All differences in school systems aside, Psychology is still Psychology, regardless of where you study it, and a Freudian slip is funny whereever. I'm taking an optional, four-hours-a-week psychology class at school, out of pure interest and plain curiousity. I'll admit I suck at this class, but I do believe I speak better English than my teacher, and that's where this whole thing starts.
In class we got a small assignment to analyze Unconditional/Conditional Stimulus and Unconditional/Conditional Response. We were then asked about Generalization, Discrimination and Ceasing (sorry, not sure this is the correct word). Eight examples were given, and two of them I found to show both Generalization and Discrimination, but my teacher said I was wrong, refusing to give an explanation as to WHY I was wrong. I talked to her after the class and explained my viewpoint (given below along with the examples I'm referring to), but the only thing she said was that Generalization and Discrimination can never go together (not sure on the phrasing here, but I hope you get the point) and that I was wrong. I got quite angry, counted to ten and left the classroom mumbling "okidoki".
I would like to ask those of you who might know a little Psychology to help me out here if you can, want and have the time (and those of you who don't know anything about this stuff, otherwise I'd have found a Psych forum).
I said that the Generalization comes from the cow's fear of all yellow wire, even if I'd be holding a short piece in my hand, the cow would think it electrocutes her (and, no, not all electrical wiring is yellow - which my teacher actually said when I was trying to make my point). But, I believe Discrimination also occurs here, in that if the wire is blue, the cow is not afraid of it.
I was wrong. Apparently this is only Generalization.
I was wrong, because she's afraid of all men that look like her ex-husband.
Now, there's no textbook, because this class is optional and meant for students studying something completely different and just want a couple of hours in the week without complex equations or whatever, so we end up with a lot of xeroxed sheets of paper, some powerpoint slideshows and stuff (yay for me, no expensive textbook to buy!), and a lot of the material is in English. I might be mistaken, or maybe it's just that I didn't read the material well enough (I didn't until she said I was wrong, I usually just jot down some notes and do fine, so sue me)... whatever... To be honest I just wanted to either be proven right, or to actually get an answer as to WHY exactly I am wrong, and to get this off my chest.
Sorry if some of the phrasing is weird, and very sorry if I'm not translating the Psychological terms correctly... should've maybe had a dictionary with me.
Thanks in advance for any replies.
In case of tl;dr : Read the quoted text and tell me if you think it's Generalization or Discrimination (or both?)Glossary of some Psych terms here, click G for generalization and D for discrimination [http://www.abacon.com/psychsite/dict.html]
In class we got a small assignment to analyze Unconditional/Conditional Stimulus and Unconditional/Conditional Response. We were then asked about Generalization, Discrimination and Ceasing (sorry, not sure this is the correct word). Eight examples were given, and two of them I found to show both Generalization and Discrimination, but my teacher said I was wrong, refusing to give an explanation as to WHY I was wrong. I talked to her after the class and explained my viewpoint (given below along with the examples I'm referring to), but the only thing she said was that Generalization and Discrimination can never go together (not sure on the phrasing here, but I hope you get the point) and that I was wrong. I got quite angry, counted to ten and left the classroom mumbling "okidoki".
I would like to ask those of you who might know a little Psychology to help me out here if you can, want and have the time (and those of you who don't know anything about this stuff, otherwise I'd have found a Psych forum).
I said that the Generalization comes from the cow's fear of all yellow wire, even if I'd be holding a short piece in my hand, the cow would think it electrocutes her (and, no, not all electrical wiring is yellow - which my teacher actually said when I was trying to make my point). But, I believe Discrimination also occurs here, in that if the wire is blue, the cow is not afraid of it.
I was wrong. Apparently this is only Generalization.
I said that there's Generalization because of her fear of all men that remind her of her ex-husband, not just her ex-husband, but Discrimination because... well, let's face it, if her ex-husband was tall, muscular, dark-haired, tattooed, smoked, drank, had a deep husky voice and loved his goatee so much no one remembered what his chin looked like, then she wouldn't be afraid of a short blond man in glasses with an aversion to alcohol and tobacco and liked to read medieval French literature.
I was wrong, because she's afraid of all men that look like her ex-husband.
Now, there's no textbook, because this class is optional and meant for students studying something completely different and just want a couple of hours in the week without complex equations or whatever, so we end up with a lot of xeroxed sheets of paper, some powerpoint slideshows and stuff (yay for me, no expensive textbook to buy!), and a lot of the material is in English. I might be mistaken, or maybe it's just that I didn't read the material well enough (I didn't until she said I was wrong, I usually just jot down some notes and do fine, so sue me)... whatever... To be honest I just wanted to either be proven right, or to actually get an answer as to WHY exactly I am wrong, and to get this off my chest.
Sorry if some of the phrasing is weird, and very sorry if I'm not translating the Psychological terms correctly... should've maybe had a dictionary with me.
Thanks in advance for any replies.
In case of tl;dr : Read the quoted text and tell me if you think it's Generalization or Discrimination (or both?)Glossary of some Psych terms here, click G for generalization and D for discrimination [http://www.abacon.com/psychsite/dict.html]