Psychology Final Exam
A six-year-old child with a mental age of 6 would have an IQ of
100
Intellectual disability is a condition of limited mental ability in which an individual has an IQ of ________ and has difficulty adapting to everyday life.
70 or below
Which of the following is an advantage of conducting psychological research in a laboratory?
A laboratory is a controlled setting with many of the complex factors of the real world removed.
________ is defined as a special kind of systematic observation, used by correlational researchers, that involves obtaining measures of the variables of interest in multiple waves over time.
A longitudinal design
Which of the following scenarios best illustrates the use of procedural memory?
Alba, a typist, typing a letter without looking at the keyboard
The ________ has developed ethics guidelines for its members, and the ________ evaluates the ethical nature of research conducted at their colleges and universities.
American Psychological Association (APA); Institutional Review Board (IRB)
________ is a theory of learning that focuses solely on observable actions and responses.
Behaviorism
According to American linguist Noam Chomsky, identify a true statement about language universals.
Children learn language without an awareness of its underlying logic.
Who among the following engages in a cognitive process?
Cindy, a 20-year-old student, who imagines herself as the governor of Florida
Which of the following is true of concepts?
Concepts provide clues about how to react to a particular object or experience.
In the context of memory processes, which of the following scenarios best illustrates the process of encoding information?
Deborah is watching a movie in the theater.
Which of the following is true of development?
Development is the product of nature, nurture, and the complex interaction of the two.
________ in classical conditioning is the process of learning to respond to certain stimuli and not others.
Discrimination
________ is a defense mechanism that involves directing unacceptable impulses at a less threatening target.
Displacement
In the context of psychological research methods, which of the following scenarios is an example of the survey method?
Dr. Frank asks people how many hours of television they watch per week.
Which of the following statements is true of brain development in humans?
During childhood, synaptic connections in the brain increase dramatically.
________ refers to the process by which information gets into memory storage.
Encoding
Ernie is an extrovert. Bert is an introvert. What can you predict about Ernie and Bert given your knowledge of personality research?
Ernie experiences more positive emotions than Bert.
Ray started playing basketball because he loved the sport. He was so good that he soon started playing professionally and signed a very lucrative contract with a leading company. During contract renewal, the company offered him a 20 percent raise but he thought that the raise was not enough and decided to quit. Which of the following best explains Ray's behavior from a motivational perspective?
Extrinsic motivation has replaced Ray's intrinsic motivation to play basketball.
Which of the following is true of algorithms and heuristics used for solving real-life problems?
Heuristics are shortcut strategies.
According to the Freudian structures of personality, which of the following statements is true of the superego?
It does not consider reality.
Which of the following statements is true of inductive reasoning?
It involves forming opinions based on prior experiences.
Which of the following is true of the sympathetic nervous system?
It prepares the individual for fighting or running away.
Which of the following statements is true of drive reduction theory?
It states that as a drive becomes stronger, people are motivated to reduce it.
Monica has an emotionally exhaustive day at work and finds it difficult to describe her emotions. After sitting quietly for a while, she starts crying. On observing her bodily reactions, she realizes that she must be sad. This example of emotional recognition is most consistent with the
James-Lange theory of emotion.
Which of the following is true of long-term memory?
Long-term memory has a storage capacity that is virtually unlimited.
According to the five-factor model of personality, which statement best describes the relationship between neuroticism and personality?
Neuroticism is low in self-satisfied individuals.
Which of the following statements is true of the socioemotional selectivity theory?
Older adults gain a sense of meaning by focusing on satisfying relationships and activities in the present.
Which of the following is true about the concrete operational stage of reasoning?
One important skill at this stage of reasoning is the ability to classify or divide things into different sets or subsets and to consider their interrelations.
________ is a language's sound system.
Phonology
Which of the following statements about Piaget's theory of cognitive development is FALSE?
Piaget believed that children do not play an active role in constructing their own understanding of the world but rather are passively reacting to environmental influences.
________ is an unjustified negative attitude toward an individual based on the individual's membership in a particular group.
Prejudice
________ refers to researchers' assignment of participants to groups by chance, to reduce the likelihood that an experiment's results will be due to preexisting differences between groups.
Random assignment
________ is the process of receiving stimulus energies from the external environment and transforming those energies into neural energy.
Sensation
According to ________ there are three forms of intelligence, whereas according to ________ there are nine types of intelligence.
Sternberg's triarchic theory; Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences
________ states that memory storage involves three separate systems: sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory.
The Atkinson-Shiffrin theory
________ consists of a series of pictures, each on an individual card or slide. The test taker is asked to tell a story about each of the pictures, including events leading up to the situation described, the characters' thoughts and feelings, and the way the situation turns out.
The Thematic Apperception Test
In the context of prenatal development, which of the following statements is true of teratogens?
The effects of teratogens depend on the timing of exposure.
Which of the following statements is true about algorithms?
They come in different forms, such as formulas, instructions, and the testing of all possible solutions.
Which of the following is true of the trait theories of personality?
They stress that personality consists of broad, enduring dispositions that tend to lead to characteristic responses.
Which of the following principles states that two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage to be perceived as different?
Weber's law
Which of the following is a difference between older and younger adults?
Younger adults do better than older adults in most aspects of memory.
In the context of shaping, operant conditioning relies on the notion that
a behavior is likely to be repeated if it is followed by a reward.
Elaine is writing a paper about reactions to the tragedy that occurred at the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001. She interviews 10 of her classmates and asks them to remember that day. She is surprised to learn that nearly all of the students she interviewed offer very detailed, vivid accounts of where they were and what they were doing when they first learned of the terrorist attacks. Elaine has discovered that most of her classmates have ________ of September 11, 2001.
a flashbulb memory
Ellie has recently experienced irregular mood swings. Her energy level has decreased, and she seems to have greater difficulty coping with stress. Based on her symptoms, it seems as though Ellie may have problems with her ________ glands.
adrenal
You are listening to a lecture. Then the bell rings in the hallway. In order to hear this stimulus, ________ nerves must carry electrochemical messages from your ears to your brain.
afferent
An ________ is a drug that mimics or increases a neurotransmitter's effects, whereas an ________ is a drug that blocks a neurotransmitter's effects.
agonist; antagonist
In the United States, intelligence is generally defined as
an all-purpose ability to do well on cognitive tasks, to solve problems, and to learn from experience.
According to Kohlberg's stages of moral development, at the postconventional level,
an individual develops an increasingly personal moral code.
Lucy sustained a brain injury in a car accident. Although Lucy's memories of her life before the accident are intact, she is no longer able to form new, long-term memories. Every night when she goes to bed, her memories of what she had done that day are lost. Lucy suffers from
anterograde amnesia.
When individuals engage in a behavior because they enjoy it, they
are intrinsically motivated.
According to Bandura's model of observational learning, what are the four primary processes involved in observational learning?
attention, retention, motor reproduction, and reinforcement
Marshall's cerebellum was damaged in a car accident. Marshall is likely to have problems with
balance and muscle coordination.
According to Thorndike's law of effect,
behaviors followed by satisfying outcomes are strengthened and behaviors followed by frustrating outcomes are weakened.
Psychologists who adopt a(n) ________ approach examine behavior and mental processes by focusing on the body, especially the brain and nervous system.
biological
Dr. Okawa is interested in studying the effect that neurological trauma can have on short-term memory. Firstly, he collects detailed information from a small number of individuals who have experienced brain damage. Using information provided by medical records, interviews, and observations, he attempts to create an in-depth portrait of each individual. What type of research method was used in this study?
case study
Allison is at a workshop where a presenter is trying to persuade people to make a rather risky but potentially profitable financial investment. The arguments for investing appeal to logic and reasoning. After slowly and carefully considering the presenter's arguments, Allison finds that this person's idea sounds compelling and decides to invest. This example best demonstrates the
central route to persuasion.
Sarah feels sick every time she travels by air. She associates flying with physical illness and, as a result, hates air travel. She also finds it difficult to watch movies with airplanes or read books about airplanes because they make her uncomfortable. This scenario illustrates the learning process of
classical conditioning.
According to ________ psychologists, your brain houses a "mind" whose mental processes allow you to remember, make decisions, plan, set goals, and be creative.
cognitive
Daphne feels uneasy when she notices an inconsistency between what she believes and what she does. This best illustrates
cognitive dissonance.
People's decisions are likely to be biased because they tend to seek out and listen to others whose views confirm their views while they avoid those with dissenting views. This is a characteristic of
confirmation bias.
The big five factors of personality are neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and
conscientiousness.
The work of Harry Harlow established that
contact comfort is more important than feeding in the attachment process.
Katie bought a few t-shirts from a garage sale. While purchasing them, she tried her best to bargain as she knew the seller was charging her a higher price than he charged other customers. After reaching home, she found that there was an extra t-shirt in her bag for which she did not pay. As her mother had taught her to return things that did not belong to her, Katie went back to the store and returned the extra t-shirt. According to Kohlberg's theory of moral development, Katie belongs to the ________ level of moral development.
conventional
Welma is unable to accept the fact that she has been diagnosed with lung cancer. She refuses treatment despite her family's attempts to convince her. According to Freud's psychoanalytic theory, Welma is unconsciously engaging in a defense mechanism called
denial
Emily selects a new paint color for her bedroom. She notices a difference between sky blue and midnight blue. Emily's ability to distinguish between these two colors can best be explained by the concept of
difference threshold.
Chloe is a baby who cries a lot. She does not eat or sleep on a regular schedule, and she often has difficulty adapting to new experiences. According to psychiatrists Stella Chess and Alexander Thomas, Chloe's temperament can be described as
difficult
Self-report personality tests
directly ask people whether specific items describe their personality traits.
Which of the following refers to an unjustified negative or harmful action toward a member of a group simply because the person belongs to that group?
discrimination
The ability to listen to music while reading a magazine indicates
divided attention.
In the course of prenatal development of human beings, by the end of the ________ period, the heart begins to beat, the arms and legs become more differentiated, the face starts to form, and the intestinal tract appears.
embryonic
According to Jeffrey Arnett, the transitional period from adolescence to adulthood is known as
emerging adulthood.
Recent research on prosocial behavior has found that
empathic parenting is related to more prosocial behavior in children.
Motivated behavior is
energized, directed, and sustained.
According to Canadian cognitive psychologist Endel Tulving, ________ is the retention of information about the where, when, and what of life's happenings.
episodic memory
In the context of psychological research methods, which of the following refers to a carefully regulated procedure in which the researcher manipulates one or more variables that are believed to influence some other variable?
experiments
A professor conducts an experiment in which she asks her students to either hold a pen between their teeth or between their lips. Holding the pen between one's teeth mimicked the facial expression of smiling. After five minutes, she finds out that the students who held the pen beneath their teeth reported being happier than those who held it between their lips. These results most likely supports the
facial feedback hypothesis.
The ________ is the observers' overestimation of the degree to which everybody else thinks or acts the way we do.
false consensus effect
The ________ is the principle by which we organize the perceptual field into stimuli that stand out and those that are left over.
figure-ground relationship
Which of the following is the first step in the problem-solving process?
finding and framing problems
Carolina uses a prior strategy to solve her problems and fails to look at them from a fresh, new perspective. Which of the following is exemplified in this scenario?
fixation
You conclude that Carla is a naturally anxious woman. You ignore the fact that Carla is currently working on a tight-deadline project and is spending 100 hours per week at work. You are demonstrating the
fundamental attribution error.
One explanation for the effects of deindividuation in groups is that groups
give people anonymity.
Katie, who is moderately liberal, attends a very liberal college. After four years at this college, Katie is likely to become more liberal as a result of
group polarization.
In the context of sociocultural factors predicting prosocial behavior, Eagly and Crowley (1986) noted that men are more likely than women to
help in situations in which a perceived danger is present.
Joe has suffered a massive stroke. Since then, he finds it difficult to remember names of new people whom he meets or even to recognize them. This is because he is unable to retain any new memories after the stroke. In the context of the organization of the brain, these symptoms are most likely due to a damaged
hippocampus
The chemical messengers produced by the endocrine glands are known as
hormones
According to evolutionary psychologists,
human behavior is traceable to problems early humans faced in adapting to their environments.
Abe and Carl are psychologists who believe that people have free will and can make choices based on higher human values. Abe and Carl's views reflect the ________ approach to psychology.
humanistic
In an experiment, the ________ is conceptualized as the "potential cause" and the ________ is conceptualized as the "resulting effect."
independent variable; dependent variable
Jack and John were recently dumped by their girlfriends. Jack believes that his girlfriend broke up with him because she was selfish and unhappy, whereas John believes that his girlfriend broke up with him because she had to attend to a family emergency and could not make a commitment at the moment. Jack is making a(n) ________ about his girlfriend's behavior, whereas John is making a(n) ________.
internal attribution; external attribution
In the context of the techniques of persuasion, the peripheral route
involves factors such as the attractiveness of the person giving the message.
One of the most important criticisms of Piaget's theory of cognitive development is that
many cognitive abilities emerge earlier in children than Piaget thought.
Which part of the nervous system regulates breathing and heart rate?
medulla
Emma, a psychologist, wants to study the relationship that exists among college girls who stay in hostels. She disguises herself as a college student and shares a dorm with some girls for a month. During her stay, she observes their various behaviors and makes notes when the girls are fast asleep. Which of the following is best exemplified in this scenario?
naturalistic observation
Mark, a high school student, dislikes the fact that his mother yells at him in the morning to wake him up. His mother usually wakes up at 5:30 A.M., and he tries to wake up at around 5:15 A.M. to avoid listening to his mother's yelling. In the context of operant conditioning, which of the following is exemplified in this scenario?
negative reinforcement
The removal of a stimulus following a given behavior in order to increase the frequency of that behavior is called
negative reinforcement.
Cooper is a 10-year-old child. His father, Erik, is a corporate executive who works long hours. Erik travels several days throughout the month and spends very little time with his son. He has never been to any of Cooper's soccer games or met any of his friends. He believes that his career is more important than raising his son. Erik's style of parenting can be described as
neglectful.
Robert, a nine-year-old boy, loves watching wrestling on TV. Last night, he used several of the aggressive wrestling moves on his little brother. Which of the following theories best explains William's behavior?
observational learning
Which of the following is the first step in the scientific method?
observing some phenomenon in the world
As a result of a brain injury after an accident, James lost his vision. Which of the following regions of James's cerebral cortex is most likely to be damaged?
occipital lobe
According to Maslow, self-actualization is possible
only after the needs relating to esteem, safety, physiology, and love have been met.
Lilly, who has just given birth, is able to provide nourishment for her baby and loves her newborn unconditionally. Which of the following neurotransmitters is said to play an important role in this case?
oxytocin
The somatic nervous system and autonomic nervous system are components of the
peripheral nervous system.
Spanking is a form of ________; time-out is a form of ________.
positive punishment; negative punishment
A(n) ________ presents individuals with an ambiguous stimulus and asks them to describe it or to tell a story about it—to launch their own meaning onto the stimulus.
projective test
During a therapy session, Mrs. Brown's therapist, Donald, asks Mrs. Brown about her dreams because he believes that they are a key to her unconscious mind. In this scenario, Donald is most likely using the ________ approach to psychology.
psychodynamic
Which approach to psychology emphasizes unconscious thought?
psychodynamic approach
Which of the following refers to a period of rapid skeletal and sexual maturation that occurs mainly in early adolescence?
puberty
Multiple choice exams involve testing a student's ________ abilities, whereas essay exams involve testing ________ abilities.
recognition; recall
Mateo, a waiter at a restaurant, usually takes food orders from customers. On his way back to the kitchen, he consciously repeats the orders in his mind so that he does not forget them. In the context of short-term memory, Mateo applies the technique of ________ to remember the orders.
rehearsal
The process by which a stimulus or an event following a particular behavior increases the probability that the behavior will happen again is called
reinforcement
Behavior that is meant to harm the social standing of another person through activities such as gossiping and spreading rumors is known as
relational aggression.
A prototype is a
representation of the average or ideal member for a concept.
Matteo was bitten by a dog when he was 2 years old. As he grew up, he developed an intense fear of dogs. However, he did not remember when and why he started being afraid of dogs. According to Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic theory, which defense mechanism is Matteo exhibiting in this scenario?
repression
You are taking both a Spanish and a French course this semester. As you study the vocabulary words for your French test, you realize that the French words are disrupting the memory of the Spanish vocabulary words you studied last week. This is an example of
retroactive interference.
Professor Stenson is examining the effects of color on patients' anxiety levels. She randomly assigns patients to either a room painted white or a room painted black, and then she records their blood pressure. In this case, the independent variable is the
room color.
Which of the following is an important element of Carl Rogers's humanistic theory?
self-concept
Andrea, a sales executive, believes that she has the competence to achieve her monthly sales target. In the context of self-determination theory, Andrea best demonstrates ________ in this scenario.
self-efficacy
The term ________ refers to the belief that one has the competence to accomplish a given goal or task.
self-efficacy
Parents warn a new babysitter that their son, Dennis, is very aggressive and mischievous. As a result of this initial expectation, the babysitter starts calling the child "Dennis the Menace" and he behaves in ways that elicit aggressive and mischievous behaviors from Dennis. This example best demonstrates the phenomenon called
self-fulfilling prophecy.
Your knowledge of the alphabet and multiplication tables is most likely to be stored in your ________ memory.
semantic
You arrive at your friend's apartment for a big party at the end of the college semester. When you first arrive, the music is so loud that it almost hurts your ears. After a couple of hours, even though the music is still as loud, it no longer bothers you or seems loud. This change in your sensations describes the process of
sensory adaptation.
The ________ is the tendency to recall the items at the beginning and end of a list more readily than those in the middle.
serial position effect
According to the Atkinson-Shiffrin theory, which of the following memory systems has a time frame of up to 30 seconds?
short-term memory
If a psychologist studies about the behavioral differences between people from different religions, he or she is most likely following the ________ approach to psychology.
sociocultural
Which of the following is a function of the myelin sheath?
speed up the transmission of nerve impulses
The factor that differentiates top-down processing from bottom-up processing is that, top-down processing
starts with cognitive processing in the brain.
In classical conditioning, organisms learn the association between two
stimuli
Little Albert was conditioned by John Watson to fear a white rat. Eventually, however, Albert became fearful of any stimulus that looked white and furry. He became scared not only of rats, but also of rabbits, dogs, and even sealskin coats. This study illustrates
stimulus generalization in classical conditioning.
A correlation coefficient is a statistic that tells the
strength and direction of association between two variables.
Jeff has been extremely aggressive since childhood. He pursues a career in boxing, which provides a socially acceptable channel to express his aggression. This scenario best illustrates the defense mechanism called
sublimation.
According to Freud, the ________ is reflected in what we often call conscience and evaluates the morality of our behavior.
superego
Jenna is a talented singer. Her singing is commendable when she is well rehearsed and is performing with her school choir group. In such situations, she is moderately aroused and fairly relaxed. However, when Jenna's friends are around, she gets overly aroused and anxious. In such situations, she finds it hard to focus and often makes mistakes. Which of the following psychological principles can be used to explain the rationale behind Jenna's performance?
the Yerkes-Dodson law
If a child's mental age is higher than his or her chronological age, this means that
the child's IQ is above average.
Adolescents often have difficulty controlling their emotions and making sound decisions about risky behavior. Brain research suggests that this is due to the fact that during adolescence,
the development of the prefrontal cortex is slower than that of the amygdala.
Dr. Steinguard wants to demonstrate a cause-and-effect relationship between stress and memory. Which of the following research methods should he use?
the experimental method
The axon is
the part of the neuron that carries information away from the cell body toward other cells.
When Claudia gets an A on her psychology exam, she believes that it is because she is an intelligent, hard-working student. However, when she receives a C on the exam, she blames the instructor's ineffective teaching style and poor choice of test questions for her poor performance. Claudia's behavior is an example of
the self-serving bias.
Which of the following is the correct sequence of Erikson's first four stages of psychosocial development?
trust vs. mistrust; autonomy vs. shame and guilt; initiative vs. guilt; industry vs. inferiority
