Psychology Quizzes 1-4

Twins who don't share 100% of genes are

dizygotic

Which statement best describes a valid gene-environment interaction on behavior?

Identical twins adopted by different families often display behaviors typical of their adoptive families.

Which confounding variable is teased out when psychologists study the traits of identical twins?

Similar environments shared by relatives

Which statement reflects a reasonable attitude for a good student of pyschology to have toward any claim about human nature?

Skepticism is advisable until an idea is proven right.

Which of the following approaches to psychology did Edward Tithener advocate in the late 1800s?

Structuralism

A psychologist working at a university is interested in designing an experiment to explore the impact of stress on women's sleep cycles. She will use university students as subjects. In this situation, the students at her university represent a _________, which is part of the _______

Study population; theoretical population

An important principle to remember when studying psychology is that

The act of learning changes the physical structure of the brain

Cases of spurious correlations are typically explained in terms of _________ variables that are ________ two correlated variables

confounding; affecting

Endorphins have the most significant impact on

pain

A psychological test designed to measure creativity is considered a reliable tool based on whether...

the same subject would score consistently over time

Which is a measure of central tendency?

Median

All of the following statements are true of large data sets with negatively skewed distributions EXCEPT:

Mode is less than the median

What is a mainstream psychologist most likely to think about Sigmund Freud?

Freudian theory is untestable and not grounded in science.

Which perspective argues that human behavior develops in certain ways because it serves a useful purpose?

Functionalism

How is natural selection related to psychology?

Humans behave as they do in part because that behavior promotes survival

Which of the following correlation coefficients represents the strongest correlation between two variables? a. -0.85 b. -0.10 c. +0.25 d.+0.70

-0.85

Which value represents a realistic measurement of a neuron's resting potential?

-60 mV

Which factor is most costly associated with the eventual onset of schizophrenia?

Growing up in a big city

Parents how agree with John Locke's notion of tabula rasa would most likely

Expose their children to a rich variety of sensory experiences

To which pair of siblings would "dizygotic" apply?

A brother and sister born at the same time

In cases where only one of two identical twins develops schizophrenia, all of the following facts may be responsible except: - birth weight, birth order, nurture, or nutrition

Birth Order

Which part of the brain relays information between the spinal cord and the cerebellum?

Brainstem

The hallmarks of psychology as a science are:

Careful experimentation and the application of critical thinking

Which part of the brain plays the greatest role in controlling higher mental functions?

Cerebrum

Which term refers to branchlike extensions of the neuron that receive signals from other neurons?

Dendrites

Contemporary standards of informed consent require a psychologist using human subjects in an experiments to disclose ________ before the experiment commerces

Details of any risk the subject face

Schizophrenia most often presents itself at what age?

Early adulthood, when people begin to face the world on their own.

___________ is best suited to monitoring the activation of synapses

Electroencephalography (EEG)

Which of the following factors would most severely reduce the usefulness of a placebo in a controlled experiment?

It is relatively easy for subjects to distinguish the placebo from a potentially effective treatment

What do studies of maternal nurturing behavior in rats suggest about humans?

Maternal neglect early in life may have lasting impacts on a person's ability to cope with life's challenges.

The study of the nervous system

Neuroscience

Which is true of twins who are discordant for a certain trait?

One of them has the trait and the other does not

Which situation is most consistent with the results of twin studies of schizophrenia?

Schizophrenia is more likely to materialize in a twin who experiences extreme stress.

Which factor was identical for all of the Genuine quadruplets?

The genetic makeup that contributed to the onset of schizophrenia

Twin studies of the heritability of schizophrenia generally shows that

The heritability of schizophrenia is about 50%

A researcher is designing an experiment intended to study the effects of physical environment on reading comprehension. Which of the following would be best characterized as an independent variable in this experiment?

The level of lighting in settings where test subjects are asked to read.

Psychology is best defined as the study of:

The mind and behavior

The estimated heritability of 48% for neuroticism in the population supports the claim that...

The variability in neuritis is due partly to genetic variability in the population

A _________ is a set of consistent _________ that have undergoing successful testing

Theory; hypothesis

A good scientific hypothesis is:

Tied to observable phenomena

Which technology can be used most effectively to temporarily disrupt the function of specific brain regions

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)

Plato's allegory of the cave indicates that

Truths about reality aren't always obvious

According to the social brain hypothesis, each of us can deal effectively with social interaction with roughly 150 people. This implies that

We are capable of maintaining social networks of up to 150 people throughout our lives.

The year 1879 might be though of as the beginning of psychology's a science because

Wilhelm Wundt developed and opened the first psychology laboratory

Neurotransmitters are packaged inside ___________ , in microscopic spheres called _________

axon terminals; vesicles

A neuron's ________ meet another neuron's dendrite at a ___________

axon; synapse

Wins two share a certain physical or chemical behavior trait are ___________ for that trait

concordant

What is cognitive psychology?

focuses on how people think, remember, store and use information.

The principle of Occam's razor compares _________ in terms of the _______

hypotheses; assumptions they make

Hyper polarizing a neuron _______ its polarity, making it _______ likely to fire

increases; less

When a researcher asks the participant to fully describe their internal experiences

introspection

When administered to subjects in an experiment, a placebo is a treatment that

is believed to be free of medical effects

Which does not represent a descriptive method of scientific inquiry?

laboratory experimentation

The hippocampus plays the most significant role in

memory

Because neurons are full of proteins that tend to be _________ charged, they tend to attract _______ charged ions

negatively; positively

In a typical controlled experiment designed to test the effects of a new drug ________ will be administered to the __________ group.

only the placebo; control

poistron emission tomography (PET) uses __________ to show how the brain works

radioactive markers

The _______ is part of the ________

sympathetic nervous system; autonomic nervous system

The process of reuptake removes neurotransmitter molecules from

synaptic clefts

Heritability tells us...

the degree to which variations in population can be attributed to genetics