Sample Essay Questions

38. How has your family background affected the way you see the world?
39. How has your education contributed to who you are today?
40. Briefly describe your long- and short-term goals.
41. Where do you see yourself 10 years from now?
42. Why do you want to get a college education?
43. Choose a person or persons you admire and explain why.
44. Choose a book or books and that have affected you deeply and explain why.
45. You are attempting to discover the origins of a particular response -- your friend, when sitting, taps his foot periodically when speaking to you. How would knowledge of consequential operations help you understand this behavior? Also, describe an experimental test of the factors controlling your friend's tapping.
46. Why are escape and avoidance different? Why do some researchers argue they are the same? Describe an experimental demonstration of each operation.
47. Discuss the similarities and differences between response generalization and stimulus generalization. Why do we need both concepts?
48. How do candidate qualities affect the type of campaign that a candidate runs? What types of candidates run the best campaigns? In your essay, link the types of candidates to three different aspects of election campaign: the constituents (whom to represent), messages (how to choose a message), and fundraising (how fund the message).
49. How does context shape the decision to run, campaign strategy, and election outcomes? What aspect of context is most important? How does this aspect of context change? Can candidates change it, or must they wait for change (caused by some other factor)?
50. In contemporary politics, are most candidates ethical or unethical? Base your argument on two distinct normative standards. In addition, discuss two proposed reforms (from course materials) to improve the ethical image of candidates. Would these reforms work? Why or why not?
51. From whom do congressional candidates raise their money? From whom should they raise money? Make sure that your answer directly addresses theories of representation that we have discussed.
52. Tell about a terrifying experience that you had when you were young.