GRE psychology practice with Answers
Acetycholine - ✔neurotransmitter associated with voluntary movement, sleep and
wakefulness. Too little is associated with Alzheimer's
Analysis of Variance/ANOVA - ✔inferential statistical procedure used to compare 2 or
more means to see if the difference is not chance (need p<.05 for statistical
significance)
Aphasia - ✔impairment of ability to communicate either through oral or written discourse
as a result of brain damage. Ex. Wernicke's ________ or Broca's __________
Optimum Arousal Theory - ✔Theory stating that we are motivated by our innate desire
to maintain an personally preferred level of arousal.
Broca's Aphasia - ✔Loss of function associated with damage to a specific area of the
left frontal lobe, demonstrated by impairment in producing understandable speech.
Egocentric - ✔young child's inability to understand another person's perspective -
typical of Piaget's preoperational stage
Concrete Operational Stage - ✔According to Piaget - stage of cognitive development
where child between ages of 7 and 12 begins thinking more globally and outside of the
self but are still deficient in abstract thought.
Construct Validity - ✔Validity answers the question of whether or not the measuring
device actually measures the theoretical idea under question.
Convergence - ✔Binocular cue to distance referring to fact that the closer an object is,
the more inward our eyes need to turn in order to focus
Dopamine Hypothesis - ✔Theory that schizophrenia is caused by an excess amount of
dopamine in brain. Research has found that medication to reduce dopamine can reduce
the positive symptoms of schizophrenia.
Endorphins - ✔neurotransmitter involved in pain relief, and feelings of pleasure and
contentedness.
Epinephrine - ✔neurotransmitter involved in energy and glucose metabolism.
External Validity - ✔The extent to which data collected from a sample can be
generalized to the entire population.
Factor Analysis - ✔A statistical technique used combine data into similar groups
, Frequency Effect - ✔The phenomenon in memory which states that we tend to
remember information better if it is repeated.
Formal Operational Stage - ✔Piaget's fourth and final stage of cognitive development
where thinking becomes more abstract. 12+ years
Frustration-Aggression Hypothesis - ✔Theory arguing that aggression is the natural
reaction to frustration.
g factor - ✔Basic intelligence of Spearman's theory. Typically compared to s which
represents specific intelligences.
Gender Identity - ✔Internal sense of being either male or female. Usually congruent with
biological gender, but not always.
Hawthorne Effect - ✔Phenomenon that subject behavior changes by mere fact that they
are being observed.
Introspection - ✔The process of examining one's own consciousness used by
Structuralists and Functionalist researchers
Legitimate Power - ✔Power derived through one's position, such as a police officer or
elected official.
Motive - ✔Internal states that provide direction for one's behaviors.
Norepinephrine - ✔neurotransmitter associated with eating and alertness. Too little has
been associated with depression in addition to serotonin
Overlearning - ✔A technique used to improve memory where info is learned to the point
that it can be repeated without mistake more than one time. Continuted rehearsal after
material is leanred - Ebbinghaus
Phi Phenomenon - ✔The perception of motion based on two or more stationary objects
(e.g., perception of chaser lights brought about by different lights blinking at different
times).
Criterion Validity - ✔A measurements ability to predict scores on another measurement
that is related or purports to measure the same or similar construct
Preoperational Stage - ✔Piaget's second stage of cognitive development in which a
child develops objects permanency and language. 2-7 years
Proactive Interference - ✔Interference in memory due to prior learning.
r - ✔Symbol used for the Pearson-product moment correlation (correlation coefficien
Acetycholine - ✔neurotransmitter associated with voluntary movement, sleep and
wakefulness. Too little is associated with Alzheimer's
Analysis of Variance/ANOVA - ✔inferential statistical procedure used to compare 2 or
more means to see if the difference is not chance (need p<.05 for statistical
significance)
Aphasia - ✔impairment of ability to communicate either through oral or written discourse
as a result of brain damage. Ex. Wernicke's ________ or Broca's __________
Optimum Arousal Theory - ✔Theory stating that we are motivated by our innate desire
to maintain an personally preferred level of arousal.
Broca's Aphasia - ✔Loss of function associated with damage to a specific area of the
left frontal lobe, demonstrated by impairment in producing understandable speech.
Egocentric - ✔young child's inability to understand another person's perspective -
typical of Piaget's preoperational stage
Concrete Operational Stage - ✔According to Piaget - stage of cognitive development
where child between ages of 7 and 12 begins thinking more globally and outside of the
self but are still deficient in abstract thought.
Construct Validity - ✔Validity answers the question of whether or not the measuring
device actually measures the theoretical idea under question.
Convergence - ✔Binocular cue to distance referring to fact that the closer an object is,
the more inward our eyes need to turn in order to focus
Dopamine Hypothesis - ✔Theory that schizophrenia is caused by an excess amount of
dopamine in brain. Research has found that medication to reduce dopamine can reduce
the positive symptoms of schizophrenia.
Endorphins - ✔neurotransmitter involved in pain relief, and feelings of pleasure and
contentedness.
Epinephrine - ✔neurotransmitter involved in energy and glucose metabolism.
External Validity - ✔The extent to which data collected from a sample can be
generalized to the entire population.
Factor Analysis - ✔A statistical technique used combine data into similar groups
, Frequency Effect - ✔The phenomenon in memory which states that we tend to
remember information better if it is repeated.
Formal Operational Stage - ✔Piaget's fourth and final stage of cognitive development
where thinking becomes more abstract. 12+ years
Frustration-Aggression Hypothesis - ✔Theory arguing that aggression is the natural
reaction to frustration.
g factor - ✔Basic intelligence of Spearman's theory. Typically compared to s which
represents specific intelligences.
Gender Identity - ✔Internal sense of being either male or female. Usually congruent with
biological gender, but not always.
Hawthorne Effect - ✔Phenomenon that subject behavior changes by mere fact that they
are being observed.
Introspection - ✔The process of examining one's own consciousness used by
Structuralists and Functionalist researchers
Legitimate Power - ✔Power derived through one's position, such as a police officer or
elected official.
Motive - ✔Internal states that provide direction for one's behaviors.
Norepinephrine - ✔neurotransmitter associated with eating and alertness. Too little has
been associated with depression in addition to serotonin
Overlearning - ✔A technique used to improve memory where info is learned to the point
that it can be repeated without mistake more than one time. Continuted rehearsal after
material is leanred - Ebbinghaus
Phi Phenomenon - ✔The perception of motion based on two or more stationary objects
(e.g., perception of chaser lights brought about by different lights blinking at different
times).
Criterion Validity - ✔A measurements ability to predict scores on another measurement
that is related or purports to measure the same or similar construct
Preoperational Stage - ✔Piaget's second stage of cognitive development in which a
child develops objects permanency and language. 2-7 years
Proactive Interference - ✔Interference in memory due to prior learning.
r - ✔Symbol used for the Pearson-product moment correlation (correlation coefficien
