Spring 2003
Test #1 Review
Toughest Point refers areas that introductory psychology students usually get confused about. Key Points
refer to areas that will be guaranteed to have at least one question on the test.
Chapter 1 Introduction and History
Toughest Point: Distinguishing independent and dependent variable.
Key Points:
What is psychology? (focus on the definition)
What are the steps to critical thinking? (straight from the book)
Structuralism
(who were the leaders? what were the main tenets
Behavioralism
of these historical schools?)
Functionalism
Freudian school
Contemporary schools of psychology: Biological psychology
Contemporary schools of psychology: Humanistic psychology
Contemporary schools of psychology: Cognitive psychology
Feminist psychology
Careers in psychology
Difference between psychology and psychiatry
Chapter 2: Research Methods
What makes psychology scientific?
Steps in Research Process (e.g., replication, observation, . . .)
Naturalistic observation (know the strengths and weaknesses of each method
Experimental methods
& when a method would be appropriate)
Case Study
Survey/Interview
Independent & dependent variable
Random assignment
What is a correlation?
(what does it mean? how to interpret)
Correlation and causation
Research ethics (What is informed consent? debriefing?)
Ethics of studying animals
Spring 2003
Chapter 4 Biological Psychology
Toughest Point: Remembering each of the different brain areas’ functions.
Key Points:
Nature versus Nurture
Chemical Process in neuron transmission
Electrical process in neuron transmission
Anatomy of the neuron (remember DSATS)
Different techniques for studying brain (MRI, EEG)
Hindbrain (what are the main functions of these parts of the brain?)
Limbic system
Hypothalamus
Cortex
How the brain can change (plasticity)
Right side versus Left side (what are the functions)
Split brain patients
Gender differences in brain structures
Hints: When studying the parts of the brain, just focus on the basic functions of each area, e.g., the
midbrain is a relay station for sending various signals to more complex parts of the brain.
Previous Test Items:
Chapter 1
The early school of psychological thought that emphasized the study of how immediate, conscious
experience is organized was
A. structuralism.
B. functionalism.
C. behaviorism.
D. psychoanalysis.
Wilhelm Wundt
A) influenced Maslow
B) was a functionalist
C) founded the first psychological laboratory
D) was a cohort of Skinner
Which school of psychology, according to your professor, originated in the feel-good, peace/war protest
movement of the 1960s?
A) evolutionary
B) amicable
C) humanistic
D) cognitive
The broadest definition of psychology describes it as the science of
A) behavior and mental processes
B) mental events
C) mental disease
D) cognition and the brain
Spring 2003
Behaviorism believes that psychology should focus on
A) overt actions
B) hereditary influences
C) perceptual organizations
D) cognitive processes
Chapter 2
In an experiment on auto safety, researchers drove cars into a wall at 35 miles an hour and varied the angle
at which they hit, to see what effect the angle had on the "injuries" to the crash dummies. In this
experiment, the dummies' injuries would be the ______ variable.
A. control
B. theoretical
C. independent
D. dependent
Which of the following research methods is most likely to be useful to a psychologist who wants to find out
how people typically behave in a certain fairly common situation?
A. surveys
B. naturalistic observation
C. case studies
D. controlled experiment
Replication is important in the scientific method because it guards against
A. the overuse of inappropriate statistical tests
B. the lack of sufficient extraneous variables
C. variables that are incorrectly measured
D. the tendency to bias the results of an experiment
In psychology, a theory is a(n)
A. collection of interrelated ideas and facts used to explain and predict behavior and mental processes.
B. scientist's personal beliefs about what is or is not likely to happen under certain circumstances.
C. specific technique that can be used to measure certain important psychological variables.
D. idea that someone has about behavior and mental processes that has never been tested.
Which method allows you to say that one variable caused a change in another variable?
A. experiential method
B. experimental method
C. observational method
D. case study method
Chapter 4 items
The thick band of fibers that connects the two hemispheres of the brain is called the
A. reticular formation.
B. limbic system.
C. corpus callosum.
D. spinal cord.
Spring 2003
The hypothalamus is a brain structure that acts in part to regulate
A. anger and happiness.
B. sleep and wakefulness.
C. sensory information processing.
D. eating and drinking behavior.
When an electrical impulse travels to the end of an axon, it produces
A. electrical resistance in the next cell.
B. the release of a neurotransmitter chemical.
C. a sensation of pain in the nerve ending.
D. the growth of a new synaptic vessicle.
The advantage of an EEG is that it
A. uses radioactive dyes injected into a person's blood
B. provides immediate information about overall brain activity
C. is able to locate tumors in brain structures
D. provides accurate detailed pictures of brain structures
Which of the following will make a neuron LESS likely to fire?
A. myelin sheath on its axon
B. a polarized neural membrane
C. a quick neurotransmitter uptake
D. an inhibitory post-synaptic potential
Chapter 1:
Chapter 2:
Chapter 4:
A,C,C,A,A
D,B,D,A,B
C,D,B,B,D