Psychology Exam 1 Study Guide Questions and Answers 100% Pass

Psychology Exam 1 Study Guide Questions and Answers 100% Pass What 3 things do psychologists study? How do they study them? - 1. Behavior, The Mind, and The Brain 2. Behavior - any action that can be observed or recorded; to study this psychologists use: interviews, questionnaires (survey), laboratory tasks (balloon assessment of risk taking), and specialized instruments The Mind - mental processes; to study this psychologists use: internal subjective experiences (thoughts and emotions). Since it can not be directly observed, psychologists must make inferences about it based on measurements of behavior. The Brain - Nerve Cells, Neurons, Chemical Reactions, "The mind" is what "the brain" does. 2100% Pass Guarantee Sophia Bennett, All Rights Reserved © 2025 What makes a psychology a science? What do we mean when we say that Psychology is an "Empirical Science"? - 1. What makes any field a science? Not what is studied (subject matter) but about how knowledge is obtained. 2. Empirical Science - based on evidence; psychology os called this because everything else is likely to be unreliable ("self help" books, palm readings) Who were and what was the aim of the Structuralists? - The Structuralists tried to describe a Psychological experience. (Fear elicits arousal, behavior, and cognitions) 1. Wilhelm Wundt - founded world's first psychology lab, pioneered introspection (looking inward to report on the experience of thought. 2. Edward Titchener (student of Wundt) - true father of structuralism, believed that experience could be broken down into constituent parts. Who were and what was the aim of the Functionalists? - Functionalism focused on the function of the mind rather than the form of it (structuralist). (e.g. What is the function of fear?) 1. William James - founded first psychology lab in America 3100% Pass Guarantee Sophia Bennett, All Rights Reserved © 2025 Who were and what was the aim of the Gestalt Psychologists? - Gestalt Psychologists (Wertheimer and Kohler) believed that the whole is greater than the sum of it's parts. It focuses on perceptual experiences and the average person's experiences. Perception of objects is subjective and dependent on context. Why did the psychoanalysts (e.g., Freud) and behaviorists clash? What can we take from both of these groups with regard to the modern day study of psychology? - What is the "Biopsychosocial" approach and how do we use it in modern day psychology? - Different levels of analysis can be used to understand any psychological process. Examples: Why did John punch his sister? 1. Biological Level - (Hormonal/Neurological, Testosterone? Amygdala?); Evolutionary - is there something about our evolutionary past that would make males more aggressive than females. 2. Psychological Level - Cognitive (hostile cognitive biases), Personality (Type A Personality? Trait Aggressiveness) 3. Social Cultural Level - Cultural Differences (culture of honor), Recent exposure to violent media? 4100% Pass Guarantee Sophia Bennett, All Rights Reserved © 2025 What are the limitations on human intuition? How do they influence our thinking? - 1. Confirmation bias - tendency to seek out information that confirms our beliefs while ignoring or discounting evidence that confirms it 2. Overconfidence - tendency to believe that we know more than we actually do (we are generally more confident in our beliefs and abilities than we really should be). Overconfidence is the worst for people who know the least. -Kahneman and Tversky: air distance between New Dehli and Beiking, 30% of people made incorrect esitmates -Kruger and Dunning: "unskilled but unaware", those who do the poorest at grammar, logic, humor are the most confident in their high abilities. 3. Hindsight Bias - tendency to judge past knowledge based on current knowledge -Murphy: people's behavior is pretty much what you would expe