General Psychology (04) - Final Exam Study Guide FULL

What is humanistic therapy?

Focuses on personal growth and self‑awareness in a supportive environment. Example: A therapist encourages a client to explore their true feelings without fear of judgment.

What are the important qualities of Rogers’s person‑centered therapy?

1. Unconditional Positive Regard: Accepting the client without judgment (e.g., no criticism for past mistakes). 2. Empathy: Accurately understanding the client’s emotions (“It sounds like that situation hurt you deeply”). 3. Genuineness: The therapist is real and transparent, sharing authentic reactions that help the client.

What is behavioral therapy?

Therapy that aims to change maladaptive behavior using principles of learning. Example: A child receives a sticker each time homework is completed to increase that behavior.

What is exposure therapy?

Gradual or full exposure to feared objects or situations to reduce fear. Example: Someone with a fear of flying watches airplane videos, visits an airport, then takes a short flight.

What is flooding?

An intense form of exposure therapy in which the person is exposed to the feared stimulus all at once for a prolonged period. Example: Someone afraid of heights spends extended time on a skyscraper’s observation deck.

What is systematic desensitization?

Pairing relaxation techniques with gradual exposure to a feared stimulus to reduce anxiety. Example: A person afraid of public speaking imagines giving a speech while practicing deep breathing.

What is a token economy?

A behavior‑modification system where tokens are earned for desired behaviors and exchanged for rewards. Example: Students earn tokens for good behavior and trade them for extra playtime.

What is cognitive therapy?

Helps clients recognize and change distorted or negative thought patterns. Example: Replacing “I’m a failure” with “I made a mistake, but I can learn from it.”

What is cognitive‑behavioral therapy?

Combines cognitive restructuring with behavioral techniques to address psychological issues. Example: Anxious clients reframe thoughts and gradually face feared situations.

Is psychotherapy effective?

Yes; research shows it reliably improves mental health and functioning. Example: Clients with depression often show marked improvement after about 10 sessions of CBT.

What drugs are used to treat schizophrenia, anxiety, depression, and bipolar disorder?

Schizophrenia: Antipsychotics (e.g., risperidone) reduce hallucinations. Anxiety: SSRIs (e.g., sertraline) or benzodiazepines reduce worry/panic. Depression: SSRIs (e.g., fluoxetine) improve mood. Bipolar disorder: Lithium and other mood stabilizers balance mood swings.

What is electroconvulsive therapy (ECT)?

A medical procedure in which controlled electrical currents pass through the brain to treat severe, treatment‑resistant depression. Example: A client with persistent depression improves after several ECT sessions.

What is the life change approach to measuring stress?

Major life events requiring adaptation are tallied; higher totals predict greater illness risk.

What is the daily hassles approach to measuring stress?

Frequent minor annoyances requiring adjustment accumulate and are linked to poorer health outcomes.

What is perceived stress?

Subjective appraisal of situations as stressful; higher perceived stress is associated with worse health.

What is Cannon’s fight‑or‑flight mechanism?

An automatic sympathetic‑adrenal response preparing the organism to confront or flee a threat.

What is Selye’s general adaptation syndrome?

A three‑stage physiological reaction to prolonged stress: Alarm (mobilization), Resistance (adaptation with heightened arousal), Exhaustion (resource depletion, illness risk).

What is the tend‑and‑befriend hypothesis?

Under stress, especially females may protect offspring (“tend”) and seek social alliances (“befriend”) rather than fight or flee.

What are the indirect and direct effect models of stress and illness?

Indirect: Stress promotes unhealthy coping behaviors (e.g., smoking). Direct: Stress triggers physiological changes (e.g., elevated blood pressure) that can lead to disease.

What are Type A and Type B behavior patterns?

Type A: Competitive, time‑urgent, hostile (hostility is the toxic component). Type B: Relaxed and noncompetitive.

What are problem‑focused and emotion‑focused coping?

Problem‑focused: Taking action to change the stressor. Emotion‑focused: Managing emotional distress when the stressor cannot be changed.

How is control related to health?

Greater perceived control lowers stress responses and predicts better health; e.g., nursing‑home residents given responsibility for a plant showed improved well‑being.

How is optimism related to health?

Optimists generally experience better health. Unrealistic optimism: believing bad events are less likely for oneself. Defensive pessimism: setting low expectations to motivate preparation.

What is the relation between social support and health?

Strong social networks buffer stress, promote healthy behaviors, and produce beneficial physiological effects (e.g., lower cortisol), leading to better health and reduced mortality risk.

What is expressive writing?

Writing about emotional experiences; shown to lower stress and improve immune function.

How are exercise, mindfulness, religiosity, gratitude, and acts of kindness related to stress and health?

Each practice reduces stress and enhances well‑being: Exercise lowers anxiety; mindfulness boosts immune function; religiosity provides coping resources; gratitude and kind acts elevate positive affect and resilience.

What is an operational definition?

The precise description of how a concept or variable will be measured and observed in a particular study

What is a case study?

In

Experimental methods?

The researcher changes one variable and measures the effect of that change on another variable.

What is random sampling?

A method of selecting participants for a study where every individual from the population has an equal chance of being chosen

What are positive and negative correlations?

Variable charge in the same direction (positive correlations) Variables charge in opposite directions (negative correlation ions)

Does correlation indicate causation?

Does not indicate causation C could also cause A and B

What is a random assignment?

People are chosen at random to get different parts of the experiment.

What are IVs and DVs?

Independent Variables: manipulated by the experimenter. Independent variables aren't affected by any other variables that the study measures. Dependent Variables: outcome variable. The dependent variable is sometimes called the “response,” the “symptoms”, or the “outcome”. The dependent variable is often the focus of the research study.

What is experimental control?

Factors other than the Independent Variable (IV) are changing, and this could affect the DV.

What is a confound (confounding variable)?

The variables that are potentially responsible for the results are not the variables of interest a third variable, not being directly studied, that influences both the independent and dependent variables in a research study, potentially distorting the observed relationship between them and making it difficult to accurately interpret the results

What is generalizability?

The extent to which the results of a study can be applied to a broader population or different situations beyond the specific sample studied. The Biology of Behavior

What is the myelin sheath?

A protective cover around the axon of a neuron helps send messages faster

What is the action potential?

An electrical signal that travels along the axon to send a message is the on switch that tells the neurons to send messages.

What is a synapse?

A tiny gap between two neurons, like a bridge that lets messages jump from one neuron to the next

What are neurotransmitters?

The chemical that is the message a chemical messenger that carries signals between nerve cells

What are endorphins?

Reduce pain and promote pleasure. Pain medication, or when you rung a while, it doesn't hurt Dopamine Involved in voluntary movement, reward, and learning, memory Someone with Parkinson's disease can't stop moving their hands Serotonin Inhibitory signal Involved in sleep, appetite mood

Epinephrine?

Excitatory signal Involved in stress response Fight or flight response (your adrenaline)

What are agonists and antagonists?

Increase the normal activity of a neurotransmitter: agonist Decreased activity of a neurotransmitter: antagonists

What are the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems?

Sympathetic nervous system: Increases physiological arousal (S for stress) Parasympathetic nervous system: decreases arousal (P for peace)

What is the endocrine system?

A network of glands that produce and release hormones into the bloodstream, acting as chemical messenger to regulate various body functions

What are the pituitary and adrenal glands?

What is the pituitary gland?

Master gland Growth metabolism

What are the adrenal glands?

Important in mood, energy level, stress response Stress hormones adrenaline

What are the EEG and fMRI?

Electroencephalogram (EEG) Detect electrical activity of neurons in particular regions of the brain To detect tumors and seizures Measures the activity of the surface of the brain, doesn’t take pictures of the brain,n records the brain activity fMRI Uses MRI to measure the relative activity of various brain areas during a task When inside, they showed different colored objects, and they showed the brain activity when showing different pictures, and were able to make a 3d picture of the brain and how it responds to certain things.

What is the brainstem?

Medulla: The bottom part of your brainstem that regulates your breathing, heartbeat, blood pressure, and swallowing. Pons: The middle portion of your brainstem that coordinates face and eye movements, facial sensations, hearing, and balance.

What is the amygdala?

Emotion aggression fear

What is the hippocampus?

The gateway to memory helps with learning and spatial navigation Enable the formation of new conscious memories

What are the 4 lobes of the cerebral cortex (e.g., frontal lobe)?

Frontal Partinetal Occipital temporal

What are mirror neurons?

Fire when observing another person doing something

What are the somatosensory and motor cortices?

What is the sensory (somatosensory) cortex?

Receives information about touch sensation

What is the motor cortex?

Voluntary movement

What is plasticity?

Flexibility of brain structures Brain States and Consciousness

What are attentional blindness and change blindness?

In attention blindness, failing to detect available stimuli due to selective attention Change blindness: failing to detect a change in stimuli due to selective attention

How does light affect the SCN, and how are the pineal gland and melatonin involved in our sleep

wake cycle?

What is REM sleep? What happens during REM sleep (e.g., sleep paralysis)?

Rapid eye movement sleep Brain waves resemble wakefulness Eyes move back and forth What is the meaning of “paradoxical sleep?” Paradoxical sleep is another name for rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, a sleep stage when the brain is active but the body is sleeping.. What is sleep paralysis? A psychological phenomenon that occurs when your mind wakes up while your body is still paralyzed. It can happen when you’re falling asleep or waking up.

What are the 3 stages of N

REM sleep? When is growth hormone released from the pituitary gland?

What is N

REM sleep?

What is N1?

Light sleep

What is a hypnagogic jerk?

You feel like you are falling..

What is a hypnagogic hallucination?

You think you hear something or see something that is not there

What is N2?

True sleep Brain activity slows and muscle tension too

What is N3? What happens during N3?

Deep sleep Future slowing of brain activity Hard to awaken Developing Through the Lifespan

What was Piaget’s approach to cognitive development?

Children make constant mental adaptations to new observations and experiences.

What are assimilation and accommodation?

Assimilation: fitting new information into the present system of knowledge For example, a child may learn a new type of dog but still think of it as a "dog," applying their schema for dogs to this new example. Accommodation: as a result of new information, change the existing schema If the child sees an animal that doesn't fit the dog schema, they might modify their concept of animals to include other categories, like "cats."

What are Piaget’s 4 stages of cognitive development (e.g., sensorimotor)?

Sensorimotor Birth to 2 years Understanding that something continues to exist even when it cannot be seen Preoperational Ages 2

What is egocentrism?

Viewing the world only from one's perspective

What is animistic thinking?

Attribute lifelike qualities to inanimate objects..

What is conservation?

Understanding that physical properties do not change when appearance changes. Concrete operational Ages 7

What is reversibility?

The idea is that the stimulus that has been changed can return to its original state.

What is transitivity?

Understanding how components in a series are related Formal operational Age 11

What is Vygotsky’s theory of cognitive development?

Cognitive development results from guidance Children learn and develop through guided interactions with more knowledgeable individuals (like parents, teachers, or peers)

What is the zone of proximal development?

The Level at which a child can almost perform a task independently but still needs support What is scaffolding? The teacher adjusts the amount of support to the children's level of development

What is the theory of mind?

Understand how other people think.

What is Erik Erikson’s stage theory of social development? What is the basic challenge in each of the 8 stages (e.g., trust vs. mistrust)?

Trust vs. mistrust Birth 1 year Trust allows the formation of intimate relationships When infants receive consistent care and love, they develop a sense of trust in their caregivers and the world Mistrust: difficulties forming secure relationships later in life If care is inconsistent or neglectful, infants may develop mistrust Autonomy vs. shame and doubt Ages 1

How did Mary Ainsworth study attachment?

Mary Ainsworth studied attachment by observing infants’ reactions to a series of separations and reunions with their caregiver in a lab setting called the Strange Situation. Based on the infants’ behaviors, she identified different attachment styles—secure, insecure

Insecure

anxious/ambivalent attachment styles?

What are Baumrind’s 4 parenting styles (e.g., authoritarian)?

Authoritative High warmth, high control Child

What are Kohlberg’s 3 stages of moral development (e.g., preconventional)?

Preconventional morality: Based on external consequences like punishment or reward Children focus on avoiding punishment or gaining rewards Conventional morality: Based on conforming to social norms or rules. Individuals seek to gain approval by following the laws Postconventional morality: Based on abstract principles like justice and equality Individuals recognize the importance of social contracts What is the delay of gratification? What was Mischel’s (1961) “marshmallow test?” Delay of gratification: The ability to forego smaller, immediate rewards for greater rewards later The marshmallow test: choice of 1 marshmallow now or 2 in a few minutes It tested self

What is the difference between bottom

up and top

What are absolute thresholds?

Minimal amount of stimulation that can be detected half of the time (the lowest amount you can hear)

What are the different thresholds (the JND)?

The smallest difference in intensity between 2 stimuli that a person can detect You can notice the difference in the brightness of two lights or the weight of two objects.

What is Weber’s law (fraction)?

2 stimuli to be perceived as different in intensity, the second must differ from the first by a constant proportion

What is signal detection theory?

How humans make a decision based on a stimulus and their physical and mental state If a car brakes, the brake lights are a stimulus. However, if a person were driving on a foggy road at night, that same stimulus would cause a more dramatic reaction. Perception results from both sensory information and judgment Things can distract you from detecting things

What is sensory adaptation?

Our sensory receptors become less sensitive to constant or unchanging stimuli over time.e Example: You enter a room with a strong smell, you may notice it at first, but after a few minutes, you no longer perceive the odor as strongly

What is the Gestalt approach (overall – not specific principles such as figure

ground)?

What is figure

ground perception?

What is perceptual constancy?

To perceive the color of an object as consistent even when lighting conditions change Classical Conditioning

What is classical conditioning?

Learning to respond to a new stimulus that has been associated with another stimulus that normally produces the response

How did Pavlov study classical conditioning?

Pavlov studied classical conditioning with dogs. He observed that dogs salivated in response to food (unconditioned stimulus), and after pairing a neutral stimulus (like a bell) with the food repeatedly, the dogs began to salivate at the sound of the bell alone. This demonstrated that a neutral stimulus can trigger a conditioned response when associated with an unconditioned stimulus. Unconditioned response: The automatic or natural reaction to an unconditioned stimulus Example: salivation when food is presented. unconditioned stimulus A stimulus that naturally triggers an unconditioned response Example: Food conditioned response The learned response to a previously neutral stimulus after it has been paired with an unconditioned stimulus Example: salivation in response to the bell conditioned stimulus A neutral stimulus that, after being paired with an unconditioned stimulus, triggers a conditioned response Example: the bell, which after conditioning, causes salivation

What is generalization?

Conditioned response to stimuli that are not the conditioned stimuli but are similar to the CS One dog bites you, so you get scared of all dogs

What is discrimination?

A conditioned response occurs only to a specific stimulus One dog bites you, so you are afraid of that dog, but don’t have a fear of dogs, so you pet the next dog

What is extinction?

Failure to exhibit the CR of the CS because the CS no longer predicts the US If the bell is repeatedly sounded without the food being presented, the dog will gradually stop salivating. The conditioned response (salivation) diminishes and eventually disappears. This is extinction.

What was Watson and Raynor’s study with Little Albert?

The baby was not scared of the rat, but when they showed the rat again and scared the baby with a loud noise and did it over and over again, the baby learned that rat = scared and loud noise, causing the baby to be scared of the rat. The baby generalized because now it is afraid of anything fuzzy, like a rat.