ap psych

Researchers have found a negative correlation between income and dental problems. What conclusion can correctly be drawn from this statement?

A rise in the incidence of dental problems causes income to be lower.

Which of the following examples best illustrates the defense mechanism of regression?

After failing an exam, a college student has a temper tantrum and tears up his books and notes

The idea that the explanation for prejudice lies in children's modeling of their parents' prejudicial beliefs, emotions, and behaviors is most closely aligned with the theories of which of the following?

Albert Bandura

Standard deviation is a measure of how much

variability that indicates the average mean between the scores and their mean. or dispersed the data is in relation to the mean

Which of the following is an example of a cognitive distortion according to Aaron Beck's cognitive therapy model of treatment?

"If I don't get all As in college, then my degree will be worth nothing."

An individual was admitted to the hospital after experiencing a mild tingling on the right side of the face and a sudden inability to speak. Using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), a doctor would likely find

An abnormality in the brain tissue of the left hemisphere

Participants were asked to rate the importance of achieving honor-roll status. Researchers found that students from smaller families rated the importance more highly than students from larger families. The research team concluded that a student's attitude toward school achievement is the result of family size. Which of the following is the most important error made by the research team?

Assuming that correlation proves causation when CORRELATION DOES NOT EQUAL CAUSATION

Consistent with the concept of neural plasticity, neurons in mammals have been found to change the way they function as a result of repeated stimulation by doing which of the following?

Blocking the reuptake of neurotransmitter molecules

Which of the following psychological theories would explain posttraumatic stress disorder as being the result of irrational beliefs and ideas?

Cognitive

Which of the following is a common symptom of the manic phase of bipolar disorder?

Depression

Cocaine blocks the reuptake of which neurotransmitter?

Dopamine

A psychologist who classifies an individual's personality according to the person's manifestations of traits such as neuroticism, openness, and extraversion probably believes in which model of personality?

Five-factor

Serena is in a hotel room with a cake that needs slicing, but she does not have a knife. She goes to the bathroom and comes back with a long strand of dental floss, which she uses to cut the cake. Serena has overcome which barrier to problem solving?

Functional fixedness

To study differences in the cognitive processing of younger and older adults, Genevieve assessed a group of 30 year olds and a group of 60 year olds using the same cognitive task. She found no significant difference in cognitive processing between the two groups. Which of the following is a true statement that best explains her findings?

Genevieve's task involved semantic memory, which does not typically show decline among people of the ages she tested.

Tina's mother often entertains Tina by bouncing a bunny puppet back and forth along the side of Tina's crib. Initially, Tina pays close attention to the puppet but after a while, she begins to ignore it and continues doing what she was doing before the puppet appeared. Which of the following psychological concepts best explains Tina's change in behavior?

Habituation

During a quiz, a student is asked, "Which is more common in the English language, the letter "k" as the first letter in a word or the letter "k" as the third letter in a word?" Which of the following would be the student's likely response if he relied on the availability heuristic to answer the question?

He would say that "k" is more likely as the first letter of words because those are the first words that come to his mind.

When people consume large amounts of alcohol, they are often unable to recall what they did and said while they were drinking. This occurs because alcohol interferes with the brain's ability to form new memories in the

Hippocampus

The notion of self-actualization is most closely associated with which of the following approaches to explaining personality?

Humanistic

The ratio of mental age to chronological age for a child of average intelligence is

IQ

After an electrode implanted in a cat's brain stimulates the cat's amygdala, the cat will most likely do which of the following?

Immediately withdraw in fear

A dog bit Sam when he was a small child and now Sam believes all dogs bite. Which of the following is a type of reasoning that Sam is using to come to this conclusion?

Inductive reasoning

The Flynn effect is best illustrated by which of the following statements?

Intelligence scores increase from generation to generation

The nature-nurture issue is best exemplified by which of the following questions?

Is level of intelligence the result of one's environment and specific learning, or is it a result of biological maturation?

In the first part of an experiment, one group of rats received reinforcement after correctly navigating a maze. A second group received no reinforcement after wandering around the maze. In the next part, both groups received reinforcement after navigating the maze. Despite not receiving reinforcement at the beginning of the experiment, the second group performed as well as the first. The learning that occurred in the second group in the absence of reinforcement is called

Latent learning

When viewed from the window of a moving train, nearby objects seem to pass by more quickly than do more distant objects. This cue for depth perception is called

Motion parallax

Which of the following factors is an important predictor of attraction?

Proximity, Mere exposure, Physical attractiveness

Immediately after firing, a neuron is incapable of responding to stimulation. This condition is referred to as

Refractory Period

Melvin, a server at a restaurant, is in the middle of a lunch rush. He is completing orders, serving customers, and seating new guests. He has adapted to this level of stress and is coping. Which of the following terms identifies a stage in Hans Selye's general adaptation syndrome that Melvin is currently experiencing?

Resistance

Significant damage to which of the following parts of the brain will most likely cause a person to fall into a deep coma from which the person will be unable to awaken?

Reticular Formation , brain stem

If an individual has lost the ability to feel pain in the left arm, there is most likely damage to what area of the brain?

Right parietal lobe

Which of the following is the correct path a neural impulse will follow through the different layers of the retina?

Rods and cones, bipolar cells, ganglion cells, optic nerve

Research shows that women who are referred by a physician to participate in a study of eating disorders have more severe problems than women who volunteer on their own to participate in the study. If research on eating disorders regularly involves only women referred by physicians, the results of the studies might be limited because of the presence of

Sampling Bias

Which of the following is NOT a method for reducing the dissonance a person might experience after refusing to contribute money for a gift to a coworker?

Saying a phrase such as "I am so rude" over and over.

The chart above illustrates which of the following psychological concepts?

Serial position effect

SSRIs such as Zoloft have been shown to reduce depression primarily by

Serotonin

Research on the development of personality traits across the life span has revealed that

Several research and theories are established to understand the development of a person's personality traits throughout a lifetime.

Raul wants to teach his daughter Sonia to tie her shoes. First he praises her when she manipulates her shoelaces in any way. Then he praises her when she makes a simple knot. Once she does that consistently, he praises her only when she makes a knot and a loop. He continues the pattern until she can do all the steps required to tie her shoes. Raul's actions are an example of which of the following techniques?

Shaping

Which of the following is true of a child with high self-efficacy regarding her ability to play soccer?

She feels confident that she can play well enough to score a goal.

Mary is introduced to three new people at a party. Later, however, she cannot remember the names of any of her new acquaintances, even though she remembers what she ate, her old friends who were there, and the address of the host. What may account for Mary's inability to remember these individuals' names?

She never encoded the names into her long term memory

The data above represent research findings by Bibb Latané and colleagues. What psychological principle is best represented in the graph?

Social Loafing

Which of the following studies in the field of social psychology met with the greatest criticism about the ethical issues involved?

Stanley Milgram's studies on obedience

According to Wilhelm Wundt, the focus of scientific psychology should be the study of

Structuralism or conscious experience

Which of the following treatments assumes a biological cause for a disorder?

Systematic desensitization

Which of the following treatments would be most effective for someone who experiences a rapid heartbeat, light-headedness, and nausea when speaking in public?

Systematic desensitization

Which of the following elements constitutes the independent variable in the study?

The number of coins the participants tossed

Children who are consistently praised for receiving high grades in school will likely continue to work for high grades. Using an operant conditioning explanation of this phenomenon, which of the following is true?

The praise functions as a positive reinforcer

Morgan made the fundamental attribution error in explaining her students' poor performance on their geography examination when she said which of the following?

Their students just do not care enough about their grades.

Which of the following violations of ethical guidelines occurs in the study?

Violation of the right to withdraw

An individual bystander is most likely to help an injured person under which of the following circumstances?

When a large number of people are present

Amanda experienced discomfort in class. She put on a sweater when she realized her discomfort was caused by the cold. Her behavior was motivated by

a drive

Which of the following is an example of an individual who demonstrates an internal locus of control?

a student decides to run for student government because he feels he can make some positive changes in the school

Kathy is learning how to cook. She follows every direction on each recipe step by step to make sure her food tastes good. Which of the following describes the problem-solving approach that Kathy is using?

algorithm

One-year-old Marcus turns away in disgust if a bitter substance is placed on his tongue. The reason for such a reaction is most likely

an inborn distaste for bitter that protects us from potential poisons in the environment

Darien's father dictated who Darien's friends should be and what classes he should take, and he set an extremely early curfew. If Darien went against his father's wishes, the repercussions were harsh and swift. What type of parenting did Dairen experience?

authoritarian parent (authoritative parent is best)

A polygraph machine is often called a "lie detector," although it does not detect lies. Instead, it responds to changes in

autonomic arousal

Jim decides to seek treatment for his alcoholism that involves taking a medication that causes nausea when paired with alcohol. What type of treatment has Jim chosen?

behavioral (aversion therapy)

Lithium carbonate is used to treat

bipolar disorder

A cancer patient becomes nauseated following chemotherapy treatments. After a few treatments, the patient begins having a sick feeling whenever entering the treatment room. The treatment room has become

conditioned stimulus

Because the most popular students in the high school tend to wear a particular brand of athletic show, a new student buys a pair of shoes of the same brand. Such behavior demonstrates which of the following social psychological concepts?

conformity

Following the failure of his business, Mr. Jones disappeared and was discovered two years later in another state practicing law without a license. When questioned, he responded that he had found himself in a strange city and could not remember any personal information. Mr. Jones most likely would be diagnosed with

dissociative fugue

Thomas is thirty years old and is very shy. He becomes anxious in social situations, so he avoids them. Thomas does not have close friends and rarely leaves his apartment. However, he writes a very successful and popular Internet blog, is usually content and calm while working at home, and has a positive relationship with his family. Psychologists would be hesitant to label Thomas as psychologically disordered because his behavior

doesn't cause dysfunction nor distress

Client-centered therapists try to appreciate how the world appears from the client's point of view. This is an example of which of the following concepts?

empathy

A person with damage to Broca's area would most likely demonstrate which of the following symptoms?

expressive (non-fluent) aphasia

A tumor that destroys the ventromedial hypothalamus is likely to produce which of the following?

frequently eating and obesity

The results of Harry Harlow's experiments with infant monkeys and surrogate mother show that

infants feel an attachment toward their caregiver, contract comfort

Receptors that are especially important for helping a person maintain balance are located in the

inner ear

Specific phobia differs from generalized anxiety disorder in which of the following way?

is a fear of an object or situation while generalized anxiety disorder are day to day worries over situations

Sandy's father's behavior gives her the impression that he will love her only if she gets very good grades. Carl Rogers would probably say that Sandy

is getting conditional positive regard

Cognitive psychologists are most likely to study

memory, learning, language

Which of the following is more associated with environmental effects than with genetic influence?

nurture

which developmental milestone must be reached before an infant experiences separation anxiety?

object permanence- The knowledge that objects exist outside the child's immediate sensations

Yun was learning English as an adult. She found that she had trouble with some of the sounds in English because those sounds were not part of her native Chinese. The difficulty she was having involved

phonemes

When a projective technique is used, a person could be asked to

provide information about themselves without their knowledge

Cognitive psychologists are most likely to use which method of treatment with their clients?

rational-emotive behavior therapy

Henry took an intelligence test and scored lower than he thought he should. He kept retaking the test, but he kept getting about the same score each time. This series of events indicates that the test was

reliable

A researcher interested in finding a simple way to estimate intelligence decides to evaluate skull circumference as a possible indicator of intelligence. He finds that the size of an adult's skull remains the same from one measurement to the next, but he finds that skull circumference is not a very good predictor of intelligence. In this example, skull circumference as a measure of intelligence is

reliable and not valid

Ben was enjoying a walk in the woods on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. As he went around a curve, he noticed a bear walking toward him. Immediately his pupils dilated, he began to perspire, and his heart accelerated. These changes are most closely related to the function of the

sympathetic nervous system

Ashley began her banking career as a teller, but she was quickly promoted to increasingly more responsible managerial positions. Despite the fact that she has very limited experience to justify her promotions, she believes that she has been successful because she is very talented. Which of the following explanations is Ashley using to justify her success?

self-serving bias

On his first day of work at the bakery, Brad was nearly overwhelmed by the sweet odor of the baked goods. However, by lunchtime, he did not even notice the smell. This is an example of

sensory adaptation

In Philip Zimbardo's Stanford prison experiment, young men were assigned roles as either guards or prisoners. The results showed that

situations can exert powerful effects on morality and identity

In Mary Ainsworth's Strange Situation experiment, infants who were classified as securely attached were more likely to

smile and greet the parent happily when the parent returns

Jeff always tells his children not to use bad language when something does not go the way they want. Unfortunately, Jeff uses bad language occasionally and his children have observed him do so. Now Jeff's children use bad language. This can be explained by

social learning theory

On an intelligence test, the number of questions an individual answers correctly is meaningless without which of the following

standardization

The ability to see a cube in the diagram above is best explained by which of the following?

subjective contours

An evolutionary psychologist would explain that humans desire social interaction, social acceptance, and social affiliation due to a need for

survival

Research has shown that a major reason for poor performance while multitasking is that while multitasking, people

switch their attention rapidly from task to task, so they miss critical information associated with a task that is not receiving their attention

What hormone seems to be most closely linked with aggressive behavior?

testosterone

Which of the following is the best example of fluid intelligence?

the ability to quickly recognize relationships between words

Which of the following characteristics is generally associated with the use of hallucinogens?

the experience of vivid, distorted images that are not based on sensory input

People were asked to sign a petition in support of a political candidate. Later, those who signed the petition were asked to donate money to the candidate, and many of them did. This phenomenon is best characterized as

the foot-in-the-door- technique

The results of a correlational study involving student volunteers in a psychology laboratory might not apply to the general population because

the sample is not randomly chosen and therefore may not be a representative sample

Which of the following explanations most clearly demonstrates an internal attribution for the reason a student fell asleep in class?

the student doesn't care about the class

The Barnum effect in psychological assessment refers to

the tendency of individuals to accept vague personality descriptions as accurate

If mice lack an enzyme essential to the process of long-term potentiation, which of the following will be the most likely consequence?

they will be unable to learn the maze

In classical conditioning, stimulus generalization occurs when an organism responds

to stimuli that are similar to the CS

Tina is reading an important letter when she accidentally splashes water on the paper. The water has smudged a few words, but she is still able to understand what the letter says. This can be explained by

top-down processing

Scott lost his vision at a young age. When he was much older, he received a corneal transplant that allowed him to see again. After so many years of not being able to see, he had a very difficult time interpreting visual information such as faces and expressions. His visual problems most likely came from processing difficulties in the

visual cortex

Research studies indicate that people who are intrinsically motivated as compared to people who are extrinsically motivated tend to

work harder and enjoy their work more