General Psychology Spring 2011 Comprehensive Assessment:

Study Guide: Please print this form out and fill in the blanks. You will need to select 50/60 test
items to answer for the final.

1. Psychology is best defined as the

2. The goals of psychology are to (name 4 things…)

3. A study to determine the degree of relationship between two events is called

4. What is the range of scores for a coefficients of correlation? What indicates the strongest relationship between two
sets of variables?

5. To be confident that a cause-and-effect relationship exists, it is necessary to conduct what type of research?

6. The independent variable in an experiment is (define)

7. The dependent variable is the one that is revealed by the subjects’…

8. Psychologists who advocate the ____ view seek to explain behavior through the activity of the brain and nervous
system, genetics, the endocrine system, physiology, and evolution.

9. The individual nerve cells specialized to carry and process information are called
10. Neurons "talk" to each other chemically when the ____ are released.

11. The central nervous system is composed of what 2 major parts

12. What part of the brain is superior at language, computational math, and analytic thought.

13. A close emotional bond that infants form with parents, caregivers, or others is called

14. Using existing mental patterns in new situations involves ____, while changing these patterns involves ____.

15. What is the correct order of Piaget's stages of intellectual development?

16. The stages of life proposed by Erikson are distinct and each as each pose what type of challenge

17. When psychosocial dilemmas are successfully resolved, what occurs?

18. Research suggests that the two most basic states of sleep are

19. Daytime stress tends to increase ____ sleep; physical exertion tends to increase ____ sleep.
20. Physical cravings for a drug and unpleasant reactions when the drug is withheld are signs of

21. The use of drugs to maintain comfort or psychological well-being describes

22. Which drugs are physically addictive?

23. Jeffery has just taken a substance that alters his sensory impressions. Which type of drugs did he most likely
consume?

24. Treatment for alcoholism generally begins with

25. The approach that has proved to be the most successful at helping alcoholics to stay sober is

26. Learning is best defined as

27. ____ is the proper use of reward, punishment, and conditioning to change problems, such as overeating, unrealistic
fears, or temper tantrums.

28. A consequence that increases the probability that a response will occur again is a
29. A therapy widely used to extinguish fears and phobias is called

30. How do continuous reinforcement and partial reinforcement differ in terms of how they are administered and the
behaviors they cause?

31. What needs to happen in order for observational learning to take place,

32. The three basic processes of memory are

33. The saying "seven plus or minus two" refers to the space capacity of

34. If the letters VCAFCBNLSBRC are rearranged into VCR-ABC-CBS-NFL, they become much easier to remember
and store. This is because you're using a process called

35. Psychologists have concluded that long-term memories fall into the following two categories:

36. Average intelligence is usually defined as any IQ score from ____ to ____.

37. The ____ is an appropriate IQ test for people from age two to 90 years old and measures five cognitive factors
(fluid reasoning, knowledge, quantitative reasoning, visual-spatial processing, and working memory) using both
verbal and non-verbal questions for each area.
38. Intellectual disability is formally defined by deficiencies in two areas:

39. Kaye is mildly intellectually disabled, but shows no signs of birth injuries, metabolic disorders, or genetic
abnormalities. However, she was born into an impoverished family environment. This means that she most likely
has

40. If you knew the intelligence test score of a college student, what could you best predict?

41. The term personality refers to

42. Which school of thought in psychology emphasizes free will and self-determination and stimulated interest in the
psychological needs of love and belonging, self-esteem, and self-actualization?

43. According to Maslow's hierarchy of needs, which of the following would have to be satisfied BEFORE a person
would show interest in satisfying love and belonging needs?

44. Freud stressed the role of ____ in shaping our personalities.

45. What are the three mental structures that Freud thought composed one's personality?

46. What is the correct ordering of Freud's psychosexual stages and latency period?
47. According to Freud, _____ is an unresolved conflict or emotional hang-up caused by overindulgence or by
frustration.

48. What is the halo effect?

49. A psychologist watches a disturbed child as she plays with other children. The psychologist will look to see
whether the child is withdrawn or hostile in this social situation. The psychologist is using

50. The MMPI-2 is what type of test?

51. A person taking what type of test is asked to describe ambiguous stimuli or make up stories about them.

52. Abnormal behavior is defined by two core features that are indicative of the person requiring psychological help.
These two features are

53. Which disorders are characterized by the person being socially withdrawn and unable to control his or her thoughts
or actions and by the presence of delusions and/or hallucinations?

54. Persons who are either euphoric and hyperactive or severely depressed may be suffering from what type of
psychological disorder?

55. Name the major anxiety disorders

56. _____ are deeply ingrained, unhealthy behavior patterns that usually appear in adolescence and continue through
much of adult life and include paranoid, narcissistic, dependent, and other types.

57. A psychological technique used to facilitate positive changes in a person's personality, behavior, or personal
adjustment defines what?

58. The use of drugs to alleviate the symptoms of emotional disturbance is known as

59. The three major types of drugs used for alleviating psychological disturbances are

60. What do the drugs used to alleviate psychological problems do?