Chapter 1

The study of the endocrine system and genetic mechanisms would most likely be undertaken by a:

Physiological psychology examines the influences of genetic factors on behavior and the role of the brain, nervous system, endocrine system, and bodily chemicals in the regulation of behavior.

___________ psychology examines behavioral processes in terms of their adaptive value for a species over the course of many generations.

The basic premise of evolutionary psychology is that natural selection favors behaviors that enhance organisms' reproductive success - that is, passing on genes to the next generation. Evolutionary psychologists assert the patterns of behavior seen in a species are products of evolution in the same way that anatomical characteristics are.

Which of the following is a statement with which Skinner's followers would agree?

"Free will is an illusion." B.F. Skinner asserted that all behavior is fully governed by external stimuli. Your behavior is determined in predictable ways by lawful principles, just as the flight of an arrow is governed by the laws of physics. According to Skinner, we are all controlled by our environment, not by ourselves.

Psychology's answer to the question if whether we are "born" or "made" tends to be that:

"We are both born and made." Although John B. Watson asserted that personality and ability depend almost exclusively on an individual's environment, yet contradicting Sir Francis Galton, who maintained that personality and ability depend almost entirely on genetic inheritance, most psychologists today agree that heredity and environment are both important.

In regard to changing answers on multiple-choice tests, research indicates that _________ changes tend to be more common than other types of changes.

Benjamin, Cavell, and Shallenberger (1984) reviewed 20 studies on this issue. Answer changes that go from a wrong answer to a right answer outnumber changes that go from a right answer to a wrong one by a sizable margin.

Which of the following historical events created a demand for clinicians that was far greater that the supply?

Clinical psychology is concerned with the diagnosis and treatment of psychological problems and disorders. During WW2, the demands for clinicians was far greater than the supply. They were needed to screen military recruits and to treat soldiers suffering from trauma. It was characterized as "a watershed in the history of clinical psychology."

Critical thinking skills:

Decades of research on instruction in critical thinking have shown that the skills and attitudes of critical thinking need to be deliberately and consciously taught because they often do not develop by themselves with standard instruction in a content area.

For which of the following is Wilhelm Wundt primarily known?

From intellectual parents philosophy and physiology, psychology was born an independent discipline when William Wundt established the first psychological lab in 1879 at Leizpig, Germany. He argued that psychology would be the scientific study of consciousness.

Which of the following approaches has the most optimistic view of human nature?

Humanism emphasizes the unique qualities of human behavior, especially their freedom and potential for personal growth. Humanists take an optimistic view of human nature. They maintain that people are not pawns of either their animal heritage or environmental circumstances.

A multifactorial causation approach to behavior suggests that:

In general, psychologists find that (most) behavior is governed by a complex network of interacting factors.

Fred, a tennis coach, insists that he can make any reasonably healthy individual into an internationally competitive tennis player. Fred is echoing the thoughts of:

John B. Watson proposed the psychologists abandon the study of consciousness altogether and focus exclusively on behaviors that they could observe directly. Nature v.s. Nurture: Is behavior determined mainly by genetic inheritance or by environment and experience? Watson argued that each is made, not born.

Which of the following approaches might William James criticize for examining a movie gram by Fran instead of seeing the motion in motion picture?

William James would criticize Structuralism. The structuralists believed that psychology should use introspection to analyze consciousness into its basic elements. Functionalists such as William James believed that psychology should focus on the purpose and adaptive functions of consciousness.