Saylor Academy Psych101 Exam Questions
With 100% Verified Answers
Eugenics - answer✔The science of improving a human population by controlled breeding to
increase the occurrence of desirable heritable characteristics. Developed largely by Francis
Galton as a method of improving the human race, it fell into disfavor only after the perversion of
its doctrines by the Nazis.
Genomic imprinting - answer✔Phenomenon by which certain genes are expressed in a parent-of-
origin-specific manner. If the allele inherited from the father is imprinted, it is thereby silenced,
and only the allele from the mother is expressed. If the allele from the mother is imprinted, then
only the allele from the father is expressed.
Functionalism - answer✔Suggests that cognitive processes were governed by the function of the
mind; focused on the utility of consciousness and considers mental life and behaviour in terms of
active adaptation to the person's environment.
Structuralism - answer✔Theory of consciousness developed by Wilhelm Wundt and his mentee
Edward Bradford Titchener which attempted to understand the mind as the sum of varying
underlying parts. Proposes that consciousness is best understood through the systematic study of
the anatomy of the brain
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Developmental noise - answer✔A concept within developmental biology in which phenotype
varies between individuals even though both the genotypes and the environmental factors are the
same for all of them; human fingerprints provide a well-known example; the fingerprints differ
even between genetically identical human twins.
Gene-environment interaction - answer✔Genes are not "set in stone; the expression of genes in
an organism can be influenced by the environment, including the external world in which the
organism is located or develops, as well as the organism's internal world, which includes such
factors as its hormones and metabolism.
Polygenic - answer✔Traits that are controlled by multiple genes and/or influenced by the
environment, such as height, skin color, eye color, weight
Pure experiment - answer✔Type of experimental design thought to be the most accurate type of
experimental research. Also thought to be the only experimental design that can establish cause
and effect relationship. Three criteria must be met in a true experiment: 1) Control group and
experimental group, 2) Researcher-manipulated variable, 3) Random assignment
Nature vs. Nurture Debate - answer✔The nature vs. nurture debate is an ongoing one. The
modern debate often centers around the effect genes have on human personalities as opposed to
the influences that early environment and development might have.
Negative correlation - answer✔When two variables have an inverse relationship; as one variable
increases, the other decreases.
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Psychoanalysis - answer✔Aims to treat mental disorders by investigating the interaction of
conscious and unconscious elements in the mind and bringing repressed fears and conflicts into
the conscious mind by techniques such as dream interpretation and free association.
Cognitivism - answer✔Study focusing on mental processes, including how people perceive,
think, remember, learn, solve problems, and direct their attention to one stimulus rather than
another. Psychologists working from a cognitivist perspective, then, seek to understand
cognition.
Q: What famous psychologist decided nearly 100 years ago that psychology should be defined as
the scientific study of behavior? - answer✔Watson
Q: Schizophrenia is a mental illness which - answer✔Affects about 1% of the population
Q: A study of how adults respond to a new therapy has a group with the new therapy fully
implemented, a group with the new therapy partially implemented, a group with the new therapy
not implemented at all, and a group considering implementation of the new therapy. Which
group would be best described as the control group? - answer✔Group with the new therapy not
implemented at all
Q: Considering a correlation represents a relationship between two variables, which phrase best
exemplifies a negative correlation (i.e., variables move in different directions)? - answer✔An
individual's level of stress and his or her degree of psychological well-being