Midterm 1 - Study Guide

Week 1 & 2 - Chapter 1

● What are the differences between psychology and related disciplines like philosophy?
o psych originated in philosophy, philosophy emphasized virtue and psych wanted
to find a relationship between the mind and the body
● Who were some of the founding figures in psychological science?
o Wilhelm Wundt - Structuralism + Introspection
o William James - Functionalism
o What were the differences between their approaches?
▪ structuralism: experiences can be broken down into smaller components
(smell, colors, sight, etc).
▪ functionalism: what are adaptive purposes to the brain?

● What were the names of some of the major movements in psychology?

o psychoanalysis: bringing subconscious details in the front of the mind to make
sense of conflict
o behavioralism: effect of environmental factors on behavior, believed ALL factors
of human life could only be affected by the way you were nurtured
o cognitive psych: study of mental functions
o neuroscience: understanding the way the brain functions to produce behaviors
o What theoretical or methodological changes happened as a result of those
movements?
▪ behaviorism was a response to Freudian psychoanalysis

● discredit unconscious characteristics → if it couldn’t be observed,

then it didn’t matter
▪ cognitive revolution responded to behaviorism

● not everything could be explain by surroundings, some behaviors

are innate
● What is the mind/body problem?
o are the mind and body are separate entities or if the mind influences the body
▪ interactionism: physical brain + immaterial mind interact

▪ epiphenomenalism: physical brain influences immaterial mind

▪ physicalism: brain is physical and the mind is the actions of the brain
 ▪ idealism: both are immaterial and the mind is an illusion

● We discussed research on effective studying the first day of class. What did that
research show?
o don’t procrastinate and use active recall, study every 3 days

Week 2 - Chapter 2 - FRI

● What is the difference between a theory and a hypothesis?
o theory: results from repeated experiments support multiple instances of a
phenomenon → PREDICTS EVENTS AND BEHAVIOR
o hypothesis: tentative question that describes observations → testable prediction
that’s prompted by a theory
● What is the H.O.M.E.R. approach in scientific method?
o Hypothesize
o Operationalism
o Measure
o Evaluate
o Replicate, Revise, Report
o Do you know what those terms mean?
▪ describe, predict, control, explain human behavior

● What are the different kinds of study designs?

o Descriptive, Correlational, Experimental
▪ Descriptive: observe and classify behavior (Naturalistic observations +
Cast studies)
▪ Correlational: observe relationships between naturally occurring
variables
▪ experimental: independent variable is manipulated to observe effects on
the unchanged dependant variable, explore causation
● What is a correlation coefficient?
o a value that demonstrates the strength of a correlational relationship between
variables that ranges from -1 to 1
o What do different values of these mean?
▪ the negative values indicate a lack of a correlation and the positive r
values imply a stronger correlation between variables, BUT NOT
CAUSATION! THERE ARE ALWAYS OTHER FACTORS TO CONSIDER!
● What are different ways psychologists sample subjects in the population?
 o convenience sample: take a sample of a population from a commonly available
setting (ex) College students)
o stratified sample, random sample → randomly select individuals from a
population so they have an equal chance of being in the sample
● What is the difference between validity and reliability?
o validity: Internal, External, Construct
▪ Internal: are results from the dependant variable a result of the
manipulated independent variable or are they from confounding
variables
▪ External: the extent to which results from the study are generalizable to
other contexts and/or populations not specific to the sample
▪ Construct: how well the experimental design operationalized variables
and measured the dependant variable after manipulating the
independent one
o Reliability means that the results of a study have been repeated enough times to
show consistent results and demonstrate common behavior patterns
▪ reliable: stable measurements!

▪ accurate: error-free measurements!

● What are the different types of descriptive statistics used in psychology?

o Central Tendency and Variability
o What are some examples of each?
▪ Mean, Median, Mode + Standard Deviation (respectively)

● How do psychologists maintain ethical standards?

o by adhering to the Belmont report (informed consent, anonymity, right to
withdraw, debriefing)

Week 3 - Chapter 9
● What are the brain structures involved in triggering puberty?
o anterior + posterior hippocampus secrete hormones into the bloodstream when
someone reaches puberty.
o Frontal Cortex - controls behavior, not developed until adulthood
o limbic system - process emotions and memories, develop slower so teens are
more impulsive
● What are Piaget stages of development?
o sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, formal operational
o What are the capacities are acquired at described at different stages?
 ▪ sensory info gained through exploring world, kids develop ego, kids have
difficulty with abstract thinking, adults are better at hypothetical reasonig
● What were stages of Eriksons’s theory of lifespan development?
o age-related psychosocial challenges are a normal part of development. if you can
get past conflict in a stage, you can move onto the next one because you’ve
matured enough to understand specific contexts (Epigenetic Principle)
o What conflicts defined each?
▪ Identity vs Confusion: people find place in society or unsure of selves

▪ Intimacy vs Isolation: form relationships or not and stay egocentric

▪ Generativity vs Stagnation: give to community and find purpose

▪ Integrity vs Despair: reflect on life and goals met, be fulfilled with life

● What is sex and what is gender (as traditionally defined in psychology)?

o sex = anatomical features, gender = own perception of identity in regard to
societal gender norms
● What is cultural identity?
o person forms a sense of identity based on the environment they grow up in
(majority and/or minority culture). Intersectionality!!! People with multiple
marginalized identities will have different experiences
● What is attachment theory?
o behavior in close relationships are influenced by a goal system
▪ people stay close to caregivers to get food + care and healthy kids show
distress when caregivers leave
▪ early experiences influence later behavior
o What are the different types of attachment?
▪ secure, avoidant, resistant, disorganized

● What was found in the “Strange Situation” experiments?

o observe infant reactions to caregiver leaving and being left with a stranger to
determine attachment styles
▪ secure + avoidant are generally healthy kids, disorganized attachment
may indicate abuse or neglect → attachment styles change through life
● What do studies show about the impact of screen time on kids?
o Having a better usage of screen time can slightly benefit brain development
(r=0.13), but going off the rails and giving kids ipads 24/7 is also bad. Either way,
 the correlation is small (r=-0.14). So screen time isn’t the only thing that can
worsen development, there are always other factors involved outside of it. But
being aware of screen time is a good precaution.
● What is dementia?
o mental abilities deteriorate progressively (memories, recall, thinking, etc).
doesn’t show drastic personality changes unlike in alzheimers
● What cognitive abilities begin to decline as we age?
o thinking, memory, behavior, sight, hearing

Week 4 - Chapter 10
● What are primary and secondary emotions?
o primary emotions are universally felt (sad, happy, mad) and secondary emotions
are combinations of primary emotions to varying degrees (jealousy, nostalgia)
● What is the circumplex model of emotion?
o emotions are strong in valence and arousal. valence is how positive or negative
an emotion is and arousal refers to physiological responses in response to
valence and context
● What are the major theories of emotion (and their names)?
o James Lange theory
o Cannon Bard Theory
o Two Factor Theory
o How are they different from one another?
▪ James Lange - body reacts to stimulus first, then produces emotional
response.
● emotions are influenced by physiological responses

▪ Cannon Bard - mind and body experience emotions separately. (Lesion

studies! Animals still show fear of stimuli even without body response)
▪ Two factor - MISATTRIBUTION OF AROUSAL because emotions and
physical response occur simultaneously
● emotions are a result of labeling and understanding physical
responses to stimuli
● What did Ekman’s theories contribute to our understanding of emotion?
o emotions are adaptive and help people survive (fear, disgust, etc)
o universality in facial expressions help people fit into social contexts
● How does emotion serve decision making?
 o emotions guide behavior! Just as important as logic! emotions heighten the
importance of goals
o emotions affect recall
o emotions are heuristics used to predict future contexts (risk judgements!)
● What are some differences between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation?
o intrinsic = motivation comes from self and doing something good for the sake of
it, extrinsic = reward/punishment systems and operant conditions influence
people to work in order to reach a goal
o Which one is better for motivating behavior in the long run?
▪ intrinsic! be passionate instead of bribed/addicted

● What is self-determination theory?

o Competence, Automoney, Relatedness → people control their lives and belong
● What are implementation intentions?
o plans that help people remain motivated to achieve goals
o How do they help with goal attainment?
▪ being specific can be energizing and drive people to complete something,
set certain limits for when something can be done
● What is the need to belong?
o humans have evolved to be social and fit into groups in order to survive. people
have an innate need to belong in order to benefit self esteem and function in
society