AP Psychology Midterm Study Sheet

60) A psychologist administered the most recent edition of the Stanford-Binet IQ test to 50 students and their scores are shown in the chart above. How many students earned scores higher than two standard deviations above the mean?

2

53) A researcher is training laboratory rats to run a complex maze. Each time the rats learn a new part of the maze, they are rewarded with a pellet of food. Within a few hours, the rats have learned the entire maze. Which of the following did the researcher use to teach the rats the maze?

?

59) Which of the following concepts most directly applies to Dr. Min's research question?

?

4) Which of the following individuals is violating an ethical principle of psychology?

N/A

46) Which of the following is an example of the tip-of-the-tongue effect?

N/A

75) Researchers showed the six basic facial expressions, as seen above, to isolated people in New Guinea in the early 1970's. The fact that isolated people in New Guinea were able to correctly identify the emotions on faces that they had never seen before supports which of the following?

NA

52) After seeing her parents give her brother a dollar for cleaning his room, Sarah begins cleaning her own room. According to social-learning theory, Sarah's behavior is an example of which of the following?

Observational learning?

2) A research group conducted a study investigating the connection between self-reported number of hours slept in a given week and scores on a happiness measure. Based on the scatterplot above, the group can report that there is

Positive correlation between sleep and happiness

10) Operational definitions are used for which of the following reasons?

Repeatable

37) Which of the following functions would be considered a non-conscious process?

Something you dont have to think about

54) Robert Rescorla's contingency model of classical conditioning states that

a stimulus is effective based off how well it predicts what is to come

35) Sally says that her dream about going to a circus is just her brain attempting to make sense of random stimulation from the brain stem. Sally's explanation is consistent with which of the following theories of dreaming?

activation synthesis

58) When trying to solve a problem, Brad uses a logical, step-by step formula called

algorithm

72) Chuck asked Jane out on a date and he offered her two possible options—to see a movie or to go ice skating. Jane felt a bit stressed about making the decision because she liked both activities. Which of the following conflicts was Jane experiencing?

approach, approach conflict

73) The above graph is most closely associated with

arousal theory

57) When asked which of two countries has a larger population, participants are likely to judge the country that is more familiar to them as being more populous. Which of the following best explains this finding?

availability heuristic

7) An instructor conducted an experiment to determine the effects of two different methods of study on the amount students learned in introductory physics. The results showed that the average amount learned by the group using one method was greater than the average amount learned by the group using the other. However, the difference was not statistically significant. Which of the following is the most appropriate conclusion to be drawn?

both are equally efficient

32) When at a restaurant, Isaac tastes a small sample of each of the salad dressings on the menu before deciding which dressing to put on his salad. Issac is using

bottom up processing

34) Bert normally sleeps from 10:00 P.M. to 7:00 A.M. In which of the following time periods would he experience the LEAST amount of REM sleep?

closest to when he goes to sleep

29) Betty sees the figure above as a complete triangle rather than separate and individual geometric shapes. This is because of the Gestalt concept of

closure

26) When Jason practices the drums, he tends not to hear the phone. Today he is expecting a call from a record producer and answers the phone each time it rings even when he is practicing the drums. Which of the following explains why Jason hears the phone today?

cocktail party, selective attention

5) Professor Arundel has forty-three students in section one of the psychology classes she teaches and fifty-two students in section two. Section one meets at eight a.m. and section two meets at one p.m. Professor Arundel gives all of her students the same final exam, and those in section two score significantly higher than those in section one. Professor Arundel concludes that her section one students are academically inferior to students in section two. The biggest problem with Professor Arundel's conclusion is that

confounding variable

41) Students in Dr. Milne's Introduction to Psychology class met three times a week in a large, windowless lecture hall. Students had the option of taking their final comprehensive exam in the same lecture hall, or in smaller classroom on the other side of campus. The results from the final exam are depicted in the table above. Which of the following memory processes could help explain the differences between these two groups?

context dependant theory

68) Which of the following is the best example of a homeostatic process?

create balance in the body, sweating

44) When Sophie reads her history assignments, she goes over them very carefully and tries to memorize each fact. Emma, on the other hand, studies by trying to relate the new information to things she has experienced, been told about by others, or seen in movies and on television. Emma's performance on history tests will probably be better than Sophie's due to differences in which of the following?

deep vs shallow processing?

30) Holly asks her brother to turn up the music he is playing so she can hear it better. He turns it up one level, and Holly asks him why he didn't turn it up like she asked. Which of the following concepts explains why Holly did not think her brother turned up the music?

difference threshold or absolute threshold

11) Mrs. Polk goes to her doctor because she is experiencing trembling hands, slow movements, and stiff muscles. Her doctor diagnoses her with Parkinson's disease and tells her it is caused by the malfunctioning of which neurotransmitter?

dopamine

69) Martin has severely restricted his caloric intake for two weeks to reach a goal weight for his wrestling meet. Immediately after the meet, Martin stops by a restaurant and orders a large pizza and a dessert. This post meet eating behavior is best explained by

drive reduction theory

49) Edward L. Thorndike argued that responses that lead to satisfying outcomes are more likely to be repeated, and that responses followed by unpleasant outcomes are less likely to be repeated. This became known as the law of

effect

12) A research team lesioned (cut into) the hypothalamus of a rat and then monitored the rat's activity when it recovered from the surgery. Their hypothesis is likely to be that the rat would do which of the following

effect appetite feel hungry/full

17) As Jessie enters middle school, she begins to notice changes in her body (more bodily hair, menstrual cycle, etc.) associated with the onset of puberty. Which system is controlling her bodily changes?

endocrine system

20) Which of the following is an example of a sympathetic nervous system response?

fear

24) The reversible figure above illustrates the Gestalt organizing principle of

figure and ground

62) On a fishing trip, Ed realizes that he has mistakenly packed the sewing box instead of the tackle box. He wants to fish but returns home because he does not have any line or hooks. Ed's failure to realize that sewing thread can be used as fishing line and that a bent needle can be used as a hook is an example of

functional fixedness

25) Martin fell off his skateboard and badly bruised his elbow. He immediately began rubbing the area around the bruise until the pain subsided. This method of reducing pain can be explained by which of the following?

gate control theory

6) Using random assignment of 100 people chosen to participate study of social attitudes ensures that

guards against confounding variables

Peyton had never felt romantically attracted to her coworker Antoni before because they have very little in common and his sense of humor usually annoys her. However, after attending an exciting, energetic party with Antoni, where they danced and ate good food, Peyton began feeling strong positive emotions every time he was near her. She began to think it might be fun to go out with him. 66) How does Schachter's Two-Factor Theory explain this scenario?

her heart was beating because of the party but she attributes it to Antoni

18) Professor Janson is studying which brain regions are involved in learning to correctly navigate a maze task. She randomly assigns half of a group of mice to get a lesion (cutting part of the brain) in one area of the brain. The other half does not get a lesion. Based on the above graph, where in the brain is the most likely site of the lesion?

hippocampus

A researcher randomly assigned boys and girls to each of two groups. One group watched a violent television program while the other group watched a nonviolent program. The children were then observed during a period of free play, and the incidence of aggressive behavior was recorded for each group. 9) Which of the following is the dependent variable in this experiment?

how aggressive the child behaves

67) Rudolph spends hours painting in his studio, even though he sells few pictures. Which of the following explains Rudolph's creative productivity?

intrinsic motivation

36) Jeff lives in the United States, and he recently flew to Spain. Even after sleeping for several hours on the flight, he still felt lethargic for a few days. If Jeff has not caught an illness, which of the following is the most likely explanation for his physical response?

jet lag/circadian rhythm

51) In a classic study, a group of rats learned to run through a maze to obtain food, and another group of rats explored the maze without receiving food. Some time later, the researcher compared the two groups of rats to determine if both groups would find the food at the end of the maze. According to the researcher, the untrained rats found the food at the end of the maze as quickly as the trained rats as a result of

latent learning

38) Sara had an argument with her coworker, Adam. That night, Sara had a dream that she was shopping at a mall, and Adam was in every store in which she shopped. Freud would say that Adam's being at the mall in her dream was an example of which of the following?

manifest content

16) Dr. Jarrett inserts an electrode in a cat's brain and stimulates the cat's amygdala. The cat will most likely do which of the following?

memory fear aggression

65) Raj, a four-year-old child, learned to open the door to a classroom by pulling on the handle. Now whenever he approaches any door he pulls on the handle and is confused when that does not work. This is best explained by Raj's having developed which of the following for door opening?

mental set

40) In Elizabeth Loftus' studies of memory reconstruction, she had students view films of an automobile accident. The major influence on recall was which of the following?

misinformation effect?

22) Which of the following is a possible reason why cats can see better at night than can humans?

more rods or photoreceptors

1) Researchers find that there is a statistically significant, positive correlation between the number of hours students sleep and their grades. The researchers would be justified in concluding that

more sleep = better grades

15) The figure shows the myelin sheath, a semipermeable membrane that provides support and helps speed up the action potential in neurons. What condition occurs when the immune system causes the deterioration of the myelin sheath, as occurred in the case of Annette the beautiful, Annette the pure, Annette the ethereal?

multiple sclerosis

3) Jane Goodall lived among wild chimpanzees intermittently for decades, studying their social and family systems while keeping her interaction with the chimpanzees to a minimum. Her research method can most accurately be described as

naturalistic observation

56) Elizabeth picks up the clothes from her bedroom floor and puts them away to avoid her mother's repeated nagging. Elizabeth's behavior is being influenced by

negative reinforcement

23) After staring at a green, black, and orange "American flag" for about a minute, Andrew will see a red, white and blue flag afterimage. Which of the following explains this phenomenon?

opponent process theory

21) As you watch a friend walk away from you, your retinal image of your friend gets smaller. Despite this, you do not perceive him to be shrinking. This is an example of

perceptual consistancy

14) Peter suffers damage to his left frontal lobe and loses the ability to speak, although he can still understand speech. Despite the permanence of this damage, he is able to recover some of his speech due to the ability of other parts of the brain to take over lost functions. This phenomenon is known by neuroscientists as

plasticity

42) In elementary school, Lisa learned to speak some Japanese in addition to English. As a sophomore in high school, Lisa took a class in Chinese. She found that some of the new vocabulary was difficult to learn because her earlier Japanese vocabulary was competing with the new Chinese words. This situation best illustrates

proactive interference

47) Kay's ability to ride a bicycle reflects which of the following types of memory?

procedural memory

71) Which of the following behaviors best demonstrates an emotional response associated with the short route (low road) from the thalamus to the amygdala?

quick and sympathetic reaction

43) Ten students were expected to learn about the geography of the major rivers, mountains, and cities of the US state of Arizona. Half of the students were given an unlabeled map and expected to fill in the information they learned from memory. The other half was given the same unlabeled map but had a word bank of terms to choose from. The students' scores are represented in the table above. What conclusion can you make based on the data?

recognition vs recall ?

64) Dr. Crump is developing a new personality test that he hopes will measure personality factors similar to those measured by a Big Five personality inventory. His participants take the new personality test and the main Big Five inventory used in clinical settings. The next week the participants take a different version of the new personality test. Dr. Crump finds that the participants in the study had similar scores each time they took the new personality test. Dr. Crump is most likely to conclude that the new personality test has which quality?

reliable

13) In the figure above, a patient has been asked to draw a slash through each circle. The pattern of responses suggests that the patient has most likely experienced damage in which of the following areas?

right brain

50) In phase one of a study, a researcher classically conditions a dog to salivate to the ringing of a bell. In the second phase, the researcher pairs a flashing light with the ringing of the bell. After several pairings of the light and the bell, the dog will

salivate

61) A teacher gave a standardized test to students measuring their achievement in school. A student's test score of 86 is at the 42nd percentile. This means that this student has which of the following?

scored as good as 42%

55) Mrs. Robinson taught her students to take turns by giving them stars to trade for snacks at the end of the day. The stars received by the students are

secondary reinforcers

28) Laura arrives at a park that is located very close to a factory that produces cookies. She immediately notices the strong odor of chocolate chip cookies, but after a while she no longer detects the smell of the cookies. This can best be explained by which of the following?

sensory adaptation

45) Roscoe is attempting to assemble a tool one week after reading the instructions. However, he can remember the first and last steps of the procedure but not the middle ones. This best illustrates which of the following?

serial positioning, primacy, and recency

74) Dr. Emerson is seeing a patient named Nandini who is currently going through a divorce. She has moved out of her house and is staying on a friend's couch. While she is going through this, Nandini is struggling to find meaning in her life. Which of the following would be an explanation for Nandini's dissatisfaction with life according to Maslow's Hierarchy?

she doesnt have her basic needs met so she doesnt care about why shes alive

33) During the night, Alice stops breathing repeatedly, frequently gasps for air, and snores loudly at regular intervals. Alice is most likely suffering from which of the following conditions?

sleep apnea

70) Mark, a flight attendant, began his workday in a bad mood. However, by the end of the day, he felt much happier. According to the facial feedback hypothesis, what may have influenced Mark's mood?

smiling at the passengers

19) While performing surgery on Chuck's brain, doctors stimulate portions of Chuck's left temporal lobe. This cause Chuck to

speech, memory, sounds, emotions

48) A two-year-old child is frightened by a small dog. A few weeks later the same child sees a cat and becomes frightened. The child's reaction is most likely an example of which of the following?

stimulus generalization

39) If mice lack an enzyme essential to the process of long-term potentiation, which of the following will be the most likely consequence?

the mice will have a harder time remembering something

27) Liz, a math major, sees the drawing above as a Venn diagram. Her brother, an art major, sees it as two interlocking circles. The difference in perception is an example of

top down processing

63) The Psychology Aptitude Test (PAT) was administered to incoming college psychology majors. Their scores were later compared to their performance in the introductory psychology course, and high scores on the PAT were related to high grades in the course. Therefore, the PAT has

validity

31) After sustaining a traumatic injury, Russ is having difficulty comprehending the meaning of words. Which of the following parts of his brain has most likely been damaged?

wernickes area

A researcher randomly assigned boys and girls to each of two groups. One group watched a violent television program while the other group watched a nonviolent program. The children were then observed during a period of free play, and the incidence of aggressive behavior was recorded for each group. 8) Which of the following is the independent variable in this experiment?

what the children saw on tv