Psych Final

The ________ has developed ethics guidelines for its members, and the ________ evaluates the ethical nature of research conducted at their colleges and universities.

American Psychological Association (APA); Institutional Review Board (IRB)

________ believed that psychology should be about what people do, and should not concern itself with what cannot be seen, such as thoughts, feelings, and goals.

B. F. Skinner

________ is a theory of learning that focuses solely on observable actions and responses.

Behaviorism

________ are periodic physiological fluctuations in the body, such as the rise and fall of hormones and accelerated/ decelerated cycles of brain activity, that can influence behavior.

Biological rhythms

________ is a learning process in which a neutral stimulus becomes associated with an innately meaningful stimulus and acquires the capacity to elicit a similar response.

Classical conditioning

________ is an individual's awareness of external events and internal sensations under a condition of arousal.

Consciousness

________ are the most alert states of human consciousness, during which individuals actively focus their efforts toward a goal.

Controlled processes

Which of the following statements is true of daydreaming?

Daydreaming most often occurs in the form of mind wandering.

________ in classical conditioning is the process of learning to respond to certain stimuli and not others.

Discrimination

________ in classical conditioning is the weakening of the conditioned response when the unconditioned stimulus is absent.

Extinction

________ in classical conditioning is the tendency of a new stimulus that is similar to the original conditioned stimulus to elicit a response that is similar to the conditioned response.

Generalization

________ provide support, nutritional benefits, and other functions in the nervous system.

Glial cells

________ is an altered state of consciousness or psychological state of altered attention and expectation in which the individual is unusually receptive to suggestions.

Hypnosis

________ is a form of problem solving in which the organism develops a sudden understanding of a problem's solution.

Insight learning

Identify a true statement about sleepwalking.

It is more likely to occur when individuals are sleep deprived.

Which of the following statements is true of somnambulism?

It occurs during the deepest stages of sleep.

Which of the following is true of a fixed-interval schedule in the context of operant conditioning?

It reinforces the first behavior after a set amount of time has passed.

________ is defined as a type of learning that occurs without reinforcement. However, this learning is not demonstrated until the person or animal is reinforced to do so.

Latent learning

________ are the thoughts, feelings, and motives that each of us experiences privately but that cannot be observed directly.

Mental processes

________ are interconnected groups of nerve cells that integrate sensory input and motor output.

Neural networks

________ are chemical substances that are stored in very tiny sacs within the neuron's terminal buttons and involved in transmitting information across a synaptic gap to the next neuron.

Neurotransmitters

________ provide an objective description of how variables are going to be measured and observed in a particular study.

Operational definitions

________ is the process of organizing and interpreting sensory information so that it makes sense.

Perception

________ is the process of receiving stimulus energies from the external environment and transforming those energies into neural energy.

Sensation

________ is a sleep disorder in which individuals stop breathing because the windpipe fails to open or because brain processes involved in respiration fail to work properly.

Sleep apnea

Which of the following statements about the use of animal studies in psychological research is true?

Some procedures used with animals would be unethical to perform on humans.

Which of the following statements is true of REM sleep?

The longer the period of REM sleep, the more likely the person will report dreaming.

Which of the following is a true statement about dendrites?

They are treelike fibers projecting from a neuron.

Which of the following theorists primarily used the structuralism approach to studying human behavior?

Wilhelm Wundt

________ is most often regarded the "founding father" of modern psychology.

Wilhelm Wundt

A predisposition or readiness to perceive something in a particular way is known as

a perceptual set.

William James described the mind as

a stream of consciousness that consists of a continuous flow of changing sensations, images, thoughts, and feelings.

The brief wave of positive electrical charge that sweeps down the axon is

action potential.

According to the science of psychology, a behavior is a(n)

action that can be directly observed.

Plasticity best reflects which of the following characteristics of the nervous system?

adaptability

You are listening to a lecture. Then the bell rings in the hallway. In order to hear this stimulus, ________ nerves must carry electrochemical messages from your ears to your brain.

afferent

Drugs, trauma, fever, and sensory deprivation are among the things that can produce

altered states of consciousness.

Learning that occurs when an organism makes a connection between two events is called

associative learning.

The function of the ________ is to take messages to and from the body's internal organs, monitoring such processes as breathing, heart rate, and digestion.

autonomic nervous system

Which of the following components are essential to the definition of consciousness?

awareness and arousal

The ________ approach emphasizes the scientific study of observable actions and/or responses and their environmental determinants.

behavioral

Neuroscience studies are based on the ________ approaches to psychology.

biological

Psychologists who adopt a(n) ________ approach examine behavior and mental processes by focusing on the body, especially the brain and nervous system.

biological

The ______ approach asserts that human behavior is the product of biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors.

biopsychosocial

Ali is learning how to read Spanish by speaking aloud one letter at a time. Ali is engaging in which of the following?

bottom-up processing

In the context of descriptive research methods in psychology, ________ are performed mainly by clinical psychologists when, for either practical or ethical reasons, the unique aspects of an individual's life cannot be duplicated and tested in other individuals.

case studies

The brain and spinal cord make up the

central nervous system.

The ________ is part of the forebrain, the outer layer of the brain, and is responsible for the most complex mental functions, such as thinking and planning.

cerebral cortex

A woman feels sick every time she travels by air. She associates flying with physical illness and, as a result, hates air travel. She also finds it difficult to watch movies with airplanes or read books about airplanes because they make her uncomfortable. This scenario illustrates the learning process of

classical conditioning.

According to ________ psychologists, your brain houses a "mind" whose mental processes allow you to remember, make decisions, plan, set goals, and be creative.

cognitive

What theory of dreaming proposes that dreaming involves information processing and memory?

cognitive theory of dreaming

The ________ approach to psychology views the mind as an active and aware problem-solving system. This view contrasts with the ________ outlook, which portrays actions as controlled by external environmental forces.

cognitive; behavioral

The iris is the

colored part of the eye that contains muscles that control the size of the pupil.

Ashley, a secretary at Plato Inc., is typing on her computer, talking on the phone, and handing some papers to her colleague simultaneously. Which of the following characteristics of the nervous system is best illustrated in this scenario?

complexity

Dr. Meyer is known for his difficult pop quizzes. Typically, before he conducts a pop quiz for his students, he shuts the classroom door. Students soon learn to anticipate a pop quiz whenever Dr. Meyer closes the classroom door. In this scenario, the act of closing the door has become a(n)

conditioned stimulus (CS).

According to the principle of ________, researchers are responsible for keeping all of the data they gather on individuals completely confidential and, when possible, completely anonymous.

confidentiality

In the context of classical conditioning, ________ means that the conditioned stimulus and the unconditioned stimulus are presented very close together in time—even a mere fraction of a second.

contiguity

A key aspect of the process of testing hypotheses in the scientific method is

data analysis

Which of the following is one of the issues addressed by the ethics guidelines developed by the American Psychological Association?

debriefing

After a research study has been completed, the researchers should inform the participants of its purpose and the methods they used. This is in accordance with the principle of

debriefing.

Psychological research on sleep and memory has found that staying up all night to study for an exam is likely to

decrease memory performance.

Jane is having trouble sleeping. As she sits on her bed looking around the dark room, she notices that her peripheral vision seems to be better than her central vision. This is because vision in low light conditions

depends on the rods.

Which of the following is defined as the ability to perceive objects three-dimensionally?

depth perception

The goal of ________ research is to determine the basic dimensions of a phenomenon.

descriptive

Insomnia is a disorder involving

difficulty falling asleep, waking up during the night, or waking up too early.

Night terrors typically occur

during non-REM sleep.

Jet lag may be best explained by the

effect of time shifts on the circadian rhythm.

The lecture you were listening to is over. The bell that rang in the hall signaled the end of class. You get up, pick up your things, and walk out the classroom door. Which kind of nerves sent the signals from your brain to your muscles to initiate your physical movements?

efferent

The final step in the scientific method of psychology is

evaluating conclusions.

The ________ approach to psychology relies on concepts such as adaptation, reproduction, and natural selection as the basis for explaining specific human behaviors.

evolutionary

Which of the following refers to a person's capacity to harness consciousness by focusing in on specific thoughts while ignoring others?

executive function

Which of the following research methods allow(s) researchers to determine causality?

experimental studies

Narcolepsy is a sleep disorder characterized by

falling asleep suddenly and uncontrollably.

Which of the following is one of the functions of the sympathetic nervous system?

fight-or-flight reaction

The ________ is the principle by which we organize the perceptual field into stimuli that stand out and those that are left over.

figure-ground relationship

Jose's employer pays him every Friday. This is an example of which of the following schedules of reinforcement?

fixed-interval

A line worker in a factory is required to produce 50 units to be paid $10. In the context of the schedules of reinforcement, this scenario most likely exemplifies a

fixed-ratio schedule.

Which of the following is the brain's largest division?

forebrain

Which of the following is the second step in the scientific method?

formulating hypotheses and predictions

The ________ is the most important part of the retina and is a tiny area in the center of the retina at which vision is at its best.

fovea

William James, a prominent American psychologist and philosopher, focused on human interactions with the outside world to understand the purpose of thoughts. His view is known as

functionalism

In the context of the major regions of the brain, which of the following is the lowest portion of the brain?

hindbrain

Joe has suffered a massive stroke. Since then, he finds it difficult to remember names of new people whom he meets or even to recognize them. This is because he is unable to retain any new memories after the stroke. In the context of the organization of the brain, these symptoms are most likely due to a damaged

hippocampus

Abe and Carla are psychologists who believe that people have free will and can make choices based on higher human values. Abe and Carla's views reflect the ________ approach to psychology.

humanistic

The ________ approach emphasizes a person's positive qualities, the capacity for positive growth, and the freedom to choose one's destiny.

humanistic

In experimental research, the ________ is a manipulated experimental factor, and the ________ is the outcome.

independent variable; dependent variable

According to the principle of ________, all participants must know what their participation will involve and what risks might develop.

informed consent

A case study

is an in-depth look at a single individual.

Which of the following is sometimes called incidental learning because it "just happens" as a result of experience and happens even without reinforcement?

latent learning

The ________ is a transparent and somewhat flexible, disk-like structure filled with a gelatin-like material.

lens

The ________ is a set of subcortical brain structures central to emotion, memory, and reward processing.

limbic system

According to Freud, ________ is the surface content of a dream, containing dream symbols that disguise the dream's true meaning.

manifest content

Independent variables are

manipulated by researchers

Which part of the nervous system regulates breathing and heart rate?

medulla

The eardrum is located in the

middle ear

A ________ is a layer of fat cells that insulates most axons and speeds up the transmission of nerve impulses.

myelin sheath

Falling asleep all of a sudden while talking to a friend is most likely an example of

narcolepsy

Which of the following terms refers to Charles Darwin's principle of an evolutionary process; the process in which organisms that are best adapted to their environment will survive and, importantly, produce offspring?

natural selection

Mark, a high school student, dislikes the fact that his mother yells at him in the morning to wake him up. His mother usually wakes up at 5:30 A.M., and he tries to wake up at around 5:15 A.M. to avoid listening to his mother's yelling. In the context of operant conditioning, which of the following is exemplified in this scenario?

negative reinforcement

The removal of a stimulus following a given behavior in order to increase the frequency of that behavior is called

negative reinforcement.

The ________ system is the body's electrochemical communication circuitry.

nervous

Which of the following types of cells in the nervous system handle the information-processing function?

neurons

In Pavlov's classic study on classical conditioning, the bell was a ________ before conditioning and became a(n) ________ after conditioning had occurred.

neutral stimulus; conditioned stimulus

Lukas is anesthetized before a surgery. In the context of the levels of awareness, which of the following levels best illustrates Lukas's state?

no awareness

Which of the following goals of science does the empirical method best fulfill?

objectivity

An eighth-grade chemistry teacher plays a video in class to demonstrate the process of conducting a basic experiment in chemistry. Her students are required to watch the video attentively, remember all the steps and safety instructions, and reproduce the same experiment independently. Which of the following is best illustrated when the students reproduce the experiment?

observational learning

As a result of a brain injury after an accident, James lost his vision. Which of the following regions of James's cerebral cortex is most likely to be damaged?

occipital lobe

Organisms learn the association between a behavior and a consequence in

operant conditioning.

The axons of the ganglion cells make up the ________, which carries the visual information to the brain for further processing.

optic nerve

In the context of the autonomic nervous system, the ________ calms the body.

parasympathetic nervous system

The recognition that objects are constant and unchanging even though sensory input about them is changing is known as

perceptual constancy.

The ________ connects the brain and spinal cord to the rest of the body.

peripheral nervous system

Psychology began as a science in the discipline of

philosophy

Which of the following types of energy reception is most activated when a person is watching a silent movie?

photoreception

Damien has been unable to sleep for the past few weeks. He wakes up in the middle of the night and cannot go back to sleep. On certain occasions, he cannot fall asleep at all and at other times, he is unable to wake up from sleep. In the context of organization of the brain, Damien's problem with sleep and arousal is most likely caused by the poor functioning of the

pons

The presentation of a stimulus following a given behavior in order to increase the frequency of that behavior is called

positive reinforcement.

Which of the following techniques involves an analyst unlocking a person's unconscious conflicts by talking with the individual about his or her childhood memories, dreams, thoughts, and feelings?

psychoanalysis

Which approach to psychology emphasizes unconscious thought?

psychodynamic approach

According to Bandura's model of observational learning, which final component determines whether or not an imitated or modeled act will be repeated?

reinforcement

Automatic processes

require lower levels of attention than controlled processes.

Normally, when a neuron is not transmitting information and a slight negative charge is present on the inside of the cell membrane, the neuron is said to be

resting

The multilayered light-sensitive surface in the eye that records electromagnetic energy and converts it to neural impulses for processing in the brain is known as the

retina.

Derek watches an airplane that is flying. The plane seems to get smaller as it goes farther away. Which of the following aspects of perceptual constancy allows Derek to understand that the airplane is not getting smaller?

size constancy

A psychologist who studies about the behavioral differences between people from different religions is most likely following the ________ approach to psychology.

sociocultural

Which of the following is a function of the myelin sheath?

speed up the transmission of nerve impulses

The process in classical conditioning by which a conditioned response can recur after a time delay, without further conditioning is called

spontaneous recovery.

A correlation coefficient is a statistic that tells the

strength and direction of association between two variables.

What does the magnitude of the correlation coefficient indicate about the variables in a correlational study?

strength of the relationship between the variables

In which of the following psychological approaches did researchers ask participants to think about what was going on mentally as various events took place?

structuralism

Wilhelm Wundt's approach to discovering the basic elements of mental processes is called

structuralism

If you were a psychologist who adopted the structuralism approach, you would be interested in the ________ of the mind, using ________ as your primary research method.

structures; introspection

Sometimes participants in research studies tend to answer questions in a way that will make them look good rather than in a way that communicates what they truly think or feel. This is a potential problem with

surveys

The ________ is the part of the autonomic nervous system that arouses the body to mobilize it for action and thus is involved in the experience of stress.

sympathetic nervous system

Which of the following refers to tiny spaces between neurons?

synapses

Structures in the cerebral cortex that are involved in hearing, language processing, and memory are called

temporal lobes.

In the context of the structure of the ear, which of the following is also known as the tympanic membrane, separates the outer ear from the middle ear, and vibrates in response to sound?

the eardrum

When typing text messages, Juan usually leaves out the vowels in commonly used words. For example, he types "thn" instead of "then." The receiver is generally able to make sense of Juan's message. Which of the following principles most likely comes into play in this scenario?

the gestalt principle of closure

The axon is

the part of the neuron that carries information away from the cell body toward other cells.

Which part of an eye usually acts like the aperture of a camera, opening and closing depending on the amount of light required to enter the eye?

the pupil

Amelia has been working as a tea taster for approximately 15 years. She visits tea gardens in the country of Bodonia to grade teas according to their quality and taste. While tasting, she uses her prior knowledge to grade the teas. In this scenario, Amelia is most likely engaged in

top-down processing.

In Pavlov's experiment, the dog automatically salivated to food because food is a(n)

unconditioned stimulus (US).

According to Sigmund Freud, ________ is a reservoir of unacceptable wishes, feelings, and thoughts that are beyond awareness.

unconscious thought

According to Sigmund Freud, dreams symbolize

unconscious wishes and hidden desires.