psych 350 test

PSYCH 350 Exam 1 Study Guide

Here are some things to keep in mind:

• Terms: make sure you know the definition of each and can give examples. A lot of the

questions on the test will be application based. You’ll be given an example and asked

what concept it illustrates.

• Questions: these may be aspects of your reading that were not very emphasized in the

exercises in Canvas. The page numbers can be found in your online textbook, just look

for the numbers on the far left side!

• The test includes 65 multiple choice questions and 3 short responses.

• Don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions!

Lesson 1

Hypothesis

Hindsight bias

Random assignment

Correlational research

Experimental research

Framing of questions

Dependent variable

Unscientific nature of conventional wisdom

• What three things shape our social behavior? Pg. 7 3rd bullet point

• What are the three branches of social psychology called? Pg. 3 figure 2

• What are the five basic ethical principles for research investigators? Pg. 22

• What are the possible explanations for causation when two variables are correlated? Pg.

18

• It seems that when thinking about our future level of happiness, we tend to neglect factors

that will contribute to our future state of mind over time. Revisit Dr. Dan Gilbert’s Ted

Talk from lesson 2. What does he explain they have found about predicting the intensity

and duration of our future emotions?

Lesson 2

Self-esteem

Spotlight effect

Schemas

Social comparison

Collectivistic cultures

Individualistic cultures

Self-efficacy

Self-serving bias

Self-handicapping

Planning fallacy

Self-promotion

Self-verification

Self-monitoring

• What are the characteristics of collectivistic vs individualistic cultures? What are the

various names used to describe these two different cultures? Pg. 33 table 2

• How do we maintain our positive self-image when we experience failure? What about

success? Pg. 45

Lesson 3

Self-fulfilling prophecy

Heuristics

• Representative

• Availability

Counterfactual thinking

Belief perseverance

Dispositional attribution

Misattribution

Situational attribution

Fundamental attribution theory

Self-fulfilling prophecy

Spontaneous trait transference - this term is not in the textbook, but it refers to the phenomenon

that the way you describe others is how they see you.

Ex. you tell Joe that you think Hannah is overconfident. Joe will then automatically label

you as overconfident.

• How is this different from spontaneous trait inference that you have learned

about? Pg. 74

• Name the two types of misattribution and how we use each in analyzing the behavior and

personality of others. Pg. 74

• This term is not in the readings for this section of the course. Learned helplessness is

experienced when an individual perceives no control over repeated bad events and will

cause individuals to give up. You can read more about the term if you’d like on pg. 440.

We will cover it again later in the course.

• Research has demonstrated an association between high self-esteem and the experiences

of aggression, bullying, and narcissism.

Lesson 4

Cognitive dissonance

Self-perception theory

Implicit association test

Implicit attitudes

Implicit Processes

Attitude

This principle is not in your textbook - A part of cognitive dissonance is the tendency we have to

upgrade the option that we choose when trying to decide between two good options.

• Think for a minute: What is it about deciding between two good options that would cause

you to experience cognitive dissonance? Pg. 100

• Would receiving an unexpected reward one time for doing a good job increase or

decrease your intrinsic motivation? On the other hand, what happens when you start to

receive rewards regularly for doing something you already enjoyed? Pg. 106-107

• When aggressors harm innocent victims, how do they think about that victim? Why? End

of pg. 96

• When is the attitudes-follow-behavior effect strongest? Pg. 102

• How does the attitude-action relation work? Pg. 99, first bullet point

• What was found from Philip Zimbardo’s famous study? Pg. 95

Lesson 5

Evolutionary psychology

Natural selection

Culture

Sex

Gender

• What is the evolutionary principle underlying the differences in mating preferences for