Psychology CLEP (fixed)

Wilhelm Wundt

Began the first experimental psychology lab in 1870 at the University of Leipzig, Germany.

Reticular Activating System (RAS)

Monitors the general level of activity in the hindbrain and maintains a state of arousal; keeps the brain awake even during sleep

If you would enjoy roaming around the world but would also enjoy the rewards of settling down, you are experiencing a(n) a. bi-dimensional conflict. b. approach-approach conflict. c. avoidance-avoidance conflict. d. approach-avoidance conflict. e. double approach-avoidance conflict.

b. approach-approach conflict.

Fissures

Large grooves of the cerebral cortex; divides lobes of the brain.

Semicircular Canals

Loops in the inner ear which are filled with fluid and give feedback on the movements of the head.

Reticular Formation

A diffuse network of nerve pathways in the brainstem connecting the spinal cord, cerebrum, and cerebellum, which mediates the overall level of consciousness.

Recall

A form of remembering that requires the person to bring information out of memory without many retrieval cues.

Chunking

A memory technique that involves organizing units of information into meaningful groups.

Naturalistic Observation

A research method in which the researcher observes subjects in their natural environment, taking care not to influence them in any way.

Pons

A rounded structure located above the medulla; part of the hindbrain; connects the lower brain regions with the higher regions and is responsible for sleep, dreaming, and arousal.

Cerebellum

A structure located behind the pons and medulla; part of the hindbrain; responsible for movement, coordination, balance, muscle tone, and learning motor skills.

John Watson

A theorist who is quoted as saying, "Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to bring them up in and I'll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select—doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-chief and, yes, even beggar-man and thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race of his ancestors."

Sympathetic Nervous System

Activates body for emergencies and releases adrenaline.

Industrial and Organizational (I/O) Psychology

An applied field of psychology that primarily works with management and staff in the workplace.

Functionalism

An early school of thought promoted by James and influenced by Darwin that explored how mental and behavioral processes function—how they enable the organism to adapt, survive, and flourish.

Occipital Lobe

Cerebral lobe primarily responsible for vision.

Temporal Lobe

Cerebral lobe responsible for sound and memory, especially integration of memory with sensory information.

Frontal Lobe

Cerebral lobe that controls voluntary movement and cognitive functions.

Parietal Lobe

Cerebral lobe that manages information about temperature, taste, touch, and movement.

Edward Titchener

Examined the structure of the mind, analyzed structure and content of mental states by introspection, and was concerned with reducing experience to its basic parts.

Efferent

Motor.

Limbic System

Part of forebrain; controls emotion, motivation, and memory; contains the amygdala and hippocampus.

Hypothalamus

Part of forebrain; major role in biological drives such as hunger, thirst, and body temperature; regulates the pituitary gland.

Thalamus

Part of forebrain; relays and translates information from all of the senses except for smell to higher parts of the brain.

Comparative Psychologists

Psychologists who are interested in behavioral similarities and differences between species.

Parasympathetic Nervous System

Quiets the body, conserves energy, and decreases the heart rate.

Gyri

Raised portions of the cerebral cortex; responsible for most processing.

Midbrain

Relays sensory information from the spinal cord to the forebrain (cerebral cortex). Where the upper portion of the RAS is located

Replication

Repeating a study to verify that the results of an experiment are consistent, and therefore show some truth about the natural world.

Afferent

Sensory.

Sulci

Small grooves of the cerebral cortex; divides sections of lobes.

Behaviorism

Stressed the study of observable behavior, not unobservable consciousness. Behavior is assumed to be wholly determined by environmental factors; Ivan Pavlov, John B Watson, BF Skinner

Humanistic

The approach associated with Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow that stressed that humans have enormous potential for personal growth; emphasizes importance of free will, the human ability to make choices, and the uniqueness of the individual.

Cognitive

The approach associated with Jean Piaget that studies the internal, mental representations that are used in perceiving, remembering, thinking, and understanding.

Gestalt

The approach associated with Max Wertheimer that emphasized perception and that stimuli are perceived as whole entities rather than parts put together.

Psychoanalysis

The approach associated with Sigmund Freud that emphasized the study of unconscious mental processes; argues that people are driven by sexual urges and that most emotional conflicts date back to early childhood experiences.

Medulla

The bottom portion of the brainstem; part of the hindbrain; responsible for the majority of the autonomic nervous system, which includes but is not limited to breathing, reflexes, and senses.

At conception, the original fertilized cell consists of 46 a. chromosomes. b. genes. c. molecules of DNA. d. gametes. e. nuclei.

The correct answer is A. All humans have 46 chromosomes arranged in 23 pairs. Each pair has one chromosome from the mother and one from the father.

A seemingly charming, candid, generous person who lies freely, forms no close ties, and is selfish and remorseless, is probably a(n) a. antisocial personality. b. histrionic personality disorder. c. narcissistic personality. d. schizoid personality. e. autistic personality.

The correct answer is A. Also known as sociopaths or psychopaths, people with antisocial personality disorder have no conscience and no sense of remorse. They view other people opportunistically.

Studies of identical twins do not provide conclusive evidence of the effect of genetics on intelligence, because a. identical twins reared apart are usually selectively placed in environments that are as similar as possible. b. the studies are too few in number to be conclusive. c. identical twins reared together do not share exactly the same environment. d. the twins who are subjects in such studies typically have not been separated soon enough to rule out environmental effects. e. identical twins share only about 75 percent of the same genes.

The correct answer is A. Although identical twins share 100 percent of genes, they are not identical beings. Environment does make a difference. However, identical twins are often reared in environments that are relatively similar in terms of intellectual development. Therefore, it is impossible to say what percent of their progress is the result of genes, and what percent is the result of their environments.

Compared with traditional Freudians, modern psychodynamic therapists tend to give greater emphasis to the a. patient's social and cultural environment. b. patient's early childhood experiences. c. patient's unconscious conflicts. d. use of applied behavior analysis. e. role of self-actualization.

The correct answer is A. Although modern psychodynamic therapists still regard early experience and unconscious conflicts as important, they are more likely to give weight to the patient's social and cultural environment.

The term dissociative identity disorder is synonymous with a. multiple personality disorder. b. schizophrenia. c. hysteria. d. pathological impulse control. e. sexual dysfunction.

The correct answer is A. Dissociative identity disorder is a newer term for multiple personality disorder.

The sex hormone in females is _____ and the sex hormone in males is _____. a. estrogen; androgen b. endorphins; androgens c. estrogen; endorphins d. androgen; estrogen e. androgen; glycogen

The correct answer is A. Females have high levels of estrogen and males have high levels of androgens (e.g., testosterone.)

Aversive conditioning is a form of a. behavior therapy. b. cognitive therapy. c. desensitization. d. dissonance. e. learning by observation.

The correct answer is A. In aversive conditioning, the therapist attempts to change the client's behavior by pairing an undesirable behavior with an aversive (unpleasant) stimulus to decrease the behavior's frequency.

In general, learning takes place more rapidly with a. continuous reinforcement. b. partial reinforcement. c. random reinforcement. d. no reinforcement. e. intermittent reinforcement.

The correct answer is A. Learning takes place faster when the behavior is rewarded every time it occurs (continuously). Intermittent reinforcement (partial, random, etc) is marked by slower learning but greater resistance to extinction. According to Skinner, learning does not take place in the absence of reinforcement.

A psychology student is training a rat to climb a ladder. She first rewards the rat for any movement it makes toward the ladder, and then only when the rat actually makes contact with the ladder. Eventually, the rat must successfully climb the ladder in order to obtain the reward. This student has used the behavioral technique of a. shaping. b. stimulus discrimination. c. negative reinforcement. d. positive reinforcement. e. modeling.

The correct answer is A. Shaping is a technique of gradually changing behavior by reinforcing successive approximations of the behavior (closer and closer to the target behavior).

Todd is shown a card with the stimuli AAABBBCCC and is asked to report what he sees. Todd states that there are three groups of different letters. This illustrates the rule of perceptual organization known as a. similarity. b. gestalt. c. closure. d. continuation. e. proximity.

The correct answer is A. Similarity refers to a tendency to group similar patterns together.

Social learning theory emphasizes the phenomenon of a. observational learning. b. positive reinforcement. c. self-actualization. d. introversion-extroversion. e. personality types.

The correct answer is A. Social learning theory was developed by Albert Bandura; it emphasizes observational, or vicarious, learning - also known as modeling.

The LEAST efficient of the human senses is a. taste. b. touch. c. hearing. d. vision. e. smell.

The correct answer is A. Taste is our least efficient sense, and much of it depends on smell.

The correct order of Maslow's needs hierarchy is: a. physiological needs, safety, love and belonging, esteem, self-actualization. b. safety, physiological needs, love and belonging, esteem, self-actualization. c. physiological needs, safety, esteem, love and belonging, self-actualization. d. physiological needs, self-actualization, safety, love and belonging, esteem. e. physiological needs, love and belonging, safety, esteem, self-actualization.

The correct answer is A. The correct order from lowest to highest is: physiological needs, safety, love and belonging, esteem, and self-actualization.

Cognitive dissonance is BEST described as a. feelings of discomfort generated by inconsistency between a person's beliefs and actions. b. negative feelings generated when someone unduly threatens one's freedoms. c. a denial of a discrepancy between beliefs and actions. d. negative feelings generated when exposed to arguments against one's attitudes. e. a state of heightened self-awareness that motivates one to perform an objective self appraisal.

The correct answer is A. When attitudes are inconsistent with action, it creates tension (cognitive dissonance) and a corresponding drive to reduce that tension, often by changing either the attitudes or the behavior to make them more consistent with one another.

A parent who deliberately ignores a child's temper tantrum is attempting to discourage tantrums by a. negative reinforcement. b. extinction. c. positive reinforcement. d. operant avoidance. e. learned helplessness.

The correct answer is B. According to the principle of extinction, when a behavior is no longer followed by reinforcement, the behavior decreases in frequency because it is no longer being maintained by reinforcers.

According to Erik Erikson, adolescents are primarily dealing with concerns related to a. generativity versus self-absorption. b. identity versus confusion. c. trust versus mistrust. d. ego integrity vs despair. e. intimacy versus isolation.

The correct answer is B. Adolescents struggle with developing an identity of their own (positive outcome) vs. failing to establish a unique identity (confusion).

harmful substance that can cross the placenta and harm the fetus is called a(an) a. contaminant. b. teratogen. c. carcinogen. d. enzyme. e. pathogen.

The correct answer is B. Examples of teratogens, which originate outside the mother's body, include alcohol, drugs, viruses, infections, and byproducts of cigarettes.

Which of the following is TRUE about perceiving objects? a. Sensory adaptation allows us to focus on one stimuli among many. b. Our eyes must continuously quiver in order to counteract the effects of sensory adaptation. c. Weber's law is another term for the absolute threshold. d. Perception occurs independently of expectations. e. Perception is the same as sensation.

The correct answer is B. If our eyes did not quiver, we would eventually no longer notice objects in our field of vision because of the principle of sensory adaptation.

In the Stanford-Binet test, IQ is defined as a. ability to learn and adapt. b. MA/CA x 100. c. CA/MA x 100. d. the sum of the verbal and non-verbal scales. e. the person's mental age.

The correct answer is B. Mental Age (abilities) divided by Chronological Age (in years) multiplied by 100.

Self-help groups are effective for all of the following reasons, EXCEPT a. the bonds with others. b. the insight offered by a trained therapist. c. the availability of models with whom to identify. d. the feeling that one is not alone in his or her problem. e. the reassurance that most stress reactions are normal.

The correct answer is B. Self-help groups are usually led by a para-professional, who has been given minimal training by a mental health professional.

Being aware of the sound presently being made in this room is an example of a. recall. b. sensory memory. c. retroactive interference. d. flashbulb memory. e. short-term memory.

The correct answer is B. Sensory memory holds current information recently gathered by the senses for only an instant.

According to Freudian theory, the Oedipus complex is resolved through the process of a. regression. b. identification. c. modeling. d. repression. e. sublimation.

The correct answer is B. The defense mechanism of identification protects the ego from unacceptable thoughts by identifying with the same-sex parent and giving up the desire to possess the opposite-sex parent.

In breaking away from Freud, Alfred Adler proposed that people a. inherit the learned behaviors of their ancestors. b. suffer from fixations in the early psychosexual stages. c. attempt to overcome feelings of inferiority. d. suffer from strong biological urges. e. have an ancestral memory called the collective unconscious.

The correct answer is C. Adler said that we attempt to overcome feelings of inferiority by striving to be superior (i.e., to self-actualize).

The speech sounds made by infants a. are specific to the language of their culture. b. represent sounds from two or three different languages. c. include speech sounds used in virtually all languages. d. are unrelated to eventual language development. e. are different from those used in any language.

The correct answer is C. Babies are capable of making all the sounds used in all human languages

A person who is overly energetic and hyperactive, makes grandiose plans, and experiences feelings of omnipotence is a. schizoid. b. hysterical. c. manic. d. obsessive. e. anal-retentive.

The correct answer is C. Being manic is an extreme high, often characterized by behaviors that do not reflect reality. At the end of the manic episode, the person often swings the other way into a severe depression.

Joe is four years old. He watches as you pour out the same amount of juice into two identical glasses, one for him and one for his friend. He correctly tells you that there is the same amount of juice in each glass. However, if you pour the contents of one of the glasses into a taller, thinner glass, he says he wants that one "because there's more juice in it." Joe has not yet mastered the principle of a. egocentrism. b. object permanence. c. conservation. d. correspondence. e. concreteness.

The correct answer is C. Conservation is the ability to understand that certain attributes of objects or situations remain the same despite superficial changes in their appearance.

The regulation of temperature in humans and other mammals provides a good example of the general physiological process of a. arousal. b. habituation. c. homeostasis. d. object incentive. e. metabolism.

The correct answer is C. Homeostasis is a state of equilibrium or balance in any physiological system.

Jenna is very frustrated because her cat keeps jumping up on the counter, even though she had spent a lot of time trying to train him not to do so. Which concept of learning should Jenna MOST be aware of? a. Negative reinforcement b. Positive reinforcement c. Instinctual drift d. Preparedness e. Latent learning

The correct answer is C. Instinctual drift means that species-specific behaviors (instincts) sometime interfere with and over-ride learning. In this case, cats naturally like to investigate and survey their landscape from high places.

Jean Piaget was a Swiss psychologist who was interested PRIMARILY in children's a. physical development. b. sexual development. c. cognitive development. d. emotional development. e. moral development

The correct answer is C. Piaget's theory includes the sensorimotor, preoperational, and formal operational stages of children's cognitive development.

The minimum amount of stimulus energy required to stimulate a receptor is the a. just noticeable difference (j.n.d). b. wavelength. c. absolute threshold. d. pattern theory. e. stimulus-receptor prompt.

The correct answer is C. The absolute threshold is the minimum amount of stimulus energy required to stimulate a receptor 50% of the time.

A mother who is certain her children cannot make decisions encourages dependent behavior that confirms her opinion of them, exemplifying a. self-perception theory. b. the theory of social comparison. c. expedient conformity. d. a self-fulfilling prophecy. e. cognitive dissonance.

The correct answer is D. A self-fulfilling prophecy is a prediction that comes true not necessarily because it was correct, but more because it was made in the first place. Once people have an expectation about events, they tend to engage in behavior that increases the probability of the event's occurrence.

People diagnosed as having a(n) _______ disorder outnumber all other groups of mentally ill individuals. a. conversion b. psychotic c. affective d. anxiety e. personality

The correct answer is D. Anxiety disorders are the most frequently occurring disorders and include generalized anxiety disorder, phobias, PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Mood disorders are the second most frequently occurring disorders.

It is often suggested that classically conditioned responses are _____, whereas operantly conditioned responses are _____. a. voluntary, involuntary b. aversive, appetitive c. aversive, reflexive d. reflexes, voluntary e. appetitive, aversive

The correct answer is D. Classical conditioning begins with unlearned (reflexive) behavior and pairs it with a new stimulus. In operant conditioning, the (voluntary) behavior comes first, and then it is followed by a reward, a punishment, or by no outcome.

Structuralism

The theory that the structure of conscious experience could be understood by analyzing the basic elements of thoughts and sensations.

Since the introduction of drug treatment approximately 25 years ago, the percentage of the population in the United States that is hospitalized for mental disorders has a. increased substantially. b. increased slightly. c. remained constant. d. decreased. e. fluctuated vastly.

The correct answer is D. De-institutionalization has been a problem because many people who are released without proper supervision forget to take the prescribed drugs and deteriorate back into poor mental health or psychosis. Others are able to control the illness effectively via medication.

The ability to understand accurately the feelings of a client is called a. sympathy. b. reflection. c. unconditional positive regard. d. empathy. e. congruence.

The correct answer is D. Empathy consists of trying to see the world the way the client sees it.

"Learning is any relatively permanent change in behavior" is an incomplete definition of learning because it does not include the role of a. growth. b. conditioning. c. cognition. d. experience. e. reinforcement.

The correct answer is D. Experiental knowledge, which could have its roots in principles of learning such as conditioning and reinforcement, underlies much of our learning.

Which of the following is TRUE about hypnosis? a. Under hypnosis, people can be forced to do things that violate their morals. b. Everyone can be hypnotized. c. Psychologists generally agree that hypnosis is indeed a divided state of consciousness. d. Hypnosis has enabled some people to go through surgical procedures without anesthetic. e. Recovered memories retrieved under hypnosis are usually reliable.

The correct answer is D. Not everyone can be hypnotized, but for those who can, hypnosis can provide remarkable results. Caution should be exercised about accepting the validity of recovered memories, and hypnosis remains a controversial topic in psychology.

A "fill in the blank" type of examination would usually measure a. explicit memory. b. recognition. c. relearning. d. recall. e. chunking.

The correct answer is D. Recall is a form of remembering that requires the person to bring information out of memory without many retrieval cues.

Ishmael wishes to remember the phone number of an attractive woman he just met. The MOST likely strategy he will use is a. mnemonics. b. semantics. c. relearning. d. rehearsal. e. recall.

The correct answer is D. Rehearsal is the intentional repetition of information in order to improve short-term memory

When a person's behavior is assigned to an external cause, the type of attribution made is _____; when a person's behavior is assigned to an internal cause, the type of attribution made is _____. a. stable; unstable b. dispositional; situational c. global; specific d. situational; dispositional e. specific; external

The correct answer is D. Situational or external attributions explain events by assuming they are caused by something in the environment. Dispositional or internal attributions explain events by assuming they are caused by something about the individual.

Which of the following statements BEST describes the structure of personality as Sigmund Freud saw it? a. The ego originates from the superego. b. The id mediates between the superego and the ego. c. The superego is the most powerful unit in the personality. d. The ego mediates between the id and the superego. e. The id originates from the superego.

The correct answer is D. The ego is the executive of the personality. It operates on the reality principle and finds ways to satisfy the demands of both the id and the superego.

When people of varying cultures were asked to match facial expressions with specific emotions a. there was little agreement, even among people from the same culture. b. there was agreement within a specific culture, but not across cultures. c. people from underdeveloped societies had responses not seen in industrial societies. d. there was remarkable agreement among members of all cultures. e. all cultures had exactly the same expressions.

The correct answer is D. The six basic emotions (happiness, sadness, disgust, surprise, anger, and fear) are universally recognized, suggesting that there is a biological basis for the display of these emotions.

If a test measures what it is intended to measure, it has a. objectivity. b. reliability. c. replicability. d. validity. e. standardization.

The correct answer is D. Validity answers the question "does the test measure what it originally set out to measure?"

An emotion is comprised of all of the following EXCEPT a. changes in physiology. b. cognitive awareness. c. possible changes in feeling. d. goal-directed behavior. e. All of the choices ARE part of an emotion.

The correct answer is E. All emotions have a physiological basis, cognitive awareness, a sense of goal-directedness, and possible changes in feeling.

The correct order of Masters' and Johnson's stages of sexual response is: a. arousal, plateau, resolution, orgasm. b. excitement, plateau, resolution, orgasm. c. excitement, resolution, orgasm, plateau. d. arousal, resolution, plateau, orgasm. e. excitement, plateau, orgasm, resolution.

The correct answer is E. Excitement is the building up of arousal, plateau is an increase in excitement, orgasm is muscular contractions, and resolution is a return to a normal non-aroused state.

Psychodynamic theory was originally developed by a. Carl Rogers. b. Carl Jung. c. Alfred Adler. d. Erich Fromm. e. Sigmund Freud.

The correct answer is E. Freud developed psychodynamic (or psychoanalytic) theory in the late 1800s.

Systematically applying principles of operant conditioning to influence and change behavior is referred to as a. observational learning. b. mind control. c. classical conditioning. d. psychotherapy. e. behavior modification.

The correct answer is E. In behavior modification, behavior is changed by altering the rewards and punishments that are maintaining the behavior.

The basic sounds of a language are called a. morphemes. b. semantics. c. syntax. d. vocabulary. e. phonemes.

The correct answer is E. Phonemes are the basic sounds, not necessarily meaningful in isolation, that form the building blocks of language.

The psychodynamic approach to the treatment of psychological disorders is based on the assumption that maladaptive behavior a. is learned, and therapy should teach the client more adaptive behavior. b. is caused by imbalances in biochemical functioning of the brain. c. occurs when the client no longer feels that life is meaningful. d. is the result of problems in living. e. is related to unresolved childhood conflicts.

The correct answer is E. Psychodynamic (Freudian) treatment relies heavily on understanding early life experiences and conflicts, and uncovering the roots of unconscious motivation.

Cones, unlike rods, will respond to a. movement but not color. b. color but not movement. c. movement but not brightness. d. brightness but not movement. e. both movement and colo

The correct answer is E. Rods respond to light; cones respond to color and motion.

Hindbrain

The extension of the spinal cord and oldest portion of the brain; responsible for basic survival functions.

Forebrain

The largest and most developed portion of the brain.

Cerebrum

The largest part of the forebrain; responsible for complex mental activities such as speech and planning.

Reflex Arc

The nerve pathway involved in a reflex action including, at its simplest, a sensory (afferent) nerve and a motor (efferent) nerve with a synapse between.

Corpus Callosum

The network of white matter that connects the left and right hemispheres.

Experiment

The only type of research that can determine cause; involves controls and independent and dependent variables.

Cerebral Cortex

The outer surface of the cerebrum which processes all perceptions and complex thoughts; most recently developed.

Autonomic Division

The parts of the nervous system that are involuntary; includes the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems.

Similarity

The rule of perceptual organization that is the tendency to group similar patterns together.