PSY 201 FINAL EXAM (practice questions)

Heightened religious experiences and meditation can both lead to experiences of altered consciousness. Why is this the case?

Both practices allow practitioners to direct attention away from the self.

Which of the following is true about the functions of dendrites and axons?

Dendrites detect information from neighboring neurons, whereas axons transmit information.

Which of the following statements about gene expression is true?

Even if you are born with a dominant gene, environmental factors may influence whether the trait is expressed.

Split-brain patient G.C. is in line at a coffee shop when he witnesses a woman in his right visual field about to trip over an electrical cord. Which of the following is most likely to happen next?

G.C. is able to warn the woman about the cord, because, luckily for her, the incident takes place in his right visual field.

Which of the following is true about pheromones?

Pheromones are received and transduced by the olfactory system.

Beliefs, values, norms, rules, and customs that people learn from those who share their language or environment comprise

a culture

Dr. Smith is conducting research on the abilities of a man who experiences visual sensations while hearing sounds. Which data collection method should she use?

case study

Psychologists such as William James believed that the mind is too complex to be broken down into smaller parts, largely because it is changing constantly. William James's beliefs became known as which school of psychology?

functionalist

Gary was in a motorcycle accident and damaged his thalamus. Gary will have no difficulty carrying out which of the following actions?

smelling roses in his garden

Zhenghan notices a strong correlation between whether a person is a freshman, sophomore, junior, or senior in college and the number of credit hours that he or she has registered for. As their years in college increase, students tend to register for fewer credit hours. Based on this information, the correlation coefficient between years in college and number of credit hours is closest to _______.

-.70

The text describes studies the "hot hand," an athlete's winning streak-be it with free throws, spikes in volleyball, or otherwise. The "hot hand" is also referred to as "being in the zone" or "on a roll" for numerous consecutive games. According to the textbook, however, "a meta-analysis of 22 published articles on this phenomenon found no evidence that the hot hand exists." What does this quotation from your text mean?

A researcher ran an analysis 22 peer-reviewed studies on the hot hand and concluded that there is no scientific evidence that the hot hand exists.

Which of the following examples illustrates the gate control theory of pain?

After stubbing his toe, Ronald rubs the toe and finds that it eases the pain a little.

The text describes a study in which women drank either water or carrot juice during their pregnancy and while nursing. The first group of women drank carrot juice while pregnant and nursing; the second drank carrot juice while pregnant and water while nursing; the third drank water while pregnant and carrot juice while nursing; and the fourth drank only water during both periods. What do the findings of this study illustrate?

Babies preferred carrot juice if their mothers drank it during pregnancy or after pregnancy, while nursing.

Japhet knows that while rods are spread throughout the retina, cones are concentrated around the fovea. Based on this knowledge, what might Japhet infer about visual perception?

Color is easier to see in the center of the visual field.

What is the difference between concentrative meditation and mindfulness meditation?

Concentrative meditation involves focusing on one thing; mindfulness meditation involves a fleeting awareness of any thoughts, without focusing on any specific thought.

Kaitlyn has three favorite perfumes. One perfume has a floral scent, one has a citrus scent, and one is musky. Which of the following is the most likely explanation for how the receptors in her olfactory epithelium transduce these three smells for interpretation by the brain?

Each perfume stimulates a unique pattern of several types of receptors, and each pattern is interpreted by the brain.

Tom awoke from the strangest dream. He remembers vivid emotions, sights, and even smells, but the content of the dream was very scattered and illogical. Why might this be so?

Frontal cortices are somewhat deactivated during sleep, which contributes to illogical aspects of dreaming. Neurons were randomly firing, and Tom's sleeping mind attempted to make sense of this chaotic neural activity. The limbic regions of the brain are active during sleep, which could be the source of the emotional content in Tom's dream.

Which school of thought in psychology suggests that the whole of personal experience is different from the sum of its parts?

Gestalt psychology

Which of the following is the correct pathway for processing the sensation of picking up a snowball with your bare hand?

Haptic receptors in the skin's outer layer receive the cold input. Then axons carry the information to spinal or cranial nerves, into the thalamus, and finally to the primary somatosensory cortex.

Dr. Tucker is a developmental psychologist. Which of the following research questions is she LEAST likely to pursue?

How do brain chemicals influence sexual behavior in young adults?

Dr. Grodner is conducting an experiment on age-related changes in memory. He is comparing how well retirees and high school students perform on a memory task. In order to conveniently schedule research participants, he has the retirees come to the lab during the day, since they have no work commitments. The high school students come to the lab in the evening, after they are finished with school and other activities. What is the problematic confound in this study?

If memory turns out to vary by time of day, it is problematic that the retirees participate in the study in the morning and the highschool students at night.

Jessie suffered damage to her brain and has difficulty forming new memories. Jessie's injury was most likely to the ______________, which is a structure located in the brain region called the ______________.

Jessie suffered damage to her brain and has difficulty forming new memories. Jessie's injury was most likely to the ______________, which is a structure located in the brain region called the ______________.

Which of the following statements about marijuana is true?

Long-term use is associated with memory problems.

According to theory that sleep is important because of the role it plays in consolidation of information, which of the following plans is a bad idea?

Meredith's plan to pull an all-nighter studying for her Chinese exam

Dr. Tucker incorporates principles from behaviorism into her therapy practice when she thinks it may be effective in helping her patients. Which of the following is an example of how Dr. Tucker might use her knowledge of behaviorism to help people with psychological problems?

She teaches patients how to use relaxation techniques when facing feared situations.

Psychologists know that the brain rewires itself throughout life. Which of the following is true about how this occurs?

The "rewiring" is really a change in the strength of existing connections, rather than the elimination of some or the growth of others.

Why might middle ear infections impact hearing?

The middle ear's main job is to amplify sound vibrations. Infected fluid may muddles this process.

Why is REM sleep sometimes called paradoxical sleep?

The paradox lies in the fact that some parts of the brain are more active during REM sleep than they are during wakefulness.

Which of the following statements is consistent with the global workspace model?

The patient was unaware she was deaf in one ear because she thought she was receiving information from the auditory processing centers in her brain.

The start gun goes off to signal the beginning of the race. How do the runners sense the noise and interpret its meaning?

The sound wave travels through the air to the outer ear. Vibrations in the ossicles of the middle ear stimulate membranes in the inner ear. Receptors in the inner ear then transduce the sound into neural signals sent to the brain via the auditory nerve.

Your dad has a bad habit of texting while he drives. You remind him that it is dangerous, but he asks why texting while driving poses such a hazard. Which of the following is the most scientifically informed response to your dad?

There is a limit to how much attention is available in our conscious experience, which is what helps us respond quickly to new information (an important ability to have when driving).

According to Roy Baumeister, why do people engage in self-destructive escapist pursuits?

They want to decrease self-awareness.

Janna and Sarah are identical twins who were raised apart. Lisa and Shirley are non-biological adopted siblings who were raised in the same home. Which set of sisters would you expect to be more similar in personality traits such as neuroticism and openness?

This question cannot be answered without knowing how agreeable or open the people who raised these siblings are.

Timothy was born without testes. With respect to hormone production and sexual behavior, which of the following is the most likely outcome of Timothy's condition?

Timothy will lack testosterone, and he will have a decreased ability to achieve an erection.

What conclusion did Freud reach when attempting to understand the connection between psychological and physical problems?

To a large extent, behavior is directed by mental processes that operate on an unconscious level.

A sudden puff of air in his left eye caused Bill to blink. In terms of classical conditioning, the air puff was a(n) ______________ and the blink was a(n)______________.

US; UR

How does Gestalt theory differ from functionalism?

While both schools recognize individual thoughts and experiences as analyzable units, only the Gestalt theorists believe that the whole of personal experience is more than a collection of these components.

Your roommate tells you that he is planning to conduct an observational study for his senior thesis. Which of the following questions should you ask him to demonstrate that you understand how observational studies are designed?

Will your research take place in the lab or in the natural environment?

Which of the following statements about differences between men's and women's brains is not true?

Women's brains are less bilateralized for language than men's brains.

You are conducting an experiment to test whether exercise improves self control in children. Half of the children will jump rope for 5 minutes before being left alone in a room with a bowl of candy. The other half of the children will color for 5 minutes before being left alone in the room with the candy. You plan to measure how long it takes for each child to begin eating the candy, as well as how much candy each child consumes. Which statement about your research is true?

Your dependent variable has two operational definitions.

Elaine conducts a psychology honors project to test the hypothesis that having greater social support is associated with greater academic success. She asks everyone living in her dormitory to fill out a questionnaire. Elaine should be aware that her data may not be representative of all college students because her research was based on ______________.

a convenience sample

Ever since Cornelius was hypnotized, he has been flapping his arms whenever he hears anyone say, "Hello." Cornelius's arm-flapping most likely results from ______________.

a posthypnotic suggestion

What does empirical research entail?

an approach to gaining knowledge about behavior and mental processes by observation and measurement only

After suffering a bad fall while rock climbing, Charisa experienced profound alterations in her ability to plan and produce movement. Which brain structure did Charisa's injuries most likely affect?

basal ganglia

The text describes research by Caspi et al. (2002) on criminal behavior, child abuse, and the gene that causes low levels of enzyme monoamine oxidase (MAO). Low levels of MAO have been linked to aggressive behavior. The researchers found that among abused boys, those with the gene causing low MAO levels were far more likely to have committed a violent crime by age 26 than those with the gene causing high MAO levels. This study is evidence that:

biological factors impact behavior, and not all behavior can be attributed to environmental factors.

Ralph loves his birthday, but he tends to eat too much throughout the day. At the ______________ level, there may be hormonal reasons for why Ralph is prone to overeating. At the ______________ level, it is hard for Ralph to turn down second helpings when his friends keep buying him meals.

biological; social

Which region of the brain regulates basic bodily functions, such as heart rate and breathing?

brain stem

Dwayne loves going to Las Vegas. Even when he is in the casinos, where there are no windows to give him light cues, he still feels sleepy by midnight, because his body continues to operate according to a ______________ rhythm.

circadian

Professor Jacobs conducts a lot of research. He always makes sure that his study records are stored in a locked cabinet inside of a locked office. Only he and his lab manager have both keys. These protective measures address the ethical issue of ______________.

confidentiality

John strongly opposes vaccinating children because he believes that it increases their risk of autism. The scientist who had originally come forward with proof of the link apologized for falsifying the data. John has read the published apology but dismisses it. Instead, he focuses on the fact that during the period when vaccinations increased, autism diagnoses also increased. Which of the following is guiding John's way of thinking?

confirmation bias

Manuel is sure that all dogs are vicious and will bite him if given the opportunity. When out walking with his wife, he is always sure to point out the dogs that seem angry or aggressive. But his wife notices that he conveniently "misses" the dogs who seem calm and friendly. This tendency of Manuel's reflects which of the following?

confirmation bias

When he first started using this drug, Chuck felt confident, alert, energetic, and sociable. But now he feels paranoid while on it and has developed some violent and psychotic tendencies. What drug is Chuck using?

crack cocaine

Raj is interested in how religious beliefs influence political engagement. Which level of analysis best fits Raj's research questions?

cultural

You breed a brown mouse with a white mouse. If four out of their five offspring are brown, you would guess that the gene for brown is ______________ and the gene for white is ______________.

dominant; recessive

Chris believes that although the mind and body are linked, they have separate, distinct functions. Her view reflects Rene Descartes's view of

dualism

When researchers repeat a study done by another scientist and find the same results, they are

engaging in replication

While hiking in the mountains of Alaska, Pete encountered a giant grizzly bear. He immediately felt his heart rate increase, his breathing become rapid, and sweat drip down his back. These events were most likely due to the effects of the neurotransmitter called ______________ in his body.

epinephrine

) Dr. Shin is researching the hypothesis that when people with schizophrenia stop taking a particular medication, they experience more disturbed thoughts. Dr. Shin tests her hypothesis by placing each schizophrenic patient in one of two groups. The patients who are instructed to stop taking the drug are in the ______________ group, and the patients who continue taking the drug are in the ______________ group.

experimental; control

While getting out of his car, Maulik bangs his head on the car door. The pain of the initial collision is carried to his brain by ______________ fibers, and the lingering aching of his forehead is carried by ______________ fibers.

fast; slow

When our assignment of ______________ to an image is ambiguous, we can switch back and forth between seeing two different images in one picture--what we thought was part of the background can also shift to look like the most important part of the picture.

figure and ground

Esme enjoys gardening so much that on one beautiful afternoon, she became completely absorbed in the activity of planting flowers and setting shrubs. Before she knew it, six hours had passed, and she had to force herself to stop. Esme was experiencing ______________ while doing her gardening.

flow

Chris loves listening to a particular song because the singer starts off at a low pitch but then ends at a higher octave. In other words, Chris enjoys the way the ______________ changes over the course of the song.

frequency

Kristina wants to paint the living room bright red, but her roommate, Maya, prefers dark blue. In other words, they disagree about the ______________ of the light reflecting from the two colors.

hue

Jordain is walking across campus and hears a noise. When she looks up, she sees a runaway truck heading straight for her. Immediately, the ______________ in her nervous system sends a signal to the ______________ in her endocrine system to release hormones and prepare her to move out of the truck's way.

hypothalamus; pituitary gland

Sean is interested in how climate influences exercise habits. He believes that, on average, people who live in cold climates exercise less than those in warm climates, because the cold weather deters people from exercising outdoors. To investigate his ______________, Sean uses the average yearly temperature as a(n) ______________ of climate.

hypothesis; variable

) Blair has trouble "turning off" his mind at night, which usually results in hours of lying awake in bed. It doesn't help that his wife, Kim, has a sleep condition that sometimes causes her to stop breathing in her sleep and catch her breath in loud gasps. Blair is troubled by ______________, while Kim suffers from ______________.

insomnia; obstructive sleep apnea

Eugenia wants to conduct an experiment, but before she can begin, she needs to get approval from the ______________ at her university.

institutional review board

When asked a question about information processed in his right hemisphere, split-brain patient J.W.'s left brain could not verbalize an accurate reply. However, he still came up with an answer that showed a logical attempt to construct a world that made sense. In this way, the left hemisphere is often called the ______________.

interpreter

Hansel wants to know how many cups of soda he typically drinks per day. Last week, he recorded the following numbers: 3, 3, 4, 3, 22, 3, and 3. Hansel should avoid using the ______________ as a measure of central tendency of his typical soda consumption, because this measure will be heavily skewed by the day on which he drank 22 cups.

mean

This popular drug alters consciousness by blocking the reuptake of dopamine and increasing its release. In the long term, it can cause considerable damage throughout the brain and body. What drug is this?

methamphetamine

As Fatima gazes out onto the mountain landscape, she is able to tell which objects are near to her and which are far away by using both ______________ cues, like occlusion, relative size, and linear perspective, and ______________ cues, like disparity.

monocular; binocular

Although she and her roommate have the same ringtone, Lakisa can always tell whose phone is ringing based on whose side of the room it's coming from. She can do this not only because of the difference in time the sound takes to reach her left versus her right ear, but also because the sound is ______________ for the ear that is closer to the phone.

more intense

Dr. Xiong thinks that people who drive red cars often violate the rules of the road. He sets up a hidden camera at a four-way stop sign to see which cars fail to make complete stops. Dr. Xiong is using the ______________ method of research.

naturalistic observation

Your family recently adopted a dog from an animal shelter. Initially, the dog seemed nervous and territorial, but after a few weeks of care and attention from your family, she became calm and affectionate. Which of the following must play some role in your dog's behavior?

nurture

Sammy is conducting research that involves placing objects in the visual fields of visually impaired elderly men. He wants to discover the specific neurons that fire in response to the features of the various objects. The study requires electrodes to be implanted over the occipital lobes of the men's brains. In order to effectively conduct this study, Sammy should place the electrodes over the men's ______________ lobes.

occipital

Vanna administers a survey about people's romantic relationships. The highest possible score is 20 points. If her participants obtain a score of 15 or higher, she classifies them as "in love." Achieving a score of 15 or above is Vanna's ______________ for being "in love."

operational definition

The conscious detection of physical stimuli, such as odors, lights, and sounds, is called ______________.

perception

Marwan has been shy his whole life, and he is not sure what underlies this trait. Marwan might find some answers by examining the subfield called ______________ psychology.

personality

Susan has an alcohol addiction that encompasses not only ______________, in that she needs more and more alcohol to feel buzzed, but also ______________, in that she feels she needs to drink to maintain her social life.

physical dependence; psychological dependence

Norman was injured in a severe car accident, and now, according to his doctors, his hormone levels are highly irregular. In order to have created such havoc in his endocrine system, Norman's injury probably involved damage to his ______________.

pituitary gland

Seven-year-old Samantha suffered trauma to the language centers in the left hemisphere of her brain as a result of a bicycle accident. Although she did have some language deficits after the trauma, she eventually was able to recover much of what she had lost because new growth in unaffected areas of the brain made up for the damage. Samantha's recovery is an example of which property or quality of the brain?

plasticity

The probability of an action potential being propagated from neuron to neuron is increased when the ______________ neuron's signal is ______________.

postsynaptic; excitatory

The scientific study of our mental activity and behavior is called

psychology

When people are aware that they are being observed, they might change their behavior. This phenomenon is known as ______________.

reactivity

Professor Newton is planning a research study with human participants who will have to wear a head-mounted eye-tracking device during data collection. While the device is neither painful or dangerous, it can be a bit uncomfortable, to the point where some participants may develop a headache from wearing it. In order to conduct the study ethically, Professor Newton must ensure that which of the following is/are favorable?

risk/benefit ratio

When Marla first moved to New York City, she could hardly sleep because of all the noise from the street. After a month or two, she stopped noticing these noises, and now she feels she would have a hard time sleeping in a quiet country village. What explains this change?

sensory adaptation

Michaela is very stressed out and decides to get a massage. In order to fully experience the stress-relieving benefits of touch, the three functions of her nervous system must be intact. That is, her nervous system has to be able to first ______________, then ______________, and finally ______________ sensory information.

stimulation; an action potential

Howard loves everything about movies, including movie history. He knows that many of the tricks used in special effects have their origins in the Gestalt phenomenon called ______________.

stroboscopic motion

Jordan studies consciousness by training himself to report on his own sensations as objectively as he can. Jordan's research is similar to how the ______________ school investigated psychology.

structuralist

Tawny has been craving a Dr. Pepper soft drink all day. She is not sure why, because she rarely drinks this beverage. Her roommate, Abigail, reminds her that last night several friends they were out with were drinking Dr. Pepper. Which of the following has Tawny experienced?

subliminal perception

In the cycle of the scientific method, descriptive statistics help you

summarize the basic pattern of the data you collected.

While on spring break in Acapulco, May decided to try cliff diving. As she stood at the edge of a 50-foot cliff, her heart raced and her respiration increased. She also began to sweat profusely. Which of the following divisions of May's autonomic nervous system was activated by this experience?

sympathetic

Psychological science is based on critical thinking. This means that psychological scientists

systematically question and evaluate information before they accept it.

Charles Darwin and William James both understood the importance of

the adaptive purpose of specific traits and characteristics

Natural selection is

the mechanism of evolution that passes along adaptive changes and eliminates nonadaptive changes.

Doug believes that the "mind" is really just a result of the workings of our brain. Renee believes that each person has a mind that is separate from the body. Their different opinions reflect

the mind/body problem

According to the activation-synthesis theory of sleep, dreaming results from:

the sleeping mind's attempt to make sense of random brain activity.

George is looking for a research project. To start, he could formulate and draw on a theory because ____________________________.

theories lead to testable hypotheses

Which of the following taste sensations results from detecting glutamate?

unami

Carlos accidentally added an extra tablespoon of sugar to his cake batter. This will probably not change the cake's flavor in a significant way, although the same tablespoon of sugar, would be noticeable if he put it in his cup of tea. What explains this difference?

webers law