Study guide for the final exam:

All PSY 201 students are expected to have an understanding of the following concepts:

 1.         (a)  Describe the characteristics and goals of the scientific method as applied to explaining and predicting individual and social behavior.

(b)   Discuss the procedures, advantages and limitations of descriptive, correlational and experimental research methodologies.

(c)   Apply scientific theories and appropriate statistical knowledge to summarize and draw conclusions from research and data.

2.      Compare and contrast theoretical perspectives on, and their approaches to, the study of behavior and mental processes.

3.      Cite a number of specific examples illustrating the interaction of biological (neural, hormonal, genetic) and environmental factors in determining human behavior. 

4.      Explain the basic concepts of learning and memory, demonstrating their impacts upon human behavior and cognition.

5.      Identify the major changes associated with the physical, cognitive and psychosocial development of the individual.

6.      Discuss the differences between “normal” and “abnormal” behavior; describe the major categories of psychological disorder, including their defining “symptoms”, possible determinants and treatment intervention.

7.      Describe the key issues involved in test construction, administration, and interpretation and identify the major types of psychological tests.

8.      Compare and contrast theories of personality development.

So, for us:

Objective Number 1 is from Chapter 2—Research Methods.  Know the steps of the scientific method & how to apply them to conducting research  (form an hypothesis, conduct a lit review, design a study, conduct the study, analyze the data, report the results).  Also, know the 5 research methods we discussed (case study, naturalistic observation, survey, experiment, correlation) and the pros & cons of each.  Finally, know which of those 5 methods are considered descriptive, correlational, and experimental & what that means (descriptive merely describes something, correlational tells the relationship between things, and experimental tells what things cause other things to happen).

Objective Number 2 is from Chapter 1—History.  What you really need to focus on here are the 5 modern approaches to psychology:  Biological, Behavioral, Psychodynamic, Cognitive, and Humanistic.  Know what each approach believes is the cause for psychological problems (for example, the biological approach thinks problems are due to a biological problem, the behavioral approach thinks problems are learned, psychodynamic believes problems are due to unconscious conflict, etc).  Finally, know how each approach would treat problems (for example, biological treats problems with drugs, psychodynamic treats with psychoanalysis, etc.).  Look in Chapter 15 to match up these approaches with their treatment methods.

Objective Number 3 is from Chapter 3—Brain and Behavior.  Know the structure of a neuron & how neurons fire, know the divisions of the nervous system, and know all of the brain areas & what they do (for example, cerebellum, hippocampus, medulla, etc.).  You DO NOT have to know the different neurotransmitters.

Objective Number 4 is from Chapters 6 and 7—Learning and Memory.  Know the 3 ways we learn:  Classical Conditioning, Operant Conditioning, and Observational Learning, and know the difference between each (Classical conditioning is learning signals & associations, Operant conditioning is learning that our behavior has consequences, Observational Learning is learning by copying others).  From Chapter 7, know the 3 kinds of memories we have:  episodic, semantic, and procedural.  Know the 3 memory stores (sensory memory, short-term/working memory, and long-term memory) and how each of them works.  What do you have to do to transfer information between each store?  Know terms like “chunking”.  Know why we forget.

Objective Number 5 is from Chapter 11—Development.  Know who Piaget, Erikson, & Kohlberg were, and what they said about development. 

Objective Number 6 is from Chapters 14 & 15—Psychological Disorders and Therapies.  Know the difference between “normal” and “abnormal” behavior.  Know the different kinds of “abnormal” behavior—the different disorders we talked about.  Know what the symptoms of each disorder are.  And know how to treat each disorder (from Chapter 15).  

Objective Number 7 is from Chapter 9--Psychological Testing.  Know the 2 types of psychological tests (Intelligence and Personality), and know the different types of each.  Know the issues surrounding testing (i.e., standardization, reliability, validity).  

Objective Number 8 is from Chapter 12--Personality.  Know the 4 theories of Personality (Trait or "Five Factor Theory", Humanistic, Social-Cognitive, Psychodynamic) and the beliefs of each one.  Be sure to know about Freud & what he said about development.  Know the role of the id, ego, & superego in personality, and know his defense mechanisms like repression, projection, and regression.  

Let me know if you have any questions!!!  Good luck!!!