MAJOR FIELD TEST IN PSYCHOLOGY EXAMS SCRIPT
2026/2027 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS RATED A+
X
✔✔Action potential - ✔✔short electrical charge that travels down its axon
✔✔Synapse - ✔✔the meeting point between neurons
✔✔neurotransmitters - ✔✔chemical messengers that cross the synaptic gap between
neurons. will travel across the synapse and bind to the receiving neuron
✔✔Somatic nervous system - ✔✔Enables voluntary control of our skeletal muscles
✔✔Autonomic nervous system - ✔✔controls our glands and the muscles of our internal
organs
✔✔Sympathetic nervous system - ✔✔arouses and expends energy. will accelerate your
heartbeat, etc.
✔✔Parasympathetic nervous system - ✔✔produces opposite effects it conserves the
energy as it calms you by decreasing your heart beat and lowering your heart beat.
✔✔Adrenal glands - ✔✔on top of the kidneys and release epinephrine and
norepinephrine.
✔✔Pituitary gland - ✔✔located in the center of the brain and is controlled by the
hypothalamus: master gland.
✔✔brainstem - ✔✔the oldest part and central core of the brain: is responsible for
autonomic survival
✔✔medulla - ✔✔the base of the brainstem controls your heartbeat and breathing
✔✔pons - ✔✔helps coordinate movements
✔✔thalamus - ✔✔brains sensory switchboard: it receives information from all of the
senses except for smell and routes it to higher brain regions
✔✔reticular formation - ✔✔filters incoming stimuli and relays important information to
other areas of the brain
✔✔cerebellum - ✔✔"little brain" coordinating movement output and balance
,✔✔limbic system - ✔✔neural system located below the cerebral hemispheres
associated with emotions and drives
✔✔amygdala - ✔✔influence aggression and fear
✔✔hypothalamus - ✔✔important link in the chain of command governing bodily
maintenance: hunger, thirst, body temperature, sexual behavior. linked to emotion and
reward
✔✔cerebral cortex - ✔✔a thin surface layer of interconnected neural cells
✔✔aphasia - ✔✔impaired use of language
✔✔Broca's area - ✔✔damage to this area disrupts speaking
✔✔Wernicke's area - ✔✔damage to this area disrupts understanding
✔✔plasticity - ✔✔the brains ability to modify itself after some types of damage
✔✔corpus callosum - ✔✔the wide band of axon fibers connecting the two hemispheres
and carries messages between them
✔✔selective attention - ✔✔your conscious awareness focuses like a flashlight on a very
limited aspect of your experience
✔✔cocktail party effect - ✔✔your ability to attend to only one voice among many
✔✔inattentional blindness - ✔✔failing to see visible objects when our attention is
directed elsewhere (gorilla experiment)
✔✔change blindness - ✔✔failing to notice changes in the environment
✔✔circadian rhythm - ✔✔the biological clock: regular bodily rhythms that occur on a 24
hour cycle
✔✔REM sleep - ✔✔rapid eye movement: where vivid dreams often occur
✔✔insomnia - ✔✔recurring problems in falling or staying asleep
✔✔narcolepsy - ✔✔sufferers experience periodic overwhelming sleepiness
✔✔sleep apnea - ✔✔a sleep disorder characterized by temporary cessations of
breathing during sleep and repeated awakenings
, ✔✔manifest content - ✔✔according to freud the remembered story line of a dream
✔✔latent content - ✔✔according to freud the underlying meaning of a dream
✔✔depressants - ✔✔drugs such as alcohol and opiates that calm neural activity and
slow body functions
✔✔stimulants - ✔✔temporarily excite neural activity and arouse body functions
✔✔social learning theory - ✔✔assumes that children learn gender-linked behaviors by
observing and imitating and by being rewarded or punished.
✔✔Continuity vs stages - ✔✔Is development in a gradual continuous process or does it
proceed through a sequence of separate stages
✔✔Stability vs change - ✔✔do our early personality traits persist through life or do we
become different persons as we age?
✔✔rooting reflex - ✔✔when something touches their cheek babies turn toward that
touch open then mouth and root for a nipple.
✔✔Schemas - ✔✔concepts or molds into which we pour our experiences
✔✔assimilate - ✔✔piaget stated that we interpret new things in terms of our current
understanding (schemas)
✔✔accommodate - ✔✔adjust our schemas to incorporate information provided by new
experiences
✔✔Piaget's Stages of Cognitive Development - ✔✔1. Sensorimotor- experiencing world
through senses
2. Preoperational- representing things with words
3. concrete operational- thinking logically
4. formal operational- abstract reasoning
✔✔object permanence - ✔✔out of sight/out of mind. The awareness that objects
continue to exist when not perceived.
✔✔conservation - ✔✔the principle that the quantity remains the same despite changes
in shape
✔✔egocentric - ✔✔preschool childrens difficultly perceiving things from another's point
of view
2026/2027 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS RATED A+
X
✔✔Action potential - ✔✔short electrical charge that travels down its axon
✔✔Synapse - ✔✔the meeting point between neurons
✔✔neurotransmitters - ✔✔chemical messengers that cross the synaptic gap between
neurons. will travel across the synapse and bind to the receiving neuron
✔✔Somatic nervous system - ✔✔Enables voluntary control of our skeletal muscles
✔✔Autonomic nervous system - ✔✔controls our glands and the muscles of our internal
organs
✔✔Sympathetic nervous system - ✔✔arouses and expends energy. will accelerate your
heartbeat, etc.
✔✔Parasympathetic nervous system - ✔✔produces opposite effects it conserves the
energy as it calms you by decreasing your heart beat and lowering your heart beat.
✔✔Adrenal glands - ✔✔on top of the kidneys and release epinephrine and
norepinephrine.
✔✔Pituitary gland - ✔✔located in the center of the brain and is controlled by the
hypothalamus: master gland.
✔✔brainstem - ✔✔the oldest part and central core of the brain: is responsible for
autonomic survival
✔✔medulla - ✔✔the base of the brainstem controls your heartbeat and breathing
✔✔pons - ✔✔helps coordinate movements
✔✔thalamus - ✔✔brains sensory switchboard: it receives information from all of the
senses except for smell and routes it to higher brain regions
✔✔reticular formation - ✔✔filters incoming stimuli and relays important information to
other areas of the brain
✔✔cerebellum - ✔✔"little brain" coordinating movement output and balance
,✔✔limbic system - ✔✔neural system located below the cerebral hemispheres
associated with emotions and drives
✔✔amygdala - ✔✔influence aggression and fear
✔✔hypothalamus - ✔✔important link in the chain of command governing bodily
maintenance: hunger, thirst, body temperature, sexual behavior. linked to emotion and
reward
✔✔cerebral cortex - ✔✔a thin surface layer of interconnected neural cells
✔✔aphasia - ✔✔impaired use of language
✔✔Broca's area - ✔✔damage to this area disrupts speaking
✔✔Wernicke's area - ✔✔damage to this area disrupts understanding
✔✔plasticity - ✔✔the brains ability to modify itself after some types of damage
✔✔corpus callosum - ✔✔the wide band of axon fibers connecting the two hemispheres
and carries messages between them
✔✔selective attention - ✔✔your conscious awareness focuses like a flashlight on a very
limited aspect of your experience
✔✔cocktail party effect - ✔✔your ability to attend to only one voice among many
✔✔inattentional blindness - ✔✔failing to see visible objects when our attention is
directed elsewhere (gorilla experiment)
✔✔change blindness - ✔✔failing to notice changes in the environment
✔✔circadian rhythm - ✔✔the biological clock: regular bodily rhythms that occur on a 24
hour cycle
✔✔REM sleep - ✔✔rapid eye movement: where vivid dreams often occur
✔✔insomnia - ✔✔recurring problems in falling or staying asleep
✔✔narcolepsy - ✔✔sufferers experience periodic overwhelming sleepiness
✔✔sleep apnea - ✔✔a sleep disorder characterized by temporary cessations of
breathing during sleep and repeated awakenings
, ✔✔manifest content - ✔✔according to freud the remembered story line of a dream
✔✔latent content - ✔✔according to freud the underlying meaning of a dream
✔✔depressants - ✔✔drugs such as alcohol and opiates that calm neural activity and
slow body functions
✔✔stimulants - ✔✔temporarily excite neural activity and arouse body functions
✔✔social learning theory - ✔✔assumes that children learn gender-linked behaviors by
observing and imitating and by being rewarded or punished.
✔✔Continuity vs stages - ✔✔Is development in a gradual continuous process or does it
proceed through a sequence of separate stages
✔✔Stability vs change - ✔✔do our early personality traits persist through life or do we
become different persons as we age?
✔✔rooting reflex - ✔✔when something touches their cheek babies turn toward that
touch open then mouth and root for a nipple.
✔✔Schemas - ✔✔concepts or molds into which we pour our experiences
✔✔assimilate - ✔✔piaget stated that we interpret new things in terms of our current
understanding (schemas)
✔✔accommodate - ✔✔adjust our schemas to incorporate information provided by new
experiences
✔✔Piaget's Stages of Cognitive Development - ✔✔1. Sensorimotor- experiencing world
through senses
2. Preoperational- representing things with words
3. concrete operational- thinking logically
4. formal operational- abstract reasoning
✔✔object permanence - ✔✔out of sight/out of mind. The awareness that objects
continue to exist when not perceived.
✔✔conservation - ✔✔the principle that the quantity remains the same despite changes
in shape
✔✔egocentric - ✔✔preschool childrens difficultly perceiving things from another's point
of view
