Psychology Exam 3
Thirteen-year-old Erin and her mother were in a car accident. Her mother was fine, but Erin had a cut on her forehead. When the attractive EMT came over to her, Erin would be most likely to say:
"Don't look at me. I must look terrible."
The brain cortex peaks at producing neurons at _____ weeks.
28
How many human chromosomes are common to both males and females?
45
Given findings from recent adoption studies, which of the following scenarios is the MOST likely?
An adopted brother and sister reared together will share the same political and religious beliefs.
DNA
a complex molecule containing the genetic information that makes up the chromosomes
After Nadia learned that penguins can't fly, she had to modify her existing concept of birds. This best illustrates the process of
accommadation
G. Stanley Hall was one of the first psychologists to describe _____.
adolescence
the transition period from childhood to adulthood, extending from puberty to independence.
adolescence
Chromosomes are contained within
all these types of cells
A reflex refers to
an automatic response to sensory stimulation
Because of cataracts, a neighbor was deprived of visual experiences during early childhood. Last year, her vision was restored by surgery but she is having difficulty in dealing with the visual world. This is probably because:
brain cells normally devoted to vision died or were diverted to other uses.
A key task in adolescence is to achieve a sense of _____.
purpose
Shelly just drew a picture for her mother. When her mother asked to see it, Shelly held it up to her own eyes. Shelly is demonstrating:
egocentrism
Since the advent of the Internet, there has been a(n) ________ in the percentage of American couples who report meeting online. The percentage meeting online is currently ________ among same-sex couples than among heterosexual couples.
increase; larger
Early experiences influence how the brain develops by:
increasing neural connections
The average genetic difference between two groups is _____ than the difference between two individuals within those groups.
less
Ants that become less sensitive to the repellants that are sprayed on them and are able to multiply are an example of:
natural selection
Bacteria that resist a hospital's antibiotics rapidly multiply as other bacteria die off. This best illustrates:
natural selection
In emphasizing that heredity's effects on behavior depend on a person's home environment, psychologists are highlighting the importance of
nature‒nurture interactions.
Five-year-old Ling is beginning to show signs of being able to plan ahead in a somewhat rational manner. At her age, this development is likely due to:
neural networks sprouting in her frontal lobes.
Among older adults, hearing loss, and its associated social isolation, predicts the incidence of depression and
neurocognitive disorder
An example of prospective memory is:
remembering to buy bread at the store
A slow _____ response has been found in abused children who became aggressive teens and adults.
serotonin
Nine-year-old Jared has one very good friend. The two boys spend a great deal of time playing one-on-one basketball, and often can be heard talking to each other about a wide range of personal topics. Compared to other boys his age, Jared is:
somewhat unusual, because most boys his age typically play in large groups and do not engage in intimate discussion.
Questions about the extent to which maladaptive habits learned in childhood can be overcome in adulthood are most directly relevant to the issue of
stability and change
Based on research into the responses of infants immediately after birth, we can be MOST certain that the human fetus is aware of and learns to recognize:
the sound of the mother singing
Children's anxiety over parental separation peaks around _____ months of age.
13
Maturation refers to
biological growth processes that are relatively uninfluenced by experience.
Teen impulsivity is to frontal lobe development, as old age _____ is to frontal lobe atrophy.
bluntness
Adolescents are most likely to be influenced by their parents with respect to ________, and they are most likely to be influenced by their peers with respect to ________.
career choices; clothing preferences
in Piaget's theory, the stage of cognitive development (from about 7 to 11 years of age) during which children gain the mental operations that enable them to think logically about concrete events.
concrete operational stage
Mark thinks that language development over the life span requires a slow but steady shaping process. His belief is most directly relevant to the issue of
continuity and stages
Max is 17 years old. He has decided to help out at Buddy Ball this summer. He will help disabled children play baseball. Max knows that this will look good on his college applications. Max is probably in the _____ stage of moral development.
conventional
Intense and reactive infants become unusually anxious and aroused when facing new or strange situations. This best illustrates the impact of
temperament
Which of the following is the term used by psychologists to describe an infant's inborn predisposition to behave and react in a particular way?
temperament
If research suggested that a pregnant mother's use of an artificial sweetener caused harm to the fetus, the artificial sweetener would be considered a(n)
teratogen
According to researchers, a child who hears English spoken with one accent at home and another in the neighborhood and at school will usually adopt:
the accent of the peers.
Genes
the biochemical units of heredity that make up the chromosomes; segments of DNA capable of synthesizing proteins.
Which of the following best illustrates the interaction between genes and experience?
A child genetically predisposed to be attractive in a particular culture receives more nurturance and develops a warm personality in adulthood.
Chromosomes are threadlike structures made of
DNA molecules
Dr. Garcia believes that everyone passes through the same stages of development in the same order. Since this is Dr. Garcia's view, which of the following is he most likely to disagree with?
Development is a direct result of experience and learning.
The process of developing a sense of identity during adolescence was highlighted by
Erik Erikson's psychosocial development theory.
The tendency to emphasize the impact of parents' child-rearing practices on children's personality has been most characteristic of:
Freudian psychologists
Which of the following statements best describes the relationship between genes and experience?
Genes and experience interact.
Lin, who is Chinese, is a twin. Pierre, who is French, is also a twin. Statistically, which twin is likely to be identical, rather than fraternal?
Lin
In a study on aggression, a group of university students were given an experimental task intended to be purposely frustrating. Then, the participants were given a task that forced them to administer (fake) electric shocks to another participant. Given what is known about gender differences and aggression, who do you think administered more painful electric shocks?
Men administered more painful electric shocks.
90% 15 months; 50% first birthday
N/A
What is the PRIMARY question asked by behavioral geneticists?
What specific genes influence behavior?
A female has a(n) _____ combination in the _____
XX; 23rd pair of chromosomes
Three-year old Sam is talking to his grandmother on the phone. He says, "Look what I got today." Sam's mom explains that his grandmother can't see him. Is Sam's mom wasting her time explaining?
Yes, Sam has not developed a theory of mind yet.
The process of imprinting occurs during a brief developmental phase known as
a critical period
When scientists compared the brains of rats raised in an enriched environment with the brains of rats raised in an impoverished environment, the rats raised in an enriched environment had:
a larger number of synapses
Men are LESS likely than women to
ask for other people's opinions in a group discussion.
Tommy was at the park with his father and excitedly pointed to the squirrel and exclaimed, "Kitty, kitty." His father pointed out that this was a squirrel, not a kitty. This best illustrates the process of _____.
assimilation
interpreting our new experiences in terms of our existing schemas.
assimilation
Steven Pinker, a world-renowned evolutionary psychologist, states that many human traits are due to evolutionary heritage. Which trait is NOT one thought to be due primarily to natural selection?
attention span
Adopted children are especially likely to have similar ________ if raised in the same home.
attitudes
"I don't care whether you want to wash the dishes, you will do so because I said so!" This statement is most representative of a(n) ________ parenting style.
authoritarian
When the mother's egg and the father's sperm unite, each contributes 23 _________.
chromosomes
Habituation refers to the
decreasing responsiveness to a stimulus to which one is repeatedly exposed
Dr. Matsuko's major research interest is the long-term effects of child-raising practices on the psychological adjustment of offspring. It is most likely that Dr. Matsuko is a(n) ________ psychologist.
developmental
a branch of psychology that studies physical, cognitive, and social change throughout the life span.
developmental psychology
Every nongenetic influence, from prenatal nutrition to the people and things around us, is an aspect of our
environment
Researchers studying mice have found that in utero exposure to certain chemicals can cause genetically identical twins to have different colored fur. This is best explained by the fact that genetically linked traits can be modified by
epigenetic marks
If it were necessary to determine the identity of an alleged perpetrator of a crime when a suspect is an identical twin, scientists would need to analyze the twins' _____.
epigenome
Judson is a 70-year-old retired automobile mechanic. In contrast to when he was 20, he now probably
is less susceptible to catching colds.
It would be harder for a person in late adulthood to win a game of Jeopardy because:
it takes longer to produce the answers.
A behavior geneticist would be most interested in studying hereditary influences on
personality traits
Adoptive parents are LEAST likely to influence the _____ of their adopted children.
personality traits
Adoptive parents are LEAST likely to influence the ________ of their adopted children.
personality traits
Nutrients and oxygen are transferred from a mother to her developing fetus through the
placenta
Identical twins who have separate placentas are somewhat less similar than identical twins who share a placenta. This best illustrates the influence of ________ on development.
prenatal environments
Adolescent selective pruning of unused neurons and connections are to road construction as adolescent impulsivity and _____ are to an absent brake pedal.
risk taking
A public initiation into adult responsibilities and status is called a
rite of passage
Jessica acts so differently with her parents than with her girlfriends that she often thinks her personality is completely phony. Erik Erikson would have suggested that Jessica is experiencing
role confusion
By a week after birth, infants are able to distinguish between their mothers' ________ and that of another nursing mother
smell
Developmental psychologists study physical, cognitive, and ________ changes throughout the human life span.
social
The effect of rewards and punishments on gender typing is most clearly emphasized by
social learning theory
the theory that we learn social behavior by observing and imitating and by being rewarded or punished.
social learning theory
genome
the complete instructions for making an organism, consisting of all the genetic material in that organism's chromosomes.
Fran's life is more hectic than ever. She is 55 years old and works full-time. Her son just graduated from college, but since he can't find a job, he moved back home. Her mother is getting frail and she is thinking about putting her in an assisted living facility. Fran is experiencing
the tugs of the sandwich generation
chromosomes
threadlike structures made of DNA molecules that contain the genes.
decreasing responsiveness with repeated stimulation. As infants gain familiarity with repeated exposure to a stimulus, their interest wanes and they look away sooner.
habituation
Anatoli and Andrei are 11-month-old identical twins. Anatoli took his first steps yesterday. How soon will Andrei take his first steps?
same day or next day
Every time 2-year old Rosa goes near the stove, her mother stops her and says, "No, hot!" Rosa's mother is providing her with a _____ to help her internalize.
scaffold
The concepts of masculinity and femininity that we use to organize our world are called gender
schemas
a concept or framework that organizes and interprets information.
schemas
the fertilized egg; it enters a 2-week period of rapid cell division and develops into an embryo.
zygote
Although 3-year-old Adam happily explores the attractive toys located in the dentist's waiting room, he periodically returns to his mother's side for brief moments. Adam most clearly displays signs of
secure attachment
all our thoughts and feelings about ourselves, in answer to the question, "Who am I?"
self concept
Those who emphasize change over stability would choose which of the following statements as an example?
The first two years of life provide a poor basis for predicting a person's eventual traits.
Which of the following is NOT an issue that raises doubt to the stage view of development?
The human brain experiences growth spurts during childhood and puberty that correspond to Piaget's theory.
The acquisition of a traditional masculine or feminine role is called
gender typing
Put the following cell structures in order from smallest to largest: nucleus, gene, chromosome
gene, chromosome, nucleus
Heritability refers to the extent to which trait variations among individuals are attributable to their differing
genes
Evolutionary psychologists attribute the human tendency to fear snakes and heights to
genetic predispositions
Evolutionary psychologists would be most likely to attribute the human tendency to fear spiders and snakes to
genetic predispositions
biological status, defined by your chromosomes and anatomy
sex
Menopause involves a decline in
fertility
According to research cited in the text, infant rats that were _____ gained weight more rapidly and developed faster neurologically than those rats that were _____.
handled; not handled
our sense of self; according to Erikson, the adolescent's task is to solidify a sense of self by testing and integrating various roles.
identity
the process by which certain animals form strong attachments during early life.
imprinting
Marissa resents the burden and constraints of caring for her infant daughter and frequently ignores her cries for attention. As a consequence, her daughter is most likely to display signs of
insecure attachment
Two of the most unhealthy lifestyle factors of contemporary English-speaking countries are _____ and _____.
insufficient sleep; long work hours
Identifying the interactive influence of specific DNA sequences and child-raising practices on the development of traits such as anxiety best illustrates the specialty area known as
molecular behavior genetics
Compared with fraternal twins, identical twins are
more similar in their risk of developing autism spectrum disorder and more similar in risk of being emotionally unstable.
After rats were housed for 60 days in enriched environments, Bryan Kolb and Ian Whishaw (1998) reported that the rats' brain weight increased
7 to 10 percent.
Clay has always had a strong sexual desire for his wife. Recently, though, his desire has reduced. This may be because Clay is now older than _____ years of age.
75
Jake is a 3-month-old baby who is no longer as interested in a puppet head as he once was. What has happened here?
He has become habituated.
According to the latest research on temperament, which is the most likely outcome for a highly reactive and impulsive toddler?
He or she will continue to be highly reactive and conflict prone into adulthood.
Kerry's grandmother is in her early eighties and is beginning to seem frail. Which of the following is she likely to notice about her abilities?
Her hearing, distance perception, and sense of smell are diminishing
Recently, there was a horrible story about a 14-year-old girl who was kept in isolation by her parents and was not exposed to any type of language. Now that she is out of isolation, what is the most likely outcome for her language development?
It is unlikely she will be able to master any language.
According to an evolutionary psychologist, why might a pregnant woman experience morning sickness?
Nausea might predispose her to avoid certain foods which may harm her developing baby.
Which of the following is true concerning the stability and change developmental issue?
Our temperament is more predictable than our social attitudes.
The importance of schemas was most clearly highlighted by
Piaget's cognitive development theory
Cameron's sister's fiance has an identical twin brother who has been divorced three times. What research information would be MOST applicable to his situation?
Research has shown that behavioral tendencies such as divorce can be attributable to genetic factors.
Those who emphasize continuity over stages would choose which of the following as an example?
Students learn new facts about history from taking a school course.
If newborns have all their brain cells at birth, why can't they talk immediately?
Their nervous systems are not connected enough.
temperament
a person's characteristic emotional reactivity and intensity
Thirteen-year-old Ariana is getting more involved in risky behaviors, which has her mother very worried. Ariana is also more impulsive and emotionally volatile than she used to be. What is the most likely explanation for Ariana's behavior?
a pubertal hormone surge
The increasing rates of Autism Spectrum Disorders may suggest:
a relabeling of childhood disorders.
Many people all over the world react similarly when they are reunited with loved ones. For example, if watching people greet each other at family reunions, they tend to have the same joyful expressions on their faces no matter what country they come from. An evolutionary psychologist would attribute this similarity to:
a shared human genome
A child's realization that others may have beliefs that the child knows to be false best illustrates the development of
a theory of mind
When a child adapts her current understandings to incorporate her new experience, this is known as _____
accommadation
in developmental psychology, adapting our current understandings (schemas) to incorporate new information.
accommadation
People are especially likely to show flexibility in their career choices if they are
androgynous
Which of the following is NOT true about men in general as compared to women?
are choosier about sexual partners
Deficient social interaction and an impaired understanding of others' emotional states is most characteristic of
autism spectrum disorder.
The development of the brain continues past childhood. For example, if a monkey pushes a lever with its finger several thousand times a day, the _____ that controls the finger changes as a result of the experience.
brain tissue
all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating
cognition
Defining one's identity in terms of one's extended family or work group is most closely associated with
collectivism
Displays of humility are most characteristic of those who value
collectivism
Shifting national boundaries in the Middle East in the past century are an illustration of the way in which cultures _____ and _____.
compete for resources
Two closed, pyramid-shaped beakers containing clearly identical amounts of a liquid are judged by a child to hold different amounts after one of the beakers is inverted. The child apparently lacks a
concept of conservation
Childhood is to adolescence as:
concrete images are to abstract ideas.
the principle (which Piaget believed to be a part of concrete operational reasoning) that properties such as mass, volume, and number remain the same despite changes in the forms of objects.
conservation
association areas of ______ are last to develop
cortex
Terminally ill and bereaved people do not go through predictable stages of grief such as _____ before anger
denial
Chromosomes are composed of
deoxyribonucleic acid
Boris was raised in a Russian orphanage where he was given minimal care. At age 6, he was adopted by a loving American family. As he matures, it is likely that Boris will:
display anxiety
Physical exercise in late adulthood has been found to
do all of these things
in Piaget's theory, the preoperational child's difficulty taking another's point of view.
egocentrism
the developing human organism from about 2 weeks after fertilization through the second month.
embryo
Ilana's married friend Gwen is quite upset. She asks her why she, rather than her husband, is always the one who cooks, cleans, and takes care of the children the majority of the time. Ilana tells her all of the following EXCEPT that:
employed women have more time to devote to taking care of the children.
People with autism have a tendency to be aloof, so that they keep a distance from others that feels emotionally manageable to them. Others, in turn, are likely to maintain that interpersonal distance. In this case, aloofness is a(n) _____ trait.
evocative
Identical twins have nearly identical appearance and personality. Because of this, they typically _____ identical responses from those around them.
evoke
Who are most likely to be criticized for overestimating the impact of genes on male-female differences in sexual behavior?
evolutionary psychologists
Newborns have been observed to show the greatest visual interest in a
face-like image
When studying diseases with potential genetic influences, scientists are MOST likely to first examine
family history
the developing human organism from 9 weeks after conception to birth.
fetus
in Piaget's theory, the stage of cognitive development (normally beginning about age 12) during which people begin to think logically about abstract concepts.
formal operational stage
Adolescents' sense of what's fair is most likely to change from simple equality to what's proportional to merit when they achieve
formal operations
Two individuals are most likely to differ in personality if they are
fraternal twins who were raised apart.
From ages 3 to 6, the brain's neural networks are sprouting most rapidly in the
frontal lobes
During adolescence, maturation of the ________ lags behind maturation of the ________.
frontal lobes; limbic system
culture's expectations about what it means to be male or female
gender
Over the past decades, women have been increasingly expected to take responsibility for political leadership. This best illustrates a change in
gender roles
Traditionally, men were expected to initiate dates and women to select wedding gifts. This best illustrates aspects of
gender roles
a set of expected behaviors, attitudes, and traits for males or for females
gender roles
Because he believes that crying is a feminine trait, 14-year-old George has difficulty admitting that a movie makes him tearful. His experience best illustrates the impact of
gender schemas
Evolutionary psychology most clearly suggests that human behavioral and biological similarities arise from our shared
genome
Delayed _____ is a trait that is associated with becoming more socially responsible and productive.
gratification
Infant visual preferences have been discovered by assessing infants'
habituation
The best evidence that newborns possess visual memory capabilities comes from research on
habituation
According to Erik Erikson, older adults can most effectively cope with the prospect of their own death if they have achieved a sense of _____.
integrity
According to Erikson, older adults can most effectively cope with the prospect of their own death if they have achieved a sense of
integrity
There is very little relationship between the age of an adult and his or her
level of life satisfaction
Christy and John are in love and have been married for 18 years. Which of the following is NOT a reason why their relationship has been able to endure for so long?
marrying before age 20
DNA is a complex
molecule
Compared with the children of authoritarian parents, the children of authoritative parents are
more likely to develop a sense of self-reliance and more likely to demonstrate social competence
Is there more variation between or within human populations?
more variation within
Your aging aunt Luella has had a series of small strokes. These strokes can progressively damage her brain and are most likely to produce _____.
neurocognitive disorders
As adults grow older, they are most likely to show a decline in their ability to remember
nonsense syllables
For many years psychologists thought that _____ was a major key to attachment until an accidental discovery by psychologists Harlow and Harlow overturned this assumption.
nourishment
Those who emphasize biological maturation tend to view development as:
occurring in stages.
When touched on the cheek, infants reflexively
open their mouths
Mark believes that choosing to violate government laws is morally justifiable if it is done to protect the lives of innocent people. Kohlberg would suggest that this illustrates ________ morality.
postconventional
Mark believes that choosing to violate government laws is morally justifiable if it is done to protect the lives of innocent people. Lawrence Kohlberg would suggest that this illustrates _____ morality
postconventional
During this stage of Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development, children are able to represent things with words and images and use intuitive rather than logical reasoning.
preoperational
in Piaget's theory, the stage (from about 2 to about 6 or 7 years of age) during which a child learns to use language but does not yet comprehend the mental operations of concrete logic.
preoperational stage
By _____, children's self-concept includes their gender, group memberships, psychological traits, and comparisons to other children.
school age
During Piaget's sensorimotor stage, children acquire a
sense of object permanence
in Piaget's theory, the stage (from birth to nearly 2 years of age) during which infants know the world mostly in terms of their sensory impressions and motor activities.
sensorimotor stage
The brain's development of increasingly complex neural networks during infancy is made possible by the formation of billions of new
synapses
Sharon is researching play style differences between boys and girls during outdoor recess. She notices that the girls spend more time _____ while the boys spend more time participating in rough-and-tumble play.
talking
The tips of chromosomes that wear down as we age are called
telomeres
Taking certain drugs during pregnancy is likely to expose unborn children to
teratogens
heritability
the proportion of variation among individuals that we can attribute to genes. The heritability of a trait may vary, depending on the range of populations and environments studied.
Juan is a Puerto Rican boy who currently lives in Manhattan with his mother who speaks very little English. Juan attends school with bilingual peers and English-speaking teachers. How well will he speak English?
the same as his peers
Recent research on babies has shown that babies prefer honest people over dishonest ones. This research is consistent with other findings showing that children globally have _____.
the same basic morality
Juan's son was just arrested for setting the school's outdoor shed on fire. Juan and his wife admitted to the police that their son has always had an aggressive streak. This example represents:
the stability side of the "stability and change" developmental issue.
Mary-Kate and Ashley, the Olson twins, are widely believed to be identical. However, they are actually fraternal twins. If researchers were to study them _____ would make it more difficult for researchers to distinguish environmental and genetic influences on the sisters' development.
the unusual amount of time they spend together (shared environment)
people's ideas about their own and others' mental states—about their feelings, perceptions, and thoughts, and the behaviors these might predict.
theory of mind
Newborn infants typically prefer their mother's voice over their father's voice because
they become familiar with their mother's voice before they are born.
Even though identical twins share DNA and a prenatal environment, they may not have identical prenatal experiences. This is because _____.
they may have separate placentas
One of the possible explanations for the lack of similarity between adopted children raised by adoptive parents is _____.
they spend time with different peers
All of the following represent biological maturation EXCEPT:
vocabulary development.
When people breed dogs, are they capitalizing on any component of natural selection?
yes--they take advantage of variable traits in the dog population
