psychology 101 midterm

Dr. Isaacs has found a strong correlation between GPA and the number of hours a person spends watching TV. Specifically, she has found that the more TV a person watches each week, the lower his GPA is likely to be. Put another way, she has found that as TV watching increases, GPA decreases. Which of the following correlation coefficients describes her findings?

-.80

According to Bandura's model of observational learning, what are the four primary processes involved in observational learning?

Attention, retention, motor reproduction, and reinforcement

Diagnosis of addiction:

Can be diagnosed by either or both of physical or psychological dependance

Awareness and arousal are associated with different parts of the brain. Awareness involves the ____. Arousal is determined by the____.

Cerebral cortex/reticular activating system

Gene has a flashbulb memory for the moment he heard about the bombing of Pearl Harbor. What is the best description of this type of memory?

It is likely to be vivid and detailed, but not necessarily accurate

____ is considered a secondary reinforcer.

Money

Which of these statements best describes the current understanding of repression?

Most studies of traumatic memory indicate that a traumatic life event is very likely to be remembered.

Which of these describes a typical night of sleep?

Several sleep cycles, within each of which we go through up to five stages of sleep

Which of these is true of the Atkinson-Shiffrin Theory of Memory?

Short-term memory receives information from both sensory memory and long-term memory

Which of these best describes the approach of the functionalists?

They were inspired by Charles Darwin's ideas regarding natural selection of adaptive characteristics

You try to note the incredibly fine details and colors of a computer microchip through a magnifying glass. On which area of the retina should you be focusing this image?

fovea

Distinguishes between manifest and latent content of dreams

freuds theory

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, and even Santa Claus's beard. This demonstrates which principle of conditioning?

generalization

Which school of thought in perception is best summarized by the statement, "The whole is different than the sum of its parts"?

gestalt

Which class of drugs has the lowest level of physical dependence?

hallucinogens

The major function of the _____ is to amplify vibrations and pass them on to the inner ear.

hammer, anvil, and stirrup

Long-term potentiation is a concept that explains _____.

how memory functions at the neuron level

According to the _____, people have the ability to control their lives and are not simply controlled by the environment.

humanistic approach

The _____ is a small forebrain structure that monitors pleasurable, survival-related activities (e.g. eating, drinking, and sex), emotion, stress, and reward.

hypothalamus

functions of limbic system

storage of memories, discrimination of objects necessary for survival, emotional response

The _____ is a small brain structure that uses input from the retina to synchronize its own rhythm with the daily cycle of light and dark.

suprachiasmatic nucleus

Pavlov's dogs automatically salivated when exposed to food because food is an:

unconditioned stimulous

According to Thorndike's law of effect,

undesirable outcomes are weakened

Which reinforcement schedule produces high, steady rates of behavior that are more resistant to extinction than the other schedules?

variable radio

As Jerry walks along the top of a narrow wall, he tries to maintain his balance. Balance is primarily tied to which sense?

vestibular

What happens when a neuron is stimulated

1. Positive ions flow into axon, creating an action potential 2. Impulse reaches threshold intensity 3. Impulse moves all the way down the axon to the terminal buttons 4. Axon releases neurotransmitters across the synapse

You are studying in your room, but your neighbor is blasting the television in the adjacent room. You request that your neighbor turn the volume down until you cannot hear it at all; effectively, you are asking your neighbor to make the volume less than your ___________.

absolute threshold

Cerebral cortex works to create a logical understanding of random firing from lower brain

activation-synthesis theory

You are listening to a lecture. Then the bell rings in the hallway. In order to hear this stimulus, _____ neurons must carry electrochemical messages from your ears to your brain.

afferent

Most adults do not lose in games of Tic-Tac-Toe because they follow a set of steps that guarantee they will not lose. Which kind of strategy is this?

algorithm

Dr. Hammer studies the connection between chocolate consumption and memory by manipulating the amount of chocolate she gives to different groups, and then measuring their performance on different memory tasks. One group eats two chocolate bars, one group eats one bar, and the control group eats no chocolate. Within this study, what is the independent variable?

amount of chocolate consumed

Jennifer has sustained a brain injury, and is no longer able to create new memories. Her son may come into her room just five minutes after he last saw her, and she will react like she hasn't seen him in years. What type of memory disorder does Jennifer have?

anterograde amnesia

States of consciousness that require little attention and do not interfere with other mental activities are called _____.

automatic processes

The fact that we hear about airplane crashes on the news more often than we hear about automobile crashes may lead us to believe that we are more likely to die in a plane than a car. This is an example of a(n) _____.

availability heuristic

_____ is a subjective state of being conscious of what is going on, whereas _____ is a physiological state of being engaged with the environment

awareness/arousal

The ________ sends messages to other neurons; the ________ receives messages from other neurons

axon, dendrite

Dr. Wilma is interested in the effects of heredity and environment on intelligence. She compares the similarity of IQ scores of identical twins to the similarity of IQ scores of fraternal twins. Dr. Wilma is conducting a _____ study.

behavior genetics

_____ is a theory of learning that focuses solely on observable behaviors, discounting the importance of such mental activity as thinking, wishing, and hoping.

behaviorism

Dr. Burrhus approaches by studying only the observable things that people do. She says these are the only elements of human nature that are measurable, and so the science of psychology should focus only on these things, and not on internal mental processes. Dr. Burrhus likely describes herself as which type of psychologist?

behaviorist

_____ depth vision cues depend on the combination of the images in the left and right eyes.

binocular

When you hear a song for the first time you are likely to rely on ___________ processing to process it. When you have heard the song frequently enough that you can easily process the complex arrangement of notes with a single label (e.g. "This is the national anthem"), you are now using __________ processing.

bottom-up, top-down

Which is the world's most widely used drug?

caffiene

According to Baddeley's view of the three components of working memory, the _____ acts like a supervisor who monitors which information deserves our attention and which we should ignore.

central executive

The neurons in the brain and spinal cord are collectively referred to as the:

central nervous system

In the human cell, threadlike structures that come in 23 pairs, one member of each pair originating from each parent, and that contain DNA are called _____.

chromosomes

The biological cycle that regulates our pattern of sleep is called:

circadian rhythm

Lightning is associated with thunder and regularly precedes it. Thus, when we see lightning, we often anticipate that we will hear thunder soon afterward. Learning that these two stimuli are associated is an example of _____.

classical conditioning

Ivan Pavlov is best known for his study of _________, while BF Skinner is best known for his work on _________.

classical conditioning; operant conditioning

Which approach emerged as a rebellion to the narrow view of the behaviorists, and argued that internal mental processes such as memory and problem-solving could be studied scientifically?

cognitive

Dreaming may be a variation on daydreaming, driven by the default network of the brain

cognitive theory

the iris is the:

colored part of the eye that contains muscles that control the size of the pupil

Dr. Meyer is known for his difficult pop quizzes. On days when he springs a pop quiz on his students, he typically goes to the classroom door and closes it. Students soon learn to anticipate a pop quiz whenever Dr. Meyer closes the classroom door. Closing the door has become a(n) _____.

conditioned stimulus

Brianna is very politically opinionated. She seeks out all of her political news only from media which she knows she agrees with, and she avoids media sources that are likely to criticize her positions. Brianna is guilty of:

confirmation bias

George knows that the classroom where he takes his exams always is cold, and always has a buzz in the background from the air conditioner. So, as he studies for his exam, he makes sure his own dorm room is cold and has a buzz in the background. In doing this, George is trying to take advantage of which concept in memory?

context-dependent memory

Carol gives her dog, Spike, a chew stick each time Spike gets the ball back, on command. Carol is using a _____ schedule to train her dog to get the ball back on command.

continuous reinforcement

functions of structures of hindbrain

control of vital functions, such as breathing and heart rate: sleep and arousal: regulation of reflexes: motor coordination

dopamine

control of voluntary movement; affects sleep, mood, attention, learning, and the ability to recognize rewards in the environment

Aidan has good hand-eye coordination, reaction time, and speed. But, he is unlikely to learn how to play cricket, because he lives in the United States, where very few people play cricket. This reflects the importance of _______ in learning.

culture

All men are mortal. Socrates is a man. Therefore, Socrates is mortal. This is an example of which form of reasoning, which begins with a general case?

deductive reasoning

Jane is having trouble sleeping. As she lies in the dark, her eyes adjust to the low light and she can see her room, though not with very good perception of color. This is because vision in low light conditions _____.

depends on the rods

Which of these helps us in localization of sound?

difference in time of arrival of the sound at one ear as compared to the other

Fred has sustained a stroke to a large part of the temporal lobe in his left hemisphere. What symptoms might we expect him to experience?

difficulty with language processing

Colin's cat used to think it was feeding time whenever she heard the sound of a can opener on TV; however, Colin conditioned his cat to tell them apart, so now she responds only to the sound of the can opener in Colin's kitchen. This demonstrates which principle of conditioning?

discrimination

Nicotine raises _____ levels in the brain.

dopamine

Beth finds that she can memorize material for her exam better if she creates a mental image of it. Which hypothesis supports this approach, saying that such imagery is stored in memory as both an image and a verbal code?

dual-code hypothesis

Joe has to learn several new concepts for an exam. He does so by building a number of connections between each new concept and his own personal experience. Joe is using which approach to memory encoding?

elaboration

If you were a psychologist who adopted the structuralism approach, you would be interested in the _____ of the mind, using _____ as your primary research method.

elements/introspection

Attention, deep processing, elaboration, and the use of mental imagery are _____ processes.

encoding

Dr. Chuck studies mating behaviors. He wants to learn whether certain human mating behaviors can also be found in other species that are our ancestors, such as chimpanzees. He also wants to learn whether these behaviors are adaptive, affording humans greater chances of survival. Which approach to psychology does Dr. Chuck likely take?

evolutionary

Which of these is NOT an example of descriptive research?

experiment

Dr. Hammer wants to demonstrate a cause and effect relationship between chocolate consumption and memory. Which of the following research methods should she use?

experimental method

Which of the following concepts refers to the degree to which an experimental design actually reflects the real-world issues it is supposed to address?

external validity

Pavlov's dog used to salivate each time he heard a bell. Now, however, after several trials of salivating to the bell and not receiving any food, the dog stops salivating. This demonstrates which principle of conditioning?

extinction

Which of these brain imaging methods lets us examine brain function?

fMRI

According to the principle of _____, all research participants must know what their participation will involve and what risks might develop.

informed consent

GABA

keeps neurons from firing; low levels are tied to anxiety

Compared to REM dreams, non-REM dreams are:

less vivid

Which depth cue accounts for why parallel lines appear to grow closer together the farther away they are?

linear perspective

Professor Wong measured the intelligence and temperament of a group of preschoolers. He plans to follow the same group of participants over time and collect similar data when the children are in 3rd grade, 6th grade, and 9th grade. This is an example of which type of research design?

longitudinal

Margaret fell down her basement stairs and suffered serious injury to her amygdala. What memory problems is she most likely to have now?

margaret will have difficulty with emotional memories

acetylcholine

muscle action, learning, memory; low levels found in people with Alzheimers disease

A speeding ticket - the state takes away your money in order to reduce your speeding behavior

negative punishment

You increase your behavior of fastening your seatbelt in order to remove the annoying beep your car makes when you fail to do so.

negative reinforcement

A psychologist who scientifically studies the structure, function and biochemistry of the brain and nervous system likely takes which approach to psychology?

neuroscience

In which subsystem of long-term memory is your knowledge of how to drive a car and how to ride a bike stored?

nondeclarative (implicit) memory

Approximately what proportion of individuals who drink will become alcoholics?

one in nine

Applied behavior analysis (behavior modification) programs rely on what principles of learning to help people develop programs to change behaviors?

operant

Dr. Ziggy is conducting a study of flirting behavior. He says that flirting is "Behavior that is used to attract the attention of a potentially desirable opposite- or same-sex partner", and decides that data collection will include elements such as eye contact, touching, laughter, smiling, and several other behaviors. In doing this, Dr. Ziggy has created a(n) _____________ of flirting

operational definition

Which class of drugs mimics the effects of the body's natural endorphins?

opiates

The _____ theory states that cells in the visual system respond to complementary pairs of red-green and blue-yellow colors; a given cell might be excited by red and inhibited by green, whereas another cell might be excited by yellow and inhibited by blue.

opponent-process

Monique routinely uses a shredder to shred her junk mail into confetti-sized pieces of paper, which she then just throws away. When packing her glassware to move into a new apartment, she runs out of protective styrofoam packing material. Suddenly Monique gets the idea to empty her shredder and use the shredded junk mail confetti for packing material. Monique has _____.

overcome functional fixedness

Which sense relies on fast pathways to directly communicate sharp, localized sensations to the thalamus?

pain

The simultaneous distribution of sensory information across different neural pathways is called _____.

parallel processing

The process of _____ involves organizing and interpreting incoming sensory information.

perception

Looking at your computer screen close up and from the left casts a different image on your retina compared to looking at it from across the room and from the right; yet, we know that the monitor remains the same and retains the same dimensions. This phenomenon is known as _____

perceptual constancy

Dr. Hammer studies the connection between chocolate consumption and memory by manipulating the amount of chocolate she gives to different groups, and then measuring their performance on different memory tasks. One group eats two chocolate bars, one group eats one bar, and the control group eats no chocolate. Within this study, what is the dependent variable?

performance on the memory task

After a successful play in football, a friend slaps you hard on the back. The nerves that carry the feeling of the slap to the spinal cord are part of the:

peripheral nervous system

Barney has a certain combination of chemicals in his DNA which result in his having blue eyes. In this case, the observable characteristic of blue eyes is Barney's ________.

phonotype

Colin has been a regular coffee drinker for months. One day, he doesn't have any coffee in the morning, and for most of the morning he has a headache. This is likely a sign that Colin has developed a __________ on coffee

physical dependence

Sonja believes the pill her doctor gave her has cured her of her anxiety disorder, even though the pill contained no active ingredients. Sonja's belief that she is better now is an example of the _____ effect.

placebo

John has repeatedly been taking a painkiller for his back pain. One day, his doctor instead gives him a different pill, which contains no painkilling medication. Nonetheless, John experiences pain relief. What is going on here?

placebo effect

After a person suffers a stroke, the brain will need to re-route information around the damaged area. How well it can do this is referred to as:

plasticity

Your parents add extra chores to your weekly workload in order to reduce your behavior of coming home after curfew

positive punishment

Spanking is a form of _____; time out is a form of _____.

positive punishment; negative punishment

You give your child $5 every time they bring home a report card with good grades, in order to increase the likelihood they do so again in the future.

positive reinforcement

location of her arm in relation to other body parts. This is an example of which kind of feedback?

proprioceptive

Kai is a two year old who lives in a home with a cat. When he sees a horse outside one day, he points and calls it a cat, because it has four legs and a tail. Upon which approach to concept formation is Kai relying?

prototype model

Dr. Wagner's approach to psychotherapy stresses the role of unconscious processes and unresolved childhood conflicts. With which psychological approach does this align?

psychodynamic

Carla has used the drug MDMA (Ecstacy) regularly for some months. Now she finds she has a strong desire to keep using the drug because it makes her happy. This is likely a sign that Carla as developed a __________ on MDMA.

psychological dependence

Colin studied French several years ago, when he was in college. Now he is learning German. He finds that when he tried to remember words from French, instead he recalls words from German. What is going on here?

retroactive interference

Although Jim had never been in a college psychology class before, based on past experience with other college classes he knew when he arrived in the classroom that he should sit down, that he should pay attention to the professor, that he should take notes, and that he should expect to have to complete assignments and tests. He knew this because he has a(n) _____ for the general experience of being in a college class.

script

Researcher Robert Tryon studied maze-running ability in rats. He trained a large number of rats to run a complex maze, then mated the rats that were the best at maze running with each other, in order to demonstrate the importance of genetics in this behavior. His study was an example of:

selective breeding

As you walk barefoot in the park, your nose conveys to your brain the smell of the freshly cut grass, your skin sends information about the feel of the gentle breeze, and your ears transmit the sound of children laughing on the playground to your auditory cortex. This process of acquiring "raw data" about the stimuli in the environment is called _____.

sensation

Jennifer is a chain smoker. When her friend Irene, a non-smoker, gets in the car with Jennifer she is overwhelmed by the smell of smoke. One day she mentioned this fact to Jennifer, who was surprised by the comment. Jennifer claims that when she sniffs her hair and clothing she can't sense the smoky smell. Jennifer's inability to detect the smell is an example of _____.

sensory adaptation

Sydney wants to train her dog to sit on command. She starts by pushing down the dog's backside while saying the word "Sit", and giving him a reward. She then scales back her involvement to touching his back and saying "Sit", and rewarding him when he sits down. Finally she rewards him only if he sits down when she says the word "Sit". Sydney has used which conditioning process to train her dog?

shaping

Samantha had a stroke. Doctors told her she sustained substantial damage to the occipital lobes. What type of deficiencies is Samantha likely to experience as a result of this brain damage?

she may be blind or unable to see clearly

serotonin

sleep, mood, attention, learning

Dr. Badal is a psychologist who studies achievement motivation among groups of African American, Latino, and Asian American people. Dr. Badal likely practices the _____ to psychology.

sociocultural approach

Located at the front of the parietal lobes, which part of the brain processes information about body sensations?

somatosensory cortex

Sleepwalking occurs during _____ of the sleep cycle.

stage 3 and 4

Which stage of sleep has delta waves for more than 50% of the time?

stage 4

As you walk down the street, you are suddenly frightened by a barking dog. Your initial response is one of arousal, and your heart rate increases. However, then you see that the dog is behind a fence, and your body starts calming down again. Within this scenario, the ________ nervous system is responsible for the initial arousal, whereas the ________ nervous system is responsible for calming you down again.

sympathetic, parasympathetic

According to the dominant-recessive genes principle, _____.

the dominant gene overrides the recessive gene

Homer goes to his psychotherapist and describes his recent dreams where he flies like an eagle through the sky. His therapist listens and then offers the interpretation that this dream symbolizes Homer's unconscious desires to be free of his family obligations. Homer's therapist is displaying an interest in _____.

the latent content of homers dream

A(n) _____ is a broad idea or closely related set of ideas that attempts to explain observations and to make predictions about future observations.

theory

oxytocin

tied to love and social bonding

Bob used to feel a buzz from drinking only one beer; however, after drinking regularly for a few months, he now needs three beers to feel the same effect. This need for increasing amounts of alcohol to experience the same effect is called ________.

tolerance

Edward sees that his older brother receives a reward every time he cleans his room. So, Edward decides to clean his room, expecting a reward himself. This demonstrates which process in observational learning?

vicarious reinforcement