GRE Psychology Study guides, Class notes & Summaries

These are 50 interview questions you can ask any psychologist about the work they do.

500+ PRACTICE GRE VOCABULARY WORDS abase CORRECT ANSWER (v.) to humiliate, cause to feel shame; (v.) to hurt the pride of abash CORRECT ANSWER (v.) to embarrass; to cause to be embarrassed abate CORRECT ANSWER (v.) to make less active or intense; (v.) to become less in intensity abdicate CORRECT ANSWER (v.) to give up power aberration CORRECT ANSWER (n.) an aberrant state or condition; (n.) a disorder in a person's mental state; an optical phenomenon which results from the failure ...

Central Nervous System Correct Answer - composed of the brain and spinal cord Peripheral Nervous System Correct Answer - the pathway that runs to and from the CNS - afferent fibers run toward the CNS; efferent fibers run away from the CNS - composed of: 1) Somatic Nervous System - controls voluntary movements of the striated muscles 2) Autonomic Nervous System - involuntary movements of the smooth muscles, 2 parts: a) Sympathetic nervous system - arousal b) Parasympathetic nervous syste...

An athlete's performance may improve or worsen according to the level of arousal. Under extreme pressure, performance may diminish. This is an example of a) The Yerkes-Dodson Law b) Clark Hull's theory of motivation c) the Garcia effect d) Zajonc's theory e) the James-Lange theory Correct Answer a) The Yerkes-Dodson Law A developmental psychologist is interested in conducting a study on children's gender perceptions. The psychologist recruits children who are either 5 years of age,...

The ability of a postsynaptic neuron to respond to the presence of a particular neurotransmitter that is released from a neighboring presynaptic neuron is dependent on which of the following conditions? a. the storage of the neurotransmitter in the presynaptic neuron b. the ability of the neurotransmitter to penetrate the membrane of the postsynaptic neuron c. the presence of receptors on the postsynaptic neuron that have an affinity for that particular neurotransmitter d. whether or no...

Norman Triplett Correct Answer first study of social psychology: effect of competition on performance. People perform better on familiar tasks when with others than when alone. William McDougall and E.H. Ross Correct Answer published the first textbooks on social psychology, 1908 Verplank Correct Answer social approval influences behavior (1950s) established reinforcement theory with Pavlov, Thorndike, Hull, and Skinner Reinforcement theory Correct Answer behavior motivated by anticipa...

Learning Correct Answer The relatively permanent or stable change in behavior as the result of experience E.L. Thorndike Correct Answer This man suggested the law of effect, precursor of operant conditioning. Law of Effect Correct Answer E.L. Thorndike's idea that postulated a cause-and-effect chain of behavior revolving around reinforcement. Any behavior that is followed by reward is likely to be repeated. One followed by unpleasant consequences is likely to be stopped. Kurt Lewin Cor...

The ability of a postsynaptic neuron to respond to the presence of a particular neurotransmitter that is released from a neighboring presynaptic neuron is dependent on which of the following conditions? Correct Answer The presence of receptors on the postsynaptic neuron that have an affinity for that particular neurotransitter Critics have argued that projective tests are too Correct Answer Subjective Organizing the string of letters B-F-J-T-A-V-K-C into JFK-TV-CAB is an example of Correct...

Acetycholine Correct Answer neurotransmitter associated with voluntary movement, sleep and wakefulness. Too little is associated with Alzheimer's Analysis of Variance/ANOVA Correct Answer 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 Correct Answer impairment of ability to communicate either through oral or written discourse as a result of brain damage. Ex. Wernicke's ________ ...

Ablation Correct Answer A surgically induced brain lesion. Absolute refractory period Correct Answer The period that follows the onset of an action potential. During this period, a nerve impulse cannot be initiated Absolute threshold Correct Answer The minimum of stimulus energy needed to activate a sensory system. Accommodation Correct Answer A principle of Piaget's theory of cognitive development. It occurs when cognitive structures are modified because new information or new experie...