Psychology Final

Intellectual disability (formerly called mental retardation) is a condition of limited mental ability in which an individual has an IQ of _____ and has difficulty adapting to everyday life.

70 or below

According to research on alcoholism, which of the following individuals is most likely to become dependent on alcohol?

Aaron, who began drinking at age 12 with the neighborhood kids.

_____ is the initial learning of the connection between the unconditioned stimulus and the conditioned stimulus when these two stimuli are paired.

Acquisition

Maria is a generous and altruistic woman who has a strong religious faith. According to the big five model of personality, Maria would likely score high on which of the following traits?

Agreeableness

____ is a psychological disorder characterized by guiltlessness, law-breaking, exploitation of others, irresponsibility, and deceit.

Antisocial personality disorder

___ is a psychological disorder, commonly diagnosed in childhood, in which an individual exhibits one or more of the following symptoms: a lack of concentration, excitability, and impulsivity.

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

___ are people's opinions and beliefs about other people, objects, and ideas, and how they feel about the world.

Attitudes

The _______ approach emphasizes the scientific study of observable behavioral responses and their environmental determinants.

Behavioral

The ______ is the area on the retina where there are no rods & no cones.

Blind spot

___ is an OCD-related disorder that involves a distressing preoccupation with imagined or slight flaws in one's physical appearance

Body dysmorphic disorder

Which approach to psychology focuses on how we direct our attention, perceive, remember, think, & solve problems?

Cognitive

___ is the psychological discomfort caused by two inconsistent thoughts.

Cognitive dissonance

Ashley, a secretary at Plato Inc., is typing on her computer, talking on the phone, & handing some papers to her colleague simultaneously. Which of the following characteristics of the nervous system is best illustrated in this scenario?

Complexity

_______ involves the ability to think about something in novel and unusual ways and to devise unvonventional solutions to problems.

Creativity

_____ entails responding to the stress that one is feeling without confronting the root problem.

Emotion-focused coping

Dr. Steinguard wants to demonstrate a cause-and-effect relationship between stress & memory. Which research method should he use?

Experimental method

______ in classical conditioning is the weakening of the conditioned response when the unconditioned stimulus is absent.

Extinction

According to Piaget's theory of cognitive development, the ability to think about things that are not concrete, make predictions, and use logic to come up with hypotheses about the future is attained during the _____ stage.

Formal operational

The major function of the _____ is to amplify vibrations & pass them on to the inner ear.

Hammer, anvil, and stirrup

According to the concept of ______, any aspect of life that enhances our positive feelings is likely to do so for only a short period of time.

Hedonic treadmill

Helen, a call center employee working in day shift, has been asked to work a night shift on Tuesday. During her night shift, Hannah falls asleep at her desk around midnight. Which of the following can best explain her behavior?

Her biological clock has become desynchronized

Every week during football season, Fred and his friends have fun following the local high-school teams. Before the games, Fred never really talks too much about how the games will turn out. On Monday, however, it is a different scenario altogether. Fred is more than happy to share with his friends that the games came out exactly as he thought they would and why. Fred seems to be demonstrating

Hindsight bias

Identify the element of sensory memory that would be most useful in quickly scanning a map of a country to learn the geographical location of its states.

Iconic memory

What is true about implicit memory?

Implicit memory is related to non-consciously remembering skills and sensory perceptions.

What is true about instincts?

Instincts are generally set in motion by a "sign stimulus," Instinct may explain a great deal of nonhuman animal behavior, & Instincts are biological patterns of behavior that are assumed to be universal throughout a species.

What is true about short-term memory?

It is improved by chunking and rehearsal techniques

Which of the following statements is true of the concept of risky shift?

It is the tendency for individuals to more willingly endorse riskier decisions when in a group than when nthey are alone

What is true about specific phobia?

Many explanations of specific phobias view these disorders as based on experiences and learned associations.

Nolan and his wife were standing in the middle of the kitchen discussing vacation plans when he suddenly crashed to the floor in a deep REM sleep. Nolan may suffer from _______.

Narcolepsy

______ are chemical substances that are stored in very tiny sacs within the neuron's terminal buttons and involved in transmitting information across a synaptic gap to the next neuron.

Neurotransmitters

The cell body contains the _____, which directs the manufacture of substances that a neuron needs for growth & maintenance.

Nucleus

Behavior is _______;mental processes are ______.

Observable/private

Miranda is learning to play tennis. For her first lesson, her instructor models serving and backhand returns while Miranda patiently watches. Miranda then tries to imitate the sequence of swings and motions made by her instructor. Which of the following concepts best describes Miranda's learning process?

Observational learning

What is true about obersvational learning?

Observational learning is one way in which human infants acquire skills.

As a result of a brain injury after an accident, James lost his vision. What region of James's cerebral cortex is most likely to be damaged?

Occipital lobe

Health experts recommend that adults engage in at least 30 minutes of moderate physical activity (at least 60% of your maximum heart rate) on most, or preferably all, days of the week. What proportion of American adults are active at these recommended levels of physical activity.

One-fifth

In the context of social behavior, which of the following best explains why the bystander effect occurs?

People tend to look to the behavior of others for cues about what to do.

Individuals who have high self-efficacy are least likely to do what?

Perceive that they have little control over the situation

The _____ connects the brain & spinal cord to the rest of the body.

Peripheral nervous system (PNS)

_____ drug dependence is the physiological need for a drug that causes unpleasant withdrawal symptoms and a craving for the drug when it is discontinued, whereas _______ drug dependence is the strong desire to repeat the use of a drug for emotional reasons.

Physical/Psychological

___ is an unjustified negative attitude toward an individual based on the individual's membership in a group.

Prejudice

Melissa Just landed her dream job. The only problem is that her workplace is far from her home. She spends about three hours commuting in the car every day. Traffic is normally quite heavy and Melissa is experiencing a great deal of stress. If Melissa moved closer to her place of employment in order to decrease her commute time, this would be an example of

Problem-focused coping

Jeremiah, an eight-year-old boy, did not learn to tie his shoelaces until he was six years old. Now, he ties them expertly while talking to others and without looking at his feet. Such skills are associated with ______ memory.

Procedural

In his practice, Dr. Wagner stresses the role of unconscious processes & unresolved childhood conflicts that influences individual's behavior. Dr. Wagner's belief aligns with the _____ approach to psychology.

Psychodynamic

Rosemary is interested in studying the relationships among emotion, the nervous system, and the immune system. Given these interests, she will probably want to pursue future study in the field of

Psychoneuroimmunology

__________ is a consequence that decreases the likelihood that a behavior will occur.

Punishment

_______ refers to researchers' allocation of participants to groups by chance, to reduce the likelihood that an experiment's results will be due to preexisting differences between groups.

Random Assignment

_____ refers to a person's ability to recover from or adapt to difficult times.

Reilience

Leslie, a first-grade teacher, recently received a pink-slip notice informing her that she would be laid off next year. She has had some time to think about how this change will impact her life, and now she is actively evaluating her resources and trying to come up with a "game plan." According to Lazarus's model, Leslie is now engaging in

Secondary appraisal

Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is based on what therapeutic approach?

Self-help group

___ refers to the tendency to take credit for one's own successes and to deny responsibility for one's own failures.

Self-serving bias

_______ is the process of receiving stimulus energies from the external environment and transforming those energies into neural energy.

Sensation

According to Piaget's theory of cognitive development, the first stage of cognitive development that lasts from birth to about two years of age is the _____ stage.

Sensorimotor

What explains the ability of an animal to distinguish among sight, sound, odor, taste, & touch?

Sensory receptors are selective & have different neural pathways.

Which of the following is true of sensory receptors?

Sensory receptors are the openings through which the brain & nervous system experience the world.

Annie, a 20-year-old, is in Erikson's stage of intimacy vs. isolation. Which of the following is true of Annie at this particular stage?

She will form meaningful relationships, or will become socially segregated from others.

Cathy just got transferred to a new department, but she has long believed that her new supervisor is a cranky, disagreeable, critical person. According to the confirmation bias, what will Cathy most likely do on her first day in the new supervisor's department?

She will look for negative behaviors on the part of the supervisor.

Maria is extremely active in politics. She has strong conservative beliefs about what is correct and what is not. Each day when she reads the newspaper, she pays close attention to the editorial section in particular. According to the confirmation bias, what will she do when she reads them?

She will read the editorials that she agrees with, but not the ones that she disagrees with

What disorder is characterized by the temporary cessation of breathing while asleep?

Sleep apnea

_____ is an anxiety disorder in which an individual has an intense fear of being humiliated or embarrassed in public.

Social phobia

What theoretical approach to psychological disorders would be most likely to consider a person's gender and ethnicity when diagnosing a disorder?

Sociocultural approach

What is true about the nature of sound?

Sound waves vary in frequency as well as in amplitude.

Wilhelm Wundt was the founder of _______, whereas William James was the founder of ________.

Structuralism/functionalism

You have to cook dinner for 30 people on Saturday. Your apartment is a mess and you have nothing to wear. You decide to do your laundry Thursday night, buy the groceries on Friday, clean the apartment Saturday morning, and cook the dinner Saturday evening. Preparing for the dinner party in this way is an example of

Subgoaling

Which term refers to tiny spaces between neurons?

Synapses

In psychoanalytic theory, the term transference is used to describe.

The client's relating to the analyst in ways that reproduce or relive important relationships in the client's life.

What is true about research on color blindness?

The nature of colorblindness depends on which of the thress kinds of cones (green,red, & blue) is inoperative.

Which of the following statements is true of the theory of reasoned action and theory of planned behavior.

The theory of planned behavior and the theory of reasoned action require individuals to hold positive attitudes about a new behavior.

Professor Izadi is interested in the association between sleep & cognitive performance. He surveyed his students about the number of hours they slept the night before the exam and then correlated these scores with their test grades. He found a +.81 correlation between these two variables. What does this result mean?

There is a high positive correlation between sleep & exam performance.

In classical-conditioning situations, the ______ is unlearned, but the ______ is learned.

Unconditioned response/conditioned response

cognitive theory of dreaming

What theory of dreaming proposes that dreaming involves information processing and memory?

The bystander effect is most likely to occur

When someone is witnessing an emergency and there are several other people present.

What is true about working memory?

Working memory has a limited capacity, similar to the RAM of a computer.

Darrin is a good piano player. When he is alone and bored his arousal is low and he often gets distracted and makes mistakes. When he is in recital with strangers, he sometimes gets too nervous and aroused and also makes mistakes. His best performances are typically at home when family and friends are nearby, and his arousal level is moderate. The variations in Darrin's performance can be best explained by the

Yekes-Dodson Law

William James described the mind as

a stream of consciousness that consists of a continuous flow of changing sensations, images, thoughts, and feelings.

What therapy represents the application of operant principles to psychological disorders?

applied behavior analysis

When individuals engage in a behavior for some external payoff or to avoid a punishment, they

are extrinsically motivated

In observational learning, the first process that must occur is

attention

Mindfulness means

being alert and mentally present for one's everyday activities.

Lithium is commonly used to treat

bipolar disorder

When the parasympathetic nervous system is activated

blood pressure drops.

The general adaption syndrome describes the

body's response to stressors.

The term plasticity refers to the

brain's special capacity for modification & change.

According to _____, as we age our cells become less capable of dividing.

cellular-clock theory

Research on the effectiveness of psychotherapy

clearly shows that psychotherapy works.

What is the correct sequence of the stages of prenatal development?

conception, zygote, embryonic period, fetal period

Psychological research on sleep and memory has found that staying up all night to study for an exam is likely to

decrease memory performance

What are the essential qualities needed in a relationship to reconnect with one's true feelings and desires according to Rogers?

defense mechanisms

Your roommate argues that computers can perform several complex tasks better and more accurately than humans. You counter her argument by mentioning that computers cannot ______, a task that only humans have the means to perform.

develop new learning goals

Gabriela's mother practices the authoritative style of parenting. This suggests that Gabriela's mother

encourages her to be independent but still places limits and controls on behavior.

what structure of memory is autobiographical?

episodic memory

According to social exchange theory, the most important predictor of relationship success is

equity.

Dennis works as a salesman at a large retail store. He is happily married and lives in a safe neighborhood. He earns enough money to eat and provide for his family. According to Maslow's hierarchy of needs, which of the following needs is Dennis most likely to fulfill next?

esteem

According to Seligman, optimists explain the causes of bad events as _____, whereas pessimists explain them as _____.

external, unstable, and specific/internal, stable, and global

Altered states of consciousness can be produced by

fatigue

Trail theories of personality

focus on lasting personality characteristics

The stages of change model describes the process by which individuals

give up bad habits and adopt healthier lifestyles

When using the computer as an analogy to explain the relationship between cognition and the brain, the brain is described as the computer's ______ and cognition is described as its _____.

hardware/software

The main goal of psychoanalysis is to

help individuals gain insight into the unconscious conflicts that are the source of their problems.

Which theory of aging has focused on the role of chronic stress in reducing immune-system functioning?

hormonal stress theory

According to the _____, people have the ability to control their lives & are not simply controlled by the environment.

humanistic approach

According to Piaget, egocentrism refers to young children's

inability to take another person's perspective.

An encoding failure

information was never entered into a long-term memory

Chaz has been on antipsychotic medication for several weeks now. As a consequence he is most likely to experience the side effect of

involuntary muscle movement

What is true about the term "levels of processing" in memory?

it refers to a continuum of memory processing.

Jane is afraid of crowds. If her therapist uses systematic desensitization technique, Jane will be asked to

learn how to relax.

Shirley repeatedly ends up receiving bad grades in algebra no matter how hard she studies. Eventually, Shirley stops studying for algebra tests and accepts that nothing she does will enable her to get good grades. In the context of operant conditioning, Shirley's behavior exemplifies

learned helplessness

Which chemical substance plays an important role in the state of feeling full?

leptin

According to the Atkinson- Shiffrin theory, information can last up to a lifetime in

long-term memory

With respect to the three characteristics of abnormal behavior, when a behavior interferes with a person's ability to function effectively in the world, it is considered

maladaptive

According to the all-or-nothing principle,

once the electrical impulse reaches a certain level of intensity, it fires & moves all the way down the axon without losing any intensity.

Ricardo broke his wrist while rollerblading in the park. Since the accident he has been taking morphine, a powerful pain killer. What type of drug is Ricardo taking?

opiate

The ______ calms the body

parasympathetic nervous system

Professor Jordan has suggested to his students that as study time increases, grades increase. The professor is describing a_____.

positive correlation.

Spanking is a form of _____; time-out is a form of _____.

positive punishment/negative punishment

The ___ of schizophrenia are marked by a distortion or an excess of normal fucntion, whereas the ___ reflect social withdrawal, behavioral deficits, and the loss or decrease of normal functions

positive symptoms/negative symptoms

When Sandra was 18 years old, she was in a serious car accident. Although she made a full recovery from her injuries, she experienced extreme anxiety afterward. Sandra is now very anxious when driving, has nightmares about the accident, and flinches when she goes through intersections. Sandra has symptoms suggestive of

post-traumatic stress disorder

John, who is jealous of his older brother, states that his older brother hates him and is jealous of him. This scenario best illustrates the defense mechanism of

projection

Dr. Crane is looking for a test that he can use to understand more about his client's unconscious motivations. He would be very likely to use a(n)

projective measure

A(n)____ presents individuals with an ambiguous stimulus and asks them to describe it or to tell a story about it - to launch their own meaning onto the stimulus.

projective test

A prototype is a

representation of the average or ideal member of a concept

Darin had an automobile accident in which his brother and another passenger were killed. Though Darin wasn't seriously hurt in the accident, he can't remember any of the accident details. Darin is exhibiting which ego defense mechanism?

repression

As light enters the eye, eventually it reaches the light-sensitive _____ at the back of the eye.

retina

Ryan, a high- school football player, received a head injury during a game. Following recovery, Ryan was unable to remember anything that happened before the injury. However, he was able to form new relationships and new memories. In the context of forgetting, Ryan's condition best exemplifies

retrograde amnesia

Juanita returned home after being away for several years. When she saw her father, whom she thought she disliked, she hugged him and cried. Based on her crying when she saw him, she determined that she must like him more than she thought. This is most consistent with the of attitudes

self-perception theory

Which of the neurotransmitters is associated with neuroticism?

serotonin

Electroconvulsive theory (ECT) is a treatment sometimes used for

severe depression

What theory best explains why individuals like to think of their group as an in-group?

social identity theory

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)

sometimes occurs during a period of life stress.

The strange situation test is used to assess an infant's

style of attachment

____ is a person's assesment of his/her own level of positive affect relative to negative affect, and an evaluation of his/her life in general

subjective well-being

Jeff has been extremely aggressive since childhood. He pursues a career in boxing, which provides a socially acceptable channel to express his aggression. This scenario best illustrates the defense mechanism of

sublimation

What term term refers to the detection of information below the level of conscious awareness?

subliminal perception

According to ________, the function of positive emotions lies in their effects on an individual's attention and ability to build resources.

the broaden-and-build model

The therapeutic alliance is the relationship between the therapist and

the client.

The axon is

the part of the neuron that carries information away from the cell body toward other cells.

Psychologists who examine learning from a behavioral perspective define learning as

the relatively stable, observable changes in a person's actions.

Autonomy refers to

the sense that one is in control of ones own life.

You touch a baby's forehead and realize that he feels warm and must have a fever. What type of sensory receptors relayed information about the baby's temperature to your brain?

thermoreceptors

Dendrites are

treelike fibers which receive information & orient it toward the neuron's cell body.