PSYC 100 · Flashcards

PSYC 100 Exam Review: Research Methods, Brain, Learning, Memory and Disorders

31 termsUniversity of Southern Californiaby @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 University of Southern California and doesn't contain real exam questions.

Terms in this set (31)

  1. Correlation vs experimentA correlational study measures how variables relate without manipulating them, so it cannot show cause. An experiment manipulates an independent variable and uses random assignment to infer causation.
  2. Independent vs dependent variableThe independent variable is what the researcher manipulates. The dependent variable is the outcome that is measured.
  3. Why use random assignment?It spreads participant differences evenly across conditions, so differences in the outcome can be attributed to the manipulation rather than preexisting differences.
  4. What is a double-blind study?Neither participants nor the researchers interacting with them know who is in which condition, reducing placebo effects and experimenter bias.
  5. Reliability vs validityReliability is consistency of a measure across time or raters. Validity is whether it measures what it claims to measure. A measure can be reliable without being valid.
  6. Parts of a neuron and the direction of signal flowDendrites receive signals, the cell body integrates them, and the axon carries the action potential to the terminals, which release neurotransmitters into the synapse.
  7. What is an action potential?An all-or-none electrical impulse along the axon, triggered when the membrane reaches threshold; sodium ions rush in, then potassium flows out to restore the charge.
  8. Dopamine vs serotonin: main rolesDopamine is involved in reward, motivation and movement (low in Parkinson's). Serotonin is involved in mood, sleep and appetite (targeted by SSRIs for depression).
  9. Functions of the frontal, parietal, temporal and occipital lobesFrontal: planning, decisions, motor control. Parietal: touch and spatial processing. Temporal: hearing and language comprehension. Occipital: vision.
  10. Broca's vs Wernicke's areaDamage to Broca's area (frontal) impairs speech production. Damage to Wernicke's area (temporal) impairs language comprehension, with fluent but meaningless speech.
  11. Role of the hippocampus and amygdalaThe hippocampus helps form new explicit memories. The amygdala processes emotion, especially fear.
  12. Sensation vs perceptionSensation is detecting physical energy with sense receptors. Perception is the brain organizing and interpreting that input into meaningful experience.
  13. Classical conditioning terms in Pavlov's experimentFood is the unconditioned stimulus, salivation to food the unconditioned response. The bell becomes a conditioned stimulus, and salivation to the bell the conditioned response.
  14. What is extinction in classical conditioning?The conditioned response weakens when the conditioned stimulus is repeatedly presented without the unconditioned stimulus. It can return later (spontaneous recovery).
  15. Positive vs negative reinforcementBoth increase a behavior. Positive reinforcement adds something pleasant; negative reinforcement removes something unpleasant, like taking aspirin to remove a headache.
  16. Negative reinforcement vs punishmentNegative reinforcement increases behavior by removing an aversive stimulus. Punishment decreases behavior. They are often confused.
  17. Which reinforcement schedule is most resistant to extinction?Variable-ratio, where reward comes after an unpredictable number of responses (like a slot machine).
  18. Bandura's Bobo doll study showed what?Children who watched an adult act aggressively toward a doll imitated that aggression, demonstrating observational learning.
  19. Stages of the multi-store (Atkinson-Shiffrin) memory modelSensory memory, then short-term (working) memory with limited capacity, then long-term memory. Attention moves information to short-term memory; encoding moves it to long-term.
  20. Explicit vs implicit memoryExplicit (declarative) memory is consciously recalled facts and events. Implicit memory includes skills and conditioned responses shown without conscious recall, like riding a bike.
  21. Proactive vs retroactive interferenceProactive: old learning disrupts recall of new information. Retroactive: new learning disrupts recall of old information.
  22. Piaget's four stages of cognitive developmentSensorimotor (0-2, object permanence), preoperational (2-7, egocentrism), concrete operational (7-11, conservation), and formal operational (12+, abstract reasoning).
  23. Ainsworth's Strange Situation identified which attachment styles?Secure, insecure-avoidant and insecure-resistant (ambivalent); later work added disorganized attachment.
  24. The Big Five personality traitsOpenness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism (OCEAN).
  25. Fundamental attribution errorOverestimating personal traits and underestimating situational factors when explaining other people's behavior.
  26. What did Milgram's obedience study find?Most participants obeyed an authority figure's instructions to give what they believed were severe electric shocks, showing the strong power of situational authority.
  27. Cognitive dissonanceDiscomfort from holding conflicting beliefs or acting against one's beliefs, which people often reduce by changing their attitudes.
  28. Major depressive disorder vs bipolar disorderMajor depression involves persistent low mood or loss of interest. Bipolar disorder involves depressive episodes plus manic or hypomanic episodes.
  29. Key symptoms of schizophreniaPositive symptoms such as hallucinations and delusions, disorganized speech, and negative symptoms such as flat affect and reduced motivation.
  30. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) in one sentenceA therapy that helps people identify and change distorted thoughts and maladaptive behaviors; it is well supported for depression and anxiety.
  31. Stages of sleep and when vivid dreaming mostly occursSleep cycles through NREM stages 1-3 (stage 3 is deep slow-wave sleep) and REM sleep, about every 90 minutes. Vivid dreams occur mostly in REM.

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