WGU PSYCHOLOGY UPDATED VERSION
STUDY GUIDE QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
Define mind - ANS-nonphysical manifestation of the brain's activity. What the brain DOES.
Define behavior - ANS-The outwardly observable acts of a person, either alone or in a group
Define science - ANS-Striving to solidify facts by using objective evidence
What are the three levels of analysis? - ANS-brain, person, group
Level of the brain - ANS-focus on both the activity of the brain and the structure and properties of the
organ itself: brain cells and their connections, the chemical liquid in which they exist, and the genes that
give rise to them.
Level of the person - ANS-focus on mental events, the contents and functions of the mind
divide mental events into two types, mental contents and mental processes
Define mental contents - ANS-consist of knowledge; beliefs (including ideas, explanations, and
expectations); desires (such as hopes, goals, and needs); and feelings (such as fear, sadness, joy, and
guilt).
Define mental processes - ANS-consist of sets of operations that work together to complete a function,
such as attention, perception, or memory. These operations are like the chopping, measuring, and
mixing that goes into cooking, and the different mental contents are analogous to different ingredients
in cooking.
Level of the group - ANS-focus on the ways collections of people (as few as two or as many as a society)
shape the mind and behavior.
To study human minds and behavior, psychologists often look at specific groups of people. Groups can
vary in their demographics and organization. Some groups are official, such as the Girl Scouts or the
Knights of Columbus. Other groups are studied based on their demographics, such as groups that
include only one type of culture, a specific age range, or only one sex.
Structuralism - ANS-Wundt
Uses introspection to discover the elements of the mind and rules for combining them
Functionalism - ANS-James
,Studies WHY thoughts, feelings, and behavior occur and how they are adaptive.
Gestalt Psychology - ANS-Wertheimer
Focus on overall patterns of thoughts or experience; "the whole is more than the sum of its parts."
Psychodynamic Theory - ANS-Freud
Conflicts among conscious and unconscious forces underlie many thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.
Behaviorism - ANS-Watson and Skinner
Behavior is the appropriate focus of psychology and it can be understood by studying stimuli, responses,
and the consequences of responses.
Humanistic Psychology - ANS-Maslow and Rogers
Belief that people have positive values, free will, and deep inner creativity; inspired the positive
psychology movement.
Cognitive Psychology - ANS-Neisser
Mental events correspond to information that is stored and processed, analogous to information
processing in a computer.
Cognitive Neuroscience - ANS-Structure of the mind can be understood by learning how mental events
arise from brain function.
Feminist and multicultural psychology - ANS-APA and CPA convention walk out
Working with the whole person through inclusivity that honors gender, orientation, race, class, religion,
etc.
Evolutionary psychology - ANS-Barkow, Cosmides, and Tooby
Key mental strategies and goals are inborn through adaptation of the species, the result of natural
selection.
Define clinical psychologist - ANS-Administers and interprets psychological tests; provides
psychotherapy; helps people function more effectively.
Define clinical neuropsychologist - ANS-Administers tests to diagnose the effects of brain damage on
thoughts, feelings, and behavior, and to diagnose what parts of the brain are damaged.
Define counseling psychologist - ANS-Helps people manage issues that arise during everyday life (career,
marriage, family, work).
, Define developmental psychologist - ANS-Researches and teaches the development of mental contents
and processes as well as behavior with age and experience
Define cognitive psychologist - ANS-Researches and teaches the nature of thinking, memory, and related
aspects of mental contents and processes.
Define social psychologist - ANS-Researches and teaches how people think and feel about themselves
and other people and how groups function
Define personality psychologist - ANS-Researches and teaches individual differences in preferences and
inclinations.
Define physiological psychologist - ANS-Researches and teaches the nature of the brain and brain-body
interactions.
Define human factors psychologist - ANS-Applies psychology to improve products
Define industrial/organizational psychologist - ANS-Applies psychology in the workplace
Define sport psychologist - ANS-Applies psychology to improve athletic performance
Define educational or school pyschologist - ANS-Applies psychology to improve cognitive, emotional,
and social development of schoolchildren.
Describe Descriptive Research Methods - ANS-Consists of naturalistic obs, case studies, and surveys.
Naturalistic obs is where behavior is observed in its natural setting.
Case studies focus on a single participant/sample in detail.
Surveys involve asking a group of people a set of questions about a given activity and gathering
information about their reaction to and perceptions of it.
Correlation Research Methods - ANS-Researcher measures the statistical relationship between two
variables.
Positive correlation- both variable go up or down together.
Negative correlation- one variable goes up, one goes down.
Experimental Research Methods
Describe experimental and control groups - ANS-controlled situations in which the investigator observes
the effects of altering variables
Consists of independent variables- can be changed independently of anything else- and dependent
variables - dependent on independent variable.
STUDY GUIDE QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
Define mind - ANS-nonphysical manifestation of the brain's activity. What the brain DOES.
Define behavior - ANS-The outwardly observable acts of a person, either alone or in a group
Define science - ANS-Striving to solidify facts by using objective evidence
What are the three levels of analysis? - ANS-brain, person, group
Level of the brain - ANS-focus on both the activity of the brain and the structure and properties of the
organ itself: brain cells and their connections, the chemical liquid in which they exist, and the genes that
give rise to them.
Level of the person - ANS-focus on mental events, the contents and functions of the mind
divide mental events into two types, mental contents and mental processes
Define mental contents - ANS-consist of knowledge; beliefs (including ideas, explanations, and
expectations); desires (such as hopes, goals, and needs); and feelings (such as fear, sadness, joy, and
guilt).
Define mental processes - ANS-consist of sets of operations that work together to complete a function,
such as attention, perception, or memory. These operations are like the chopping, measuring, and
mixing that goes into cooking, and the different mental contents are analogous to different ingredients
in cooking.
Level of the group - ANS-focus on the ways collections of people (as few as two or as many as a society)
shape the mind and behavior.
To study human minds and behavior, psychologists often look at specific groups of people. Groups can
vary in their demographics and organization. Some groups are official, such as the Girl Scouts or the
Knights of Columbus. Other groups are studied based on their demographics, such as groups that
include only one type of culture, a specific age range, or only one sex.
Structuralism - ANS-Wundt
Uses introspection to discover the elements of the mind and rules for combining them
Functionalism - ANS-James
,Studies WHY thoughts, feelings, and behavior occur and how they are adaptive.
Gestalt Psychology - ANS-Wertheimer
Focus on overall patterns of thoughts or experience; "the whole is more than the sum of its parts."
Psychodynamic Theory - ANS-Freud
Conflicts among conscious and unconscious forces underlie many thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.
Behaviorism - ANS-Watson and Skinner
Behavior is the appropriate focus of psychology and it can be understood by studying stimuli, responses,
and the consequences of responses.
Humanistic Psychology - ANS-Maslow and Rogers
Belief that people have positive values, free will, and deep inner creativity; inspired the positive
psychology movement.
Cognitive Psychology - ANS-Neisser
Mental events correspond to information that is stored and processed, analogous to information
processing in a computer.
Cognitive Neuroscience - ANS-Structure of the mind can be understood by learning how mental events
arise from brain function.
Feminist and multicultural psychology - ANS-APA and CPA convention walk out
Working with the whole person through inclusivity that honors gender, orientation, race, class, religion,
etc.
Evolutionary psychology - ANS-Barkow, Cosmides, and Tooby
Key mental strategies and goals are inborn through adaptation of the species, the result of natural
selection.
Define clinical psychologist - ANS-Administers and interprets psychological tests; provides
psychotherapy; helps people function more effectively.
Define clinical neuropsychologist - ANS-Administers tests to diagnose the effects of brain damage on
thoughts, feelings, and behavior, and to diagnose what parts of the brain are damaged.
Define counseling psychologist - ANS-Helps people manage issues that arise during everyday life (career,
marriage, family, work).
, Define developmental psychologist - ANS-Researches and teaches the development of mental contents
and processes as well as behavior with age and experience
Define cognitive psychologist - ANS-Researches and teaches the nature of thinking, memory, and related
aspects of mental contents and processes.
Define social psychologist - ANS-Researches and teaches how people think and feel about themselves
and other people and how groups function
Define personality psychologist - ANS-Researches and teaches individual differences in preferences and
inclinations.
Define physiological psychologist - ANS-Researches and teaches the nature of the brain and brain-body
interactions.
Define human factors psychologist - ANS-Applies psychology to improve products
Define industrial/organizational psychologist - ANS-Applies psychology in the workplace
Define sport psychologist - ANS-Applies psychology to improve athletic performance
Define educational or school pyschologist - ANS-Applies psychology to improve cognitive, emotional,
and social development of schoolchildren.
Describe Descriptive Research Methods - ANS-Consists of naturalistic obs, case studies, and surveys.
Naturalistic obs is where behavior is observed in its natural setting.
Case studies focus on a single participant/sample in detail.
Surveys involve asking a group of people a set of questions about a given activity and gathering
information about their reaction to and perceptions of it.
Correlation Research Methods - ANS-Researcher measures the statistical relationship between two
variables.
Positive correlation- both variable go up or down together.
Negative correlation- one variable goes up, one goes down.
Experimental Research Methods
Describe experimental and control groups - ANS-controlled situations in which the investigator observes
the effects of altering variables
Consists of independent variables- can be changed independently of anything else- and dependent
variables - dependent on independent variable.
