Emotion
Name the three components of emotion.
Physiological, Behavioural, Cognitive
Which measure of central tendency is used when you want the most common value?
Mode
What is the variable that is measured in an experiment?
Dependent variable
Which part of the neuron sends messages away from the cell body?
The axon
What is the function of the frontal lobe?
Planning, decision-making, problem-solving, and voluntary movement
What’s the difference between adaptive and maladaptive coping strategies?
Adaptive strategies improve wellbeing (e.g., problem-solving); maladaptive strategies avoid or worsen stress (e.g., denial)
In psychological research, what does a p-value less than 0.05 mean, and what decision does it support about the hypothesis?
It means the results are statistically significant and the difference is unlikely due to chance. This supports rejecting the null hypothesis and accepting the alternative hypothesis.
Identify the IV and DV: “Does listening to music while studying improve test scores?”
IV: Listening to music; DV: Test scores
What is the function of a sensory neuron?
To carry information from sense organs to the Central Nervous System (CNS)
What’s the difference between a sample and a population in research?
A sample is the group studied; the population is the broader group the results aim to represent
Describe Schachter and Singer’s two-factor theory.
Emotion = Physiological arousal + Cognitive interpretation of the arousal
A dataset has an extreme outlier. Which measure of central tendency is most appropriate to report and why?
Median, because it is not affected by extreme scores and better reflects central position
What is the purpose of a null hypothesis?
To state that there is no significant difference or relationship between variables
Which lobe of the brain processes visual information?
Occipital lobe
What is the name for the brief electrical impulse that travels down an axon?
Action potential
According to Lazarus’s Appraisal Theory, what are the two types of cognitive appraisal, and how do they influence emotional response?
Primary appraisal: Evaluates whether the situation is a threat, challenge, or irrelevant to wellbeing.
Secondary appraisal: Assesses coping options and resources available to deal with the situation.
A psychology experiment compares stress scores between two groups. The groups have the same mean, but group 1 had a lower standard deviation. What does this suggest?
That the groups had similar average scores, but group 1 had less variability in responses.
What is a confounding variable, and how is it different from an extraneous variable?
A confounding variable affects both the IV and DV, while an extraneous variable may only affect the DV
Name two limbic system structures and describe their functions.
Amygdala: Processes fear and emotion
Hippocampus: Forms long-term memories
Thalamus: Relays information and regulates consciousness
Pituitary gland: Regulates processes through hormones
A graph shows high standard deviation and overlapping confidence intervals between two groups. What does this suggest about the reliability and significance of the results?
Results are not statistically significant and have low reliability due to high variability
Compare the short and long pathways of LeDoux’s model of emotion.
Short: Fast, straight from thalamus to amygdala (quick response).
Long: Thalamus → cortex → amygdala (slower, more thoughtful)
You conduct a study on memory recall and find a p-value of 0.048, but the confidence intervals slightly overlap. What should you do, and how would you explain the decision?
Reject the null hypothesis, because the p-value shows statistical significance. Slight CI overlap can happen even when results are significant, but the p-value is the stronger indicator.
Turn this directional hypothesis into a non-directional hypothesis: "Students who sleep 8 hours will recall more words than those who sleep 4 hours."
There will be a difference in word recall between students who sleep 4 hours and those who sleep 8 hours.
What would be the likely behavioural impact of damage to the amygdala?
Reduced fear response, poor emotional recognition, difficulty detecting danger
A student claims, “The more chocolate I eat before a test, the better I do.” Design a testable research question and identify the IV, DV, and population.
RQ: Does eating chocolate before a test improve student performance?
IV: Chocolate consumption
DV: Test results
Population: Students