Psychology Content Test

When you walk into your classroom, you notice the words "payoff matrix," "hits" and "false alarms" written on the blackboard. You can conclude that the topic discussed in the previous class was most probably a. nociceptive pain. b. gate-control theory. c. signal detection theory. d. accommodation.

d. accommodation.

The melodic tones of your teacher's voice have put you to sleep. Though the other students in the class can't see them, sleep spindles have begun to appear in your brain waves. You are likely in Stage Select one: a. 1. b. 4. c. 2. d. 3.

c. 2.

Which of the following is true of the within-subjects experimental design? a. There are two experimental groups and one control group. b. There are no comparison conditions in this design. c. Each participant serves in all conditions of the experiment. d. It is a type of between-subjects design.

c. Each participant serves in all conditions of the experiment.

Psychologists who accept a biological explanation of behavior make certain assumptions. Which of the following would NOT be one of these assumptions? a. Behavior or behavior potential is determined by heredity. b. Complex behavior is best understood if it is broken down into smaller, elementary units of analysis. c. Experience cannot alter underlying biological structures and processes. d. Psychological behavior has a biochemical basis.

c. Experience cannot alter underlying biological structures and processes.

Research has shown that response rates under ________ schedules show a "scalloped" pattern. a. VR b. FR c. FI d. VI

c. FI

Along with other depressants, alchohol appears to affect ________ activity. a. endorphin b. serotonin c. GABA d. norepinephrine

c. GABA

As an advocate of an alternative to structuralism, the German psychologist ________ focused on the way in which the mind understands experiences as organized wholes rather than as the sums of simple parts. a. Edward Titchener b. Wilhelm Wundt c. Max Wertheimer d. Sigmund Freud

c. Max Wertheimer

"In classical conditioning, as in telling a good joke, timing is critical." By this, the authors of the textbook mean that the ________ must be presented ________. a. CR and UCR; far enough apart in time to be perceived as unrelated b. CR and UCR; closely enough in time to be perceived as related c. CS and UCS; far enough apart in time to be perceived as unrelated d. CS and UCS; closely enough in time to be perceived as related

d. CS and UCS; closely enough in time to be perceived as related

After collecting data, a researcher determines that states that have instituted a death penalty have shown a decrease in murders. Assuming that the data are accurate, what can you safely conclude? a. The relationship has been brought about by another variable. b. It is likely that violent criminals have moved to states that do not yet have a death penalty. c. States that do not have a death penalty should institute one as a deterrent to violent crime. d. There are fewer murders in states that have a death penalty.

d. There are fewer murders in states that have a death penalty.

Which statement most accurately describes what is going on in the brain when you are engaged in an everyday activity? a. Although the brain operates as a whole, some functions are associated with specific areas. b. The brain operates as a unit, and no single area is necessary for any specific function. c. Each activity is associated with only one lobe. d. For most activities, only the frontal lobes are active.

a. Although the brain operates as a whole, some functions are associated with specific areas.

Which technique uses special radio receivers to detect information from resonating atoms in order to assess brain activity? a. MRI b. EEG c. electrical stimulation d. PET scan

a. MRI

In 1908, Hermann Ebbinghaus wrote that "Psychology has a long past, but only a short history." Which statement best captures the idea that Ebbinghaus was expressing? a. Questions about human nature have existed for a long time, but only recently have the methods necessary to answer them been developed. b. The field of psychology has existed for a long time, but only recently have scholars recorded the accomplishments of the profession. c. Psychologists, like philosophers, have difficulty learning from their mistakes. d. Although psychologists have been doing laboratory research for hundreds of years, little of substance has been discovered about human nature.

a. Questions about human nature have existed for a long time, but only recently have the methods necessary to answer them been developed.

Which of the following is an open-ended question? a. What are the benefits of having a college education? b. Do you live in an urban or rural environment? c. How much did you earn last year? d. Are you a Republican, Democrat, or Independent?

a. What are the benefits of having a college education?

"If an athlete imagines having a good performance, then that athlete is more likely to be successful in an event." This statement is a description of a. a hypothesis. b. a theory. c. determinism. d. a non-causal relationship.

a. a hypothesis.

A six-year-old child suddenly awakens in a state of extreme arousal accompanied by panicky screams. He is experiencing a. a sleep terror. b. sleep apnea. c. somnambulism. d. narcolepsy.

a. a sleep terror.

When one's personal construction of reality remains relatively stable, one is also likely to experience a. a stable sense of self. b. extreme sociability. c. heightened activity in the left hemisphere. d. consensual validation.

a. a stable sense of self.

Suppose you wanted to test the hypothesis that viewing pornographic material increases aggressive behavior. The dependent variable would be a. aggressive behavior. b. viewing pornographic material. c. the age of the participants. d. whether men or women served as participants.

a. aggressive behavior.

Suppose an elementary school teacher is interested in measuring the amount of time a young student in her class is working productively versus chatting with classmates. It would be most appropriate for the teacher to use a a. behavioral measure. b. self-report measure. c. face-to-face interview. d. questionnaire.

a. behavioral measure.

In an experiment by Endel Tulving and Donald Thomson that is described in the textbook, participants were given a list of word pairs to learn and told they only had to remember the second word of each pair. Later they were asked to either recognize any second word of a pair that appeared on a list presented to them, or to recall the second word after being given the first word of the pair. It was found that the participants were a. better at recalling the second words after being provided with the first words. b. better at recovering memories when the context for remembering was changed. c. better at recognizing the words from the list they generated. d. equally successful at recognition and recall tasks.

a. better at recalling the second words after being provided with the first words.

A researcher is interested in the relationship between brain damage and the ability of humans to plan their behavior. This research is an example of a(n) ________ design. a. correlational b. within-subjects c. experimental d. placebo control

a. correlational

You and a friend are quizzing each other in preparation for your next psychology test. Your friend asks you which theory of pitch relies on the rate of vibration in the basilar membrane, does not depend on where in the basilar membrane the vibrations take place, and equates rate of firing with a neural code for pitch. Because you know the answer, you instantly say, a. frequency theory. b. opponent-process theory. c. it's a combination of place theory and frequency theory. d. place theory.

a. frequency theory.

One way to study the functions of consciousness is to demonstrate a. how people's responses change when conscious processes are not allowed to function normally. b. repression of ideas. c. that no matter how much a person has to attend to, conscious processes are consistently easy to use. d. that behavior is more strongly influenced by conscious than by unconscious processes.

a. how people's responses change when conscious processes are not allowed to function normally.

An executive's company requires her to engage in a lot of long-distance travel. At first, after a long trip she would experience fatigue, uncontrollable sleepiness, and a disruption of her sleep-wake schedule that would continue for days. She probably was experiencing a. jet lag. b. narcolepsy. c. insomnia. d. sleep apnea.

a. jet lag.

You would probably be most concerned if you were being driven somewhere by a person who has the sleep disorder called a. narcolepsy. b. sleep apnea. c. insomnia. d. subjective insomnia. Feedback

a. narcolepsy.

In evolutionary terms, an individual's success is measured by the a. number of offspring an individual produces. b. degree of comfort an individual attains. c. level of intelligence an individual acquires. d. amount of territory one controls.

a. number of offspring an individual produces.

A prisoner is violent and hostile, although he wasn't always this way. His therapist believes that the environment the prisoner was raised in brought about his aggressive tendencies. The therapist is espousing the view that behavior is primarily influenced by a. nurture. b. heredity. c. biology. d. nature.

a. nurture.

Over his lifetime, a physicist has learned a lot of mathematical equations and facts. This information is stored primarily in his ________ memory. a. semantic b. episodic c. procedural d. sensory

a. semantic

Historically speaking, the case of Phineas P. Gage, a railroad worker who was injured in 1848, is important because it provides evidence for a link between a. the brain and complex psychological processes. b. verbal and motor behavior. c. intellectual faculties and equilibrium. d. near-death experiences and motivation.

a. the brain and complex psychological processes.

In 1879, in Leipzig, Germany, a. the first formal laboratory devoted to experimental psychology was founded. b. the idea of behaviorism was first suggested. c. Wilhelm Wundt was born. d. Sigmund Freud wrote his book, The Interpretation of Dreams.

a. the first formal laboratory devoted to experimental psychology was founded.

Compared to Edward Titchener, William James was more interested in a. the functions of mental processes, not the contents of the mind. b. rigorous laboratory methods and experimental control. c. the "what" of mental contents rather than the "why" or "how" of thinking. d. the basic elements of sensation that formed an individual's mental life.

a. the functions of mental processes, not the contents of the mind.

Which statement best captures the basic idea underlying the experimental method? a. Describe and measure behavior under a wide variety of uncontrolled conditions. b. Manipulate an independent variable to look for an effect on a dependent variable. c. Manipulate a dependent variable to look for an effect on an independent variable. d. Sample participants carefully observe their behavior and report the results.

b. Manipulate an independent variable to look for an effect on a dependent variable.

Which statement best characterizes the textbook authors' views with respect to the legacy of behaviorism? a. Behaviorism has not caught on because it places too little emphasis on determining the antecedents and consequences of behavior. b. The principles of behaviorism have been widely and successfully applied to human problems. c. The principles of behaviorism ultimately fail because they are not based on carefully controlled laboratory experiments. d. Behaviorism has been successful because, unlike other perspectives, it has based all of its conclusions on research with human participants.

b. The principles of behaviorism have been widely and successfully applied to human problems.

In the human male, the sex chromosomes normally consist of a(n) ________ pair; in the human female they consist of a(n) ________ pair. a. XX; YY b. XY; XX c. YY; XX d. XX; XX

b. XY; XX

According to Skinner, the three-term contingency is composed of a. a three-part schedule of reinforcement. b. a discriminative stimulus-behavior-consequence sequence. c. a stimulus, a response, and a punisher. d. an operant chain of three events.

b. a discriminative stimulus-behavior-consequence sequence.

Alzheimer's disease has a. an erratic onset with accompanying physical changes. b. a mild onset with steady deterioration. c. a slow onset with no other accompanying changes. d. a sudden onset with slow deterioration.

b. a mild onset with steady deterioration.

Researchers have suggested that people can be divided into chronotypes. A chronotype identifies an individual as a. a light sleeper or a deep sleeper. b. a morning type or an evening type. c. a thin body type or a heavy body type. d. an extraverted person or an introverted person.

b. a morning type or an evening type.

Damage to parts of this area of the brain may have a calming effect on "mean-spirited" people and has recently been implicated in the acquisition and use of knowledge related to threat and danger. It is the a. thalamus. b. amygdala. c. hypothalamus. d. hippocampus.

b. amygdala.

Thorndike's law of effect emphasizes the relationship between a. the CS and the UCS. b. behavior and its consequences. c. stimuli and responses. d. "stamping in" and "stamping out."

b. behavior and its consequences.

All the neurons of the brain and spinal cord make up the ________ nervous system. a. peripheral b. central c. autonomic d. somatic

b. central

A magazine article describes a new drug which blocks the production of a hormone, preventing the release of ova and resulting in infertility in women. The hormone that is being blocked is most likely a. testosterone. b. estrogen. c. adrenaline. d. dopamine.

b. estrogen.

In part, the contemporary version of color vision supported by Leo Hurvich and Dorothea Jameson says that a. people who are color-blind possess an inhibitory system, but lack an excitatory system. b. ganglion cells combine outputs of cone types in an opponent-process manner. c. there are four types of color cones in the retina, rather than three. d. color cones are equally responsive to all wavelengths of light.

b. ganglion cells combine outputs of cone types in an opponent-process manner.

According to a psychologist, youngsters she is working within an alternative high school program have value systems that have developed under social conditions that foster self-limiting, aggressive tendencies instead of growth enhancement. It is likely the psychologist favors the ________ perspective. Select one: a. evolutionary b. humanistic c. behavioristic d. psychodynamic

b. humanistic

Imagine that you have agreed to participate in psychological research. Prior to the study, you will be given information about what you can expect and other details of the research, and asked to sign a form indicating your willingness to participate. This process is known as a. debriefing. b. informed consent. c. risk/gain assessment. d. intentional deception.

b. informed consent.

Scientists believe that narcolepsy a. is caused by oxygen deprivation. b. is caused by cataplexy. c. is related to multiple personality disorder. d. has a genetic basis.

b. is caused by cataplexy.

Before giving its approval, an institutional review panel is attempting to ascertain the benefits of a study that will involve some degree of physical discomfort for the participants. The issue before the committee relates most directly to a. deceiving participants intentionally. b. making a risk/gain assessment of the study in question. c. debriefing participants after the study. d. developing the guidelines for informed consent.

b. making a risk/gain assessment of the study in question.

Neuroscientists now believe that memory for complex sets of information is found in ________ parts of the neural system, and memory for particular types of knowledge is localized in ________ regions of the brain. a. limited; many b. many; specific c. limited; specific d. many; many

b. many; specific

A girl has a dream in which she is terribly frightened when she is abducted by space aliens. But then she is taken to a fantastically beautiful solar system and is overjoyed when she is made queen of her new world. The presence of strong emotional and sensory content in this dream suggests that it a. occurred during either REM or NREM sleep. b. occurred during REM sleep. c. occurred during NREM sleep. d. did not occur in either REM or in NREM sleep.

b. occurred during REM sleep.

Although you were not thinking about what you had for dinner the night before, when your friend asked you about that meal, it sparked the recollection of your visit to a local restaurant and a very tasty spaghetti dish. Your recollection of the dinner is an example of a. unattended information. b. preconscious memories. c. nonconscious processes. d. the unconscious.

b. preconscious memories.

A professor is trying to determine whether the number of questions students ask in class is related to their class performance. She keeps track of the number of questions students ask and then compares this to performance on their next test. Technically, the number of questions would be classified as the ________ of behavior, and the test performance as the ________ of behavior. a. process; process b. process; product c. product; product d. product; process

b. process; product

Imagine that you have gone to the garden to pick a rose. Unfortunately, when reaching for a flower, your thumb encounters a thorn and you jerk your hand away. What is the order in which information is communicated, from the time of the prick through withdrawal of your hand and realization of pain? a. motor neuron, interneuron, brain, sensory neuron b. sensory neuron, interneuron, motor neuron, brain c. brain, interneuron, sensory neuron, motor neuron d. sensory neuron, brain, interneuron, motor neuron

b. sensory neuron, interneuron, motor neuron, brain

Members of a species who possess the range of physical and psychological attributes best adapted to the environment are most likely to survive. This concept is known as a. natural selection. b. survival of the fittest. c. genotypical structure. d. phenotypical structure.

b. survival of the fittest.

With respect to the notions of reliability and validity, it can be concluded that a. if an experiment is reliable, then it also must be valid. b. tests or experiments can be reliable without being valid. c. if a test is reliable, then it also must be valid. d. a test can be reliable without being valid, but not an experiment.

b. tests or experiments can be reliable without being valid.

In a study presented in the textbook regarding encoding specificity, questions were posed in either Mandarin or English. It was found that participants were more likely to provide an answer a. that was easier to describe in their native language. b. that matched the language other than the one in which the question was posed. c. that matched the language in which the question was posed. d. when the original researchers were not present.

b. that matched the language other than the one in which the question was posed.

The book suggests, that to say the least, the term consciousness is a. tangible. b. cogent. c. ambiguous. d. precise.

c. ambiguous.

It is best to characterize working memory as a Select one: a. physical place in the brain. b. mechanism that operates in isolation from short- and long-term memory. c. conduit for information coming from and going to long-term memory. d. biological process occurring in the brain.

c. conduit for information coming from and going to long-term memory.

You think you recognize the woman in the grocery store line, but you can't quite seem to place her. Later, when you see her in a familiar setting of the restaurant where she is a waitress, you make the connection. This best illustrates the importance to perceptual identification of a. bottom-up processing. b. nature and nurture. c. context and expectations. d. personality and motivation.

c. context and expectations.

Dream researcher Stephen LaBerge believes that lucid dreaming Select one: a. is a trance state much like hypnosis. b. may be harmful to a person's long term mental health. c. enhances self-confidence for the individual. d. distorts the natural process of dreaming.

c. enhances self-confidence for the individual.

Covering your ears when you find yourself in a room that is too noisy is an example of ________ conditioning; wearing earplugs that reduce sound intensity before going into a room that you know will be too noisy is an example of ________ conditioning. a. operant; classical b. avoidance; escape c. escape; avoidance d. classical; operant

c. escape; avoidance

The central emphasis of the cognitive approach is on a. principles of evolution. b. human feelings and emotions. c. human thought and knowledge. d. inner forces that push and pull behavior.

c. human thought and knowledge.

The ethical guidelines that all psychological researchers must follow include all of the following EXCEPT that a. participants have the right to withdraw their data if they feel they have been misused or their rights abused. b. all records of subject behavior must be kept confidential. c. humans must be paid for their research participation. d. experimenters must explain the reasons for any deceptions.

c. humans must be paid for their research participation.

A man has problems sleeping. He rarely falls asleep quickly, is frequently aroused during sleep, and wakens too early in the morning. It is most likely that the man is suffering from a. narcolepsy. b. sleep apnea. c. insomnia. d. nightmares.

c. insomnia.

Defective color vision is most likely to occur in ________, and is most likely to affect the discrimination of ________. a. females; blue and yellow b. females; red and green c. males; red and green d. males; blue and yellow

c. males; red and green

Reflex responses, which are central to classical conditioning, are a. learned responses to specific stimuli. b. conditioned behaviors. c. naturally elicited, unlearned responses. d. naturally occurring associations between stimuli.

c. naturally elicited, unlearned responses.

During the absolute refractory period, a. neurons can fire continuously. b. only the strongest stimulation will cause another action potential to be generated. c. no amount of further stimulation can induce another action potential to develop. d. the neuron will fire to a stimulus that is slightly stronger than what is normally necessary.

c. no amount of further stimulation can induce another action potential to develop.

Suppose that laboratory animals are taught that a tone predicts food delivery. Then, a light is added as a second CS and they are given additional trials paired with food. If the animals now are tested with the light alone, they will a. salivate to the light, but less quickly than they did to the tone. b. salivate equally to the light as they did to the tone. c. not salivate to the light. d. salivate more to the light than when it was presented with the tone.

c. not salivate to the light.

For memory researcher and theorist Karl Lashley, the engram represents the a. psychological basis of memory. b. part of the mind that is responsible for encoding. c. physical memory representation in the brain. d. strategies utilized by the mind to memorize information.

c. physical memory representation in the brain.

A young man has begun to look and sound more physically mature, with the beginnings of a beard and a deeper voice. These changes can be attributed to the secretions of the a. parathyroid. b. ovaries. c. pituitary. d. pancreas.

c. pituitary.

Researchers have determined that the active chemicals in marijuana, the cannabinoids, bind to specific receptors in the brain. Later research has shown that endogenous cannabinoids exist in the brain, and that they play an ongoing role in food consumption. Besides their role in regulating appetite, endocannabinoids also a. cause cravings for sour tastes. b. play a role in inhibition of depressed mood. c. play a role in reward systems in the brain. d. decrease pleasure when sweet foods are eaten.

c. play a role in reward systems in the brain.

A researcher is testing a young man for his visual absolute threshold. She presents a dim light and asks him whether he detected it. The young man wants to please the researcher, so he says "yes" every time she presents a stimulus. A friend suggests she should use some catch trials. In other words, she should a. not record his responses on trials where a very dim light is presented. b. have someone else present the stimuli in an attempt to catch the subject cheating. c. present no stimulus at all on some trials. d. present a very bright stimulus on some trials.

c. present no stimulus at all on some trials.

A researcher who is trying to develop a test of musical aptitude is overheard to say, "I want to make sure that the test that I am developing gives similar results time after time." In the language of psychological measurement, this researcher is determined to develop a test that has high a. standardization. b. applicability. c. reliability. d. validity.

c. reliability.

While discussing the functions of the brain stem, the lecturer notices that many of his students appear to have fallen asleep. This reminds him of the ________, which arouses the cerebral cortex to attend to new stimulation and keeps the brain alert even during sleep. a. medulla b. pons c. reticular formation d. cerebellum

c. reticular formation

A child thinks of a restaurant as a place where you go when you are hungry, where you order your food at a counter, mommy pays for it before you get it, and where you play in the playground after eating. This child's mental representation of a restaurant, which is likely to change as she gets older, is an example of a/an a. engram. b. memory hierarchy. c. schema. d. prototype.

c. schema.

Concepts may be combined into larger units or "knowledge packages" that encode complex generalizations about your experiences. These conceptual frameworks are called a. engrams. b. prototypes. c. schemas. d. basic level concepts.

c. schemas.

A researcher who is interested in documenting the relationship between internal psychological states such as a person's motivation to succeed and his or her feelings of self-confidence would most likely use a ________ measure. a. physiological b. behavioral c. self-report d. naturalistic observational

c. self-report

A researcher would be most likely to use naturalistic observation to determine whether males or females are more likely to a. take sleeping pills. b. have dreams with sexual content. c. show courtesy when approaching a busy intersection in a car. d. take baths.

c. show courtesy when approaching a busy intersection in a car.

You see a story on television about a woman who stops breathing hundreds of times during the course of the night. Without being told, you realize that this woman suffers from a condition that is technically known as a. oxygen deprivation disorder. b. narcolepsy. c. sleep apnea. d. cataplexy.

c. sleep apnea.

In the brain, nicotine a. fools receptor sites into responding as if it were bad for you to be smoking, although the smoker continues to smoke due to nicotine addiction. b. does not seem to mimic the natural chemicals released by the brain. c. stimulates receptors that make you feel good when you have done something right. d. affects regions which are also targeted by depressants.

c. stimulates receptors that make you feel good when you have done something right.

A member of a rock band has become concerned with whether his band's music is contributing to deafness among members of the audience. The factor he should be most concerned with is ________ to which the audience is exposed. a. whether harmonics are present in the music b. the frequency of sine waves c. the number of decibels d. the pitch of the music

c. the number of decibels

In the context of the action potential, all of the following are consequences of the all-or-none law EXCEPT that a. if the threshold is not reached, no action potential occurs. b. the size of the action potential does not diminish along the length of the axon. c. the size of the action potential varies as a function of the intensity of stimulation. d. once started, the action potential needs no outside stimulation to keep going.

c. the size of the action potential varies as a function of the intensity of stimulation.

In a study conducted in England by Haddock, participants were asked how much they were interested in politics. Then the questionnaire continued in one of four ways. One version asked the participants to list two positive characteristics for Prime Minister Tony Blair. A second version asked participants to list five positive characteristics for the prime minister. The remaining two versions of the questionnaires asked for two or five negative characteristics. Results revealed that for the subset of participants who were relatively uninterested in politics, a. their ratings of Tony Blair were relatively more positive when they attempted to recall positive characteristics. b. their ratings of Tony Blair were relatively more negative when they attempted to recall two negative characteristics. c. their ratings of Tony Blair were relatively more positive when they attempted to recall five negative characteristics. d. there was no link between the generation of either positive or negative characteristics and the participants' liking or disliking Tony Blair.

c. their ratings of Tony Blair were relatively more positive when they attempted to recall five negative characteristics.

In a study that is described in the textbook, amnesic and control individuals were tested for explicit and implicit memory ability. Results indicated that a. amnesics perform as well as controls on tests of explicit memory. b. amnesia can be brought about by giving controls tests of implicit and explicit memory. c. amnesics perform as well as controls on all types of memory tests. d. amnesics perform as well as controls on tests of implicit memory.

d. amnesics perform as well as controls on tests of implicit memory.

Research on split-brain patients has suggested that, when compared to the right hemisphere, the left hemisphere has a style that is more a. insightful. b. global. c. holistic. d. analytical.

d. analytical.

Imagine, for a moment, that you are a finch and that you live in an environment in which seeds of all types are plentiful. Under these circumstances, the size of your beak would a. enhance your chances of survival, but not your offspring's chances. b. enhance your chances of survival. c. detract from your chances of survival. d. be irrelevant to your survival.

d. be irrelevant to your survival.

You come across a friend who is reading a request for volunteers to participate in a study of circadian rhythms. Your friend seems puzzled and asks you what the study might involve. You should tell your friend that circadian rhythms are a. likely to be found on tests of musical intelligence. b. birth control techniques. c. patterns of rhyme and meter used in studies of language behavior. d. bodily cycles that affect such things as arousal levels and metabolism.

d. bodily cycles that affect such things as arousal levels and metabolism. Feedback

You are working with a friend to develop flash cards to help your study of brain structures and their functions. Your friend remembers correctly that the ________ is involved primarily in autonomic processes such as heart rate and breathing, and you remember that the ________ is involved in motivation, emotion and memory processes. a. cerebral cortex; brain stem b. limbic system; brain stem c. cerebrum; cerebral cortex d. brain stem; limbic system

d. brain stem; limbic system

A woman has volunteered for an investigation of mental strategies. The experimenter asks her to express verbally what she is thinking as she works through some problems. The researcher is probably a. introspecting. b. using the experience-sampling method. c. measuring nonconscious processes. d. collecting think-aloud protocols.

d. collecting think-aloud protocols.

To become a more sophisticated and critical thinker one should a. remember that correlation is the same as causation. b. avoid being concerned with operational definitions of concepts. c. accept obvious explanations rather than seeking alternatives. d. consider first how to disprove a theory before seeking confirming evidence.

d. consider first how to disprove a theory before seeking confirming evidence.

In tracing some of the structures that light energy encounters as it moves through the eye from the outside world, the sequence is a. anterior chamber, cornea, pupil, retina, vitreous humor. b. anterior chamber, pupil, cornea, vitreous humor, retina. c. pupil, vitreous humor, cornea, anterior chamber, retina. d. cornea, anterior chamber, pupil, vitreous humor, retina.

d. cornea, anterior chamber, pupil, vitreous humor, retina.

The distortion process by which the hidden meaning of a dream is transformed into what is remembered by the dreamer was referred to by Freud as a. dream wish. b. manifest content. c. latent content. d. dream work.

d. dream work.

Suppose you want to draw some psychological conclusions in a way that is consistent with the scientific aspect of psychology. You should base your conclusions on a. the beliefs held by most people. b. the fundamental notion of common sense. c. your personal feelings or intuitions, but only if they are reasonable. d. evidence collected according to the principles of the scientific method.

d. evidence collected according to the principles of the scientific method.

A woman is a hypochondriac. She is always reading medical journals and is constantly experiencing imagined symptoms of medical problems. Lately, she has been gaining a lot of weight, and feels that her internal physiological processes are out of balance. She is most likely to conclude that she has suffered brain damage to her a. parietal lobe. b. amygdala. c. thalamus. d. hypothalamus.

d. hypothalamus.

Having good numerical skills is a. not important because as a psychology major you will not have to learn statistics. b. not important because as a psychologist you will not often use statistics. c. important because you will recognize the numerical difference between "10% out of 100" and "10 out of 100." d. important because you are less likely to be influenced by how statistics are presented.

d. important because you are less likely to be influenced by how statistics are presented.

At first, a golfer is having a hard time deciding whether a large mound is in front of or behind a distant hole. Since the mound partially blocks a flag that indicates the location of the hole, he concludes that the hole is farther away than the mound, based on the pictorial cue called a. retinal disparity. b. texture gradients. c. linear perspective. d. interposition.

d. interposition.

In Robert Rescorla's experiment, the dogs exposed to contingency training a. jumped less frequently in the presence of the tone than the dogs in the contiguous condition. b. jumped in the presence of the tone at similar levels to the dogs in the contiguous condition. c. were more traumatized by the shock of the tone than were the dogs in the contiguous condition. d. jumped more frequently in the presence of the tone than the dogs in the contiguous condition.

d. jumped more frequently in the presence of the tone than the dogs in the contiguous condition.

While trying to study in the library, you are distracted by two students who are arguing about which CS-UCS time interval is most effective. One student claims that a second or less is best, but the other is positive that longer intervals of five to fifteen seconds work best. Finally, you go over and tell them that the a. shorter the interval the better. b. longer the interval the better. c. optimal interval most depends upon the person who is being conditioned. d. optimal interval most depends upon the response being conditioned.

d. optimal interval most depends upon the response being conditioned.

To be able to use the information about depth that is supplied by the cues of retinal disparity and convergence, a. the head must be moved slowly back and forth. b. objects must be farther than ten feet away. c. people must keep one eye closed. d. people must have two working eyes.

d. people must have two working eyes.

One day while playing golf, you catch your opponent cheating. Your subsequent belief that your opponent also probably cheats on his income tax is most consistent with which of the psychologist's research goals? Select one: a. control b. description c. explanation d. prediction

d. prediction

Imagine that you are being taught how to conduct an interview. You are reminded that a good interviewer must try to create a positive social relationship with the respondent in order to facilitate trust and open communication. In other words, you are being trained to establish a. empathy. b. a common language. c. confidence. d. rapport.

d. rapport.

A boy is teaching his younger sister how to make her bed. At first, he tells her she did a good job if she gets the bedspread pulled up, even if the sheets are still rumpled. Each following day, he encourages her to be a little neater before telling her she did a good job. The boy may not know it, but he is using a. primary reinforcement. b. a fixed-interval schedule. c. secondary reinforcement. d. shaping by successive approximations.

d. shaping by successive approximations.

A friend is taking a drug awareness class. One of the things he learns is that LSD, a hallucinogenic drug that produces bizarre sensory experiences, is believed to work because it a. increases the production of serotonin. b. enhances the effect of serotonin, which is normally excitatory. c. removes serotonin from the body. d. suppresses the effect of serotonin neurons.

d. suppresses the effect of serotonin neurons