Psych Midterm

________ is a form of treatment that involves repeated pairings of a stimulus with a very unpleasant stimulus.

Aversive conditioning

________ in classical conditioning is the process of learning to respond to certain stimuli and not others.

Discrimination

What scenario best illustrates the use of explicit memory? -Joseph replaying a song in his mind that he heard at an event -James riding his motorcycle without consciously remembering how to ride a motorcycle -Emma recounting the events in a movie that she saw last Friday -Talia, a professional basketball player, showing off her basketball skills

Emma recounting the events in a movie that she saw last Friday

Pavlov's dog salivates each time he hears the sound of a bell. However, after several trials of salivating to the bell and not receiving any food, the dog stops salivating. Which of the following best explains the change in the dog's behavior?

Extinction has occurred

What is true of short-term memory?

It is improved by chunking and rehearsal techniques

________ is a language's sound system.

Phonology

According to ________ there are three forms of intelligence, whereas according to ________ there are nine types of intelligence.

Sternberg's triarchic theory; Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences

Certain areas of the cerebral cortex are specialized to handle different sensory functions. Identify a true statement about the areas where the different sensory functions are processed.

Visual information is mainly processed in the occipital lobes

What principle states that two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage to be perceived as different?

Weber's law

Elaine is writing a paper about reactions to the tragedy that occurred at the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001. She interviews 10 of her classmates and asks them to remember that day. She is surprised to learn that nearly all of the students she interviewed offer very detailed, vivid accounts of where they were and what they were doing when they first learned of the terrorist attacks. Elaine has discovered that most of her classmates have ________ of September 11, 2001.

a flashbulb memory

Your relative is experiencing memory loss related to Alzheimer disease. Research suggests that the decline in memory is due to a(n) ________ deficiency in this individual's brain.

acetylcholine

Lucy sustained a brain injury in a car accident. Although Lucy's memories of her life before the accident are intact, she is no longer able to form new, long-term memories. Every night when she goes to bed, her memories of what she had done that day are lost. Lucy suffers from

anterograde amnesia

Marshall's cerebellum was damaged in a car accident. Marshall is likely to have problems with

balance and muscle coordination

According to Thorndike's law of effect,

behaviors followed by satisfying outcomes are strengthened and behaviors followed by frustrating outcomes are weakened

Michelle, a researcher, conducts a study to investigate how people's hands sweat during stressful interviews. In this scenario, Michelle is most likely following the ________ to psychology.

biological approach

Melanie is learning how to read Spanish by speaking aloud one letter at a time. Melanie is engaging in

bottom-up processing

Dr. Okawa is interested in studying the effect that neurological trauma can have on short-term memory. Firstly, he collects detailed information from a small number of individuals who have experienced brain damage. Using information provided by medical records, interviews, and observations, he attempts to create an in-depth portrait of each individual. What type of research method was used in this study?

case study

While watching television, you can see how advertisers cunningly apply classical-conditioning principles to consumers by showing ads that pair something pleasant with a product in hope that you, the viewer, will experience those positive feelings toward the product. In this situation, the product is the

conditioned stimulus

People's decisions are likely to be biased because they tend to seek out and listen to others whose views confirm their views while they avoid those with dissenting views. This is a characteristic of

confirmation bias

Emily selects a new paint color for her bedroom. She notices a difference between sky blue and midnight blue. Emily's ability to distinguish between these two colors can best be explained by the concept of

difference threshold

Which of the following methods of studying the brain involves recording the brain's electrical activity by placing electrodes on the scalp to detect brain-wave activity?

electroencephalograph (EEG)

In the context of psychological research methods, what refers to a carefully regulated procedure in which the researcher manipulates one or more variables that are believed to influence some other variable?

experiments

What is the first step in the problem-solving process?

finding and framing problems

The ________ are involved in personality, intelligence, and the control of voluntary muscles.

frontal lobes

The chemical messengers produced by the endocrine glands are known as

hormones

According to evolutionary psychologists,

human behavior is traceable to problems early humans faced in adapting to their environments

In an experiment, the ________ is conceptualized as the "potential cause" and the ________ is conceptualized as the "resulting effect."

independent variable; dependent variable

In experimental research, the ________ is a manipulated experimental factor, and the ________ is the outcome.

independent variable; dependent variable

A person suffering from retrograde amnesia will

lose past memories and the ability to acquire new memories will remain unaffected

The removal of a stimulus following a given behavior in order to increase the frequency of that behavior is called

negative reinforcement

Amelia, a scientist, studies the body's electrochemical communication circuitry. Amelia is most likely a(n)

neuroscientist

What is the first step in the scientific method?

observing some phenomenon in the world

Lilly, who has just given birth, is able to provide nourishment for her baby and loves her newborn unconditionally. What neurotransmitter is said to play an important role in this case?

oxytocin

After taking her English final, Natalie attempts to relax in her chair by meditating. She is attempting to reduce her heart and respiration rates, as well as her muscular tension. In this scenario, her physiological relaxation can be best attributed to the functioning of her ________ nervous system.

parasympathetic

The ________ gland is defined as a pea-sized gland just beneath the hypothalamus that controls growth and regulates other glands.

pituitary

J. B. Watson and B. F. Skinner believed that

psychology should focus on an organism's visible interactions with the environment—that is, behaviors

The process by which a stimulus or an event following a particular behavior increases the probability that the behavior will happen again is called

reinforcement

You are taking both a Spanish and a French course this semester. As you study the vocabulary words for your French test, you realize that the French words are disrupting the memory of the Spanish vocabulary words you studied last week. This is an example of

retroactive interference

Professor Stenson is examining the effects of color on patients' anxiety levels. She randomly assigns patients to either a room painted white or a room painted black, and then she records their blood pressure. In this case, the independent variable is the

room color

A person's knowledge about the world is known as ________ memory.

semantic

Your knowledge of the alphabet and multiplication tables is most likely to be stored in your ________ memory.

semantic

Greta is teaching her students the meaning of words and sentences in the language used in the country of Calibra. In this scenario, Greta is most likely referring to the ________ of the Calibran language.

semantics

Which of the following is the best example of an unconditioned response? -learning to ride a bike by watching your older brother do so -throwing a temper tantrum -raising your hand before asking a question in a classroom setting -sneezing after sniffing pepper

sneezing after sniffing pepper

The factor that differentiates top-down processing from bottom-up processing is that, top-down processing

starts with cognitive processing in the brain

Little Albert was conditioned by John Watson to fear a white rat. Eventually, however, Albert became fearful of any stimulus that looked white and furry. He became scared not only of rats, but also of rabbits, dogs, and even sealskin coats. This study illustrates

stimulus generalization in classical conditioning

A correlation coefficient is a statistic that tells the

strength and direction of association between two variables

If a child's mental age is higher than his or her chronological age, this means that

the child's IQ is above average

The axon is

the part of the neuron that carries information away from the cell body toward other cells

Amelia has been working as a teataster for approximately 15 years. She visits tea gardens in the country of Bodonia to grade teas according to their quality and taste. While tasting, she uses her prior knowledge to grade the teas. In this scenario, Amelia is most likely engaged in

top-down processing

From the behaviorist perspective,

understanding the causes of behavior requires looking at the environmental factors that produce them