PSC 001Y UNIT 1 STUDY GUIDE 2026
GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY REVIEW NOTES
PRACTICE QUESTIONS AND ANSWER KEY
One of the classic experiments from the early days of cognitive
psychology was performed by Saul Sternberg. He studied the
process of memory scanning by: - CORRECT ANSWER-
Varying the number of items being held in short-term memory
and measuring how much reaction time increases with each
additional item
Contemporary Psychology - CORRECT ANSWER-the scientific
study of behavior and mental processes
Contemporary Psychology Research - CORRECT ANSWER-
Looks at the cognitive processes that underlie social interactions
Record brain activity
Study animals (ex: rat/monkeys) to get insight of human social
processes
Gestalt Psychology - CORRECT ANSWER-a psychological
approach that emphasizes that we often perceive the whole rather
than the sum of the parts
, Confounds - CORRECT ANSWER-systematically varies =
impossible to tell which of the factors caused the difference across
conditions
problem with experiment --> replication will have same results
misleading effect
random sampling error - CORRECT ANSWER-the error due to
the particular sample selected being an imperfect representation
of the population of interest
What are two solutions for random sampling error? - CORRECT
ANSWER-1) Inferential Statistics (p<0.5)
2) Replication
Select the two main reasons why replications are important in
science. - CORRECT ANSWER-If a result can be replicated by
the same researcher or by different researchers, then it is unlikely
to have been an accidental consequence of a non-representative
sample
If a result can be replicated by a different researcher, then it is
unlikely to have been the result of some kind of systematic error
in the methods of the original study
GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY REVIEW NOTES
PRACTICE QUESTIONS AND ANSWER KEY
One of the classic experiments from the early days of cognitive
psychology was performed by Saul Sternberg. He studied the
process of memory scanning by: - CORRECT ANSWER-
Varying the number of items being held in short-term memory
and measuring how much reaction time increases with each
additional item
Contemporary Psychology - CORRECT ANSWER-the scientific
study of behavior and mental processes
Contemporary Psychology Research - CORRECT ANSWER-
Looks at the cognitive processes that underlie social interactions
Record brain activity
Study animals (ex: rat/monkeys) to get insight of human social
processes
Gestalt Psychology - CORRECT ANSWER-a psychological
approach that emphasizes that we often perceive the whole rather
than the sum of the parts
, Confounds - CORRECT ANSWER-systematically varies =
impossible to tell which of the factors caused the difference across
conditions
problem with experiment --> replication will have same results
misleading effect
random sampling error - CORRECT ANSWER-the error due to
the particular sample selected being an imperfect representation
of the population of interest
What are two solutions for random sampling error? - CORRECT
ANSWER-1) Inferential Statistics (p<0.5)
2) Replication
Select the two main reasons why replications are important in
science. - CORRECT ANSWER-If a result can be replicated by
the same researcher or by different researchers, then it is unlikely
to have been an accidental consequence of a non-representative
sample
If a result can be replicated by a different researcher, then it is
unlikely to have been the result of some kind of systematic error
in the methods of the original study
