General psychology Midterm

What stage of sleep are you most likely experiencing if an EEG of your brain activity showed sleep spindles and K-complexes?

2

A(n) ________ is the electrical signal that typically moves from the neuron's cell body down the axon to the axon terminals.

Action potential

Obstructive sleep apnea occurs when ________.

An individual's airway becomes blocked during sleep.

Sarit is at a bar full of music, chatter, and laughter. He gets involved in an interesting conversation with a woman named Mona, and he tunes out all the background noise. Sarit's friend, Karen, taps him on the shoulder and asks what song just played on the jukebox. Sarit says he doesn't know, even though he is sitting right next to the jukebox and is familiar with popular music. This illustrates the role that ________ plays in what is sensed versus what is perceived.

Attention

What is the main idea of operant conditioning?

Behavior is motivated by the consequences we receive for the behavior: reinforcements and punishments.

What occurs during stage 1 sleep?

Both our respiration and heartbeat slow down.

Which of the following areas is located in the frontal lobe of the brain?

Broca's area

Which psychodynamic theorist proposed the idea of a collective unconscious that is shared by all members of the human species?

Carl Jung

Bev likes to be up late at night and sleep in; Caleb likes to wake up with the sun and go to bed early. A psychologist would say they have different ________.

Chronotypes

When a child works on a "connect the dots" puzzle, she can often see the completed work before she has finished all of the dots. Once there is enough visual information present, she's able to perceive the completed picture even though it is still incomplete. Which Gestalt principle does this demonstrate?

Closure

Sandra strongly believes that attending daycare is detrimental to children's development so she decides to write her psychology term paper on this topic. She does a literature search and finds several sources supporting her opinion, but she finds that the majority of research indicates that children attending daycare experience healthy development. She writes a paper using the sources that find negative associations with daycare attendance. This is an example of ________.

Confirmation bias

Ravon is deaf. He was born without the ability to hear, and has never experienced an auditory stimulus. When people write using "sound" type words like "loud," "soft," and "quiet," he sometimes has difficulty understanding what they are trying to convey. Ravon has ________ deafness.

Congenital

Alcohol is considered a ________ because it tends to suppress central nervous system activity.

Depressant

Although B. F. Skinner and John B. Watson refused to believe that thoughts and expectations play a role in learning, ________ suggested a cognitive aspect to learning.

Edward C. Tolman

amplitudes are associated with ________ sounds.

Higher,louder

What has research shown about processing subliminal messages?

In laboratory settings, people can process and respond to information outside of their awareness

As you are talking to a friend on your cell phone, you might find that you can't hear them because they are speaking very softly. If you ask them to "speak up," from a physical perspective you are asking them to ________ of the sound waves they are producing

Increase the amplitude

Which of the following conclusions can be drawn from the case study of Phineas Gage's accident, which led to brain injury?

Injury to the brain causes changes in behavior, and specific brain areas are linked to particular behaviors.

(IRB) reviews research that is involves the use of human participants.

Institutional Review Board

Which of the following is an example of vicarious punishment?

Jeong observes his sister Bronwyn getting spanked for spitting out her carrots. Because he does not like getting spanked, he chews and swallows the carrots even though he hates them

Two lines appear to be a different length, though in reality they are the same length. This is known as the ________ illusion.

Müller-Lyer

Samek was driving to work when he suddenly felt paralyzed and couldn't resist falling asleep. Samek may have ________.

Narcolepsy

What is the main idea of social learning theory?

One can learn new behaviors by observing others

Which nerve carries visual information from the retina to the brain?

Optic

In developmental psychology, there is an increasing interest in researching cognitive changes that occur later in life. Why?

Populations of developed nations are living longer.

Mohammed is sleeping. His eyelids are quivering because his eyes are darting around. Mohammed is probably experiencing ________ sleep

REM

In order to maximize the chances that experimental groups represent the population of interest, researchers should conduct ________ and ________.

Random sampling, random group assignment

What does the place theory of pitch perception suggest?

Receptors on different portions of the basilar membrane are sensitive to sounds of different frequencies.

Nikki was walking around a department store shopping one day, and did not realize that the shirt she was wearing looked just like the shirts worn by employees. When a stranger asked, "do you work here," she thought it was funny. The other customers' assumption that Nikki was a store employee demonstrates the Gestalt principle of _______.

Similarity

The somatosensory cortex is responsible for processing ________.

Temperature, touch, and pain

Which individual wrote Principles of Physiological Psychology and is credited with establishing a scientific laboratory of Psychology at the University of Leipzig?

Wilhelm Wundt

What term describes the continuation of a visual sensation after removal of the stimulus?

afterimage

Stage 1 sleep is characterized by a predominance of ________ wave activity in the brain.

alpha

Which is the main type of chemical messengers secreted by the male gonads?

androgens

Simplicity of conducting the study is to ________ as ability to test large numbers of participants is to ________.

archival research; surveys

________ is a reduction in the number of research participants as some drop out of the study over time.

attrition

Which of the following is an example of instinct?

baby turning its head to suckle when its cheek is stroked

Studies that cannot ethically be conducted as experiments with typical human participants ________.

can sometimes be tested with animal studies

Most people are awake during the day and asleep at night because their ________ cycles are aligned with the outside world.

circadian

The scientific process is ________, involving both inductive and deductive reasoning.

circular

Tabetha has a mental picture of the layout of her house, also called a ________, so when she comes home late at night she can navigate through the rooms without turning on a light.

cognitive map

A(n) ________ variable is a factor that affects both variables of interest in research and may falsely give the impression of a cause-and-effect relationship

confounding

Ronaldo was born without the ability to experience pain, though he can perceive temperature differences and changes in pressure. What is his condition called?

congenital analgesia

Ali is aware of his feelings, emotions, and thoughts. He is also aware of his surroundings, the warmth of the sun, and the sound of nearby traffic. Ali is in a state of ________.

consciousness

Jemma wants to teach her son to say thank you. Every time he says thank you, Jemma praises him and gives him a hug. Which reinforcement schedule is this?

continuous

Light waves are first transmitted through the ________ at the front of the eye and enter an opening called the ________ before shining onto the retina.

cornea; pupil

The amplitude of a wave is the height of a wave as measured from the highest point on the wave________ to the lowest point on the wave ________.

crest and trough

What kind of research is Saanvi conducting if she tracks six groups of participants, each group a different age, over several years, assessing them on her variable of interest once every six months?

cross-sectional

Melatonin release from the pineal gland is stimulated by ________ and inhibited by ________.

darkness; light

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are drugs commonly prescribed for ________.

depression

Lucy wants to study changes in physical attributes, cognitive skills, moral reasoning, and social behavior across the lifespan. Lucy should specialize in ________ psychology.

developmental

________theory suggests that when people are hypnotized they have voluntarily divided their conscious: one half aware of reality and the other half tuned in to the hypnotist.

dissociative

Which two neurotransmitters have roles in appetite suppression?

dopamine and norepinephrine

Which of the following research designs will allow cause-and-effect conclusions?

experimental

Gus receives a paycheck at the end of every week. Which reinforcement schedule is this?

fixed interval

Which kind of psychologist would be consulted in jury selection and witness preparation?

forensic

The myelin sheath is made from ________.

glial cells

________ is a state of equilibrium, in which biological conditions (such as body temperature) are maintained at optimal levels.

homeostasis

Elaina has been diagnosed with a small brain tumor. She first went to see her doctor after experiencing symptoms such as feeling very cold, almost fainting, a reduced appetite, and reduced sexual desire. Which of the following structures is her tumor most likely affecting?

hypothalamus

The belief that strange behavior is linked to the occurrence of a full moon is an example of a(n) ________.

illusory correlation

A group of researchers investigated the effects of two vocabulary learning strategies on word retention two weeks later. In this example, learning strategy is the ________ variable and word retention is the ________ variable.

independent, dependent

Oona wants to conduct research on personnel management, workplace environment, and what type of environment results in high levels of employee productivity and efficiency. Oona should conduct research in the area of ________ psychology.

industrial-organizational

Which of the following is a symptom of REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD)?

kicking and punching while asleep

Marlowe wakes up from a dream about his teeth falling out. He looks in a dream dictionary and finds losing teeth is usually dream symbolism for anxiety. Marlowe is focused on the ________ content.

latent

One example of ________ is the differences between hemispheres in the areas underlying language function.

lateralization

In a person whose eyes work in the usual fashion, the ________ will focus images perfectly on a small indentation in the back of the eye known as the ________.

lens; fovea

Within the visible spectrum, our experience of red is associated with ________ waves of light

longer wavelengths

A group of preschool-age children are enrolled in a study that plans to follow them over time in order to assess behaviors and other characteristics that may predict later development of schizophrenia. This is an example of a(n) ________ design.

longitudinal

A state of ________, as shown by EEG recordings of new practitioners, is not an altered state of consciousness; however, patterns of brain waves exhibited by expert practitioners may represent a unique state of consciousness.

meditation

Cataplexy is a symptom associated with ________.

narcolepsy

In classical conditioning, the association that is learned is between a ________.

neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus

Dmitris is in a car accident and his parietal lobe is injured. Which of the following is the most likely behavioral effect of his accident?

no sensation in his legs and feet

People who have their corpus callosum severed for medical reasons would be able to tell you about which images shown to ________.

only the right visual field

Sleepwalking, night terrors, and restless leg syndrome are all examples of________.

parasomnias

The ________ nervous system is responsible for stimulating digestion and causing the bladder to contract.

parasympathetic

In ________ reinforcement, the person or animal is not reinforced every time a desired behavior is performed.

partial

Ainsley is participating in a study that aims to determine whether the occipital cortex becomes more active in response to moving versus stationary stimuli. When she arrives at the lab, she ingests a "tracer" and then enters the scanning machine. What type of brain imaging is most likely being conducted in this study?

positron emission tomography (PET)

The ability of a research study or psychological instrument to consistently produce a given result is called ________.

reliability

are the most commonly used species for animal research.

rodents

Psychological knowledge is advanced through a process known as ________, which involves a prescribed series of steps designed to achieve the desired knowledge.

scientific method

Crack is regarded as more addictive than cocaine because it is ________.

smokable, so it reaches the brain more quickly

Sensory and motor neurons of the ________ nervous system are associated with activities traditionally thought of as conscious or voluntary.

somatic

A(n) ________ is conducted in order to determine whether there are meaningful differences between two groups in a study.

statistical analysis

You begin to salivate when you smell your favorite cake in the oven, but not when you smell the gross scent of a dirty diaper. This is an example of ________.

stimulus discrimination

Jeremy has Parkinson's disease, a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects motor skills. In addition to motor symptoms, Jeremy has noticed changes in his mood. It is likely that Jeremy's ________ is producing less ________ than it needs to

substantia nigra; dopamine

is/are often conducted with large numbers of participants and can even be conducted by phone, email, or mail.

surveys

The ________ nervous system is responsible for responses such as pupil dilation, increased heart rate, and increased respiration.

sympathetic

Some neurons can only generate action potentials up to a certain speed, and no faster. This fact is a limitation of the ________ theory of pitch perception.

temporal

The auditory cortex, in which sound stimuli are processed for perception, is located in the ________ lobe.

temporal

Which choice is an accurate definition of a hypothesis?

tentative explanation

The ________ of a neuron contain ________ that house neurotransmitters, the chemical messengers of the nervous system.

terminal buttons; synaptic vesicles

The cognitive revolution created an impetus for psychologists to focus their attention on better understanding ________.

the mind and mental processes that underlie behavior

Functionalist psychologists focus on the function of behavior and ________.

the operation of the whole mind rather than the individual parts

A(n) ________ is a well-developed set of ideas that proposes an explanation for observed phenomena.

theory

Research shows that people who smoke cigarettes are more likely to get lung cancer than those who do not smoke. This research alone demonstrates that ________.

there is a relationship between smoking and lung cancer

Your ears receive sound waves and convert this energy into neural messages that travel to your brain and are processed as sounds. This is an example of ________.

transduction

A particular electrical signal being transmitted to a neuron is sufficient to generate an action potential. If the magnitude of the incoming electrical signal is doubled, the action potential will ________.

undergo no changes in strength, speed, or duration

Individuals undergoing hypnosis ________.

usually have clear memories of the hypnotic experience and are in control of their own behaviors

Vinnie is standing on one leg with his arms in the air. The ________ sense helps keep him balanced so he has less chance of falling over.

vestibular

Which of the following is an example of research someone might conduct in the area of health psychology?

whether people working at a desk are more likely to be obese