TALKING POINTS: HOW MUCH DO YOU KNOW?

For Mini-Test 1 (Chapters 1, 2, 3): AFTER you have spent time reviewing (AND BEFORE YOU TAKE THE MINTEST), ask yourself if you know:

What are the different perspectives (points of view) taken by different psychologists? How would each of those
different perspectives explain how and why a teenage boy becomes physically aggressive?

How are structuralism and functionalism relevant; how are they different?

Which was the FIRST dominant perspective? 2nd? 3rd? Can you explain how the 2nd was a response to the 1st and
the 3rd to the 2nd?

Could you name 3 important historical figures in psychology and explain their contribution?

Could you identify 3 subfields of psychology? What sort of training is typically required to enter these fields?

Could you explain why the theme of nature vs. nurture is so significant in the field of psychology? Link this
theme with a specific behavior?

Can you explain how the 5 different types of research work? (Experiment, etc.) Provide an example of how each
type of research can be used? Strengths and weaknesses of each? What conclusions can you draw from each?

Can you explain the unique importance of the experiment?

Could you make up a quick experiment, then identify independent, dependent, and control variables? Any
potentially confounding variables?

In that experiment you just created, could you explain how and when random assignment and random sampling
would occur and how they would work?

In that same experiment, how would you operationally define your IV and DV? Why does this matter?

From that same experiment, could you explain when you would use descriptive and when you would use
inferential statistics?

Could you explain which statistics in an experiment are useful and what information each provides? (Think test
of statistical significance)

Which APA ethical rules would be important your created experiment? Why are these rules significant to a
researcher?

Could you identify the different types of neurons and when each would be used when you tied your shoes?

Could you explain the difference between excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitters?

Could you tell a friend how a neuron fires? Could you include all parts of the neuron and the synapse?

Explain the difference between substances that act as agonists and antagonists and provide an example of each?

Explain the difference between the endocrine (slow) and nervous (fast) communication systems?

Identify and explain the function of the central vs. the peripheral nervous systems? Sympathetic vs.
Parasympathetic?

Explain 6 different brain parts involved as you reach into your backpack to grab a pencil? Throw a football to a
friend? Yell at your AP Psych teacher?

Explain how lateralization, hemispheric specialization and plasticity affect our brain and our behavior?

Tell someone how your brain and body were scanned after you were in a serious accident last week (identify
different technologies, how they work and what information they provide)?

Talk about how heredity, environment and evolution have contributed to one of your stranger behaviors?