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VCU Psychology 101 Exam 1 QUESTIONS AND
ANSWER UPDATED 2024.
- What is Psychology? - Correct answer Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and mental processes.
- goals of psychology - Correct answer To accurately measure and describe, explain, predict, and control/alter behavior and mental processes
- William Wundt - Correct answer first person to call himself a psychologist, opened first psych lab in Germany (Univ of Leipzig), called his approach Structuralism. He looked inward on experiences and how they related to one another.
- William James - Correct answer American, influenced by Darwin, FUNCTIONALISM, interested in the adaptive functions served by behavior and thought, not a question of whether we smell or not, but what it does for us, more practical, also first classroom teacher of psychology (Darwinism- animals and humans have certain traits that are functional or not functional) interested in how the things we do allow us to get along in the world, what's the function of a peacock having a huge tail? Wrote the textbook "Principles of Psychology"
- John Watson - Correct answer Championed psychology as the science of behavior and demonstrated conditioned responses on a baby, behaviorist (science rooted in observation)
- B.F. Skinner - Correct answer Behaviorist, he rejected introspection and studied how consequences shape behavior.
- Sigmund Freud - Correct answer emphasized the ways emotional responses to childhood experiences and our unconscious thought processes affect our behavior, thus psychology till the 1920's was defined as the "the science of mental life"
- Neuro-biological/Physiological - Correct answer behavioral and mental processes are ultimately explained by the activities of the nervous system, especially the brain, and the action of hormones, neurotransmitters and other chemicals
- psychodynamic - Correct answer how behavior springs from unconscious drives and conflicts
- Horney, Erikson, Freud (psychoanalytic) - Correct answer *behavior and mental processes are largely determined by unconscious mental and emotional conflicts.
Usually put instincts or desires for sex, aggression, security, and power against environmental obstacles to fulfillment of those desires,
- Structuralism - Correct answer ; where introspection was used to explore the structural elements of the human mind. Was first formal school of psychology, begun by Willhelm Wundt
- Functionalism - Correct answer which focused on how our mental and behavioral processes function-how they enable us to adapt, survive, and flourish. Begun by American philosopher William James.
- Behaviorism - Correct answer science should be an objective science and studies behavior without reference to mental processes.
- Neurobiological/Physiological - Correct answer Behavior and mental processes are ultimately explained by the activities of the nervous system, especially the brain, and the action of hormones, neurotransmitters, and other chemicals.
- Psychodynamic - Correct answer Freud and followers. Behavior and mental processes are largely determined by unconscious mental and emotional conflicts.
- Behavioral - Correct answer Psychology can be studied scientifically by examining the overt behavior of humans and animals. Behavior is largely shaped by the patterns & punishments that each person has experienced in his/her environment
- Cognitive - Correct answer Behavior is determined by how information is encoded, stored, retrieved, or otherwise processed by the brain
- Humanistic - Correct answer historically significant perspective that emphasized the growth potential of healthy people and the individual's potential for personal growth. Humans make choices by thinking, rather than by simple influence from the environment
- biopsychosocial model - Correct answer the integrated viewpoint that incorporates various levels of analysis and offers a more complete picture of any given behavior or mental process
- Hindsight bias - Correct answer The feeling that 'I knew it all along' and you feel confident after you hear the results, that you would have been able to foresee it
- Overconfidence - Correct answer Similar to hindsight bias. Once you find out the answer, hindsight makes it seem obvious and you become overconfident.
- Steps in Scientific Method - Correct answer Identify a question of interest from experience, the literature, or theory
- Pose a testable hypothesis (define hypothesis)
- Conduct a study to test hypothesis
- Descriptive Methods - Correct answer Benefits; lets us observe and describe things in everyday life. Drawbacks; can not change factors and data can be misrepresented. Does not explain behavior but describes it. No control of variables. Can be used to generate hypotheses
- Correlational - Correct answer Benefits; helps us figure out how closely two things vary together and helps us predict. Drawback; correlation indicates the possibility of a cause-effect relationship, but it does not prove causation.
- Experimental - Correct answer Benefits: Can draw cause and effect infererences. Manipulate one or more factors in the experiment and control other variables. Must have control group. Drawbacks; Not ethical to manipulate certain variables, and may not generalize to other contexts.
- Random Assignment - Correct answer By random assignment of participants, the experimenter aims to control other relevant factors. Random assignment is the assigning of participants to experimental and control groups by chance, thus minimizing preexisting differences between those assigned to the different groups. Reduces chances of selection bias
- Control Group - Correct answer In an experiment, the group that is NOT exposed to the treatment; contrasts with the experimental group and serves as a comparison for evaluating the effect of the treatment.
- Independent Variable - Correct answer factor that is manipulated and variable whose effect is being studied.
- Dependent Variable - Correct answer The outcome factor; the variable that may change in response to the manipulations of the independent variable
- Correlation - Correct answer a measure of the extent to which 2 factors vary together, and thus of how well either factor predicts the other.
- Correlation Coefficient - Correct answer a statistical index of the relationship between 2 things (from -1 to +1)
- Grows stronger towards -1/+
- Random Sample - Correct answer a sample that fairly represents a population
- Operational Definition - Correct answer statement of procedures (operations) used to define research variables, select research method, collect and analyze data, interpret and publish results.
- Experiment - Correct answer an organized way to prove or disprove a hypothesis derived from observations.
- Be able to identify the IV and DV if presented a study example.
- Function of Nervous system - Correct answer To allow rapid, specific communication throughout the body
- Neuron - Correct answer a nerve cell; the basic building block of the nervous system
- Axon - Correct answer also known as a nerve fiber; conducts electrical impulses away from the neuron's cell body; "Axon's Announce"--are cell's transmitter
- Dendrite - Correct answer Multiple, usually shorter fibers which receive signals from the axons of other neurons, are cells "receivers"
- Myelin sheath - Correct answer a fatty substance that insulates the axon from other neurons, makes nerve conduction- faster
- Terminal branches - Correct answer form junctions with other cells
- Terminal buttons - Correct answer area at the end of an axon fiber which holds inside of it small sacks called synaptic vesicles
- Cell body/Soma - Correct answer The largest part of a cell, the cell body holds all of the general parts of a cell as well as the nucleus and supports the entire neuron.
- Vesicle - Correct answer sacs of neurotransmitters at the terminal buttons of axons
- Neural impulse - Correct answer electrical discharge that travels along a nerve fiber
- Threshold - Correct answer the level of stimulation required to "fire" a neuron.
- Action potential - Correct answer a neural impulse; a brief electrical charge that travels down an axon.
- Synapse - Correct answer the junction between the axon tip of the sending neuron and the dendrite or cell body of the receiving neuron. Also called the Synaptic Cleft/Gap because there is a small gap between the dendrite and axon.
- Neurotransmitters - Correct answer chemical messengers that cross synaptic gaps between neurons. When released by the sending neuron, neurotransmitters travel across the synapse and bind to receptor sites on the receiving neuron,
influencing whether it will generate a neural impulse. "Lock and Key" model - the neurotransmitter is specific to a receptor cell on the dendrite.
- Reuptake - Correct answer a neurotransmitter's reabsorption by the sending neuron.
- Agonists - Correct answer a molecule that mimics the neurotransmitter's effects on the receiving neuron.
- EEG- "electroencephalogram" - Correct answer an amplified recording of the waves of electrical activity that sweep across the brain's surface. Measured by electrodes placed on the scalp
- PET- "positron emission tomography" - Correct answer a visual display of brain activity that detects what a radioactive form of glucose does while the brain performs a given task
- MRI- "magnetic resonance imaging" - Correct answer - technique for revealing blood flow and, therefore, brain activity by comparing successive MRI scans. Shows brain function
- fMRI- "functional magnetic resonance imaging - Correct answer technique for revealing blood flow and, therefore, brain activity by comparing successive MRI scans. Shows brain function.
- Brainstem - Correct answer oldest part of the brain, beginning where the spinal cord swells and enters the skull.
- Medulla - Correct answer base of the brain stem that controls heartbeat and breathing
- Reticular formation - Correct answer - a nerve network in the brainstem that plays an important role in controlling arousal.
- Thalamus - Correct answer the brain's sensory switchboard, directs messages to the sensory areas in the cortex and transmits replies to the cerebellum and medulla.
- Cerebellum - Correct answer the "little brain" attached to the rear of the brainstem. Helps coordinate voluntary movements and balance
- Limbic system - Correct answer A doughnut shaped system of neural structures at border of brainstem and cerebrum, associated with emotions such as fear, aggression, and drives for food and sex. Includes the hippocampus, amygdala, and hypothalamus.
- Amygdala - Correct answer consists of two lima bean-sized neural clusters linked to the emotions of fear/anger.
- Hypothalamus - Correct answer lies below the thalamus and directs several maintenance activities like eating, drinking, body temperature, and control of the emotions. Helps govern the endocrine system via the pituitary gland. helps keep body in homeostasis.
- Hippocampus - Correct answer processes conscious memories.
- Frontal lobes - Correct answer portion of the cerebral cortex lying just behind the forehead; involved in speaking and muscle movements and in making plans and judgements.
- Parietal lobes - Correct answer portion of the cerebral cortex lying at the top of the head and toward the rear; receives sensory input for touch and body position.
- Temporal lobes - Correct answer portion of the cerebral cortex lying roughly above the ears; includes the auditory areas; each receiving information from the opposite ear.
- Occipital lobes - Correct answer portion of the cerebral cortex lying at the back of the head; includes areas that receive information from the visual fields
- Motor cortex - Correct answer an area at the rear of the frontal lobes that controls voluntary movements
- Sensory cortex - Correct answer area at the front of the parietal lobes that registers and processes body touch and movement sensations.
- Association areas - Correct answer areas of the cerebral cortex that are not involved in primary motor or sensory functions; rather, they are involved in higher mental functions such as learning, remembering, thinking, and speaking.
- Corpus callosum - Correct answer the large band of neural fibers that connects the two brain hemispheres and carries messages between them
- Split-brain - Correct answer a condition resulting from surgery that isolates the brain's two hemispheres by cutting the fibers (mainly those of the corpus callosum) connecting them.
- Neural plasticity - Correct answer the brain's ability to change, especially during childhood, by reorganizing after damage or by building new pathways based on experience
- Neurosurgery - Correct answer The medical specialty concerned with prevention, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation of disorders which affect any portion of the nervous system including the brain, spinal cord, peripheral nerves, and extra- cranial cerebrovascular system.
- Central Nervous system - Correct answer Consists of the brain and spinal
- Peripheral Nervous System - Correct answer Consists of all other neurons
- Somatic nervous system - Correct answer enables voluntary control of our skeletal muscles
- Autonomic nervous system - Correct answer controls our glands and the muscles of our internal organs
- Endocrine system - Correct answer Systems of glands and ducts throughout body. Excretes hormones in the body
- Left hemisphere - Correct answer o Regulation of positive emotion Understanding writing and speech Memory for words and numbers Spontaneous speaking and writing Control of sequencing of movements
- Right hemisphere - Correct answer o Regulation of negative emotion Responses to simple commands Memory for shapes and music Recognition of faces Interpreting spatial relationships and visual images
- Dual processing - Correct answer the principal that information is often simultaneously processed on separate conscious and unconscious tracks.
- Selective attention - Correct answer the focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus
- Inattentional blindness - Correct answer failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere.
- Circadian rhythm - Correct answer Our "biological clock", it can be altered by artificial light; occur on a 24-hour cycle and include sleep and wakefulness.
- REM sleep - Correct answer rapid eye movement sleep, recurring sleep stage during which vivid dreams commonly occur. Also known as paradoxical sleep because the muscles are relaxed (except of minor twitches) but other body systems are active.
- Normal waking consciousness: Stage 1 - Correct answer The period when a person's eyes are closed and have yet to fall asleep. The brain slows down and enters a very low-amplitude, wave form called alpha waves (9-14cps)
- Normal waking consciousness: Stage 2 - Correct answer During early, light sleep the brain enters a low-amplitude, regular wave form called theta waves (5-8cps).
- Normal waking consciousness: Stage 3-4 - Correct answer During deepest sleep, brain activity slows down. There are large-amplitude, slow delta waves (1.5-4cps). High and low waves.
- Alpha waves - Correct answer the relatively slow brain waves of a relaxed, awake state (9-14cps)
- Delta waves - Correct answer The brain emits large, slow delta waves first, in stage three, then four. brain waves associated with deep sleep (1.5-4cps)
- Hallucinations - Correct answer false sensory experiences, such as seeing something in the absence of visual stimulus; MRI indicates brain activity in visual cortex during hallucinations.
- Narcolepsy - Correct answer Overpowering urge to fall asleep that may occur while talking or standing up.
- Sleep apnea - Correct answer Failure to breathe when asleep.
- Night terrors - Correct answer The sudden arousal from sleep with intense fear accompanied by physiological reactions (e.g., rapid heart rates, perspiration) which occur during Stage 4 sleep.
- Dream - Correct answer a sequence of images, emotions, and thoughts passing through a sleeping person's mind. Dreams are notable for their hallucinatory imagery, discontinuities and incongruities, and for the dreamers delusional acceptance of the content and the later difficulties of remembering it.
- Hypnosis - Correct answer a social interaction in which one person (the hypnotist) suggests to another (the subject) that certain perceptions, feelings, thoughts, or behaviors will spontaneously occur.
- Posthypnotic suggestion - Correct answer A suggestion, made during a hypnosis session, to be carried out after the subject is no longer hypnotized; used by some clinicians to help control undesired symptoms and behaviors
- Psychoactive drug - Correct answer a chemical substance that alters perceptions and moods
- Tolerance - Correct answer the diminishing effect with regular use of the same drug, requiring the user to take larger and larger doses before experiencing the drugs effect.
- Withdrawal - Correct answer the discomfort and distress that follow discontinuing the use of an addictive drug.
- Physiological Dependence - Correct answer a physiological need for a drug, marked by unpleasant withdrawal symptoms when the drug is discontinued; tolerance for a drug.
- Psychological Dependence - Correct answer a psychological need to use a drug, such as to relieve negative emotions. Cannot stand not having and spends a lot of time seeking it.
- Addiction - Correct answer compulsive drug craving and use, despite adverse consequences.
- Depressants - Correct answer drugs that reduce neural activity and slow body functions (alcohol, benzodiazepines, opiates)
- Barbiturates - Correct answer drugs that depress the activity of the CNS, reducing anxiety but impairing memory.
- Opiates - Correct answer opium and its derivatives, such as morphine and heroin; they depress neural activity, temporarily lessening pain and anxiety.
- Stimulants - Correct answer drugs that excite and stimulate neural activity and speed up body functions (caffeine, cocaine, powerful amphetamines)
- Amphetamines - Correct answer - drugs that stimulate neural activity, causing accelerated body functions and associated energy and mood changes. (examples: cocaine, amphetamines, nicotine, caffeine)
- Methamphetamine - Correct answer a powerfully addictive drug that stimulates the CNS, with accelerated body functions and associated energy and mood changes over time, appears to reduce baseline dopamine levels.
- Hallucinogens - Correct answer psychedelic drugs such as LSD that distort perceptions and evoke sensory images in the absence of sensory input.
- Antidepressants/SSRIs (prescription medication - Correct answer Drugs used to treat depression; also increasingly prescribed for anxiety. different types work by altering the availability of various neurotransmitters.