PSYCH 7A Midterm 1 Ch 1

Although very few people would admit to a belief that men make better hires than women, several experiments show that men are more likely to be hired than women with identical résumés. This is an example ofA) explicit bias. B) unconscious bias. C) poor validity. D) negative skew.

unconscious bias.

Scientific investigation of Clever Hans revealed that A) Hans's owner was a con artist. B) Occam's razor is far from infallible. C) horses respond to unintended cues from their owners. D) horses are capable of simple arithmetic.

Hans's owner was a con artist.

To test the impact of mood on generosity, a researcher has half of his participants watch a depressing movie and halfwatch a comedy. Then the researcher asks all participants for help moving boxes to another room. In this study, mood is the

Independent variable

5. Which environmental influence is most closely linked with the development of schizophrenia in children who inherit genes for the disorder? A) Exposure to a family member with the disorder B) Complications during birth C) Extreme pressure to achieve D) Poor performance in school

A) Exposure to a family member with the disorder

A _______ is most likely to study the brain activities that underlie human behavior. A) Neuroscientist B) Structuralist C) Behaviorist D) Functionalist

A) Neuroscientist

Which of the following quotes best represents the position of a cognitive psychologist? A) "People not only gain understanding through reflection, they evaluate and alter their own thinking."B) "Give me a child and I will shape him into anything."C) "Psychology is a purely objective, experimental branch of natural science that requires no more introspection than do the sciences of chemistry and physics."D) "When properly used, positive reinforcement is extremely powerful."

A) "People not only gain understanding through reflection, they evaluate and alter their own thinking

Gestalt psychologists such as Max Wertheimer and Wolfgang Köhler A) Argue that the overall experience of human perception is greater than the sum of its parts B) Believe that behaviors have an adaptive function that helps humans survive C) Claim that emotions and consciousness should be kept outside the realm of psychology as a science D) Insist that only readily measured, observable behaviors are worthy of study

A) Argue that the overall experience of human perception is greater than the sum of its parts

A child has an eight-ounce cup full of juice. While he watches, you pour the juice from the cup into a quart jar. He gets upset, because he thinks he now has less juice. The child is most likely in Piaget's _______ stage of cognitive development. A) preoperational B) concrete operational C) formal operational D) sensorimotor

A) Preoperational

. Which of the following is an empirical statement? A) The temperature right now is higher than it was 24 hours ago. B) The 1927 New York Yankees are the greatest baseball team of all time. C) The social construction of gender in modern society imposes penalties on both men and women. D) Women are naturally better parents than men; it is just part of their nature.

A) The temperature right now is higher than it was 24 hours ago.

Cici is trying to overcome her heroin addiction. She takes a daily medication that keeps her from getting high, even if she uses heroin. This medication is most likely A) an endorphin agonist. B) an endorphin antagonist. C) causing depolarization of neurons in the frontal lobe. D) causing hyperpolarization of sensory neurons.

A) an endorphin agonist

John Watson, Ivan Pavlov, and B. F. Skinner would have agreed that psychology is the study of A) behavior. B) the mind. C) conscious experience. D) mental processes.

A) behavior.

The hallmarks of psychology as a science are A) Careful experimentation and the application of critical thinking B) Adherence to conventional morality and deductive reasoning C) Reliance on authority and cautious measurement of data D) The use of informal data and the belief perseverance in all research

A) careful experimentation and the application of critical thinking

Factors that affect how our genes are expressed are involved primarily in the scientific study of A) epigenetics. B) clinical psychology. C) psychoneuroimmunology. D) phylogenetics.

A) epigenetics.

Cognitive psychology A) focuses on how people think, remember, store, and use information. B) attempts to explain reality in a way that does not rely on our fallible senses. C) studies the nervous system, including the brain and spinal cord and all of their connections to the body. D) focuses exclusively on externally visible behavior and ignores internal mental processes.

A) focuses on how people think, remember, store, and use information.

The corpus callosum is directly responsible for A) transferring information between the left and right hemispheres. B) controlling the pituitary gland. C) triggering movement. D) activating the autonomic nervous system.

A) transferring information between the left and right hemispheres.

A behaviorist is helping a special-needs child complete a number of target behaviors. These behaviors may include all of the following except A) understanding the value of coins B) pointing to the correct algebraic formula C) increasing the number of times the child raises her hand in class D) independently operating a microwave oven

A) understanding the value of coins.

Cognitive psychologists became interested in how processing was done inside the brain, which led directly to thedevelopment ofA) neuroscience. B) Gestalt psychology. C) behaviorism. D) functionalism.

A)neuroscience

In a test of a new medication for schizophrenia, doctors allow patients to decide if they want to take the new medication or stick with their current medication. This is problematic because it creates an issue with A) frequency distributions. B) effect size. C) informed consent. D) group equivalence.

B) Effect size

Based on the conclusions from the Walker and Lewine (1990) study of home movies, what signs might one look for an infant who may eventually develop schizophrenia?A) Abnormal hair growth B) Well-developed social skills C) Abnormal crawling behaviorD) High birth weight

C) Abnormal crawling behavior

Which is most consistent with the textbook's characterization of how nurture influences behavior? A) Nurture provides all of the necessary elements for determining our behaviors. B) Genes activate our behaviors. C) Learning experiences and social interactions affect how we use the genes that we inherited. D) We learn most of our behaviors from social interactions.

C) Learning experiences and social interactions affect how we use the genes that we inherited.

In a behaviorist approach to treatment for a patient with a fear of rats, the patient is A) urged to talk about this fear to determine why he feels this way. B) repeatedly exposed to stimuli that are gradually more and more like rats. C) asked to observe other people who are handling rats in a calm, relaxed manner. D) given medication to help reduce his anxiety.

C) asked to observe other people who are handling rats in a calm, relaxed manner.

A classmate tells you that she has over 700 Facebook friends. As a proponent of the social brain hypothesis, you will most likely A) approve of her attempt to promote her "survival" by forming attachments to a large group. B) conclude that she is more sociable and mentally healthy than the average person. C) be skeptical of her ability to interact meaningfully with so many people. D) recognize that she is using these "friendships" to mask her deep loneliness.

C) be skeptical of her ability to interact meaningfully with so many people

The cognitive theory that states that children adapt to the world by actively building and organizing their experiences is called A) theory of mind. B) assimilation. C) constructivism. D) accommodation

C) constructivism.

The Tuskegee syphilis study is famous becauseA) it was the first use of randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled research.B) it demonstrated the psychological effects of syphilis infection.C) researchers failed to inform participants that they had a treatable disease.D) measures were so low in reliability and validity that the data had no value.

C) researchers failed to inform participants that they had a treatable disease.

Results from a recent experiment are consistent with a researcher's expectation that exposing people to unfamiliar groups reduces prejudice. This means that the researcher A) has proven her theory. C) should retain her hypothesis for now. B) has proven her hypothesis. D) needs to follow up with correlational studies.

C) should retain her hypothesis for now

The idea that children are born with no knowledge or "content" whatsoever and are "filled" by life experiences is called A) rationalism B) determinism C) tabula rasa D) nature vs. nurture

C) tabula rasa

One of the most pervasive psychological myths is that A) one side of the brain controls most of our language ability. B) dogs can be taught to salivate in response to the sound of a bell. C) mental disorders and IQ can be altered by life experiences. D) humans use only 10 percent of their brains.

D) humans use only 10 percent of their brains.

Which statement reflects a reasonable attitude for a good student of psychology to have toward any claim about human behavior? A) The older an idea is, the more likely it is to be correct. B) It is fine to accept an idea until it is proven wrong. C) The more popular an idea is, the more likely it is to be correct. D) Skepticism is advisable until an idea is proven right.

D) Skepticism is advisable until an idea is proven right.

_______ is often credited with establishing the first psychological laboratory, thus establishing psychology as an experimental science. A) Margaret Floy Washburn B) Max Wertheimer C) William James D) Wilhelm Wundt

D) Wilhelm Wundt

sensory input --> participant processing information --> report, press button, etc. The figure illustrates a typical experiment in A) Gestalt psychology B) evolutionary psychology C) functionalism D) cognitive psychology

D) cognitive psychology

Psychologists Kenneth and Mamie Phipps Clark found that doll tests A) demonstrated that observational learning can promote aggressive as well as nurturing behavior in children. B) showed that most people are willing to obey authority figures, even if those orders conflict with their own personal values. C) confirmed that behavior can be modified based on a system of positive or negative reinforcements. D) exposed internalized racism in African-American children, particularly among children attending segregated schools.

D) exposed internalized racism in African-American children, particularly among children attending segregated schools.

Which side effect is most likely following the removal of a large tumor from a patient's cerebellum? A) Problems with memory formation C) Poor language comprehension B) Difficulty with balance and motor coordination D) Impaired visual perception

Difficult with balance and motor coordination

When he is in a casino, Albert is unable to control himself. He does not stop gambling until all of his money is gone. The _______ lobe of Albert's brain is most likely to be affecting this behavior. A) parietal B) occipitalC) temporalD) frontal

Frontal

In the homunculus that corresponds to the mapping of the somatosensory cortex, which body part occupies the largest area? A) Hand B) Trunk C) Nose D) Leg

Hand

A person who has PKU should avoid all food containing

Phenylalaine

temporarily disrupts brain activity.A) Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) B) Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) C) Computed tomography (CT)D) Positron emission tomography (PET)

TMS

What was Kohlberg most interested in when examining people's responses to the fictional story of Heinz stealing a drug for his ailing wife?

The nature of their reasoning about their choice

PET

Track radioactive markers in the blood

Before scientists fully understood the cause of PKU, infants with the disorder often developed

mental impairment

A punch is painful, while a hug is not, because a punch produces _______ action potentials from each sensory neuron. A) stronger B) more frequent C) faster-moving D) fewer

more frequent

Though our brains are almost fully developed by the time we reach adolescence, enormous changes continue in the brain region called the _______ lobe. A) frontal B) parietal C) temporal D) occipital

A) frontal

According to René Descartes, the very fact that he is thinking proves that A) he exists B) knowledge relies on our senses alone C) the brain is nothing like a machine D) he cannot be deceived by his senses

A) he exists

One of the goals of studying psychology is to A) learn to sort out fact from fiction about ideas in popular psychology. B) completely understand and predict human behavior. C) learn how to become happy. D) find the answers to all of life's questions.

A) learn to sort out fact from fiction about ideas in popular psychology.

To identify the most popular exhibits at a science museum, every day for six weeks all visitors were asked to rate how much they enjoyed each exhibit. The data were analyzed to look for age and sex differences in exhibit preferences. This was an example of A) naturalistic observation. B) survey research. C) case study research. D) experimental research.

A) naturalistic observation.

Your psychology professor tells the class, "Experience cannot be analyzed successfully into its elements." Your professor is most likely A. a Gestalt psychologist. B. a behaviorist. C. a structuralist. D. an empiricist.

A. a Gestalt psychologist.

Cooper and Zubek (1958) showed that gene-environment interactions were at play in a study by illustrating that A) "Maze-bright" rats raised in "impoverished" environments were always better at navigating mazes than "mazebright" rats raised in "enriched" environments. B) "Maze-dull" rats raised in "enriched" environments eventually learned to navigate mazes as well as "maze-bright" rats raised in "enriched" environments. C) "Maze-bright" rats raised in "impoverished" environments were worse at navigating mazes than "maze-dull" rats raised in "impoverished" environments. D) "Maze-dull" rats raised in "impoverished" environments were always worse at navigating mazes than "mazebright" rats raised in "impoverished" environments.

B) "Maze-dull" rats raised in "enriched" environments eventually learned to navigate mazes as well as "maze-bright" rats raised in "enriched" environments.

14. As you and your roommate watch a news report about a big fight that broke out at a local club, he turns to you and says, "I'm not surprised. It's a full moon, after all. People always go crazy around the full moon." As a student of psychology, your response should be: A) "Is it a full moon tonight? No wonder I was feeling so weird!" B) "When you look at police records, the actual data do not really support that idea." C) "Well, people tend to be more accident-prone around the full moon, but the crime rate doesn't really go up." D) "I don't think the moon has anything to do with this. It's too cloudy. You can't even see the moon tonight."

B) "When you look at police records, the actual data do not really support that idea."

As you and your roommate watch a news report about a big fight that broke out at a local club, he turns to you and says, "I'm not surprised. It's a full moon, after all. People always go crazy around the full moon." As a student of psychology, your response should be: A) "Is it a full moon tonight? No wonder I was feeling so weird!" B) "When you look at police records, the actual data do not really support that idea." C) "Well, people tend to be more accident-prone around the full moon, but the crime rate doesn't really go up." D) "I don't think the moon has anything to do with this. It's too cloudy. You can't even see the moon tonight."

B) "When you look at police records, the actual data do not really support that idea."

Which of the following would be evidence against the social brain hypothesis? A) Students working in a group are better able to grasp a subject than students working individually. B) A quiet co-worker prefers to eat lunch at his desk every day instead of socializing with others in the company cafeteria. C) Your sister is clearly able to engage in meaningful social interactions with all of her 500 friends on Tumblr. D) You regularly strike up friendly conversations with the cashiers at your local grocery store.

B) A quiet co-worker prefers to eat lunch at his desk every day instead of socializing with others in the company cafeteria.

A researcher claims that the same area of the brain is active when we feel physical pain as when we feel hurt by social rejection. Which of the following would support her claims? A) PET scan results showing strong activation in the amygdala during social rejection B) An fMRI scan showing intense blood flow in the limbic system during social rejection C) PET scans showing activity in the sensory cortex when the researcher says hurtful things to the participants D) Images from fMRI scans that look similar for subjects experiencing physical pain and subjects experiencing social rejection

B) An fMRI scan showing intense blood flow in the limbic system during social rejection

Parents who agree with John Locke's notion of tabula rasa would most likely A) View their children as their intellectual equals B) Expose their children to a rich variety of sensory experiences C) Believe that their children will develop adequately with little parental support D) Reject the notion that they need to "teach" their children, since all knowledge is innate

B) Expose their children to a rich variety of sensory experiences

_______ intelligence is the ability to reason abstractly and solve novel problems, and _______ intelligence is the accumulation of facts, experience, and historical references. A) Crystallized; fluid B) Fluid; crystallized C) Adaptive; creative D) Creative; adaptive

B) Fluid; crystallized

How is natural selection related to psychology? A) All organisms have been shown to be capable of learning. B) Humans behave as they do in part because that behavior promotes survival. C) Survival depends on environment just as much as it depends on genes. D) Animals share many genes with human beings.

B) Humans behave as they do in part because that behavior promotes survival.

What does it mean to say that schizophrenia is heritable? A) People who inherit the genes for schizophrenia will always present symptoms of the disorder. B) People with close blood relatives with schizophrenia are more likely to develop symptoms than the generalpopulation. C) One percent of the population will inherit schizophrenia. D) People with close blood relatives with schizophrenia are immune to the disorder.

B) People with close blood relatives with schizophrenia are more likely to develop symptoms than the generalpopulation.

The foundations of psychology are most closely related to which of the following disciplines? A) Chemistry B) Philosophy C) Political Science D) Astrology

B) Philosophy

Plato's allegory of the cave indicates that A) When we seek the truth, we must always trust our senses B) Truths about reality are not always obvious C) Majority opinion is almost always correct D) Imagination is a more reliable guide than objective reality

B) Truths about reality are not always obvious

Your psychology professor tells the class, "Experience cannot be analyzed successfully into its elements." Your professor is most likely A) a behaviorist B) a Gestalt psychologist C) a structuralist D) an empiricist

B) a Gestalt psychologist

In general, it is easier for psychologists and biologists to determine the influence of genes on behavior when theunderlying cause of that behavior can be attributed to A) chance, rather than genetics. B) a single gene rather than multiple genes. C) multiple related genes, rather than a single gene. D) the workings of multiple unrelated genes.

B) a single gene rather than multiple genes.

During cell migration, neurons A) differentiate to perform different functions. B) clump together to form various brain structures. C) begin to connect with other neurons for communication. D) are pruned to reduce their numbers

B) clump together to form various brain structures.

The modern treatment for PKU is an example of a gene-environment interaction because it involves A) altering the genome of the mother before fertilization. B) control of the amount of phenylalanine in the child's diet. C) surgical intervention before birth. D) control of the type of mating behavior the child can have after puberty.

B) control of the amount of phenylalanine in the child's diet.

A research psychologist is most interested in discovering the answers to questions like, "Why is empathy helpful to people?" and "How does education contribute to social stability?" This approach is most consistent with the _______ perspective. A) structuralist B) functionalist C) empiricist D) behaviorist

B) functionalist

A researcher presents his participant with a series of flashing lights at varying intervals. After each presentation of a light, he asks the participant to fully describe her internal experiences, a method known as A) functionalism B) introspection C) behaviorism D) psychoanalysis

B) introspection

In a psychology experiment, subjects listen to a variety of tones presented at different frequencies and then reflect on the experience, describing what they heard as precisely as possible. These individuals would have been using a process called A) behaviorism. B) introspection. C) hypnosis. D) Gestalt therapy.

B) introspection.

An empiricist believes that the only source of knowledge about the external world is A) logic. B) intuition. C) reason. D) sensory experience.

B) intuition.

A recent study found that married people are less likely to have personality disorders than unmarried people. The news reporter covering the study advised people to get married to improve their personalities. You know this recommendation is not warranted because A) correlational research is invalid. B) it is possible that personality disorders keep people from marrying. C) these findings are unlikely to be replicated. D) Occam's razor rules out a relationship between marriage and personality disorders.

B) it is possible that personality disorders keep people from marrying.

Genes regulate protein synthesis by A) coding for the arrangement of ribosomes on DNA molecules. B) specifying which amino acids will be joined together, and in what order. C) regulating the influx of ions like sodium and potassium, which code for proteins. D) setting the cell's biological clock and controlling how and when a cell divides.

B) specifying which amino acids will be joined together, and in what order.

Which function is most directly controlled by the brainstem? A) Memory formation B) Balance C) Language D) Breathing

Breathing

Which of the following statements best differentiates structuralism from functionalism? A) Structuralism was interested in observable behavior only, while functionalism was interested in the mental process. B) Structuralism was more scientific in its approach, while functionalism was more philosophical. C) Structuralism asked what happens when an organism does something, while functionalism asked how and why. D) Structuralism was interested in the practical consequences of behavior, while functionalism was interested in describing experience in its most basic terms.

C) Structuralism asked what happens when an organism does something, while functionalism asked how and why.

All of the following statements regarding gene-environment interactions is true except A) Genes determine whether an environmental factor will affect behavior. B) Genes influence every human behavior, but no gene determines behavior. C) The environment has the same effect on behavior regardless of genes. D) The environment determines whether a gene will affect behavior.

C) The environment has the same effect on behavior regardless of genes.

A research team is investigating the impact of stereotypes on performance. In one group, women read an article about why the structure of men's brains makes them better at math. In the second group, women read an article saying there are no biological differences in the mathematical abilities of men and women. Then all women in the study take a challenging math test. Researchers time the test and score the number of items women answered correctly. In this study, which of the following is the independent variable? A) Women's scores on the math test B) Women's beliefs about their math abilities C) Which article the women read D) How long it takes women to complete the math test

C) Which article the women read

Sensory experience from behavior is an especially important factor in gene-environment interaction because A) many sensory traits are related to dominant alleles. B) many genes are adaptive for coping with the environment. C) levels of activity in neurons influence gene expression. D) extreme hardship can accelerate genetic mutation.

C) levels of activity in neurons influence gene expression.

Scientific investigation has revealed that the "Mozart Effect" (the notion that children become smarter from listening to the music of Mozart) is A) a question that cannot be answered through science. B) dependent on the gender of the child. C) not substantiated through research. D) supported by findings from numerous studies.

C) not substantiated through research.

Plato's cave analogy illustrates that A) our nervous system operates much like a machine. B) we cannot necessarily rely on our senses to learn the truth. C) objective reality can be perceived only through logic. D) animal behavior is very similar to human behavior.

C) objective reality can be perceived only through logic.

The _______, formed when the cells in the outer layer of the embryo divide, provides oxygen and nutrients to theembryo. A) inner cell mass B) fetus C) placenta D) neural tube

C) placenta

Psychology is best defined as the study of A) mental health. B) consciousness and intuition. C) the mind and behavior. D) learning and developmental delay.

C) the mind and behavior

One of the best methods of determining the influence of confounding variables on the heritability of human traits is to conduct a A. cross-sectional study. B. case study. C. study of identical twins. D. study of fraternal twins.

C. study of identical twins.

Benedict was paralyzed from the waist down in a car accident. His injury was most likely located in his _______ system. A) central nervous B) sympathetic nervous C) parasympathetic nervous D) somatic nervous

Central nervous

Psychologists now believe that subliminal advertising A) is a powerful influence on consumers that should be regulated by government. B) is effective only on young people, whose brains are still developing. C) succeeds because the messages register unconsciously. D) has a weak effect on consumers, if any at all.

D) has a weak effect on consumers, if any at all.

The first stage of neural development is _______, the continuous division of cells at a rate of up to 250,000 a minut

Neurogenesis

To better understand aggressive behavior toward strangers, a psychologist gathers all available information about a man who threatened random people in a mall with an automatic weapon. This is an example of A) correlational research. B) experimental research. C) naturalistic observation. D) case study research

case study research

You are trying to overcome your fear of snakes. Inspired by the work of Mary Cover Jones, your therapist first shows you some pictures of snakes. Then she tells you that there is a small snake in a cage in the next room. She asks you to observe the live snake from a distance, and continues this process until your fear is conquered. Your therapist is using the technique called

desensitization

The main purpose of inferential statistics is to A) adjust analyses to improve validity. B) account for variability within a population. C) decide whether the standard deviation is skewed by outliers. D) estimate a characteristic of a population based on a sample.

estimate a characteristic

White matter refers to A) brain regions filled with neuronal cell bodies. C) the part of an axon that contains sodium channels. B) depolarized areas of a neuron. D) parts of the brain filled with myelinated axons.

myelinated axons

Both the spinal cord and the brain develop from the fetal structure called the

neural tube

A patient has a dangerously low heart rate and is having difficulty breathing. The neurotransmitter that would be most helpful to him is A) acetylcholine. B) serotonin. C) norepinephrine. D) GABA.

norepinephrine

When a researcher looks at her personality questionnaire data from 75 participants, she notices limited variance in scores, except for one score falling 4 standard deviations above the mean. This score is

outlier

Your brain's _______ lobe is most involved in allowing you to feel an annoying pebble in your shoe. A) parietal B) temporal C) occipital D) frontal

parietal

Treatment-outcome researchers attempt to prevent initial differences between treatment and control groups by using A) statistical inference. B) placebo controls. C) randomization. D) double blinding.

randomization

The presence of adoring groupies at a small local club make a rock band confident they will become world famous. They should probably pay more attention to the importance of A) reliability. B) frequency distributions. C) effect size. D) representative samples

representive samples

Which biological factor typically spares us from harm when we inherit a nonfunctional allele?

the other allele in a pair