Psychology Final Quiz Bank
Which of the following correlations between self-esteem and body weight would enable you to most accurately predict body weight from knowledge of level of self-esteem?
+0.60
Which of the following correlation coefficients expresses the weakest degree of relationship between two variables?
-0.99
Botulin poisoning from improperly canned food causes paralysis by blocking the release of
acetylcholine.
Sherry easily remembers the telephone reservation number for Holiday Inn by using the mnemonic 1-800-HOLIDAY. She is using a memory aid known as
chunking.
Amphetamines ________ appetite and ________ self-confidence.
decrease; increase
Habituation refers to the
decreasing responsiveness to a stimulus to which one is repeatedly exposed.
Sensation is to ________ as perception is to ________.
detection; interpretation
Children who release unexpressed anger toward their parents by kicking the family pet illustrate the defense mechanism of
displacement
Generating multiple possible answers to a problem illustrates
divergent thinking
Freud believed that ________ are the "royal road to the unconscious."
dreams
Physical abilities such as muscular strength, reaction time, sensory keenness, and cardiac output reach their peak during
early adulthood
Academic aptitude test scores are MOST likely to predict accurately the academic success of ________ students.
elementary school
An important aspect of social intelligence is called
emotional intelligence
The ability to delay immediate pleasures in pursuit of long-range rewards is most clearly a characteristic of
emotional intelligience
Group therapy is typically more effective than individual therapy for
enabling people to discover that others have problems similar to their own.
Online social networking tends to ________ self-disclosure and Facebook profiles appear to be closer to people's ________.
encourage; actual personalities than to their ideal personalities
José has just played a long, bruising football game but feels little fatigue or discomfort. His lack of pain is most likely caused by the release of
endorphins
Girls are most likely to outperform boys in a
grammar test
In one experiment, professional actors played the role of either normal-weight or overweight job applicants. Research participants' willingness to hire the applicants revealed
greater discrimination against overweight women than against overweight men.
Psychoactive drugs influence neurotransmission by stimulating, mimicking, or ________ the activity of neurotransmitters.
inhibiting
A recurring difficulty in falling or staying asleep is called
insomnia
Central nervous system neurons that process information between sensory inputs and motor outputs are called
interneurons.
If a stranger looks like someone who previously harmed or threatened us in some way, we may-without consciously recalling the earlier experience-react warily. This illustrates that our reactions to others may be influenced by
intuition
If rats are allowed to wander through a complicated maze, they will subsequently run the maze with few errors when a food reward is placed at the end. Their good performance demonstrates
latent learning.
Which perspective emphasizes the role of classical conditioning in the onset of anxiety disorders?
learning perspective
When people's images on a video monitor are widened to make them look fatter, observers perceive them as
less sincere and less friendly.
A neural system at the border of the brainstem and the cerebral hemispheres is known as the
limbic system.
Elmer, the owner of an auto service station, suddenly began smashing the front fenders and hoods of two customers' cars. When asked why, he excitedly explained that he was transforming the cars into "real racing machines." When an employee tried to restrain him, he shouted that everybody was fired and quickly began breaking the car windows. Elmer is exhibiting symptoms of
mania.
A mnemonic is a
memory aid.
The misinformation effect best illustrates the dynamics of
memory construction.
To determine whether a child's intellectual development was fast or slow, Binet and Simon assessed the child's
mental age
For the original version of the Stanford-Binet, IQ was defined as
mental age divided by chronological age and multiplied by 100.
An algorithm is a
methodical step-by-step procedure for solving problems.
People have been most likely to describe themselves as a "sandwich generation" during their
middle adulthood
People's moment-to-moment positive moods tend to be highest near the ________ hours of their waking day and their moment-to-moment negative moods tend to be highest near the ________ hours of their waking day.
middle; later
From the 1920s into the 1960s, American psychologists emphasized the study of
observable behavior.
Cecil is preoccupied with thoughts of jumping out the window of his tenth-floor apartment. To reduce his anxiety, he frequently counts his heartbeats aloud. Cecil would most likely be diagnosed as experiencing
obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Babies are born with several reflexes for getting food. One of these is to
open the mouth in search of a nipple when touched on the cheek
Praising socially withdrawn children when they make eye contact with others and ignoring them after a temper tantrum best illustrates an application of
operant conditioning.
The approach that has helped children with autism learn to function successfully in school involves
operant conditioning.
After receiving very bad news, people ________ the duration of their negative emotions.
overestimate
Dating partners who fall in love tend to ________ how much they liked each other when they first met. Dating partners who break-up tend to ________ how much they liked each other when they first met.
overestimate; underestimate
Insulin, a hormone that influences appetite, is secreted by the
pancreas
Social-cognitive psychologists suggest that the best way to predict a political candidate's performance effectiveness after election is to assess that individual's
past performance in situations involving similar responsibilities.
Elderly nursing home residents tend to decline faster and die sooner than they would otherwise if they lack
perceived control.
The MMPI is an example of a(n)
personality inventory
After losing his left hand in an accident, Jack continued to experience pain in his nonexistent hand. His experience illustrates
phantom limb sensations.
By professional training, Freud was a
physician
The master gland of the endocrine system is the
pituitary gland.
In a study of the effects of drinking alcohol, some participants drank a nonalcoholic beverage that actually smelled and tasted like alcohol. This nonalcoholic drink was a
placebo.
The rhythmic bursts of brain activity that occur during NREM-2 sleep are called
sleep spindles.
The age at which people are expected to leave home, get a job, and marry has changed dramatically in Wallonia over the past 50 years. Developmentalists would say that the country's ________ has been altered.
social clock
Twenty-five-year-old Alexandra has an intellectual disability and can neither read nor write. However, after hearing lengthy, unfamiliar, and complex musical selections just once, she can reproduce them precisely on the piano. It is likely that Alexandra is
someone with savant syndrome
After Miguel's recent automobile accident, doctors detected damage to his cerebral cortex in Broca's area. It is likely that Miguel will have difficulty
speaking fluently
Lee was momentarily terrified as a passing automobile nearly sideswiped his car. When one of his passengers joked that he almost had a two-color car, Lee laughed uncontrollably. Lee's emotional volatility best illustrates the
spillover effect
As the size of a representative sample increases, the ________ of that sample is most likely to decrease.
standard deviation
When researcher Karen Wynn showed 5-month-old infants a numerically impossible outcome, the infants
stared longer at the outcome
After his last drinking spree, Fakim hid a half-empty liquor bottle. He couldn't remember where he hid it until he started drinking again. Fakim's pattern of recall best illustrates
state-dependent memory.
Associating carrots with a mental image of a bun, milk with a mental image of a shoe, and paper towels with a mental image of a tree best illustrates
the peg-word system.
In Pavlov's experiments on the salivary conditioning of dogs, the US was
the presentation of food in the dog's mouth.
Masters and Johnson identified orgasm as the ________ phase of the sexual response cycle.
third.
A need to take larger and larger doses of sleeping pills to avoid insomnia indicates
tolerance
Information processing guided by higher-level mental processes are called
top-down processing.
Which major force in psychology emphasized unconscious thought processes?
Freudian psychology
Cassandra's mother told her, "You know you are in love when your heart beats fast and you experience that unique trembling feeling inside." This remark best illustrates the ________ theory of emotion.
James-Lange
Daily pressures compounded by racism and prejudice take a toll on many African-Americans in the form of
The ability to delay short-term gratification for greater long-term rewards illustrates
Those with an avoidant personality disorder are most likely to display
a fear of social rejection.
The inability to see a problem from a new perspective is called
a fixation
As he attempted to spell the word receive, Tim reminded himself "i before e except after c." Tim's self-reminder best illustrates the use of
a heuristic
According to drive-reduction theory, a need refers to
a physiological state that usually triggers motivational arousal.
Compulsive craving for and use of a drug is an indication of
addiction
The pupil is the
adjustable opening in the center of the eye through which light enters.
Anxiety about being in places or situations from which escape might be difficult is indicative of
agoraphobia.
Neural stimulation that exceeds a threshold triggers
an action potential.
Which of the following brain areas became especially active when a research participant lied about holding a five of clubs?
anterior cingulate cortex
After having brain surgery to stop severe seizures, Henry Molaison could recall events he experienced prior to the surgery but was unable to form new conscious memories. Molaison's memory difficulty most clearly illustrates
anterograde amnesia.
Which of the following disorders is more common among men than women?
antisocial personality disorder
A failure to practice important motor skills can result in a loss of agility because unused neural connections
are pruned
The guilty knowledge test is typically used to
assess a suspect's responses to details of a crime.
After he suffered a stroke, Mr. Santore's physical coordination skills and responsiveness to sensory stimulation quickly returned to normal. Unfortunately, however, he could no longer figure out how to find his way around his neighborhood. It is most likely that Mr. Santore suffered damage to his
association areas.
Many researchers believe that adult styles of romantic love correspond with childhood patterns of
attachment
Larry has difficulty organizing his daily schedule of work responsibilities. He often makes careless mistakes or fails to complete his work because he is easily distracted. Larry's behavior is most characteristic of
attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.
To help Claire quit smoking, a therapist delivers an electric shock to her arm each time she smokes a cigarette. The therapist is using
aversive conditioning.
Which perspective studies the relative contributions of our genes and our environment on our individual differences?
behavior genetics
Receptor cells for kinesthesis are located in the
bones, ears, tendons, and joints.
Berdine has developed cataracts in both eyes, preventing her from being able to identify even her mother's face. Berdine most clearly suffers a deficiency in
bottom-up processing.
In the study led by Elizabeth Loftus, two groups of observers were asked how fast two cars had been going in a filmed traffic accident. Observers who heard the vividly descriptive word "smashed" in relation to the accident later recalled
broken glass at the scene of the accident.
Researchers use experiments rather than other research methods in order to isolate
causes from effects.
Melanie's therapist suggests that when she feels anxious, she should attribute her arousal to her highly reactive nervous system and shift her attention to playing a game with her 5-year-old son. This suggestion best illustrates
cognitive-behavioral therapy.
Boys are most likely to outperform girls in a
computerized video game competition.
When we use the word automobile to refer to a category of transport vehicles, we are using this word as a(n)
concept
In classical conditioning therapies, maladaptive symptoms are usually considered to be
conditioned responses.
Scientists are trained to carefully observe and record any research outcomes that are inconsistent with their hypotheses. This practice most directly serves to reduce
confirmation bias
Displaying data in a scatterplot can help us see the extent to which two variables are
correlated.
Narcolepsy is a disorder in which a person
experiences uncontrollable attacks of overwhelming sleepiness.
A major depressive disorder is most likely to be characterized by
feelings of personal worthlessness.
he Eysencks believed that extraversion and emotionality are
genetically influenced
The surface of the basilar membrane is lined with
hair cells.
Dopamine overactivity appears to be most clearly related to
hallucinations
Positive and negative environmental stimuli that motivate behavior are called
incentives
Any stimulus that, when removed after a response, strengthens the response is called a(n)
negative reinforcer.
Which theory suggests that dreams are mental responses to random bursts of neural stimulation?Which theory suggests that dreams are mental responses to random bursts of neural stimulation?
neural activation theory
A psychologist working from the biological perspective would be most interested in conducting research on the relationship between
neurotransmitters and depression.
Discovering and promoting human strengths and virtues that help individuals and communities to thrive is the major focus of
positive psychology.
Administering an aversive stimulus following an operant response is
positive punishment.
Every Saturday morning, Arnold quickly washes the family's breakfast dishes so that his father will allow him to wash his car. In this instance, washing the car is a(n)
positive reinforcer.
Unlike psychodynamic therapists, humanistic therapists tend to focus on the ________ more than the ________.
present; past
People are likely to take less time to recognize a woman as a nurse than a man as a nurse because a woman more closely resembles their nurse
prototype
In the process of classifying objects, people are especially likely to make use of
prototypes
Helping people gain insight into the unconscious origins of their disorder is a central aim of
psychoanalysis.
To accurately isolate cause and effect, experimenters should use
random assignment.
Melissa is unconsciously fearful that her husband is a better cook than she. Recently, she refused his offer to prepare dinner because, said she, "You could better spend the time playing with our kids." Melissa's comment best illustrates
rationalization
Rats that received electric shocks were unlikely to develop ulcers if the
rats could control the termination of the shocks.
After learning the combination for his new locker at school, Milton is unable to remember the combination for his year-old bicycle lock. Milton is experiencing the effects of
retroactive interference.
Drivers are slower to detect traffic signals if they are talking on a cell phone. This best illustrates the impact of
selective attention.
In the long run, people who practice self-regulation through physical exercise and time-managed study programs experience an increase in
self control
Adventurous people who relish the pursuit of novel and intense experiences are said to be
sensation-seekers
The principles of continuity and closure best illustrate that
sensations are organized into meaningful patterns.
When Tommy's mother hides his favorite toy under a blanket, he acts as though it no longer exists and makes no attempt to retrieve it. Tommy is clearly near the beginning of Piaget's ________ stage.
sensorimotor
Damage to the oval window is most likely to result in
sensorineural hearing loss.
The tendency to recall the first and last items in a list better than the middle items is known as the ________ effect.
serial position
When 16-year-old Hafez received a large inheritance from his grandfather, he was tempted to purchase an expensive new car. He decided, instead, to deposit all the money into a savings account for his college education. Hafez shows signs of a
strong ego
An animal trainer is teaching a miniature poodle to balance on a ball. Initially, he gives the poodle a treat for approaching the ball, then only for placing its front paws on the ball, and finally only for climbing on the ball. The trainer is using the method of
successive approximations.
Studies suggest that criminal behavior is most likely to be deterred by
swiftly delivered punishment.
Humanistic therapists are likely to teach clients to
take more responsibility for their own feelings and actions.
Wernicke's area is typically located in the left ________ lobe.
temporal
Instead of calculating an intelligence quotient, most current intelligence tests represent the test-taker's performance relative to
the average performance of others the same age as the test-taker.
Homeostasis, which is the goal of drive reduction, is defined as
the body's tendency to maintain a constant internal state.
The fovea refers to
the central focal point in the retina.
David Rosenhan and his fellow researchers were admitted as patients into various hospitals after they falsely complained of auditory hallucinations. After hospital clinicians analyzed these patients' quite normal life histories
the clinicians identified patient life history dynamics contributing to a psychological disorder.
According to Piaget, egocentrism refers to
the difficulty perceiving things from another person's point of view.
Which research method provides the best way of assessing whether cigarette smoking boosts mental alertness?
the experiment
A therapist tells a patient who is afraid of elevators that his rapid breathing while on an elevator is not due to fear but is a natural consequence of too little oxygen in a small, enclosed space. With this new interpretation of his arousal, the patient no longer dreads elevators. The reduction in the patient's fear is best understood in terms of the
two-factor theory
Carl Rogers referred to a caring, nonjudgmental attitude as
unconditional positive regard.
A partial reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response that occurs after an unpredictable period of time is a ________ schedule.
variable-interval
A partial schedule that reinforces a response after an unpredictable number of responses is a ________ schedule.
variable-ratio
Asking women for dates is most likely to be reinforced on a ________ schedule.
variable-ratio
Work is most likely to satisfy the higher-level needs in Maslow's hierarchy for those who
view their work as a calling.
Forty-year-old Lance insists that he never dreams. Research suggests that he probably
would report a vivid dream if he were awakened during REM sleep.