AP PSYCHOLOGY MIDTERM REVIEW QUESTIONS AND CORRECT DETAILED ANSWERS.

AP PSYCHOLOGY MIDTERM REVIEW
QUESTIONS AND CORRECT DETAILED
ANSWERS.
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QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

psychology. ANSWER - the scientific study of behavior and mental processes


empiricism. ANSWER - the view that (a) knowledge comes from experience via the senses,
(b) science flourishes through observation and experiment


structuralism. ANSWER - an early school of psycholgy that used introspection to explore
the elemental structure of the human mind


functionalism. ANSWER - a school of psychology that focused on how mental and
behavioral processes function - how they enable the organism to adapt, survive, and
flourish


humanistic psychology. ANSWER - historically signifficant perspective that emphasized
the growth potential of healthy people; used personalized methods to study personality in
hopes of fostering personal growth


nature-nurture issue. ANSWER - the longstanding controversy over the relative
contrabutions that genes and experience make to the development or psychological traits
and behaviors


natural selection. ANSWER - the principle that among the range of inherited trait
variations, those contributong to reproduction and survival will most likely be passed on to
succeeding generations

,levels of analysis. ANSWER - the differing complementary views, from biological to
psychological to social-cultural, for analyzing any given phenomenon


biopsychosocial approach. ANSWER - an integrated perspective that incorporates
biological, psychological, and social-cultural levels of analysis


basic research. ANSWER - pure science that aims to increase the scientific knowledge base


applied research. ANSWER - scientific study that aims to solve practical problems


counseling psychology. ANSWER - a branch of psychology that assists people with
problems in living (often related to school, work, or marriage) and in achieving greater
wellbeing


clinical psychology. ANSWER - a branch of psychology that studies, assesses, and treats
people with psychological disorders


psychiatry. ANSWER - a branch of medicine dealing with psychological disorders;
practiced by physicians who sometimes provide medical treatments(for example, drug) as
well as psychological therapies


hindsight bias. ANSWER - the tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that one
would have foreseen it (also known as the I-knew-it-all-along phenomenon)


critical thinking. ANSWER - thinking that does not blindly accept arguments and
conclusions - rather, it examines assumptions, discerns hidden values, evaluates evidence,
and assesses conclusions


theory. ANSWER - an explanation using an integrated set of principles that organizes and
predicts observations


hypothesis. ANSWER - a testable prediction, often implied by a theory

,operational definition. ANSWER - a statement of the procedures (operations) used to
define research variables


replication. ANSWER - repeating the essence of a research study, usually with different
participants in different situations, to see whether the basic finding extends to other
participants and circumstances


case study. ANSWER - an observation technique in which one person is studied in depth
in the hope of revealing universal principles


survey. ANSWER - a technique for ascertaining the self-reported attitudes or behaviors of
people, usually by questioning a representative, random sample of them


false consensus effect. ANSWER - the tendency to overestimate the extent to which others
share our beliefs and behaviors


population. ANSWER - all the cases in a group, from which samples may be drawn for a
study


random sample. ANSWER - a sample that fairly represents a population because each
member has an equal chance of inclusion


naturalistic observation. ANSWER - observing and recording behavior in naturally
occurring situations without trying to manipulate and control the situation


correlation coefficient. ANSWER - a statistical measure of the extent to which two factors
vary together, and thus of how well either factor predicts the other


scatterplot. ANSWER - a graphed cluster of dots, each of which represents the values of
two variables


illusory correlation. ANSWER - the perception of a relationship where none exists

, experiment. ANSWER - a research method in which an investigator manipulates one or
more factors to observe the effect on some behavior or mental process


double-blind procedure. ANSWER - an experimental procedure in which both the research
participants and the research staff are ignorant about whether the research participants
have received the treatment or the placebo


placebo effect. ANSWER - experimental results caused by expectations alone


experimental condition. ANSWER - the condition of an experiment that exposes
participants to the treatment, that is, to one version of the independent variable


control condition. ANSWER - the condition of an experiment that contrasts with the
experimental condition and serves as a comparison for evaluating the effect of the
treatment


random assignment. ANSWER - assigning participants to experimental and control
conditions by chance, thus minimizing preexisting differences between those assigned to
different groups


independent variable. ANSWER - the experimental factor that is manipulated; the variable
whose effect is being studied


dependent variable. ANSWER - the experimental factor that is being measured; the
variable that may change in response to manipulations of the independent variable


mode. ANSWER - the most frequently occurring score in a distribution


mean. ANSWER - the arithmetic average of a distribution


median. ANSWER - the middle score in a distribution


range. ANSWER - the difference between the highest and lowest scores in a distribution