NVCC PSY 200-E43L EXAM 1 2026/2027 – STUDY GUIDE, PRACTICE QUESTIONS,
EXAM REVIEW & TEST PREP
Structuralism - ANS ✔✔Analysis of basic elements that make up the mind
Functionalism - ANS ✔✔The study of the purpose that mental processes serve
which man believed consciousness was a stream? - ANS ✔✔William James
Which man believed you could break consciousness into part - ANS ✔✔Wilhelm Wundt
Who is known as the founder of psychology and first to teach it and open a lab? - ANS ✔✔Wilhelm
Wundt
What is the emphasis of Frauds psychoanalytic theory? - ANS ✔✔The importance of unconscious mental
processes.
Who were the founders of humanistic psychology? - ANS ✔✔Maslow and Rogers
What is unconsciousness? - ANS ✔✔The part of the mind that operates outside of awareness but that
influences thoughts, feelings, and actions
What is cognitive psychology? - ANS ✔✔The scientific study of mental processes including perception
thought memory and reasoning
What is behavioral neuroscience? - ANS ✔✔An approach to psychology that links psychological
processes to activities in the nervous system and other bodily processes
What is evolutionary psychology? - ANS ✔✔Explains mind and behavior in terms of the adaptive value fo
abilities that are preserved over time by natural selection
What is empiricism? - ANS ✔✔The belief that accurate knowledge can be acquired through observation
what is the Scientific Method? - ANS ✔✔A procedure for finding the truth by using empirical evidence
What is a theory? - ANS ✔✔A hypothetical explanation of a natural phenomenon
What is a hypothesis? - ANS ✔✔A falsifiable prediction made by a theory
What is an operational definition? - ANS ✔✔a description of a property in concrete measurable forms
What is validity? - ANS ✔✔Concrete event that defines property
What is Reliability? - ANS ✔✔That something is producing the same answers when its measured more
than once
, Which refers to whether something is consistent? - ANS ✔✔Reliablity
Which refers to if something is measuring what its suppose to measure? - ANS ✔✔Validity
What is a variable? - ANS ✔✔properties whose value can very across individuals or over time
What is an experiment? - ANS ✔✔A technique for establishing a causal relationship between variables
What is manipulation? - ANS ✔✔Involves changing a variable in order to determine its causal power
What is self selection and why is it a problem for research? - ANS ✔✔because it allows people to choose
what group they are in based on anything about them making the experiment exposed to more than one
difference...no control
What does it mean to say that the difference between the control group and the experimental group is
statistically significant? - ANS ✔✔That it is unlikely to have been caused by a third varibale
What is internal validity? - ANS ✔✔refers to our ability to draw inferences of cause an effect
What is external validity? - ANS ✔✔Allows us to generalize to the real world
What is the cell body? - ANS ✔✔The part of the neuron that coordinates information, processes tasks
and keeps the cell alive
What is a dendrite? - ANS ✔✔Branch like extensions of the neuron that receives information from other
neurons and relays them to the cell body
What is an axon? - ANS ✔✔Part of a neuron that carries information to other neurons muscles and
glands
What is the path of transmission in a neuron? - ANS ✔✔Dendrite--cell body---axon
What are myelin sheaths? - ANS ✔✔Insulated layer of fatty material that covers axons. They facilitate the
conduction of action potential
What are nodes of ranvier? - ANS ✔✔Gaps between myelin that causes the charge to seem to jump
from node to node making it faster
What are terminal buttons? - ANS ✔✔knob like structures that branch off from an axon
What is a neurotransmitter? - ANS ✔✔chemical that transmits information across a synapse to a
receiving neurons dendrite
What are 3 ways a synapse is cleared? - ANS ✔✔1. reuptake into the sending neuron 2. being broken
down by enzymes in the synapse 3. binding to auto-receptors on sending neurons
what is a synapse? - ANS ✔✔junction between the dendrite of one neuron to the axon or cell body of
another
EXAM REVIEW & TEST PREP
Structuralism - ANS ✔✔Analysis of basic elements that make up the mind
Functionalism - ANS ✔✔The study of the purpose that mental processes serve
which man believed consciousness was a stream? - ANS ✔✔William James
Which man believed you could break consciousness into part - ANS ✔✔Wilhelm Wundt
Who is known as the founder of psychology and first to teach it and open a lab? - ANS ✔✔Wilhelm
Wundt
What is the emphasis of Frauds psychoanalytic theory? - ANS ✔✔The importance of unconscious mental
processes.
Who were the founders of humanistic psychology? - ANS ✔✔Maslow and Rogers
What is unconsciousness? - ANS ✔✔The part of the mind that operates outside of awareness but that
influences thoughts, feelings, and actions
What is cognitive psychology? - ANS ✔✔The scientific study of mental processes including perception
thought memory and reasoning
What is behavioral neuroscience? - ANS ✔✔An approach to psychology that links psychological
processes to activities in the nervous system and other bodily processes
What is evolutionary psychology? - ANS ✔✔Explains mind and behavior in terms of the adaptive value fo
abilities that are preserved over time by natural selection
What is empiricism? - ANS ✔✔The belief that accurate knowledge can be acquired through observation
what is the Scientific Method? - ANS ✔✔A procedure for finding the truth by using empirical evidence
What is a theory? - ANS ✔✔A hypothetical explanation of a natural phenomenon
What is a hypothesis? - ANS ✔✔A falsifiable prediction made by a theory
What is an operational definition? - ANS ✔✔a description of a property in concrete measurable forms
What is validity? - ANS ✔✔Concrete event that defines property
What is Reliability? - ANS ✔✔That something is producing the same answers when its measured more
than once
, Which refers to whether something is consistent? - ANS ✔✔Reliablity
Which refers to if something is measuring what its suppose to measure? - ANS ✔✔Validity
What is a variable? - ANS ✔✔properties whose value can very across individuals or over time
What is an experiment? - ANS ✔✔A technique for establishing a causal relationship between variables
What is manipulation? - ANS ✔✔Involves changing a variable in order to determine its causal power
What is self selection and why is it a problem for research? - ANS ✔✔because it allows people to choose
what group they are in based on anything about them making the experiment exposed to more than one
difference...no control
What does it mean to say that the difference between the control group and the experimental group is
statistically significant? - ANS ✔✔That it is unlikely to have been caused by a third varibale
What is internal validity? - ANS ✔✔refers to our ability to draw inferences of cause an effect
What is external validity? - ANS ✔✔Allows us to generalize to the real world
What is the cell body? - ANS ✔✔The part of the neuron that coordinates information, processes tasks
and keeps the cell alive
What is a dendrite? - ANS ✔✔Branch like extensions of the neuron that receives information from other
neurons and relays them to the cell body
What is an axon? - ANS ✔✔Part of a neuron that carries information to other neurons muscles and
glands
What is the path of transmission in a neuron? - ANS ✔✔Dendrite--cell body---axon
What are myelin sheaths? - ANS ✔✔Insulated layer of fatty material that covers axons. They facilitate the
conduction of action potential
What are nodes of ranvier? - ANS ✔✔Gaps between myelin that causes the charge to seem to jump
from node to node making it faster
What are terminal buttons? - ANS ✔✔knob like structures that branch off from an axon
What is a neurotransmitter? - ANS ✔✔chemical that transmits information across a synapse to a
receiving neurons dendrite
What are 3 ways a synapse is cleared? - ANS ✔✔1. reuptake into the sending neuron 2. being broken
down by enzymes in the synapse 3. binding to auto-receptors on sending neurons
what is a synapse? - ANS ✔✔junction between the dendrite of one neuron to the axon or cell body of
another
