Psychology Final Study Guide

When people reach their 40s, they enter the time known as middle adulthood, which extends to the mid-60s. This involves finding their life's work and contributing to the development of others through activities such as volunteering, mentoring, and raising children. What is the primary developmental task of this stage?

Generativity vs. stagnation

What does nature refer to in the nature vs. nurture debate?

Genes and biology

Balancing, running, and jumping are all examples of ________ motor skills.

Gross

________ is the strengthening of an original group attitude after the discussion of views within a group

Group polarization

What is modification of the opinions of members of a group to align with what they believe is the group consensus?

Groupthink

Which part of my brain is probably damaged if I am unable to recognize basic objects around my house?

Hippocampus

What was the primary finding of the Minnesota Study of Twins Reared Apart?

Identical twins, whether raised together or apart, have very similar personalities.

When people say you never forget how to ride a bike, they are referring to ________ memory, also called non-declarative memory.

Implicit

Jasmin belongs to the chess club on her campus. She prefers to associate with other members of the chess club while avoiding people that do not belong to this group. Jasmin has a(n) ________ bias.

In-group

What is the main point of the textbook discussion of Milgram's obedience study?

Individuals will obey authority to the point of potentially causing serious harm to another person.

Nicole wants a cookie. Heather has a cookie. Nicole pushes Heather and takes her cookie. Nicole doesn't intend to hurt Heather, Nicole just wants the cookie. This is an example of ________.

Instrumental aggression

People in early adulthood (20s through early 40s) are ready to establish emotional closeness and maintain relationships with others. What is the primary developmental task of this stage?

Intimacy vs. isolation

Which of the following psychologists was a behaviorist?

John Watson

Who suggested that men have womb envy because they cannot give birth?

Karen Horney

The concept conservation refers to ________.

Knowing that even if you change the appearance of something, it is still equal in size as long as nothing has been removed or added

In order for a memory to go into storage (i.e., long-term memory), it has to pass through three distinct stages: sensory memory, short-term memory, and ________ memory.

Long-term

Which of the following is a feminist criticism of the science of psychology?

Male bias exists in science.

Who was the social psychology professor at Yale who designed an obedience study in order to test the defense of "I was just following orders" typically used by accused Nazis?

Milgram

The ________ is composed of a series of true and false questions in order to establish an individual's clinical profile.

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)

Who started the feminist revolution in psychology?

Naomi Weisstein

A developmental psychologist might use ________ to observe how children behave on a playground, at a daycare center, or in the child's own home.

Naturalistic observation

Dave's boss told him that he doesn't have to attend the company picnic (which everybody dislikes) if Dave meets his sales quota this month. Dave's boss is using ________.

Negative reinforcement

Madeline is seven months old. Her mother is eating a cookie and Madeline wants some. Her mother hides the cookie under a napkin, but Madeline is not fooled. She knows the cookie is still there. What does this exemplify?

Object permanence

Microchip brain implants are now used on a regular basis for the treatment of

Parkinson's

Which statement about social psychology is most accurate?

People's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by social situations

________ development involves growth and changes in the body and brain, the senses, motor skills, and health and wellness.

Physical

________ development involves emotions, personality, and social relationships.

Psychosocial

When you take a multiple-choice test, you are relying on ________, a means of retrieving information out of your long-term memory storage system that helps you choose the correct answer.

Recognition

Which of the following is a good example of semantic encoding?

Remembering the colors of the rainbow with the acronym ROY-G-BIV

The act of getting information out of memory storage and back into conscious awareness is known as ________.

Retrieval

The ________ Inkblot Test employs a series of symmetrical inkblot cards that are presented to a client by a psychologist in an effort to reveal the person's unconscious desires, fears, and struggles.

Rorschach

________ is the electrical signal that typically moves from the cell body down the axon to the axon terminals.

action potential

Lovell is noticeably fidgety and jittery. He can't sit still; he paces, wrings his hands, and pulls at his clothing constantly. Lovell suffers from psychomotor________.

agitation

Paxil, Prozac, and Zoloft are examples of ________.

antidepressants

A panic disorder is a type of ________disorder characterized by panic attacks, along with at least one month of worry about panic attacks or self-defeating behavior related to the attacks.

anxiety

Critical thinking is___________.

applying a set of skills to understand and evaluate information

________ can increase the risk of obesity and diabetes as well as elevate cholesterol levels; it can also cause constipation, dry mouth, blurred vision, drowsiness, and dizziness.

atypical antipsychotics

Kaz wants to stop biting his nails, so he rubs a strong bitter paste under his nails to make his nails taste bad. What technique is Kaz using to stop biting his nails?

aversive conditioning

Which of the following is an example of instinct: unlearned knowledge that involves complex patterns of behavior

baby seeking food by rooting and suckling

In Maslow's hierarchy of needs, the __________ include food, water, and shelter.

basic survival needs

Which kind of therapy involves a therapeutic orientation that employs principles of learning to help clients change undesirable behaviors?

behavior

Renzo's therapist helps him learn to overcome his fear of dogs through several stages of relaxation techniques. What kind of psychotherapeutic orientation does this exemplify?

behavior therapy

Behavior is a product of both the situation and the person. Which of the following is an example of a situation that might influence behavior?

being in a crowd of bystanders when you witness someone fainting

Piper is diagnosed with agoraphobia because she experiences intense fear and anxiety of ________.

being outside the home alone

The belief that you ________ is an example of a delusion.

can perform miracles

Dr. Mattar is interested in knowing more about brain injury to the occipital cortex, and he studies patients individually in order to gain in-depth knowledge about their behaviors. These studies would best be described as ________.

case studies

Etiology is another word for ________.

causes

The two major divisions of the nervous system are the ________ and ________.

central; peripheral nervous systems

What should be changed to make the following sentence true? "The psychological perspective views disorders as linked to biological phenomena, such as genetic factors, chemical imbalances, and brain abnormalities."

change the word "psychological" to the word "biological"

Which group is play therapy often used to treat?

children

According to Galen, the ________ person is passionate, ambitious, and bold.

choleric

Addiction is often viewed as a(an) ________ disease.

chronic

Elena finds it very difficult to remember a long string of numbers, so she tries to memorize three numbers at a time. Later, she is able to repeat the numbers correctly because she grouped the numbers into more manageable groups of three. This is an example of ________.

chunking

In ________ conditioning, the unconditioned stimulus unconditionally elicits a reaction. For example, a bit of black pepper blown into the eye produces a blinking response.

classical

In the free association technique of psychoanalysis, the ________.

client says whatever comes to mind at the moment

Ashya wants to focus on the diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders and other problematic patterns of behavior. What area of psychology should she work in?

clinical psychology

What is comorbidity?

co-occurrence of two disorders

Which of the following imaging techniques does not collect information about brain functioning?

computerized tomography (CT) scan

Grace whistles while tickling Khaleel with a feather. Eventually, Khaleel starts to squirm and giggle every time Grace whistles, even when he is not being tickled. In this example, squirming and giggling is a(n) ________.

conditioned response

Which term refers to the fact that the therapist cannot disclose private communications to any third party unless mandated or permitted by law to do so?

confidentiality

Sandra strongly believes that attending daycare is detrimental to children's development so she decides to write her psychology term paper on this topic. She does a literature search and finds several sources supporting her opinion, but she finds that the majority of research indicates that children attending daycare experience healthy development. She writes a paper using the sources that find negative associations with daycare attendance. This is an example of ________.

confirmation bias

The formulation of new memories is sometimes called ________, and the process of bringing up old memories is called ________.

construction; reconstruction

The ________ group does not get the experimental treatment.

control

Ina can no longer read the street signs, but she refuses to admit she needs glasses to drive. Which defense mechanism does this exemplify?

denial

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are drugs commonly prescribed for ________.

depression

A major advantage of case studies is ________. Question options:

detailed information

Which kind of psychological area does the work of Jean Piaget exemplify?

developmental psychology

The ________ model suggests that people with a predisposition for a disorder are more likely to develop the disorder when faced with adverse environmental or psychological events.

diathesis-stress

What symptom of schizophrenia spectrum disorder is illustrated by the following example? So bees with knees have fleas and fleas jump, I jump like a jack, Jack the Giant Killer. Giants kill and transform things and something happened, but we can't hear because our eyes are like flies that flew away.

disorganized thinking

Donna exhibits two separate personalities, each well-defined and distinct from one another, so Dr. Paulson diagnosed Donna with ________ disorder.

dissociative identity

In a ________ study, both the researchers and the participants are unaware of the group assignments.

double-blind

The ________ personality is anxious, self-conscious, artistic, thoughtful, quiet, and private.

ectomorph

ECT stands for ________.

electroconvulsive therapy

Which of the following is a scientific way of determining facts?

empirical studies

Diabetes is a(n) ________ disorder because insulin is a ________.

endocrine; hormone

Which of the following research designs will allow cause-and-effect conclusions?

experimental

Molly attempts to condition her puppy to greet her when she enters the house. She repeatedly pairs her entry to the house with a treat for the puppy. The puppy eventually acquires this ability, and Molly realizes how irritating it is for the puppy to run up to her every time she enters the house. She attempts to make the puppy stop, and eventually the puppy no longer feels motivated to greet her when she enters the house. The puppy no longer greeting her when she enters the house is an example of ________.

extinction

Hans and Sybil Eysenck viewed people as having two specific personality dimensions: ________.

extroversion/introversion; neuroticism/stability

The effects of neurotransmitters tend to be ________, whereas the effects of hormones tend to be ________.

fast; long lasting

William James was the ________.

first American psychologist

Which category of memory failure associated with the seven sins of memory is exemplified by the following? Amantha left her phone somewhere, but she can't remember where.

forgetting

Miguel worries excessively about things beyond his control, and his worries often interfere with his life. He avoids driving because he worries about car accidents. He calls his parents twice a day because he worries they are dead. He checks his credit card statement three times a day because he worries about identity theft. Miguel probably suffers from ________.

generalized anxiety disorder

In the ________ stage, there is a sexual reawakening as the incestuous urges resurface. The young person redirects these urges to other, more socially acceptable partners (who often resemble the other-sex parent).

genital

________ describes a proportion of difference among people that is attributed to genetics.

heritability

In ________ conditioning, an established conditioned stimulus is paired with a new neutral stimulus.

higher order

Clive Wearing could remember which of the following types of memory?

how to play the piano

Sigmund Freud suggested that people who are dominated by their ________ might be narcissistic and impulsive.

id

The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) is a projective test ________.

in which people are presented with ambiguous images

During the therapist's first meeting with the client, called ________, the therapist gathers specific information to address the client's immediate needs.

intake

Which of the following is an example of avolition?

lack of motivation to bathe yourself

Which of the following defines antisocial personality disorder?

lack of regard for others' rights, impulsivity, deceitfulness, irresponsibility, and lack of remorse over misdeeds

During which period are sexual feelings dormant as children focus on other pursuits, such as school, friendships, hobbies, and sports?

latency

Behaviorists study ________.

learned behavior

What do psychologists call a relatively permanent change in behavior or knowledge that results from experience?

learning

A group of preschool-age children are enrolled in a study that plans to follow them over time in order to assess behaviors and other characteristics that may predict later development of schizophrenia. This is an example of a(n) ________ design.

longitudinal

Dr. Bronson treats Parkinson's disorders with a relatively new surgical procedure, known as the ________ .

microchip implant

Polygenic means that most traits are controlled by ________.

more than one gene

Kelsey had a CT scan that showed a tumor in the right frontal cortex. Which of the following behavioral symptoms most likely prompted the scan to take place?

motor skill deficits in the left side of her body

Patwardhan et al. report data from a study where they hired experimental confederates to attend speed dating events, posing as daters, and carefully take notes on the behaviors of the daters. What type of research design did they use?

naturalistic observation

What kind of symptoms involves reflecting noticeable decreases and absences in certain behaviors, emotions, or drives?

negative

In classical conditioning, the association that is learned is between a ________.

neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus

The empirical method of study is based on ________.

observation

Learning that occurs while watching others and then imitating, or modeling, what they do or say is called ________ learning.

observational

If Laura has bipolar disorder, then she ________.

often experiences mood states that vacillate between depression and mania

Hideki tells a lie and is grounded. He does this several times, finally learning that his behavior (lying) is associated with a consequence (being grounded). Which kind of learning is this?

operant conditioning

According to Sigmund Freud, an adult who smokes, drinks, overeats, or bites her nails is fixated in the ________ stage of her psychosexual development.

oral

________ delusions involve the (false) belief that other people or agencies are plotting to harm the person.

paranoid

Yuri experiences excessive, distressing, and persistent fear or anxiety about heights. As a result of this fear he avoids open staircases. Yuri suffers from a(n) ________.

phobia

The ________ gland is often referred to as the master gland of the endocrine system.

pituitary

Simply expecting something to happen can make it happen. This describes ________.

placebo effect

The ________ connects the brain and the spinal cord and is associated with sleep.

pons

In medieval times, abnormal behaviors were viewed as a sign that a person was ________.

possessed by demons

Cordelia, an active duty marine, served in Afghanistan. While she was on patrol with her friend, an IED went off, killing her friend and injuring her. In the two months since her friend died, Cordelia has been jumpy, irritable, avoids talking about her friend, and once every few days experiences a flashback to the explosion. Cordelia is experiencing a ________ disorder.

posttraumatic stress

Dr. Grimes conducts a ________ by requesting that his patient respond to ambiguous stimuli, thus revealing hidden feelings, impulses, and desires.

projective test

In operant conditioning, what describes adding something to decrease the likelihood of behavior?

punishment

Cultural competence is a therapist's understanding of, and attention to, ________.

race, culture, and ethnicity in providing treatment

Repeated drug use and/or alcohol use after a period of improvement from substance abuse is called ________.

relapse

Jason studies Spanish for three years, and then switches to Pashto. When asked to remember Spanish vocabulary he can't, instead he can only remember Pashto vocabulary. This is an example of ________ interference.

retroactive

When experiencing ________ amnesia, you experience loss of memory for events that occurred prior to the trauma. When experiencing ________ amnesia, you cannot remember new information.

retrograde; anterograde

Which psychological disorder is characterized by major disturbances in thought, perception, and behavior?

schizophrenia

According to Abraham Maslow, the highest need is ________.

self-actualization

The central nervous system consists of the brain and the ________.

spinal cord

The use of ________ can result in decreased appetite, difficulty sleeping, stomachache, and headache.

stimulants

According to William James, the purpose of psychology was to ____________.

study the function of behavior

The ________ nervous system is responsible for responses such as pupil dilation, increased heart rate, and increased respiration

sympathetic

On the advice of her therapist, Thora decides to treat her fear of heights by exposing herself to heights using a stimulus hierarchy. Which form of therapy is she using?

systematic desensitization

Which of the following defines hypothesis?

tentative explanation

Psychology is a social science discipline. Psychologists scientifically study _____________.

the mind and behavior

Scientific knowledge is advanced through a process known as ________.

the scientific method

A(n) ________ is a well-developed set of ideas that proposes an explanation for observed phenomena.

theory

Patients at Manderly Psychiatric Center are rewarded with chips when they engage in positive behaviors such as socializing with other patients. They can later exchange the chips for privileges, like extra TV time. This is an example of ________.

token economy

___________ theorists attempt to explain our personality by identifying our stable characteristics and ways of behaving.

trait

Which of the following represents a strong negative correlation?

-0.9

Why is psychology considered a social science?

Behavior is biological, and our behavior is influenced by our interactions with others.

Who developed client-centered therapy?

Carl Rogers

Don knows that drinking too much liquor is a costly habit that is bad for his health, but he continues to drink large amounts of liquor. He also thinks he is a smart person that makes good choices. Don feels some psychological discomfort from this contradiction, which is also called ________.

Cognitive dissonance

The Milgram experiment required the participation of a(n) ________ to play the part of the person being shocked because the experiment would be invalidated if the participant realized the electric shock treatment was faked.

Confederate

The continuous development approach views development as a ________.

Cumulative process

Specific normative events are also called ________.

Developmental milestones

Which classification system is used by most mental health professionals in the United States of America?

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders

Suppose you are walking down a street. A woman has fallen down, but because there are so many people around it does not occur to you that you should help. You just assume someone else is about to help her and keep walking. This is an example of ________.

Diffusion of responsibility

Theorists who view development as ________ believe that development takes place in unique stages.

Discontinuous

Jory, a six year old, is picking out a card for his mother's birthday. He picks the card with a picture of Lightning McQueen, reasoning that since he loves Cars his mother does to. What does this exemplify?

Egocentrism

The field of social psychology studies topics at the intrapersonal level. These topics include _________.

Emotions and attitudes, the self, and social cognition

What type of memories do we consciously try to remember and recall?

Explicit memories

Which of the following statements about eyewitness testimony is correct?

Eyewitness testimony is vulnerable to the power of suggestion.

The traits openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism are key components of the ________.

Five Factor Model

Which type of persuasion involves encouraging a person to agree to a small favor or to buy a small item, only to later request a larger favor or purchase of a larger item?

Foot-in-the-door

Who was the first African American to receive a PhD in psychology in the United States?

Francis Cecil Sumner

Kara gets an F on her social psychology exam. Then she goes home and gets into an argument with her roommate, Lee. Lee assumes Kara is yelling at him because she likes to bully him, not because she had a bad day. Lee is making a ________.

Fundamental attribution error

18-month-old Gordon learned the schema for apples. When Gordon sees tomatoes at the grocery store, he says, "Look mommy, apples!" His mother tells him that the food he sees at the store is a tomato, not an apple. He now has separate schemata for tomatoes and apples. This exemplifies ________.

Accomodation

Tom believes he is unable to stop gambling because his friends all gamble and are a bad influence; however, he believes that Barnaby is unable to stop gambling because Barnaby is addicted to gambling. This is an example of ________.

Actor-observer bias

If I am looking at a snake and processing the fear caused by the snake, what part of my brain am I using?

Amygdala

Which parenting style is most encouraged in modern America?

Authoritative

As toddlers (ages 1-3 years) begin to explore their world, they learn that they can control their actions and act on the environment to get results. What is the primary developmental task of this stage?

Autonomy vs. shame/doubt

Because we have developed certain response tendencies, ________ believed that we demonstrate consistent behavior patterns.

B. F. Skinner

Following an outcome, ________ are those attributions that enable us to see ourselves in favorable light.

Self-serving bias

Ben is asked to memorize the words canine, feline, and avian. He remembers the words by associating them with their synonyms: dog, cat, and bird. This is an example of ________ encoding.

Semantic

The encoding of words and their meaning is known as ________ encoding.

Semantic

What are the two components of declarative memory?

Semantic and episodic

Who developed psychoanalysis?

Sigmund Freud

Who developed the first comprehensive theory of personality?

Sigmund Freud

A(n) _____________ is a chamber that isolates the subject from the external environment.

Skinner box

Travis is part of a group playing tug-of-war. He knows that his team is stronger, so he doesn't try as hard as he could. Travis is engaged in ________.

Social loafing

Francis takes his six-month-old daughter to daycare. A substitute provider is there, and his daughter begins crying. She clings to her father and hides her face. What does this exemplify?

Stranger anxiety

Dozens of people witness a purse snatching. One of the eyewitnesses loudly yells "the man with the blue shirt did it." Later, when questioned by police, several other eyewitnesses remember the purse snatcher wearing a blue shirt, even though the purse snatcher was a woman in flowered dress. This is an example of ________: the effects of misinformation from external sources that leads to the creation of false memories.

Suggestibility

Which of the following strategies would effectively reduce racism?

Teaching children to think independently and challenge social norms that promote racism

A ________ is any environmental agent—biological, chemical, or physical—that causes damage.

Teratogen

Heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, cigarettes, and alcohol are all examples of ________.

Teratogens

What should be changed to make the following sentence true? Sigmund Freud believed that understanding the unconscious mind was critical to understand subconscious behavior.

The word "subconscious" should be changed to the word "conscious."

What do structuralism, Gestalt psychology, and Sigmund Freud all have in common?

They were all concerned with describing and understanding the inner experience.

Elaborative rehearsal involves ________.

Thinking about the meaning of the new information and its relation to knowledge already stored in your memory

Felipe looks over his presentation, and he notices that some of the words are written in bold and some are written in italic. His ability to remember these differences is an example of ________ encoding.

Visual

Who was the first person referred to as a psychologist?

Wilhelm Wundt

Who conducted the Stanford prison experiment?

Zimbardo

What was the major flaw in the Stanford prison experiment?

Zimbardo did not use a control group.

A(an) ________ begins as a one-cell structure that is created when a sperm and egg merge.

Zygote

Psychoanalytic theory focuses on and early childhood experiences.

a person's unconscious