General Psychology: Guide Questions

I. Introduction to Psychology

1. Give the etymological definition of psychology.

2. State and explain the goals of psychology.

3. Distinguish counseling psychology from psychiatry using two areas of comparison.

4. Give a short but concise explanation on the procedure involved in the experimental method of research.

5. Name the contributions of the following persons to psychology: a) Francis Galton, b) Wilhelm Wundt, c) Sigmund Freud and d) B. F. Skinner.

II. Physiological Basis of Human Behavior

1. Draw and label the parts of the neuron.

2. Name three opposing actions of the sympathetic nervous system and parasympathetic nervous system.

3. Which part of our body can these endocrine glands be found? Identify the hormones they secrete: a) pituitary gland, b) adrenal glands and c) thyroid gland.

III. Human Growth and Development

1. Define maturation.

2. What role does heredity play in human growth and development?

3. Name four developmental tasks associated with the adolescence period.

4. State and explain the principles of development.

5. What are the important concerns that a person at old age needs to deal with? Name two.

IV. Sensation

1. What is sensation?

2. How do the rods and cones of the retina help us see?

3. Name the four primary taste qualities and the specific areas of the tongue most sensitive to these taste qualities.

 4. Name the touch receptors associated with the four touch or cutaneous stimuli.

V. Perception

1. What is perception?

2. How does attention affect our perception?

3. State, illustrate and explain the following principles: a) principle of similarity, b) principle of closure and c) principle of continuity.

4. What is an illusion? Provide one illustration and explain it.

VI. Intelligence

1. Why do you call a person intelligent? Is your concept of intelligence similar to or different from what you have learned in your general psychology class?

2. What is mean? median? mode?

3. Differentiate an aptitude test from an achievement test.

4. Is there a "sex difference" in intelligence?

VII. Learning

1. Define learning.

2. State and explain Thorndike's laws on learning: a) law of exercise and b) law of effect.

3. Discuss reinforcement and extinction in relation to how they were used in classical conditioning and operant conditioning.

4. What is modeling in learning?

VIII. Motivation

1. What is goal-directed behavior in motivation?

2. What is a biological drive as distinguished from a psycho-social need?

3. Explain Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

4. Name one social situation associated with the following needs: a) need prestige, b) need security, c) need affiliation and d) need power.

IX. Emotions

1. Define emotion.

2. Differentiate temperament and mood.

3. Name three physiological accompaniment of fear.

4. State and explain the cognitive theory of emotion.

X. Frustration and Conflict

1. What is frustration?

2. State and explain three types of conflict. Provide two examples for each type of conflict.

3. Differentiate the following: a) aggression and reaction formation; and  b) compensation and sublimation.

4. What is the essential difference between neurosis and psychosis?

5. When does the use of defense mechanisms become a threat or danger to the individual's mental health?

6. Name and describe three types of neuroses.

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