PSY 100 Final Exam Study Guide
Spring 2007
I went through the text and slides and these are the sections/topics that I feel are the most important. Topics for the final exam will come from the study guide. If a topic is not listed here, it will not be on the final exam.
For any of the stage models (e.g., Piaget, Freud, etc.) you don’t need to memorize the ages at each stage but rather recognize and know what happens in each stage.
The exam will cover chapters 1-9, 12, 13, 14, 16, & 17. About 10 questions will cover chapter
17. The remaining 40 questions will be from the previous chapters. It will be 50 multiple choice questions worth 100 points total.
Chapter 1
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Definition of psychology
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History of psych o Wundt – Know him, what he did, Father of psychology o William James - Know him, what he did, Father of American psychology o Mary Whiton Calkins – First woman APA president o Francis Sumner – First African-American Ph.D. in psych in U.S.
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Major perspectives in psych o Be familiar and be able to recognize the main ideas/themes of each perspective in
Table 1.1, p. 12
Chapter 2 – Science of psychology
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Specific research methods o Be able to recognize/differentiate the different methods: Experimental method, case study, naturalistic observation, surveys, correlations o Define: Operational definition o Know the correlation coefficient & what r -values mean/indicate
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Avoiding bias in research – Ethnocentrism – define
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Ethics in research o Informed consent, Debriefing – define, recognize
Chapter 3 – Neuroscience – Brain and behavior
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Neuron o Know the parts of a neuron & how it functions/transmits messages
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Divisions of the nervous system – know the divisions & their responsibilities o Peripheral
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Somatic – sensory/voluntary movement
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Autonomic system – automatic processes
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Sympathetic (fight-or-flight response), Parasympathetic (controls normal, daily operations) o Central nervous system
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Brain – know the following brain structures & their functions:
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Hypothalamus, Hippocampus, Amygdala, Corpus callosum

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Lobes of the brain – table 3.3, p. 71
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Genetics – Differentiate Genotype, Phenotype
Chapter 4 – Child development
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Concordance rate – define
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Visual cliff – know what it is and what is was used for
 Piaget’s stages of cognitive development – know what they are and what happens in each stage o Object permanence - define o Conservation – define
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Attachment o Attachment in rhesus monkeys – Harlow – know what happened in this study o Attachment styles in humans – Bowlby
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Be able to recognize examples of secure, avoidant, and resistant (p. 123) attachment styles
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Erikson’s stages of Psychosocial development - know what they are and what happens in each stage (Table 4.4.)
Chapter 5 – Adolescence & Adulthood
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Eating disorders: define/differentiate Anorexia & Bulimia Nervosa, (p. 146)
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Cognitive distortions – imaginary audience, personal fable, define them
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Suicide rates in teens – girls attempt more often, boys complete more often
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Define Gender identity, gender intensification
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Telomeres – know what they are
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Nun Study – use your brain or lose it – know the study
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Erikson Revisited (the rest of the psychosocial stages) - know what they are and what happens in each stage
Chapter 6 – Sensation & Perception
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Define Sensation vs. perception
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Know Bottom-up vs. top-down analysis
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Selective attention, Inattentional blindness – define
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Structures of the visual system o Know these parts:
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Retina, Rods/cones, optic nerve o Transduction – define
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Gestalt laws of organization – know them
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Know where/how transduction occurs in the ear
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Sound localization – know how this works
Chapter 7 – Consciousness
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Define consciousness
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Sleep-circadian rhythms – define
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Sleep disorders – know the different sleep disorders
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Know the Freudian, Cognitive, and Activation Synthesis (Hobson) theories of dreams
(see table 7.2 for summaries)

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Psychoactive drugs o Substance abuse vs. Substance dependence – know the difference
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Tolerance & Withdrawal – define o Know the different categories of drugs & their effects
Chapter 8 – Learning
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Define learning
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Types of learning o Classical Conditioning – be able to define and recognize examples of these
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Unconditioned stimulus, conditioned stimulus, unconditioned response, conditioned response, neutral stimulus
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Extinction, spontaneous recovery – define
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Stimulus generalization & stimulus discrimination – define
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Garcia effect o Operant conditioning – be able to define and recognize examples of these
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Positive & negative reinforcement
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Positive & negative punishment
 Reinforcement schedules o Social/Observational learning
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Power of modeling (Bobo doll)
Chapter 9 – Memory
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Encoding o Levels of processing – define, recognize examples of different levels
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Types of memory storage – define, know how each works o Sensory memory o Short-term memory o Long-term memory
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Types of long-term memory
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Procedural, declarative, etc. o Flashbulb memory o Bartlett & forgetting – know what his research found out about forgetting
Chapter 12 – Motivation & Emotion
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Define motivation
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Drive theory o We seek homeostasis, we want to reduce drives
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Arousal theory – know Yerkes-Dodson principle
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Extrinsic vs. intrinsic motivation – define o Overjustification effect – know its effect on motivation, how it works
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Maslow o Hierarchy of needs – know each phase
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Sexual response cycle o Desire (not in the book), excitement, plateau, orgasm, resolution o Vasocongestion – define
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Social needs/motives o Thematic Apperception Test – know what it is & how it’s used

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Emotion – define o Display rules – define o James Lange vs. Cannon Bard – know the theories & how they differ o Evolution theory – SADFISH – universal expression of emotion
Chapter 13 – Personality
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Define personality
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Freud o Early life experiences shape our personalities o Structure of the mind
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Id, ego, superego: Know them, what they do, & how they contribute to personality o Psychosexual stages of development
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Oral, Anal, Phallic, Latency, Genital
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Know them & the conflict at each stage o Defense mechanisms
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Know them and be able to recognize examples
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Jung – Collective unconscious – define
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Learning theories o Recognize examples of how classical & operant conditioning and observational learning, social reinforcement can influence personality
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Trait theories o Allport’s Personal disposition theory – define, recognize examples
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Cardinal, secondary, situational traits o Five Factor model – OCEAN
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Know the five factors, know/recognize examples of what it means to be high or low on each factor
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Assessing personality o Projective tests – know how they work, know the different tests o Personality inventories – know how they work, know the different tests
Chapter 14 – Social psych

Define social psych
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Attributions – define o Internal vs. external o Be able to define & differentiate the following from one another:
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Fundamental attribution error
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Self-serving bias
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Actor-observer effect
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Cognitive dissonance theory – define, recognize
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Elaboration Likelihood Model o Central vs. peripheral route – define, recognize
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Prosocial behavior – define o Altruism – define o Bystander effect – define, recognize

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Group identity o Define social facilitation, social loafing, groupthink
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Deindividuation – define o Stanford Prison study – Zimbardo – Know the study & its results
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Define stereotype, prejudice, discrimination – these are tricky & close in definition, be able to differentiate them
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Conformity – Asch, know the study & its results
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Obedience to authority – Milgram – know the study & its results
Chapter 16 – Psych Disorders

Define abnormal behavior
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DSM-IV diagnosis – know the Axes and what goes where (table 16.2)

Be able to recognize & differentiate the disorders from one another o Anxiety disorders
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Generalized anxiety disorder, Panic disorder, Agoraphobia, Obsessive-
Compulsive disorder o Mood disorders
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Major depression, Bipolar disorder o Dissociative disorders
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Dissociative Identity Disorder o Schizophrenia
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Symptoms, Different types – table 16.5 o Personality disorder – Define personality disorder
Chapter 17 – Therapy – About 10 questions will come from this chapter

Effectiveness of therapy o Dodo bird effect – define
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Common factors – define, recognize these o Therapeutic alliance, explanation of symptoms, plan for treatment
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Psychoanalysis – recognize the different techniques
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Humanistic – recognize the different techniques
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Behavior therapy – recognize the different techniques o Fear-reduction models
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Group therapy o Common factors
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Universality, instillation of hope, altruism
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Biomedical therapy o Types of drugs o Antianxiety, antidepressants, Antimania – lithium, antipsychotic – know these and what they do (it’s mostly self-explanatory no?) o Psychosurgery, Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) – know what these are and what they are/were used for