Psychology exam test queries and
answers graded A+
Central Themes of the course (7) - ANS✅✅1. Experience is subjective
2. Psychology is a science above all else
3. Psychology involves multiple competing theories
4. No one theory explains it all (behavior and mental processes always have multiple causes)
5. Nature and nurture interact in ways that constantly affect functioning
6. Psychology is an evolutionary science
7. Psychology evolves in a socio-historical context
Psychology - ANS✅✅the science of the mind and behavior (awareness of self); technically means
study of the soul
-- does not just study humans (animals too)
-- mind= mental process or consciousness
Nativism (Plato) - ANS✅✅innate (existing from the time a person or animal is born) knowledge
Philosophical Empiricism (Aristotle) - ANS✅✅-- argues for "tabula rasa" (blank slate)
-- debate is concerned with the extent to which particular aspects of behavior are a product of either
inherited (ex: generic) or acquired (ex: learned) characteristics
Philosophy vs. Physiology - ANS✅✅-- Philosophers: went back thousands of years asking questions
about how we think, feel and act
-- Psysiology: led us to understand that a lot of what we think, feel, and do was due to biology by
origin
Dualism - ANS✅✅belief that the mind and body are separate (no link between the brain and the
body)
,Monism - ANS✅✅belief that the mind and body are one; the things we are thinking and going are
controlled by the brain in our head (link between the brain and the body)
Phrenology (Gall) - ANS✅✅(not an accepted theory because it is wrong)
-- idea that specific traits are controlled by specific parts of the brain
(discovered this by feeling the bumps on the outside of peoples heads)
Fluorine's contributions to the history of psychology - ANS✅✅added precision through surgical
experiments
-- cut into the brains of rats and was able to probe that certain parts of the brain control certain
areas
Broca's contribution to the history of psychology - ANS✅✅came up with the first verifiable
evidence of a brain structure in humans that is identified with speech
-- worked with stroke patients (unable to speak, write, read, but could understand)
-- found Broca's area> area of the brain that is most likely to be damaged by a stroke --> linked to
speech production
Structuralism (Wilhelm Wundt) - ANS✅✅(not scientifically valid) the idea that someone could
analyze consciousness/ the mind (thought and feeling) by breaking it down into building blocks
(smallest identifiable elements)
Introspection aka "looking within" (Wilhelm Wundt) - ANS✅✅careful personal observation of
mental events
-- figured out that no two people perceive the world in the same way
How do we know that experience is subjective? - ANS✅✅because of science and research done by
various scientists
Gestalt Psychology - ANS✅✅the study of perception and sensation
, -- based on the idea that as we grow and learn, we develop the rules for perception and sensation
-- the whole is greater than the sum of its hearts (we don't try to break it down and analyze it one at
a time, we perceive things as a whole)
-- we perceive meaning even where none exists
Functionalism (William James)
-- how does it relate to natural selection? - ANS✅✅how a mental process operates
-- influenced by Darwin's theory of evolution: What adaptive property does the mental process
provide that would cause it to be selected through evolution?
Sigmund Freud - ANS✅✅first person to define and explain the cause of mental illness; also came
up with the first version of talk therapy
Psychodynamic Theory (Freud) - ANS✅✅Explanation of the cause of mental illness
-- the mind has separate components (conscious and unconscious)
-- much of behavior is influenced by the unconscious
-- 3 major points:
** influence of early childhood experiences have a major influence
** Sex and aggression are biologically controlled instincts; the way we are taught to manage our sex
and aggression influences our personality
** Theory of the unconscious mind -- Every human being has things going on in their mind that they
have no control over
Behaviorism (John Watson) - ANS✅✅focusing psychology on the behavior side rather than the
thought and feelings side (aka behavior can be observed)
John Watson - ANS✅✅founder of behaviorism; first person to state the the goal of psychology
should be to predict and control behavior
-- wanted to see if he could create symptoms of a mental illness (in a laboratory)
answers graded A+
Central Themes of the course (7) - ANS✅✅1. Experience is subjective
2. Psychology is a science above all else
3. Psychology involves multiple competing theories
4. No one theory explains it all (behavior and mental processes always have multiple causes)
5. Nature and nurture interact in ways that constantly affect functioning
6. Psychology is an evolutionary science
7. Psychology evolves in a socio-historical context
Psychology - ANS✅✅the science of the mind and behavior (awareness of self); technically means
study of the soul
-- does not just study humans (animals too)
-- mind= mental process or consciousness
Nativism (Plato) - ANS✅✅innate (existing from the time a person or animal is born) knowledge
Philosophical Empiricism (Aristotle) - ANS✅✅-- argues for "tabula rasa" (blank slate)
-- debate is concerned with the extent to which particular aspects of behavior are a product of either
inherited (ex: generic) or acquired (ex: learned) characteristics
Philosophy vs. Physiology - ANS✅✅-- Philosophers: went back thousands of years asking questions
about how we think, feel and act
-- Psysiology: led us to understand that a lot of what we think, feel, and do was due to biology by
origin
Dualism - ANS✅✅belief that the mind and body are separate (no link between the brain and the
body)
,Monism - ANS✅✅belief that the mind and body are one; the things we are thinking and going are
controlled by the brain in our head (link between the brain and the body)
Phrenology (Gall) - ANS✅✅(not an accepted theory because it is wrong)
-- idea that specific traits are controlled by specific parts of the brain
(discovered this by feeling the bumps on the outside of peoples heads)
Fluorine's contributions to the history of psychology - ANS✅✅added precision through surgical
experiments
-- cut into the brains of rats and was able to probe that certain parts of the brain control certain
areas
Broca's contribution to the history of psychology - ANS✅✅came up with the first verifiable
evidence of a brain structure in humans that is identified with speech
-- worked with stroke patients (unable to speak, write, read, but could understand)
-- found Broca's area> area of the brain that is most likely to be damaged by a stroke --> linked to
speech production
Structuralism (Wilhelm Wundt) - ANS✅✅(not scientifically valid) the idea that someone could
analyze consciousness/ the mind (thought and feeling) by breaking it down into building blocks
(smallest identifiable elements)
Introspection aka "looking within" (Wilhelm Wundt) - ANS✅✅careful personal observation of
mental events
-- figured out that no two people perceive the world in the same way
How do we know that experience is subjective? - ANS✅✅because of science and research done by
various scientists
Gestalt Psychology - ANS✅✅the study of perception and sensation
, -- based on the idea that as we grow and learn, we develop the rules for perception and sensation
-- the whole is greater than the sum of its hearts (we don't try to break it down and analyze it one at
a time, we perceive things as a whole)
-- we perceive meaning even where none exists
Functionalism (William James)
-- how does it relate to natural selection? - ANS✅✅how a mental process operates
-- influenced by Darwin's theory of evolution: What adaptive property does the mental process
provide that would cause it to be selected through evolution?
Sigmund Freud - ANS✅✅first person to define and explain the cause of mental illness; also came
up with the first version of talk therapy
Psychodynamic Theory (Freud) - ANS✅✅Explanation of the cause of mental illness
-- the mind has separate components (conscious and unconscious)
-- much of behavior is influenced by the unconscious
-- 3 major points:
** influence of early childhood experiences have a major influence
** Sex and aggression are biologically controlled instincts; the way we are taught to manage our sex
and aggression influences our personality
** Theory of the unconscious mind -- Every human being has things going on in their mind that they
have no control over
Behaviorism (John Watson) - ANS✅✅focusing psychology on the behavior side rather than the
thought and feelings side (aka behavior can be observed)
John Watson - ANS✅✅founder of behaviorism; first person to state the the goal of psychology
should be to predict and control behavior
-- wanted to see if he could create symptoms of a mental illness (in a laboratory)
