Ever wondered why you remember embarrassing moments from high school but forget where you put your keys, or why certain phobias seem completely irrational yet impossible to shake? With complex brain functions, counterintuitive mental processes, and terminology that sounds like it belongs in a textbook rather than everyday conversation, understanding psychology can feel more challenging than analyzing your own dreams! Our psychology trivia collection demystifies the human mind with questions covering everything from Freud’s famous theories to cutting-edge neuroscience discoveries. Perfect for psychology students or anyone curious about why we think, feel, and behave the way we do.
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Psychology Trivia Questions and Answers
- What do we call the study of the mind and behavior?
Answer: Psychology - What part of your body helps you think and remember things?
Answer: Brain - What are the five basic senses humans have?
Answer: Sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell - What is it called when someone is afraid of spiders?
Answer: Arachnophobia - What is it called when you remember things from the past?
Answer: Memory - What do psychologists study?
Answer: Human behavior and mental processes - What is the fear of tight or crowded spaces called?
Answer: Claustrophobia - What is the study of dreams called?
Answer: Oneirology - What is the process of learning through watching others called?
Answer: Observational learning - What did Sigmund Freud call the part of our mind that holds our instincts?
Answer: Id - What type of memory lasts only a few seconds?
Answer: Sensory memory - What is the fear of heights called?
Answer: Acrophobia - What do we call a dislike of or prejudice against people because of their age?
Answer: Ageism - What is a strong desire for food called?
Answer: Appetite - What do we call the ability to recognize and understand feelings?
Answer: Emotional intelligence - What is a phobia?
Answer: An extreme or irrational fear - Who was the Russian scientist who did experiments with dogs and discovered classical conditioning?
Answer: Ivan Pavlov - What is it called when a person can do multiple tasks at the same time?
Answer: Multitasking - Who is considered the founder of psychoanalysis?
Answer: Sigmund Freud - What is the fear of water called?
Answer: Aquaphobia - What is the common name for Rapid Eye Movement sleep?
Answer: REM sleep - What is long-term memory?
Answer: Memory that can last for days, months, or years - What is the term for the tendency to see faces in random objects or patterns?
Answer: Pareidolia - What is it called when someone blames others for their own problems?
Answer: Projection - What is the fear of open spaces or public places called?
Answer: Agoraphobia - What is the name for the first stage of sleep?
Answer: Stage 1 or N1 sleep - What colors make up the primary colors in vision?
Answer: Red, green, and blue - What is it called when people change their behavior to match that of others?
Answer: Conformity - What is the name for the technique where people are trained to associate a stimulus with a response?
Answer: Classical conditioning - What is the term for the mental ability to acquire and apply knowledge?
Answer: Intelligence - What is the term for the tendency to search for information that supports our existing beliefs?
Answer: Confirmation bias - What is the name of the Russian psychologist who studied how dogs salivated when they heard a bell?
Answer: Ivan Pavlov - What are the chemicals in our brain that help signals pass between nerve cells?
Answer: Neurotransmitters - What psychological bias causes us to think that others notice our flaws more than they actually do?
Answer: Spotlight effect - What is the effect where someone performs better on a task when they know they are being watched?
Answer: Social facilitation - What is it called when we continue to invest in something because we’ve already put time or money into it?
Answer: Sunk cost fallacy - What is the fear of darkness called?
Answer: Nyctophobia - What is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another person?
Answer: Empathy - What is the process of learning by receiving rewards or punishments called?
Answer: Operant conditioning - Who developed the hierarchy of needs pyramid?
Answer: Abraham Maslow - What is it called when a person’s behavior changes to gain acceptance within a group?
Answer: Social conformity - What cognitive bias makes us prefer things we’re familiar with?
Answer: Mere exposure effect - What is the term for the psychological discomfort when our beliefs don’t match our actions?
Answer: Cognitive dissonance - What is it called when we attribute others’ behaviors to their personality rather than their situation?
Answer: Fundamental attribution error - What is the psychological term for a false memory?
Answer: Confabulation - What is the term for when prisoners begin to identify with their captors?
Answer: Stockholm syndrome - Who conducted the controversial “Stanford Prison Experiment”?
Answer: Philip Zimbardo - What is the psychological principle where people are more willing to do small favors if they’ve done bigger ones before?
Answer: Foot-in-the-door technique - What is the name of the memory bias that makes it easier to recall unusual or emotionally charged events?
Answer: Von Restorff effect - What controversial psychological experiment involved participants delivering what they thought were painful electric shocks?
Answer: The Milgram experiment - What is the term for the cognitive bias where we overestimate our ability to predict events after they’ve already happened?
Answer: Hindsight bias - What is the name of the test that uses inkblot patterns to examine personality and emotional functioning?
Answer: Rorschach test - What is the psychological term for when someone cannot form new memories after brain damage?
Answer: Anterograde amnesia