Introduction to Psychology — High-Yield Review

Highest-Yield Facts by Unit

Unit 1 — Research

• High yield: Correlation ≠ causation (directionality + third-variable problems).
• High yield: Random assignment (experiments) ≠ random sampling (generalizability).
• Reliability = consistency; validity = accuracy. IRB + informed consent + debriefing.

Unit 2 — Biopsychology

• High yield: Action potential = all-or-none; resting potential ~-70 mV; myelin speeds conduction.
• Sympathetic = fight-or-flight; parasympathetic = rest-and-digest. HPA axis → cortisol.
• Neurotransmitters: dopamine, serotonin, acetylcholine, GABA, glutamate.

Unit 3 — Consciousness

• High yield: REM vs NREM; suprachiasmatic nucleus = circadian pacemaker.
• Depressants/stimulants/opioids/hallucinogens; tolerance → withdrawal → dependence.

Unit 4 — Sensation & Perception

• High yield: Sensation (reception) vs perception (interpretation). Absolute vs difference threshold (Weber's law).
• Rods (dim light) vs cones (color); trichromatic vs opponent-process color theory.

Unit 5 — Learning

• High yield: Classical (Pavlov, US/UR/CS/CR) vs operant (Skinner, reinforcement/punishment).
• Negative reinforcement (removes aversive → increases behavior) ≠ punishment.

Unit 6 — Memory

• High yield: Encoding → storage → retrieval; sensory/short-term/working/long-term.
• Explicit (episodic + semantic) vs implicit (procedural); hippocampus consolidation.

Unit 7 — Cognition

• High yield: Heuristics (availability, representativeness) vs algorithms; confirmation bias.
• Fluid vs crystallized intelligence; Spearman's g.

Unit 8 — Motivation & Emotion

• High yield: Drive-reduction, arousal (Yerkes-Dodson), Maslow's hierarchy, intrinsic vs extrinsic.
• James-Lange vs Cannon-Bard vs Schachter-Singer two-factor.

Unit 9 — Development

• High yield: Piaget's stages (sensorimotor → preoperational → concrete → formal).
• Erikson's psychosocial stages; attachment (secure/insecure); parenting styles.

Unit 10 — Personality

• High yield: Freud (id/ego/superego); Big Five (OCEAN); Rogers (unconditional positive regard).
• Reciprocal determinism (Bandura); locus of control (Rotter).

Unit 11 — Social

• High yield: Fundamental attribution error; cognitive dissonance; Asch conformity; Milgram obedience; bystander effect (diffusion of responsibility).

Unit 12 — Disorders

• High yield: DSM-5-TR framework; biopsychosocial model. Anxiety vs mood vs schizophrenia spectrum vs personality disorders. Positive vs negative schizophrenia symptoms.

Unit 13 — Therapies

• High yield: Psychoanalytic vs behavioral vs cognitive vs humanistic vs CBT. Biomedical (medications, ECT, TMS) vs psychotherapy.

Unit 14 — Health

• High yield: General adaptation syndrome (alarm/resistance/exhaustion); HPA axis + cortisol; problem-focused vs emotion-focused coping.

Comparison Tables

Cumulative Self-Check (20 questions)

1. Explain why correlation does not imply causation.
2. Differentiate random assignment from random sampling.
3. List the five stages of Maslow's hierarchy (bottom to top).
4. What is the difference between negative reinforcement and punishment?
5. Name the four stages of Piaget's cognitive development.
6. Differentiate sensation from perception.
7. What does each letter of OCEAN stand for?
8. List the three structures of Freud's personality.
9. Differentiate classical from operant conditioning.
10. What is the fundamental attribution error?
11. Name the three stages of Selye's general adaptation syndrome.
12. Differentiate fluid from crystallized intelligence.
13. What is the bystander effect, and what explains it?
14. Name the three types of memory in the Atkinson-Shiffrin model.
15. Differentiate the James-Lange and Schachter-Singer theories of emotion.
16. What is the difference between positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia?
17. Name the three parenting styles (Baumrind) and the one most associated with positive outcomes.
18. Differentiate reliability from validity.
19. What is cognitive dissonance?
20. Name the four lobes of the cerebral cortex and one function each.

Answers and Rationales

1. Correlation = association; a third variable or directionality may explain it — only experiments with random assignment establish cause.
2. Assignment = how participants are placed (experiment control); sampling = how the sample is selected (generalizability).
3. Physiological, safety, belongingness, esteem, self-actualization.
4. Negative reinforcement removes an aversive stimulus to increase behavior; punishment decreases behavior.
5. Sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, formal operational.
6. Sensation = receptor input; perception = interpretation of that input.
7. Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism.
8. Id, ego, superego.
9. Classical = involuntary association (US→UR, CS→CR); operant = consequences shape voluntary behavior.
10. Over-attributing others' behavior to disposition and underestimating the situation.
11. Alarm, resistance, exhaustion.
12. Fluid = reasoning/novel problems; crystallized = accumulated knowledge.
13. People are less likely to help when others are present — diffusion of responsibility.
14. Sensory, short-term, long-term.
15. James-Lange = emotion follows physiology; Schachter-Singer = physiology + cognitive appraisal together produce emotion.
16. Positive = added (delusions, hallucinations); negative = deficits (flat affect, avolition).
17. Authoritative, authoritarian, permissive; authoritative is most associated with positive outcomes.
18. Reliability = consistency; validity = accuracy/measures what it claims.
19. Discomfort from inconsistent attitudes/behaviors, motivating change.
20. Frontal (executive), parietal (touch/spatial), temporal (hearing/language), occipital (vision).

Last-Minute Review

• Research: correlation vs causation; random assignment vs sampling; IV/DV; reliability vs validity; ethics (IRB, consent, debriefing).
• Biopsychology: action potential; sympathetic vs parasympathetic; neurotransmitters; lobes; HPA axis.
• Learning: classical vs operant; reinforcement vs punishment; schedules of reinforcement.
• Memory: encoding/storage/retrieval; explicit vs implicit; interference; misinformation effect.
• Development: Piaget, Erikson, attachment, parenting styles.
• Social: attribution errors, dissonance, conformity/obedience, bystander effect.
• Disorders/treatments: biopsychosocial, DSM framework, CBT, biomedical therapies.
• Health: stress (GAS, HPA), coping (problem- vs emotion-focused).

Related

• Subject overview
• Topic 02 — Psychological Research Methods
• Topic 15 — Classical Conditioning
• Topic 35 — Defining Abnormality and Diagnostic Frameworks