Exam 1 Questions

Behaviors more influenced by one side of the brain are said to be __________.

lateralized

If a case study showed that a research participant thought it was funny that Kitty Genovese was murdered, the results of that case study would __________.

not generalize to most other individuals

If you show an adult a toy, and then hide it behind a curtain, the adult knows that the toy still exists. However, infants act as if a hidden object no longer exists. What does this exemplify?

object permanence

Behaviors are __________, whereas mental processes are __________.

observable; not observable

The process by which a neurotransmitter is reabsorbed into the terminal button of a neuron is termed __________.

reuptake

A __________ is a subset of individuals from a population.

sample

Psychology is defined as

scientific study of the mind and behavior

If an explanation adheres to the rule of parsimony, it will be __________.

simple

Which linguist published a devastating critique of Skinner's theory of language development?

Noam Chomsky

Whereas psychology was historically dominated by males, females now earn more Ph.D.'s in the field. In fact, in 2010 females earned __________ of the Ph.D.'s in Psychology.

70

What is the biggest limitation in correlation research?

A causal relationship cannot be inferred

__________ is the electrical signal that typically moves from the cell body down the axon to the axon terminals.

Action potential

Where are the majority of psychologists located?

America

The most famous behaviorist was __________.

B. F. Skinner

Why is psychology considered a social science?

Behavior is biological, and our behavior is influenced by our interactions with others.

_________ is described as the scientific study of observable behavior.

Behaviorism

Instead of conducting a study in the lab I might just search for information on the Internet, an example of __________ research.

Both archival and descriptive are correct

What structures make up the hindbrain?

Cerebellum, medulla, pons

What structures make up the forebrain?

Cerebral cortex and subcortical structures

__________ means that there is a relationship between two or more variables.

Correlation

__________ is to electrical activity as __________ is to oxygen use.

EEG; fMRI

__________ is a neurotransmitter with roles in mood and pain.

Endorphins

Social psychologists' research interests were shaped, in large part, by the __________.

Holocaust

The __________ is manipulated by the experimenter

Independent Variable

__________ refers to the ability to consistently produce a given result.

Reliability

__________ is/are often conducted with large numbers of participants and can even be conducted by phone, email, or mail.

Surveys

Dr. Smith has just finished her Ph.D. in Psychology. Statistically speaking, she will probably work in __________.

a university

Julie believes that the society in which one grows up does not have an impact on psychological issues. Which approach BEST fits her view?

absolutism

A(n) __________ is a drug that strengthens the effects of a neurotransmitter.

agonist

The __________ is involved in our experience of emotion and tying emotional meaning to our memories.

amygdala

What sense is associated with the temporal lobe?

audition (hearing)

The __________ of a neuron carries messages from dendrites.

axon

The two major divisions of the nervous system are the __________ and __________.

central; peripheral nervous systems

The __________ receives messages from muscles, tendons, joints, and structures in our ear to control balance, coordination, movement, and motor skills.

cerebellum

The advent of __________ in the 1950s had an enormous conceptual impact on the development of cognitive psychology.

computers

If I was conducting a psychological study, I would __________ after formulating a theory and hypothesis.

conduct research

A(n) __________ is a variable that causes changes in both variables of interest and may falsely give the impression of a cause-and-effect relationship

confounding variable

The four goals of psychology, in order, are to __________ behavior

describe, explain, predict, and control

Researchers are conducting a study where they have concerns that the participant's beliefs and/or the experimenter's beliefs may skew the results. Therefore, they chose to conduct a __________ study.

double-blind

With a(n) __________, researchers place electrodes at various locations on a person's head in order to record the brain's electrical activity.

eletroencephalogram (EEG)

Elaina has been diagnosed with a small brain tumor. She first went to see her doctor after experiencing symptoms such as feeling very cold, almost fainting, a reduced appetite, and reduced sexual desire. Which of the following structures is her tumor most likely affecting?

hypothalamus

Random assignment is used in experiments because __________.

if it wasn't certain groups might be composed of only certain types of people

Guillermo spends some time each day applying the principles of structuralism to examine his own conscious experience as carefully as possible. Guillermo is engaged in __________.

introspection

A college dean is interested in measuring the research productivity of the seven members of the Psychology department. The dean obtains the number of publications for each faculty member. They are as follows: 5, 10, 15, 15, 20, 25, and 180. If the dean wants to describe these data, which measure of central tendency would paint a misleading picture of the research productivity of the department?

mean

The "most frequent" measurement in a frequency distribution is the __________.

mode

One likely benefit of psychology becoming a more diverse field is that __________.

more minority individuals will seek therapy

The insulating layer of fatty material that covers the axon of many neurons is called the __________.

myelin sheath

Some early philosophers believed that certain kinds of knowledge were innate or inborn, a theory known as __________.

nativism

Patwardhan et al. report data from a study where they hired experimental confederates to attend speed dating events, posing as daters, and carefully take notes on the behaviors of the daters. What type of research design did they use?

naturalistic observation

Psychotropic medications are drugs that treat psychiatric symptoms by restoring __________ balance.

neurotransmitter

A negative correlation means __________.

one variable decreases as the other increases

A(n) __________ is a description of how researchers will measure the variables of interest.

operational definition

Descartes believed that the mind influences the body through the __________.

pituitary gland

Jennifer has been depressed for several months, and she decided to take an overdose of sleeping pills. After taking the pills, her breathing rate decreased dramatically, her heart slowed down, and her blood pressure decreased. Which brain structure is the drug acting on?

pons

What is Abraham Maslow best known for?

proposing a hierarchy of human needs in motivating behavior

Systematic inquiry aimed at discovering new knowledge is defined as __________.

research

The ________ nervous system controls activities traditionally thought of as conscious or voluntary.

somatic

The central nervous system consists of the brain and the __________.

spinal cord

The statistic that describes the average distance between the measurements in a frequency distribution and the mean of that distribution is the __________.

standard deviation

Cognitive psychology focuses on studying __________.

thoughts and their relationship to our behavior and experiences