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History of Psychology
Instructions: Answer the three questions below with essays of at least 500 words in length each (total of 1500 words). Begin on the pages below. Answer all the elements of each question. Use critical thinking in providing your answers and provide historical context for each of your answers. The exam is open book except that there is no book. You may use any resource including those provided on the BeachBoard site (articles, videos, transcripts of videos, optional readings) and anything from the library or other research sources. If you use brief quotes from a source you must provide a proper citation and reference. Do not use extensive quotations. The only resource you cannot use is each other. The work you submit must be your own and except for cited quotations written in your own language. I will be using Turnitin software to detect plagiarism, so don’t plagiarize. Ever. Seriously.
| 1. | Rechtschaffen famously said, “if sleep does not fulfill some enormously important function then it is the biggest mistake that nature has ever made.” Don’t look for this quote. It’s an urban legend. But he did say something like that. Choose a function of sleep and provide evidence for and against your choice. Why did you choose the function you chose? Why do we sleep? |
| 2. | Uttal points to map reading as an example of prospective cognition. How does it develop? Does it convey evolutionary value? How is it measured? What has research in this area told us about development and learning? Place this skill in an historical context and compare it to other skills that develop over time in children. |
| 3. | We often think that the goal of artificial intelligence is to develop robots that are as smart as humans. You were assigned to watch videos from two people who think that it is likely that development won’t stop at “Humanville Station” and will surpass human abilities. Review the role of psychologists in the development of artificial intelligence. What is the role of psychology in shaping the future of artificial intelligence? What are the risks of AI that surpasses human abilities? What can we do to prepare for this? Will superhuman AI be conscious? |
