Psychology Chapter 8 Review

Which of these would you probably find by an "attentive" process? a. A misspelled word on a page in a book b. A book that someone dropped, that hit you on your foot c. A very large book among several small books d. A yellow book on a shelf of otherwise black books

a. A misspelled word on a page in a book

What is happening when you shift your attention to something without moving your eyes? a. A top-down process. b. The representative heuristic. c. A bottom-up process. d. The availability heuristic.

a. A top-down process.

What does the Stroop effect demonstrate? a. Familiarity with a word can interfere with saying the color of its ink. b. An item that looks different from all the others captures attention automatically. c. We often fail to detect visual changes that occur slowly or during an eyeblink. d. People find it possible to deal with categories even when they are hard to define.

a. Familiarity with a word can interfere with saying the color of its ink.

In a pioneering study, Shepard and Metzler concluded that imagining how something would look from a different angle is something like actually watching something rotate. They drew this conclusion by measuring what? a. The delay of people's responses b. The accuracy of people's responses c. Brain activity d. People's self-reports of how they answered the question

a. The delay of people's responses

Research on "choice blindness" supports which of these conclusions? a. The reason people give for a decision may have been made up afterwards. b. A decision that someone makes quickly is as good as one based on deliberation. c. People who listen to too much advice have trouble making a decision. d. After people have made a decision, they do not want to hear additional information.

a. The reason people give for a decision may have been made up afterwards.

Steve says he has a coworker who is persecuting him. You conclude that Steve is paranoid, ignoring the possibility that Steve really does have an enemy. This is a possible example of which heuristic? a. The representativeness heuristic b. The availability heuristic

a. The representativeness heuristic

As people develop expertise in a skill such as chess, what improves? a. Their ability to recognize common patterns b. The ratio of excitatory to inhibitory transmission in their brain c. The accuracy of their vision, hearing, and other senses d. Their overall memory and intelligence

a. Their ability to recognize common patterns

If a category is hard to define, like "country music," how do we decide what items fit that category? a. We compare an item to some prototypes of that category. b. We abandon that category and develop new categories. c. We select items at random to include in the category. d. We write a definition that fits the items we want to include in the category.

a. We compare an item to some prototypes of that category.

For which of these questions would you probably use System 2 instead of System 1? a. Which is colder, -30°C or -30°F? b. Do you know how to play a flute? c. Do you recognize the person in this photo? d. Who was Romeo's girl friend?

a. Which is colder, -30°C or -30°F?

Reading alternates between fixations and saccades. On average, a person reading an alphabetic language can read about characters during a fixation and about during a saccade. a. 11 ... 11 b. 11 ... 0 c. 0 ... 11 d. 8 ... 3

b. 11 ... 0

Other things being equal, which children in a class are most likely to be treated for ADHD? a. Children who are taller than average for the grade in school b. Children who are younger than average for the grade in school c. Children whose parents have low expectations for their school performance d. Children with greater than average athletic ability

b. Children who are younger than average for the grade in school

According to the conceptual network approach, which of the following questions should most people answer most rapidly? a. Do porcupines drink water? b. Do porcupines have quills? c. Are porcupines made of carbon compounds? d. Do porcupines have lungs?

b. Do porcupines have quills?

Many people recommend that old people do crossword puzzles or similar activities to improve everyday memory. If that advice worked (and generally it doesn't), it would be an example of what? a. Near transfer b. Far transfer c. The representativeness heuristic d. The availability heuristic

b. Far transfer

People will buy meat that claims "90 percent fat free," but not one that says "contains 10 percent fat." This observation is an example of which of the following? a. Overconfidence b. Framing effect c. Sunk cost effect d. Inappropriate use of the availability heuristic

b. Framing effect

Because you can easily think of examples of dishonest politicians, you might conclude that dishonesty is common among politicians. Reasoning of this type is an example of what? a. The law of effect b. The availability heuristic c. The framing effect d. The maximizing strategy

b. The availability heuristic

Someone with Broca's aphasia shows impairments most strongly with regard to which aspect of language? a. Use of nouns and memory of what the nouns mean b. Use of prepositions, word endings, and other grammatical devices c. Comprehension of speech d. Reading

b. Use of prepositions, word endings, and other grammatical devices

Suppose you are in a field of brownish bushes and one motionless brown rabbit. You will find it by . If the rabbit starts hopping, you will find it by . a. an attentive process ... an attentive process b. an attentive process ... a preattentive process c. a preattentive process ... an attentive process d. a preattentive process ... a preattentive process

b. an attentive process ... a preattentive process

Which of these is an example of an algorithm? a. "When in doubt, assume that the more expensive product is the better one." b. "When in doubt on a multiple-choice question, choose the longest answer." c. "To convert inches to centimeters, multiply by 2.54." d. "To guess which child is the oldest, choose the tallest.

c. "To convert inches to centimeters, multiply by 2.54."

What is a heuristic? a. An explicit procedure for calculating an answer b. A procedure that carefully tests every hypothesis before choosing an answer c. A strategy for simplifying a problem

c. A strategy for simplifying a problem

Someone tells me that if I say "abracadabra" every morning, I will stay healthy. I say it daily and, sure enough, I stay healthy. I conclude that this magic word ensures health. What error of thinking have I made? a. Overconfidence b. Functional fixedness c. Confirmation bias d. The framing effect

c. Confirmation bias

What is the most convincing evidence that early exposure to language is necessary for language development? a. Early language exposure alters development of certain brain areas. b. It is easier to learn the correct pronunciation of a foreign language if one starts when young. c. Deaf children who do not learn any language when young are seriously impaired when they try to learn one later.

c. Deaf children who do not learn any language when young are seriously impaired when they try to learn one later.

In contrast to System 1 (or Type 1 thinking), what is true of System 2? a. It is quick and almost effortless. b. It evolved earlier in the animal kingdom. c. It is best suited to considering and evaluating complex evidence. d. It generally leads to incorrect answers.

c. It is best suited to considering and evaluating complex evidence.

In decision making, what is the disadvantage of being a maximizer? a. Maximizers tend to make decisions too quickly. b. Maximizers tend to make worse overall decisions. c. Maximizers tend to be less satisfied with their decisions. d. Maximizers tend to be too influenced by what other people have chosen.

c. Maximizers tend to be less satisfied with their decisions.

When we read a word, do we read it one letter at a time? And what's the evidence? a. Yes, we read one letter at a time. Brain areas corresponding to the various letters become active in order, one at a time. b. Yes, we read one letter at a time. The evidence is that people tell us how they read. c. No, we do not. An ambiguous letter can appear to be one letter in one context and a different letter in some other context. d. No, we do not. The evidence is that people tell us they read a word all at once.

c. No, we do not. An ambiguous letter can appear to be one letter in one context and a different letter in some other context.

Which of these (if successful) would be an example of far transfer? a. Quickly memorizing a set of chess pieces arranged randomly on the board b. Abandoning a familiar heuristic to develop a creative solution to a problem c. Using crossword puzzles to improve old people's memory d. Improving recognition of melodies by prolonged practice of a musical instrument

c. Using crossword puzzles to improve old people's memory

Suppose one sound in a word is engineered to sound halfway between d and t, or halfway between s and sh. What do you hear? a. You hear both sounds. b. You hear whichever sound is more common in your language. c. You hear the sound that makes more sense in context, unless the context is delayed. d. You hear the sound that makes more sense in context, even if the context is delayed.

c. You hear the sound that makes more sense in context, unless the context is delayed.

If many gauges have indicators pointing to the right, but one is pointing down, you notice the odd one at once, regardless of how many other gauges are present. What directs your attention? a. A random process b. A top-down process c. An attentive process d. A pre-attentive process

d. A pre-attentive process

Why do cognitive psychologists seldom rely on asking people to describe their thought processes? a. Asking people about their thought processes would violate privacy laws. b. Cognitive psychologists are interested mainly in preverbal children. c. It is easier to measure reaction times. d. People don't always know their own thought processes.

d. People don't always know their own thought processes.

Why do most musicians have better-than-average hearing? And what's the evidence? a. Prolonged practice improves hearing. Longitudinal studies find progressively better hearing year by year in people playing music. b. Prolonged practice improves hearing. Twins with more music practice have better hearing than their twins with little or no practice. c. People with better hearing are more likely than average to practice music. Longitudinal studies find no change from year to year in people practicing music. d. People with better hearing are more likely than average to practice music. Twins with more music practice do not have better hearing than their twins with little or no practice.

d. People with better hearing are more likely than average to practice music. Twins with more music practice do not have better hearing than their twins with little or no practice.

What might prevent you from showing the Stroop effect? a. Print the words in italic font. b. Print the words in large capital letters. c. Print the words with wider than usual spaces between them. d. Print the words in a language you don't understand.

d. Print the words in a language you don't understand.

Why do many psychologists doubt that ADHD is a single disorder? a. Overall brain activity tends to be higher than average for people with ADHD. b. The symptoms vary considerably in their intensity from one case to another. c. People with ADHD show deficits in a wide variety of tasks. d. The causes and the brain abnormalities vary from one case to another.

d. The causes and the brain abnormalities vary from one case to another.

What is the relationship between "The movie was great" and "It was a great movie"? a. They have the same surface structure and different deep structures. b. They have different deep structures and different surface structures. c. They have the same deep structure and the same surface structure. d. They have the same deep structure and different surface structures.

d. They have the same deep structure and different surface structures.

What is meant by the "word-superiority effect"? a. Children learn to read faster by the use of phonics than by the whole-word method. b. Children learn to read faster by the whole-word method than by the use of phonics. c. People who describe an event in words remember it better than those who don't. d. You more easily recognize a letter when it is part of a word than when it is alone.

d. You more easily recognize a letter when it is part of a word than when it is alone.

What evidence suggests that young children are learning rules of grammar? a. Young children frown when an adult makes a grammatical error. b. The brain areas responsible for grammar mature rapidly in young children. c. Young children learn language more easily than older people do. d. Young children's mistakes imply that they are using certain rules.

d. Young children's mistakes imply that they are using certain rules.

At what age do people begin to use rules of grammar? a. Very early, even at ages 2 or 3 b. When they start school c. After a few years of school d. As teenagers

a. Very early, even at ages 2 or 3

When bonobos learned to use symbols to communicate, what training method was used? a. Positive reinforcement b. Negative reinforcement c. Classical conditioning d. Observation and imitation

d. Observation and imitation

People who believe that violent or bizarre behavior is more common on nights of a full moon remember the few occasions that fit this expectation and decide that the results support their belief. This is an example of which heuristic? a. The representativeness heuristic b. The availability heuristic

b. The availability heuristic

Priming a concept is responsible for which of the following? a. Change blindness b. The Stroop effect c. The stop-signal task d. Spreading activation

d. Spreading activation