PSY 200 - FINAL EXAM QUESTIONS ANSWERED CORRECTLY LATEST UPDATE 2026

PSY 200 - FINAL EXAM QUESTIONS ANSWERED CORRECTLY LATEST UPDATE 2026 What is Psychology? - Answers The scientific study of behavior and mental processes What is critical thinking in psychology? - Answers The process of actively analyzing, evaluating, and synthesizing information through observation, experience, and reasoning; involves questioning assumptions and examining evidence What is a hypothesis? - Answers A testable prediction about the relationship between variables, often derived from a theory What is the nature/nurture debate? - Answers The ongoing discussion about the relative contributions of genetics/biology (nature) versus environment/experience (nurture) in shaping behavior and development What is dual processing? - Answers The principle that information is processed simultaneously on separate conscious and unconscious tracks; we process information both deliberately (controlled) and automatically What is naturalistic observation? - Answers A research method involving observing and recording behavior in naturally occurring situations without trying to manipulate or control the environment What is a case study? - Answers An in-depth investigation of a single individual, group, or event to explore causes of behavior; provides detailed information but findings may not generalize What is archival research? - Answers Research that analyzes existing data or records (such as historical documents, previous studies, or databases) rather than collecting new data What is correlational research? - Answers Research that examines the relationship between two variables without manipulation. Positive correlation: both variables increase together. Negative correlation: as one increases, the other decreases. Correlation does not prove causation What is a double-blind procedure? - Answers An experimental procedure in which neither the participants nor the research staff know which participants are in the experimental or control group; reduces bias What is the psychoanalytic perspective? - Answers Freud's theory emphasizing the influence of unconscious mind, childhood experiences, and internal conflicts on behavior; focuses on defense mechanisms and psychosexual development What is the behaviorism perspective? - Answers A perspective that emphasizes the study of observable behavior and the role of learning through environmental interactions; focuses on conditioning rather than internal mental states What is the humanistic perspective? - Answers A perspective emphasizing human potential, free will, personal growth, and self-actualization; focuses on conscious experience and the belief that people are inherently good What is the Central Nervous System (CNS)? - Answers Consists of the brain and spinal cord; responsible for processing information and coordinating activity throughout the body What is the Peripheral Nervous System (PNS) and its divisions? - Answers All nerves outside the CNS. Divided into: (1) Somatic Nervous System (voluntary control of skeletal muscles) and (2) Autonomic Nervous System (controls involuntary functions) What is the sympathetic nervous system? - Answers Part of the autonomic nervous system that arouses the body and mobilizes energy during stressful situations; triggers the fight-or-flight response What is the parasympathetic nervous system? - Answers Part of the autonomic nervous system that calms the body and conserves energy; promotes 'rest and digest' functions What is a synapse? - Answers The junction between two neurons where neurotransmitters are released from one neuron and received by another; the gap where neural communication occurs What is an action potential? - Answers A brief electrical charge that travels down an axon when a neuron fires; an all-or-none response that occurs when the neuron's electrical charge reaches a threshold What are hormones? - Answers Chemical messengers produced by endocrine glands that travel through the bloodstream to affect behavior, emotion, and bodily functions; slower but longer-lasting than neurotransmitters What are the four lobes of the brain and their primary functions? - Answers (1) Frontal lobe: decision-making, planning, personality, motor control; (2) Parietal lobe: sensory processing, spatial awareness; (3) Occipital lobe: visual processing; (4) Temporal lobe: auditory processing, memory, language comprehension What is the fight-or-flight response? - Answers A physiological reaction to perceived threat that prepares the body to either confront or flee from danger; involves sympathetic nervous system activation, increased heart rate, and stress hormone release What is REM sleep? - Answers Rapid Eye Movement sleep; a stage of sleep characterized by rapid eye movements, vivid dreams, muscle paralysis, and increased brain activity; important for memory consolidation and emotional processing What is narcolepsy? - Answers A sleep disorder characterized by uncontrollable sleep attacks during the day, sudden loss of muscle tone (cataplexy), and abnormal REM sleep patterns What are the three stages of the Information Processing Model? - Answers (1) Encoding: transforming sensory information into a form that can be stored; (2) Storage: retaining information over time; (3) Retrieval: accessing stored information when needed What is short-term memory/working memory? - Answers A memory system that temporarily holds and actively processes a limited amount of information (about 7±2 items) for about 20-30 seconds; working memory actively manipulates information What are explicit memories? - Answers Memories of facts and experiences that require conscious effort to encode and can be consciously recalled; includes episodic (events) and semantic (facts) memories; also called declarative memory What are implicit memories? - Answers Memories formed without conscious effort or awareness, such as procedural skills, conditioned responses, and automatic associations; also called nondeclarative memory What is learning in psychology? - Answers A relatively permanent change in behavior or knowledge that results from experience What is conditioning? - Answers A learning process in which associations are formed between stimuli and responses; includes classical and operant conditioning Define the key terms in classical conditioning. - Answers Neutral Stimulus (NS): doesn't naturally trigger a response. Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS): naturally triggers a response. Unconditioned Response (UCR): natural automatic response to UCS. Conditioned Stimulus (CS): previously neutral stimulus that now triggers a response. Conditioned Response (CR): learned response to CS What is operant conditioning? - Answers Learning in which behavior is strengthened if followed by reinforcement or diminished if followed by punishment; behavior is shaped by its consequences Define the four types of consequences in operant conditioning. - Answers Positive Reinforcement: adding something desirable to increase behavior. Negative Reinforcement: removing something unpleasant to increase behavior. Positive Punishment: adding something unpleasant to decrease behavior. What is positive punishment? - Answers Adding something unpleasant to decrease behavior. What is negative punishment? - Answers Removing something desirable to decrease behavior. What is shaping in operant conditioning? - Answers An operant conditioning procedure in which reinforcers guide behavior closer and closer toward a desired behavior through successive approximations. What are the different reinforcement schedules? - Answers Continuous: reinforcement after every response. Fixed-Ratio: reinforcement after a set number of responses. Variable-Ratio: reinforcement after unpredictable number of responses. Fixed-Interval: reinforcement after set time period. Variable-Interval: reinforcement after unpredictable time periods. What is stimulus generalization? - Answers Responding similarly to stimuli that resemble the conditioned stimulus. What is stimulus discrimination? - Answers Learning to respond only to specific stimuli and not to similar stimuli. What is observational learning? - Answers Learning by watching and imitating others' behavior. What is coping? - Answers The cognitive and behavioral efforts used to manage stressful situations and the emotions they produce. What is the difference between problem-focused and emotion-focused coping? - Answers Problem-focused coping: taking direct action to solve or manage the stressor. Emotion-focused coping: managing emotional reactions to the stressor.