Exam 1 Study Guide

This guide covers the first two chapters. First you will see what psychology is and where it came from. Then you will see how psychologists find things out. Work one chapter at a time. Read the “what to know” part. Then cover the right side of each table and rebuild it from memory. Finish each chapter with its ten self-test items. The cram sheet at the end is for the night before.

Chapter 1What Is Psychology?

What to know

Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Behavior is anything a living thing does that others can see or record. The mind is the inner world of thoughts, memories, feelings, and motives. We cannot watch the mind directly. We figure it out from behavior.

The word scientific does the heavy lifting. Psychologists gather empirical evidence, which means facts from careful, planned observation. They use the scientific method: observe, form a hypothesis, test it, and revise.

Psychology has four goals. To describe is to say what happens. To explain is to say why. To predict is to say when it will happen again. To change is to make it better. The last goal is also called control.

Why not just trust common sense? Because common sense has a saying for every outcome. It only sounds wise after we know the answer. That trap is hindsight bias. Many pop-psychology claims are also false. We do not use only ten percent of our brains. Venting does not drain anger. Matching teaching to a fixed learning style does not help. People are not truly “left-brained” or “right-brained.”

Now the history. In 1879, Wilhelm Wundt opened the first psychology lab in Leipzig, Germany. He used introspection: trained people reported their own conscious experience. His student Edward Titchener built structuralism, which tried to break experience into basic parts. It fell apart because observers disagreed and no one could settle who was right.

William James led a rival school, functionalism. Shaped by Darwin, he asked what the mind is for. His book The Principles of Psychology came out in 1890.

Then John B. Watson launched behaviorism in 1913. It studied only behavior we can see. It drew on Ivan Pavlov's classical conditioning and grew with B. F. Skinner's work on rewards and punishments. Behaviorism led the field from the 1920s to the 1950s. Its cost was treating the mind as a black box. In the 1950s and 1960s, the cognitive revolution brought the mind back, using the computer as a model.

Today psychology uses seven perspectives. Each is a lens on the same act. They work together, which is the idea of the biopsychosocial model. Under them all runs the nature-nurture question. The modern answer is that genes and experience work together.

Psychology jobs fall into three families: clinical and counseling, research, and applied. A clinical psychologist usually holds a Ph.D. or Psy.D. and treats with therapy. A psychiatrist is a medical doctor, an M.D. or D.O., who can prescribe medicine. In most U.S. states only the psychiatrist prescribes, though a few states let specially trained psychologists prescribe some medicines.

Last, psychology teaches critical thinking. Ask four questions of any claim. Is it a story or data? Is it a correlation or a cause? Has it been replicated? Could it be proven wrong, or is it pseudoscience? Watch for confirmation bias, the habit of noticing only what fits your beliefs.

The four goals worth memorizing

The schools of thought, drawn

The schools worth memorizing

The seven perspectives worth memorizing

Careers worth memorizing

How to reason through the question types

Chapter 2Psychological Research

What to know

Gut feeling is often wrong, so psychology uses the scientific method. Its spirit is the scientific attitude: curiosity, skepticism, and humility.

A theory is a broad explanation that ties many findings together. A hypothesis is one specific prediction you can test. A good hypothesis is falsifiable. Some result could prove it wrong. Each variable gets an operational definition, which spells out exactly how it will be measured. That lets others replicate the study. In the 2010s many findings failed to replicate. The field answered with stronger methods.

Descriptive research paints a picture but cannot show a cause. A case study goes deep on one person, such as Phineas Gage or H.M. It may not generalize. Naturalistic observation watches behavior in its real setting. Watch for reactivity, when people change because they are watched, and observer bias, when the researcher's hopes bend the record. A survey asks many people the same questions. It needs a random sample of the population. It can be bent by wording and by social desirability bias.

Correlation measures how two variables move together. The correlation coefficient, r, runs from −1 to +1. The sign gives the direction. The distance from zero gives the strength. A scatterplot shows the dots. A correlation never proves a cause. The link might run the other way, or a third variable might drive both.

The experiment is the only method that shows cause. The researcher changes the independent variable and measures the dependent variable. The experimental group gets the treatment. The control group does not, or gets a placebo. Random assignment makes the groups alike at the start. A double-blind design keeps both the participants and the data collectors unaware of who got what. All of this guards against confounding variables.

Research ethics grew out of real harm, including the Nazi experiments behind the Nuremberg Code and the Tuskegee study (1932 to 1972). In the U.S., the Belmont Report names three principles: respect for persons, beneficence, and justice. People must give informed consent and may quit at any time. An IRB approves studies first. Deception is allowed only when needed and harmless, and it must be followed by a debriefing. Animal studies follow the three Rs, replace, reduce, refine, under an IACUC.

Descriptive methods worth memorizing

Correlation, drawn

Correlation worth memorizing

The experiment, drawn

Experiment parts worth memorizing

Ethics safeguards worth memorizing

Sequences, in order

The research cycle runs in order and then loops back.

1. Theory. A broad, well-supported explanation, such as social learning theory.
2. Hypothesis. A falsifiable “if… then…” prediction, with operational definitions.
3. Study. Gather empirical data, ideally by experiment with a control group.
4. Conclusion. Analyze the data, share it through peer review, and let others replicate it. Then loop back to the theory.

A study with mild deception moves through ethics steps in this order.

1. IRB approval of the plan.
2. Informed consent from each person, or parent permission plus a child's assent.
3. Run the study, using deception only as approved, with the right to quit always open.
4. Debriefing: tell the truth and answer questions.
5. Keep the data confidential.

How to reason through the question types