Text Reading Guides - Fall 2008
Overall, 25% of exam questions (both essay and multiple choice portions of the exam) will be drawn from assigned text readings whether or not that material has been specifically covered in lecture. These weekly text reading guides will help you to stay current in your reading, and to draw links between text and lecture, by guiding your reading and helping you to focus on questions relevant to that week's lecture. These will be updated each Wednesday morning (or perhaps the evening before).
Week 1 (September 3-9)
PSY 202
Read text pages 20-27, which summarizes some of the major schools of thought in the history of psychology. Some of these schools are now just footnotes in history, while others are alive and well. We won't be covering the details of the different schools of thought in lecture, but you will be responsible for knowing the basics of each. Link what the text says about them to the disputed issues we cover in lecture. How might the different schools of thought stem from the nonparadigmatic nature of psychology?
PSY 250
Read text pages 7-23, with a particular emphasis on the nature of the biopsychosocial framework and the notion of selective optimization with compensation. How might the biopsychosocial framework represent a partial answer to the problems raised by the nonparadigmatic nature of psychology? Also get an overall notion of what each of the different schools of thought in developmental psychology are like - how they are similar to, and how they are different from, one another.
PSY 307
Read text pages 1-14, with particular attention to the nature of the so-called psychological triad. How might these three aspects of the self interact? How might conflicts or inconsistencies among them be managed? How might your answers lead to differing perspectives on the nature of personality?