Class Assignments (aka "Reading Responses")

This page will contain all of your "reading response" prompts. As a reminder, all reading responses must be between 150-200 words in length, and are submitted through Canvas. Please pay attention to the due date; while most of these assignments are due on Tuesdays, not all are! (Including even the first one.)

1. Assigned 8/29, due 9/5:

   Is it important to know where in the brain a given mental process occurs?
   In class, Prof. Firestone gave some reasons to think YES, and some reasons to think NO.
   Pick any of the reasons Prof. Firestone discussed and say whether you agree or disagree with it (and why)

2. Assigned 9/5, due 9/10:

   In class today, Prof. Firestone gave an example of an important difference between understanding language and doing calculus. What was that difference, and how did we demonstrate it in class?

3. Assigned 9/12, due 9/17:

   How do the studies by Gandhi et al. show that carpentry is not the source of the Muller-Lyer illusion?

4. Assigned 10/3, due 10/8:

   Babies can’t tell you what they see, think, or want. How do developmental psychologists overcome this to successfully study the developing mind? Give two examples from Prof. Feigenson’s lecture.

5. Assigned 10/10, due 10/16:

   Identify and explain a ‘cognitive feat’ that an animal can do but that a human cannot. But don’t just pick any example — use one from Prof. Krupenye’s guest lecture.

6. Assigned 10/31, due 11/7:

   Using the concepts of reliability and validity, explain why the quiz that assigned Prof. Firestone the role of Supergirl is not a good personality test.

7. Assigned 11/7, due 11/12:

   You are in the final round of the game show we watched, and can choose one of the two balls. Usually, that round is played only once between two people. But suppose it were played multiple times between the same two people, for a new pot of money each time. Would your strategy change? Why or why not?

8. Assigned 11/18, due 12/3:

   Do emotions make us more rational or less rational? (Or, put another way, do emotions help the rest of our mind function better, or worse?) Give an example from class or your readings to make your case.