Psychology 201 Midterm Exam

Determining a cause-effect relationship is the main purpose of conducting

an experiment.

An experiment was designed to study the potential impact of alcohol consumption on emotional stability. A specification of the procedures used to measure emotional stability illustrates

an operational definition.

Introspection was the basic research tool used by ________ in order to study people's inner sensations and mental images.

Edward Titchener

Dr. Aubrey has researched media effects for the past three years and has repeatedly found that college students who report exposure to increased sexual content in the media are also more likely to report engaging in unprotected sex, having intercourse with multiple partners, and consuming alcohol or drugs prior to intercourse. What does this mean?

Exposure to sexual content in the media is correlated with risky sexual behaviors.

Which of the following is NOT true of the brain's association areas?

More intelligent animals have smaller association areas.

Abigail is pregnant. Her friend has told her that she is able to predict the sex and birth date of a baby, including her baby. How might Abigail test this claim?

She can use the empirical approach.

The knee-jerk reflex is controlled by interneurons in the

Spinal cord

What is a common feature of industrial-organizational psychologists?

They are more likely to conduct applied research.

The neuroscience perspective in psychology would be most likely to emphasize that behavior is influenced by

blood chemistry.

Human brain complexity arises from new systems built on top of older ones. The remnants of humanity's most distant past involve components of the

brain-steam

If your ________ is destroyed, the left side of your brain could not control the movements of your right hand.

brain-steam

Preparedness is defined as

c. a biological predisposition to learn associations that have survival value.

Researchers use experiments rather than other research methods in order to isolate

causes from effects.

The benefits of brain plasticity are most clearly demonstrated in

children who have had a cerebral hemisphere surgically removed.

Professor Vaughn is interested in why people are more likely to have phobias about things that occur in nature, such as snakes, than about things that are increasingly dangerous, such as weapons. She is likely interested in

evolutionary psychology.

Random assignment minimizes ________ between experimental and control groups. Random sampling minimizes ________ between a sample and a population.

differences; differences

Learning that some responses, but not others, will be punished is called

discrimination.

Unlike identical twins, fraternal twins are described as

dizygotic.

Mr. Anderson suffers from Parkinson's disease and his shaking arm movements are so severe that he has difficulty feeding or dressing himself without help. His symptoms are most likely to be linked with an undersupply of the neurotransmitter

dopamine

The ovaries in females and the testes in males are part of the

endocrine system.

Jason's intensely uncomfortable withdrawal symptoms following heroin use were probably due in part to a reduction of his body's normal production of

endorphins

Opiate drugs occupy the same receptor sites as

endorphins

The testing effect refers to the ________ that accompanies repeated retrieval of learned information.

enhanced memory

Nongenetic influences are known as

environmental influences.

The molecules that can block genetic expression are called

epigenetic marks.

Damage to the left cerebral hemisphere is most likely to reduce people's ability to

solve arithmetic problems.

Which part of your brain is essential for receiving information that you are moving your legs?

somatosensory cortex

Some researchers believe that a reward deficiency syndrome contributes to

substance use disorders

Studies suggest that criminal behavior is most likely to be deterred by

swiftly delivered punishment.

Auditory stimulation is processed in the ________ lobes.

temporal

Which research method provides the best way of assessing whether cigarette smoking boosts mental alertness?

the experiment

The most reliable way of testing whether a newly introduced method of psychological therapy is truly effective is to use

experimental research

In explaining serious childhood misbehavior, B. F. Skinner would most likely have emphasized

faulty child-raising practices.

William James was a prominent American

functionalist.

After noting that a majority of professional basketball players are African-American, Ervin concluded that African-Americans are better athletes than members of other racial groups. Ervin's conclusion best illustrates the danger of

generalizing from vivid cases

The genome refers to an organism's complete set of

genetic material

Motor neurons transmit signals to

glands

The endocrine system consists of the

glands that secrete hormones

Central tendency is to variation as ________ is to ________.

mean; standard deviation

In the 1960s, the cognitive revolution in psychology involved a renewal of interest in the scientific study of

mental processes.

Francesca would like to know what research has found about the impact of media content on sexual behaviors. Which procedure is she likely to use?

meta-analysis

The median of a distribution of scores is the

middle score in a distribution of scores.

Compared with fraternal twins, identical twins are ________ similar in physical appearance. Compared with unrelated look-alike pairs of individuals, identical twins report ________ similar personalities.

more; more

A descriptive technique of monitoring and recording behavior in naturally occurring situations without trying to change or control the situation is called

naturalistic observation.

Blind echolocation experts who can use the brain's visual centers to process auditory signals best illustrate the value of

plasticity.

A negative correlation between degree of wealth and likelihood of suffering from a psychological disorder would indicate that

poor people are more likely to have a psychological disorder than are wealthy people.

Classically conditioned habits are said to involve

respondent behavior.

The number of neurotransmitter molecules located within a specific synaptic gap would most clearly be reduced by

reuptake

John and Samantha are studying for their upcoming psychology class when John states, "I wonder what it would be like if we used all of our brain, instead of only 10 percent of it." Which of the following would be the best response by Samantha?

"That is actually a myth. We use all of our brain."

Approximately what percentage of the cases represented by the normal curve fall between -1 and +1 standard deviations from the mean?

68

During the past year, Zara and Ivan each read 2 books, but George read 9, Ali read 12, and Marsha read 25. The median number of books read by these individuals was

9

If IQ scores are normally distributed, having a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15, approximately what percentage of people have IQ scores somewhere between 70 and 130?

95

Who is best known for highlighting the reproductive advantages of environmentally adaptive traits?

Charles Darwin

Professor Jamison is studying the impact of alcohol consumption on driving impairment. She divides participants into two groups. One group gets the treatment, in this case alcohol, and the other group does not. Participants then complete a task to measure their reaction time. Professor Jamison finds that those who had consumed alcohol had a slower reaction time than those who did not consume alcohol. She then concludes that alcohol consumption would impair driving ability. Why is she able to reach this conclusion?

Her experiment tested theoretical principles that can help explain everyday behaviors.

By measuring magnetic fields from the brain's natural electrical activity, researchers are able to understand how certain tasks are related to brain activity in certain areas. This technique is called a(n)

MEG

The best way to detect enlarged fluid-filled brain regions in some patients who have schizophrenia is to use a(n)

MRI

To detect Mr. Ziegler's loss of brain tissue from a degenerative disease, his physicians are most likely to request that he receive a(n)

MRI

Identical twins originate from the fertilization of

a single egg cell by a single sperm cell.

The study of the relative power and limits of genetic and environmental influences on behavior is known as

behavior genetics.

Smiling is to feeling as ________ is to ________.

behavior; mental process

It's easier to train a pigeon to peck for a food reward than to flap its wings for a food reward. This illustrates the importance of ________ in learning.

biological constraints

Marissa recently attended a lecture on supernatural phenomena, at which the speaker explained how the locations of planets and stars at one's birth determine the person's personality and life course. Marissa is not convinced that this information is accurate and so she is quite skeptical. She has concluded that the assumptions and conclusions of this statement are faulty, that the speaker is biased and lacks credibility, and that there is minimal evidence to support this claim. Marissa has engaged in

critical thinking.

In conducting research, Brandon demonstrates a scientific attitude. Which of the following characteristics are part of that attitude?

curiosity

After an experiment, research participants are told its purpose and about any deception they may have experienced. This is called

debriefing.

The perception that psychological research findings merely verify our commonsense understanding is most clearly facilitated by

hindsight bias.

The sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems work together to keep you in a steady internal state called

homeostasis

Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow promoted a historically significant approach known as

humanistic psychology.

The release of epinephrine into the bloodstream is most likely to

increase blood sugar

A neural system at the border between the brainstem and the cerebral hemispheres is known as the

limbic system.

James, a graduate student, is working on his thesis. He is examining factors that may be related to academic achievement among college students and wants to ensure that his results describe the larger population. To accomplish his goal, he should use

inferential statistics.

Edward Titchener and others attempted to reveal the basic elements of the mind by asking people to look inward. They were using a method known as

introspection.

Neurons generate electricity from a chemical process involving the exchange of

ions

On a series of coin tosses, Oleg has correctly predicted heads or tails seven times in a row. In this instance, we can reasonably conclude that Oleg's predictive accuracy

is a random and coincidental occurrence.

Severing a cat's reticular formation from higher brain regions causes the cat to

lapse into a coma

When a person speaks, brain waves and blood flow are especially likely to reveal increased activity in the

left hemisphere.

New technologies such as smart-phone apps and body-worn sensors have enabled the collection of "big data" by means of

naturalistic observation.

If the points on a scatterplot are clustered in a pattern that extends from the upper left to the lower right, this would suggest that the two variables depicted are

negatively correlated.

A football quarterback can simultaneously make calculations of receiver distances, player movements, and gravitational forces. This best illustrates the activity of multiple

neural networks

The process of forming new neurons within the brain is called

neurogenesis.

The chemical messengers released into the spatial junctions between neurons are called

neurotransmitters.

A learned association between behaviors and resulting events is central to

operant conditioning.

Children often learn to associate their pushing a vending machine button with the delivery of a candy bar. This best illustrates the process underlying

operant conditioning.

Our adaptive flexibility in responding to different environments contributes to our fitness, which refers to

our ability to survive and reproduce.

The person most likely to suggest that the shape of a person's skull indicates the extent to which that individual is argumentative and aggressive would be a

phrenologist.

To learn about the TV viewing habits of all the children attending Oakbridge School, Professor DeVries randomly selected and interviewed 50 of the school's students. In this instance, all the children attending the school are considered to be a(n)

population.

Discovering and promoting human strengths and virtues that help individuals and communities to thrive is the major focus of

positive psychology.

As positively charged sodium ions enter the axon, _______ flow(s) out to repolarize part of the axon

potassium ions

The explanatory power of a scientific theory is most closely linked to its capacity to generate testable

predictions.

Clinical psychologists specialize in

providing therapy to troubled people.

When every individual in a large population has a small but equal chance of being included in a survey, researchers are using a procedure known as

random sampling

The function of dendrites is to

receive incoming signals from other neurons

Those who survive a hippocampal brain tumor in childhood are likely to have difficulty ________ in adulthood.

remembering new information

Why might so many people believe the commonly accepted idea that roaches could survive a nuclear bomb?

repetition

While you develop callused feet when you go barefoot for a summer, your neighbor remains a tenderfoot by protecting her feet with shoes. The differences in skin toughness between you and your neighbor are best attributed to

the interaction of genetic and environmental influences

Illusory correlation refers to

the perception of a relationship between two variables that does not exist.

Professor Shalet contends that parents and their children have similar levels of intelligence largely because they share common genes. His idea is best described as a(n)

theory.

Cognitive neuroscience studies relationships between

thought processes and brain functions.

The somatosensory cortex is most critical for our sense of

touch.

On the first day of class, Professor Wallace tells her geography students that pop quizzes will be given at unpredictable times throughout the semester. Clearly, studying for Professor Wallace's surprise quizzes will be reinforced on a ________ schedule.

variable-interval

Watching the night sky for shooting stars is likely to be reinforced on a ________ schedule.

variable-interval