PSYC 100 · Flashcards

PSYC 100 Exam Review: History, Research Design, the Brain, Perception, Learning and Motivation

35 termsSimon Fraser Universityby @studyboardUpdated October 2026

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A study set written by the Studyboard team for the topics in this course's published outline. It isn't official course material from Simon Fraser University and doesn't contain real exam questions.

Terms in this set (35)

  1. Who founded the first psychology laboratory, and when?Wilhelm Wundt, in Leipzig, Germany, in 1879. That date is usually treated as the start of psychology as a separate experimental science.
  2. Structuralism vs functionalismStructuralism (Wundt, Titchener) used trained introspection to break conscious experience into basic elements. Functionalism (William James), influenced by Darwin, asked what purpose mental processes serve in adapting to the environment.
  3. What was the core claim of behaviourism?Psychology should study only observable behaviour and how the environment shapes it, not inner mental states. Key figures were John B. Watson and B. F. Skinner.
  4. What is the main idea of Gestalt psychology?The whole is different from the sum of its parts: we perceive organized patterns rather than isolated sensations. Max Wertheimer was a founder.
  5. Psychoanalytic vs humanistic perspectivesPsychoanalytic (Freud): behaviour is driven by unconscious conflicts and early childhood experiences. Humanistic (Maslow, Rogers): people are basically good and motivated toward growth and self-actualization.
  6. What was the cognitive revolution?A shift in the 1950s and 1960s back toward studying mental processes such as memory, language and problem solving, often using the computer as a model of information processing.
  7. How do twin studies estimate the role of genes?They compare identical (monozygotic) twins, who share nearly all their genes, with fraternal (dizygotic) twins, who share about half. Greater similarity in identical twins suggests a genetic contribution.
  8. Name three descriptive research methods and one weakness they share.Naturalistic observation, case studies and surveys. None of them manipulates variables, so none can establish cause and effect.
  9. Hypothesis vs theoryA theory is a broad, well-supported explanation that ties together many findings. A hypothesis is a specific, testable prediction, often derived from a theory.
  10. What does it mean for a claim to be falsifiable?It is possible, at least in principle, to describe evidence that would show the claim is wrong. Scientific claims must be falsifiable.
  11. Within-subjects vs between-subjects designsWithin-subjects: every participant experiences all conditions, which needs fewer people but risks order effects. Between-subjects: each participant gets only one condition.
  12. How is counterbalancing used?In a within-subjects design, the order of conditions is varied across participants (e.g., half get A then B, half get B then A) so practice or fatigue effects do not favour one condition.
  13. What are demand characteristics?Cues in a study that suggest to participants what the researcher expects, which can lead them to change their behaviour to fit (or defy) the hypothesis.
  14. Name three core ethical requirements for research with human participants.Informed consent, the right to withdraw without penalty, and debriefing after the study (especially if deception was used). Studies are reviewed by a research ethics board.
  15. Main functions of the four cerebral lobesFrontal: planning, decision making, voluntary movement. Parietal: touch and body sensation, spatial processing. Temporal: hearing, language comprehension, memory. Occipital: vision.
  16. Hippocampus vs amygdala vs hypothalamusHippocampus: forming new long-term memories. Amygdala: fear and emotional responses. Hypothalamus: regulates hunger, thirst, temperature and controls the pituitary gland.
  17. What does the cerebellum do?It coordinates fine movement, balance and timing, and supports motor learning. Damage produces clumsy, uncoordinated movement.
  18. EEG vs fMRIEEG records electrical activity from the scalp, with excellent timing (milliseconds) but poor spatial detail. fMRI tracks blood oxygen changes (the BOLD signal), with good spatial detail but slower timing.
  19. Match each neurotransmitter to a key role: dopamine, serotonin, acetylcholine, GABA, glutamate.Dopamine: reward and movement (lost in Parkinson's). Serotonin: mood, sleep, appetite. Acetylcholine: muscle action and memory. GABA: main inhibitory. Glutamate: main excitatory.
  20. Why is the pituitary called the master gland, and what controls it?Its hormones regulate many other endocrine glands (thyroid, adrenals, gonads). It is itself controlled by the hypothalamus.
  21. What did the case of Phineas Gage suggest?After an iron rod damaged his frontal lobe in 1848, he survived but reportedly became impulsive and less reliable, suggesting the frontal lobes are involved in personality and self-control.
  22. Bottom-up vs top-down processingBottom-up processing builds perception from raw sensory features. Top-down processing uses knowledge, expectations and context to interpret input, which is why context helps you read messy handwriting.
  23. Name four Gestalt grouping principles.Proximity (near items group), similarity (alike items group), closure (we fill gaps to see whole shapes) and continuity (we see smooth continuous lines).
  24. Binocular vs monocular depth cuesBinocular cues need both eyes: retinal disparity and convergence. Monocular cues work with one eye: linear perspective, interposition (overlap), relative size, texture gradient, shading.
  25. What is perceptual constancy?Perceiving an object's size, shape, colour or brightness as stable even though the image on the retina changes, e.g., a door still looks rectangular as it swings open.
  26. Trichromatic theory vs opponent-process theory of colourTrichromatic: three cone types (short, medium, long wavelength) explain colour at the retina. Opponent-process: red-green, blue-yellow and black-white channels explain afterimages. Both are correct at different stages.
  27. Place theory vs frequency theory of pitchPlace theory: different pitches excite different locations on the basilar membrane, which explains high pitches best. Frequency theory: neural firing rate matches sound frequency, which explains low pitches best.
  28. What is Thorndike's law of effect?Behaviours followed by satisfying consequences become more likely, and those followed by unpleasant consequences become less likely. It came from his puzzle box studies with cats.
  29. What is shaping in operant conditioning?Reinforcing successive approximations, closer and closer steps toward a target behaviour, until the full behaviour appears.
  30. What did Garcia's taste aversion research show?Rats learned to avoid a taste after a single pairing with illness, even hours later, but did not link illness with lights or sounds. Learning is constrained by biological preparedness.
  31. What is latent learning?Learning that happens without obvious reinforcement and is shown only when a reason appears. Tolman's rats explored a maze and later ran it quickly once food was added, suggesting a cognitive map.
  32. Drive-reduction theory vs arousal theory of motivationDrive reduction: biological needs create drives that push us to restore homeostasis. Arousal theory: we seek an optimal level of arousal, which explains curiosity and thrill seeking.
  33. What is the Yerkes-Dodson law?Performance is best at a moderate level of arousal. For difficult tasks the ideal level is lower; for easy tasks it is higher.
  34. Describe Maslow's hierarchy of needs.From bottom to top: physiological, safety, belonging and love, esteem, and self-actualization. Lower needs generally must be met before higher ones motivate behaviour.
  35. Intrinsic vs extrinsic motivation, and the overjustification effectIntrinsic: doing something for its own sake. Extrinsic: doing it for external rewards. The overjustification effect is when rewarding an already enjoyable activity reduces intrinsic interest in it.

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