Psych Exam 2 Quizzes

Aghavani works with her dog by saying "sit" while showing him an open hand signal. Eventually, her dog sits to the presentation of the open hand signal alone. In this case, the dog sitting when shown an open hand is a(n)

conditioned response

Lewis Terman studied a group of intellectually gifted children over many decades. What was one of the major conclusions from that study (that also debunked a popular myth)?

No substantial link existed between genius and madness

Early reports of the success of sleep-assisted learning fail to consider an important rival hypothesis: namely, that the recordings might have

awakened the subjects

When we need to make an important decision, and carefully consider all the angles and options, we are using __________ thinking.

system 2

Which phenomenon may explain why marketers are not always successful in establishing a connection for their target audience between a particular product and the celebrity who is endorsing it?

latent inhibition

Every time Jorge cleans his room, his mother makes him an ice cream sundae. Which principle would indicate that the sundaes will lead to Jorge cleaning his room more often?

law of effect

Although some educational psychologists have claimed to boost learning by matching different instructional methods to different types of students, the theory of __________ has yet to be proven because tests have lacked reliability.

learning styles

Which of the following refers to a theory that argues that characteristics of language shape our thoughts, but does not go so far as to say that language actually defines our thinking?

linguistic relativity

The connections among neurons gradually strengthen over time, and do so by means of repetitive stimulation. This process is known as __________.

long-term potentiation

George Sperling's partial report method studies from the 1960's demonstrated that when a display of 12 letters was viewed, participants retained all of the letters in __________ but not all of them could be transferred to short-term memory.

sensory memory

correlate with intelligence (as measured by performance on intellectual tasks). What is the typical range of those correlations?

.30 to .40

Certain body shapes tend to be more attractive to the other sex. Men seem to be especially attracted to women with a waist-to-hip ratio of about __________, which may be because this ratio is a cue (if an imperfect one) to fertility.

0.7

In Elizabeth Loftus's "lost in the mall" study, approximately what percentage of people distinctly remembered being lost in a shopping mall after being told that this had happened to them, even though it did not really happen?

25 percent

ZAK, BOL, GID, YAF, and other nonsense syllables were used in some of the earliest studies of memory, conducted by __________.

Hermann Ebbinghaus

Without even noticing that you are doing it, what memory technique do you use to remember larger quantities of information, even though your short-term memory capacity only holds about nine bits of information?

chunking

Human lie detectors, unaided by mechanical devices, are typically accurate in distinguishing lies from truths about __________ percent of the time, where a 50/50 guess would be expected by chance alone.

55

Which type of bird has shown promise in developing spoken language?

African grey parrot

Bridgette feeds her cat canned food every night. The ritual is always the same: Bridgette takes out the electric can opener, whirs the can around the blade to open it, scoops the food into a bowl, and presents it to Zorro. Bridgette has noticed, however, that Zorro will run into the kitchen in eager anticipation as soon as she hears the sound of the cabinet door open and hears the whir of the can opener in motion. According to the principles of classical conditioning, the sound of the can opener is the

CS

Environmental influences on intelligence exist, such as poverty, malnutrition, or exposure to lead. However, it is often difficult to disentangle the effects of such influences. Why is that?

Environmental factors, such as poverty, malnutrition, or exposure to lead, tend to be correlated with one another.

Innis is met in a dark alley by an angry dog that barks and snaps. Innis turns around and runs away. According to the __________, Innis feels scared because she ran away.

James-lange theory of emotion

That frustrating feeling of knowing you know something but cannot pull it out of your brain at the moment you want it is known as the TOT phenomenon, because __________.

TOT stands for "tip-of-the-tongue" phenomenon

Cleatis's dog over time learned to come running every time he heard Cleatis open a bag of chips, because the sound of the bag was always paired with Cleatis giving the dog a chip. Cleatis's mom thinks teaching the dog this relationship is a bad thing, so Cleatis no longer gives the dog a chip from the bag and now, the dog no longer comes running when he hears the bag opening. However, just the other day, Cleatis opened a new bag of chips and his dog came running again. What happened?

The dog showed spontaneous recovery

The pioneering researchers who studied the physiology of the human sexual response cycle starting in the 1950s were __________.

Virginia Johnson and Williams Masters

Humans have a range of body fat and muscle mass they tend to maintain, and this can vary from person to person. Researchers call this __________, and it helps explain why losing and keeping off vast amounts of weight can be so difficult.

a set point

Petre and Clarice arrive at a fine dining restaurant. Petre suggests they try the grilled roaches with the peanut sauce. Clarice's emotional reaction is a resounding "NO!" Her using emotional reasoning to make her decision is also known as the

affect heuristic

In keeping with the discrete emotions theory, brain-imaging data shows that certain emotions seem to be associated with specific areas of the brain, such as __________'s association with the frontal cortex behind the eyes.

anger

The eating disorder with the highest mortality among all mental disorders is __________.

anorexia

When people rely on mental shortcuts to reach a conclusion or make a decision, they often fail to take into account how common a behavior or characteristic is in general. This kind of information is called the __________ by psychological scientists.

base rate

Most classically conditioned reactions require repeated pairings of the conditioned stimulus with the unconditioned stimulus in order to develop a relationship in the mind of the subject. Which of the following is an example of a situation in which only one pairing is necessary?

conditioned taste aversion

Reggie likes to eat chicken fingers dipped in honey mustard sauce. One night, just after eating at Chester's Chicken Shack, he becomes painfully ill with stomach cramps and nausea due to the flu virus that had been percolating in his body the past few days. When his friends invite him back to Chester's in a month, Reggie swiftly declines. What principle of classical conditioning is at work in Reggie's reaction?

conditioned taste aversion

There are various techniques available to help people improve their ability to recall material. For example, when you remember something new by connecting it mentally to something you already know, you are using __________.

elaborative rehearsal

When Gregor is removed from his mangled car, the paramedic asks him if he is doing okay. Gregor flashes him a thumbs up, which is recognized in his culture as a sign of being okay. The idea that this gesture conveys a meaning understood by the paramedic indicates that it is a(n)

emblem

The changes in emotions that we feel in response to the condition of our physical selves is purely biochemical and noncognitive; "thinking" has little to do with the process. This view summarizes the __________.

facial feedback hypothesis

Helle is trying to hang up a picture in her dorm room. She has the framed picture, she has the nail, but she does not have a hammer. She puts the project aside until her roommate comes in and suggests that Helle use her clog shoe to hammer in the nail. Which of the following would explain why Helle did not think of this solution immediately?

functional fixedness

Although researchers still have much to learn about crying, crying has a useful survival function for infants. Crying triggers

milk production in new mothers

Because __________ activity seems to play a central role in empathy, some psychologists speculate that defects in this area may be associated with infantile autism.

mirror neuron

According to one long-standing theory, __________ is a powerful, overwhelming desire for one's partner, whereas __________ is a sense of deep friendship and fondness for one's partner.

passionate love; companionate love

The sounds of a language are called __________, whereas the smallest units of meaningful speech are called __________.

phonemes; morphemes

When Elaine Hatfield and her colleagues conducted pioneering research on attraction in 1966, they randomly paired students for a first date. Which characteristic was overwhelmingly the most likely to predict whether the students would want to go on a second date?

physical attractiveness

Spectators often marvel at shows that feature animals doing amazing stunts and complicated maneuvers. Animal trainers use __________ to accomplish this, by reinforcing behaviors that are progressively closer to the target behavior until the target behavior is achieved.

shaping

David has recalled a memory, though he is not sure where that memory came from. He is not sure if he dreamed it or if it happened. He begins using cues like how vivid the memory is and how detailed the memory is to try to determine where the memory came from. He is using __________ to determine if this memory is real.

source monitoring

Clarisa is aware that most people believe that women are terrible at math. Whenever she takes a test that involves math, she fears that she alone will be bringing the average performance score down for all women. Clarisa is experiencing the feeling of

stereotype threat

Unintentional plagiarism has been attributed to __________, which occurs when someone says they forgot having been exposed to the plagiarized material earlier and thought they had created it themselves.

cryptomnesia

Intelligence tests that rely on abstract-reasoning items rather than language-based questions are considered to be

culture-fair

The two primary reasons why short-term memories fade are __________ and __________.

decay; interference

When computing adult intelligence, most modern intelligence researchers use a statistical measure of variability to determine the __________, which expresses individual results in relation to the norms for that age group.

deviation IQ

Research shows that people have different physiological reactions to different emotions. For instance, when we are afraid, our __________ slows down and when we are angry, it speeds up.

digestive system

A popular learning method that suggests students can figure out important principles on their own by trying out experimental materials is called

discovery learning

Bingeing followed by purging is typically associated with which disorder?

Bulimia

What is the general progression of memory loss for patients with Alzheimer's disease?

memory for recent events fade first, with distant memories usually being the last to go

What capacity of memory is being measured by a multiple-choice exam?

recognition

One of the difficulties that animals such as bonobos or chimpanzees have when learning language is mastering

syntax

The extent to which genetics influences the variability of a trait for members of a particular group is called __________ heritability.

within-group

When Robert Zajonc released his findings in the mid-1970s that showed that later-born children have lower IQs than earlier-born children, he failed to take into account that __________.

lower-IQ parents tend to have more children than higher-IQ parents

A memory that is actually false but "feels real" and can be triggered by, for example, looking at a list of associated words, is called a(n) __________.

memory illusion

Which of the following is the term that describes the age corresponding to the average individual's performance on an intelligence test?

mental age

Jakob is a young child who is developing some understanding of what he can remember and what kinds of things are difficult to remember. He is beginning to understand

meta-memory

Dee Dee has to remember 4 items that he needs at the corner market, so he visualizes the path he will take to get there. He imagines a bar of soap hanging from a large tree, envisions a roll of paper towels next to a stoplight, "sees" a packet of gum on the newspaper rack, and imagines the fire hydrant spurting out soda. Which memory strategy is Dee Dee relying on?

method of loci

Data suggests that high self-esteem paired with __________ can be a higher risk factor for hostility than low self-esteem.

narcissism

Wolfgang Köhler's studies with chimpanzees demonstrated the animals were using insight to solve a problem. Unfortunately, flaws in the study's design mean that we cannot rule out the possibilities that the chimps were learning by trial and error or by

observational learning

Late at night, you are able to walk to your kitchen and get a cup of water without turning on any lights. This is because you have formed a _________ of your house.

cognitive map

According to the principles of latent learning, there is a crucial distinction to be made between

competence and performance

Which of the following findings is one of the lines of evidence suggesting that schooling has a causal influence on intelligence? - Children's IQs tend to be higher after summer vacation. - Dropouts have lower IQs later in life than graduates, even if they started out with the same IQ. - Children who have a year more schooling than similar-age peers have lower IQs. - People with high IQs tend to enjoy school more and take more classes

B

Which of the following is true about people who speak a dialect that is different from the dominant dialect of a language? - They do not try to speak the language properly because they are not smart enough. - They are using consistent syntactic rules in their speech. - They are trying to speak the language properly but do not know how. - They are making random errors in grammar and syntax.

B

Which of the following statements is true? A: It is easier to implant a false memory from the recent past than a false memory from the distant past. B: It is easier to implant a false memory that is plausible than one that is implausible. C: Recovering repressed memories is like rewinding a video recording of one's life events. D: It is nearly impossible to implant a false memory in a person unless the person is high in suggestibility.

B

According to the mere exposure effect, which of the following people are you most likely to feel most comfortable around? - Barth, the man who delivers your groceries once a week - Kenneth, the car shop owner where you have your car serviced yearly - Jenny, the girl next door who you see every day - Glenda, the teller at your bank where you make deposits every month

Jenny, the girl next door who you see every day

Humans have developed strategies that keep our decision-making to a manageable minimum by relying on "fast and frugal" thinking. This kind of frugality is more generally known as

cognitive economy

Using a computer to progressively combine faces of students, Judith Langlois and Lori Roggman discovered that, in general, people prefer faces that are __________.

average

__________ allows you to remember auditory stimuli for up to 5 or 10 seconds.

echoic memory

Which of the following is not a potential influence on sexual orientation? - brain differences - prenatal influences - effeminate mothers - sex hormones

effeminate mothers

Bart believes that people who have "good genes" should have many children and spread their genes as much as possible. He also believes that those with "bad genes" should be sterilized and not pass their genes on to children. Bart is part of the ___________ movement.

eugenics

Which term refers to the classical conditioning phenomenon in which a new CR "writes over" an existing CR?

extinction

More than 300 convicted prisoners to date have been released because DNA evidence showed they were innocent, despite confident testimony from __________.

eyewitnesses

Which explanation of how children learn language posits that language learning results from the ability to perceive, learn, and recognize patterns?

general cognitive processing

Although it is presented as the most common kind of memory loss in the popular media, with depictions of someone losing all memory of his or her past, __________ is not actually the most common kind of amnesia.

generalized amnesia

Language is a system that allows us to create an infinite number of meaningful combinations of words and to communicate new ideas. This is because language is

generative

Which term describes the tendency of our moods to adapt to external circumstances, such as feeling especially good for a short time when something good happens, then going back to how we usually feel?

hedonic treadmill

Alastair has used classical conditioning to train his dog to salivate every time Ingo whistles a C#. After the dog has mastered this association, Alastair then pairs a flashing light with the sound of a whistled C#, and finds that over time, his dog now salivates to the flashing light. Which principle of classical conditioning is at work here?

higher-order conditioning

Like a thermostat that is programmed to return a room to a given temperature, most drive reduction theories assume that humans are motivated to maintain a particular level of psychological equilibrium or

homeostasis

One reason preparedness might lead to phobias is that we develop __________ between fear-provoking stimuli and negative consequences.

illusory correlations

Intellectual disability is defined by three criteria: Onset before adulthood, IQ below approximately 70, and

inadequate adaptive functioning

Negative reinforcement __________ the rate of behavior, whereas punishment __________ the rate of behavior.

increase; decreases

Another term for operant conditioning is __________ conditioning.

instrumental

The idea that we are predisposed by evolution to fear some stimuli more than others, even when we have had no bad experiences with those stimuli in real life, is referred to as

preparedness

During an experiment, Hans is exposed to the word "yellow" a number of times. In later trials, Hans can respond faster to the stimulus of a "banana" because of this prior training. This is called

priming

Vivica is learning to pack her own lunch. Her mother showed her how to make a peanut butter sandwich. She recalls taking the bread from the loaf, setting the slices down, getting the peanut butter, and gently spreading just the right amount of peanut butter on the sandwich. She even remembers exactly how to cut it in four equal triangles. Vivica is using ___________ to make her sandwich.

procedural memory

Dr. Perry studies personal space or the distance people feel comfortable with between themselves and others. This area of research is called

proxemics

In one experiment on the phenomenon of __________ as a cause of attraction, women posing as students were rated as more attractive when they had attended a class more often even though none of the women interacted with other students in the class.

proximity

Which of the following items has been shown to increase happiness?

religion

Wilt is using one of the processes of memory as he takes his exam. He reads the question and then must come up with the correct response. He is using __________ to find the information he needs to succeed.

retrieval

When you are asked to think about a car, you think about a sedan with four wheels that can get you from place to place. In your mind, the sedan is your __________ of a car.

schema

Although using __________ can sometimes lead to mistakes, they provide us with a frame of reference for interpreting new situations.

schemas

Praise, money, good grades, compliments, and applause are all examples of

secondary reinforcers

When we make a decision, we are

selecting from a set of alternatives

Our evaluation of our own worth as a human being is called

self-esteem

Zhenya remembers that St. Paul is the capital of Minnesota. Alina remembers that she lived in St. Paul when she was 12 years old. Zhenya is demonstrating __________ memory, whereas Alina is demonstrating __________ memory.

semantic; episodic

Which term refers to a situation in which an organism responds more strongly to a stimulus over time?

sensitization

Marjoe had trained his dog that whenever it saw a photo of the cat next door, it would receive a treat. Through multiple pairings of the photo and the treat, the dog came to salivate when the photo alone was presented. Marjoe then extinguished the salivation behavior by presenting the photo but withholding the treat. He was surprised to find that, a week later, when he happened to hold up the photo of the cat, his dog started to salivate. What is going on here?

spontaneous recovery

According to the Cannon-Bard theory of emotion, the __________ triggers both an emotion and a bodily reaction to it, but later researchers have found that many regions in the limbic system also play key roles in emotions.

thalamus

Which of the following reinforcement schedules typically yields the highest rate of responding from an organism?

variable ratio