CLEP Psychology: Practice Test 1

At conception, the original fertilized cell consists of 46 a. chromosomes. b. genes. c. molecules of DNA. d. gametes. e. nuclei.

A

At the synapse a. a microscopic distance separates neurons. b. the ends of the two neurons join together. c. neurons connect to each other. d. all action is electrical. e. all neurotransmission is halted.

A

Binocular vision provides clues regarding a. depth and distance. b. brightness and hue. c. timber and pitch. d. color and size. e. complexity and shape.

A

If you memorize the letters FBIKEGUCLA as FBI-KEG-UCLA, you have used a technique known as a. chunking. b. recognition. c. relearning. d. encoding visual characteristic. e. RNA.

A

In an experiment, subjects given various amounts of alcohol drive a course marked by orange pylons. The independent variable in this experiment is the a. various amounts of alcohol. b. subjects' driving ability before alcohol consumption. c. subjects' driving ability after alcohol consumption. d. the number of orange pylons hit. e. speed through the obstacle course.

A

In general, learning takes place more rapidly with a. continuous reinforcement. b. partial reinforcement. c. random reinforcement. d. no reinforcement. e. intermittent reinforcement.

A

The LEAST efficient of the human senses is a. taste. b. touch. c. hearing. d. vision. e. smell.

A

The part of the brain chiefly responsible for emotion is the a. limbic system. b. reticular activating system. c. thalamus. d. corpus callosum. e. hippocampus.

A

The primary job of most brain cells is a. transmitting messages. b. picking up sensations from the environment. c. thinking and reasoning. d. providing the brain with nutrients. e. maintaining homeostasis.

A

The psychological perspective which includes the assumption that people are often unaware of the real motives behind their behavior is a. psychoanalysis. b. trait theory. c. behaviorism. d. cognitive psychology. e. humanistic psychology.

A

The sex hormone in females is _____ and the sex hormone in males is _____. a. estrogen; androgen b. endorphins; androgens c. estrogen; endorphins d. androgen; estrogen e. androgen; glycogen

A

To determine if people are coming to a full stop at an intersection with a new stop sign, the best research method would be a(n) a. naturalistic observation. b. experiment. c. case study. d. correlation. e. survey.

A

Todd is shown a card with the stimuli AAABBBCCC and is asked to report what he sees. Todd states that there are three groups of different letters. This illustrates the rule of perceptual organization known as a. similarity. b. gestalt. c. closure. d. continuation. e. proximity.

A

A seemingly charming, candid, generous person who lies freely, forms no close ties, and is selfish and remorseless, is probably a(n) a. antisocial personality. b. histrionic personality disorder. c. narcissistic personality. d. schizoid personality. e. autistic personality.

A. Also known as sociopaths or psychopaths, people with antisocial personality disorder have no conscience and no sense of remorse. They view other people opportunistically.

Studies of identical twins do not provide conclusive evidence of the effect of genetics on intelligence, because a. identical twins reared apart are usually selectively placed in environments that are as similar as possible. b. the studies are too few in number to be conclusive. c. identical twins reared together do not share exactly the same environment. d. the twins who are subjects in such studies typically have not been separated soon enough to rule out environmental effects. e. identical twins share only about 75 percent of the same genes.

A. Although identical twins share 100 percent of genes, they are not identical beings. Environment does make a difference. However, identical twins are often reared in environments that are relatively similar in terms of intellectual development. Therefore, it is impossible to say what percent of their progress is the result of genes, and what percent is the result of their environments.

Compared with traditional Freudians, modern psychodynamic therapists tend to give greater emphasis to the a. patient's social and cultural environment. b. patient's early childhood experiences. c. patient's unconscious conflicts. d. use of applied behavior analysis. e. role of self-actualization.

A. Although modern psychodynamic therapists still regard early experience and unconscious conflicts as important, they are more likely to give weight to the patient's social and cultural environment.

Barbiturates are to _______ as tranquillizers are to ________. a. sleep; anxiety b. anxiety; sleep c. sleep; euphoria d. euphoria; sleep e. anxiety; euphoria

A. Barbiturates and tranquillizers are both central nervous system depressants. Barbiturates are "sleeping pills" and tranquillizers relax a person and reduce anxiety.

The term dissociative identity disorder is synonymous with a. multiple personality disorder. b. schizophrenia. c. hysteria. d. pathological impulse control. e. sexual dysfunction.

A. Dissociative identity disorder is a newer term for multiple personality disorder.

Which of the following is TRUE about perceiving objects? a. Sensory adaptation allows us to focus on one stimuli among many. b. Our eyes must continuously quiver in order to counteract the effects of sensory adaptation. c. Weber's law is another term for the absolute threshold. d. Perception occurs independently of expectations. e. Perception is the same as sensation.

B

Heredity is to _____ as environment is to ______. a. nature; nurture b. nurture; genetics c. nurture; nature d. experience; nature e. experience; genetics

A. Heredity refers to our genetic background (nature) while environment refers to our social/environmental experiences (nurture).

Aversive conditioning is a form of a. behavior therapy. b. cognitive therapy. c. desensitization. d. dissonance. e. learning by observation.

A. In aversive conditioning, the therapist attempts to change the client's behavior by pairing an undesirable behavior with an aversive (unpleasant) stimulus to decrease the behavior's frequency.

Operant conditioning requires a. reinforcing the desired behavior. b. learning through observation. c. pairing a conditioned and an unconditioned stimulus. d. pairing a conditioned stimulus and a conditioned response. e. punishing a trial-and-error behavior.

A. In operant conditioning, reinforcements (rewards) and punishments determine how frequently a behavior will be chosen by an organism.

A psychology student is training a rat to climb a ladder. She first rewards the rat for any movement it makes toward the ladder, and then only when the rat actually makes contact with the ladder. Eventually, the rat must successfully climb the ladder in order to obtain the reward. This student has used the behavioral technique of a. shaping. b. stimulus discrimination. c. negative reinforcement. d. positive reinforcement. e. modeling.

A. Shaping is a technique of gradually changing behavior by reinforcing successive approximations of the behavior (closer and closer to the target behavior).

Social learning theory emphasizes the phenomenon of a. observational learning. b. positive reinforcement. c. self-actualization. d. introversion-extroversion. e. personality types.

A. Social learning theory was developed by Albert Bandura; it emphasizes observational, or vicarious, learning - also known as modeling.

The actions that organisms take in response to anger or fear are strongly influenced by the brain structure called the a. amygdala. b. corpus callosum. c. hippocampus. d. association cortex. e. pons.

A. The amygdala regulates aggression and fear. The amygdala is part of the limbic system, which is the emotional center of the brain.

When a child learns not to use swear words in front of his parents, but does so in front of friends, the child is exhibiting the principle of a. stimulus discrimination. b. classical conditioning. c. stimulus generalization. d. selective extinction. e. response generalization.

A. The child has learned to tell apart (discriminate) between his parents and his friends.

The correct order of Maslow's needs hierarchy is: a. physiological needs, safety, love and belonging, esteem, self-actualization. b. safety, physiological needs, love and belonging, esteem, self-actualization. c. physiological needs, safety, esteem, love and belonging, self-actualization. d. physiological needs, self-actualization, safety, love and belonging, esteem. e. physiological needs, love and belonging, safety, esteem, self-actualization.

A. The correct order from lowest to highest is: physiological needs, safety, love and belonging, esteem, and self-actualization.

Which historical figure would have been MORE sympathetic with the nurture rather than the nature position? a. John Watson b. Sir Francis Galton c. William James d. Karen Horney e. Sigmund Freud

A. Watson was a radical behaviorist. He was interested in the effect of the environment on the individual, and did not measure internal events.

Cognitive dissonance is BEST described as a. feelings of discomfort generated by inconsistency between a person's beliefs and actions. b. negative feelings generated when someone unduly threatens one's freedoms. c. a denial of a discrepancy between beliefs and actions. d. negative feelings generated when exposed to arguments against one's attitudes. e. a state of heightened self-awareness that motivates one to perform an objective self appraisal.

A. When attitudes are inconsistent with action, it creates tension (cognitive dissonance) and a corresponding drive to reduce that tension, often by changing either the attitudes or the behavior to make them more consistent with one another.

A parent who deliberately ignores a child's temper tantrum is attempting to discourage tantrums by a. negative reinforcement. b. extinction. c. positive reinforcement. d. operant avoidance. e. learned helplessness.

B. According to the principle of extinction, when a behavior is no longer followed by reinforcement, the behavior decreases in frequency because it is no longer being maintained by reinforcers.

According to Erik Erikson, adolescents are primarily dealing with concerns related to a. generativity versus self-absorption. b. identity versus confusion. c. trust versus mistrust. d. ego integrity vs despair. e. intimacy versus isolation.

B. Adolescents struggle with developing an identity of their own (positive outcome) vs. failing to establish a unique identity (confusion).

The association area of the cortex which seems to play a role in planning and problem solving is located in the a. amygdala. b. frontal lobes. c. temporal lobes. d. occipital lobes. e. parietal lobes.

B

The sympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system is MOST likely to be activated when you are a. sleeping. b. frightened. c. studying. d. talking to a good friend. e. dreaming.

B

Activity within a nerve cell is _____; activity between nerve cells is _______. a. positive; negative b. electrical; chemical c. chemical; electrical d. electrical; electrical e. chemical; chemical

B

Movements of the head are detected by a. rods and cones. b. the semicircular canals. c. free nerve endings. d. Krause end bulbs. e. the ear bones in the middle ear.

B

Messages are carried from the sense organs to the brain by a. efferent neurons. b. afferent neurons. c. microneurons. d. operant neurons. e. connecting neurons.

B. Afferent neurons (sensory neurons) bring information from the senses to the brain. Efferent (or motor) neurons originate in the brain and send messages out to the body.

Irrational fears in humans, such as claustrophobia, MOST often result from a. brain damage. b. classical conditioning. c. instrumental conditioning. d. inheritance. e. observing one's parents.

B. Although some phobias probably reflect a genetic predisposition, phobias often arise because a naturally frightening or unpleasant stimulus (e.g., pain) comes to be associated with a previously neutral stimulus (e.g., a bee) and the fear may be then generalized (e.g., to all insects). In the case of claustrophobia, a feeling of discomfort or fear in a small space (e.g., a child getting shut in a closet) becomes generalized to all closed-in spaces. This is an example of classical conditioning.

A harmful substance that can cross the placenta and harm the fetus is called a(an) a. contaminant. b. teratogen. c. carcinogen. d. enzyme. e. pathogen.

B. Examples of teratogens, which originate outside the mother's body, include alcohol, drugs, viruses, infections, and byproducts of cigarettes.

If you are like most people, the a. right hemisphere of your brain is dominant. b. left hemisphere of your brain is dominant. c. left hemisphere of your brain plays no role in understanding language. d. right and left hemispheres of the brain perform completely separate functions without much interaction. e. right and left hemisphere perform identical functions.

B. In most people the left hemisphere is dominant. Since the left side of the brain controls the right side of the body, this also explains why most people are right-hand dominant.

In the Stanford-Binet test, IQ is defined as a. ability to learn and adapt. b. MA/CA x 100. c. CA/MA x 100. d. the sum of the verbal and non-verbal scales. e. the person's mental age.

B. Mental Age (abilities) divided by Chronological Age (in years) multiplied by 100.

Self-help groups are effective for all of the following reasons, EXCEPT a. the bonds with others. b. the insight offered by a trained therapist. c. the availability of models with whom to identify. d. the feeling that one is not alone in his or her problem. e. the reassurance that most stress reactions are normal.

B. Self-help groups are usually led by a para-professional, who has been given minimal training by a mental health professional.

Being aware of the sound presently being made in this room is an example of a. recall. b. sensory memory. c. retroactive interference. d. flashbulb memory. e. short-term memory.

B. Sensory memory holds current information recently gathered by the senses for only an instant.

According to Freudian theory, the Oedipus complex is resolved through the process of a. regression. b. identification. c. modeling. d. repression. e. sublimation.

B. The defense mechanism of identification protects the ego from unacceptable thoughts by identifying with the same-sex parent and giving up the desire to possess the opposite-sex parent.

If you would enjoy roaming around the world but would also enjoy the rewards of settling down, you are experiencing a(n) a. bi-dimensional conflict. b. approach-approach conflict. c. avoidance-avoidance conflict. d. approach-avoidance conflict. e. double approach-avoidance conflict.

B. approach-approach conflict.

Delirium tremens are associated with a. addiction to any drug. b. Parkinson's disease. c. withdrawal from alcohol. d. anxiety disorders. e. withdrawal from stimulants.

C

Jenna is very frustrated because her cat keeps jumping up on the counter, even though she had spent a lot of time trying to train him not to do so. Which concept of learning should Jenna MOST be aware of? a. Negative reinforcement b. Positive reinforcement c. Instinctual drift d. Preparedness e. Latent learning

C

Psychologists who are interested in behavioral similarities and differences between species are a. biological psychologists. b. experimental psychologists. c. comparative psychologists. d. animal psychologists. e. physiological psychologists.

C

The minimum amount of stimulus energy required to stimulate a receptor is the a. just noticeable difference (j.n.d). b. wavelength. c. absolute threshold. d. pattern theory. e. stimulus-receptor prompt.

C

The neuron's "senders" are the a. myelin sheaths. b. dendrites. c. axon terminal buttons. d. pons. e. receptor sites.

C

The speech sounds made by infants a. are specific to the language of their culture. b. represent sounds from two or three different languages. c. include speech sounds used in virtually all languages. d. are unrelated to eventual language development. e. are different from those used in any language.

C

The spinal cord is part of the a. peripheral nervous system. b. cerebellum. c. central nervous system. d. reticular activating system. e. parasympathetic system.

C

For a representative sample of identical twins, the correlation coefficient between their IQs was found to be 0.80. Hence, we can say that a. 80% of IQ is inherited. b. 80% of IQ is due to environmental effects. c. IQ and inherited genes are strongly related. d. identical twins usually have identical IQs. e. IQ is barely related to heredity.

C. A correlation does not prove causation, but it can establish relation. It is, therefore, difficult to separate heredity from environment in determining exactly why people are intelligent.

The results of IQ testing suggest that a. the average IQ is well above 100. b. IQ cannot be tested reliably. c. IQ scores approximate a normal distribution. d. IQ is an excellent predictor of emotional adjustment. e. IQ tests are a direct measure of intelligence.

C. A normal distribution of scores above and below the mean is also known as a bell-shaped curve.

In breaking away from Freud, Alfred Adler proposed that people a. inherit the learned behaviors of their ancestors. b. suffer from fixations in the early psychosexual stages. c. attempt to overcome feelings of inferiority. d. suffer from strong biological urges. e. have an ancestral memory called the collective unconscious.

C. Adler said that we attempt to overcome feelings of inferiority by striving to be superior (i.e., to self-actualize).

A person who is overly energetic and hyperactive, makes grandiose plans, and experiences feelings of omnipotence is a. schizoid. b. hysterical. c. manic. d. obsessive. e. anal-retentive.

C. Being manic is an extreme high, often characterized by behaviors that do not reflect reality. At the end of the manic episode, the person often swings the other way into a severe depression.

Which of the following is TRUE about the relationship between frustration and aggression? a. Frustration always causes aggression. b. Biological factors are more important than social factors in aggressive behavior. c. Whether or not frustration will result in aggression depends on cognitive appraisal. d. Frustration is likely to cause aggression in children but depression in adults. e. Aggression is always a sign that frustration and depression is present in an individual.

C. Cognitive factors include, for example, perception of intent, controllability, and magnitude.

Joe is four years old. He watches as you pour out the same amount of juice into two identical glasses, one for him and one for his friend. He correctly tells you that there is the same amount of juice in each glass. However, if you pour the contents of one of the glasses into a taller, thinner glass, he says he wants that one "because there's more juice in it." Joe has not yet mastered the principle of a. egocentrism. b. object permanence. c. conservation. d. correspondence. e. concreteness.

C. Conservation is the ability to understand that certain attributes of objects or situations remain the same despite superficial changes in their appearance.

Employee morale and staff cooperation would be the concern of a(n) a. clinical psychologist. b. forensic psychologist. c. social psychologist. d. industrial and organizational psychologist. e. business psychologist.

D

If a test measures what it is intended to measure, it has a. objectivity. b. reliability. c. replicability. d. validity. e. standardization.

D

The regulation of temperature in humans and other mammals provides a good example of the general physiological process of a. arousal. b. habituation. c. homeostasis. d. object incentive. e. metabolism.

C. Homeostasis is a state of equilibrium or balance in any physiological system.

The most prominent of the early American psychologists was a. Carl Rogers. b. Sigmund Freud. c. William James. d. Sir Francis Galton. e. Wilhelm Wundt.

C. James studied introspection in the late 1800s. Freud, Galton and Wundt were all Europeans. Rogers was a twentieth-century psychologist.

Jean Piaget was a Swiss psychologist who was interested PRIMARILY in children's a. physical development. b. sexual development. c. cognitive development. d. emotional development. e. moral development

C. Piaget's theory includes the sensorimotor, preoperational, and formal operational stages of children's cognitive development.

If a researcher wished to determine whether heat causes an increase in aggression, the best approach would be to a. observe people in a public park on hot and cold days. b. compare and cross-reference weather reports with crime statistics. c. recruit participants to a university study, put half in a cold room and half in a hot room, and then observe their behavior. d. compare crime rates in countries that are hot vs. cooler. e. ask people if they feel irritable and prone to aggression in the hot weather.

C. The only way to determine whether one variable causes another is to do an experiment. Non-experimental methods yield correlational results only. Researchers cannot make causal statements from correlational results.

"Learning is any relatively permanent change in behavior" is an incomplete definition of learning because it does not include the role of a. growth. b. conditioning. c. cognition. d. experience. e. reinforcement.

D

It is often suggested that classically conditioned responses are _____, whereas operantly conditioned responses are _____. a. voluntary, involuntary b. aversive, appetitive c. aversive, reflexive d. reflexes, voluntary e. appetitive, aversive

D

Scientists use replication in order to a. increase validity. b. increase research grants. c. show cause and effect. d. become more confident about their conclusions across a variety of situations. e. satisfy ethics requirements.

D

The brain's relay station which receives incoming sensory messages and passes them on to the cerebral cortex is the a. corpus callosum. b. hypothalamus. c. limbic system. d. thalamus. e. basal ganglia.

D

A mother who is certain her children cannot make decisions encourages dependent behavior that confirms her opinion of them, exemplifying a. self-perception theory. b. the theory of social comparison. c. expedient conformity. d. a self-fulfilling prophecy. e. cognitive dissonance.

D. A self-fulfilling prophecy is a prediction that comes true not necessarily because it was correct, but more because it was made in the first place. Once people have an expectation about events, they tend to engage in behavior that increases the probability of the event's occurrence.

Which of the following statements about genetics is CORRECT? a. In humans, genes cause specific behaviors. b. We have 85% of our genes in common with chimpanzees. c. Most physical traits represent the averaging of one dominant and one recessive gene. d. According to evolutionary theory, individuals who are more successful at surviving are more likely to pass on their genes. e. Humans have about 5,000 different genes.

D. According to evolutionary theory, genes have become more specialized because they have given us an advantage in surviving and adapting. Those who adapted more successfully lived longer and passed on their "successful" genes.

People diagnosed as having a(n) _______ disorder outnumber all other groups of mentally ill individuals. a. conversion b. psychotic c. affective d. anxiety e. personality

D. Anxiety disorders are the most frequently occurring disorders and include generalized anxiety disorder, phobias, PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Mood disorders are the second most frequently occurring disorders.

"Psychology is the study of the relationship between events, or stimuli, in the environment and the responses they produce from an organism." This statement is MOST likely to be made by a a. structuralist. b. cognitive psychologist. c. functionalist. d. behaviorist. e. Gestalt psychologist.

D. Behaviorism is the psychological study of overt behavior, and the relationship between behavior and its consequences. Behaviorists focus on the organism's environment and its effect on behavior, not on mental processes.

Since the introduction of drug treatment approximately 25 years ago, the percentage of the population in the United States that is hospitalized for mental disorders has a. increased substantially. b. increased slightly. c. remained constant. d. decreased. e. fluctuated vastly.

D. De-institutionalization has been a problem because many people who are released without proper supervision forget to take the prescribed drugs and deteriorate back into poor mental health or psychosis. Others are able to control the illness effectively via medication.

EEG recordings show that the brainwaves that are MOST typical of the deepest stage of sleep are those associated with a. alpha sleep. b. beta sleep. c. gamma sleep. d. delta sleep. e. REM sleep

D. Delta sleep, also known as stage 4 sleep, is the deepest stage of sleep. On an EEG, delta waves show up as large, slow brainwaves.

The ability to understand accurately the feelings of a client is called a. sympathy. b. reflection. c. unconditional positive regard. d. empathy. e. congruence.

D. Empathy consists of trying to see the world the way the client sees it.

A normal curve of distribution is a set of scores with a. a high standard deviation. b. most scores near one end of the range. c. approximately equal numbers of scores from one end of the range to the other. d. most scores in the middle of the range. e. most scores at the high and low ends of the range.

D. In a normal curve of distribution, most scores will cluster around the mean score, or around the middle of the range.

Which of the following is TRUE about hypnosis? a. Under hypnosis, people can be forced to do things that violate their morals. b. Everyone can be hypnotized. c. Psychologists generally agree that hypnosis is indeed a divided state of consciousness. d. Hypnosis has enabled some people to go through surgical procedures without anesthetic. e. Recovered memories retrieved under hypnosis are usually reliable.

D. Not everyone can be hypnotized, but for those who can, hypnosis can provide remarkable results. Caution should be exercised about accepting the validity of recovered memories, and hypnosis remains a controversial topic in psychology.

Typically, we do not believe that airplanes shrink as they take off and soar away into the sky or that they become larger as they land and taxi up to the terminal. Our rejection of this belief is based on the phenomenon known as a. proximity b. interposition. c. linear perspective. d. perceptual constancy. e. global processing.

D. Perceptual constancy allows us to continue to see the world as stable and consistent, despite changes in the way images are projected to the retina.

A "fill in the blank" type of examination would usually measure a. explicit memory. b. recognition. c. relearning. d. recall. e. chunking.

D. Recall is a form of remembering that requires the person to bring information out of memory without many retrieval cues.

Ishmael wishes to remember the phone number of an attractive woman he just met. The MOST likely strategy he will use is a. mnemonics. b. semantics. c. relearning. d. rehearsal. e. recall.

D. Rehearsal is the intentional repetition of information in order to improve short-term memory

As Mr. Ross walks to his office building in the city, he sees dozens of people, hears the sounds of traffic and voices, and smells the food from a nearby restaurant. Mr. Ross will sort out these stimuli with a process called a. convergence. b. form perception. c. disparity. d. selection. e. perception

D. Selection is the ability to pay attention to only some of the stimuli that bombard our sense organs.

When a person's behavior is assigned to an external cause, the type of attribution made is _____; when a person's behavior is assigned to an internal cause, the type of attribution made is _____. a. stable; unstable b. dispositional; situational c. global; specific d. situational; dispositional e. specific; external

D. Situational or external attributions explain events by assuming they are caused by something in the environment. Dispositional or internal attributions explain events by assuming they are caused by something about the individual.

On a trial basis, State College admitted 300 students from the lowest third of their high school graduation class. They were randomly divided into three groups. Group A received extensive training in study habits, group B received motivational lectures, and group C received no special treatment. At the end of the year, the average grades of the groups were compared. The dependent variable was a. the random assignment of groups. b. the type of treatment received. c. the rank in high school graduation class. d. the average grade of each group. e. each student's individual grade point average.

D. The dependent variable is the outcome variable. It occurs as a result of the experimental condition. In this case, the dependent variable is the average grade of the three different groups, compared against each other.

Sound waves entering the ear cause vibrations of the a. outer ear. b. auditory canal. c. semicircular canals. d. eardrum. e. cochlea

D. The eardrum is the membrane between the outer ear and the middle ear. When it vibrates, it passes the message to the middle ear.

Which of the following statements BEST describes the structure of personality as Sigmund Freud saw it? a. The ego originates from the superego. b. The id mediates between the superego and the ego. c. The superego is the most powerful unit in the personality. d. The ego mediates between the id and the superego. e. The id originates from the superego.

D. The ego is the executive of the personality. It operates on the reality principle and finds ways to satisfy the demands of both the id and the superego.

When people of varying cultures were asked to match facial expressions with specific emotions a. there was little agreement, even among people from the same culture. b. there was agreement within a specific culture, but not across cultures. c. people from underdeveloped societies had responses not seen in industrial societies. d. there was remarkable agreement among members of all cultures. e. all cultures had exactly the same expressions.

D. The six basic emotions (happiness, sadness, disgust, surprise, anger, and fear) are universally recognized, suggesting that there is a biological basis for the display of these emotions.

Cones, unlike rods, will respond to a. movement but not color. b. color but not movement. c. movement but not brightness. d. brightness but not movement. e. both movement and color

E

Sarah and James both have brown eyes, but their daughter has blue eyes. What is the MOST likely explanation for this? a. The child is adopted. b. James is not the child's father. c. Eye color is not determined by the dominant-recessive principle. d. The child's eye color will change when she is older. e. Both James and Sarah carry a recessive gene for blue eyes.

E

Systematically applying principles of operant conditioning to influence and change behavior is referred to as a. observational learning. b. mind control. c. classical conditioning. d. psychotherapy. e. behavior modification.

E

The basic sounds of a language are called a. morphemes. b. semantics. c. syntax. d. vocabulary. e. phonemes.

E

The myelin sheath serves the function of a. providing nutrients to the cell. b. protecting the axon of a nerve cell. c. stimulating hormone production. d. eliminating the need for synapses. e. increasing the speed at which nerve impulses travel.

E

A prototype (or schema) of a giraffe would be a(n) a. innate image of what a giraffe looks like. b. list of giraffe features. c. photo of a particular giraffe. d. idea of how a giraffe feeds. e. generalized mental model of a giraffe.

E. A prototype is a generalized picture or model on which a concept or perception is based. A prototype is a best example of a schema.

An emotion is comprised of all of the following EXCEPT a. changes in physiology. b. cognitive awareness. c. possible changes in feeling. d. goal-directed behavior. e. All of the choices ARE part of an emotion.

E. All emotions have a physiological basis, cognitive awareness, a sense of goal-directedness, and possible changes in feeling.

Renee has been in an automobile accident which caused severe brain damage. Her doctors may tell her family all of the following EXCEPT a. the brain is able to reorganize and shift functions. b. psychological and physical functions may be critically affected. c. damage to the brain is lasting. d. children are better able to compensate for brain damage than adults are. e. brain cells have the ability to regenerate.

E. Although the brain has a remarkable ability to partially compensate for damage, brain cells themselves do not regenerate.

The correct order of Masters' and Johnson's stages of sexual response is: a. arousal, plateau, resolution, orgasm. b. excitement, plateau, resolution, orgasm. c. excitement, resolution, orgasm, plateau. d. arousal, resolution, plateau, orgasm. e. excitement, plateau, orgasm, resolution.

E. Excitement is the building up of arousal, plateau is an increase in excitement, orgasm is muscular contractions, and resolution is a return to a normal non-aroused state.

Psychodynamic theory was originally developed by a. Carl Rogers. b. Carl Jung. c. Alfred Adler. d. Erich Fromm. e. Sigmund Freud.

E. Freud developed psychodynamic (or psychoanalytic) theory in the late 1800s.

In his experiment with a boy named Albert, John Watson paired Albert's touching of a white rat with a. a toy bunny. b. the smell of food. c. a bell. d. a man dressed like Santa Claus. e. a loud noise.

E. In this experiment, the loud noise was the unconditioned stimulus, and the rat became the conditioned stimulus.

The psychodynamic approach to the treatment of psychological disorders is based on the assumption that maladaptive behavior a. is learned, and therapy should teach the client more adaptive behavior. b. is caused by imbalances in biochemical functioning of the brain. c. occurs when the client no longer feels that life is meaningful. d. is the result of problems in living. e. is related to unresolved childhood conflicts.

E. Psychodynamic (Freudian) treatment relies heavily on understanding early life experiences and conflicts, and uncovering the roots of unconscious motivation.

Stimulation of salivary glands and digestion are functions of the a. sympathetic nervous system. b. central nervous system. c. peripheral nervous system. d. hypothalamus. e. parasympathetic nervous system.

E. The parasympathetic system calms the body back down, slows heartbeat, reduces blood pressure, and brings digestion back "on-line." Digestion is taken "off-line" during times of stress or fear by the sympathetic system, which arouses the body.

James is sound asleep when the sound of a creaky floorboard startles him awake to find a burglar in his home. Which part of the brain was responsible for waking him up? a. Hypothalamus b. Amygdala c. Cerebellum d. Frontal lobe e. Reticular activating system

E. The reticular activating system monitors alertness and determines which sensory messages are important and which are not. Messages are then passed on to the thalamus, which controls which parts of the brain receive which messages.

The theorist who claimed that he could make any dozen healthy babies into anything he wished through conditioning was a. Wilhelm Wundt. b. Sigmund Freud. c. Carl Rogers d. B. F. Skinner. e. John Watson.

E. Watson was an extreme behaviorist.