PSC 001 pt. 2

What is the difference between sensation and perception?

Sensation is the detection of sensory stimuli and perception is the interpretation of sensory information

________ is a measure of the smallest amount of energy a person can reliably detect

absolute threshold

The ________ theory of forgetting proposes that memory fades with time and lack of use.

decay

Prejudice is reduced when:

members of different groups are made to cooperate with one another to achieve a goal

_______________ is the increased resistance to a drug's effects accompanying continued use

tolerance

After reading the text chapter on memory, your friend comments that the hippocampus is the brain structure that controls memory. After having read the same chapter, you reply,

"No, the hippocampus is only one of several brain structures involved in memory."

________ is a state of tension that occurs when you have two beliefs that are inconsistent with one another, or you act in a manner that is inconsistent with your belief.

Cognitive dissonance

Which of the following is closer to the prototype of a northern California resident?

Enjoys the outdoors, is politically liberal, likes to go wine tasting

Shannon is currently a college professor. Which memory from Shannon's fourth grade experience would most likely be an episodic memory?

For the last two months of school, she shared her NFL mechanical pencil with Nick.

_______ psychologists studied how people organize the world visually into meaningful units and patterns

Gestalt

Which of the following is true about hypnosis?

Hypnotized people cannot be forced to do something against their will.

According to the text, what is the best way to think about memory?

It is like a kaleidoscope, with an overall image assembled from bits and fragments of information.

How is information organized in long-term memory?

It is organized as a vast network of interrelated concepts and ideas.

Lydia trains her dog by giving him a reward every time he sits up on his hind legs. Joanne trains her dog to do the same trick, but gives him a reward every once in a while. After a month, Joanne's dog still reliably performs the trick, but Lydia's dog does so haphazardly, and only when a reward is provided. Why is there a difference?

Joanne used intermittent reinforcement, whereas Lydia used continuous reinforcement

What is the difference between "maintenance rehearsal" and "elaborative rehearsal" (or elaboration) as memory strategies?

Maintenance rehearsal involves the rote repetition of the material to be remembered, whereas elaborative rehearsal involves associating new items with the material to make it more meaningful.

Which of the following best describes the "think-drink" effect researchers discovered?

People act drunk if they believe their drink contains alcohol, whether it actually does or not

During the night, which two types of sleep alternate with each other in cycles that take approximately 90 minutes?

REM and NREM sleep

What general conclusion can be derived from the Stanford prison study?

Social situations can exert a strong influence on behavior

With which stage of sleep is REM sleep associated?

Stage 1

How does ethnic identity compare with ethnocentrism?

The first is identification with one's ethnic group, whereas the second includes the belief that one's group is better than others

Tim yells at his daughter Allison for soiling her pants. He also threatens to spank her if she ever does it again. Next week, she soils her pants again. According to studies on punishment, why did Tim's approach fail?

The punishment did not tell her how to change her behavior

William is a police officer who is instructed by a superior officer to beat a suspect in order to obtain a confession. According to research conducted on obedience, William is more likely to disobey this order if:

William sees another police officer refuse to continue beating the suspect

When a new, learned response occurs to a previously neutral stimulus, it is called ________.

a conditioned response

In order to help her music students learn the lines of the treble clef in musical notation, Susan has them learn the sentence "Every Good Boy Does Fine," in which the starting letter of each word represents the name of a note. This is an example of:

a mnemonic

A "hidden observer" is:

a part of the mind of the hypnotized person that watches but does not participate

The tendency to perceive what you expect is called _______________.

a perceptual set

Cognitive dissonance is:

a state of tension that occurs when a person simultaneously holds two beliefs that are psychologically inconsistent

Advocates and politicians commonly use emotionally evocative terms to elicit emotional reasoning in the audience, such as "mad cow disease" and "toxic stress." They expect that their listeners will be affected by the:

affect heuristic

Which of the following is most likely to be a prototype of the concept "fruit" for someone who grew up in the American Midwest?

apple

Which of the following provides the best definition of consciousness?

awareness of ourselves and the environment

According to the just-world hypothesis, people tend to believe that:

bad people are punished and good people are rewarded

According to the operant conditioning principle of shaping, if you want your dog to ring a bell three times, how should you begin?

begin by reinforcing your dog for ringing the bell once

The application of operant-conditioning techniques to teach new responses or to reduce or eliminate maladaptive or problematic behavior is called ________.

behavior modification

According to your textbook, the need to ________ may be the most powerful human motivation.

belong

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said to his followers "Why do you see the speck in your neighbor's eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye?" If he were speaking today, he would probably refer to the:

bias blind spot

The inability to remember events and experiences that occurred during the first two or three years of life is termed ________.

childhood amnesia

When you look at the drawing below, your brain fills in the gaps so that you perceive a complete form—in this case, a line. This occurs due to the principle of ___________.

closure

Peter's mental representation of Thanksgiving includes associations about turkeys, attitudes toward the holiday, and expectations about the weight he would gain! These are all part of his ________ for the holiday.

cognitive schema

According to the triarchic theory of intelligence, there are three kinds of intelligence. ________ intelligence refers to the information processing strategies you draw on when you are thinking intelligently about a problem.

componential

When Luke kissed Laura, her heart rate increased. Luke always wore Axe body spray. Whenever Laura smelled Axe body spray, her heart raced. The smell of the body spray was the:

conditioned stimulus

Chad remembers the feeling of excitement in his house when his mother stepped through the door with his new baby sister. He can still picture the tiny little baby with a stocking cap on her head! His parents can't convince him that he actually stayed with his grandparents during the time his sister was born and that his memory never happened! Chad's memory is an example of:

confabulation

Reggie is a Green Party supporter. He goes out of his way to read articles about the achievements of the Green Party, but doesn't pay any attention to articles that are critical of the party and its candidates. Reggie is exhibiting:

confirmation bias

Two-year-old Amanda has become afraid of the bath water because of an unfortunate fall she had in her last bath. So her father puts just a little water in the tub and gives Amanda a lolliipop to enjoy while she is being washed. Soon Amanda loses her fear of the bath. What learning technique has her father used?

counterconditioning

Psychologists have discovered that people have a tendency to believe that they are better, smarter, and kinder than other people. They have called this the: a. self-serving bias b. self-enhancement bias c. "better-than-average" effect d. all of the above

d. all of the above

________ occurs when, instead of encoding just the physical or sensory features of the information, the meaning of information is analyzed.

deep processing

DeAndre and eleven others jurors are chosen for a major court case. As foreperson, it will be DeAndre's responsibility to make sure that, when the jury begins deliberating, they consider arguments for and against the defendant's guilt. This method of deliberation is an example of:

dialectical reasoning

Lucas walks around his busy college campus between classes. He notices smoke coming from the side of the cafeteria, but assumes that someone inside already has called the fire department. What phenomenon does this example illustrate?

diffusion of responsibility

While stuck in a traffic jam, Yani notices a frustrated driver frequently honking his horn. Yani thinks to himself, "That driver is a real jerk!" rather than considering that this might have been an emergency situation. This is an example of a _______________ attribution.

dispositional

Lucid dreams are:

dreams in which the dreamer is aware of dreaming

________ intelligence is the ability to identify your own and other people's emotions accurately, express your emotions clearly, and regulate emotions in yourself and others.

emotional

Richard is moving to a new neighborhood which is 20 minutes from his current residence. He asks his friend, Damien, to help him by getting a few empty boxes to pack the utensils in the kitchen. When Damien arrives with the boxes, Richard asks him to fill the boxes with the utensils. Before he realizes it, Damien helps in packing all the items in the house. In this scenario, Damien has been subjected to _______________.

entrapment

What kind of memory is not retained very well by children under the ages of 3 or 4?

episodic memory

The day after the election, Josephine says that she knew all along who the winner would be. Although it is possible that she had some special insight into the election, it is more likely that Josephine is:

exhibiting hindsight bias

Sarah enjoys playing games such as Jeopardy! and Trivial Pursuit, which require her to answer questions based on her ability to recall facts. These types of games test Sarah's:

explicit memory

When Lidia first moved to Texas, she really didn't like country music. However, after being exposed to it for a while, her attitude began to change. This is an example of the:

familiarity effect

Each of the following helps you to see the world in three dimensions except:

feature detectors

The capacity to reason and use information to solve problems is called:

fluid intelligence

The ________ is the tendency for people's choices to be affected by how a choice is presented, such as whether it is worded in terms of potential losses or gains.

framing effect

When President George W. Bush launched an invasion of Iraq, claiming that the country had weapons of mass destruction and was allied with Al-Qaeda, he and his team ignored evidence from intelligence agencies that neither claim was true, and suppressed learning of discrepant intelligence in decision-making groups. Some attributed this error to a process called:

groupthink

Marylou is making her famous chili. Instead of measuring the amount of chopped peppers to add, she knows that a handful is "usually about right." This illustrates the use of a(n):

heuristic

Jack is a fan of McDonald's (believe it or not). He simply loves the food there. Even the sight of a McDonald's store causes his stomach to grumble and he feels hungry. One afternoon, he sees a picture of Ronald McDonald in a magazine, and Jack realizes he feels hungry because his stomach is rumbling. This is an example of:

high-order conditioning

My wife will tell you that she sometimes experiences saying something to me when I am working, and then later finding that I am asking her to repeat what she said because I had been distracted by something else (she is a very patient woman). I didn't hear her the first time because of:

inattentional blindness

A psychological cause of prejudice is that it:

increases self-esteem

The word "circadian" indicates that a circadian rhythm:

is about 24 hours in length

Athletes, dancers, and performance artists each have a strong sense of their body and its movements in space. They are strong, in other words, in:

kinesthesis

As Shane stands between the railroad tracks, the rails appear to converge in the distance. This cue to inferring depth and distance is called _______________.

linear perspective

Many researchers believe that sleep is necessary for _______________, a process by which recently stored memories become durable and stable.

memory consolidation

________ is the knowledge or awareness of one's own cognitive processes.

metacognition

A disorder in which a person experiences sudden and unpredictable daytime attacks of sleepiness (whether or not they are in class) is called:

narcolepsy

Alex cleans his room so his mother will stop nagging him. His mother used _______________ to get him to clean the room.

negative reinforcement

Most psychoactive drugs produce their effects primarily by acting on:

neurotransmitters

After watching her father slide through pictures on his smartphone using his index finger, Laura, a 5-year- old, learns to use her finger to slide the screen on his smartphone. Laura acquired this behavior through ________.

observational learning

If a person had a bicycle accident, she would be more likely to be helped if:

one person was in the area

________ is the process by which a response becomes more likely to occur or less so, depending on its consequences.

operant conditioning

The gate-control theory helps to explain the perception of _______________.

pain

Our sense of vision produces a two-dimensional image on the back of the eye, but we interpret the world in three dimensions due to the process of

perception

Culture can influence perception through the effects of:

perceptual set

You have probably heard the expression, "I'll believe it when I see it." But the reverse is equally true: "I'll see it when I believe it." The second expression illustrates:

perceptual set

you have probably heard the expression, "I'll believe it when I see it", but the reverse is equally true: "I'll see it when I believe it". the second expression illustrates:

perceptual set

In operant conditioning, when something unpleasant follows a response it is called _____________________, whereas when something pleasant is taken away following a response it is called ____________________.

positive punishment / negative punishment

Which approach to explaining dreams is best supported by the fact that students who are worried about getting a good grade in a class often have recurring dreams of running out of time on exams, oversleeping and missing class, or suddenly realizing that a paper deadline was just missed?

problem-focused

________ could be called "knowing how to do something" memories.

procedural memories

In his dream, Andy is a child crawling through a dark tunnel looking for something he has lost. Hearing about this, a psychologist remarks, "It seems likely that Andy is seeking to recover the emotional intimacy he had with his mother before he was born." Which theory of dreams does this interpretation reflect?

psychoanalytic

Kyla wants to make sure that her dog Maxie does not beg for food from the table. Every time that Maxie begs, Kyla says, "No," in a sharp, scolding voice and she never gives in. Kyla is using ________.

punishment

Under most circumstances, when you are intentionally trying to remember an item of information, ________ is easier than ________.

recognition; recall

The process by which a stimulus strengthens or increases the probability of the response that it follows is called ________.

reinforcement

The difference between a reinforcer and a punisher is that:

reinforcers strengthen behavior and punishers weaken behavior

Blaming the victim is an example of:

restoring one's belief in a just world (the just world effect)

if you look at an object first through your right eye (with the left eye closed) and then with your left eye (with the right eye closed), the object looks slightly different each time. when the images from right and left eyes are integrated in the brain, it contributes to your seeing the object in three dimensions. this is called:

retinal disparity

_______________ is a disorder in which a person experiences depression during the winter and an improvement of mood in the spring

seasonal affective disorder

Brett's mom keeps a chart on his bedroom wall and adds a gold star for each day that his room is clean. His mom is using _______________ to strengthen the response.

secondary reinforcers

During a break from his job as a waiter, Bernardo begins to read Hamlet, and is so engrossed in the play that he fails to notice the clattering of dishes all around him. This is an example of _______________.

selective attention

The tendency for people to take personal credit for their good actions, but blame the situation for their mistakes, is known as the:

self-serving bias

When you recall the names of the days of the week, you are relying on ________ memory.

semantic

what is the difference between sensation and perception?

sensation is the detection of sensory stimuli and perception is the interpretation of sensory information

When she goes into her mother's kitchen, Amelia doesn't know how long she will be able to stay in the room because of the overpowering smell of onions. But when her sister comes home an hour later and complains about the smell, Amelia realizes that she no longer smells the onions at all. This is an example of:

sensory adaptation

Gary trains his hamster to roll a marble. First, he reinforces the hamster when it walks toward the marble, then he reinforces when it touches the marble with its nose. Finally, the hamster learns to roll the marble and is reinforced for it. This example illustrates ________.

shaping

In the infomation-processing model of three memory systems, which memory system has a limited capacity and stores items for about 30 seconds?

short-term memory

Kevin watches as his wife Denise walks toward the house. Even though the retinal image of Denise grows larger as Denise approaches, she does not appear to be growing larger as she moves closer and closer to Kevin. This scenario illustrates _______________.

size constancy

A major difference between dissociation and social-cognitive approaches to hypnosis is that:

social-cognitive approaches argue that the hypnotized person is enacting a role under the guidance of the hypnotist

The inability to distinguish what you originally experienced from what you heard or were told about an event later is called:

source misattribution

If you are afraid or angry at the time of an event, you may remember that event best when you are once again in the same emotional state. This phenomenon is called:

state-dependent memory

What aspect of our thinking causes us to exaggerate differences between groups and minimize differences within groups?

stereotypes

When 4-year-old Aileen goes to the store with her dad and whines for candy at the checkout, she gets the candy. But when she goes with her mom, whining never ends up getting her candy. Before long, Aileen only whines when she is at the store with her dad. This is called ________.

stimulus discrimination

Matt classically conditions his dog, Wally, to salivate when he strums the G chord on his guitar by providing food after the chord is played. After some time, Matt notices that Wally salivates even when other chords are strummed although the chords were not followed by food. This phenomenon is known as ________.

stimulus generalization

When we engage in multitasking, we are usually enlisting _____________________ thought.

subconscious

When Mitch was learning to drive, he couldn't imagine how he could ever remember to steer the wheel, flip on the turn signal, step on the accelerator, and still manage to turn the car! After driving for three years, Mitch's reactions have become automatic. Now, when he drives a car:

subconscious processes are involved

When a person's behavior is affected by a stimulus, even when that stimulus is below the person's capacity for detecting it, it is an example of _______________.

subliminal perception

REM sleep has been called "paradoxical sleep" because:

the brain is very active, yet the body is entirely inactive

Attribution theory examines:

the explanations people make about the causes of their own behaviors and the behaviors of others

Stereotype threat refers to:

the fear that a person feels about his or her performance, due to negative stereotypes about his or her group's abilities.

________ plays a critical role in the formation of long-term declarative memories.

the hippocampus

Jennifer has been studying day and night for so many weeks that she is chronically sleep deprived. Which of the following symptoms is Jennifer at the greatest risk of developing?

the loss of mental flexibility and creativity

In addition to a person's sensory capacity, signal detection theory takes into account:

the person's decision process and response bias

________ acts as a momentary holding bin, retaining sensory information in a highly accurate form until we can select items for attention.

the sensory register

At Nicholas' high school, a rumor was spread that the principal was having an affair with one of the teachers. Although Nicholas didn't believe the rumor at first, the more he heard the rumor repeated by different people, the more he accepted it as true. This is an example of:

the validity effect

The activation-synthesis theory of dreaming states that:

there is no purpose to dreaming; dreams occur because of random brainstem signals