the textbook that contradicted the newspaper article or would have helped explain the topic more clearly? If you think the newspaper article did a good job of reporting on its topic, explain fully why you think so and support your argument with examples. 5. Include the newspaper article (e.g., taped to a piece of paper if it is cut out from the newspaper). Make sure your assignment is fastened together with a paper clip or staple. You can consider any of following concepts or terms: · Psychology and its goals · Approaches: Introspection (Wundt), Psychodynamic (Freud), Behaviorist (Watson, Skinner), Cognitive, Evolutionary (Darwin), Biological · Areas of specialization (e.g., Industrial/Organizational, Clinical/Counseling, etc.) · Assumptions of science · Scientific method: Theory, hypothesis, hypothesis testing, variables · Experimental method: Independent and dependent variables, generalizability, validity · Descriptive methods: Observation, self-report data (e.g., surveys), case studies · Correlational research: Correlational coefficient, positive correlation, negative correlation · Ethics in research · Central nervous system · Peripheral nervous system · Somatic nervous system · Autonomic nervous system · Sympathetic nervous system · Parasympathetic nervous system · Endocrine system · Hormones · Pituitary gland · Neurons: Types and structure (e.g., cell body, dendrites, axon) · Action potential · Synapse · Neurotransmitters (e.g., serotonin, dopamine, endorphin) · Receptors · Brain imaging techniques (e.g., PET scan, MRI) · Brain structures (e.g., amygdala, thalamus, hippocampus, cerebrum, cerebral cortex) · Lobes of the brain (frontal, parietal, occipital, temporal) · Somatosensory cortex, motor cortex · Corpus callosum · Split brain · Lateralization · Plas ...

1. Psychology in the News
It is sincerely hoped that after you complete this course you'll
continue to think about psychology and apply its ideas to what’s
going on in the world and to aid in your critical thinking. The
purpose of this exercise is to find a NEWSPAPER article (not
from a magazine or psychology website) that illustrates
psychological concepts. Your assignment is to prepare one
recent newspaper article (feature article or editorial) from a
mainstream newspaper (e.g., Santa Cruz Sentinel, San Jose
Mercury, San Francisco Chronicle, New York Times; it can be
printed off the Web) since February 2017.
On 1-2 typewritten pages (double-spaced, 1-inch margins, 12-
font):
1. Identify the source and date of the article.
2. Summarize (briefly) the newspaper article.
3. Write a description or explanation of how the article relates
to a theory, concept, or research finding presented in class or in
the textbook. Be sure to include a summary of the material from
the lecture or the book and make sure the relevance is clear.
4. Discuss specific ways the newspaper article could have been
improved or was misleading. For example, did you find
information in the textbook that contradicted the newspaper
article or would have helped explain the topic more clearly? If
you think the newspaper article did a good job of reporting on
its topic, explain fully why you think so and support your
argument with examples.
5. Include the newspaper article (e.g., taped to a piece of paper
if it is cut out from the newspaper). Make sure your assignment
is fastened together with a paper clip or staple.
You can consider any of following concepts or terms:
· Psychology and its goals
· Approaches: Introspection (Wundt), Psychodynamic (Freud),

2. Behaviorist (Watson, Skinner), Cognitive, Evolutionary
(Darwin), Biological
· Areas of specialization (e.g., Industrial/Organizational,
Clinical/Counseling, etc.)
· Assumptions of science
· Scientific method: Theory, hypothesis, hypothesis testing,
variables
· Experimental method: Independent and dependent variables,
generalizability, validity
· Descriptive methods: Observation, self-report data (e.g.,
surveys), case studies
· Correlational research: Correlational coefficient, positive
correlation, negative correlation
· Ethics in research
· Central nervous system
· Peripheral nervous system
· Somatic nervous system
· Autonomic nervous system
· Sympathetic nervous system
· Parasympathetic nervous system
· Endocrine system
· Hormones
· Pituitary gland
· Neurons: Types and structure (e.g., cell body, dendrites, axon)
· Action potential
· Synapse
· Neurotransmitters (e.g., serotonin, dopamine, endorphin)
· Receptors
· Brain imaging techniques (e.g., PET scan, MRI)
· Brain structures (e.g., amygdala, thalamus, hippocampus,
cerebrum, cerebral cortex)
· Lobes of the brain (frontal, parietal, occipital, temporal)
· Somatosensory cortex, motor cortex
· Corpus callosum
· Split brain
· Lateralization

3. · Plasticity
· Sensation
· Perception
· Transduction
· Absolute threshold
· Just noticeable difference
· Cornea
· Iris
· Pupil
· Lens
· Retina
· Optic nerve
· Rods and cones
· Visual pathways
· Gestalt psychology and laws of grouping: Figure-ground,
proximity, similarity, continuity, closure, simplicity
· Depth perception
· Perceptual illusions
· Top-down and bottom-up processing
· Consciousness
· Attention
· Cocktail party phenomenon
· Sleep-wake cycle, stages of sleep (including REM sleep)
· Dreams and theories about dreaming
· Sleep disturbances (e.g., narcolepsy, sleep apnea, insomnia)
· Importance of learning
· Classical conditioning
· Pavlov's experiment
· Unconditioned stimulus, unconditioned response, conditioned
stimulus, conditioned response
· Watson and Little Albert
· Acquisition, generalization, discrimination, extinction,
spontaneous recovery
· Forward, simultaneous, backward conditioning, interstimulus
interval
· Operant conditioning

4. · Thorndike's puzzle box and the law of effect
· Skinner box
· Positive and negative reinforcement
· Positive and negative punishment
· Side effects of punishment
· Shaping
· Schedules of reinforcement: Continuous, partial, fixed and
variable ratio, fixed and variable interval
· Latent learning (e.g., Tolman's experiment)
· Observational or social learning (e.g., Bobo dolls studies)
· Basic memory processes: Encoding, storage, retrieval
· Information-processing (three-box) model: External stimuli,
sensory memory (e.g., iconic memory), short-term memory,
long-term memory
· Iconic and echoic memory
· Immediate memory span
· Chunking
· Maintenance and elaborative rehearsal
· Depth of processing
· Type of processing
· Serial-position curve, recency and primacy effects
· Episodic, semantic, and procedural memory
· Explicit and implicit memory
· Flashbulb memories
· Schemas
· Recall
· Recognition
· Tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon
· Forgetting
· Proactive and retroactive interference
· Anterograde and retrograde amnesia
· Case of Clive Wearing
· Hippocampus
· State-dependent memory
· Circle of thought
· Concept

5. · Prototype
· Basic, subordinate, superordinate level
· Solving problems: Mental images, algorithm, heuristic, means-
end analysis or decomposition, analogy, incubation
· Pitfalls in problem-solving, e.g., functional fixedness,
confirmation bias
· Representativeness and availability heuristic
· Phonemes and morphemes
· Grammar
· Syntax
· Language development and important milestones
· Language acquisition device
· Critical period in language development
· Motivation and instinct
· Theories of motivation: Drive, arousal, incentive
· Maslow's hierarchy of needs
· Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation
· Hunger and eating
· Need for achievement
· Elements of emotion: Body, mind, culture
· Primary (basic) emotions: Joy, sadness, surprise, disgust, fear,
anger, contempt
· Secondary (complex) emotions
· Facial expressions of emotions
· Cultural differences in emotion
· Parts of the brain associated with emotions
· Sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system
· Polygraph
· Emotion and gender
· Stress
· General Adaptation Syndrome (Hans Selye)
· Why stress leads to illness
· Susceptibility to stress
· Basic categories of stressors: Catastrophes, major life events,
daily hassles/microstressors
· Coping strategies: Problem-focused, emotion-focused,

6. proactive, cognitive, behavioral, physical
· Health psychology
· Positive psychology
· How intelligence is defined
· Theories of intelligence: Spearman's Two-Factor, Gardner's
Multiple Intelligences, Sternberg's Triarchic
· Metacognition
· History of intelligence testing and how IQ was and is
calculated
· Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale and Wechsler Adult
Intelligence Scale
· Validity, reliablity, standardization
· Cultural bias
· Stability of IQ scores and what scores predict
· Range of intelligence, including giftedness
· Controversies surrounding IQ testing and scores, e.g., The
Bell Curve
· Individual differences in intelligence and personality
· Sigmund Freud
· Psychoanalysis/psychodynamic approach
· Hysteria
· Anna O.
· Free association
· Iceberg analogy
· Life and death instincts
· Three components of personality: Id, superego, ego
· Pleasure principle, reality principle
· Stages of psychosexual development and fixation
· Oedipus complex
· Examples of various defense mechanisms: Repression, denial,
projection, reaction formation, displacement, rationalization,
sublimation, regression
· Neo-Freudians, e.g., Carl Jung (collective unconscious)
· Projective tests: Rorschach, TAT
· Criticisms of Freudian theory
· Social-cognitive learning approach to personality

7. · Social-learning theory and modeling (Bandura)
· Expectancy and value (Rotter)
· Locus of control (Rotter)
· Self-efficacy and reciprocal determinism (Bandura)
· Trait approach to personality
· MMPI
· Big Five model
· Genetic influences on personality
· Cultural influences on personality
· Humanistic approach to personality
· Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow
· Self
· Developmental issues: Nature/nurture, continuity/stages,
stability/change, sociocultural context, child's active role,
individual differences, interaction of domains
· Twin-study method and adoption studies
· Stages of prenatal development: Germinal, embryonic, fetal
· Teratogens, e.g., drugs, diseases, environmental hazards
· Conditions of women that affect prenatal development and
birth, e.g., age, nutrition, stress
· Reflexes of the newborn, e.g., sucking, rooting, Moro, and
hand grasp
· Perceptual skills and preferences of the newborn
· Brain development in infancy and childhood
· Rovee-Collier mobile experiment
· Motor development milestones
· Legacy of Jean Piaget
· Schema
· Assimilation and accommodation
· Piaget's stages of cognitive development and characteristics of
each stage: Sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational,
formal operational
· Object permanence (including recent research by Renee
Baillargeon)
· Means-end behavior
· Egocentrism

8. · Deferred imitation
· Conservation tasks
· Reversibility
· Criticisms of Piaget's theory
· Current views of cognitive development (including
information-processing perspective)
· Attachment and behavioral milestones, e.g., social smile,
separation protest, stranger anxiety
· Contact comfort (Harry Harlow)
· Ethological perspective (Konrad Lorenz, John Bowlby)
· Strange Situation (Mary Ainsworth)
· Attachment styles: Secure attachment, insecure-avoidant,
insecure- anxious/ambivalent (resistant), insecure-
disorganized/disoriented
· What affects attachment: Parenting, temperament, social
support, culture
· Attachment and daycare
· Attachment to fathers
· Attachment and later development
· Baumrind's parenting styles: Authoritarian, authoritative,
permissive, uninvolved
· Concept of training (Ruth Chao)
· Developmental changes in peer relations
· Clique
· Crowd
· Adolescence
· Moral development, e.g., Kohlberg's theory
· Erikson's psychosocial stages
· Cognitive, social, and physical development in adulthood and
old age
· Culture
· Social/cultural norms
· Individualism and collectivism
· Acculturation
· Bicultural, assimilated, separatist, marginal
· Ethnic identity: Unexamined, search/moratorium, achievement

9. · How males and females are different and why
· Gender development