Psych final
Which of the following would (as a rule) indicate that a result is strategically significant?
p < .05
Random assignment is a procedure that psychological researchers apply to their
participants
Who is influenced by demand charactersitics
participants in an experiment
Naturalistic observation refers to the observation of
people or animal in their natural setting
Who is most likely to have absolute pitch, the ability to name a tone they hear?
people with extensive music training, beginning in childhood
A major contributing factor to anorexia is
perceived pressure to be thin
A placebo is a
pill with no important biological effects
One of the functions of the vestibular system is to detect the
position of the head
According to one report, people with higher levels of stress have a greater probability of suffering a heart attack. Therefore the correlation between stress and probability of a heart attack is
positive
What can a psychologist do that a clinical psychologist cannot do in most states?
prescribe drugs
In the statement "p < .05", what does p stand for?
probability
Remembering how to ride your bike is an example of which type of memory?
procedural
What procedure does a psychologist use in applied behavior analysis? (shaping)
provides positive reinforcements for approximations to the desired behaviors
The tendency to perceive objects that are close together as belonging to the same group is called
proximity
Which part of the eye changes its shape to enable us to focus first on a distant object and then a nearby object?
pupil
Of the following, which would be a good example of "fluid" intelligence?
quickly solving a new kind of problem
Suppose you conduct a survey, interviewing every fourth person who enters a certain fast-food restaurant. What kind of sample is this?
random
A person who has suffered damage to the cerebellum (located in the back of the brain) will probably have trouble with
rapid, skillful movements
What are two practical applications of hypnosis?
reducing reactions to pain and post-hypnotic suggestions
The strategy in science that attempts to explain complex phenomena by examining combinations of smaller components is known as
reductionism
Edward Thorndike, a pioneer in the study of cats escaping from puzzle boxes, argued that animal learning depends on
reinforcements that increase the probabilities of certain behaviors
Shaping (in the context of operant conditioning) means
reinforcing successive approximations to a behavior
Two common effects of meditation are
relaxation and better control of attention
What happens at a synapse?
release of a chemical that affects another cell
How can one extinguish a classically conditioned response?
repeatedly present the conditioned stimulus by itself
If nearly all investigators can repeat a study and get similar results, the result is
replicable
What are two important functions of sleep?
saving energy and enhancing memory
What type of memory is your memory of your current mailing address?
semantic
Which of these was a major research topic for early psychologists?
sensory processes
If you want to make and keep a New Year's resolution, which of the following is poor advice?
set either a very easy or an extremely difficult goal
People tend to maintain a nearly constant body weight over the course of months, unless something unusual happens. That constant weight is referred to as
set point
As you watch a car drive toward you, you do not perceive it as growing larger, even though its image on your retina grows larger. The name for this phenomenon is
size constancy
Someone who stays awake 24 hours a day for several days will probably feel
sleepier in the night than during the following morning
Which type of psychologist is most likely to investigate how group think influences people?
social psychologist
What happens during vicarious reinforcement?
someone watches someone else do something and receive reinforcement
The tendency to remember something better if your body is in the same condition during recall as it was during original learning is known as
state-dependent memory
Telling or reminding people, "your group doesn't do well on this kind of test" tends to impair most people's performance. This phenomenon is known as
stereotype threat
In an environment in which temperature, light, and other conditions remain constant 24 hours a day, most people
still awaken and go to sleep on a nearly 24-hour schedule
Nearly all medical and recreational drugs that modify people's experiences exert their effects at
synapses
An operational definition is a definition that
tells us how to produce or measure something
Edgar has trouble hearing and has had recent changes in his emotions. If his problems stem from brain damage, which part of his brain is most likely damaged?
temporal lobe
Which of the following topics has been most controversial among current psychologists?
the ability of therapy patients to recover repressed memories of early sexual abuse
According to Sternberg's triarchic theory of intelligence, three factors need to be considered when describing intelligence. Which of the factors below is not one of Sternberg's three factors?
the age of the individual
The Lizard Lick State Fighting Nematodes scored 50, 50, 55, 60, and 85 points in their first five basketball games. What was their median score?
55
Raul spends time practicing and learning to play chess. According to the discussion in the text, which of the following is most likely to be true?
He will become a better chess player, but probably nothing else
According to the drive theory of motivation, what does a motivation do?
It makes behavior more vigorous until it satisfies some need
What evidence did Spearman have fore his proposed g factor in intelligence?
Most people who do well on one type of test also do well on other tests
Is it true that cats can see in complete darkness?
No, vision in complete darkness is impossible
What is the relationship between job satisfaction and age?
On average, older workers report the highest job satisfaction
Who discovered classical conditioning?
Pavlov
goals become more effective if you talk about them publicly?
True
According to Abraham Maslow, what do we do when we have several motivations?
We start with the lowest and work up
Who established the first psychological research laboratory?
Wilhelm Wundt
What is a neurotransmitter?
a chemical that travels from one neuron to another
A circadian rhythm lasts about how long?
a day
Which kind of goal is most effective in increasing your efforts?
a goal that is realistic but challenging
The term "color constancy" refers to the fact that
a green apple still looks green even when you wear red tinted glasses
What is a mnemonic device?
a method for improving memorization
Under a continuous schedule of reinforcement the animal is reinforced
after every response
According to the trichromatic (Young-Helmholtz) theory, we perceive white when
all three types of cones are equally active
In adult humans, where are the taste buds located?
almost exclusively along the outside edge of the tongue
What is an unconditioned reflex?
an inborn, automatic connection between a stimulus and a response
The moon appears larger at the horizon when it is higher in the sky because of
an optical illusion
Of the following, a behaviorist is most likely to study
animal learning
One advantage of the Wechsler tests, such as the WAIS-III and the WISC-IV is that they
are equally fair to people from different cultures and languages
Which of the following is most likely to cause people to have difficulty falling asleep?
becoming accustomed to going to bed late and then trying to shift to going to bed earlier
Psychology is best defined as the study of
behavior and experience
Which type of psychologist would be most interested in the genetic makeup of an individual?
biological
Recall, cued recall, and recognition all measure which type of memory?
declarative
People who suffer from amnesia usually lose some or all of their ______ memories but retain ______ memories that are relatively unimpaired
declarative, procedural
According to Cattell, if we examine the intelligence of a person at age 20 and again at age 50, we are most likely to find
decreasing fluid intelligence, but steady increasing crystallized intelligence
The philosophical position that every behavior has a cause is known as
determinism
We identify the direction of a source of sound by attending to the
difference between responses from the left ear and those from the right ear
Hubel and Wiesel's research on cats' and monkeys' visual cortex provided evidence for
feature-detector cells
You reward yourself with a snack every time you finish reading a chapter in your text. This is
fixed ratio
According to Raymond Cattell, the "g" factor in intelligence has two major components:
fluid and crystallized
Which of the following is an example of a primary reinforcer?
food
In which of these does a person have the least amount of brain activity and responsiveness?
brain death
According to the opponent process theory of color vision, how do we perceive color?
by a red-green system, a yellow-blue system, and a black-white system
What procedure would you use to train your dog to go to the bedroom, pick up your slippers, ...
chaining
A magician has two people concealed in a long wooden box, one whose head and arms stick out of the box, and the other whose legs stick out. When the magician saws between the two people the audience thinks the magician is sawing one person in half. This trick is based primarily on the Gestalt principle of
closure
Sound waves are carried through the ear by three tiny bones to a fluid filled, snail shaped structure called the
cochlea
Which kind of psychologist specializes in the study of thought and knowledge
cognitive psychologist
The corpus collosum
connects the left and right hemispheres of the cerebral cortex
A person who has suffered damage to a strip along the rear portion of the frontal lobe of the cerebral cortex would experience impairment of
control of fine movements on the opposite side of the body
Both reliability and validity are measure by
correlation coefficients
It has been reported that people with an extroverted personality are generally happier than most other people. This conclusion is is probably based on which kind of study?
correrational study
For most people the experience of jet lag is most severe if they travel across timezones
from east to west
When Spearman described the "g" factor in intelligence, what did the g stand for?
general
Someone who learns to avoid a poisonous mushroom also avoids a similar looking, but harmless mushroom. This behavior is an example of
generalization
Someone scoring more than two standard deviations above the mean on an IQ test would be classified as
gifted
What was Hermann Ebbinghaus's contribution to the study of memory?
he was the first to do experiments to measure memory
The nature-nurture issue is the question of how the development behavior depends on
heredity and environment
The nature-nurture issue is the question of how the development of behavior depends on
heredity and environment
A new test determines your score by dividing your telephone number into your ssn, and then multiplying by 100. This test probably has
high reliability and low validity
Which of the following is most characteristic of short-term memory?
holds only about 7 items
Freud referred to the surface appearance of a dream as the ______ content
manifest
Circadian rhythms are partially controlled by the release of which hormone?
melatonin
Behaviorism began, in part, as a protest against psychologists who tried to study
mental experiences
The word psychology was derived from the Greek word "psyche" meaning _____ and "logos", meaning ______
mind, word
Which is the best advice for someone with periodic limb movement disorder?
minimize caffeine, stress, and fatigue
If the standard deviation is small, then
most scores are close to the mean
During which stage(s) of sleep does dreaming occur?
mostly during REM sleep, but some also during non-REM sleep
Logan often has sudden attacks of sudden sleepiness during the day. He is probably suffering from
narcolepsy
The careful examination of what people or animals do in their normal environments is called
naturalistic observation
What disorder, if anything, is related to talking in your sleep
none
A person who has lost vision in the right half of the visual field probably has suffered brain damage in the
occipital lobe of the left hemisphere
To say that a theory is falsifiable means that
one can imagine evidence that would contradict the theory
People watched a clock-like device and made a spontaneous decision of when to flex a wrist, remembering the time of decision and reporting it later. What was the key result?
Brain activity preparing the movement began before the decision
Why do cats sleep more than sheep?
Cats are in less danger while they sleep.
Who if the following was the first to investigate operant conditioning?
Edward Thorndike
A five-year-old who has a IQ score of 116 is more intelligent than an eight-year-old who also scores 116?
False
Asking participants to give their informed consent prior to participating in a study is no longer required under ethical guidelines?
False
Brain damage that impairs declarative memory will also impair procedural memory?
False
Darwin's theory of evolution has never really had an influence in the field of psychology?
False
Extinction of a conditioned response is the same thing as forgetting?
False
Humans have approximately equal number of cones and rods?
False
If you want to remember something for as long as possible, and you plan to spend 10 hours studying, it is best to study the material for 10 hours all at once?
False
In operant conditioning, "shaping" a response means putting the animal into the correct position and posture to make the response?
False
In order to see something, we send rays from our eyes?
False
Larger animal species need more sleep than smaller species?
False
Most neurons stop all activity during sleep?
False
Psychology is defined as the systematic attempt to help worried, depressed, or otherwise troubled people?
False
Repeating something over and over, word for word, is the best way to remember it?
False
The best way to see whether a test is biased is to see whether one group of people does better than another?
False
The cerebellum refers to the set of connecting fibers that allow the left and right hemispheres to communicate and share information?
False
The occipital lobe is specialized for hearing?
False
The subliminal message to buy popcorn increases people's likelihood of buying it?
False
When you decide to do something, you make the conscious decision slightly before the relevant activity begins in your brain?
False
A correlation coefficient of -.7 represents a stronger relationship between variables that a correlation of +.5?
Fasle
The _____ is the phenomenon in which mean IQ scores rise from one generation to the next, unless the test is made more difficult
Flynn effect
The phenomenon that mean IQ scores rise from one generation to the next, unless the test is made more difficult, is known as what?
Flynn effect
Which of the following theories holds that intelligence includes unrelated (or poorly correlated) abilities such as language, music, logic, body movement, and social sensitivity?
Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences
What do psychologists and philosophers mean by the term mind-body question?
Is the mind separate from or identical with the physical brain?
What did early comparative psychologists discover about animal intelligence?
It is pointless to try to rank-order animals by their intelligence
Who is recognized as the founder of behaviorism?
John Watson
Which of the following is a widely used treatment for Parkinson's disease?
L-DOPA, a chemical that the brain converts into dopamine
When you are seeing something, what happens?
Light bouncing off the object strikes your eyes
Which of the following is necessary for vision?
Light energy comes into your eyes.
What educational degree does a psychiatrist hold?
M.D.
LSD has an effect on
Serotonin
The researcher who introduced the idea of the "g" factor in intelligence was
Spearman
Theoretically, why should the progressive matrices test be more culture-fair than the Wechsler tests?
The matrices call for no verbal responses and no specific factual information
The human-relations approach to job design is also called
Theory Y
According to Maslow's hierarchy of needs, certain motivations take priority over others?
True
Action potentials are sent according to the all-or-none rule?
True
Both positive and negative reinforcement increase the probability of a behavior?
True
Demand characteristics can be reduced by using a double-blind procedure?
True
IQ tests attempt to measure an individual's probable performance in school and similar settings?
True
If you go without sleep all night, you feel more alert the next morning than you did late in the night?
True
In operant conditioning, the subject's behavior determines an outcome and is affected by the outcome
True
Just putting a larger portion of food on the plate influences people to eat more?
True
Psychology concerns itself with the possible role of cultural influences on behavior?
True
Raven's progressive matrices can be used to measure intelligence of people who speak other languages?
True
Research on the cerebral cortex has failed to find any one "mater area" or "central processor" that pulls together all the current activity of the brain?
True
Surgery can correct certain types of deafness?
True
The functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technique can indicate which brain areas are the most active while a person performs some mental activity
True
The parasympathetic nervous system controls
digestion and other activities that occur during rest
On the first floor of your dorm are two vending machines. The one on the left always works; the one on the right is usually broken. You therefore only use the left. This illustrates which aspect of operant conditioning?
discrimination
The brain has ______ neurotransmitters, and each neurotransmitter activates _____ receptor(s)
dozens, many
During REM sleep,
dreams are most likely to occur
Which neurotransmitter inhibits pain?
endorphins
Remembering a specific event in your life is _____ memory. Remembering a fact or principle is _____ memory.
episodic, semantic
A study compared memory abilities in young adults and older adults at different times. Early in the morning, the older adults performed _____ than the younger adults; later in the day, the older adults performed ______ than the young adults
equal or better, worse
By developing tests of creative and practical intelligence, Sternberg is attempting to develop intelligence tests that are better predictors of __________ than standard IQ tests
everyday intelligence
Which kind of psychologist is most concerned with how adaptive traits are passed down from generation to generation?
evolutionary psychologist
Researchers use placebos to try to minimize the effects of which of the following?
experimenter bias
Which of these brain areas is most important for regulating hunger and appetite?
hypothalamus
Mary Calkins, a memory researcher in the early 1900's, is an important person in the history of psychology because she
illustrates the barriers faced by women in the early days of psychology
What effect on memory should we expect if someone has lower than normal cortisol levels?
impaired storage of memory
Tests of memory and reasoning ability might underestimate the capacities of older adults if the research is done
in the late afternoon or evening
What is anterograde amnesia?
inability to form new long-term memories
Spearman's theory has been called a monarchic theory of intelligence because it
included a dominant ability that ruled over lesser abilities
Both proactive interference and retroactive interference
increase forgetting
Hypnosis is a condition of
increased suggestibility
What kind of psychologist helps a company increase workers' productivity and satisfaction?
industrial/organizational psychologist
Negative reinforcement is a procedure in which a response
is strengthened because it removes an unfavorable stimulus
What causes the blind spot in the human retina?
it is the point where the optic nerve exits the eye
The guiding assumption of scientific management or Theory X is that
jobs should be simple and foolproof
an experimenter had participants exercise much, a little, or not at all and then measured how much dinner they ate two hours later. What is the dependent variable?
the amount of food eaten
The main difference between classical and operant conditioning is that in classical conditioning
the animal's responses do not control the reinforcements
The central nervous system consists of
the brain and spinal cord
REM sleep is also called paradoxical sleep because
the brain is very active, but the muscles are relaxed
Your clock makes a clicking sound just before the alarm goes off. Even though you didn't wake up to the clicking sound initially, now you do, due to classical conditioning. What is the conditioned stimulus?
the clicking
In some drug abusers, drug tolerance develops through classical conditioning. The conditioned stimulus in these cases is
the drug administration ritual
An independent variable is one that
the experimenter manipulates
The proportion of cones is greatest in which part of the retina?
the fovea
People note the moment when they decide to flex their wrist, and they report it later. Researchers record the time of movement, the time of the reported decision, and the time when activity began to increase in the premotor cortex of the person's brain. Which comes first?
the increase in brain activity
A motivation is regarded as homeostatic if
the individual maintains some variable around a constant value
Kinsey's survey can lead us to reasonably confident conclusions concerning
the range of variability in sexual behavior
The all-or-none law applies to
the sending of an action potential
Binet and Simon developed the first intelligence tests in order to measure
the skills that children need for success in school
What was the focus of Edward Titchener's research?
the unconscious meaning of dreams
The goal of scientific research is to establish comprehensive explanations of observable events. These events are called
theories
Many cancer patients receiving radiation treatments lose their appetite. Why?
they associate the last thing they ate with nausea
A cognitive psychologist studies
thinking and acquiring knowledge
After damage to the parietal lobe of the cerebral cortex, a person would be most likely to have impairments in
touch sensations
Sigmund Freud's method of helping those who were troubled involved
tracing current behavior to early childhood experiences
What evidence do most studies of heritability of human intelligence consider?
twins and adopted children
When asked about the body shape that the opposite sex finds most attractive, women ____ and men ____ the weight that the opposite sex actually prefers
underestimate, overestimate
The more lottery tickets you buy, the greater your chances of winning. However, you have no way of knowing how many tickets you will have to buy before you win. It might be fewer than ten; it might be more than a million. This is an example of which type of schedule of reinforcement?
variable ratio
The more lottery tickets you buy, the greater your chances of winning. However, you have no way of knowing how many tickets you will have to buy before you win. This is an example of which schedule of reinforcement?
variable ratio
If most scores are very close to the mean, then the standard deviation is
very small
Which sensory system detects the position and acceleration of the head?
vestibular system
In the human ear, the ability to perceive intermediate frequencies (about 100-500 Hz) depends on neurons working according to the ______ principle
volley
Psychology experiments have typically shown that
watching violent films increases aggressive behavior, at least slightly and temporarily
To determine whether some IQ test is biased against some group, the most decisive information would be
whether that group's members generally perform better in school and other situations than their test scores predict
To determine whether an IQ test is biased against some minority group, we need to determine
whether the minority group members do better in school that the test scores predict
