PSYCHOLOGY MIDTERM

Which of the following statements is true of clinical psychologists?

They evaluate problems such as anxiety and depression through interviews and psychological tests.

Identify a true statement about social-cognitive theorists.

They note that people engage in intentional learning by observing others.

Which of the following is a consequence of regular usage of opiates?

They stop the production of neurotransmitters in the brain.

_____ is the fraction of the intensity by which a source of physical energy must be increased or decreased so that a difference in intensity will be perceived.

Weber's constant

A person has trouble adjusting with the new students in his classroom. He does not have any serious psychological disorders but has trouble making new friends. A(n) _____ would most likely be consulted to help the person. You Answered

counseling psychologist

The electroencephalograph is a method of:

detecting brain waves by means of measuring the current between electrodes placed on the scalp.

The _____ is a thin membrane inside the ear that vibrates in response to sound waves.

eardrum

The term _____ is used to describe the nucleotides found along just one of the rungs of a DNA double helix.

genetic code

Shana is a young girl who was in a bus accident a few years ago. Since her accident, Shana is only able to remember people she had met before the accident and instances from her childhood. However, she is unable to remember people she met recently or events that are currently happening in her life. She reads the same newspaper for several days without realizing that she has read it before. The accident has disabled Shana's ability to permanently store new information because she sustained an injury to her _____.

hippocampus

In the scientific method, a research question may be studied as a question or reworded as a__________.

hypothesis

Once light passes through the iris, it encounters the _____.

lens

As we enter__________, our brain waves slowdown from the alpha rhythm and enter a pattern of theta waves. Correct!

stage 1 sleep

The strength, or energy, of brain waves is expressed in _____.

volts

Which of the following characterizes rapid eye movement (REM) sleep?

A level of arousal similar to that of a person's waking state

Dreams are more likely to be coherent in plot than emotionally gripping. TRUE OR FALSE

FALSE

Every time a neuron fires, it transmits an impulse of varying length. TRUE OR FALSE

FALSE

Insomnia is a sleep disorder in which the air passages are obstructed. TRUE OR FALSE

FALSE

What role does the somatic nervous system play?

It transmits messages about sights, sounds, smells, and so on, to the central nervous system.

__________is the type of sensory adaptation in which we become less sensitive to constant stimuli.

Negative adaptation

When children reared by adoptive parents are more similar to their natural parents in a particular trait, strong evidence exists for a genetic role in the development of that trait. TRUE OR FALSE

TRUE

Which of the following statements is true of the signal-detection theory?

The intensity of a signal is one factor that determines whether people will perceive sensory stimuli or a difference between signals.

Jeff observed a quick succession of cars moving together on the road. His first thought was that they were all a part of a convoy of some sort. Which law of perceptual organization best explains Jeff's assumption?

The law of common fate

__________is the sense of equilibrium that informs us about our bodies' positions relative to gravity.

The vestibular sense

Which of the following is a function of the middle ear?

To increase the pressure of the air entering the ear

Which of the following is a new basic taste that was recently added to the primary taste qualities?

Umami

_____ is credited with establishing the first psychological laboratory in Leipzig, Germany.

Wilhelm Wundt

_____ was a founder of the school of functionalism.

William James

Gestalt psychologists believe that learning:

could be active and purposeful.

Thyroxin deficiency in children can lead to__________, which is a condition characterized by stunted growth and mental retardation.

cretinism

Ned is feeling stressed because of his workload in office. He is also experiencing insomnia with rapid weight loss. Ned's condition is an example of a__________correlation.

negative

Side effects of__________include cancer, heart disease, and lung and respiratory diseases.

nicotine

The__________uses oxygen and nutrients to generate the energy needed to carry out the work of a neuron cell.

nucleus

The retina consists of cells called _____ that are sensitive to light.

photoreceptors

Frightening, dreamlike experiences that occur during the deepest stage of non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep are known as__________.

sleep terrors

One of the advantages of__________is that by distributing questionnaires and analyzing answers with a computer, psychologists can study many thousands of people at a time.

surveys

Studies show that__________is connected with aggressive behavior in monkeys, cats, and other animals.

the amygdala

A number of people with severe cases of epilepsy have split-brain operations in which much of__________is severed.

the corpus callosum

In the context of the eye, changes in thickness of the lens permit:

the pupil to automatically adjust to the amount of light present.

Which of the following fractions is known as Weber's constant for light?

1/60th

Which of the following is a likely consequence of low thyroxin secretion in adults?

Adults who secrete too little thyroxin may feel tired and sluggish and may put on weight.

__________is an example of a hallucinogenic drug.

Cocaine

Which of the following terms refers to the waking state?

Conscious

Modern hypnosis evolves from the ideas of _____.

Franz Mesmer

Which of the following statements is true of dreams?

Freud argued that dreams express impulses we would censor during the day.

In the context of behavioral genetics, identify the correct statement.

Heredity is apparently involved in psychological disorders ranging from anxiety and depression to personality disorders.

Stewart is a chain smoker and a nicotine addict. Due to excessive cigarette smoking, he has developed lung cancer. In this scenario, which of the following chemical compounds is likely to have caused lung cancer?

Hydrocarbons

Which of the following is an altered state of consciousness?

Meditation

__________is best defined as a sudden variation in an inheritable characteristic, as distinguished from a variation that results from generations of gradual selection.

Mutation

Which of the following statements is true of sleep?

People need more sleep when they are under stress.

In the context of the brain's language functions, identify the correct statement.

People with Wernicke's aphasia usually speak freely and with proper syntax.

__________is the view that the perception of sensory stimuli involves the interaction of physical, biological, and psychological factors.

Signal-detection theory

Many case studies are clinical; that is, they are descriptions of a person's psychological problems and how a psychologist treated them. TRUE OR FALSE

TRUE

Odors trigger firing of receptor neurons in the olfactory membrane high in each nostril. TRUE OR FALSE

TRUE

_____ is the tendency to perceive an object as being the same hue even though lighting conditions change its appearance.

Color consistency

Personality psychologists are concerned with the nature and causes of individuals' thoughts, feelings, and behavior in social situations. TRUE OR FALSE

FALSE

Sociocultural psychologists study those things we refer to as the mind. TRUE OR FALSE

FALSE

The somatic nervous system controls activities such as heartbeat, respiration, digestion, and dilation of the pupils. TRUE OR FALSE

FALSE

Top-down processing involves the organization of the parts of a pattern to recognize, or form an image of, the pattern they compose. TRUE OR FALSE

FALSE

When a nerve impulse reaches a synapse, it jumps across the synaptic cleft like a spark because of its electrical nature. TRUE OR FALSE

FALSE

_____ refers to the culturally defined concepts of masculinity and femininity.

Gender

__________showed that people tend to perceive separate pieces of information as integrated wholes depending on the contexts in which they occur.

Gestalt psychologists

Which of the following statements is true of William James's contribution to psychology?

He argued that the stream of consciousness was fluid and continuous.

Which of the following best defines the term preconscious?

It refers to material that is not in awareness but can be brought into awareness by focusing one's attention.

Which of the following is the function of the iris?

Regulating the amount of light that enters the eye

Which of the following is a difference between repression and suppression?

Repression is an unconscious process, whereas suppression is a conscious process.

Structuralists tended to ask, "How do behavior and mental processes help people adapt to the requirements of their lives?" TRUE OR FALSE

TRUE

Which of the following statements is true of a neural impulse?

The process by which a neural impulse travels is electrochemical.

In the context of the altered states of consciousness, _____ is a system that provides information about a bodily function.

biofeedback

Some lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) users have__________, which are distorted perceptions or hallucinations that mimic the LSD "trip" but occur days, weeks, or longer after usage.

flashbacks

Caroline is a psychologist who studies how stress induces ailments such as heart problems and headaches. Some of her clients are smokers, and she is helping them quit smoking. She also suggests lifestyle changes to her clients to help them reduce and cope with stress. Caroline can best be described as a(n) _____.

health psychologist

The__________adjusts or accommodates to an image by changing its thickness.

lens

Allen was adopted at an early age by a Japanese American couple. As a result, he grew up speaking both Japanese and English fluently. In terms of genetics, this manifestation of Allen's ability to speak is an example of a(n) _____.

phenotype

A _____ is a complete group of interest to researchers, from which a sample is drawn for an experiment.

population

Some researchers consider the__________to be the "executive center" of the brain, where decisions are made to keep information in working memory and to solve problems. You Answered

prefrontal cortex

Sean believes that many of our unconscious ideas and impulses stem from our childhood conflicts. Based on his beliefs, it can be said that Sean is a _____. Correct!

psychoanalyst

In the context of altering consciousness through drugs,__________is a problem characterized by loss of control over consumption, social impairment, risky use, and tolerance and withdrawal symptoms.

substance use disorder

A neuron relays its message to another neuron across a junction called a__________.

synapse

Andy is a professional skydiver. During his freefall, he is able to automatically sense his body's position in relation to the earth's gravity without really having to look around him. This allows him to adjust his position appropriately during his fall to regulate his momentum. The sense that is illustrated in this scenario is the _____.

vestibular sense

The__________states that in response to sound waves of frequencies between a few hundred and 4,000 cycles per second, groups of neurons take turns firing to transmit sensory information about pitches.

volley principle

According to the American Psychological Association's Handbooks of Ethics in Psychology, psychologists may use deception in their experiments:

when the participants are debriefed afterward.