Psychology Chapters
1-14 questions and
answers latest update
2025/2026
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,psychology - ✔✔answer The scientific study of mind and behavior.
data - ✔✔answer Any information collected through formal observation or measurement.
hindsight bias - ✔✔answer The tendency to think that we could have predicted something that has
already occurred that we probably would not have been able to predict.
scientific method - ✔✔answer The set of assumptions, rules, and procedures that scientists use to
conduct empirical research.
levels of explanation - ✔✔answer The perspectives that are used to understand behavior.
individual differences - ✔✔answer The variations among people on physical or psychological
dimensions.
structuralism - ✔✔answer Uses the method of introspection to identify the basic elements or
"structures" of psychological experience
functionalism - ✔✔answer Attempts to understand why animals and humans have developed the
particular psychological aspects that they currently possess
psychodyamic - ✔✔answer Focuses on the role of our unconscious thoughts, feelings, and
memories and our early childhood experiences in determining behavior
behaviorism - ✔✔answer Based on the premise that it is not possible to objectively study the mind,
and therefore that psychologists should limit their attention to the study of behavior itself
,cognitive - ✔✔answer The study of mental processes, including perception, thinking, memory, and
judgments
social-cultural - ✔✔answer The study of how the social situations and the cultures in which people
find themselves influence thinking and behavior
heritability - ✔✔answer The proportion of the observed differences on characteristics among people
(e.g., in terms of their height, intelligence, or optimism) that is due to genetics.
nature vs nurture - ✔✔answer Are genes or environment most influential in determining the
behavior of individuals and in accounting for differences among people?
free will vs determinism - ✔✔answer This question concerns the extent to which people have
control over their own actions. Are we the products of our environment, guided by forces out of our
control, or are we able to choose the behaviors we engage in?
accuracy vs inaccuracy - ✔✔answer To what extent are humans good information processors?
conscious vs unconscious - ✔✔answer To what extent are we conscious of our own actions and the
causes of them, and to what extent are our behaviors caused by influences that we are not aware of?
differences vs similarities - ✔✔answer To what extent are we all similar, and to what extent are we
different?
plato and aristotle - ✔✔answer Earliest psychologists that we know about. One believed that
knowledge was innate, and the other believed that each human is born as an empty slate.
introspection - ✔✔answer A method of learning about psychological processes in which research
participants are asked to describe exactly what they experience as they work on mental tasks.
, evolutionary psychology - ✔✔answer A branch of psychology that applies the Darwinian theory of
natural selection to human and animal behavior.
fitness - ✔✔answer The extent to which having a given genetic characteristic helps an individual
organism survive and reproduce at a higher rate than do other members of the species who do not have
the characteristic.
psychodynamic psychology - ✔✔answer An approach to understanding human behavior that
focuses on the role of unconscious thoughts, feelings, and memories.
social norms - ✔✔answer The ways of thinking, feeling, or behaving that are shared by group
members and are perceived by them as appropriate.
culture - ✔✔answer A common set of social norms, including religious and family values and other
moral beliefs, shared by the people who live in a geographical region.
biopsychology and neuroscience - ✔✔answer This field examines the physiological bases of behavior
in animals and humans by studying the functioning of different brain areas and the effects of hormones
and neurotransmitters on behavior.
clinical and counseling psychology - ✔✔answer These are the largest fields of psychology. The focus
is on the assessment, diagnosis, causes, and treatment of mental disorders.
developmental psychology - ✔✔answer These psychologists conduct research on the cognitive,
emotional, and social changes that occur across the lifespan.
forensic psychology - ✔✔answer Apply psychological principles to understand the behavior of
judges, attorneys, courtroom juries, and others in the criminal justice system.