Study Guide Psychology
Chapter 1
What is Psychology?
What are psychological constructs?
What are some goals of Psychology?
What is a psychological theory?
What are the different types of psychologists and what do they do?
What are the different historical periods that psychology is rooted in? From ancient Greece to Modern Science.
Understand structuralism, functionalism, behaviorism, skinner, Gestalt, Freud.
What are the contemporary perspectives? Be able to apply them to psychological issues and topics.
Chapter 2
What is the scientific method applied to Psychology. Know an example.
How do you construct a survey and what are the problems involved in surveys?
What are the methods of observation and their advantages and disadvantages?
What is the experimental method? Give an example.
What is a placebo and how is it used?
What is the difference between a single blind and a double blind study?
How do you think ethics could be involved when doing psychological experiments?
Chapter 3
What are the different parts of the neuron?
What are the different parts of the nervous system?
What are the different parts and functions of the brain?
What are the areas of the brain?
What are the different methods of studying the brain?
What are the functions of the different glands of the endocrine system? Include the pineal gland.
What are the issues of the nature nurture debate and how do twins studies demonstrate the issue?
What were the case studies in the movie with Ramachandran and it what way were they from the biological perspective?
Chapter 4
What is perception?
What is absolute threshold and difference threshold? Give examples.
What is signal detection theory?
What is sensory adaptation?
What are the parts of the eye and how do they work?
What is color blindness and how do you test for it?
What is pitch and loudness?
What are the parts of the ear and how do they work?
What are the types of deafness?
What are the characteristics of the sense of smell and the sense of taste?
What are the characteristics of the sense of feeling?
What are pain receptors and how are the distributed in the body?
What is the difference between the vestibular sense and kinesthesis?
What are the rules of perceptual organization, perception of movement stroboscopic motion, depth perception, perceptual constancies, and visual illusions?
Chapter 5
Why is consciousness a psychological construct?
What are the 3 meanings of consciousness?
What are the levels of consciousness?
What are altered states of consciousness?
What are the stages of sleep and what are their characteristics?
What are the characteristics of the sleep cycle?
What is the Freudian view of dreams and how do we interpret them?
What is the biological view of dreams?
What are the characteristics of sleep problems?
What are the characteristics or meditation, hypnosis and biofeedback and what are they used for?
What does pharmakon mean?
There is no difference between a drug and a medicine.
What are the addictive drugs and non addictive drugs?
Why are psychedelics in a different class of drugs and what have they been used for traditionally for thousands of years?
What are examples of the 3 types of drugs?
Chapter 6
What are the steps of classical conditioning?
In what ways do organisms use classical conditioning to adapt to the environment?
How do you apply classical conditioning to everyday problems?
What is operant conditioning and reinforcement?
What are the types of reinforcements?
What are rewards and punishments and how do they work In operant conditioning?
What are the types of schedules of reinforcement?
In what ways is operant conditioning applied?
What is latent learning and observational learning? Give examples.
Chapter 7
What are the 3 types of memory and all their characteristics?
What are the 3 memory processes and all their characteristics? Be able to give examples.
What are the 3 stages of memory and all their characteristics? Give examples.
What are the basic memory tasks and their characteristics?
What are the different types of forgetting include repression and amnesia?
What are the different ways to improve memory?
Chapter 8
What are symbols, concepts and prototypes? Give examples.
What are algorithms and heuristics? Give examples.
What are the 5 different problem solving methods and their characteristics?
What are the diffent obstacle to problem solving?
What is convergent and divergent thinking?
What are the 5 steps in problem solving?
What is the difference between inductive and deductive reasoning? Give examples.
What is confirmation bias?
What does weighing the pluses and minuses mean?
What are the 3 shortcuts in decision making and judgments?
What is the framing effect?
What is overconfidence?
What are the basic elements of language?
What is semantics?
What are the 3 stages of development?
What are the hereditary and environmental factors in language learning?
What are the characteristics of bilingualism?
Chapter 9
What is the difference between intelligence and achievement?
What is Spearman’s two factor theory?
What is Thurstone’ Theory of Primary Mental abilities?
What is Gardner’s theory of multiple intelliegences?
What is Sternberg’s Triarchic Model?
What are the characteristics of emotional intelligence?
What are the links between difference intelligences?
What are the 2 scales to measurement intelligence, and their characteristics?
What does reliability and validity mean in regards to tests?
What are some problems with intelligence tests?
What are the different types of mental retardation and its causes?
What is giftedness and creativity?
What are some types of genetic and environmental influences on intelligence?
What factors affect intelligence in adults?
Chapter 10
Roles of nature and nurture in developmental psychology
Maturation, critical period, stages vs continuity,
Physical development, height and weight, motor development, reflexes, perceptual development.
Social development: attachment, styles of parenting, child care, child abuse and neglect, self esteem
Cognitive development: Piaget’s theory, Kohlberg’s theory,
Chapter 11
Physical development: growth spurt, sexual development, difference in maturation rate.
Social development: relationship with parents and peers
Identity formation: development, status, gender and ethnicity in id formation
Challenges of adolescence: eating disorders, substance abuse, sexuality, juvenile delinquency, avoiding problems.
Chapter 12
Young adulthood: reassessment, settling down, marriage and intimate relationships, divorce and its consequences
Middle Adulthood: transition, generativity, empty nest syndrome, menopause,
Late adulthood: physical changes, theories of aging, cognitive changes, social changes, successful adaptation to aging.
Death and Dying: stages of dying, dying and dignity, funerals, bereavement
Chapter 13
What are the differences between needs and drives?
What are the different theories of motivation?
What is Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs?
What are the characteristics of the hunger drive?
What are the characteristics of obesity?
Psychological needs: stimulus motives, exploration and manipulation, achievement motivation, making things fit, affiliation
What is the nature of emotion? Are facial expressions universal?
What are the 6 theories of emotion?
Chapter 14
What is the trait approach to personality?
What are the approaches according to Hippocrates, Allport, Eysenck, and the Five Factor model?
What is the psychoanalytical approach and Freud?
What is the Id, Ego and Superego?
What are the 8 types of defense mechanisms and their effects?
What are the stages of development according to Freud?
Carl Jung: collective unconscious, archetypes,
Personality theories according to: Adler, Horney, Erikson
Learning approach: behaviorism, social-learning,
Humanistic approach, Maslow, Rogers
Sociocultural approach: individualism and collectivism
What factors influence the self, acculturation, self esteem
Chapter 17
Sources of stress
Types of conflict
Personality types and stress
Response to stress: self efficacy Expectations, hardiness, humor, predictability, social support,
Physical effects of stress: general adaptation syndrome, effects on the immune system
Psychological factors and health: headaches, heart disease, cancer,
Coping with stress: 5 ways
Active coping: 3 ways
Chapter 18
What is normal vs abnormal?
4 symptoms of psychological disorders
Cultural bound syndromes
Anxiety disorders: 5 types
What are the 3 types of explanations for anxiety disorders?
4 types of dissoaciative disorders. Understand the explanations from the variety of perspectives.
Explain the 2 types of somatoform disorders
Explain the 2 types of mood disorders
What is schizophrenia and the 3 types of schizophrenia? What are some explanations?
What are the 4 types of personality disorders and their explanations?