PSYCH 121 TEST 1 (CH.1-3) QUESTIONS WITH VERIFIED SOLUTIONS LATEST UPDATE 2026

PSYCH 121 TEST 1 (CH.1-3) QUESTIONS WITH VERIFIED SOLUTIONS LATEST UPDATE 2026 psychology - Answers the scientific study of the mind and behavior mind - Answers thoughts and feelings we experience that no one else can see behavior - Answers set of public events, what we say and do that can be observed by others Dualism - Answers the view that the mind and body are fundamentally different things Rene Descartes - Answers coined Dualism Materialism - Answers all mental processes phenomena are reducible to physical phenomena Thomas Hobbes - Answers coined Materialism Realism - Answers our perception of the physical world is a faithful copy of information from the world that enters our brain John Locke - Answers coined Realism Idealism - Answers our perception of the physical world is our best interpretation of the information that enters our brain Immanuel Kent - Answers coined Idealism Empericism - Answers the view that all knowledge is acquired through experience Nativism - Answers the view that some knowledge is innate rather than acquired Structuralism - Answers approach to psychology that attempts to isolate and analyze the mind's basic elements Wilhelm Wundt - Answers Who is associated with Structuralism? Functionalism - Answers approach that emphasized the adaptive significance of mental processes William James - Answers Who is associated with Functionalism? WIlhelm Wundt - Answers Father of Psychology; first psychology lab in Germany Conscious mind - Answers What did Wundt study by breaking it down into basic elements? Introspection - Answers analyzing a subjective experience by trained observers William James - Answers Who was more interested in the process as opposed to the components? Charles Darwin's Natural Selection - Answers What heavily influenced William James? Natural Selection - Answers animals with genes best suited for the environment reproduced to pass on those genes Psychoanalysis - Answers a therapy that aims to give insight to the content of the unconscious mind Sigmund Freud - Answers Who developed Psychoanalysis? Psychoanalytic therapy - Answers approach to understanding human behavior that emphasizes the importance of unconscious mental processes in shaping feelings, thoughts, and behaviors Sigmund Freud - Answers theorized that hysteria was caused by painful childhood memories that could not be remembered Unconscious - Answers where do memories reside? Unconscious - Answers part of the mind that operates outside of awareness but influences conscious thoughts, feelings, and actions Behaviorism - Answers focuses on objectively observable behavior; studying what people do, not what they say John Watson - Answers believed that if we observe and study behavior then maybe we could predict and control behavior Little Albert Study - Answers study done to see if a negative reaction can be instilled in someone who did not previously feel that way B.F. Skinner - Answers wanted to know how animals learn to do things "Skinner Box" - Answers what did B.F. Skinner develop? Principle of Reinforcement - Answers states that any behavior is rewarded will be repeated and any behavior that isn't won't be repeated Gestalt Psychology - Answers a psychological approach which emphasized the way in which the mind creates perceptual experience; emphasizes that we often perceive the whole rather than the sum of the parts Cognitive Psychology - Answers the study of human information-processing Computers - Answers Psychologists used _______ as a guiding metaphor for how humans think Topics that have been ignored for decades - Answers This metaphor emboldened psychologists to study... Evolutionary Psychology - Answers explains the ways in which mind and behavior has been shaped by natural selection Biological Perspective - Answers behavior is a consequence of our genetics and physiology nervous system, hormones, and genetics - Answers what did the Biological Perspective emphasize? Inherited features - Answers what predicts behaviors? Biology and Sociology perspectives - Answers After the cognitive psychologists started looking at 2 different areas: 1892; 7 members - Answers When was the American Psychological Association founded and with how many members? 75,000 - Answers Today, how many members are in the American Psychological Association (APA)? Mary Whiton Calkins - Answers first female president of the APA (1905); a student of William James; denied the PhD she earned from Harvard because of her sex (later, posthumously, it was granted to her) Margaret Floy Washburn - Answers First woman to earn her PhD in psychology (1894). Taught at Vassar College for 36 years. Research focus was on animal behaviors as well as sensation and perception. Francis Cecil Sumner - Answers "Father of Black Psychology" First African American to receive a PhD in Psychology (1920). Research focus was on racial bias and educational justice Mamie Phipps Clark and Kenneth Clark - Answers Sumner's student and the first black president of the APA (1970). Worked with his wife to study the psychological effect that segregation had on black children 1. Clinical Psychology 2. Counseling Psychology 3. School Psychology 4. Industrial-Organizational (IO) Psychology 5. Research/Academia - Answers What can I do with a Psychology degree? Criminal justice, management, customer service/sales/marketing, nursing - Answers psychology can be indirectly applied through: Empiricism - Answers belief that knowledge can be acquired through systematic observation The Scientific Method - Answers procedure for using empirical methods to describe facts Theories - Answers explanation of natural phenomena Hypothesis/Predictions - Answers way of stating the specific outcome expected if the theory is accurate/supported 1. must be falsifiable 2. clearly defined - Answers A hypothesis must be: Data - Answers set of observations that may support or challenge the theory 1. Identify the problem 2. Gather information 3. Hypothesis 4. Design and conduct experiments 5. Data analysis and conclusions - Answers 5 steps to the Scientific Method Empirical Method - Answers set of rules and techniques for observation Complex, variable, and reactive - Answers people are ____,____,____ without changing the environment - Answers descriptive (observational) studies collect information... Measurement - Answers description of property in measurable terms reliability and validity - Answers what must a good measurement have? Reliability - Answers means how consistent is the measure? Validity - Answers means how accurate is the measure? Demand Characteristics - Answers aspects of an observational setting that cause people to behave as they think someone wants or expects 1. naturalistic observations 2. allowing private, confidential, and/or anonymous responding 3. use physiological measures 4. keep participants blind to the research - Answers how to avoid demand characteristics (4) Naturalistic Observation - Answers observation without manipulation in the natural environment 1. authentic behavior 2. unethical behavior - Answers what does naturalistic observation lets us understand? ecological validity - Answers what does naturalistic observation maximize? 1. no control over the environment 2. unsure of causes or behaviors 3. observer bias in interpretation - Answers what are the downsides to naturalistic observation? Observer Effects - Answers people see what they want or expect to see rather than what is actually happening Observer Bias - Answers tendency for observers' expectations to influence what they believe to observe and what they actually observe 1. thoroughly training observers 2. using double blind observations - Answers how to avoid observer bias (2) Double-blind study - Answers neither observers nor the people being observed know the true intention of the study 1. structured observation 2. participant observation 3. naturalistic observation 4. survey research 5. case studies - Answers way to conduct observational research (5) Survey Research - Answers ability to collect information and gather an understanding of opinions, perspectives, or attitudes; relies primarily on self-reported behaviors and/or attitudes of participants Case Study - Answers in depth analysis of unique circumstances, person, or group of people Phineas Gage and Henry Molaison - Answers Two famous case studies Methods of Explanation - Answers discovering why people do what they do Correlations - Answers capture the direction and strength of the relationship between two variables Direction: postive, negative, zero Strength: weak, moderate, strong Postive Correlations - Answers variables go in the same direction example: as one variable increases, the other variable increases Negative Correlation - Answers variables go in the opposite direction example: as one variable increases, the other variable decreases No Correlation - Answers variables are not related at all the direction and strength - Answers what does the Correlation Coefficient (r) tell us (2) -1 - Answers number value that indicates a perfect negative correlation +1 - Answers number value that indicates a perfect positive correlation True - Answers True/False: Correlation does NOT imply causation False - Answers True/False: Correlations CAN tell us if one variable cause another Confounding (third) Variables - Answers alternate explanations for the findings Experiments - Answers determine casual relationships between variables (cause and effect) Manipulations - Answers actively changing at least one variable value Population - Answers every member of a group we want to study Sample - Answers small subset of that group Simple Random Sample - Answers everyone has an equal chance of being selected ensuring that the sample represents the population Convenience Sample - Answers based on convenience or ease of access Critical Thinking - Answers interpreting evidence requires ____ Research Ethics - Answers a set of principles or standard of behavior psychologists must follow when conducting research 1. Respect for People 2. Respect for animals 3. Respect for truth - Answers three types of research ethics are: Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment () - Answers unethical study done on 600 black men (399 with syphilis, 201 not) during the course of the study, a cure was discovered but withheld from the men led the way for the Belmont Report 1. Respect for persons 2. Beneficence 3. Justice - Answers the 3 principles for the Belmont Report Neurons - Answers cells in the nervous system that communicate with one another to perform information-processing tasks Cell body - Answers coordinates information-processing tasks and keeps the cell alive Dendrite - Answers receives information from other neurons and relays it to the cell body Synapse - Answers junction or region between axon of one neuron and dendrites or cell body of another neuron Axon - Answers transmit information to other neurons, muscles, or glands Myelin sheath - Answers provides insulating layer of fatty material Glial cells - Answers supports cells found in the nervous system Sensory Neurons - Answers receive information from the external world and convey this information to the brain via the spinal cord Motor Neurons - Answers carry signals from the spinal cord to the muscles to produce movement Interneurons - Answers connect sensory neurons, motor neurons, or other interneurons Neurons - Answers have a natural electric charge that changes as information is passed Resting Potential - Answers difference in electric charge between the inside and outside of a neurons cell membrane Action Potential - Answers electric signal that is conducted along a neuron's axon to a synapse Refractory Period - Answers time following an action potential during which a new action potential cannot be initiated Neurotransmitters - Answers chemicals that transmit information across the synapse to a receiving neuron's dendrites Serotonin - Answers regulating sleep and wakefulness, eating, and aggressive behavior Dopamine - Answers regulates motor behavior, motivation, and pleasure recap of crossing the synapse (4 steps) - Answers 1. Action potential causes the release of neurotransmitters from axon terminals 2. Neurotransmitters cross synapse 3. Bind to receptors on dendrites or cell body 4. Neurotransmitters flow through and leave the synapse Excitatory Neurotransmitters - Answers increases the probability of neuron becoming active greater chance for an action potential occurring