Download Master Study guide, PSY 113

Study guide: General Psychology exams
Each Exam is worth 50 points. The Final exam is worth 100 points.
The lines dividing sections are approximately when Exams will take place. Use your notes to
determine whether we have covered more or less of this material.
What is the definition and main purpose of psychology?
What do the words nature and nurture mean, and what are some alternative words for this?
What are the major concepts associated with psychodynamic, behavioral, cognitive, socio-cultural,
evolutionary, biological, humanistic psychology schools of thought?
How do case studies, correlational research, and experiments relate to the three purposes of scientific
inquiry?
Explain what circumstances would necessitate animal subjects for psychological research.
Understand the difference between a psychological disorder with genetic vs. environmental causes.
What environmental things can alter genetics? What is this process called?
How are adoption studies useful for identifying the link between nature and nurture? What is the name
for this line of study?
What is the main purpose of axons, dendrites, synapses, and myelin?
What is the main activity of the central, peripheral, autonomic, somatic, sympathetic, and
parasympathetic nervous systems?
What is the sympathetic nervous system and what happens when it’s activated? Under what
circumstances does this become activated?
What is the purpose of the nervous system? How does this take place at the cellular, systems, and
endocrine level?
The main purposes of the frontal, parietal, occipital, and temporal lobes.
The main purposes of the hippocampus, amygdala, hypothalamus, medulla, pons, cerebellum.
-----Compare sensation and perception.
Main physical structures and receptors associated with vision and hearing.
Visual cues that require one eye vs. two eyes.
Physical properties of sound waves and light waves.
Physical and psychological influences in pain perception.
Attentional processes that influence perception.
What are some of the definitions of consciousness? What are some of the areas of research that fall
under this category?
Distinguish between unconscious, conscious, and preconscious.
What is subliminal messaging and why is it illegal?
How do psychodynamic, behavioral, cognitive, socio-cultural, evolutionary, biological, humanistic
psychology schools of thoughts view issues related to consciousness, sleep and dreaming?
What processes occur during sleep? Why is sleep needed for human survival?
List some of the physiological and psychological effects of sleep deprivation.
What brain area is most associated with the sleep/wake cycle? What is another name for the
sleep/wake cycle? What stimuli in our environment help regulate the sleep/wake cycle?
Which EEG pattern during sleep most resembles EEG patterns during wakefulness?
Distinguish between parasomnias and dyssomnias and recognize examples.
What is the purpose of dreams? (from multiple points of view)
Know the names and main features of the four main categories of psychoactive drugs. What drugs
belong in each category, and which neurotransmitters are associated with each?
What is the definition of learning? There are multiple subtypes of learning that occur, what are they
called?
Know the basic features of Pavlov’s experiment. What kind of learning did he discover?
Based on the “The Office” clip, which kind of conditioning is Jim using to train Dwight?
Based on the “Big Bang Theory” clip, which kind of conditioning is Sheldon using to train Penny?
How are these different in their methods?
Who is Little Albert and why does he matter in classical conditioning?
Thorndike and Skinner are associated with one particular kind of learning:
What is the main feature of operant conditioning?
How are reinforcements and punishments different? How are they the same?
Be able to distinguish between “positive” and “negative” reinforcement.
What is shaping and what is it used for?
What is the difference between “ratio” and “interval” schedules of reinforcement?
What are the main features of Bandura’s observational learning experiment?
Why do learning and memory always go together?
Lots of vocab in the Memory chapter: sensory, short-term, long-term, explicit, implicit, encoding,
storage, retrieval. Be sure you know what these are and if they have any interchangeable terms (e.g.
short-term and working memory are the same thing).
How to convert sensory to short-term to long-term memory. What are some “tricks” for improving
memory retention?
What is a phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad, and what are they good for?
The main brain region associated with memory.
Who is HM and why is he famous?
What are some environmental and psychological factors that can influence our memory recall and
retrieval? What is amnesia? Make sure you’ve seen the TED talk by Josh Foer.
Are memories permanent or changeable? How do we know? Make sure you’ve seen the TED talk by
Loftus.
-----Definition of Thinking; What does thinking do for us as humans?
How do we conceptualize the storage of information? What about the acquisition of information?
What is a prototype? Recall the drawings we did in class before spring break. What are some instances
of prototype failure?
What is language and what does it do for us?
What are the components, from smallest to largest, of language?
Animals communicate - how? Do they have language, specifically?
What is intelligence? How do we know/measure intelligence?
What are some different ways that different researchers have characterized intelligence? Is it one single
thing or multiple things?
What is IQ and what does it tell you? What is the average IQ score?
How are inductive and deductive reasoning different?
What is are algorithms and heuristics? How are they the same and how are they different?
What is creativity? What are some thought processes or behaviors consistent with creativity?
How is personality defined? Does it change or stay the same? How do psychodynamic, behavioral,
humanistic, cognitive, social-cultural, biological psychologists characterize personality?
What are some ways to measure personality? Be able to define and apply the characteristics associated
with the Big Five and other assessments.
Who is Phineas Gage and what does his accident tell us about personality?
What is the difference between a self-assessment and a projective test given for personality? What are
some drawbacks of self-assessment?
Be sure to watch the three videos I linked over email, as well as take the 2 personality tests I linked.
How are internal locus of control, external locus of control, and reciprocal determinism related to
personality?
What is delayed gratification?
What is the difference between nature and nurture, and how are these related to intelligence and
personality?
What is the study of Motivation about?
What is the focus of Drive theory and Arousal theory?
What is the difference between extrinsic and intrinsic motivation?
What is cognitive dissonance?
What biological, social, and psychological factors contribute to eating behavior?
What are some of the explanations given for eating behavior by each of the seven schools of thought in
psychology?
What is the purpose of eating behavior?
What are the three disorders associated with eating behavior, and what are their main characteristics?
What are the 6 basic emotions?
What are emotions for? How are emotions generally conveyed to others?
What is the facial feedback effect?
What are the A B C’s of emotion?
For most emotions, what are the biological/physical components of an emotional experience?
How do biological and cognitive factors combine in the two-factor (Schacter and Singer) theory of
emotion?
Watch this video: http://www.ted.com/talks/amy_cuddy_your_body_language_shapes_who_you_are
----What is the sympathetic nervous system and what happens to your body when it is activated? What is
another name for this process?
What is adrenaline (epinephrine) and what does it do to your body?
What are some positive and negative (adaptive and maladaptive) ways of coping with stress?
How does Type A personality affect one’s health?
What is the difference between “major life change” stress and “daily life” stress? Give some examples.
How do social factors such as power and poverty affect stress levels and therefore health?
What is the difference between problem-focused, emotion-focused, and appraisal-focused coping?
Be able to define and recognize examples, and identify various factors that contribute to:
social cognition (attitudes, prejudice, attribution),
social influence (conformity, obedience, compliance),
and positive and negative behaviors (attraction, aggression, altruism).
How are psychological disorders diagnosed? What is the name of the book used for this purpose?
What are the “rules of thumb” used to identify whether a behavior pattern is to be considered a
disorder?
Be able to categorize and give general features associated with of each of the disorders we covered:
Anxiety disorders (OCD, Panic, PTSD, Generalized, Phobias)
Mood disorders (Depression and Bipolar)
Schizophrenia
Dissociative disorders
Be able to categorize and give general features of each of the treatments (psychotherapy and biological
therapies)
Comprehensive portion of Final Exam (See Syllabus Learning Outcomes)
Definition of psychology
definition of nature and nurture; in what ways do these contribute to our behavior and mental
processes
Be able to identify the main features of the seven major schools of thought in psychology:
psychodynamic/humanistic/biological/behavioral/cognitive/social-cultural/evolutionary
General definitions and concepts from each of the chapters covered: biology, sensation and perception,
learning and memory, personality, cognition/language/intelligence, emotion, motivation, stress.
Be able to recognize features of the stress responses / sympathetic nervous system activation.