Psychological Theory Quiz: Test Your Understanding
Quick, free psychology theory test to check your knowledge. Instant results.
Editorial: Review CompletedUpdated Aug 26, 2025
This psychological theory quiz helps you check your grasp of major theories and terms in minutes. After you finish, keep building skills with a psychology practice test, review core concepts in the cognitive psychology quiz, or explore approaches with a personality theories quiz. See your score right away.
Learning Outcomes
- Analyze key psychological theory concepts and principles.
- Identify major theoretical frameworks used in psychology.
- Evaluate differences between behaviorist, cognitive, and humanistic approaches.
- Apply theoretical knowledge to real-world psychological scenarios.
- Demonstrate understanding of foundational theorists' contributions.
- Master terminology related to psychological models and theories.
Cheat Sheet
- Understand the Core Psychological Theories - Dive into the five major perspectives - behavioral, cognitive, humanistic, psychodynamic, and biological - to see how each one explains different facets of human thought and action. Grasping these theories gives you a versatile toolkit for interpreting behavior in everyday life.
- Explore Freud's Psychoanalytic Theory - Delve into Freud's id, ego, and superego model to uncover how unconscious drives and early experiences shape our personalities. This theory reveals the hidden tug-of-war in your mind that influences behavior.
- Study Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs - Climb Maslow's famous pyramid to understand how our basic needs for food and safety evolve into deeper desires for love, esteem, and self-actualization. This framework highlights the stages of personal growth we all pass through.
- Examine Piaget's Stages of Cognitive Development - Follow children through sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational stages to see how thinking skills evolve. Piaget's model maps out key milestones in reasoning and problem-solving.
- Analyze Erikson's Psychosocial Development Stages - Review Erikson's eight life-span stages where each presents a core conflict - like trust vs. mistrust or identity vs. role confusion - that shapes our social and emotional identity. It's a roadmap of growth from infancy to old age.
- Differentiate Between Behaviorist, Cognitive, and Humanistic Approaches - Compare how behaviorism studies observable actions, cognitive psychology dives into mental processes, and humanistic psychology celebrates personal potential and self-fulfillment. Spotting their differences helps you pick the right lens for each scenario.
- Understand Bandura's Social Learning Theory - Discover how we learn by watching others, imitating behaviors, and seeing the consequences. Bandura's model emphasizes the power of role models and observational learning in shaping new skills.
- Learn About Plutchik's Wheel of Emotions - Spin through Robert Plutchik's eight primary emotions and see how they blend into complex feelings. This colorful wheel helps you identify and articulate emotional experiences.
- Familiarize Yourself with Defense Mechanisms - Study how the ego protects us through denial, repression, projection, and other tactics when faced with stress or conflict. Recognizing these strategies can boost your self-awareness and coping skills.
- Apply Theoretical Knowledge to Real-World Scenarios - Practice by analyzing case studies or everyday situations using different psychological theories to sharpen your critical thinking and application skills. This hands-on approach cements your understanding and makes theory come alive.