AP Psych Midterm
Children begin to demonstrate that they know how to put words in a sensible order during the
2 word stage
Our immediate short-term memory for new material is limited to roughly
7
The human sleep cycle repeats itself about every
90 minutes
The neurotransmitter that is involved in movement and memory function
Acetylcholine
This is a hormone that regulates arousal (and is exactly the same chemical as L)
Adrenaline
Regulates fear and aggression, fight or flight response
Amygdala
Which neural center in the limbic system plays a central role in emotions such as aggression and fear?
Amygdala
Language center that translates visual information (letters) into auditory code (sound)
Angular gyrus
Located in the temporal lobe; processes sound
Auditory cortex
A language center that sends messages to the motor cortex directing movement of mouth, lips, etc.
Broca's Area
In classical conditioning, the ________ signals the impending occurrence of the _________
CS ; US
Tranquilizing drugs that inhibit sympathetic nervous system activity often reduce people's subjective experience of intense anxiety. Which theory of emotion would have the greatest difficulty explaining this effect?
Cannon-Bard
Control learned coordination; memory storage
Cerebellum
Responsible for morality, personality and judgment
Frontal Lobe
This is the inhibitory NT, which tells the neuron not to send a message
GABA
The characteristics of savant syndrome have been used to support
Gardner's argument for multiple intelligences
This NT is extremely excitable, is ingested in the foods we eat, and reinforces memory pathways
Glutamate
Sensory experiences that occur without a sensory stimulus are called
Hallucinations
Memory storage for facts and personal information
Hippocampus
considered the "reward center"
Hypothalamus
This hormone helps regulate blood sugar levels in the bloodstream
Insulin
Ten-year-old Vito tells his friend, "When you notice that your knees knock, your hands sweat, and your stomach is in knots, then you really get scared." This statement best illustrates the
James-Lange theory
A bonding hormone that makes people feeling trusting and connected
Oxytocin
The hormone released by the large intestine
PYY
Perceiving the color, motion, and form of a bird in flight illustrates
Parallel processing
The researcher most closely associated with the study of classical conditioning is
Pavlov
The "Master Gland" that controls endocrine system; controlled by the hypothalamus
Pituitary Gland
Controls basic coordination and movement
Pons
The triarchic theory of intelligence distinguished among analytical, creative, and ______ intelligence.
Practical
Regulates arousal and alertness
Reticular formation
Processes incoming sensory information
Sensory cortex
This NT provides a sense of well-being and is also involved in long term memory encoding
Serotonin
Who would be most likely to emphasize the role of the unconscious in affecting behavior?
Sigmund Freud
The psychologist most closely associated with the study of operant conditioning was
Skinner
Who would have been most enthusiastic about the value of a single intelligence test score as an index of an individual's mental capacities?
Spearman
This hormone is in both males and females and regulates, in part, aggression
Testosterone
Routes incoming sensory information to location in the cerebral cortex
Thalamus
Processes visual information
Visual cortex
A language center that is responsible for the meaning and syntax
Wernicke's Area
A drop in basal metabolic rate is most likely to result from
a semistarvation diet
Dissociation refers to
a state of divided consciousness
The final exam in a calculus course would be an example of a(n) _______ test.
achievement
Which theory suggests that dreams are mental responses to random bursts of neural stimulation?
activation-synthesis theory
Logical, methodical step-by-step procedures for solving problems are called
algorithms
After having a stroke, Aaron has great difficulty recalling any of his subsequent life experiences. He is most likely suffering from
amnesia
The perception that one's fate is determined by luck reflects
an external locus of control
Long-term potentiation refers to
an increase in neuron's firing potential
Paula expects that diligent study will enable her to earn good grades on her tests. Paula's belief best illustrates
an internal locus of control
Which theory would be most helpful for explaining why people are motivated to watch horror movies?
arousal theory
Our tendency to judge the likelihood of an event on the basis of how readily we can remember instances of its occurrence
availability heuristic
The slowdown of neural communication in multiple sclerosis involves a degeneration of the
axon terminals
The earliest stage of speech development is called the
babbling stage
B lymphocytes inhibit ___________, whereas T lymphocytes inhibit __________.
bacterial infections; viral infections
Which drugs are most likely to be prescribed as tranquilizers?
barbituates
Mrs. Thompson believes that her son has become an excellent student because she consistently uses praise and affection to stimulate his learning efforts. Her belief best illustrates a ________ perspective.
behavioral
Rochelle is extremely thin but is convinced that she is too fat. Rochelle's certainty is best explained by ______________.
belief perseverance
Mr. Lopez believes that severe depression results primarily from an imbalanced diet and abnormal brain chemistry. Mr. Lopez favors a ________ perspective on depression.
biological
Which of the following structures in the brainstem helps coordinate movements and lies above the medulla?
cerebellum
The thin surface layer of interconnected neural cells that covers the cerebrum is called the
cerebral cortex
Taste and smell are both what kind of senses?
chemical
The organization of information into meaningful units is called
chunking
Pets who learn that the sound of an electric can opener signals the arrival of their food illustrate
classical conditioning
The basilar membrane is located in the
cochlea
What term refers to all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating?
cognition
A concern with the reasoning processes that contribute to effective problem solving is most characteristic of the ________ perspective.
cognitive
The tendency to search for information consistent with our preconceptions is called
confirmation bias
Automatic processing occurs without
conscious awareness
Information is most quickly transmitted from one cerebral hemisphere to the other by the
corpus callosum
The enduring traditions, attitudes, and behaviors shared by a large group of people constitutes their
culture
One of the immediate effects of Ecstasy is
dehydration
The eerie sense of having previously experienced a situation is known as
deja vu
The large, slow brain waves associated with deep sleep are called
delta waves
Drugs such as alcohol and opiates that calm neural activity and slow body functions are called
depressants
An undersupply of serotonin is most closely linked to
depression
Compared with men, women would probably be better at
detecting the emotions of two people having a discussion over lunch
Viewing images of sexually attractive women and men may lead people to
devalue their own partners and relationships
Weber's law is relevant to an understanding of
difference thresholds
Your heart may race when confronted by a baby lion but not when approached by a house cat. This best illustrates the adaptive value of
discrimination
A condition involving intellectual disability caused by an extra chromosome in one's genetic makeup is known as
down syndrome
Among dieters who consciously restrain their eating, the urge to eat is likely to be unleashed by
drinking alcohol
Information learned while a person is ___________ is best recalled when that person ____________
drunk ; drunk
A cochlear implant converts sounds into
electrical energy/signals
The process of getting information into memory is called
encoding
Opiate drugs occupy the same receptor sites as
endorphins
According to Abraham Maslow, our need for belongingness must be met before our need for
esteem
What is the most significant source of stress for most people?
everyday hassles/too many things to do
When humans were able to establish social bonds with others, they were more likely to survive, reproduce and nurture their offspring to maturity. These actions are most closely related to which psychological perspective?
evolutionary
At which stage of the general adaptation syndrome are you most likely to experience illness?
exhaustion
A researcher interested in proving a causal relationship between 2 variables should choose this research method
experiment
The most unambiguous (obvious) nonverbal clue to our specific emotional state is provided by our
facial muscles
Repeatedly saying the word "me" puts people in a better mood than repeatedly saying "you." This best illustrates the
facial-feedback effect
The inability to take a new perspective on a problem is called
fixation
Coffee shops that reward customers with one free cup of coffee after every ten coffee purchases are using a __________ reinforcement schedule
fixed ratio
What term refers to a person's ability to reason speedily and abstractly?
fluid intelligence
Mistakenly concluding that the forgetful acts of an older person must be indicative of Alzheimer's disease best illustrates the impact of
functional fixedness
William James was a prominent American
functionalist
Imagine your friend walking toward you in the hall at school. As your friend gets closer, the image cast on your retina
gets larger
The system of rules in a language that enables us to understand and communicate with others is called
grammar
In trying to solve a potentially complicated problem quickly, we are most likely to rely on
heuristics
When we see certain outcomes as obvious based on what has occurred, we may be experiencing
hindsight bias
Unlike implicit memories, explicit memories are processed by the
hippocampus
The body's tendency to maintain a constant internal state is known as
homeostasis
Hunger controls are located within the brain's
hypothalamus
The address for obtaining tickets to a popular quiz show flashes on the TV screen, but the image disappears before Sergei has had a chance to write down the complete address. To his surprise, however, he has retained a momentary mental image of the five-digit zip code. His experience best illustrates ____ memory.
iconic
Many people retain their classically conditioned fears without any conscious recollection of how or when those fears were learned. This best illustrates _____ memory.
implicit
Cerebellum is to ____ memory as hippocampus is to _____ memory.
implicit ; explicit
Positive and negative environmental stimuli that motivate behavior are called
incentives
The misinformation effect refers to the
incorporation misleading information into one's memory of an event
The level of serotonin in the brain is
increased by a diet high in carbohydrates
North Americans are more likely than Japanese citizens to display their feelings openly. This cultural difference best reflects the American culture's greater emphasis on
induviduality
In the early twentieth century, the US government developed intelligence tests to evaluate newly arriving immigrants. Poor test scores among immigrants who were not of Anglo-Saxon heritage were attributed by some psychologists of that day to
innate mental inferiority
A sudden realization of the solution to a problem is called
insight
Layla has difficulty going to sleep and staying asleep. Layla is most likely suffering from
insomnia
A complex, unlearned, and fixed pattern of behavior common to all members of a species is called a(n)
instinct
Blood glucose levels are regulated by secretions of ________ by the pancreas.
insulin
Light-wave amplitude determines the
intensity of colors
What is located exclusively within the brain and spinal cord?
interneurons
The desire to engage in an activity for the sake of its own enjoyment involves
intrinsic motivation
Dilation and constriction of the pupil are controlled by the
iris
With her eyes closed, Sierra can accurately touch her mouth, nose, and chin with her index finger. Sierra's accuracy illustrates the importance of
kinesthesis
The best evidence that animals develop cognitive maps comes from studies of
latent learning
In their classic nine-year study, Friedman and Rosenman reported that, compared with Type A men, Type B men were
less susceptible to heart attacks
The convergence of parallel lines provides the distance cue known as
linear perspective
The relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system is called
long-term memory
The increase in synaptic firing potential that contributes to memory formation is known as
long-term potentiation
Freud called the remembered story line of a dream its
manifest content
Semantic encoding refers to the processing of
meanings
A test has a high degree of validity if it
measures or predicts what it is supposed to measure or predict
When light strikes the retina, it signals the suprachiasmatic nucleus to alter
melatonin
As we retrieve memories from our memory bank, we often alter them based on past experiences and our current expectations. This best illustrates
memory construction
The tendency for children to imitate behaviors seen on television best illustrates the importance of
modeling
In the words "helped" and "called," the "ed" ending is a(n)
morpheme
To trigger a person's hand to make a fist, Jose Delgado stimulated the induviduals
motor cortex
People who spend time on social networking sites focused on their own desires and needs may be more likely to be viewed as
narcissistic
The prevalence of genetically predisposed traits that have a reproductive advantage is best explained in terms of
natural selection
Psychologists who carefully watch the behavior of chimpanzee societies in the jungle are using a research method known as
naturalistic observation
Lack of body fluids is to thirst as _________ is to _________.
need ; drive
Revoking the driver's license of a reckless driver is intended to serve as a
negative punishment
The change in brain chemistry that offsets the effects of a psychoactive drug is called
neuroadaption
Dendrites are branching extensions of
neurons
A bell-shaped curve that characterizes a large sample of intelligence test scores is a graphic representation of
normal distribution
Mirror neurons provide a biological basis for
observational learning
According to the Cannon-Bard theory, the experience of an emotion
occurs simultaneously with physiological arousal
The sense of smell is known as
olfactory sense
A specification of how a researcher measures a research variable is known as a(n)
operational definition
Our tendency to believe we know more than we do illustrates
overconfidence
Students routinely underestimate how much time it will take them to complete assigned course projects. This best illustrates the impact of
overconfidence
The brain's release of endorphins reduces
pain
The somatic nervous system is a component of the ______ nervous system
peripheral
Identical twins separated at birth are more likely to have similar
personalities
Which endocrine gland regulates body growth?
pituitary gland
The capacity of one brain area to take over the functions of another damaged brain area is known as brain
plasticity
The complete set of cases from which samples may be drawn is called a(n)
population
correlational research is most useful for purposes of
prediction
Reading a romantic novel caused Consuela to recall some old experiences with a junior high school boyfriend. The effect of the novel on Consuela's memory retrieval is an illustration of
priming
Arnold so easily remembers his old girlfriend's telephone number that he finds it difficult to recall his new girlfriend's number. Arnold's difficulty best illustrates
proactive interference
Physical illnesses, such as hypertension and some headaches, that are not caused by an organic disorder but instead seem linked to stress, are referred to as _________ illnesses.
psychophysiological
Which procedure helps to ensure that the participants in a survey are representative of a larger population?
random sampling
The difference between the highest and lowest scores in a distribution is called the
range
To assess mental age, Binet and Simon measured children's
reasoning skills
Females are more likely to perform better than males on ___________, while males are more likely to perform better than females on ___________.
reciting poetry; spatial abilities
Sigmund Freud emphasized that the forgetting of painful experiences is caused by a process that involves
repression
During which phase of the general adaptation syndrome are organisms best able to physically cope with stress?
resistance
Memories are primed by
retrieval cues
Word meaning is to word order as _____ is to ______
semantics ; syntax
Explicit memory is to long-term memory as iconic memory is to ________ memory
sensory
After listening to your high-volume car stereo for 15 minutes, you fail to realize how loudly the music is blasting. This best illustrates
sensory adaption
The parietal lobes are to ________ as the occipital lobes are to ________.
sensory cortex ; visual cortex
The tendency to immediately recall the first and last items in a list better than the middle items is known as the ______________ effect.
serial position
The tendency to immediately recall the first and last items in a list better than the middle items is known as the_____ effect.
serial position
The process of reinforcing successively closer approximations to a desired behavior is called
shaping
When you are expecting an incoming text message, you are much more likely to notice it the second it arrives. This best illustrates
signal detection theory
The rhythmic bursts of brain activity that occur during NREM-2 sleep are called
sleep spindles
Damage to the left hemisphere is most likely to reduce people's ability to
speak fluently
Lee was momentarily terrified as a passing automobile nearly sideswiped his car. When one of his passengers joked that he almost had a two-color car, Lee laughed uncontrollably. Lee's emotional volatility best illustrates the
spillover effect
The reappearance, after a time lapse, of an extinguished CR is called
spontaneous recovery
Lewis Terman's widely used American revision of Binet's original intelligence test was the
stanford-binet
After his last drinking spree, Frank hid a half-empty liquor bottle. He couldn't remember where he hid it until he started drinking again. Frank's pattern of recall best illustrates
state-dependent memory
Black people have been found to score lower on tests of verbal aptitude when tested by White people than when tested by Black people.
stereotype threat
Ghrelin, a hormone that influences appetite, is secreted by the
stomach
Rush hour traffic is to an upset stomach as _______ is to ________.
stressor; stress reaction
random sampling is to ______ as random assignment is to ______
surveys ; experiments
LeDoux and Zajonc both challenged the Schachter-Singer Two-Factor Theory in different ways and studied different areas of unconscious processes. More specifically, LeDoux is to ___________ as Zajonc is to __________
survival response; subliminal stimuli
An accelerated heartbeat is to a slowed heartbeat as the ________ nervous system is to the ________ nervous system.
sympathetic ; parasympathetic
The spatial junctions where impulses are chemically transmitted from one neuron to another are called
synapses
Those who score above average on tests of mathematical aptitude are also likely to score above average on tests of verbal aptitude. According to Spearman, this best illustrates the importance of
the g factor
The need to take larger and larger doses of a drug in order to experience its effects is an indication of
tolerance
The process by which our sensory systems convert stimulus energies into neural messages is called
transduction
A dog's salivation at the sight of a food dish is a(n)
unconditioned response (UR)
Purchasing state lottery tickets is reinforced with monetary winnings on a
variable-ratio
To recognize the active information processing that occurs in short-term memory, researchers have characterized it as
working memory
Sleep researchers who are interested in brain wave activity are likely to use which kind of brain scan?
EEG
This NT is our natural pain management system
Endorphins
This hormone is found in females and regulates the reproductive system
Estrogen
Controls heart and lung function
Medulla
This hormone is released by the pineal gland and helps regulate sleep
Melatonin
Gives instructions for movement via the motor neurons
Motor Cortex
The pituitary gland releases a growth hormone during
NREM-3 sleep
This is an NT that regulates arousal (and is exactly the same as K)
Norepinephrine
Which theory best explains the occurrence of afterimages?
Opponent process theory
This hormone creates our conscious feeling of being hungry
Orexin
This NT is associated primarily with mood, but it also regulates movement
Dopamine
Which philosopher is most well known for theorizing that the mind at birth is tabula rasa or a "blank slate"?
John Locke
Chunking refers to
the organization of information into meaningful units
The heritability of intelligence refers to
the percentage of variation in intelligence within a group that is attributable to genetic factors
In a complete sexual response cycle
the plateau phase immediately precedes orgasm
The time span after orgasm during which a male cannot be aroused to another orgasm is called
the refractory period
The set point is
the specific body weight maintained automatically by most adults over long periods of time
Following a catastrophic earthquake, residents of one community came together and provided each other with emotional support. This reaction best illustrates
the tend-and-befriend response
The semicircular canals are most directly relevant to
the vestibular sense
Lindsay sees a test as an opportunity to demonstrate what she has learned. Maxine worries about the same test and sees it as another way to demonstrate her failings. Their stress responses will differ depending on
their distinct appraisals of the situation
