Psychology Exam test quiz and
answers graded A+
What is psychology? - ANS✅✅The scientific study of human behavior and the study of brain
function
Why is the study of psychology important? - ANS✅✅People are bias and we should learn why we
do the things we do
Why do we need a formal academic discipline to study psychology? - ANS✅✅Everyone has a bias,
and they make unsystematic, informal strategies for observation
Psychological science vs. folk wisdom, personal observations and common sense - ANS✅✅People
get their knowledge from folk wisdom, which is word-of-mouth transmission of information. People
contradict their logic if they try to use common sense (Ex. A couple moving away)
How is psychology defined? - ANS✅✅Psychology is about understanding all the things we do
Psychology's History: Early & Modern - ANS✅✅Early:
- Psychology became the scientific study of conscious experience
- To explain personality, motivation, and mental disorders by focusing on unconscious determinants
of behavior
Modern:
- Psychologists have shown a renewed interest in consciousness (now called "cognition") and the
physiological bases of behavior
Contemporary theoretical perspectives in psychology and the ideas associated with each -
ANS✅✅***
Recent interest in cognition & physiology, cultural diversity, evolution, and positive psychology -
ANS✅✅Cognition refers to the mental processes involved in acquiring knowledge; cognition
involves thinking
, Advances in communication, travel, and international trade have "shrunk" the world and increased
global interdependence, bringing more and more Americans and Europeans into contact with people
from non-Western cultures
Evolutionary psychology examines behavioral processes in terms of their adaptive value for
members of a species over the course of many generations
Positive psychology uses theory and research to better understand the positive, adaptive, creative,
and fulfilling aspects of human existence
What are some of the major areas of study in psychology (research)? - ANS✅✅- Developmental
psychology
~ Looks at human development across the lifespan
- Social Psychology
~ Focuses on interpersonal behavior and the role of social forces in governing behavior
- Educational psychology
~ Studies how people learn and the best ways to teach them
- Health psychology
~ Focuses on how psychological factors relate to the promotion and maintenance of physical health
and the causation, prevention, and treatment of illness
- Physiological psychology
~ Examines the influence of genetic factors on behavior and the role of the brain, nervous system,
endocrine system, and bodily chemicals in the regulation of behavior
- Experimental psychology
~Encompasses the traditional core of topics that psychology focused on heavily in its first half-
century as a science: sensation, perception, learning, conditioning, motivation, and emotion
- Cognitive psychology
answers graded A+
What is psychology? - ANS✅✅The scientific study of human behavior and the study of brain
function
Why is the study of psychology important? - ANS✅✅People are bias and we should learn why we
do the things we do
Why do we need a formal academic discipline to study psychology? - ANS✅✅Everyone has a bias,
and they make unsystematic, informal strategies for observation
Psychological science vs. folk wisdom, personal observations and common sense - ANS✅✅People
get their knowledge from folk wisdom, which is word-of-mouth transmission of information. People
contradict their logic if they try to use common sense (Ex. A couple moving away)
How is psychology defined? - ANS✅✅Psychology is about understanding all the things we do
Psychology's History: Early & Modern - ANS✅✅Early:
- Psychology became the scientific study of conscious experience
- To explain personality, motivation, and mental disorders by focusing on unconscious determinants
of behavior
Modern:
- Psychologists have shown a renewed interest in consciousness (now called "cognition") and the
physiological bases of behavior
Contemporary theoretical perspectives in psychology and the ideas associated with each -
ANS✅✅***
Recent interest in cognition & physiology, cultural diversity, evolution, and positive psychology -
ANS✅✅Cognition refers to the mental processes involved in acquiring knowledge; cognition
involves thinking
, Advances in communication, travel, and international trade have "shrunk" the world and increased
global interdependence, bringing more and more Americans and Europeans into contact with people
from non-Western cultures
Evolutionary psychology examines behavioral processes in terms of their adaptive value for
members of a species over the course of many generations
Positive psychology uses theory and research to better understand the positive, adaptive, creative,
and fulfilling aspects of human existence
What are some of the major areas of study in psychology (research)? - ANS✅✅- Developmental
psychology
~ Looks at human development across the lifespan
- Social Psychology
~ Focuses on interpersonal behavior and the role of social forces in governing behavior
- Educational psychology
~ Studies how people learn and the best ways to teach them
- Health psychology
~ Focuses on how psychological factors relate to the promotion and maintenance of physical health
and the causation, prevention, and treatment of illness
- Physiological psychology
~ Examines the influence of genetic factors on behavior and the role of the brain, nervous system,
endocrine system, and bodily chemicals in the regulation of behavior
- Experimental psychology
~Encompasses the traditional core of topics that psychology focused on heavily in its first half-
century as a science: sensation, perception, learning, conditioning, motivation, and emotion
- Cognitive psychology
