Big Psychology Test

The function of dendrites is to

receive information from other neurons'

Which of the following scatterplots illustrates the weakest correlation coefficient?

*line where it goes horizontal*

The ratio of mental age to chronological age for a child of average intelligence is

1:1

A student who scored at the mode would have how many points?

5

A test has a mean of 80 with a standard deviation of 4. Which of the following scores is within one standard deviation of the mean?

77

Which of the following characterizes a behavioral approach to psychology?

A study of how reinforcement affects learning

Which of the following refers to the potential of an individual to perform an as-yet-unlearned task?

Aptitude

Which process transfers information from sensory memory to short-term memory?

Attention

Although people can acquire phobias to almost any object or situation, certain phobias (e.g., those to snakes, spiders, heights) are much more common than others. This finding can best be explained by which of the following concepts?

Biological preparedness

Caffeine and nicotine are in the same class as which of the following drugs?

Cocaine

Which of the following psychometric properties is used to assess the extent to which the items on an intelligence test measure a person's intelligence?

Construct validity

Brad hears a report on the evening news that diets low in carbohydrates are beneficial to one's health. Considering this advice, he begins such a diet. Later he hears another report condemning low-carbohydrate diets as harmful to one's health. Based upon research on belief perseverance, how would Brad respond to this new information?

Continue to believe in the beneficial effects of low-carbohydrate diets

Marie has to assemble a shelf but cannot find her screwdriver. Which of the following would help her complete this task?

Divergent thought

Neurotransmitters that function like the drug morphine and are involved in pain modulation include which of the following?

Endorphins

The component of intelligence described by Raymond Cattell as involving the ability to understand logical relationships, reason abstractly, and learn quickly is related to which of the following?

Fluid intelligence

A young child says, "Where did you goed?" Which of the following psychologists would most likely argue that the child is overregularizing a logical grammatical rule?

Noam Chomsky

The ability to see a cube in the diagram above is best explained by which of the following?

Gestalt principles of closure and continuity

A dog bit Sam when he was a small child and now Sam believes all dogs bite. Which of the following is a type of reasoning that Sam is using to come to this conclusion?

Inductive

The Flynn effect is best illustrated by which of the following statements?

Intelligence scores increase from generation to generation.

Juana accidentally touched a hot iron. She immediately drew back her hand. Which of the following is true about the withdrawal of her hand?

It was initiated in the spinal cord.

Ana injured her eye in an accident and has to wear a patch over the eye while it heals. Which of the following cues would she best be able to use to make judgments about the distance objects are from her?

Linear perspective

Which of the following terms refers to the brain's ability to physically change over time in reaction to experiences?

Neuroplasticity

Feature detectors are neurons that are turned on or off by specific features of visual stimuli like edges and movement. Where in the visual system are these feature detectors located?

Occipita! cortex

In the morning, Jorge watched a cartoon about a sarcastic rabbit. Later, in his psychology class, he viewed the image above and readily identified it as a rabbit instead of a duck. Which of the following best explains this phenomenon?

Priming

Which of the following increases the chance that an individual will remember a telephone number that has been called several times within a short period?

Rehearsal

Significant damage to which of the following parts of the brain will most likely cause a person to fall into a deep coma from which the person will be unable to awaken?

Reticular formation

Which of the following is a binocular cue for depth perception?

Retinal disparity

Michael, who has an IQ of 60, is able to do complex calculations in his head, regardless of the size of the numbers. When he is with his family and friends, he does not engage socially; he focuses on his numerical calculations. Which of the following best describes these characteristics?

Savant syndrome

An individual's recall tends to be better for information that is personally relevant primarily due to which of the following phenomena?

Self-reference effect

The chart above illustrates which of the following psychological concepts?

Serial position effect

Barbara is a talented architect. On which type of intelligence will she most heavily rely to complete her next building design?

Spatial

According to Noam Chomsky, understanding a sentence involves which of the following transformations between structures?

Surface to deep

Which of the following studies demonstrates a cross-sectional research design?

Testing first, third, and fifth graders at the beginning of the school year

What hormone seems to be most closely linked with aggressive behavior?

Testosterone

Research on a critical period during the acquisition of second languages indicates that which of the following statements is true?

The older an individual is, the more difficulty he or she will have with second-language pronunciation.

Which of the following best reflects contemporary interpretations of classical conditioning?

They take into account cognitive processes like expectancy.

Dizziness is most closely associated with which of the following senses?

Vestibular

A person displays a set of rare behaviors that psychologists had not known about previously, because nobody had ever shown them before. The best strategy to investigate the nature of those behaviors is

a case study

A mental image of a spatial layout is called

a cognitive map

To minimize experimenter bias, researchers should use

a double-blind design

When confronted with the sequence " N" at the end of a word in a crossword puzzle, Tony inserts the letters "I' and "G" in the two blanks because

a heuristic

Charles Spearman's concept of g is most accurately defined as

a single, underlying intellectual capacity measured by intelligence tests

When trying to solve a problem, Bret uses a logical, step-by-step formula called

an algorithm

One-year-old Marcus turns away in disgust if a bitter substance is placed on his tongue. The reason for such a reaction is most likely

an inborn distaste for bitter that protects us from potential poisons in the environment

After having a stroke resulting from a blockage of blood to the medial temporal lobe, Gerald could not remember new information, such as the books he had just read, new songs he had just heard, or the faces of new people he just met. Gerald was experiencing

anterograde amnesia

When the stimuli in a task occur in highly predictable ways, an individual is often able to attend to both that task and another one at the same time. When this occurs, the processing of the first task is

automatic

People who are color blind most likely have deficiencies in their

cones

According to Wilhelm Wundt, the focus of scientific psychology should be the study of

conscious experience

In an experiment to test the effects of hunger on aggressive behavior, aggressive behavior would be the

dependent variable

Chuck recalls the day last summer when he fell off his bicycle and scraped his knee. This is an example of

episodic memory

A child's sex is genetically determined by the

father

A researcher shows the same video of an automobile accident to two different groups of participants. Participants in group one are asked: "Did you see a broken headlight?' Participants in group two are asked: "Did you see the broken headlight?" The researcher finds that participants in group two are much more likely to recall having seen a broken headlight, even though there actually was no broken headlight in the video. The researcher is investigating the effects of which of the following on recall?

framing

An individual uses a paper clip to unlock the door to her house because she has misplaced her key. This individual's approach to solving the problem avoids

functional fixedness

Andrene is having difficulties with her roommate. A problem-focused coping strategy for Andrene would be

going directly to her roommate to see if they can work things out

Joseph thinks he does worse on tests when the weather is bad. In reality, his test scores are not influenced by weather conditions. This situation exemplifies

illusory correlation

When Judy is asked how many windows are in her home, she figures out the exact answer by mentally walking through her house and taking a count. This retrieval technique relies most heavily on

imagery

Although she has not sustained any injuries, Riley cannot remember anything before the age of three. She is most likely experiencing

infantile amnesia

It can be assumed that an individual described as a supertaster

is very sensitive to hot peppers

A disadvantage of using Alfred Binet's concept of mental age in assessing intelligence is that

it is inappropriate for adults

Learning that is not demonstrated at the time it occurs is called

latent learning

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

levels of processing

A basic assumption underlying short-term memory is that it is

limited in capacity

Experimental research differs from correlational research in that experimental research

may reveal a causal relation

A particular group of brain cells seems to provide a basis for observational learning. Researchers call these specialized cells

mirror neurons

When the word "walk" is changed to "walked," the suffix "ed" is an example of a

morpheme

Convergence is a binocular depth cue that is based on the

muscular tension that occurs when the eyes turn inward

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

negative reinforcement

Which of the following graphs shows the most desirable test-retest correlation?

positive direct correlation graph

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

predictive validity

Henry took an intelligence test and scored lower than he thought he should. He kept retaking the test, but he kept getting about the same score each time. This series of events indicates that the test was

reliable

A researcher interested in finding a simple way to estimate intelligence decides to evaluate skull circumference as a possible indicator of intelligence. He finds that the size of an adult's skull remains the same from one measurementto the next, but he finds that skull circumference is not a very good predictor of intelligence. In this example, skull circumference as a measure of intelligence is

reliable but not valid

In vision, transduction occurs within the

retina

A teacher has to learn 170 new student names every year and finds it difficult to remember the names of former students. The teacher's memory problem most likely results from

retroactive interference

Carlos wants to lose weight but is having a hard time motivating himself to go to the gym after work because he enjoys watching movies after work instead. To increase his likelihood of going to the gym, Carlos should

reward himself immediately after going to the gym

Students from a journalism class ask only their friends to participate in a school newspaper survey and neglect to ask the rest of the student body. The journalism students' data may not be generalizable due to

sampling bias

Studying by focusing on the facts and not the meaning of information that has to be remembered involves

shallow processing

Research has shown that a major reason for poor performance while multitasking is that while multitasking, people

switch their attention rapidly from task to task, so they miss critical information associated with a task that is not receiving their attention

Research on stereotype threat indicates that students might not do as well as they can on a test if

they are informed that people of their ethnicity, age, or gender usually do not perform well on the tests

In high school, it did not seem to make a difference how much Clive studied Spanish; he always earned poor grades. Now that Clive is in college, he is required to take Spanish again. According to the concept of learned helplessness, which of the following statements can be most expected from Clive as he starts the new Spanish class?

"Why study? There isn't anything I can do to improve my Spanish skills."

On a test, the mean score for a class of 100 students is 80 and the standard deviation of the scores is 10. The professor who gave the test then realizes that she made a scoring error, which she corrects by adding 5 points to each student's score. The standard deviation of the students' new scores is

10

Of the following, which is essential for operant conditioning to occur?

A behavioral consequence

All summer Thomas hears the sound of the icecream truck approaching before his brother Oscar hears it. Thomas most likely has which of the following?

A lower absolute threshold for hearing than Oscar

Which of the following would a social learning theorist be most likely to propose as a cause for a fear of flying?

A person observed someone else's fear of flying.

Research finds that, in general, the higher an incoming college student scores on a given test, the higher the student's college grade point average (GPA). Which of the following best describes this relationship?

A positive correlation

The above graph of conditioning shows which of the following concepts?

Acquisition, extinction, and spontaneous recovery

A certain drug reduces the activity of the central nervous system, including the hippocampus and cerebellum. It affects several neurotransmitters, most notably gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA). Which of the following is most like the drug in question ?

Alcohol

Ted is hiking along a mountain trail when he sees a large snake slithering across the path ahead of him. Which of the following brain structures is most closely associated with Ted's fear response?

Amygdala

The area labeled X in the drawing above denotes which of the following structures?

Axon terminals

Which of the following structures is part of the vestibular system?

B

Which of the following is the most accurate statement regarding the difference between classical and operant conditioning?

Classical conditioning involves the formation of associations between two stimuli, whereas operant conditioning involves the formation of associations between responses and their consequences.

Which procedure can reduce problems associated with the use of deception by a researcher?

Debriefing

Introspection as practiced by early structuralists is best illustrated by which of the following behaviors?

Describing one's immediate sensations while looking at a rose

In extreme cases, surgically severing the corpus callosum is a treatment for which of the following conditions?

Epilepsy

Which of the following research approaches would be best for testing the hypothesis that the presence of certain odors causes people to gamble more?

Experimental

A rat always completes a maze successfully but is only rewarded every third trial. The rat is being rewarded usi which of the following reinforcement schedules?

Fixed-ratio

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

Four-year-old Scott fell down the stairs at his grandmother's house. Although he was not badly hurt, he was very frightened. Now, whenever his parents mention visiting his grandmother's house, he feels anxious and fearful. In classical conditioning terms, what are the conditioned stimulus (CS) and the unconditioned stimulus (UCS) in the scenario, respectively?

Grandmother's house; falling

Damage to which of the following best explains conduction deafness?

Hammer, anvil, and stirrup

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?

His circadian rhythm has been disrupted.

The pitch of a sound is analogous to which of the following features of light?

Hue

Which of the following theories most accurately explains pitch perception? I. Opponent process II. Frequency III. Place

II and III only

What is the correct chronological order of the following perspectives of psychology, from past to present? I Behaviorism Il. Psychoanalysis III. Structuralism IV. Humanism

III, II, I, IV

Which of the following is the best example of the learning principle of reinforcement?

James drank coffee before he took and passed a difficult test with a high grade, so now he drinks coffee before every test he takes because he believes doing so will help him score well on the tests.

Professor González is interested in evaluating the ability of a new method of note-taking to improve student grades. Group A is trained in the new method and group B uses the traditional outline method of taking notes. What is Professor González' independent variable?

Method of note-taking

Romina was at the park with her daughter and noticed several of the other mothers successfully redirecting their children's attention away from an ice-cream truck. Romina's daughter, who noticed the ice-cream truck, threw a tantrum when she did not get to buy some ice cream. The next time she took her daughter to the park, Romina made sure to notice the truck before her daughter did and redirected her behavior using the same techniques the other mothers used. Which learning principle does Romina's behavior demonstrate?

Modeling

Gestalt psychology is concerned primarily with understanding which of the following?

Perception

In which of the following techniques do researchers inject a harmless, radioactive substance into the living human brain to examine activity?

Positron-emission tomography (PET)

Which of the following is the correct path a neural impulse will follow through the different layers of the retina?

Rods and cones, bipolar cells, ganglion cells, optic nerve

Hearing the word "ocean" makes Alice think of waves, surfboards, bathing suits, sharks, swimmers, boats, and the beach. The associations she has to the word "ocean" represent which of the following concepts?

Schema

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

Which of the following neurotransmitters has been most associated with major depressive disorder?

Serotonin

The table above is most likely to be used in a study investigating which of the following?

Signal detection

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

Sleep apnea

Ernst Weber's and Gustav Fechner's psychophysical laws concern the relation between which of the following?

The intensity of a stimulus and its corresponding psychological sensation

Which of the following statements is true of the above graphs?

The mean is identical for both distributions; the standard deviation is larger for distribution A.

Consider the relationship between various body parts and the size of their corresponding somatosensory cortex areas in the brain. How does a body part relate to the devoted cortical area?

The more sensitive the body part, the larger the area of the somatosensory cortex.

Children who are consistently praised for receiving high grades in school will likely continue to work for high grades. Using an operant conditioning explanation of this phenomenon, which of the following is true?

The praise functions as a positive reinforcer.

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.

Type of television program viewed

A psychological researcher designs a study to determine whether positive feedback affects self-esteem. The researcher requires each participant to toss twenty coins into a coffee can that is three feet away. Half of the participants are told that their performance is superior, and the other half are told that their performance is well below average. Although some of the participants want to quit tossing coins after a few attempts, they are told that once they begin the study they have to complete it. After the coin toss, participants take a test measuring self-esteem. Following the test, all participants are debriefed and told that information about their performance was false. Results of the study indicate that participants who are told their performance is well below average report lower levels of self-esteem than do those who are told their performance is superior. Which of the following violations of ethical guidelines occurs in the study?

Violation of the right to withdraw

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

a positive correlation

11. Reuptake of a neurotransmitter refers to

absorption of the neurotransmitter into the terminal buttons of the sending neuron

Sergio's little brother tangled several pairs of identical headphones into one giant mass. To get them free, Sergio had to find the end of one cord and then with his eyes follow that cord throughout the mass as he untangled it. Sergio's ability to see the cord he wanted as a single object is an example of

continuity

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

The diagram above depicts the human body's

endocrine system

A sound is often detected by one ear more intensely and a fraction of a second earlier than it is detected by the other ear. These cues help individuals determine the

location of the source

In the dark, an object is more clearly seen when viewed in peripheral vision than when viewed directly. This phenomenon occurs because the rods located in the retina are

more sensitive in the dark than cones and are not found in the fovea

When viewed from the window of a moving train, nearby objects seem to pass by more quickly than do more distant objects. This cue for depth perception is called

motion parallax

Receptors for olfaction are located

nasal cavity

Negative afterimages are explained by

opponent-process theory

The area labeled A contains the

ossicles

In visual perception, size constancy occurs as an object comes closer to the viewer because the

perceived distance of the object becomes smaller

Money most often modifies people's behavior because it is a powerful

secondary reinforcer

An individual's ability to focus on a particular conversation in a noisy and crowded room is called

selective attention

Ben was enjoying a walk in the woods on a beautiful Saturdav afternoon. As he went around a curve, he noticed a bear walking toward him. Immediately his pupils dilated, he began to perspire, and his heart accelerated. These changes are most closely related to the function of the

sympathetic nervous system

Immediately after firing, a neuron is incapable of responding to stimulation. This condition is referred to as

the absolute refractory phase

A reason that one typically does not notice a blind spot in the visual field is that

the brain fills in missing information so there is no awareness that the visual field is incomplete

Dr. Mayhew finds that children who are randomly assigned to watch television shows containing many acts of violence later show more aggressive behavior during recess than children who are randomly assigned to watch television shows containing no acts of violence. In the experiment, the dependent variable is

the level of aggressive behavior displayed by the children during recess

If the outcome of a study is statistically significant, it means that

the results are unlikely to be obtained if there is no difference between the control group and the experimental group

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

top-down processing

Tina is reading an important letter when she accidentally splashes water on the paper. The water has smudged a few words, but she is still able to understand what the letter says. This can be explained by

top-down processing