PSYC Exam 1 Quizzes Review

Which of the following exemplifies olfaction?

smelling cookies in the oven

Susan wants to study prejudice, attraction, how we explain our own behavior versus how we explain the behavior of others, and how we resolve interpersonal conflicts. Susan should conduct research in the area of ________.

social psychology

Which correlation coefficient best represents a moderate relationship showing fewer anxiety symptoms in people who report higher life satisfaction?

-0.5

Which of the following is a criticism of evolutionary psychology?

Demonstrating that a trait, especially in humans, is naturally selected is extraordinarily difficult.

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

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

Müller-Lyer

The purpose of glial cells is to:

Provide scaffolding on which the nervous system is built ; Help neurons line up closely with each other to allow neuronal communication ;Provide insulation to neurons, transport nutrients and waste products, and mediate immune responses

Magali and Jean-Gabriel have been asked to design a study investigating happiness across the lifespan. They decide their study will involve going to the mall and asking people of a variety of ages if they are happy or unhappy. What is the most serious flaw of this design?

They have not defined happiness or how it will be measured

Rosemary had a stroke about a year ago and now she cannot understand what people are saying to her. This is embarrassing for her, so she responds using vague language and tries to make it appear as though she understands. Which area of Rosemary's brain was likely damaged by the stroke?

Wernicke's area

Psychoanalytic theory focuses on ________ and early childhood experiences

a persons unconsciousness

________ is the electrical signal that typically moves from the cell body down the axon to the axon terminals.

action potential

Sariah enters a room with several chirping crickets in it. Upon first entering the room, Sariah can hear the chirping; however, as she begins to talk to her friends, she is no longer aware of the chirping even though it is still there. The fact that Sariah no longer perceives the chirping sound demonstrates sensory ________.

adaptation

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

afterimage

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

The brain contains ________ of interconnected neurons and glia.

billions

Inattentional ________ refers to the failure to notice something that is completely visible due to a lack of attention.

blindness

What kind of processing is exemplified by the following scenario? Esther's mother offers her a new dish she's been working on―a raisin-jalapeño quiche. Esther's body responds first: Esther eyes the content of the skillet, and smells the mix of raisins, jalapeños, and eggs. Her stomach churns and she looks away. Feeling disgust and disappointment, she says "I'm not hungry."

bottom-up

Dr. Mattar is interested in knowing more about brain injury to the occipital cortex, and he studies patients individually in order to gain in-depth knowledge about their behaviors. These studies would best be described as ________.

case studies

The two major divisions of the nervous system are the ________ and ________

central; peripheral nervous systems

The ________ receives messages from muscles, tendons, joints, and structures in our ear to control balance, coordination, movement, and motor skills.

cerebellum

Ashya wants to focus on the diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders and other problematic patterns of behavior. What area of psychology should she work in?

clinical psychology

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

A ________ scan involves taking a number of x-rays of a particular section of a person's body or brain.

computerized tomography (CT) scan

Petra walks into a brightly lit Psychology lab to participate in an experiment involving the ability to perceive the colors of the rainbow. Which photoreceptors will be most useful during this experiment?

cones

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

A/An ________ is a variable that affects both variables of interest and may falsely give the impression of a cause-and-effect relationship.

confounding variable

The ________ group does not get the experimental treatment

control

Harrison et al. are conducting a study assessing the ability of depressed versus non-depressed participants to remember negative emotions in a short story about a family whose car breaks down. They plan to ask participants to read the story and then make a list of the emotions expressed in the story. Before beginning the study, they make a list of negative emotions (e.g., sadness and anger) that they will record from the participants' responses. In this example, negative emotions are the ________.

dependent variable

A major advantage of case studies is ________.

detailed information

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

develoopmental

________ is a technique often used in studies investigating sleep patterns. Researchers place electrodes at various locations on a person's head in order to record brainwaves

electroencephalography (EEG)

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

experimental

Which of the following does not influence perception?

gestalt

A series of dots arranged in the shape of a face will be perceived as a face, not a series of dots. A psychologist studying this phenomenon is applying the principals of ________.

gestalt psychology

Introspection refers to a process by which someone examines ________ as objectively as possible.

her own conscious experience

________-frequency sound waves are perceived as high-pitched sounds, while ________-frequency sound waves are perceived as low-pitched sounds.

high; low

What is described by the concept of perception?

how sensory information is interpreted and consciously experienced

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

Which aspect of the scientific method occurs first?

hypothesis

Spurling et al. 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

Guillermo spends some time each day applying the principles of structuralism to examine his own conscious experience as carefully as possible. Guillermo is engaged in ________.

introspection

Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of a good hypothesis?

it is complex

Which of the following describes the difference in stimuli required to detect a difference between the stimuli?

just noticeable

At the point of the optic chiasm, information from the right visual field (which comes from both eyes) is sent to the ________ side of the brain, and information from the left visual field is sent to the ________ side of the brain.

left; right

Randolf is walking down the street of his hometown, after being away for several years, when he smells the scent of freshly baked pie coming from a local baker. He suddenly has vivid memories of walking down this street as a child, holding both of his parents' hands, and swinging between them, feeling relaxed and happy. This is because the sense of smell projects directly to the ________, which is responsible for ________ memories.

limbic system; emotional

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/an ________ design.

longitudinal

Longer wavelengths will have ________ frequencies, and shorter wavelengths will have ________ frequencies

lower; higher

Patwardhan et al. report data from a study where they hired experimental confederates to attend speed dating events, posing as daters, and carefully take notes on the behaviors of the daters. What type of research design did they use?

naturalistic observation

__________ are the central building blocks of the nervous system

neurons

Psychotropic medications are drugs that treat psychiatric symptoms by restoring ________ balance.

neurotransmitter

A negative correlation means ________.

one variable decreases as the other increases

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

I provide Ralph with the positive reinforcement of a candy bar when he does something I like. I punish him by squirting him with a squirt gun when he does something I don't like. I am applying the principles of ________ in an attempt to modify Ralph's behavior.

operant conditioning

A/An ________ is a description of how the researchers will measure the variables of interest.

operational definition

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

parasympathetic

For a scientific explanation to be testable, it must also be ________.

perceivable and measurable

________ refers to the way that sensory information is interpreted and consciously experienced; ________ refers to what happens when sensory information is detected by a sensory receptor.

perception; sensation

Edmund wants to identify relatively consistent patterns of thought and behavior, measure these traits, and determine how these traits interact in a particular context to determine how a person will behave in any given situation. Edmund wants to conduct research in the area of ________.

personality

Behaviorists all focus on ________.

physiological responses that result in action

Dr. Bogdarian noticed that one of her students addresses her with the word mother instead of the word professor or doctor. Dr. Bogdarian applies the principles of ________, and hypothesizes the student misspeaks because he is unconsciously associating her with his mother

psychoanalytic theory

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

random sampling; random group assignment

Stan and Jenny are in a psychology course that requires them to repeat an experiment that researchers have conducted in the past, in order to determine whether they produce the same results. This is called ________.

replication

Wesley is in a movie theater with no windows—the only light is low illumination from the emergency lights on the floor. Which photoreceptors will be most useful to Wesley as he attempts to leave the theater?

rods

The central nervous system consists of the brain and the _______

spinal cord

Select the correctly ordered list of psychological perspectives, with the earliest perspective listed first.

structuralism, functionalism, behaviorism, humanism

Behaviorism focuses on making psychology an objective science by ________.

studying overt behavior and deemphasizing the importance of unobservable mental processes

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

sympathetic

The space between two neurons is called the ______

synapse

The auditory cortex is located in which lobe of the brain?

temporal

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

terminal buttons; synaptic vesicles

Which of the following is a criticism of structuralism?

the process was highly subjective

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

the scientific method

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

What do structuralism, Gestalt psychology, and Sigmund Freud all have in common?

they were all concerned with describing and understanding the inner experience

Cognitive psychology focuses on studying _______

thoughts and their relationship to our experiences and our actions

What kind of processing is exemplified by the following scenario? Shimon offers Mouin some salmon. Mouin thinks, "How nice. My friend is offering me fish. I wonder where he got it." This thought leads Mouin to feel happy, appreciative, and curious; he responds with a smile and an extended hand.

top-down

Which type of processing involves the interpretation of sensations and is influenced by available knowledge, experiences, and thoughts?

top-down

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

Devine et al. are interested in assessing whether active versus passive play causes a preference for sweet or salty foods in toddlers. They assign groups of children to either an active play, passive play, or no play group and record their food choices when presented with a variety of sweet and salty foods. In this study, ________ is the independent variable and ________ is the control group.

type of play; no play

"The central tenet of Gestalt psychology is that the _________ is different from the sum of its __________."

whole; parts