PSYC3004 Mind, Meaning & Discourse

Copy of 2002/2003 Exam Paper

n.b. Because the library has not posted a copy of last year's exam paper on its ExamNet page, I have posted this copy here. (Please note that I authorized the release of this paper to the library last September, and I am sorry that they have not undertaken this task). Exam papers from earlier years can be found here.

Also please note that with the change to the 2nd Edition of the text book, some of last year's questions do not seem as fair as they might to this year's lecture course.

   PSYC3004: Mind Meaning and Discourse - Exam Paper

   Session: 2002/3

   Date: 13th January 2003

   Time allowed: Three Hours

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1. Jerome Bruner (1990) argues that " . . it is culture, not biology, that shapes human life and the human mind; that gives meaning to human action . .". How does such a claim fit with the current movement to rethink psychology?
   
   

2. Rom Harre (1995) proposes that the discursive turn in psychology emphasizes " . . the normative and intentional structure of human behaviour". Examine the challenge that this discursive turn offers to psychology.
   
   

3. Why is the qualitative vs. quantitative distinction in psychological research so misleading? What kind of a distinction between different approaches to research can more usefully be put in its place?
   
   

4. Discourses are embedded in power relations, they create and uphold particular forms of life. Discuss this idea with respect to either human identity, or human gender and sexuality.
   
   

5. Burr (1995) supports the view that " . . we both actively produce and manipulate, and are the products of, discourse". Explain what she means by this, and explore the issues this raises for some extreme positions that are held within social constructionism.
   
   

6. Define confabulation. How does a discursive psychology approach add to our understanding of this phenomenon?
   
   

7. In his introduction to a lecture by Stuart Hall, Sut Jhally remarks that " . . we have to pay attention to the stories that the culture spins for us about what the physical differences we are born with mean". Using examples from any relevant dimensions of human differences, explain the position being taken up by Hall in this respect.
   
   

8. Explain Theodore Sarbin's (1986) idea of narrative as being a 'root metaphor' for psychology.
   
   

9. "Facts only partly determine the particular scheme to be used in their organization [ . .] several narratives can organize the same facts into stories" (Polkinghome, 1988). Discuss the relevance of this observation for a model of narrative reframing in psychotherapy practice.
   
   

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