PSYCH 101 MIDTERM

The nervous system is made up of _____ of communicating cells

BILLIONS

According to Thorndike's law of effect, which of the following are true?

Behaviors followed by good results are more likely to occur again. Behaviors followed by bad results are less likely to occur.

What is the name for the process by which axons of healthy neurons adjacent to damaged neurons grow new branches to make up for the damage?

Collateral sprouting

_____ research serves the purpose of determining the basic dimensions of a phenomenon and defining what it is or how often it occurs, but it cannot provide causal information.

Descriptive

What challenges can arise from relying on the media for information about psychological research?

Due to time and space limitations, media reports frequently omit important details about research studies. Journalists frequently lack the knowledge to evaluate psychological research.

Which statement about the seven contemporary approaches to psychology is most accurate?

Each perspective provides some insight into human behavior and mental processes.

Which psychological perspective emphasizes a person's positive qualities, capability for positive growth, and the freedom to choose any destiny?

Evolutionary approach

Which of the following are functions of autobiographical memory?

It allows us to learn from our experiences. Sharing personal experience creates social bonds. It provides us with identity.

What is the potential for brain grafts as a way of repairing brain damage?

It has the potential to repair damage from diseases such as Alzheimer and Parkinson.

_________s defined as the retention of information or experience over time.

Memory

Before using memory processes, you must firs ______t the information you are about to study.

ORGANIZE

Which of the following are recommended for organizing for memory processes?

Organize the material in a way that will allow you to memorize. Experiment with different organizational techniques. Review notes that you are preparing to memorize.

_____ refers to the ability of the brain to adapt and repair itself

Plasticity

Some psychologists argue that psychology should be value-free and morally neutral. Why do some psychologists think this would this be difficult to do?

Psychologists are human and therefore cannot be value-free, even if they try.

_____ is a memory task in which the person has to retrieve previously learned information; _____ is a memory task in which the person has to identify learned items

Recall; recognition

_________attention involves focusing on a specific aspect of experience while ignoring other stimuli.

Selective

______ is the process of receiving stimuli energies from the environment, whereas ______ is the brain's process of organizing and interpreting sensory information to give it meaning.

Sensation; perception

________memory holds information from the world in its original form for only an instant, not much longer than the brief time it is exposed to the visual, auditory, and other senses.

Sensory

______ neurons receive information from sensory organs.

Sensory Afferent

_____ memory is a limited-capacity memory system in which information is usually retained for less than a minute unless strategies are used to retain it longer.

Short-term

Aversive conditioning is a form of conditioning that repeatedly pairs a stimulus with a very unpleasant stimulus

TRUE

Which of the following regions of the brain governs breathing and regulates reflexes?

The medulla

_________is a broad term for any characteristic that can change in some way.

Variable

What is operant conditioning?

a form of associative learning in which the consequences of a behavior change the probability of the behavior's occurrence

Most psychologists work in ______.

academic settings

_________disease is a progressive, irreversible brain disorder that is characterized by gradual deterioration of memory, reasoning, language, and eventually physical functioning.

alzheimer's

Before it can be conducted, all psychological research is subject to review by

an institutional review board.

Uncle Charlie loves to tell family stories. His nephews observe that these stories evolve over time, but they enjoy hearing them because Charlie is a great storyteller. This is an example of how _____ memory fosters intimacy and creates social bonds.

autobiographical

Applied behavior analysis, or _____ modification, is the use of operant conditioning principles to change human behavior.

behavior

Psychologists study _____.

behavior and mental processes

A person's phenotype applies to

both physical and psychological characteristics.

Which psychological perspective focuses on the mental processes involved in knowing—that is, how we direct our attention, perceive, remember, think, and solve problems?

cognitive approach

Journalists are often not trained in psychological research; therefore, they frequently have issues presenting material appropriately. One of the better sources for learning about research is

college professionals.

The brain is able to juggle multiple tasks simultaneously. That makes it a(n) _____ organ.

complex

Laboratory research is conducted in a(n) _________setting.

controlled

Research that involves determining the relationship between variables and whose purpose is to examine whether and how two variables change together is called______ research.

correlational

What are the three basic types of research used in psychology?

correlational experimental descriptive

Sodium and potassium ions move in and out of the axon when the membrane is

depolarized,

Dr. Marsh has her General Psychology class go through an exercise in which they look at a group of objects and attempt to remember them. Then she has the class look at another group of objects and create a story involving them. The class finds the second group of objects easier to remember because of _____.

elaboration

According to the concept of levels of processing, the process of _____ involves three levels.

encoding

Ari is watching a movie. Which initial memory process is Ari using?

encoding

Explicit memory has two subtypes. Autobiographical memory, a special form of memory____________ (which is one of explicit memory's subtypes), is a person's recollections of his or her life experiences.

episodic

Critical thinking is the practice of evaluating

evidence.

Which of the following are NOT among the contemporary approaches to psychology?

exploratory physical

Animal research has provided no benefit to humans.

false

Hermann Ebbinghaus was the first person to conduct scientific research on

forgetting.

Positron-emission tomography (PET scan) uses______ levels to identify levels of activity throughout the brain.

glucose

The endocrine system conveys information in the form of chemical messengers known as _____.

hormones

When Don was an undergraduate many years ago, his physics professor shot a flaming arrow across the lecture hall to illustrate a physics theory. Don vividly remembers the theory today. This is an example of the effect of

imagery.

The consequences of an action influence the frequency with which that action is displayed in the future. What does this describe?

law of effect

Each hemisphere of the brain is subdivided into four regions, which are called _____

lobes

An experiment involves _____ one variable and observing the effect on another variable.

manipulating

Dr. Quincy loves to have students in her Abnormal Psychology class work with case studies and reflect upon diagnostic questions, instead of reading and studying material. This is because Dr. Quincy is familiar with the research on memory and understands that

memory of material is better when we think deeply and connect new information with information we already have.

The biological approach to psychology focuses on the brain and ________system.

nervous

The cells in the nervous system that handle information processing are called

neurons.

In Pavlov's original experiment, the bell began as a(n)_______ stimulus and by the end became a(n) ________stimulus.

neutral conditioned

Encoding failure occurs when the information was

never entered into long-term memory.

Activation of the________ nervous system, a division of the autonomic nervous system, calms the body after an emergency has ended.

parasympathetic

The autonomic nervous system works to monitor processes such as breathing, heart rate, and digestion. The _____ nervous system is a subsystem within the autonomic system that calms the bod

parasympathetic

What behavior do rats engage in while in a Skinner box?

performing a behavior to receive food

Long-term memory is a _____ type of memory that stores huge amounts of information.

permanent

In terms of the effects of serial position, the________ effect refers to better recall for items at the beginning.

primacy

What is the function of Broca's area in the brain

production of speech

Aaron has elaborate systems set up on his computer to remind him of all the things he has to do and when he has to do them. The computer is helping Aaron with _____ memory.

prospective

The type of memory that involves remembering information about doing something in the future is _____ memory.

prospective

Which psychological perspective emphasizes unconscious thought, the conflict between biological drives and society's demands, and early family experiences?

psychodynamic approach

Alzheimer disease involves deterioration of which of the following?

reasoning physical functioning memory language

Dr. Wu asks students to look at real-world problems related to political science, instead of reading and studying textbooks and note cards with definitions. This is because Dr. Wu is familiar with the research on memory and understands that

recall memory better

Every time the family dog sits on command, she receives a treat. The treat would be considered

reinforcement.

Which of the following is the memory process by which information held in memory is brought out of storage?

retrieval

Psychology is the ______study of all human behaviors.

scientific

The five steps of the ________ method are reflected differently in three types of research commonly used in psychology.

scientific

Focusing on a specific aspect of experience while ignoring others is _____ attention.

selective

The ability of the visual system to adjust to a dark room is an example of

sensory adaptation.

The three systems of memory in the Atkinson-Shiffrin theory are _______memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory.

sensory,

When a rat enters a Skinner box, it has to learn to press a lever to get food. At the very beginning of this process, it is rewarded with food when it is in the vicinity of the lever. Then it is rewarded when it touches the lever, and so on. This technique of rewarding successive approximations of a desired behavior is called_________

shaping

The absolute threshold is defined by psychologists as the ____

smallest intensity of a stimulus that must be present for the stimulus to be detected

The Blank______ approach specifically examines the ways in which social and cultural environments influence behavior.

sociocultural

What flow into a neuron and depolarize its membrane when a neuron is activated?

sodium ions

The behavioral perspective

suggests that observable, measurable behavior should be the focus of study.

The experience of one sense inducing an automatic experience in another sense (e.g., sight and hearing) is called

synaesthesia.

A(n) ___ is the tiny gap between the axon terminal and the next neuron.

synapse

In psychological research, the population is

the group about which the researcher would like to draw conclusions

Overall, psychology may concern itself with the nervous system, emotion and motivation, and mind and body. However, it is essentially all about

the individual.

Every time second-grader Prisha raises her hand in class and gives the correct answer, her teacher gives her a sticker. Receiving a sticker increases the likelihood of Prisha's participation. This is an example of

the law of effect.

In addition to philosophy, psychology has roots in the natural sciences of biology and physiology.

true

In a complex behavior, such as escaping from a burning building, how many brain systems are typically involved?

virtually all

What is the definition of learning?

A relatively permanent change in behavior brought about through experience

The theorist ________ ________ developed the theory of observational learning.

Albert Bandura

Which part of the neuron directs the manufacture of substances that help the neuron grow?

cell body

A neural network

changes as the strength of synaptic connections is altered.