PSY 101 Straighterline Final Exam Study Guide
What did Wilhem Wundt do? - ANSWER:He concentrated on discovering the basic elements, or
"structures", or mental processes called structuralism.
What is structuralism? - ANSWER:focus on identifying the structures of the human mind, and their
method of study was introspection
What is introspection? - ANSWER:the examination of one's own conscious thoughts and feelings
What is psychology? - ANSWER:the scientific study of behavior and mental processes
Psychology as a science - ANSWER:uses systematic methods to observe human behavior and draw
conclusions. Goal: describe, predict, and explain behavior
What is behavior? - ANSWER:everything we do that can be directly observed
What are mental processes? - ANSWER:thoughts, feelings, and motives that we experience privately but
cannot be observed
What are the 3 early schools of psychology? - ANSWER:Gestalt psychology, psychoanalysis, and
behaviorism
Gestalt psychology principles - ANSWER:- opposed structuralism
- the idea that the whole is different from the sum of its parts
Who created the idea of psychoanalysis? - ANSWER:Sigmund Freud
Psychoanalysis principles - ANSWER:Focused on etiology, development, and treatment for abnormal
behavior
What is etiology? - ANSWER:the causes and progress of a disease or disorder
Who is responsible for the idea of behaviorism? - ANSWER:John Watson
Behaviorism principles - ANSWER:- psychology was redefined as the scientific study of observable
behavior (how behaviors are learned and modified)
Who is modern behaviorism's most important and controversial figure? - ANSWER:B.F. Skinner
What is hindsight bias? - ANSWER:the tendency for peoples to exaggerate how much they could have
predicted an outcome after knowing that it occurred
What is common sense? - ANSWER:It describes what has happened after the fact more easily than it
predicts what will happen before the fact
Can common sense be contradictory? - ANSWER:Yes, because it can explain any conclusion and its
opposite, and it is different between individuals
,What is a theory? - ANSWER:well-developed set of ideas that propose an explanation for observed
phenomena
What is a hypothesis? - ANSWER:a testable prediction implied by a theory
What is operational definition? - ANSWER:It turns a conceptual variable into a variable that can be
measured or manipulated and it connects unobservable traits, experiences, or qualities into observable
things.
What is an independent variable? - ANSWER:A variable that is manipulated by the experimenter
What is a dependent variable? - ANSWER:variable that is measured
What is a control variable? - ANSWER:A variable that is held constant during an experiment
Random assignment - ANSWER:each participant has an equal chance of being in any particular condition
that is independent of the participant
Correlation is not... - ANSWER:Not causation. Relationship does not equal cause and effect
Correlational methods - ANSWER:measure the variables as they already exist in nature
What is correlation? - ANSWER:relationships established by finding the degree to which two variables
covary (vary together)
Correlation coeffiecient - ANSWER:(-1 to +1) the relationship between 2 variables
Positive correlation - ANSWER:as x increases, y increases OR as x decreases, y decreases
Negative correlation - ANSWER:as x increases, y decreases OR as x decreases, y increases
What is a conceptual variable? - ANSWER:a variable of interest, stated at an abstract, or conversational,
level that we cannot completely measure
Replication crisis: What went wrong? - ANSWER:- File drawer problem (non-significant results never see
the light of day)
- Multiple comparisons (lots of DVs used in study and only significant results reported)
- P-hacking (the act of changing your analyses based on how they affect the p-value)
- Overconfidence
Replication crisis: What do we do? - ANSWER:Remember that the philosophy of science is fundamentally
sound and always be a critical consumer of scientific research
Replication crisis: Open science as a solution - ANSWER:Solves:
- File drawer problem (non-significant results never see the light of day)
- Multiple comparisons (lots of DVs used in study and only significant results reported)
- P-hacking (the act of changing your analyses based on how they affect the p-value)
Replication crisis: replication as a solution - ANSWER:Solves:
, - Multiple comparisons (lots of DVs used in study and only significant results reported)
- P-hacking (the act of changing your analyses based on how they affect the p-value)
- Overconfidence
Replication crisis: preregistration as a solution - ANSWER:Solves:
- File drawer problem (non-significant results never see the light of day)
- Multiple comparisons (lots of DVs used in study and only significant results reported)
- P-hacking (the act of changing your analyses based on how they affect the p-value)
What is another word for a sensory neuron? - ANSWER:afferent
What do afferent neurons do? - ANSWER:carry messages from the body's tissues and sensory organs
inward to the brain and spinal cord for processing
What is another word for a motor neuron? - ANSWER:efferent
What do efferent neurons do? - ANSWER:carry messages from the brain and out to the body's tissues
What is a dendrite? - ANSWER:the part of a neuron that receives messages from other cells
What is the axon? - ANSWER:the part of a neuron that passes messages away from the cell body to other
neurons, muscles, and glands
What is the cell body? - ANSWER:the part of a neuron that is the cell's life support center
What is neural impulse? - ANSWER:(action potential) electrical signal traveling down the axon
What is the myelin sheath? - ANSWER:the part of a neuron that covers the axon and helps speed neural
impulses
What are the terminal branches of an axon? - ANSWER:form junctions with other cells
What does the somatic nervous system do? - ANSWER:enables voluntary control of skeletal muscle
What does the autonomic nervous system do? - ANSWER:controls our gland snd the muscles of our
internal organs
Sympathetic nervous system - ANSWER:(arousing) expands energy- accelerates heart rate, raises blood
pressure, releases stress hormones, etc.
Parasympathetic nervous system - ANSWER:(calming) conserves energy- decelerates heart rate, lowers
blood pressure
What does the reticular formation do? - ANSWER:helps control arousal. filters stimuli and relays info to
other areas of the brain
What does the thalamus do? - ANSWER:relays messages between lower brain centers and cerebral
cortex and receives information from our senses and sends them to higher brain regions
What did Wilhem Wundt do? - ANSWER:He concentrated on discovering the basic elements, or
"structures", or mental processes called structuralism.
What is structuralism? - ANSWER:focus on identifying the structures of the human mind, and their
method of study was introspection
What is introspection? - ANSWER:the examination of one's own conscious thoughts and feelings
What is psychology? - ANSWER:the scientific study of behavior and mental processes
Psychology as a science - ANSWER:uses systematic methods to observe human behavior and draw
conclusions. Goal: describe, predict, and explain behavior
What is behavior? - ANSWER:everything we do that can be directly observed
What are mental processes? - ANSWER:thoughts, feelings, and motives that we experience privately but
cannot be observed
What are the 3 early schools of psychology? - ANSWER:Gestalt psychology, psychoanalysis, and
behaviorism
Gestalt psychology principles - ANSWER:- opposed structuralism
- the idea that the whole is different from the sum of its parts
Who created the idea of psychoanalysis? - ANSWER:Sigmund Freud
Psychoanalysis principles - ANSWER:Focused on etiology, development, and treatment for abnormal
behavior
What is etiology? - ANSWER:the causes and progress of a disease or disorder
Who is responsible for the idea of behaviorism? - ANSWER:John Watson
Behaviorism principles - ANSWER:- psychology was redefined as the scientific study of observable
behavior (how behaviors are learned and modified)
Who is modern behaviorism's most important and controversial figure? - ANSWER:B.F. Skinner
What is hindsight bias? - ANSWER:the tendency for peoples to exaggerate how much they could have
predicted an outcome after knowing that it occurred
What is common sense? - ANSWER:It describes what has happened after the fact more easily than it
predicts what will happen before the fact
Can common sense be contradictory? - ANSWER:Yes, because it can explain any conclusion and its
opposite, and it is different between individuals
,What is a theory? - ANSWER:well-developed set of ideas that propose an explanation for observed
phenomena
What is a hypothesis? - ANSWER:a testable prediction implied by a theory
What is operational definition? - ANSWER:It turns a conceptual variable into a variable that can be
measured or manipulated and it connects unobservable traits, experiences, or qualities into observable
things.
What is an independent variable? - ANSWER:A variable that is manipulated by the experimenter
What is a dependent variable? - ANSWER:variable that is measured
What is a control variable? - ANSWER:A variable that is held constant during an experiment
Random assignment - ANSWER:each participant has an equal chance of being in any particular condition
that is independent of the participant
Correlation is not... - ANSWER:Not causation. Relationship does not equal cause and effect
Correlational methods - ANSWER:measure the variables as they already exist in nature
What is correlation? - ANSWER:relationships established by finding the degree to which two variables
covary (vary together)
Correlation coeffiecient - ANSWER:(-1 to +1) the relationship between 2 variables
Positive correlation - ANSWER:as x increases, y increases OR as x decreases, y decreases
Negative correlation - ANSWER:as x increases, y decreases OR as x decreases, y increases
What is a conceptual variable? - ANSWER:a variable of interest, stated at an abstract, or conversational,
level that we cannot completely measure
Replication crisis: What went wrong? - ANSWER:- File drawer problem (non-significant results never see
the light of day)
- Multiple comparisons (lots of DVs used in study and only significant results reported)
- P-hacking (the act of changing your analyses based on how they affect the p-value)
- Overconfidence
Replication crisis: What do we do? - ANSWER:Remember that the philosophy of science is fundamentally
sound and always be a critical consumer of scientific research
Replication crisis: Open science as a solution - ANSWER:Solves:
- File drawer problem (non-significant results never see the light of day)
- Multiple comparisons (lots of DVs used in study and only significant results reported)
- P-hacking (the act of changing your analyses based on how they affect the p-value)
Replication crisis: replication as a solution - ANSWER:Solves:
, - Multiple comparisons (lots of DVs used in study and only significant results reported)
- P-hacking (the act of changing your analyses based on how they affect the p-value)
- Overconfidence
Replication crisis: preregistration as a solution - ANSWER:Solves:
- File drawer problem (non-significant results never see the light of day)
- Multiple comparisons (lots of DVs used in study and only significant results reported)
- P-hacking (the act of changing your analyses based on how they affect the p-value)
What is another word for a sensory neuron? - ANSWER:afferent
What do afferent neurons do? - ANSWER:carry messages from the body's tissues and sensory organs
inward to the brain and spinal cord for processing
What is another word for a motor neuron? - ANSWER:efferent
What do efferent neurons do? - ANSWER:carry messages from the brain and out to the body's tissues
What is a dendrite? - ANSWER:the part of a neuron that receives messages from other cells
What is the axon? - ANSWER:the part of a neuron that passes messages away from the cell body to other
neurons, muscles, and glands
What is the cell body? - ANSWER:the part of a neuron that is the cell's life support center
What is neural impulse? - ANSWER:(action potential) electrical signal traveling down the axon
What is the myelin sheath? - ANSWER:the part of a neuron that covers the axon and helps speed neural
impulses
What are the terminal branches of an axon? - ANSWER:form junctions with other cells
What does the somatic nervous system do? - ANSWER:enables voluntary control of skeletal muscle
What does the autonomic nervous system do? - ANSWER:controls our gland snd the muscles of our
internal organs
Sympathetic nervous system - ANSWER:(arousing) expands energy- accelerates heart rate, raises blood
pressure, releases stress hormones, etc.
Parasympathetic nervous system - ANSWER:(calming) conserves energy- decelerates heart rate, lowers
blood pressure
What does the reticular formation do? - ANSWER:helps control arousal. filters stimuli and relays info to
other areas of the brain
What does the thalamus do? - ANSWER:relays messages between lower brain centers and cerebral
cortex and receives information from our senses and sends them to higher brain regions
