Psych 101 General Psychology Final Exam Review Notes

Sensation and Perception (5 questions)

  • Eye Processing of Signals:
    • Rods and Cones: Understand the function of rods (light sensitivity) and cones (color vision) in the eye.
    • Transduction: Understand how the eye converts light into electrical signals that the brain can interpret.
  • Color Theories:
    • Trichromatic Color Theory: Understand that color perception arises from the activity of three different types of cone receptors, each sensitive to a different range of wavelengths (short, medium, and long).
    • Opponent Process Theory: Understand that color perception arises from opposing retinal processes (red-green, yellow-blue, white-black).
  • Gestalt Theory:
    • Know that the brain looks for patterns to organize sensory information.
    • Understand how elements blend into foreground and background to create a complete perception.
  • Sense of Smell: Understand how the brain processes olfactory information.
  • Pain: Review the mechanisms and pathways involved in the perception of pain.

Sleep and Memory (9 questions)

  • REM vs. Non-REM Sleep:
    • Understand the distinct characteristics and functions of REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep and non-REM sleep stages.
  • Purpose of Sleep:
    • Understand the current scientific understanding of why we sleep (e.g., memory consolidation, restoration).
  • Sleep Cycle Length:
    • Know approximately how long one sleep cycle lasts (around 90 minutes).
  • Sleep Hygiene:
    • Know how to practice good sleep hygiene (e.g., consistent sleep schedule, dark and quiet environment).
  • Implicit vs. Explicit Memory:
    • Understand the difference between implicit (non-declarative) and explicit (declarative) memory.
  • Confirmation Bias:
    • Know what confirmation bias is: the tendency to favor information that confirms existing beliefs or biases.
  • Suggestibility:
    • Know what suggestibility is, in the context of the Seven Sins of Memory: the tendency to incorporate misleading information from external sources into personal recollections.
  • Blocking and Priming:
    • Blocking: Understand what "blocking" is: a temporary failure to retrieve information that is stored in memory.
    • Priming: Understand what priming is: the process by which exposure to one stimulus influences a response to a subsequent stimulus, without conscious awareness.
  • Long-term, Short-term, and Sensory Memory: Understand the characteristics, capacity, and duration of each type of memory.

Childhood, Growth, and the Lifespan (9 questions)

  • Freud’s Psycho-sexual Stages:
    • Know the stages of psycho-sexual development (oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital).
    • Understand the potential results of being "fixated" in each stage.
  • Assimilation vs. Accommodation:
    • Assimilation: Understand that assimilating is fitting new information to conform with one's existing belief system.
    • Accommodation: Understand that accommodating is changing one's belief system to conform to new information.
  • Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development:
    • Know Piaget’s stages (sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, formal operational).
    • Understand the concepts a child acquires during each stage (e.g., object permanence, conservation of mass).
  • Harlow’s Monkey Experiments:
    • Understand the results of Harlow’s experiments: monkeys preferred the cloth mother when frightened, indicating the importance of comfort and touch.
  • Strange Situation Experiment and Bowlby’s Attachment Styles:
    • Know about the Strange Situation experiment (assessing infant attachment).
    • Understand Bowlby’s attachment styles (secure, anxious-ambivalent, avoidant).
  • Parenting Styles:
    • Know about Authoritarian, Authoritative, and Permissive parenting styles.
    • Understand which style leads to the most well-adjusted children (Authoritative).
  • Fluid vs. Crystalized Intelligence:
    • Know the difference between fluid (ability to solve new problems) and crystalized (accumulated knowledge) intelligence.
  • Erikson’s Stages of Development:
    • Glance over Erikson’s Stages of Development.

Social Psychology (6 questions)

  • Fundamental Attribution Error:
    • Know what the Fundamental Attribution Error is: the tendency to overestimate the role of dispositional factors (personality) and underestimate the role of situational factors in explaining others' behavior.
  • Altruism:
    • Go over what we learned about altruism.
    • Understand when people are likely/not likely to employ it.
  • Bystander Effect (Diffusion of Responsibility):
    • Know what the Bystander Effect is and the Diffusion of Responsibility.
  • Minority Influence:
    • Know what Minority Influence is.
  • Causes of Aggression:
    • Know what the causes of aggression are.
  • Milgram’s Obedience Studies:
    • Understand what Milgram’s Obedience Studies demonstrated: people are likely to conform to people in authority, even when it conflicts with their conscience.

Abnormal Psychology (11 questions)

  • Bio-Psycho-Social Model:
    • Know that psychological disorders are diagnosed through a Bio-Psycho-Social model.
  • Panic Disorder:
    • Review Panic Disorder.
  • OCD-related Disorders:
    • Know what the OCD-related disorders are (Hoarding, Body Dysmorphic Disorder, Anorexia, Bulimia).
  • Dissociative Amnesia:
    • Know what Dissociative Amnesia is.
  • Mood Disorders:
    • Review Mood Disorders.
    • Know the difference between Major Depressive Disorder and Bipolar Disorder.
  • Schizophrenia:
    • Know the difference between the positive and negative effects of Schizophrenia.
  • Personality Disorders:
    • Know what Antisocial Personality Disorder is.
    • Know what Narcissistic Personality Disorder is.
    • Know what Borderline Personality Disorder is.
  • Traits of Personality:
    • Know how to define “traits” of personality.