PSY 102 Exam 1 2026/2027 UPDATED QUESTIONS
WITH ANSWERS GRADED A+
Psychology -✓✓ The scientific study of the mind, brain, and behavior.
• Behavior -✓✓ Observable actions of humans or animals.
• Mental activity -✓✓ Internal processes such as thinking, feeling, remembering, and
perceiving.
• Critical thinking -✓✓ Systematically evaluating information and evidence to make
reasoned judgments.
• Goals of psychology -✓✓ To describe, explain, predict, and change/control behavior.
• William James -✓✓ Associated with functionalism; focused on how the mind helps
people adapt.
• Sigmund Freud -✓✓ Founder of psychoanalytic theory; emphasized the unconscious
mind and early childhood experiences.
• Rene Descartes -✓✓ Promoted dualism, the idea that mind and body are separate but
connected.
• B. F. Skinner -✓✓ Behaviorist who focused on observable behavior and reinforcement.
• John Watson -✓✓ Early behaviorist who argued psychology should study observable
behavior, not unobservable mental events.
• Structuralism -✓✓ Early school of psychology that tried to identify the basic elements
of conscious experience.
• Introspection -✓✓ Examining and reporting one's conscious thoughts and feelings.
• Functionalism -✓✓ The idea that mental processes evolved to help organisms adapt
and survive.
• Behaviorism -✓✓ Psychological approach focusing on observable behavior and
environmental influences.
• Psychoanalytic theory -✓✓ Freud's theory emphasizing unconscious conflict and early
childhood experience.
, • Cognitive psychology -✓✓ The study of mental processes such as thinking, memory,
attention, and problem-solving.
• Dualism -✓✓ The idea that the mind and body are separate but interact.
• Independent variable -✓✓ The variable manipulated by the researcher.
• Dependent variable -✓✓ The variable measured by the researcher.
• Case study -✓✓ An in-depth examination of one person, group, or event.
• Participant observation -✓✓ Observation in which the researcher is actively involved in
the setting.
• Naturalistic observation -✓✓ Observation in which the researcher watches behavior
without interfering.
• Longitudinal study -✓✓ A study that follows the same people over time.
• Cross-sectional study -✓✓ A study that compares different age groups at the same
time.
• Correlation -✓✓ A relationship between two variables.
• Correlational study -✓✓ A study that examines the relationship between two variables
as they naturally occur.
• Correlation does not equal causation -✓✓ A correlation between two variables does
not prove that one causes the other.
• Positive correlation -✓✓ A relationship in which two variables move in the same
direction.
• Negative correlation -✓✓ A relationship in which two variables move in opposite
directions.
• Experiment -✓✓ A research method that tests cause-and-effect by manipulating an
independent variable and measuring a dependent variable.
• Control group -✓✓ The group that does not receive the treatment.
• Experimental group -✓✓ The group that does receive the treatment.
WITH ANSWERS GRADED A+
Psychology -✓✓ The scientific study of the mind, brain, and behavior.
• Behavior -✓✓ Observable actions of humans or animals.
• Mental activity -✓✓ Internal processes such as thinking, feeling, remembering, and
perceiving.
• Critical thinking -✓✓ Systematically evaluating information and evidence to make
reasoned judgments.
• Goals of psychology -✓✓ To describe, explain, predict, and change/control behavior.
• William James -✓✓ Associated with functionalism; focused on how the mind helps
people adapt.
• Sigmund Freud -✓✓ Founder of psychoanalytic theory; emphasized the unconscious
mind and early childhood experiences.
• Rene Descartes -✓✓ Promoted dualism, the idea that mind and body are separate but
connected.
• B. F. Skinner -✓✓ Behaviorist who focused on observable behavior and reinforcement.
• John Watson -✓✓ Early behaviorist who argued psychology should study observable
behavior, not unobservable mental events.
• Structuralism -✓✓ Early school of psychology that tried to identify the basic elements
of conscious experience.
• Introspection -✓✓ Examining and reporting one's conscious thoughts and feelings.
• Functionalism -✓✓ The idea that mental processes evolved to help organisms adapt
and survive.
• Behaviorism -✓✓ Psychological approach focusing on observable behavior and
environmental influences.
• Psychoanalytic theory -✓✓ Freud's theory emphasizing unconscious conflict and early
childhood experience.
, • Cognitive psychology -✓✓ The study of mental processes such as thinking, memory,
attention, and problem-solving.
• Dualism -✓✓ The idea that the mind and body are separate but interact.
• Independent variable -✓✓ The variable manipulated by the researcher.
• Dependent variable -✓✓ The variable measured by the researcher.
• Case study -✓✓ An in-depth examination of one person, group, or event.
• Participant observation -✓✓ Observation in which the researcher is actively involved in
the setting.
• Naturalistic observation -✓✓ Observation in which the researcher watches behavior
without interfering.
• Longitudinal study -✓✓ A study that follows the same people over time.
• Cross-sectional study -✓✓ A study that compares different age groups at the same
time.
• Correlation -✓✓ A relationship between two variables.
• Correlational study -✓✓ A study that examines the relationship between two variables
as they naturally occur.
• Correlation does not equal causation -✓✓ A correlation between two variables does
not prove that one causes the other.
• Positive correlation -✓✓ A relationship in which two variables move in the same
direction.
• Negative correlation -✓✓ A relationship in which two variables move in opposite
directions.
• Experiment -✓✓ A research method that tests cause-and-effect by manipulating an
independent variable and measuring a dependent variable.
• Control group -✓✓ The group that does not receive the treatment.
• Experimental group -✓✓ The group that does receive the treatment.
