Name ___________________________________________________________ Hour ____
Psychology Final Exam Study Guide
Directions: Answer the following question on separate sheet(s)
of lined paper. The study guide is due the day of your final
exam. Due Date : ________________
Unit 1- The Nature of Psychology
1. Define each of the five perspectives in psychology
a) Biological, Behavior, Psychoanalytic, Cognitive & Phenomenological
(Humanist)
2. Be able to identify how each perspective would explain the causes or treatments
of psychological problems
3. Why are there multiple approaches (perspectives) in psychology?
Unit 2- The Biological Basis of Behavior
I. Brain Structures:
1. Define neuron
a) How does a neuron transmit neural impulses?
b) What are the basic parts of a neuron and their function?
2. Parts of the cerebral hemispheres:
a) Lobes (parietal, occipital, temporal, frontal)
b) Functions: Motor, Somatosensory, Visual, auditory and associative areas
(cortex)
c) Corpus Callosum-location and function
3. Parts of the central core- function ONLY
a) Medulla, cerebellum. Thalamus, Hypothalamus, Reticular system
II. Intelligence Testing.
1. What is IQ, and how is it measured?
2. Identify the range of normal, and each standard deviation
(e.g. Gifted etc)
Unit 3- Learning and Conditioning
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What is classical conditioning?
Define NS, UCS, UCR, CS, CR
Who was Ivan Pavlov?
Describe his experiment
What is Operant Conditioning?
6. How do classical and operant conditioning differ?
7. What is generalization?
8. What is discrimination?
9. What is extinction?
10. How is each (above) used to condition behavior?
11. What is positive reinforcement?
12. How is it used to alter behavior?
13. What is shaping?
14. How is shaping used in operant conditioning?
15. What is aversive conditioning?
16. How do Punishment and Negative reinforcement differ?
17. What is escape?
18. What is avoidance?
19. Give an example of escape/avoidance
20. What is misbehavior?
Unit 4- Psychological Development
I.
What is the Nature vs. Nurture Debate?
A. Define each term- nature vs. nurture
B. What is stage theory?
C. What are critical periods?
III. Jean Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development
A. What are the four stages of Cognitive Development?
1. Define each stage, and explain accomplishments at each level.
2. Include ages and experiments to test levels
B. What have been some criticisms of Piaget’s Theory?
IV. Attachment
1. What is attachment, and why is it so important?
2. Describe the strange situation experiment
a.) What are the three forms of attachment that result from the strange
situation?
-Describe each
3. What is the famous monkey experiment?
4. What comparisons may be made between human infant, and monkey
development?
V. Gender Identification & Sex Typing
1. What is Gender Identification? Sex typing?
2. How are gender identification and sex typing different?
3. What are the four main theories of Gender identification and sex typing
a.) Describe each theory in detail
- Sigmund Freud, Social Learning, Cognitive Developmental, Gender
Schema
VI. Adolescence
1. What is adolescence?
2. What are the major psychological changes that teens encounter during
adolescence?
3. Why is adolescent parent conflict a “normal” part of social development?
4. How have standards for sexual behavior changed over the past 30 years?
VII. Erik Eriksson’s Psychosocial Stages
1. What are the eight stages of social development according to Erikson?
2. What are the major crises and outcomes at each stage?
3. What determines progress “up the ladder” or stagnation at a stage?