I Know You Are, But What Am I?
A student receives a failing grade and says, “The test was stupid anyway. I didn't even care about that subject.”
Rationalization
A person experiences persistent sadness, loss of interest, fatigue, and feelings of worthlessness for several weeks. What disorder is most consistent with this pattern?
Major Depressive Disorder
Which part of the brain is primarily responsible for basic life-sustaining functions such as breathing and heart rate?
Brainstem
Who developed psychoanalysis and proposed the id, ego, and superego?
Sigmund Freud
What is the scientific study of behavior and mental processes?
Psychology
After being reprimanded by his supervisor, a man goes home and angrily yells at his wife over a small mistake. What defense mechanism is being demonstrated?
Displacement
A person has an intense fear of heights and goes out of their way to avoid tall buildings, balconies, and other elevated places. What disorder is most likely?
Specific Phobia/ Acrophobia/ Altophobia
Which lobe is most strongly associated with planning, decision-making, impulse control, and voluntary movement?
Frontal lobe
Who is famous for demonstrating classical conditioning using dogs and salivation?
Ivan Pavlov
What term refers to a relatively stable pattern of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that distinguishes one person from another?
Personality
Anna is extremely angry with her friend but refuses to acknowledge her own anger. Instead, she repeatedly tells everyone, “She's the one who is angry at me.” What defense mechanism is this?
Projection
Mark repeatedly checks whether he locked his door. Even after checking it several times, he continues to worry that it is unlocked and feels compelled to check again. What disorder does this pattern suggest?
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
A person can remember events from years ago but has great difficulty forming new long-term memories after suffering brain damage. Which structure is most likely involved?
Hippocampus
Who developed the hierarchy of needs?
Abraham Maslow
A researcher finds that students who sleep more tend to have higher exam scores. What can the researcher conclude?
There is a correlation/relationship between sleep and exam scores, but this alone does not establish causation.
A student is furious after losing a competition. Instead of arguing with the winner or taking out their anger on someone else, they spend the next several weeks training harder and eventually become one of the school's best athletes. Which defense mechanism best explains this?
Sublimation
For several days, a person sleeps only two or three hours a night but does not feel tired. They become unusually energetic, talk rapidly, make impulsive purchases, and believe they can accomplish almost anything. What psychological disorder is most strongly suggested?
Bipolar Disorder - Manic episode
After suffering damage to a particular area of the brain, a patient can understand what other people are saying but struggles to produce meaningful speech. Which area is most likely damaged?
A 17-year-old student is struggling to decide what career to pursue. Their parents want them to become a doctor, while the student is unsure whether that is what they actually want. They begin experimenting with different interests, values, and possible future identities. According to Erik Erikson, what psychosocial crisis is the student experiencing?
Identity vs. Role Confusion
Two students receive the same criticism from their professor. One thinks, “She's trying to help me improve,” while the other thinks, “She obviously hates me.” Their different reactions are largely influenced by what?
Their interpretation/perception of the situation.
After being rejected for a job, Carlo tells everyone, “I never wanted that job anyway. The company is probably terrible to work for.” However, before the rejection, he repeatedly told his friends that getting the position was extremely important to him. Which defense mechanism is Carlo most clearly demonstrating, and what makes it different from simply lying?
Rationalization. He is creating a more acceptable explanation to protect himself from the uncomfortable reality of rejection.
A person witnesses a serious accident. Months later, they continue to experience unwanted memories of the event, have nightmares, avoid places that remind them of the accident, and become extremely alert whenever they hear a loud noise. Which disorder best explains the entire pattern?
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)/ Intrusive memories/nightmares, avoidance, hyperarousal/reactivity.
A patient suffers damage to the amygdala. After the injury, the patient can still identify objects and remember facts but shows an unusually reduced fear response to situations that would normally be threatening. Why would damage to this particular structure produce this change?
The amygdala plays an important role in processing emotional significance, particularly fear and threat-related responses.
Karen Horney believed that people can develop different ways of dealing with basic anxiety. A person who constantly seeks approval, depends heavily on others, and feels that they need to be loved and accepted in order to feel secure is demonstrating which of Horney's neurotic trends?
Moving Toward People
A student strongly believes that people who disagree with them are uninformed. During a class discussion, they actively search for information supporting their position but dismiss evidence that contradicts it. Even when presented with strong contradictory evidence, they become more confident in their original belief. What psychological concept is best illustrated by this situation?
Confirmation bias