Экзаменационный билет №13

Models of motivation.

Studies of motivation explore how and why behavior is directed toward a certain goal. According to the idea of determinism every event is the inevitable product of a series of natural forces and every act is determined by what comes before. While the roots of this deterministic view can be traced back to the ancient Greek philosopher Democritus, the history of human thought has been dominated by the opposite view of free will, that people are free to choose what they will do. Free will does not imply that human behavior is totally independent of outside stimuli and internal desires, only that each of us has the power to choose what we will do.

Different psychologists hold a variety of views on this ancient controversy: behaviorists believe that science can ultimately discover a set of laws that will fully predict every human act and humanistic psychologists argue that people do have control over their actions and that a complete scientific account of human behavior will never be possible. The debate over determinism versus free will has gone on for several thousands years, and it would be presumptuous for psychologists to expect to have the final word in this controversy.

One theory of motivation that has been influential is Maslow’s “hierarchy of needs”, in which it is proposed that human needs can be placed in an order ranging from the most basic, such as thirst and hunger, to the highest, which is the need for self-actualization. According to this theory, a need further up a hierarchy becomes important as a motivator only when more basic ones have been fulfilled.

Экзаменационный билет №14

Intelligence testing.

Intelligence is the global capacity to act purposefully, to think rationally, and to deal effec­tively with the environment. An achievement test assesses knowledge of a particular sub­ject, an aptitude test predicts the potential to benefit from instruction in a particular aca­demic or vocational setting, and an intelligence test is a kind of aptitude test that assesses overall mental ability.

Sir Francis Galton began the study of mental abilities in the late 19^th century and founded the field of differential psychology. The first formal test of general intelligence was the Bi­net-Simon Scale, which was developed to help place children in school classes. The Ameri­can version of the test became known as the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale. Today that test and the Wechsler Intelligence Scales are the most popular intelligence tests.

Tests must be standardized so that they are administered in a uniform manner and so that test scores can be compared with norms. A test must also be reliable, giving consistent re­sults over time. And a test must be valid, meaning that it measures what it is supposed to measure.

Controversy has arisen over whether intelligence testing is fair to minority groups, particu­larly blacks. Those who oppose intelligence testing claim that because blacks, on the aver­age, score lower on them that whites do, the tests are biased against blacks. Those, who support their use claim that the tests accurately predict the academic performance of both blacks and whites, and attribute the difference in performance to the deprived backgrounds that are more common among black children. Attempts to develop tests that are not affected by the test taker’s cultural background have failed.