Psych Quiz #1 (Chapters 1-5)

What is referred to as an "all or none" event?

action potential

Sensation is to _____ as perception is to _____.

detection; interpretation

The pancreas is to _____ as the adrenals are to _____.

digestion;stress

Monocular depth cues rely on the relationship between _____ and _____.

distance;size

If an explanation adheres to the rule of parsimony, it will be:

simple

Which correlation coefficient represents the STRONGEST relation between two variables?

.99

The olfactory epithelium contains about _____ olfactory receptor neurons.

10 million

Monozygotic twins share _____% of their genes.

100

On the most recent exam, the highest score earned was an 89, and the lowest score was a 62. What is the range on this test?

27

_____ fibers transmit a sharp, sudden pain, whereas _____ fibers transmit throbbing, dull pain that lingers long after the injury.

A-delta;C

Jeremy walks down a dark alley and finds himself confronted by a vicious dog. His heart starts beating faster and his eyes dilate, so he can see better in the dark. _____ has been released from his pituitary gland to help him prepare for the danger.

Adrenocorticotropic hormone

Which statement about sleeping pills is TRUE?

Although effective in the short term, they are ineffective in the long term.

Which statement does NOT describe a condition of conducting animal research?

Animal researchers can do whatever they want to invertebrates.

_____ direct(s) and produce(s) human behaviors, personality traits, and even psychological disorders.

Both genes and the environment

_____ was the first to discover that neurons are complex structures composed of three basic parts.

Cajal

_____ consist of strands of DNA wound around each other.

Chromosomes

Which treatment is NOT used for pain relief?

Cocaine

Jon is a psychologist interested in figuring out where learning takes place in the brain. He would probably describe himself as a:

Cognitive neuroscientist

_____ is the scientific study of mental processes, including perception, thought, memory, and reasoning.

Cognitive psychology

_____ refers to a person's subjective experience of the world and the mind.

Consciousness

Which method is used to monitor and record eye movements during sleep?

EOG

The health department is testing the effectiveness of a recent campaign promoting a healthy lifestyle. Which statement is the BEST operational definition of a "healthy lifestyle"?

Eat five servings of fruit/vegetables and be physically active for 30 minutes or more each day.

The extreme uninhibited behaviors often associated with a large consumption of alcohol are a result of increased activation of the neurotransmitter _____, which normally inhibits neural impulses.

GABA

Jean-Martin Charcot and Pierre Janet were interested in a condition that results in the temporary loss of motor control or cognitive functions. What were they studying?

Hysteria

What is TRUE about the proportion of PhDs in psychology earned by women?

It increased from 15% of all awarded doctorates in 1950 to 70% of those awarded in 2010.

Which statement describes a critical component of a good hypothesis?

It is falsifiable

How does cardiovascular exercise affect brain structures?

It promotes neuron growth and increased synaptic connections in the hippocampus

What did Descartes believe about the pineal gland?

It's where the mind interacted with the body

Nathan is politically conservative. Which person is Nathan MOST likely going to befriend?

Kevin, who is a conservative

Which degree would NOT be necessary in order for one to call oneself a counseling psychologist?

Medical Degree (MD)

_____ are activated when watching another animal's behavior and are involved in social behavior.

Mirror neurons

Nora notices that every time she wears jewelry to work she has a very productive day and finishes all of her projects on time. When she doesn't wear jewelry, she struggles to get everything done by the end of the day. She concludes that wearing jewelry is the cause for her successful days at work and buys more jewelry. Is she correct?

No, she cannot make causal claims from correlations

Which statement about self-consciousness and mirrors is TRUE?

People avoid mirrors after doing something of which they are ashamed.

Which statement is NOT a point that distinguishes the psychoanalytic and humanistic schools of psychological thought?

Psychoanalytic theory is based on sound scientific research, while the humanistic theory is generally untestable.

_____, which are found in the cerebral cortex, have a single, long dendrite and several smaller dendrites.

Pyramidal neurons

A person deprived of _____ often exhibits memory problems and increased aggression.

REM sleep

_____ is a mental process that removes unacceptable thoughts and memories from consciousness.

Repression

Consciousness can be described as consisting of four basic properties, which are:

Selectivity, Unity, Intentionality and transience (SUIT)

_____ hearing loss is caused by damage to the cochlea, hair cells, or auditory nerve.

Sensorineural

Which statistic gives the average difference of each score from the mean?

Standard Deviation

Which book, written by William James in 1890, is still widely read and considered one of the most influential texts in psychology?

The Principles of Psychology

_____ refers to the time following an action potential during which a new action potential cannot be initiated.

The Refractory period

Researchers put an odorless red dye above the eyebrow of a sleeping chimpanzee and then watched as the chimp woke up and looked in a mirror. What happened?

The chimpanzee reached toward its own eye when it looked in the mirror, demonstrating recognition of the image as a reflection of itself.

You decide to use a person's eye color as a measure of intelligence. Which statement is probably TRUE?

The measure is neither reliable nor valid.

Triplett conducted an experiment on children and what might impact their speed in reeling in their fishing line. What did he find?

The presence of other people influenced performance

Which psychologist believed that a complete discipline of psychology would have a laboratory component supplemented with a broader cultural perspective?

Wilhelm Wundt

According to Weber's law, a person would be more likely to detect the difference between:

a 1 oz. envelope and a 2 oz. envelope.

Dream consciousness is NOT characterized by:

a lack of visual sensation

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is:

a technique that can simulate brain damage.

Figure is to ground as _____ is to _____.

a white cloud; blue sky

The minimal intensity needed to just barely detect a stimulus at least half of the time is referred to as a(n):

absolute threashold

Jane's grandmother was recently diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. Jane wanted to do some research so that she could help her grandmother better understand this disease. Through her research, Jane found that Alzheimer's involves the deterioration of:

acetylcholine

The _____ stimulates the release of neurotransmitters, allowing neurons to communicate with each other.

action potential

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) directly measures the:

activity of oxygenated hemoglobin in the blood.

Drugs that increase the action of a neurotransmitter are called:

agonists

By studying people with brain damage in certain regions of the brain, we gain a better understanding that:

all cognitive processes rely on the brain.

Which type of psychologist deals with workplace issues such as assessing potential employees, improving productivity, or helping staff and management with planning?

an industrial-organizational psychologist

Psychologists and _____ often exchange ideas to further the field of cultural psychology.

anthropologists

Smell occurs when molecules enter the nose, and taste occurs when molecules:

are dissolved in saliva

Neuroimaging studies have found that people who _____ display decreased activation in the anterior cingulate cortex of the brain during the Stroop task compared with people who lack this same quality.

are highly suggestible

The synapse is typically located between the _____ of the first (sending) neuron and the _____ of the second (receiving) neuron

axon;dendrite

After damage to the spinal cord, the amount of function that is lost is:

based on the location of the damage.

Two things people can do to help themselves think critically are:

be willing to accept things they don't believe and take experimental results as truth.

Maximizing benefits and reducing research risks is associated with the principle of:

beneficence

The amplitude of a light wave corresponds to its:

brightness

The _____ is the part of the neuron that keeps the cell alive.

cell body

Split-brain studies revealed that:

certain tasks and behaviors seem localized to either the left or right hemisphere.

If this area were severed, the two sides of the brain would not be able to communicate with each other.

corpus callosum

Levin and Simons (1998) conducted a clever study in which a researcher (questioner) asked participants for directions on a college campus. During the conversation, a door was moved between the researcher and the participants. After that, the questioner changed to a different person. These researchers were studying:

change blindness

Which function is NOT one that can be performed by a neuron in the human body?

change the chemical structure of hormones in the endocrine system

Today, most people who call themselves psychologists are in the _____ subfield of psychology.

clinical

Advertising companies that tried to influence consumers' shopping habits by incorporating subliminal messages into commercials appealed to what type of unconscious?

cognitive

Scientists like Hermann Ebbinghaus, Jean Piaget, and Kurt Lewin paved the way for _____ by renewing interests in mental events such as perception, memory, and subjective experiences.

cognitive psychology

The colors people perceive are due to the inherent properties of an object, and our visual systems best guess about color on the basis of _____ of incoming sensory data as well as our _____.

color mixing; past experiences

Timbre corresponds to differences in the _____ of sound waves.

complexity

To better understand the Nazi atrocities that occurred during the Holocaust, social psychologists began to study:

conformity and obedience

Psychology was initially focused on _____ and analyzing the subjective feelings and thoughts of a person's experiences.

consciousness

Sheila believes that dreams don't contain deep meaning but are instead random patterns of brain activity that we interpret after awakening. Her view is _____ with the activation-synthesis model and _____ with the Freudian theory of dreams.

consistent; inconsistent

If a measure is valid, it:

covaries with the independent variable.

JoNell is a psychologist interested in studying how traditions and beliefs exist in groups. What type of psychologist is she?

cultural

When people work on a task that is familiar enough to them that they can daydream at the same time, an area of the brain called the _____ becomes activated.

default network

John is participating in a study and is asked if he would stop and help someone whose car has broken down on the freeway. John answers yes even though he knows he would probably not stop and help. John's response reflects the power of:

demand characteristics

Groups of women with cancer are given different doses of the drug tamoxifen in order to examine the effects on the progression of the disease. The independent variable is the:

dosage

You drink four cups of coffee each day. One day, you don't have your coffee, and you get a terrible headache. What are you experiencing?

drug withdrawal

According to Freud, repression acts to keep thoughts in our:

dynamic conscious

Within a neuron, information is transmitted as a(n) _____ signal from the dendrites to the cell body and throughout the axon.

electrical

If you sprain your ankle and your doctor asks you to develop a theory about how your ankle works, she is probably a(n):

empiricist

Dan is running a marathon, and after 15 miles he doesn't think he can take another step. Just as he is about to give up, the pain suddenly subsides. He feels renewed and motivated to run the rest of the race. Dan has MOST likely just experienced a larger release of:

endorphins

Researchers often use computers in their experiments in order to keep from influencing the participants and to keep themselves _____ regarding the conditions to which the participants have been assigned.

ethical

According to the _____ approach, the human brain is more like a computer specialized to do a few tasks very well and less like an all-purpose computer that can learn to do anything.

evolutionary psychology

B. F. Skinner's ideas were controversial due to his denial of:

free will

Dr. Horton made it clear to his introductory psychology students that, if they didn't participate in his research, they would receive a failing grade in his class. What ethical principle has Dr. Horton violated?

freedom from coercion

William James suggested that consciousness is adaptive, and we should try to understand the purpose of the mental processes involved. Wundt suggested that we should break consciousness down into specific elements. James's theory was called _____, and Wundt's theory was called _____.

functionalism; structuralism

When Triplett observed cyclists change their behavior with others, he concluded that:

human performance can be influenced by the presence of others.

Therapists' use of the term "client," rather than "patient," began with which area of psychology?

humanistic

Tobias is a therapist who refers to the people he sees as clients instead of patients and believes that they are innately driven to accomplish great things. Tobias is probably a(n) _____ psychologist.

humanistic

Marielies was afflicted by a brief spell in which she was unaware of her own identity. Sigmund Freud would have believed that she was suffering from:

hysteria

Nora comes into a laboratory, where she is briefly shown a colored number next to a black letter. When she is asked to describe what she saw, she incorrectly describes the letter as having the color of the number. What is the researcher probably studying?

illusory conjunction

Danny refuses to believe in anything he cannot see. According to Bacon, this fallacy:

impairs human understanding.

The American Psychological Association was formed:

in 1892 on the campus of Clark University.

Ahmad is taking a test, and he doesn't notice that his classmate comes in 10 minutes late, wearing pajamas and slippers. Ahmad may have demonstrated:

inattentional blindness

The ethical principle of _____ means that research participants are given enough information about a study to make a reasonable decision about whether they will participate.

informed consent

Franklin has problems with his balance. His problems are probably due to difficulties with his:

inner ear

Heritability scores between 0 and 1.00 indicate the:

interaction between genetics and the environment in producing a particular trait.

Due to the partial crossing of visual information at the optic chiasm, the _____ visual field projects to the right hemisphere, and the _____ visual field projects to the left hemisphere.

left;right

There is _____ support for claims that hypnosis can help people to recover memories.

little

What is the general goal of scientific research into why people do what they do?

making hypotheses

Having a dream that you won the lottery has the _____ content of winning a fortune but may have different _____ content.

manifest; latent

Anandamide receptors in the brain are associated with mood regulation, memory, and appetite; they also respond to the chemicals found in chocolate and:

marijuana

Sound-wave vibrations are transmitted by three tiny bones located in the:

middle ear

René Descartes thought he had found the solution to the _____ problem in the pineal gland.

mind-body

Rods are:

more light-sensitive and less color-sensitive than are cones.

The interaction between vision and the vestibular system is clearly illustrated by the occurrence of:

motion sickness

Jenna falls asleep suddenly, when she is trying to do other things. Which sleep disorder does Jenna probably have?

narcolepsy

Elizabeth believes that, without innate ability, no matter how hard someone practices, he or she will never be a professional athlete or expert musician. Elizabeth believes in:

nativism

Which technique is good to use to avoid demand characteristics?

naturalistic observation

The more time children spend playing video games at home, the lower their grades are at school. This represents a:

negative correlation

The _____ forms the basis of the spinal cord during prenatal development.

neural tube

By utilizing brain scanning, cognitive neuroscientists can:

observe and identify brain activity associated with specific tasks.

Pavlov's brand of conditioning views organisms as _____ while Skinner's brand of conditioning views organisms as _____.

passive; active

The expectancy theory proposes that the varied effects of alcohol are determined by:

people's beliefs about how they think it will influence them in different situations.

A person's ability to recognize an object without being deceived by changing sensory impressions of that object BEST illustrates the importance of:

perceptual constancy

Continued sniffing or huffing vapors from household products can eventually result in:

permanent neurological damage

Jayden damaged his motor cortex during a car accident, but over time, part of his frontal lobe cortex nearby began to coordinate some muscle movements. This is an example of brain:

plasticity

The brain is remarkably adaptive, and the functions of areas that are damaged may be taken over by other areas of the brain. What is the term for this phenomenon?

plasticity

The Smith family has very little money and no health insurance. A researcher approaches them and promises free healthcare for their three children for 2 years if he can subject the children to a series of experimental vaccines that may have serious side effects. The Smith family feels compelled to participate to get the free health care. According to the APA code of ethics, this researcher is in violation of the principle of:

protection from harm

With _____, internal and external sensory information converge on the same spinal nerve.

referred pain

In an experimental design, volunteers are placed into the experimental group or the control group based on a flip of a coin. This method illustrates:

random assignment

In order for a neurotransmitter to affect surrounding neurons, the molecular structure of the neurotransmitter must fit into the _____ like a key fits into a lock.

receptor

The part of a neuron that is stimulated by a neurotransmitter into initiating or preventing a new electrical signal is called a(n):

receptor

Alberto is missing the kind of cone that responds to the longest wavelength of visible light. Alberto and others with this type of color blindness have trouble perceiving:

red

Humans perceive the longest visible wavelengths as the color _____ and the shortest visible waves as the color _____.

red;purple

Margaret is experiencing pains in her abdomen and goes to the doctor, who tells her that she has suffered a mild heart attack. Margaret's experience of pain in her abdomen and not in her chest is an example of:

referred pain

A rat is being trained to learn its way through a complex maze. When the rat successfully makes its way through the maze, it receives water and food and runs faster next time. What psychological principle does this example illustrate?

reinforcement

By _____ a behavior, you increase the chances that it will occur again.

reinforcing

Which factor is NOT a challenge to scientifically studying human behavior?

reliability

According to Pavlov, a _____ is an action or physiological change elicited by a stimulus.

response

The _____ is a set of principles used to describe the relationships between ideas and empirical evidence.

scientific method

When Lorna puts on a hat in the morning, she notices that it is there. As the day goes on, she forgets that she is wearing it. This demonstrates the process of:

sensory adaptation.

Janell holds her hand close to a fire. Her _____ allow her to feel the heat, while her _____ allow her to move her hand away from the fire.

sensory neurons; motor neurons

Recent research has shown a relationship between response to human pheromones and:

sexual orientation

Which theory would suggest that watching a horror movie late at night could lower your absolute threshold for sound as you subsequently tried to fall asleep?

signal detection theory

Which sense is BEST described as a chemical sense?

smell

Neural signals for pain travel on two pathways: one to the _____ where the location and type of pain are determined; the other to the _____ centers of the brain.

somatosensory cortex; motivational and emotional

Troy's roommates were surprised when they found him walking around the kitchen at 3:00 in the morning trying to make breakfast, especially since he was still asleep! Troy MOST likely suffers from:

somnambulism

The word psychology is derived from the Greek words psyche and logos. Which combination of definitions is CORRECT for these words?

soul; to study

The _____ branches down from the brain and allows messages to be sent to different parts of the body.

spinal cord

Devon avoids certain types of lettuce because she thinks they are too bitter, and if she is served these types of lettuce in a salad, she will either avoid them completely or will separate them from other parts of the salad. This behavior indicates that Devon may be a:

supertaster

Research on talking on a cell phone while driving has shown that:

talking on a cell phone impairs driving performance.

A stroke or other damage in the _____ lobes can lead to deficits in hearing and language.

temporal

The central nervous system is comprised of:

the brain and the spinal cord.

Marie is participating in a dichotic listening study and is asked to ignore any information that is presented to her right ear. She finds that she has no problems in being able to follow the instruction, except for when she thinks she hears her name in her right ear. Marie is experiencing:

the cocktail-party phenomenon

The stimulus-response method of behaviorism demonstrated the important influence of _____ on human and animal behavior.

the environment

Which part of the brain forms FIRST in prenatal development?

the hindbrain

What structure sends signals to the pituitary gland?

the hypothalamus

In trying not to think of a white bear, you may find yourself thinking of white bears. A proposed explanation for this is called:

the ironic process of mental control

Damage to this area of the brain can be deadly, as this structure controls heart rate, respiration, and circulation.

the medulla

The definition of psychology has two components. Psychology is the scientific study of:

the mind and behavior

This area serves as a bridge from the cerebellum to the rest of the brain.

the pons

In the famous Zimbardo prison study, Stanford students were assigned to either be a prisoner or a guard so the experimenters could examine prison life behaviors and interactions. What was the independent variable in this study?

the role of prisoner or guard

Karen has heard that people are more likely to yawn after seeing others yawn. She decides to observe people to determine if this is true. Karen is a(n):

theorist

Sterling used to be able to drink three beers and feel quite buzzed. Now he finds that he needs at least twice that many beers to feel something. Sterling is exhibiting drug:

tolerance

For the sense of taste, _____ occurs at the taste buds.

transduction

The occipital lobe is to _____ as the parietal lobe is to _____.

vision;touch

The American Psychological Society was formed because the membership of the American Psychological Association:

was made up predominantly of clinical and health-related psychologists.

When working with laboratory animals, when can painful stimuli be used?

when alternatives are not available

What is the MOST efficient way to measure brain activity during sleep?

with an EEG

Dr. Speck is interested in understanding the normal operations of the mind. A patient with dissociative identity disorder is referred to his clinic. Would this patient provide insight into the normal function of the mind?

yes, because studying the mental disruptions associated with the disorder reveal important differences between these processes and those of a normal state