Gen Psych Mid term

Which two neurotransmitters have roles in appetite suppression?

dopamine; norepinephrine

The theory of ________ states that organisms that are better suited for their environment will survive and reproduce, while those that are poorly suited for their environment will die off.

evolution by natural selection

The ________ theory explains that the immediate associations involved in a conditioned taste aversion are a result of adaptation that helps us learn to avoid foods that are potentially harmful.

evolutionary

Changes in behavior and cognitive processes over time are studied by ________.

evolutionary psychologists

Molly attempts to condition her puppy to greet her when she enters the house. She repeatedly pairs her entry to the house with a treat for the puppy. The puppy eventually acquires this ability, and Molly realizes how irritating it is for the puppy to run up to her every time she enters the house. She attempts to make the puppy stop, and eventually the puppy no longer feels motivated to greet her when she enters the house. The puppy no longer greeting her when she enters the house is an example of ________.

extinction

What is the confirmation bias?

focusing on information that confirms your existing beliefs

Which kind of psychologist would be consulted in jury selection and witness preparation?

forensic

The myelin sheath is made from ________.

glial cells

Introspection refers to a process by which someone examines ________ as objectively as possible.

her own conscious experience

________ amplitudes are associated with ________ sounds.

higher; louder

Niaz's car breaks down, and he is convinced that it was a predictable event even though there was no way of knowing it would happen. This exemplifies ________.

hindsight bias

Which term describes the tendency to maintain a balance, or optimal level, within a biological system?

homeostasis

________ is a state of equilibrium, in which biological conditions (such as body temperature) are maintained at optimal levels.

homeostasis

The empirical method of study is based on ________.

observation of phenomena.

A negative correlation means ________.

one variable decreases as the other increases

Which nerve carries visual information from the retina to the brain?

optic

Which choice is an accurate definition of a hypothesis?

A tentative explanation

The first woman to earn the PhD degree in psychology was ________.

Margaret Floy Washburn

Melatonin release from the pineal gland is stimulated by ________ and inhibited by ________.

darkness; light

Alcohol is considered a ________ because it tends to suppress central nervous system activity.

depressant

A(n) ________ is conducted in order to determine whether there are meaningful differences between two groups in a study.

statistical analysis

Cocaine is considered a ________ drug because it tends to increase overall levels of neural activity.

stimulant

You begin to salivate when you smell your favorite cake in the oven, but not when you smell the gross scent of a dirty diaper. This is an example of ________.

stimulus discrimination

Obstructive sleep apnea occurs when ________.

An individual's airway becomes blocked during sleep

________ encompasses the processes associated with perception, knowledge, problem solving, judgment, language, and memory.

Cognition

________ are categories or groupings of linguistic information, images, ideas, or memories, such as life experiences.

Concepts

Who was the first African American to receive a PhD in psychology in the United States?

Francis Cecil Sumner

Which perspective within psychology that emphasizes the potential for good that is innate to all humans?

Humanism

For which concept is Abraham Maslow best known?

Proposing a hierarchy of human needs in motivating behavior

Who developed the triarchic theory of intelligence?

Robert Sternberg

A(n) ________ , also known as an operant chamber, is an instrument that isolates an animal from the external environment and allows a researcher to control that animal's rewards and punishments

Skinner box

This organization, one of the largest professional groups of psychologists in the world, was founded in 1892.

The American Psychological Association

Imagine yourself in a dark classroom reading PowerPoint slides. If an audience member were to check the internet using her cell phone and causing her screen to light up, chances are that many people would notice the change in illumination in the classroom. However, if the same thing happened in a brightly lit classroom during a discussion, very few people would notice. The cell phone brightness does not change, but its ability to be detected as a change in illumination varies dramatically between the two contexts. This is an example of ________.

Weber's law

A(n) ________ is the electrical signal that typically moves from the neuron's cell body down the axon to the axon terminals.

action potential

What term describes the continuation of a visual sensation after removal of the stimulus?

afterimage

Stage 1 sleep is characterized by a predominance of ________ wave activity in the brain.

alpha

The analytical intelligence component of the triarchic theory of intelligence is demonstrated by the ability to ________.

analyze, evaluate, judge, compare, and contrast

Classical and operant conditioning are forms of ________ learning.

associative

Sarit is at a bar full of music, chatter, and laughter. He gets involved in an interesting conversation with a woman named Mona, and he tunes out all the background noise. Sarit's friend, Karen, taps him on the shoulder and asks what song just played on the jukebox. Sarit says he doesn't know, even though he is sitting right next to the jukebox and is familiar with popular music. This illustrates the role that ________ plays in what is sensed versus what is perceived.

attention

________ is a reduction in the number of research participants as some drop out of the study over time.

attrition

________ is a neurotransmitter with roles in pleasure and pain modulation.

beta-endorphin

Regular feelings of hunger are an example of a(n) ________ rhythm.

biological

Studies that cannot ethically be conducted as experiments with typical human participants ________.

can sometimes be tested with animal studies

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

central; peripheral nervous systems

Most people are awake during the day and asleep at night because their ________ cycles are aligned with the outside world.

circadian

The amplitude of a wave is the height of a wave as measured from the highest point on the wave________ to the lowest point on the wave ________.

crest; trough

As you are talking to a friend on your cell phone, you might find that you can't hear them because they are speaking very softly. If you ask them to "speak up," from a physical perspective you are asking them to ________ of the sound waves they are producing.

increase the amplitude

Birds migrating, cats chasing prey, sea turtles moving toward the ocean immediately after birth, and a joey (baby kangaroo) moving to its mother's pouch immediately after birth are all examples of ________.

instincts

Learning that occurs but is not observable in behavior until there is a reason to demonstrate it is called ________ learning.

latent

In Pavlov's classical conditioning, the term conditioned is approximately synonymous with the word ________.

learned

What do psychologists call a relatively permanent change in behavior or knowledge that results from experience?

learning

Nima excels at working with numbers in subjects such as calculus and algebra. This exemplifies ________ intelligence from the multiple intelligences theory.

logical-mathematical

Aram is proficient in playing a number of instruments and can easily learn new songs and rhythms. This exemplifies ________ intelligence from the multiple intelligences theory.

musical

Tyrahn's rods do not transform light into nerve impulses as easily and efficiently as they should, so he has trouble seeing in dim light. This is called ________ blindness

night

A(an) ________ is a basic sound unit of a given language.

phoneme

Tariq depends on cigarettes to relieve his stress, though he smokes so frequently that he experiences no significant, noticeable physical symptoms when he is not smoking. What does this exemplify?

psychological dependence

The ability of a research study or psychological instrument to consistently produce a given result is called ________.

reliability

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are drugs commonly prescribed for ________.

schizophrenia

Psychology refers to the ________.

scientific study of the mind and behavior

Which of the following choices refers to a broad explanation or group of explanations for some aspect of the natural world that is consistently supported by evidence over time?

scientific theory

Which term refers to the process by which we derive meaning from morphemes and words?

semantics

Nikki was walking around a department store shopping one day, and did not realize that the shirt she was wearing looked just like the shirts worn by employees. When a stranger asked, "do you work here," she thought it was funny. The other customers' assumption that Nikki was a store employee demonstrates the Gestalt principle of _______.

similarity

Victoria has accumulated a large sleep debt. This means that she ________.

suffers from chronic sleep deprivation

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

surveys

The space between two neurons is called the ________.

synapse

Which of the following is an example of a reflex?

the pupil of your eye contracting in the presence of bright light

Psychological knowledge is advanced through a process known as ________, which involves a prescribed series of steps designed to achieve the desired knowledge.

the scientific method

A(n) ________ is a well-developed set of ideas that proposes an explanation for observed phenomena.

theory

Your ears receive sound waves and convert this energy into neural messages that travel to your brain and are processed as sounds. This is an example of ________.

transduction

Gambling at a slot machine is an example of which reinforcement schedule?

variable ratio