Psychology Practice Exam Questions

Practice Exam Questions

• Neurons: What are the three major components of a neuron and their function? How do they work together to carry out an action potential?
• Teratogens: Define teratogen. Provide an example and explain its impact on fetal development.
• Classical Conditioning: Compare and contrast generalization, discrimination, and extinction in the context of classical conditioning.
• Reinforcement and Punishment: Provide examples of both positive and negative reinforcement and both positive and negative punishment.
• Albert Bandura: Who was Albert Bandura and what type of learning did he study?
• Deep and Shallow Processing: Describe the difference between deep processing and shallow processing, and provide examples of each.
• Effortful and Automatic Processing: Explain the difference between effortful and automatic processing, and provide examples.
• Sigmund Freud: Who was Sigmund Freud? What were some of his key ideas about the structure of the mind and the development of personality?
• Defense Mechanisms: According to Freud, what are defense mechanisms and why do people use them? Describe at least three defense mechanisms and give an example of each.
• Milgram Obedience Experiment: What is the Milgram Obedience Experiment? What did this experiment teach us about obedience to authority?
• Classical and Operant Conditioning: Compare and contrast classical and operant conditioning. Who were the key figures associated with each type of learning?
• Baby Albert Experiment: Describe the Baby Albert experiment and its ethical concerns.
• Conformity: Define conformity. Describe the Asch Conformity experiment and its findings.
• Scapegoat Theory: What is scapegoat theory? Give an example of how scapegoating might occur.
• Key Figures in Cognitive Psychology: Name three key figures in cognitive psychology and describe their main accomplishments.
• Psychological Disorders: How do cognitive psychologists explain psychological disorders?
• Routes to Persuasion: What is the difference between the central route to persuasion and the peripheral route to persuasion? Give an example of each.
• Social Psychology Concepts: What are social facilitation, social loafing, and deindividuation?
• Psychoanalytic Theory Concepts: What is the difference between the id, ego, and superego, according to Freud? How do these three structures interact to influence behavior?
• Anxiety Disorders: What are the main symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)?
• Panic Disorder: What are the main symptoms of panic disorder?
• Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD): What are the main symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)?
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): What are the main symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)?
• Major Depressive Disorder: What are the main symptoms of major depressive disorder?
• Bipolar Disorder: What are the main symptoms of bipolar disorder?
• Schizophrenia: What is the difference between a hallucination and a delusion? What are the main symptoms of schizophrenia?
• Biopsychosocial Approach: Define the biopsychosocial approach. Give an example of how this approach might be used to explain a psychological disorder.
• Vertebrate Brain Divisions: What are the three main divisions of the vertebrate brain? What are their major functions?
• Brain Structures: Describe the functions of the following brain structures: Synapse, Occipital Lobe
• Dreams: Describe three different theories of why we dream.
• Piaget's Stages of Cognitive Development: Describe the four stages of Piaget's theory of cognitive development.
• Sensation and Perception: What is the difference between sensation and perception? Illustrate the difference with an example.
• Absolute and Difference Thresholds: Define absolute threshold and difference threshold. Give an example of each.
• Sensory Adaptation: What is sensory adaptation? Give an example.
• Vision Process: Describe the process of how we see, beginning with light entering the eye and ending with the brain processing the visual information.
• Hearing: What is the difference between rods and cones? Compare and contrast trichromatic theory and opponent-process theory. What are the main parts of the ear and how do they work together to allow us to hear? What are the difference between sensorineural and conductive hearing loss?
• Memory: What are the three stages of memory according to the information-processing model? Describe each stage. What is the difference between explicit and implicit memory? Give an example of each. What are some strategies that can be used to improve memory? What is the misinformation effect?
• Erik Erikson's Psychosocial Stages: Define Erik Erikson's stage of psychosocial development referred to as "identity vs. role confusion".
• Adulthood Changes: What are some of the physical, cognitive, and social changes that occur during adulthood?