Parker 1

Angelica Parker

Professor Jaimez

Pshyc 1 MW 2-3:30

4 March 2009

Exam #1 Essay Questions:

1. A scientific attitude is the attitude that scientists use as their approach to the scientific
method for getting answers and developing theories. Three essential components of this
attitude are curiosity, humility, and skepticism. Curiosity is a passion to explore and
understand all aspects of whatever it is that needs to be studied. Curiosity is important in
gathering evidence that will be examined in the scientific method. Next, humility is an
awareness of our own human error, and having an openness to sometimes be wrong and get
corrected. Humility respects the evidence collected and is willing and able to use all
evidence whether or not it supports any preconceptions. Lastly, skepticism is a willingness to
challenge any doubts by putting them to the test. Skepticism allows for corrections to be
made and new discoveries to be discovered.
It is important to approach the scientific method with a scientific attitude. All of the
components of the scientific attitude allow for evidence to be gathered, a willingness to be
corrected, and a willingness to challenge any doubts. In addition, some of the components of
the scientific attitude can also be put together for an even greater effect. For example,
curiosity and skepticism can be put together to form curious skepticism. Curious Skepticism
is always seeking, asking, and dwelling on questions like whatdo you mean and how? These
two components and many of the other components together work in such a way that the
scientific method is truly effective.
2. The body’s second and slower chemical communication system is the endocrine system,
which uses a set of glands to secrete hormones into the bloodstream. These secreted
hormones effect and influence human influence in things like sex, food, and aggression. In
addition, other aspects of human lives such as growth, metabolism, mood, and responding to
things like stress are involved with the endocrine system. Hormones travel though the
bloodstream and affect other tissues, glands, and the brain. The glands that are infected by
hormones are the pituitary, thyroid, and adrenal glands. Moreover, the hypothalamus in the
brain, the parathyroid’s, and testis/ovary are also a part of the endocrine system.
The most influential gland in the system is the pituitary glad that regulates growth and
controls other endocrine glands. The hypothalamus is the region inside the brain that
influences and controls the pituitary gland. The pituitary gland is a pea-sized gland that is
located in the core of the brain. The adrenal glands are located on the top of the kidneys and
are responsible for helping in triggering the “flight or fight” response. The thyroid gland
affects metabolism and other aspects, and the parathyroid’s help regulate the level of calcium
in the bloodstream. The pancreas regulates the level of sugar in the blood.
3. Twin and adoption studiesare used to understand the effect of genetic contribution to
human behavior. These studies allow scientists to separate the influences of environment and
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heredity to see which one affects human behavior more. In twin studies, identical twins are
genetically identical and fraternal twins may share the same environment as babies but do not
share the exact same genetic make up. Considering this, in twin studies scientists to examine
the lives of identical twins who were separated at birth and raised in different environment.
The studies of these identical twins allow scientists to see how much of an influence genes
have on personality. For example, scientists did a study on identical twins Lewis and Jim
Springer who were separated at birth and ended up having some astonishing similarities.
Adoption studies create two groups of relatives, genetic (biological parents and siblings)
and environmental (adoptive parents and siblings). Therefore, when it comes to any traits or
attributes, scientists are able to look at whether they are a direct response from their
biological or adoptive parents. Studies have found that genetics do limit the family’s
influence on personality, but the adoptive parents do influence things like moral values and
views on politics. For example, an adoptive child is born with their own biological IQ
number that cannot be changed by the environment of the adoptive parents.
4. Psychologists Harry Harlow and Margaret Harlow did a study on attachment suing
monkey’s to better understand human attachment and temperament. Attachment is a
powerful bond between infants and their caregivers that keeps them close. Temperament is a
person’s characteristic emotional reactivity and intensity. During the Harlow’s experiments,
they separated the monkeys from their mother’s shortly after birth and used their own wire
and cloth mothers. The infant monkeys would eat from the wire mother but cling to the cloth
mother that had no food or nourishment. The studies found that the infant monkey had an
intense attachment to the cloth mothers, therefore showing that attachment is not associated
with nourishment. The studies showed that contact and familiarity are actually the key to
attachment.
Moreover, attachment could also be viewed as being a result of parenting or the result of
genetically influenced temperament. Studies have found that intervention programs can
increase parental sensitivity and infant attachment security. When the monkey’s were left
without their mothers in strange situations they were terror-stricken. These studies showed
that secure and insecure attachments are possible with different infants.
5. Vision comes as a result of there not being an absence of light. Vision begins with
light energy and ends with the cerebral cortex in the brain. Firstly, light comes in the human
eye through the cornea, which comes inside and ends the light to focus it. The light then
comes through the pupil, which is surrounded by the iris, which adjusts the light intake. The
iris either dilates or constricts depending on the intensity of the incoming light and human
emotions. Next, behind the pupil and iris is a lens that focuses incoming light into an image
for the retina. Lastly, the lens focuses the incoming light by changing its curvature in a
process called accommodation. In this process, the lens changes shape to focus near or far
objects on the retina.
All of this visual information that the human eyes take in must be somehow processed to
the brain. The process begins with the retina processing information before routing it to the
thalamus to the brain’s cortex. Approximately 130 million receptor rods and cones are used in
retina processing that allows information to travel. The axons in the retina shoot information
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to the brain. The information is then sent to the cerebral cortex in the back of the human
brain.