Psychology Final Study Set
People who are gifted have an IQ of
130 or higher
In the context of the stages of change model, which of the following is true of the precontemplation stage of change
A key component of this stage is raising one's consciousness about a behavior problem.
Who among the following is most likely to have elevated levels of endorphins?
Amy, a 30-year-old teacher, who is in shock after a car wreck
In the context of prenatal development, which of the following is true of the fetal period?
At 4 months, the fetus is 5 inches long and weighs about 5 ounces.
According to American linguist Noam Chomsky, identify a true statement about language universals.
Children learn language without an awareness of its underlying logic.
________ is a classical conditioning procedure for changing the relationship between a conditioned stimulus and its conditioned response
Counterconditioning
Which of the following statements about critical thinking is FALSE?
Critical thinking increases the likelihood that conclusions will be based on unreliable personal beliefs, opinions, and motions.
________ involve a sudden loss of memory or change in identity.
Dissociative disorders
________ refers to auditory sensory memory, whereas ________ refers to visual sensory memory
Echoic memory; iconic memory
________ refers to the degree to which an experimental design really reflects the real-world issues it is supposed to address
External validity
________ refers to ways in which people present themselves through their appearance, including hairstyle, clothing choices, voice, and behavior.
Gender expression
Identify an example of precognition.
George senses a future event at a party.
Which of the following is a feature of the deepest level of processing in memory?
It involves thinking about the meaning of a stimulus.
Which of the following statements is true about cultural-familial intellectual disability?
It is a mental deficit with no evidence of organic brain damage.
Identify the true statement about the pinna of the ear.
It is funnel shaped and is the outer, visible part of the ear.
Which of the following statements best defines critical thinking in psychology?
It is the process of reflecting deeply, asking questions, and evaluating evidence.
According to Howard Gardner's multiple intelligences, who among the following is most likely to score high on naturalist intelligence?
Julia, an ecologist
In the context of the biological and environmental influences on language, which of the following statements is true about language and the brain?
Language processing mainly occurs in the brain's left hemisphere.
________ provide ways by which correlational researchers may attempt to demonstrate causal relations among variables, even though the causal relationship may still be somewhat unclear.
Longitudinal designs
________ involves the manipulation of genes using technology to determine their effect on behavior.
Molecular genetics
Which of the following statements is true of the central nervous system (CNS)?
More than 99 percent of all nerve cells are located in the CNS.
________ inhibits the firing of neurons in the central nervous system, but it excites the heart muscle, intestines, and urogenital tract
Norepinephrine
In the context of loss aversion, which of the following statements is true of the endowment effect?
People ascribe greater value to things they already own, compared to objects owned by someone else.
Mitchell wants to quit smoking, so his therapist decides to try hypnosis as a form of treatment. What is the first step that the therapist will most likely take when attempting to hypnotize Mitchell?
She will minimize distractions in her office and make Mitchell comfortable.
Emma, a 20-year-old college student, wants to start jogging every morning. However, she realizes that this would mean getting up early instead of sleeping in, which she enjoys immensely. In the context of loss aversion, which of the following is Emma most likely to do?
She will prefer to sleep and avoid jogging
Which of the following statements about B. F. Skinner is FALSE?
Skinner believed that the mechanisms of learning for humans are different than the mechanisms of learning for animals.
In the context of the findings of neuroscientists, which of the following statements is true of the role of sleep in brain plasticity?
Sleep enhances synaptic connections between neurons.
Which of the following statements is true of REM sleep?
The longer the period of REM sleep, the more likely the person will report dreaming.
________ is a normal state in which the hypnotized person behaves the way he or she believes that a hypnotized person should behave.
The social cognitive behavior view of hypnosis
Which of the following statements is true of the practitioners of the psychodynamic approach?
They believe that sexual and aggressive impulses buried deep within the unconscious mind influence the way people think
Which of the following statements is true of people who are gifted?
They have superior talent in a particular area.
Which of the following statements is true of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA axis)?
Under chronic stress, the HPA axis can remain activated over the long haul.
Which of the following theorists primarily used the structuralism approach to studying human behavior?
Wilhelm Wundt
Which of the following best exemplifies a random sample?
a sample that consists of all girls who have been selected arbitrarily
Which of the following traits is related to generosity and altruism, to reports of religious faith, and to more satisfying romantic relationships?
agreeableness
A person who regularly experiences motor tension, hyperactivity, and apprehensive expectations and thoughts is likely to suffer from
anxiety disorder
Katy was in a car accident and sustained serious brain damage. Since the accident, Katy can speak only one word. This is an example of
aphasia
In observational learning, the first process that must occur is
attention.
John wanted to watch an action thriller that got exceptionally good ratings. However, his friend told John that she found many plot holes in the storyline and did not enjoy the movie, and John decided not to watch the movie. This scenario best illustrates
base rate neglect.
Recognizing problems involves
being aware of and open to experiences.
The ________ approach to psychological disorders primarily focuses on the brain, genetic factors, and neurotransmitter functioning as the sources of abnormality.
biological
The tendency of an individual who observes an emergency to be less likely to help when other people are present than when the observer is alone is known as the
bystander effect.
In the context of descriptive research methods in psychology, ________ are performed mainly by clinical psychologists when, for either practical or ethical reasons, the unique aspects of an individual's life cannot be duplicated and tested in other individuals.
case studies
According to Freud's psychosexual stages of development, girls in the phallic stage experience
castration completed.
According to the cognitive dissonance theory, when attitudes and behavior conflict, individuals tend to reduce cognitive dissonance by
changing their attitudes to fit their behavior.
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.
According to George Bonanno, ________is a pattern of grief in which a traumatic grief experience leads to a long-term disruption of functioning in important life domains
chronic dysfunction
Which of the following helps to explain drug habituation?
classical conditioning
Andrea, a psychologist, conducts a study to determine the effect of students' ages on their college grades. She divides a class into two groups: Below Age and Above Age. Members of the Below Age group are less than 18 years of age, whereas members of the Above Age group are 18 years of age or above. In this scenario, which of the following illustrates the dependent variable?
college grades
Most children successfully acquire conservation skills during the ________ stage of cognitive development.
concrete operational
A(n) ________ is a person who is given a role to play in a study so that the social context can be manipulated.
confederate
According to the principle of ________, researchers are responsible for keeping all of the data they gather on individuals completely confidential and, when possible, completely anonymous
confidentiality
The big five factors of personality are neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and
conscientiousness.
In the visual system, the main function of rods and cones is to
convert light into electrochemical impulses.
A key aspect of the process of testing hypotheses in the scientific method is
data analysis.
Which of the following is one of the issues addressed by the ethics guidelines developed by the American Psychological Association?
debriefing
College students who consume large amounts of alcohol on weekends are abusing which type of drugs?
depressants
Which of the following is defined as the ability to perceive objects three-dimensionally?
depth perception
Which of the following neurotransmitters plays an important role in addiction?
dopamine
Equity is a strong predictor of relationship satisfaction
during the early but not the later stages of a relationship.
Reza is an active 1-year-old child. He has a regular routine for playing, eating, and sleeping, and he is mostly in a positive mood. He is observant and readily approaches and adapts to new situations. According to psychiatrists Stella Chess and Alexander Thomas's classification of basic types of temperament in children, Reza can be considered a(n
easy child
The ________ involves gaining knowledge by observing events, collecting data, and reasoning logically.
empirical method
Tolman said that when classical conditioning and operant conditioning occur, an organism acquires certain
expectations.
Assimilation allows a person to enjoy a feeling of meaning because
experiences fit into his or her preexisting schemas
In the context of psychological research methods, which of the following refers to a carefully regulated procedure in which the researcher manipulates one or more variables that are believed to influence some other variable?
experiments
According to James Marcia, the two dimensions of identity are
exploration and commitment
The ________ is the observers' overestimation of the degree to which everybody else thinks or acts the way we do.
false consensus effect
Which of the following is the first step in the problem-solving process?
finding and framing problems
All of the following are positive symptoms of schizophrenia EXCEPT
flat affect.
According to Piaget's theory of cognitive development, the ability to think about things that are not concrete, make predictions, and use logic to come up with hypotheses about the future is attained during the ________ stage.
formal operational
A(n) ________ is a person's genetic heritage, his or her actual genetic material.
genotype
If Howard, a student, has the most common form of color blindness, he will have trouble distinguishing
green from certain combinations of blue and red.
Danielle is a normal-weight woman, whereas Ron is an obese man. Whenever they go out for dinner, Ron always eats more than Danielle. Ron, a psychology major, correctly explains this difference in food intake by pointing out that
he has more fat cells than Danielle and he is not satiated until all his fat cells are filled.
The ________ approach emphasizes a person's positive qualities, the capacity for positive growth, and the freedom to choose one's destiny
humanistic
Allie has developed a theory concerning test grades of high school students. She believes that there is a strong causal relationship between students' frequency of study and their grades in school. In the context of psychology's scientific method, to test her theory, Allie would first have to state a
hypothesis
The tendency of animals to revert to intuitive behavior that interferes with learning is called
instinctive drift.
Dr. Guerrero uses different therapies based on the benefits they provide for her clients. Currently she is using a behavioral approach to treat an individual with panic disorder and a cognitive therapy approach to treat a client with major depressive disorder. Dr. Guerrero is practicing
integrative therapy.
Sara, a researcher, and her team conduct a study to examine the effect of WakeMe, an energy drink, on the intelligence quotient (IQ) levels of people in a small district of Casadia. The people of Casadia are randomly divided into two equal groups. Members of one group, Group WM, are made to drink WakeMe and then take the IQ test. Members of the other group, Group NoWM, are made to drink plain water packaged in WakeMe bottles and then take the IQ test. In this scenario, who among the following exemplifies the control group?
members of Group NoWM
The ________ relays information between the brain and the eyes and ears.
midbrain
Which of the following is more effective in explaining voluntary behaviors rather than involuntary behaviors
operant conditioning
A man who slaps his wife during an argument is most likely exhibiting
overt aggression
In the context of the autonomic nervous system, the ________ calms the body.
parasympathetic nervous system
An individual's autobiographical memory forms the core of the individual's
personal identity.
Walter Mischel's view of situationism states that
personality varies considerably from one context to another.
Claire is a chain smoker. Since she is unaware of her problem, her friends plan to inform her about the dangers of continuing her unhealthy behavior. According to the stages of the change model, Claire is in which of the following stages?
precontemplation
If Tony shares his toys with his little sister because he is afraid of being punished, he is reasoning at the ________ level of moral development.
preconventional
________ is an unjustified negative attitude toward an individual based on the individual's membership in a particular group.
prejudice
Kenny has been diagnosed with Parkinson disease and has been prescribed medication to manage some of his symptoms. The medication elevates the levels of dopamine in his system. If the levels of dopamine in his system become excessive, Kenny is most likely to exhibit symptoms associated with
schizophrenia.
A researcher conducts an experiment to test the effects of playing violent video games on aggression. Which of the following could be the dependent variable in this example?
scores on an aggressive behavior survey
In the context of group decision making, groupthink can be prevented by
selecting an impartial leader.
Matthew, a behavioral psychologist, studies the hunting ability of dogs. He controls the mating of dogs so they exhibit a particular characteristic of hunting. In this scenario, which of the following genetic methods is Matthew most likely using for his study?
selective breeding
A person is most likely to store a seven-digit phone number in his or her ________ memory.
short-term
Which of the following theories states that the way individuals define themselves in terms of their group membership is a crucial part of their self-image and a valuable source of positive feelings about themselves?
social identity theory
If a psychologist studies about the behavioral differences between people from different religions, he or she is most likely following the ________ approach to psychology.
sociocultural
Corticosteroids are
stress hormones.
The ________ is the part of the autonomic nervous system that arouses the body to mobilize it for action and thus is involved in the experience of stress.
sympathetic nervous system
Which of the following techniques should be most likely implemented by a behavioral therapist when a client has a fear of public speaking?
systematic desensitization
When considering multiple sclerosis, which part of the neuron typically hardens and disrupts the flow of information through the neurons?
the myelin sheath
Psychologists believe that the social facilitation effect occurs because
the presence of other individuals arouses us
Which theoretical approach emphasizes the contributions of experiences, thoughts, emotions, and personality characteristics in explaining psychological disorders?
the psychological approach
When Claudia gets an A on her psychology exam, she believes that it is because she is an intelligent, hard-working student. However, when she receives a C on the exam, she blames the instructor's ineffective teaching style and poor choice of test questions for her poor performance. Claudia's behavior is an example of
the self-serving bias.
Flexibility, inner motivation, and willingness to face risk are characteristics of people who
think creatively.
According to the serial position effect, if you are a waiter trying to remember all the orders for a table of seven, you should pay particular attention to the ________ orders, because these are the ones you are most likely to forget.
third, fourth, and fifth
Motivated forgetting and repressed memories are usually associated with what type of memories?
traumatic memories
In classical conditioning, the ________ is unlearned, but the ________ is learned.
unconditioned response; conditioned response
In a treatment to reduce drinking, every time a person drinks an alcoholic beverage, he or she also consumes a mixture that induces nausea. In classical conditioning terminology, the nausea-inducing agent is the
unconditioned stimulus.
In the context of Albert Bandura's observational learning model, seeing a model attain a reward for an activity increases the chances that an observer will repeat the behavior. This process is called
vicarious reinforcement.
According to Arnett, all of the following EXCEPT ________ are features of emerging adulthood.
wisdom
________ is defined as a special kind of systematic observation, used by correlational researchers, that involves obtaining measures of the variables of interest in multiple waves over time.
A longitudinal design
Gary turned to his wife when he woke up and said, "You won't believe what I dreamed. I was being chased by men in suits; they were riding horses. They had long narrow briefcases, and they were trying to run me down!" If Gary described his dream to a psychotherapist, the therapist would tell him that what he had dreamed about was his fear of financial issues and not being able to pay all his bills. Which element in this scenario represents the latent content of the dream?
Gary's concern over monthly bills
An experimenter studies the relationship between caffeine and reaction time. She designs her experiment with four groups. Group one receives 100 mg of caffeine each in their cups of coffee; group two receives 200 mg of caffeine each in their cups of coffee; group three receives 300 mg of caffeine each in their cups of coffee; and group four receives no coffee. Twenty minutes later, participants from all the groups are given a reaction-time test. In this experiment, which group is the control group?
Group 4
In the context of the role of language in cognition, which of the following is a contribution of linguist Benjamin Whorf (1956)?
He argued that language determines the way people think.
According to Freud's stages of psychosexual development, which of the following best indicates that 23-year-old Elliot is fixated at the phallic stage?
He is overtly flirtatious.
In the context of Albert Bandura's observational learning model, retention is a process in which
a learner keeps the information of a model's actions in memory to retrieve it later.
Robert's teacher, Martha, has complained about his behavior on several occasions. According to Martha, Robert cannot focus in class and is constantly distracted. She also mentioned that Robert is extremely active and very impulsive by nature. If Robert were to be taken by his teacher to Dr. Miller, a psychiatrist, he is likely to be diagnosed with
attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder
Ian came home after curfew. Without asking for an explanation, his parents sent him to his room and informed him that he was grounded for a month. Which type of parenting did Ian's parents demonstrate?
authoritairain
The sympathetic nervous system and parasympathetic nervous system are components of the
autonomic nervous system.
When asked to memorize the 15 letters, C I A C B S A B C F B I I R S, Mary reorganizes them into CIA, CBS, ABC, FBI, and IRS. Mary used the tactic of
chunking.
Richard Lazarus argued for the primacy of thinking. It means that he believed that
cognitive activity is a precondition for emotion.
Which of the following structures of memory is autobiographical?
episodic memory
Which of the following is a crucial concept in Freud's psychosexual stages of personality development?
erogenous zones
Andrew openly criticizes the Asian Americans in his neighborhood. He says that the presence of these "outsiders" has led to an increase in the crime rate in the United States. Others in his neighborhood do not agree with him. His openly shared racist attitude is an example of
explicit racism
When a neuron sends an action potential, it is commonly said to be
firing.
Which of the following infant reflexes disappears in the months following birth as infants develop voluntary control over many behaviors?
gripping
According to Hyde, the gender similarities hypothesis
is the idea that men and women (and boys and girls) are much more similar than they are different.
Tamika hypothesizes that women are more helpful than men, and she decides to conduct an experiment to test her hypothesis. During lunchtime, she goes to the crowded food court and deliberately drops her folder containing papers. She then notes whether the person standing closest to her helps her pick up her papers and whether the person is male or female. What is the operational definition of "helpful" in Tamika's study?
making an effort to gather the papers
The ________ is the part of the cerebral cortex that processes information about voluntary movement. Select one:
motor cortex
Developmental psychologists use the term "________" to refer to a person's biological inheritance, especially his or her genes.
nature
Conor, a high schooler, enrolls in a new school. He tries to participate in the same activities as the other students of his class do. He does not enjoy most of these activities, but his sole intention is to impress them so that they start liking him. In this scenario, Conor's behavior best exemplifies
normative social influence.
The axons of the ganglion cells make up the ________, which carries the visual information to the brain for further processing.
optic nerve
The fact that we hear about airplane crashes on 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
the availability heuristic.
In the context of the psychological influences on aggression, the frustration-aggression hypothesis states that
the blocking of an individual's attempts to reach a goal triggers aggression.
According to ________, the function of positive emotions lies in their effects on an individual's attention and ability to build resources.
the broaden-and-build model
The campaigning committee for a politician is going door to door and asking people to display a big, ugly election sign on their lawn. If people are refusing, the committee is asking them if they would consider putting a smaller sign on the lawn. The committee is using
the door-in-the-face technique.
Infants who display secure attachment
use their caregiver as a secure base from which to explore the environment.
A good strategy in subgoaling is to
work backward in your planning by first creating a subgoal that is closest to the final goal, and then work backward to the subgoal that is closest to the beginning of the problem-solving effort.
