PSYCHOLOGICAL, SOCIAL, AND BIOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS OF BEHAVIORS PASSAGES KHAN ACADEMY

This describes an event (story describing fear) which elicits physiological response (fight or flight).

The James-Lange theory

If half a pound had to be added to a 20-pound weight in order for someone lifting the weight to recognize that extra weight has been added, what is the just noticeable difference?

0.5 pounds

How many successive binary decisions are represented by 64 binary alternatives?

6 successive binary decisions

This refers to the stage of change where the plan is put into practice. Participants in "action" could be in therapy and actively using and practicing strategies that decrease their social anxiety.

Action

Which of the following would be the most effective way to reduce social desirability bias in this study?

Administer the questionnaires anonymously over the internet. Social desirability bias is the tendency to respond to questions in a way that is socially acceptable or in a way that makes the respondent appear to have desirable traits. It is an issue in personality research, because individuals want to appear certain ways.

These refer to events that are in the background of most individual's lives (like pollution, noise, or traffic). Because a cancer diagnosis is a salient, personal event, it would not be classified as an ambient stressor.

Ambient stressors

Angela's doctor suspects she has damage in her temporal lobe. Which of the following tests would be the least useful in testing the hypothesis?

Asking Angela to color a page in a coloring book

Which is the best test of echoic memory?

Asking participants to identify whether two tones are identical

One of the participants states that she often purchases junk food on an impulse as she is leaving the grocery store and feels guilty about it later. Which of the following describes this phenomenon?

Both post-decision dissonance and minimal justification, because she regrets the decision and has no real reason to purchase the item.

This describes an event (story describing fear) which elicits simultaneous physiological response (fight or flight) and perception of an emotion (fear).

Cannon-Bard theory

These refer to events that happen that are out of the control of groups of individuals (which refers more to wars, environmental disasters, or acts of terrorism).

Catastrophic stressors

Which of the following is a technique used to increase the amount of information stored in working memory?

Chunking

If cyclophosphamide is a standard drug treatment for lupus, why should a physician consider using Compound CS and classically conditioning his or her patients?

Compound CS could be helpful when a drug's side-effects are not tolerable

If a dog was classically conditioned to salivate upon hearing a bell ring, which of the following terms would describe the salivation?

Conditioned response (CR)

In Pavlov's experiment and in the 1992 experiment involving autoimmunity, the bell and Compound CS both represent which of the following aspects of Classical Conditioning?

Conditioned stimulus (CS)

Which of the following statements is correct? Cones are responsible for _______ vision and are centered in the _________; while rods are responsible for __________ vision and are centered in the ___________. **

Cones are responsible for color vision and are centered in the fovea, while rods are responsible for night vision and are centered in the periphery.

Which of the following statements about conflict is true?

It arises from competition for limited resources

The Stages of Change Model assesses readiness for change. The participants in the study responded to an ad that offered free therapy for social anxiety disorder. Which stage of change are the participants most likely experiencing when they respond to the ad for free therapy?

Contemplation, because they are thinking about changing their behavior.

A scientist decided to study how two different sets of environmental conditions might affect mice's addiction to cocaine. Which of the following best describes the dependent variable (DV) and independent variables (IV) of this study?

DV - average amount of cocaine self-administered over two weeks; IV - mice's rearing experience and number of times the lever is pressed

During the intake process, Tim has a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scan. Which of the following could appear on the MRI scan to support a diagnosis of schizophrenia?

Decreased temporal lobe gray matter

The moment after a person receives a cancer diagnosis, she experiences an immediate spike in her stress levels. She appraises the situation as dangerous and her body reacts accordingly. Which of the following body responses is associated with sympathetic nervous system activation and could be a physiological reaction she experiences?

Dilation of vessels in skeletal muscle tissue

Which coping strategy best describes the deep breathing program?

Emotion focused coping because it teaches patients to manage emotions that accompany perception of stress.

The cause of panic disorders is currently unknown. Which of the following terms is defined as the "cause or causes of a particular disease or disorder?"

Etiology

The English noblemen had to choose a course of action after their rebellion. Which approach would they have predominantly used?

Exchange-rational choice theory Exchange-rational choice theory believes that decisions are made by rational beings who have weighed all aspects of the problem, and who then proceed to make the rational choice.

This is a reward after a set period of time.

Fixed interval

This would be a reward after a set number of responses.

Fixed ratio

Which of the following brain areas could produce symptoms of prosopagnosia if damaged?

Fusiform gyrus The fusiform gyrus is a part of the visual system in the brain, and plays a role in high level visual processing and recognition. Damage to this part of the brain could result in prosopagnosia.

Sound travels along a similar path to light. Which portion of the auditory pathway most closely corresponds to the rods and cones?

Hair cells Though the basilar membrane does vibrate with the incoming sound waves, it is the hair cells in the inner ear that transduce the signal and send it along the auditory nerve.

What is this an example of: Individuals that share similar health risks such as high BP are more likely to form stronger social ties with one another, or put another way are less likely to dissolve social ties with one another.

Homophily

This is defined as the tendency for people to choose relationships with other people who have similar attributes:

Homophily Homophily in social networks also implies that individuals with similar traits are more likely to form social ties with one another, which also often impacts their actions.

For epidemiological studies exploring flu transmission, "random mixing" captures the essential aspects of the diffusion process, for example, you do not choose to sit next to a person with the flu. However, for STD transmission studies, a crucial aspect to consider would be "preferred mixing" where people select partners with similar characteristics. Which of the following concept is similar to "preferred mixing"?

Homophily is defined as the tendency for people to choose relationships with other people who have similar attributes. Based on the homophily principle, people often prefer mixing with those who are similar to themselves.

What is atonia?

Skeletal muscle paralysis

A sociologist using the symbolic interactionism approach would most likely ask which question?

How did the Stonewall Riots change the way the US viewed homosexuality? Symbolic interactionism considers how individuals interact with their environment and society.

The executives decide to manipulate the price of the unprocessed health product to see if that affects sales. In this "study," what are the independent (IV) and dependent variables (DV)?

IV: price of unprocessed product; DV: sales of unprocessed product

Which of the following explains why we see movement in a flip-book or stop-motion animation?

Iconic memory

If you drive by a stop sign and then try to recall it several minutes later, which are you using?

Iconic memory, then the phonological loop

Individuals with social anxiety disorder may use medication along with therapy to treat their symptoms. After analyzing the data, the researcher finds out that the majority of participants in the CBT group were taking medication, and none of the participants in the control group were taking medication. Given the results of the study, the use of medication by the individuals in therapy poses the greatest threat to which type of validity?

Internal validity, because the research has been exposed to a significant confound

This is the sense of movement

Kinesthesia

The above study emphasizes the effects of social interaction on drug usage. One further aspect to consider is how an individual's drug-related behavior may be further reinforced by the way others judge or classify him/her. A guiding concept for this aspect would likely be:

Labeling This concept holds that terms used to negatively identify or classify a drug user are considered to also negatively influence the person's self and social identity. This concept indicates that deviant or negative behavior is not inherent; behavior is only deviant when society or other individuals refer to it as deviant.

This requires that interpretation must happen before arousal or emotion, which happen simultaneously. Since the event (story describing fear) was interpreted as being non-threatening before a physiological response (fight or flight) and emotion (fear) were to be perceived simultaneously, neither the physiological response (fight or flight) nor the emotion (fear) were elicited.

Lazarus theory

Which of the following accurately describes the Gestalt Law of Continuity?

Lines are seen as following the smoothest path.

For most individuals, a cancer diagnosis would be classified as what type of stressor?

Major life event stressor, because a cancer diagnosis is a rare, negative event with lasting impact.

Which mechanoreceptors would likely fire when the squeeze box is first engaged and touching the child's body and when pressure is released?

Meissner corpuscle and Pacinian corpuscle

Which of the following describes why rewarding Tiger with a treat for every 3 minutes of play could be more effective in changing his behavior than taking away his bed?

More immediate feedback following desired behavior makes for a stronger consequence

This sleep is sometimes thought of as "relaxed wakefulness", and the EEG activity resembles that of a very relaxed person.

N1

Sleep spindles are little bursts of high frequency brain activity and are associated with maintaining tranquility during sleep. In what stage do sleep spindles first occur?

N2

This sleep is referred to as deep sleep, and is very hard to rouse from.

N3

Some experts believe that anxiety is a learned response acquired through classical conditioning. A patient in the study recalls that she used to be able to go out with friends without feeling anxious. One night, she was attacked while out at a bar with friends. She now avoids socializing with friends, going out to bars, and remains very anxious about social situations in general. What is the neutral stimulus (NS) and conditioned response (CR) in this scenario?

NS - going out with friends; CR- feeling anxious

The visual field is broken down and results in light from the left visual field hitting the ________ side of the left eye and the __________ side of the right eye, and eventually being interpretted by the ________ hemisphere in the brain.

Nasal; temporal; right

Before receiving treatment, Katie avoided certain activities that made her anxious so that she could reduce the number of panic attacks she experienced. What operant conditioning term describes this behavior?

Negative punishment

Imagine that the mice who are reared in isolation self-administer cocaine to relieve boredom or discomfort. In this scenario, which of the following motivates their behavior?

Negative reinforcement

From a biological perspective, differences in perception are caused by differences in physiological features. If an individual lacked sensory adaptation, which of the following would be observed upon exposure to light?

No constriction of the pupil.

One individual addicted to opiates experienced a large rush of euphoria when he first took the drug and felt slight discomfort and withdrawal once the effects wore off. As he continued taking opiates over several years, his positive experiences with the drug decreased and the withdrawal effects increased. He felt that opiates weren't enjoyable anymore, but he had to keep taking them because his withdrawal symptoms were so unpleasant. What theory of motivation describes this phenomenon?

Opponent process theory

The passage states that Tim received a diagnosis of schizophrenia, but did not state a specific type of schizophrenia that Tim could have. Which type of schizophrenia best fits the description of Tim's symptoms?

Paranoid schizophrenia, because Tim felt both persecuted and grandiose.

When Jeff put the cats in a carrier when they didn't play nicely, what kind of operant conditioning strategy was he using?

Positive punishment

This refers to the stage of change where the individual is unaware of any issues with their life of behavior and has no plans to change. Participants in "precontemplation" may not reach out for help, because they would not see their social anxiety as an issue.

Precontemplation

Brian has been addicted to cocaine for 4 years, and has difficulty quitting because his chronic use of the drug has altered the area of his brain that is associated with decision making. As a result, he often makes impulsive choices that result in relapse. Which of the following parts of Brian's brain is most likely to have changed?

Prefrontal cortex The prefrontal cortex has a significant role in decision making. This area is most likely affected by Brian's cocaine abuse.

This refers to the stage of change where the individual begins to plan what it would take to make change happen. Participants in "preparation" could be in the initial stages of therapy, working collaboratively with their therapist to plan for behavioral change.

Preparation

These are typically closer and longer-lasting ties:

Primary groups Siblings and other family members are considered primary groups

During the test, some children reported feeling like they were floating or were unaware of the position of their body in space. Which of these senses controls the symptoms that these children experienced?

Proprioception

The researcher decides to examine the results item by item, and finds that one famous face has been mis-identified by every participant - they all name her as a different actress! He realizes that the photo he chose makes the actress look like a different woman. In terms of psychometric properties, what does this item have?

Reliability, but not validity.

Based on what you know about behavioral change, which of these strategies would be most effective in helping these participants using a cognitive dissonance approach?

Requiring participants to develop and present a critique of the nutritional content of their favorite unhealthy foods.

Which of the following perceptual organizational principles provides information about depth?

Retinal disparity

Responsible for transduction, the process in which a stimulus is changed from one form to another to send it to the nervous system.

Rods and cones

These are more impersonal and temporary:

Secondary groups

Which of the following is an example of bottom-up processing?

Seeing a novel object for the first time. Bottom up processing relies on the stimulus to influence what we perceive - in other words, its data driven & perception directs cognition

If an individual has to make a judgment regarding the distance of a traffic light on a foggy morning, which of the following theories attempts to explain how the judgment is made?

Signal detection theory

If another researcher finds that strong social support among Whites explains positive health behavior, which is the independent variable and which is the dependent variable?

Social support is an independent variable since it explains varying health outcomes. Since social support explains health behavior, health behavior is the outcome or dependent variable.

Socioeconomic gradients in health can be best explained by which of the following basic concept:

Socioeconomic gradients in health are an aspect of social stratification (how people are categorized into rankings of socioeconomic tiers).

If Figure 1 is the hypnogram of a person with somnambulism, during which stage do you expect the sleepwalking to occur?

Stage 4

Which of the following might create the most dissonance about the price of healthy foods?

Teaching participants about meal planning on a budget and taking them to a farmer's market to learn how to select, purchase, and prepare inexpensive produce

This describes an event (story describing fear) followed by a physiological response (fight or flight) which is interpreted as fear and fear is perceived.

The Schachter-Singer theory of emotion

Katie's therapist recommends this particular biofeedback monitor because it gives consistently accurate information about heart rate over time. Which of the following statements is most likely to be true about the device?

The biofeedback monitor has both validity and reliability.

This has a significant role in regulating emotion.

The hippocampus

This has a significant role in hormone regulation

The hypothalamus

Based on the information in the passage, which of these would describe the most accurate top-down processing that a prosopagnosic might use to recognize faces?

The interpretation of gait, tone of voice, and context to recognize the person.

The word being memorized is connected to other words in a list; the order facilitates recovery of the list items.

The link system utilizes order and connections (links) to facilitate memory recovery.

This has a significant role in processing rewards and motivation.

The nucleus accumbens

What is meant by "No statistically significant differences were found in identification of emotions between groups except in the discrimination of fear from surprise and sadness?"

The null hypothesis was confirmed. There are likely cultural differences in the interpretation of fear which contributed to the difficulty with the distractors surprise and sadness.

Doctors immediately suspected a lesion in the right hemisphere. What does this imply about optic nerves organization?

The optic nerves from the left eye go to the left hemisphere of the cerebral cortex, and the right eye connects to the right hemisphere The right half of the field of view is processed by the left side of the cerebral cortex, and vice versa, so a lesion in the right hemisphere would disrupt processing of the left field of view.

Responsible for spatial reasoning and receiving somatosensory information.

The parietal lobes

Creating a scene where each member of a list is represented by a number, rhyme, shape, or sound.

The peg memory system utilizes numbers, rhymes, shapes, and sounds to create a scene based on a mental 'hook'.

Responsible for processing auditory signals, interpreting visual stimuli, and language recognition.

The temporal lobes

Visual agnosia is a disorder of which pathway?

The ventral pathway, because it is a disorder of object perception Visual agnosia is a disorder of the ventral pathway, because it is an inability to recognize an image.

Which of the following statements describes one of Tim's delusions?

Tim believes he is wanted by the government and that the president wants to kill him.

Which of the following is a negative symptom of schizophrenia that Tim experienced in the passage?

Tim cannot begin or sustain his planned coursework in graduate school.

This relies on our background knowledge, learning & expectations to influence what is perceived. In other words, it's theory driven, knowledge driven, and context driven. Behavior is influenced by conceptual data.

Top-down processing

This would be a reward after a random amount of time.

Variable interval

This is a reward after a randomized number of responses.

Variable ratio

Jeff has been successfully increasing the number of times Whiskers has to play nicely before he receives a treat, until finally he decides he can stop giving treats during playtime all together. Whiskers suddenly becomes ultra-aggressive - he bites, hisses, and scratches at an increased rate when playing with the laser pointer. Which of the following best describes Whisker's behavior?

Whiskers is experiencing an extinction burst. When an animal no longer receives regular reinforcement, its original behavior will sometimes spike (meaning increase dramatically) - this is known as an extinction burst.

Which of the following scenarios is utilizing a chunking technique?

Writing down a grocery list by category.

Zelda was able to recognize faces, but performed more poorly when asked to recognize an entire object. Zelda most likely has neural damage in which pathway?

Zelda most likely has damage in the dorsal pathway, as she has difficulty with spatial awareness, but not with object perception.

Damage to the cerebellum is associated with

balance and coordination dysfunction.

Damage to the frontal lobe is associated with

changes in personality and cognitive processing

The Ruffini cylinder and the Merkel receptor fires

constant pressure.

Sound travels through the ear in mechanical waves, causing the

eardrum to vibrate

What do you expect the EEG readings of REM sleep to look like?

high frequency saw-tooth waves

Damage to Wernicke's area is associated with

language losses

Acronyms such as PAD are an example of

mnemonics

There is a set of optic nerves coming from each eye, where they intersect is known as the

optic chiasm