AP Psychology Midterm Review Exam
2026 Questions and Answers Graded A+
psychology - Correct answer-the scientific study of behavior and mental processes
empiricism - Correct answer-the view that (a) knowledge comes from experience
via the senses, (b) science flourishes through observation and experiment
structuralism - Correct answer-an early school of psycholgy that used introspection
to explore the elemental structure of the human mind
functionalism - Correct answer-a school of psychology that focused on how mental
and behavioral processes function - how they enable the organism to adapt,
survive, and flourish
humanistic psychology - Correct answer-historically signifficant perspective that
emphasized the growth potential of healthy people; used personalized methods to
study personality in hopes of fostering personal growth
nature-nurture issue - Correct answer-the longstanding controversy over the
relative contrabutions that genes and experience make to the development or
psychological traits and behaviors
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,natural selection - Correct answer-the principle that among the range of inherited
trait variations, those contributong to reproduction and survival will most likely be
passed on to succeeding generations
levels of analysis - Correct answer-the differing complementary views, from
biological to psychological to social-cultural, for analyzing any given phenomenon
biopsychosocial approach - Correct answer-an integrated perspective that
incorporates biological, psychological, and social-cultural levels of analysis
basic research - Correct answer-pure science that aims to increase the scientific
knowledge base
applied research - Correct answer-scientific study that aims to solve practical
problems
counseling psychology - Correct answer-a branch of psychology that assists people
with problems in living (often related to school, work, or marriage) and in
achieving greater wellbeing
clinical psychology - Correct answer-a branch of psychology that studies, assesses,
and treats people with psychological disorders
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,psychiatry - Correct answer-a branch of medicine dealing with psychological
disorders; practiced by physicians who sometimes provide medical treatments(for
example, drug) as well as psychological therapies
hindsight bias - Correct answer-the tendency to believe, after learning an outcome,
that one would have foreseen it (also known as the I-knew-it-all-along
phenomenon)
critical thinking - Correct answer-thinking that does not blindly accept arguments
and conclusions - rather, it examines assumptions, discerns hidden values,
evaluates evidence, and assesses conclusions
theory - Correct answer-an explanation using an integrated set of principles that
organizes and predicts observations
hypothesis - Correct answer-a testable prediction, often implied by a theory
operational definition - Correct answer-a statement of the procedures (operations)
used to define research variables
replication - Correct answer-repeating the essence of a research study, usually with
different participants in different situations, to see whether the basic finding
extends to other participants and circumstances
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, case study - Correct answer-an observation technique in which one person is
studied in depth in the hope of revealing universal principles
survey - Correct answer-a technique for ascertaining the self-reported attitudes or
behaviors of people, usually by questioning a representative, random sample of
them
false consensus effect - Correct answer-the tendency to overestimate the extent to
which others share our beliefs and behaviors
population - Correct answer-all the cases in a group, from which samples may be
drawn for a study
random sample - Correct answer-a sample that fairly represents a population
because each member has an equal chance of inclusion
naturalistic observation - Correct answer-observing and recording behavior in
naturally occurring situations without trying to manipulate and control the situation
correlation coefficient - Correct answer-a statistical measure of the extent to which
two factors vary together, and thus of how well either factor predicts the other
scatterplot - Correct answer-a graphed cluster of dots, each of which represents the
values of two variables
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2026 Questions and Answers Graded A+
psychology - Correct answer-the scientific study of behavior and mental processes
empiricism - Correct answer-the view that (a) knowledge comes from experience
via the senses, (b) science flourishes through observation and experiment
structuralism - Correct answer-an early school of psycholgy that used introspection
to explore the elemental structure of the human mind
functionalism - Correct answer-a school of psychology that focused on how mental
and behavioral processes function - how they enable the organism to adapt,
survive, and flourish
humanistic psychology - Correct answer-historically signifficant perspective that
emphasized the growth potential of healthy people; used personalized methods to
study personality in hopes of fostering personal growth
nature-nurture issue - Correct answer-the longstanding controversy over the
relative contrabutions that genes and experience make to the development or
psychological traits and behaviors
©COPYRIGHT 2025, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 1
,natural selection - Correct answer-the principle that among the range of inherited
trait variations, those contributong to reproduction and survival will most likely be
passed on to succeeding generations
levels of analysis - Correct answer-the differing complementary views, from
biological to psychological to social-cultural, for analyzing any given phenomenon
biopsychosocial approach - Correct answer-an integrated perspective that
incorporates biological, psychological, and social-cultural levels of analysis
basic research - Correct answer-pure science that aims to increase the scientific
knowledge base
applied research - Correct answer-scientific study that aims to solve practical
problems
counseling psychology - Correct answer-a branch of psychology that assists people
with problems in living (often related to school, work, or marriage) and in
achieving greater wellbeing
clinical psychology - Correct answer-a branch of psychology that studies, assesses,
and treats people with psychological disorders
©COPYRIGHT 2025, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 2
,psychiatry - Correct answer-a branch of medicine dealing with psychological
disorders; practiced by physicians who sometimes provide medical treatments(for
example, drug) as well as psychological therapies
hindsight bias - Correct answer-the tendency to believe, after learning an outcome,
that one would have foreseen it (also known as the I-knew-it-all-along
phenomenon)
critical thinking - Correct answer-thinking that does not blindly accept arguments
and conclusions - rather, it examines assumptions, discerns hidden values,
evaluates evidence, and assesses conclusions
theory - Correct answer-an explanation using an integrated set of principles that
organizes and predicts observations
hypothesis - Correct answer-a testable prediction, often implied by a theory
operational definition - Correct answer-a statement of the procedures (operations)
used to define research variables
replication - Correct answer-repeating the essence of a research study, usually with
different participants in different situations, to see whether the basic finding
extends to other participants and circumstances
©COPYRIGHT 2025, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 3
, case study - Correct answer-an observation technique in which one person is
studied in depth in the hope of revealing universal principles
survey - Correct answer-a technique for ascertaining the self-reported attitudes or
behaviors of people, usually by questioning a representative, random sample of
them
false consensus effect - Correct answer-the tendency to overestimate the extent to
which others share our beliefs and behaviors
population - Correct answer-all the cases in a group, from which samples may be
drawn for a study
random sample - Correct answer-a sample that fairly represents a population
because each member has an equal chance of inclusion
naturalistic observation - Correct answer-observing and recording behavior in
naturally occurring situations without trying to manipulate and control the situation
correlation coefficient - Correct answer-a statistical measure of the extent to which
two factors vary together, and thus of how well either factor predicts the other
scatterplot - Correct answer-a graphed cluster of dots, each of which represents the
values of two variables
©COPYRIGHT 2025, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 4
