Final for Pysch

The first psychology laboratory was opened in _____ in order to study ______

1879, objective introspection

Why do psychologists use the scientific method?

It reduces bias and error in measurement

What was John Watson's biggest complaint about the field of psychology?

Psychologists were attempting to study non-observable events using the scientific method

A researcher stops people at the mall and asks them questions about their attitudes toward gun control. Which research technique is being used?

Survey

A researcher is investigating the effects of exercise on weight. What are the independent and dependent variables in this experiment?

The dependent variable is weight; the independent variable is excerise

When is it permissible for a psychologist to share a client's test scores with another person?

When the client provides written permission to share results

_______ is an experiment in which neither the participants nor the individuals running the experiment know if participants are in the experimental or the control group until after the results are tallied.

a double blind study

The biopsychosocial perspective is best described as:

a holistic approach to explaining human behavior

a group of randomly selected subjects that matches the population on important characteristics such as age and sex is called

a representative sample

A humanistic psychologists would be interested in which of the following research studies? a.) describing a group of people who claim to have reached their full potential b.) using rewards to change a person's behavior c.) understanding the role of the unconscious in a child's decision to disobey his or her d.) investigating the role of hormones in the mating behavior of birds e.) figuring out that visual illusions are possible

a.)

which of the following is a possible reason why cats can see better at night than can humans? a.) cats have a higher proportion of rods to cones b.) Cats pupils can contract to a smaller opening c.) cats have a smaller blind spot d.) cats have a larger optic nerve tract e.) the visual cortex of cats is located farther forward in the cortex

a.)

Sara has been experiencing a serious memory problem. An interdisciplinary team has ruled out a range of causes and believes that a neurotransmitter is involved. Which neurotransmitter is most likely involved in this problem?

acetylcholine

The longer an individual is exposed to a strong odor, the less aware of the odor the individual becomes. This phenomenon is known as sensory

adaptation

What event causes the release of chemicals into the synaptic gap?

an action potential reaching the axon terminal

A research design involves two randomly assigned groups of participants. One group receives a one-time treatment, and the other does not. Later, the two groups are compared to see whether the treatment had an effect. Psychologists call this kind of research

an experiment

Each of the following is a common ethical guideline suggested by the american psychological association except: a.) participants must be informed of the nature of the research in clearly understandable language b.) participants cannot be deceived or have information concealed from them at any time during an experiment c.) risks, possible adverse effects, and limitations on confidentiality must be spelled out in advance d.) informed consent must be documented e.) experimenters must be debrief participants

b.

The concept of habituation is best exemplified by which of the following situations? a.) An infant recognizes her father's voice b.) A college student is no longer kept awake by her roomate's late-night typing. c.) A kitten avoids a couch after being reprimanded for sitting on it. d.) A rat learns to press a bar for food when a red light is flashed e.) A motorist drives at the speed limit when there is a police officer in sight on the highway

b.)

which of the following correlation coefficients represents the strongest relationship between two variables? a.) +0.62 b.) -0.98 c.) +0.01 d.) +1.24 e.) -0.50

b.)

A researcher who studies the chemical changes in the brains of patients with depression would be approaching psychology from which perspective?

biological

a psychotherapist who believes that deviant behavior can be traced either to genetic anomalies or to problems in the physical structure of the brain most likely subscribes to which of the following views of abnormality?

biomedical

Which of the following questions applies the concept of critical thinking to the real-world pseudo-psychology of astrology? a.) What is my astrological sign b.) What does my astrological sign predict will happen to me today c.) how up to date are the charts used by astrologists today/ d.) should i marry someone who is the same sign as I? e.) Is today a good day to invest in the stock market

c.)

Which of these is the most accurate definition of the discipline of psychology? a.) the science of behavior b.) the science of mental processes c.) the science of behavior and mental processes d.) the science of human behavior e.) the science of human behavior and mental processes

c.)

A researcher is attempting to design a program to help people stop smoking. The goal he or she is attempting to achieve is to?

control

Gestalt psychologists are associated with which of the following sayings? a.) The pineal gland is the seat of the human soul b.) Psychology should reach into the soul of mankind c.) Behavior should be broken down into its individual components d.) the whole is greater than the sum of its parts e.) Dreams are symbolic and should be interpreted

d.)

Which of following statements would Sigmund Freud have most likely been overheard saying? a.) "Human behavior is largely determined by our own free will" b.) "The only way to understand behavior is to study behavior" c.) "We will never understand why people do the things they do" d.) "The key to understanding behavior is in the unconscious" e.) "The conscious mind is the largest and most influential component of the psyche"

d.)

Which of the following situations best illustrates the placebo effect? a.) You sleep because you are tired b.) You throw up after eating bad meat c.) You have surgery to repair a defective heart valve d.) You drink a nonalcoholic drink and become "intoxicated" because you think it contains alcohol e.) You know you are in the experimental group and you behave the way you think the experimenter wants you to behave

d.)

A researcher is interested in finding out the percentage of adolescents in the United States who have depression. The goal he or she is attempting to achieve is to?

describe

Photoreceptors relay visual information to the brain through which of the following cells a.) trigeminal and vestibular b.) ganglion and vestibular c.) bipolar and vestibular d.) Bipolar and Schwann e.) bipolar and ganglion

e.)

Which of the following is NOT one of the four principles of critical thinking? a.) All truths need to be tested b.) an open mind is always important c.) authorities cannot always be trusted d.) all evidence is not equal e.) it is better to use common sense and intuition to determine the truth

e.)

Which of the following research questions would NOT fall within the field of psychology? a.) How can you increase the amount of time a female bird stays with its mate after the birdlings hatch? b.) What changes occur in the brain of a rat that has been deprived of sleep? c.) Why do students perform better on exams when the exam is given in the same room in which they learned the material? d.) How do environmental stimuli influence the development of the neural network? e.) All of these questions above could be studied by a psychologists.

e.)

Which of the following topics would be studied using the case study method? a.) the reaction times of adults in a stressful situation b.) the sleep pattern of adolescents c.) the impact of club sports involvement on female adolescent self-esteem d.) the relationship between hyperactivity and sugar consumption e.) the personality characteristics of a man accused of killing five people

e.)

What type of signal is used to relay a message from one end of a neuron to the other end?

electrical

The reversible figure above illustrates the ges organizing principle of

figure ground

visual activity is best in the

fovea

The perceived pitch of a tone is largely determined by its

frequency

William James believed that mental processes could not be studied as an isolated, static event but instead needed to be viewed in terms of how they helped people perform in their daily lives. James was a strong proponent for

functionalism

What is an advantage of survey method?

large amounts of information

Cognitive psychologists are interested in

mental processes

Deb spent the entire day at the park observing children with their parents to see whether fathers or mothers spent more time playing with their kids. Deb used the method of?

naturalistic observation

A researcher finds that as the number of classes missed increases, the students' grades decrease. This is an example of a

negative correlation

The function of the ________ is to carry information to an from all parts of the body

nervous system

A specialized cell that makes up the nervous system that receives and sends messages within that system is called a

neuron

A chemical found in the synaptic vesicles which, when released, has an effect on the next cell is called a

neurotransmitter

The school of psychology called structuralism used a technique called _______, which involved reporting the contents of consciousness to study a person's experiences.

objective introspection

Marcy is trying to define anxiety in a way that can be empirically tested. She is attempting to find an appropriate

operational definition

Vido has an M.S.W. and is interested in working on the causes of poverty what type of professional is Vido most likely

psychiatric social worker

Taylor received her degree from a medical school and now meets with patients on a daily basis. Most of her patients have a serious psychological disorder, and often Taylor will prescribe medication to treat the disorder. Taylor is a

psychiatrist

How is psychology different from philosophy?

psychology uses the scientific method to answer questions

the word correlation is often used as a synonym for

relationship

Freud said phobias were __________, whereas Watson said phobias were __________________.

repressed conflicts; learned

Balance is influenced by the

semicircular canal

the human vestibular sense is most closely associated with the

semicircular canals

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

size constancy

Two ways psychologists use statistics with the data they collect are

summarizing the data and making judgments and decisions about the data

The central nervous system is made of which two components?

the brain and the spinal cord

All inferential statistics have one thing in common

they are used to find if the results of an experimenter are statistically significant

the psychological perspective of structuralism focused on?

understanding each individual structure of human thought

The tendency to look for information that supports one's own belief is called ______

volunteer bias