Assimilation, Internal Locus of Control, Learned Helplessness, and Observational Learning

Question 2

a)      Max is asked to check his junior, Tom’s, work. Max notices several errors in Tom’s work, and reports this to his own supervisor, as he was instructed to. As a result, Max is asked to double-check all of Tom’s work, which adds many hours to his own workload. Use you understanding of reinforcement and punishment to discuss whether or not Max is likely to report any new errors when he is checking Tom’s work in the future, and whether or not Tom is likely to be more careful in future work.

(15 marks)

b)      Zane receives a letter from the traffic police and is given a fine and demerit points for beating a red light. However, Zane does not recall such an incident, and has to check with his family members to see if anyone else was driving the family car on the date of the offence, which was about two weeks ago. Explain how this incident highlights one of the problems of punishment, and identify any TWO other issues with using punishment in the context of punishing traffic offences.

(15 marks)

Question 3

a)      Bob flips through his organiser and spots an important presentation that he is scheduled to deliver tomorrow. He had completely forgotten about it until this moment, and feels a great deal of fear and anxiety. Use the James-Lange and Cannon-Bard models of emotion to explain Bob's emotional experience in this situation.

(15 marks)

b)      The following day, Bob struggles through the presentation. He heads out afterwards for lunch with a colleague. During lunch, the colleague makes a teasing comment which Bob would ordinarily brush off, but today Bob reacts very strongly to the comment. Discuss how we can explain Bob’s behaviour at lunch, using the two- factor theory of emotion.

(15 marks)