Psych Exam #2

Understanding why the fear of darkness may have contributed to the survival of our human ancestors is most relevant to what perspective?

evolutionary

It has been suggested that men in all cultures tend to marry women younger than themselves because men are genetically predisposed to seek female features associated with youthful fertility. This suggestion best illustrates

evolutionary perspective

Little Joey's parents used to give in every time he would whine, reinforcing his whining. Once they figured this out, they completely stopped giving in to his whining. After several weeks without reinforcement, Joey's whining has almost stopped. His reduction in whining illustrates what?

extinction

Many people can easily recall exactly what they were doing when they heard the news of the 9/11 terrorist tragedy. What memory does this best illustrate?

flashbulb

Which portion of the cerebral cortex is most directly involved in making plans and formulating moral judgments?

frontal lobes

A year after a bad car crash, Melissa still responded with terror at the sound of tires squealing or glass breaking. What does this reaction illustrate?

generalization

The endocrine system consists of a set of

glands

The temporal lobes are for

hearing

A negative correlation between people's anger and anxiety would indicate that

higher levels of anger are associated with lower levels of anxiety

Less than 10 percent of children's personality differences are attributable to the various ________ shared by family members.

home environments

The limbic system structure that regulates hunger is called the

hypothalamus

what does negative reinforcers do to the rate of operant responding?

increase

What does reinforcers do to the rate of operant responding?

increases

what does positive reinforcers do to the rate of operant responding?

increases

The cognitive perspective in psychology emphasizes how

information is learned, processed and remembered

Following massive damage to his frontal lobes, Phineas Gage was most strikingly debilitated by

irritability

Clinical psychologists are most likely to be involved in what?

providing counseling to people troubled by personal martial, or psychological problems

The specialist most likely to have a medical degree is a(n)

psychiatrist

The function of dendrites is to

receive incoming signals from other neurons

A measure of your memory in which you need to pick the correctly learned answer from a displayed list of options is known as a measure of

recognition

Judy is embarrassed because she suddenly cannot remember a friend's name. Judy's poor memory most likely results from a failure in

retrieval

After learning the combination for his new locker at school, Milton is unable to remember the combination for his year-old bicycle lock. Milton is experiencing the effects of

retroactive interference

What hemisphere typically excels in making subtle linguistic inferences

right

The occipital lobes are for

seeing

At a block party, Cyndi is introduced to eight new neighbors. Moments later, she can only remember the names of the first three and last two neighbors. Her experience illustrates

the serial position effect

Jamille performs better on foreign language vocabulary tests if she studies the material 15 minutes every day for 8 days than if she crams for 2 hours the night before the test. This illustrates what is known as:

the spacing effect

Asking people to answer questions about their attitudes illustrates which type of research?

the survey

A drug that mimics the effects of a particular neurotransmitter or blocks its reuptake is called a(n)

agonist

The chemical messengers released into the spatial junctions between neurons are called

neurotransmitters

At a social gathering, Latin Americans may behave in a manner that North Americans consider intrusive and overly expressive. This best illustrates the importance of being sensitive to differing:

norms

From the 1920s into the 1960s, American psychologists emphasized the study of what?

observable behavior

In a well-known experiment, preschool children pounded and kicked a large inflated Bobo doll that an adult had just beaten on. What does this experiment illustrate the importance of?

observational learning

Adoptive parents are least likely to influence the ________ of their adopted children

personality traits

In drug studies, the effects of the experimental drug are often compared to the effects of an inert substance called what?

placebo

A hypothesis is what?

a testable prediction that gives es direction to research

A brief electrical charge that travels down the axon of a neuron is called the

action potential

Contemporary psychology is best defined as the science of

behavior and mental processes

After suffering an accidental brain injury, Kira has difficulty walking in a smooth and coordinated manner. It is most probable that she has suffered damage to her

cerebellum

Researchers would be most likely to discover a positive correlation between

class attendance and grades

Which perspective would be most helpful in understanding the role of spaced practice on long-term memory of information?

cognitive

Pavlov noticed that dogs learned to salivate at the mere sight of the person who regularly brought food to them. For the dogs, the sight of this person was what?

conditioned stimulus (CS)

In a study of factors that might affect memory, research participants were assigned to drink either an alcoholic or a nonalcoholic beverage prior to completing a memory test. Those who drank the nonalcoholic beverage participated in the ________ condition.

control

what does punishment do to the rate of operant responding?

decreases

In an experimental study of the effects of alcohol on memorizing a list of items, the number of items recalled from the list would be the

dependent variable

Dr. Dunbar conducts basic research on how children's friendships change as they grow older. What type of psychologist is Dr. Dunbar?

developmental

A synapse is a(n):

junction between a sending neuron and receiving neuron

What hemisphere typically excels in making quick, literal interpretations of language

left

Compared to women, men are ________ likely to cite affection as a reason for their first sexual intercourse.

less

Addictive drug cravings are likely to be associated with reward centers in the

limbic system

For many species of birds and mammals, when comparing males and females

males are flashier in things like coloration and behaviors because females have greater reproductive costs, which in turn makes females choosier about mates.

In order to remember the information presented in her psychology textbook, Susan often relates it to her own life experiences. Susan's strategy is an effective memory aid because it facilitates what?

meaningful encoding

In its early years, psychology focused on the study of what?

mental processes

Phineas walks around with his shoes untied because he noticed that's what the cool kids do. This illustrates the importance of what?

modeling

Compared to women, men are ________ likely to feel comfortable about having casual sex with different partners

more

Researchers who carefully watch the behavior of chimpanzees in the jungle are using a research method known as what?

naturalistic observation

Debates as to whether aggressiveness is culturally influenced or biologically determined are most relevant to the issue of what?

nature vs nurture

When Bob gets a headache, he takes a pain killer. This does not make him feel great; it just relieves the pain. Bob's use of pain killers is maintained by what reinforcement?

negative

In teaching her dog to climb a ladder, Jane initially reinforces him with a treat for simply walking up to the ladder, then only for putting his paws on the bottom rungs, and finally only for climbing the rungs. What procedure is she using?

shaping

When you have to make a long-distance call, dialing an unfamiliar area code plus a seven-digit number, you are likely to have trouble retaining the just-looked-up number. This best illustrates the limited capacity of what memory?

short-term memory

Joe asks for observable evidence to support Bob's claim about the effects of watching TV violence. What scientific attitude does this demonstrate?

skepticism

Teens who smoke typically have friends who smoke. In order to avoid overestimating the impact of peer pressure on teens' smoking habits, it would make the most sense to consider the impact of:

smoking preferences on friendship choices

After his last drinking spree, Fakim hid a half-empty liquor bottle. He couldn't remember where he hid it until he started drinking again. Fakim's pattern of recall best illustrates what memory?

state-dependent memory

Intense and reactive infants become unusually anxious and aroused when facing new or strange situations. This best illustrates the importance of

temperament

An axon is

the extension of a neuron that carries messages away from the cell body

Looking back on the U.S. occupation of Iraq, many commentators said former President Bush should have known it would be far more complicated than predicted. What does this perception illustrate?

the hindsight bias

Chunking refers to what?

the organization of information into meaningful units

Compared with the structuralists, early behaviorists were much likely to focus on the study of what?

thoughts and goals

The corpus callosum is a wide band of neural fibers that

transmits information between the cerebral hemispheres

We instinctively duck in response to a ball thrown at our heads. Ducking in this case is a(n):

unconditioned response (UCR)

Evolutionary adaptation requires three elements

variation in traits, selection pressures, and a transmission mechanism

Which is true of genes and chromosomes in a human

we have 23 pairs of chromosomes for a total of 46