Deliberate Dumbing Down of America Public Education

A–13 The directions are simple. You should read the first stimulus item, S-1, consider it, and then construct in your own words the best possible answer. As soon as you have done this, turn the page and compare your answer with the answer listed at R-1, the first response item. Proceed through the program, going on to S-2 on the next page, turning the page to R-2 and comparing your response; proceeding to S-3 below, turn back a page to compare your response to R-3, and so on. You will be reading back and forth, turning a page each time to find the response item. S-1. A doctor taps your knee (patellar tendon) with a rubber hammer to test your “_____ .” R-4. Hammer (or mallet) S-5. The stimulus which elicits a knee jerk is the _____ delivered by the so-called “stimulus object” or hammer. R-8. Elicits S-9. To avoid unwanted nuances of meaning in popular words, we do not say that a stimulus “triggers,” “stimulates,” or “causes” a response but that it _____ a response. R-12. Latency S-13. The weakest stimulus sufficient to elicit a response marks the “threshold” of the reflex. A tap on the knee will not elicit a kick if it is below the _____. R-16. Latency S-17. A forceful tap elicits a strong kick; a tap barely above the threshold elicits a weak kick. Magnitude of response thus depends on the intensity of the _____. R-20. (1) Response (2) Stimulus (3) Reflex S-21. If a sip of very weak lemonade does not cause salivation, the stimulus is said to be below _____. Appendix III FIRST LESSON IN PSYCHOLOGY R-1. Reflexes S-4. The stimulating object used by the doctor to elicit a knee jerk is a(n) _____. R-5. Tap (or blow) S-8. Technically speaking, a reflex involves a process called elicitation: A stimulus _____ a response. R-9. Elicits S-12. The time which elapses between the onset of the stimulus and the onset of the response is called the “latency.” Thus the time between tap and kick is the _____ of the knee jerk reflex. R-13. Threshold S-16. The fraction of a second which elapses between “brushing the eye” and “blink” is the _____ of the reflex. R-17. Stimulus (tap) S-20. When a person is startled by a loud noise, his sudden movement is his (1)_____ to the noise, which has acted as a (2)_____. The two together are called a(n) (3)_____ . R-21. Threshold

The following responses are on the turned page:

From “Principles of Programming” by Robert Glaser: