psych midterm review

The scientific study of any aspect of the world uses the scientific method to acquire knowledge. To apply the scientific method, a researcher with a question about how or why something happens will propose a tentative explanation, called a ___________, to explain the phenomenon.
For a scientific explanation to be testable, it must also be ___________.
Char heard from her friends that marijuana use can cure glaucoma so it should be legal in all 50 states. Char knows that she is biased in favor of marijuana legalization, so she decides to exercise some skepticism about this claim. She researches where her friends got their information, how reliable it is, and what other sources say about legalizing marijuana. Char is _____________.
Wilhelm Wundt used ____________ (he called it “internal perception”), a process by which someone examines their own conscious experience as objectively as possible, making the human mind like any other aspect of nature that a scientist observed.
As William James saw it, psychology’s purpose was to study the function of behavior in the world, and as such, his perspective was known as ___________.
Which theorist published research related to the psychology of personality?
Sigmund Freud theorized that many of his patients’ problems arose from the ________________.
Peter is interested in pursuing a ___________ training program with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention after he receives his PhD, which will allow him to further develop his research on adolescent suicide and broaden his research skills under the supervision of CDC researchers.
In 1920, Cecil Sumner was the first _______________________ to receive a PhD in psychology in the United States.
When studying personality traits, someone who is quiet, reserved, and withdrawn will score low on the ___________ trait.
_____________ is a perspective within psychology that emphasizes the potential for good that is innate to all humans.
Edmund wants to identify relatively consistent patterns of thought and behavior, measure these traits, and determine how these traits interact in a particular context to determine how a person will behave in any given situation. Edmund wants to conduct research in the area of _____________.
Recently, the study of personality has taken on a more _________________ approach.
When studying personality traits, someone who is calm, even-tempered, and secure will score low on the __________ trait.
One drawback of _________________________ is that the traits that we possess now evolved under environmental and social conditions far back in human history, and we have a poor understanding of what these conditions were.
Which theorist had the most influence in shaping how clinicians interact with people seeking psychotherapy?
Which kind of psychologist would be consulted in jury selection and witness preparation?
German psychologists immigrated to the United States in the early 20th century to escape Nazi Germany. These men are credited with introducing psychologists in the United States to various __________ principles.
______________________________ is a discipline that focuses on emotional, social, vocational, and health related outcomes in individuals who are considered psychologically healthy.
Create an ordered list of psychological perspectives, with the earliest perspective listed first.
One weakness in the field of cross-cultural psychology is that in looking for differences in psychological attributes across cultures, there remains a need to go beyond simple _____________________________.
___________________ was an American social psychologist who is most famous for research that he conducted on obedience.
A _________________ is essentially a long research paper or bundled published articles describing research that was conducted as a part of the candidate’s doctoral training.
Earning a doctoral degree in psychology is a lengthy process, usually taking between _______ years of graduate study.

Lesson 2/Chapter 2

Lesson 2 corresponds to Chapter 2. Start by studying the Review questions at the end of Chapter 2. Then test your knowledge on these topics from the textbook by answering the following questions.

In order to assess whether viewpoints on decriminalization of marijuana for medical purposes change with age, four groups of participants, ages 20, 30, 40, and 50, are asked whether they support this issue. What is one flaw of this design?
Psychologists focus their attention on __________________________, as well as the cognitive (mental) and physiological (body) processes that underlie behavior.
Scientific knowledge is advanced through a process known as the _______________.
The possible range for a correlation coefficient is ________.
A negative correlation means ________.
We should strive to ______________ with the information we encounter by exercising a degree of healthy skepticism.
In the scientific context, deductive reasoning begins with a ________________ that is then used to reach logical conclusions about the real world.
Krista and Tatiana Hogan are participants in a(n) ________ of conjoined twins who are joined at the head.
Unlike deductive reasoning, conclusions drawn from _______________________ may or may not be correct, regardless of the observations on which they are based.
A basic experiment involves a minimum of ________ participant group(s).
Devine et al. are interested in assessing whether active versus passive play causes a preference for sweet or salty foods in toddlers. They assign groups of children to either an active play, passive play, or no play group and record their food choices when presented with a variety of sweet and salty foods. In this study, ________ is the independent variable and ________ is the control group.
A scientific hypothesis is________________, or capable of being shown to be incorrect.
Correlational research can find a relationship between two variables, but the only way a researcher can claim that the relationship between the variables is cause and effect is to ____________________________.
A(n) ________ is a variable that affects both variables of interest and may falsely give the impression of a cause-and-effect relationship.
The ________ is controlled by the experimenter.
A sample is a subset of individuals selected from a _____________, which is the overall group of individuals that the researchers are interested in.
The major downside of naturalistic observation is that they are often difficult to set up and control. Another potential problem in observational research is __________________.
________ reviews research that is conducted using human participants.
Some researchers gain access to large amounts of data without interacting with a single research participant. Instead, they use existing records to answer various research questions. This type of research approach is known as ____________________.
In ______________________, a researcher compares multiple segments of the population at the same time.
The value of ____________________ is usually represented by the letter r.
While variables are sometimes correlated because one does cause the other, it could also be that some other factor, a ______________________, is actually causing the systematic movement in our variables of interest.
A negative correlation means that the experimental variables move in ______________. directions.
_______________________ or false correlations, occur when people believe that relationships exist between two things when no such relationship exists.
A major advantage of case studies is ________.
The __________________ occurs when people's expectations or beliefs influence or determine their experience in a given situation. In other words, simply expecting something to happen can actually make it happen.
________________refers to the ability to consistently produce a given result. In the context of psychological research, this would mean that any instruments or tools used to collect data do so in consistent, reproducible ways.

Lesson 3/Chapter 3

Lesson 3 corresponds to Chapter 3. Start by studying the Review questions at the end of Chapter 3. Then test your knowledge on these topics from the textbook by answering the following questions.

___________________ is a genetic condition in which red blood cells, which are normally round, take on a crescent-like shape.
A difference in ___________ can explain why one person dies from a disease and another person survives.
Human eggs and sperm each contain 23 ____________, which are composed of long strands of ___________.
__________________ on the other hand, refers to the individual’s inherited physical characteristics, which are a combination of genetic and environmental influences.
Once an electrical signal of a neuron is delivered, excess neurotransmitters in the synapse drift away, are broken down into inactive fragments, or are reabsorbed in a process known as __________________.
The ___________ is the difference in charge between the intracellular and extracellular space of a neuron.
When someone has two copies of the same allele, they are said to be ______________ for that allele.
The _______________________ controls our internal organs and glands and is generally considered to be outside the realm of voluntary control.
Which processes does not occur to excess neurotransmitters in the synapse?
A neuron’s outer surface is made up of a ____________________________.
The spinal cord is functionally organized in ____ segments, corresponding with the vertebrae.
The _____________________, which is the outer surface of the brain, is associated with higher level processes such as consciousness, thought, emotion, reasoning, language, and memory.
The difference in charge across the membrane is called the _______________________, and provides energy for the electrical signal in a neuron.
The ___________ is the deep groove that separates the brain into two halves.
What are the areas of the frontal lobe of the brain?
The auditory cortex is located in which lobe of the brain?
What are the structures of the limbic system?
A __________________________ involves taking a number of x-rays of a particular section of a person’s body or brain.
What imaging techniques collect information about brain functioning?
The___________ contains the medulla, pons, and cerebellum, and is located at the back of the head and looks like an extension of the spinal cord.
The ______________________ receives messages from muscles, tendons, joints, and structures in our ear to control balance, coordination, movement, and motor skills.
__________________________ shows changes in brain activity over time by tracking blood flow and oxygen levels.
The _________ gland is often referred to as the master gland of the endocrine system.

Lesson 4/Chapter 6

Lesson 4 corresponds to Chapter 6. Start by studying the Review questions at the end of Chapter 6. Then test your knowledge on these topics from the textbook by answering the following questions.

_________________ are a motor or neural reaction to a specific stimulus in the environment.
Molly attempts to condition her puppy to greet her when she enters the house. She repeatedly pairs her entry to the house with a treat for the puppy. The puppy eventually acquires this ability, and Molly realizes how irritating it is for the puppy to run up to her every time she enters the house. She attempts to make the puppy stop, and eventually the puppy no longer feels motivated to greet her when she enters the house. The puppy no longer greeting her when she enters the house is an example of _______
_____________________ occurs when an organism makes connections between stimuli or events that occur together in the environment.
What are innate behaviors that are triggered by a broader range of events, such as aging and the change of seasons?
When an organism demonstrates the conditioned response to stimuli that are similar to the condition stimulus, it is called ______________________.
What is an example of a reflex: an unlearned, automatic response by an organism to a stimulus in the environment?
In ________________________, organisms learn to associate a behavior and its consequence.
What is an example of stimulus discrimination?
___________________ means you are increasing a behavior, and punishment means you are decreasing a behavior.
Some studies suggest that _____________television shows, movies, and video games may have antisocial effects on viewers.
A _________________ has no inherent value and only has reinforcing qualities when linked with a primary reinforcer.
Kieran is attempting to condition a parrot to greet him when he enters the room. He repeatedly pairs his entry to the room with a treat for the parrot. Kieran can say that ________ has occurred as soon as the parrot greets him in response to his entry.
When an organism receives a reinforcer each time it displays a behavior, it is called ____________________________.
Frances receives one dollar for every pound of worms she gives her grandfather. Which reinforcement schedule is this?
In a ______________________________, the number of responses needed for a reward varies.
Harold catches fish throughout the day at unpredictable intervals. Which reinforcement schedule is this?
____________________ experiments with rats demonstrated that organisms can learn even if they do not receive immediate reinforcement.
Bandura and other learning researchers proposed a brand of behaviorism called ________________________________.
A factory worker getting paid for every x number of items manufactured is an example of a _________________________schedule?
Kerry is conditioned to fear strawberries. Raspberries are similar to strawberries, and even though no attempt was made to make Kerry fear raspberries, she reacts with fear when she sees them. This is an example of ________.
If you observed a person being punished, you would be less motivated to copy their behavior. This is called ________________.
Bandura conducted research on children’s aggression with a ___________ doll.
John wants to train his daughter to excuse herself before she leaves the table. Although he does not know how often he will reward her for excusing herself, he does know that he will not reward her every time she excuses herself. Which reinforcement schedule is John planning to use?
Bandura’s aggression experiments showed that we watch and learn, and that this learning can have both _____________ and __________ effects.

Lesson 5/Chapter 8

Lesson 5 corresponds to Chapter 8. Start by studying the Review questions at the end of Chapter 8. Then test your knowledge on these topics from the textbook by answering the following questions.

We get information into our brains through a process called ___________ which is the input of information into the memory system.
Pan finds it difficult to learn the alphabet, until he hears the alphabet song. Then he can easily remember it. This is an example of ________ encoding.
_____________________ is encoding of details like time, space, frequency, and the meaning of words, and is usually done without any conscious awareness.
I am trying to learn the names of all 50 states. While I am actively remembering and recalling this information, it is considered ________.
The encoding of words and their meaning is known as _____________________.
Richard Atkinson’s and Richard Shiffrin’s model of human memory is based on the belief that we process memories in the same way that a _______________ processes information.
________________is a temporary storage system that processes incoming sensory memory; sometimes it is called working memory.
In order to remember his lines for the play, Guy repeats his lines over and over again. This process is called ________.
_________________ are memories that are not part of our consciousness. They are memories formed from behaviors.
____________________ has to do with the storage of facts and events we personally experienced.
Remembering ________ is a good example of episodic memory.
___________is what we most often think about when we talk about memory retrieval: it means you can access information without cues.
Based on Karl Lashley’s creation of lesions on the brains of animal and their reaction, he formulated the _______________________.
For many in the baby-boom generation, the Kennedy assassination represents a ________, an exceptionally clear recollection of an important event.
When experiencing ________ amnesia, you experience loss of memory for events that occurred prior to the trauma. When experiencing ________ amnesia, you cannot remember new information.
Specific _______________________ such as epinephrine, dopamine, serotonin, glutamate, and acetylcholine are involved with the process of memory.
___________________happens when information learned more recently hinders the recall of older information.
The formulation of new memories is sometimes called ________, and the process of bringing up old memories is called______________.
According to the ______________________, after exposure to incorrect information, a person may misremember the original event.
______________________ is when memory loss happens before the actual memory process begins.