MAJOR FIELD TEST IN PSYCHOLOGY FINAL EXAM
2026/2027 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS RATED A+
✔✔fluid intelligence - ✔✔our ability to reason speedlily and abstractly
✔✔Sensation - ✔✔the process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system
receive and represent stimulus energies from the environment
✔✔perception - ✔✔the process of organizing and interpreting sensory information
✔✔bottom-up processing - ✔✔sensory analysis that starts at the entry level
✔✔top-down processing - ✔✔information processing guided by higher-level mental
processes as we construct perceptions drawing on our experience and expectations
✔✔absolute threshold - ✔✔minimum stimulation necessary to detect a particular
stimulus. the point at which we detect a stimulus half the time
✔✔difference threshold - ✔✔also called the just noticeable difference is the minimum
difference a person can detect between any two stimuli half the time
✔✔Webers law - ✔✔for their difference to be perceptible, two stimuli must differ by a
constant proportion
✔✔sensory adaptation - ✔✔our diminishing sensitivity to an unchanging stimulus
✔✔wavelength - ✔✔the distance from one wave peak to the next
✔✔hue - ✔✔the color that we experience
✔✔intensity - ✔✔the amount of energy in a light wave: influences our perception of its
brightness
✔✔cornea - ✔✔light enters the eye here (bends the light and protects the eye)
✔✔rods - ✔✔retinal receptors that detect black white and gray and are necessary for
peripheral and twilight vision
✔✔cones - ✔✔retinal receptors that are concentrated near the center of the retina and
that function in daylight. they detect fine detail
✔✔optic nerve - ✔✔carries information to your brain (where the thalamus will receive
and distribute the information)
,✔✔blind spot - ✔✔where the optic nerve leaves the eye
✔✔fovea - ✔✔the retina's area of central focus
✔✔Young-Helmholtz trichromatic (three-color) theory - ✔✔the theory that the retina
contains three different color receptors- one most sensitive to red, one to green, and
one to blue which in combination can produce the perception of any color.
✔✔Hering's opponent-process theory - ✔✔the theory that opposing retinal processes
(red-green, blue-yellow, white-black) enable color vision.
✔✔kinesthesis - ✔✔your sense of position and movement of your body parts
✔✔nociceptors - ✔✔sensory receptors that detect harmful temperatures, pressures, or
chemicals.
✔✔gestalt - ✔✔an organized whole. Psychologists emphasized our tendency to
integrate pieces of information into meaningful wholes.
✔✔figure-ground - ✔✔the organization of the visual field into objects (the figures) that
stand out from their surroundings
✔✔grouping - ✔✔the tendency to organize stimuli into coherent groups
✔✔visual cliff - ✔✔a laboratory device for testing depth perception in infants and
animals
✔✔associative learning - ✔✔linking two events that occur closely together
✔✔classical conditioning - ✔✔we learn to associate two stimuli and thus anticipate
events. ivan pavlow
✔✔operant conditioning - ✔✔we learn to associate a response (our behavior) and its
consequence and thus to repeat acts followed by good results
✔✔observational learning - ✔✔we learn from others experiences
✔✔acquisition - ✔✔initial learning of the stimulus-response relationship
✔✔extinction - ✔✔the diminished responding that occurs when the CS (tone) no longer
signals an impending US (food)
✔✔generalization - ✔✔tendency to respond to stimuli similar to the CS
, ✔✔discrimination - ✔✔being able to distinguish between a conditioned stimulus and
other irrelevant stimuli
✔✔respondent behavior - ✔✔actions that are automatic responses to a stimuli
✔✔law of effect - ✔✔B.F. Skinner- rewarded behavior is likely to recur
✔✔shaping - ✔✔reinforcers gradually guide an animals actions toward a desired
behavior
✔✔reinforcer - ✔✔any even that strengthens a preceding response
✔✔positive reinforcement - ✔✔strengthens a response by presenting a typically
pleasurable stimulus after a response
✔✔negative reinforcement - ✔✔strengthens a response by reducing or removing
something undesirable or unpleasant
✔✔primary reinforcers - ✔✔getting food when hungry. are unlearned
✔✔second reinforcers (conditioned reinforcers) - ✔✔get their power through learned
association with primary reinforcers
✔✔continuous reinforcement - ✔✔reinforcing the desired response every time it occurs
✔✔partial (intermittent) reinforcement - ✔✔responses are sometimes reinforced,
sometimes not
✔✔fixed-ratio schedules - ✔✔reinforce behavior after a set number of responses
✔✔variable-ratio schedules - ✔✔provide reinforcers after an unpredictable number of
responses
✔✔punishment - ✔✔any consequence that decreases the frequency of a preceding
behavior
✔✔mirror neurons - ✔✔frontal lobe neurons that fire when performing certain actions or
observing another doing so (use PET scan)
✔✔encoding - ✔✔the processing of information into the memory system
✔✔storage - ✔✔the retention of encoded information over time
✔✔retrieval - ✔✔the process of getting information out of memory storage
2026/2027 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS RATED A+
✔✔fluid intelligence - ✔✔our ability to reason speedlily and abstractly
✔✔Sensation - ✔✔the process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system
receive and represent stimulus energies from the environment
✔✔perception - ✔✔the process of organizing and interpreting sensory information
✔✔bottom-up processing - ✔✔sensory analysis that starts at the entry level
✔✔top-down processing - ✔✔information processing guided by higher-level mental
processes as we construct perceptions drawing on our experience and expectations
✔✔absolute threshold - ✔✔minimum stimulation necessary to detect a particular
stimulus. the point at which we detect a stimulus half the time
✔✔difference threshold - ✔✔also called the just noticeable difference is the minimum
difference a person can detect between any two stimuli half the time
✔✔Webers law - ✔✔for their difference to be perceptible, two stimuli must differ by a
constant proportion
✔✔sensory adaptation - ✔✔our diminishing sensitivity to an unchanging stimulus
✔✔wavelength - ✔✔the distance from one wave peak to the next
✔✔hue - ✔✔the color that we experience
✔✔intensity - ✔✔the amount of energy in a light wave: influences our perception of its
brightness
✔✔cornea - ✔✔light enters the eye here (bends the light and protects the eye)
✔✔rods - ✔✔retinal receptors that detect black white and gray and are necessary for
peripheral and twilight vision
✔✔cones - ✔✔retinal receptors that are concentrated near the center of the retina and
that function in daylight. they detect fine detail
✔✔optic nerve - ✔✔carries information to your brain (where the thalamus will receive
and distribute the information)
,✔✔blind spot - ✔✔where the optic nerve leaves the eye
✔✔fovea - ✔✔the retina's area of central focus
✔✔Young-Helmholtz trichromatic (three-color) theory - ✔✔the theory that the retina
contains three different color receptors- one most sensitive to red, one to green, and
one to blue which in combination can produce the perception of any color.
✔✔Hering's opponent-process theory - ✔✔the theory that opposing retinal processes
(red-green, blue-yellow, white-black) enable color vision.
✔✔kinesthesis - ✔✔your sense of position and movement of your body parts
✔✔nociceptors - ✔✔sensory receptors that detect harmful temperatures, pressures, or
chemicals.
✔✔gestalt - ✔✔an organized whole. Psychologists emphasized our tendency to
integrate pieces of information into meaningful wholes.
✔✔figure-ground - ✔✔the organization of the visual field into objects (the figures) that
stand out from their surroundings
✔✔grouping - ✔✔the tendency to organize stimuli into coherent groups
✔✔visual cliff - ✔✔a laboratory device for testing depth perception in infants and
animals
✔✔associative learning - ✔✔linking two events that occur closely together
✔✔classical conditioning - ✔✔we learn to associate two stimuli and thus anticipate
events. ivan pavlow
✔✔operant conditioning - ✔✔we learn to associate a response (our behavior) and its
consequence and thus to repeat acts followed by good results
✔✔observational learning - ✔✔we learn from others experiences
✔✔acquisition - ✔✔initial learning of the stimulus-response relationship
✔✔extinction - ✔✔the diminished responding that occurs when the CS (tone) no longer
signals an impending US (food)
✔✔generalization - ✔✔tendency to respond to stimuli similar to the CS
, ✔✔discrimination - ✔✔being able to distinguish between a conditioned stimulus and
other irrelevant stimuli
✔✔respondent behavior - ✔✔actions that are automatic responses to a stimuli
✔✔law of effect - ✔✔B.F. Skinner- rewarded behavior is likely to recur
✔✔shaping - ✔✔reinforcers gradually guide an animals actions toward a desired
behavior
✔✔reinforcer - ✔✔any even that strengthens a preceding response
✔✔positive reinforcement - ✔✔strengthens a response by presenting a typically
pleasurable stimulus after a response
✔✔negative reinforcement - ✔✔strengthens a response by reducing or removing
something undesirable or unpleasant
✔✔primary reinforcers - ✔✔getting food when hungry. are unlearned
✔✔second reinforcers (conditioned reinforcers) - ✔✔get their power through learned
association with primary reinforcers
✔✔continuous reinforcement - ✔✔reinforcing the desired response every time it occurs
✔✔partial (intermittent) reinforcement - ✔✔responses are sometimes reinforced,
sometimes not
✔✔fixed-ratio schedules - ✔✔reinforce behavior after a set number of responses
✔✔variable-ratio schedules - ✔✔provide reinforcers after an unpredictable number of
responses
✔✔punishment - ✔✔any consequence that decreases the frequency of a preceding
behavior
✔✔mirror neurons - ✔✔frontal lobe neurons that fire when performing certain actions or
observing another doing so (use PET scan)
✔✔encoding - ✔✔the processing of information into the memory system
✔✔storage - ✔✔the retention of encoded information over time
✔✔retrieval - ✔✔the process of getting information out of memory storage
