PSYCH 3rd Edition EXAM 1

The school of psychology that emphasizes the tendency to organize perceptions into wholes and to integrate separate stimuli into meaningful patterns is called

Gestalt psychology

Which of the following was one of the best known ESP researchers, who began experiments in the 1920s using Zener cards?

Joseph Rhine

Twins that develop from a single fertilized ovum that divides in two, early in prenatal development, with the twins sharing the same genetic code are called ________ twins.

Monozygotic

Which of the following is a fatty insulating substance that minimizes leakage of the electrical current being carried along the axon, thereby allowing messages to be conducted more efficiently?

Myelin

Which of the following concepts holds that adaptive genetic variations among members of a species enable individuals with those variations to survive and reproduce?

Natural selection

Which gland or gland part secretes epinephrine and norepinephrine?

adrenal medulla

Psychologists with which contemporary perspective investigate the ways we perceive and mentally represent the world, how we learn, remember, solve problems, form judgments, make decisions, and use language?

cognitive

Damage to the eardrum or the bones that transmit sound waves from the outer ear to the inner ear results in which type of deafness?

conductive

Which of the following is a binocular cue for depth based on the inward movement of the eyes as they attempt to focus on an object that is drawing near?

convergence

A thick fiber bundle that connects the two hemispheres of the cerebral cortex is the

corpus callosum

A way of evaluating the claims and comments of other people that involves skepticism and examination of evidence is referred to as

critical thinking

When an area on the resting neuron is adequately stimulated by other neurons, the cell membrane in that area changes it permeability to allow positively charged sodium ions to enter. Thus, with respect to the outside, the area of entry becomes positive charged, or

depolarized

Which type of psychologist applies psychology to the criminal justice system, such as treating psychologically ill offenders or conducting research on eyewitness testimony?

forensic psychologist

Neurons whose axons form the optic nerve are called

ganglion cells

Which of the following parts of the body would be the most sensitive to touch?

hands

Which part of the forebrain is vital in the regulation of body temperature, concentration of fluids, and storage of nutrients as well as being important in motivation and emotion, including hunger, thirst, sexual behavior, caring for offspring, and aggression?

hypothalamus

The condition in a scientific study that is manipulated so that its effects may be observed is called the ________ variable.

independent

A participant's agreement to participate in research after receiving information about the purposes of the study and the nature of the treatments is referred to as

informed consent

In which sense is information transmitted back to the brain from sensory organs in the joints, tendons and muscles?

kinesthesis

A monocular cue for depth based on the perception that nearby objects appear to move rapidly in relation to our own motion is called

motion parallax

The nerve that transmits information about odors to the brain is called the ________ nerve.

olfactory

The 16,000 hair cell receptors for hearing make up a structure that lies on the basilar membrane in the cochlea and is called the

organ of Corti

Which of the following is the psychological dimension of sound that is determined by the frequency of the sound waves?

pitch

The gland that secretes growth hormone, oxytocin, and the antidiuretic hormone is the ________ gland.

pituitary

A source of bias that may occur in research findings when participants are allowed to choose for themselves a certain treatment in a scientific study is called a

selection factor

Which of the following is the process that involves the stimulation of the sensory receptors and the transmission of sensory information to the central nervous system?

sensation

The purported ESP ability to directly transmit thoughts or ideas from one person to another is called

telepathy

Which theory states that color vision is made up of three types of cones, some of which respond to red light, some to green light, and some to blue light?

trichromatic theory

Sensory organs in the semicircular canals of the ears provide information for which sense?

vestibular sense

The root-like structures, attached to the cell body of the neuron, which receive incoming messages from other neurons, are the

Dendrites

Which neurotransmitter affects voluntary movement, learning and memory, and the ability to perceive pleasure with deficiencies in this neurotransmitter being linked to Parkinson's disease?

Dopamine

Which of the following structures removes dead neurons and waste products from the nervous system, nourishes and insulates neurons, forms myelin, and plays a role in the neural transmission of messages?

Glial cells

Psychologists who make technical systems such as automobile dashboards and computer keyboards more user-friendly are called ________ psychologists.

Human factors

Deliberating looking into one's own cognitive processes to examine one's thoughts and feelings and gain self-knowledge is called

Introspection

Which of the following women introduced the method of paired associates in studying memory, discovered the primacy and recency effects, conducted research into the role of frequency and repetition in the vividness of memory, and became president of the American Psychological Association?

Mary Whiton Calkins

Which of the following is a method of brain imaging that involves injecting a radioactive tracer into the bloodstream and assessing the activity of brain structures, according to the amount of glucose metabolized?

PET Scan

Which type of psychologist identifies and measures human traits; determines influences on human thought processes, feelings, and behavior; and is particularly concerned with issues, such as anxiety, aggression, and gender roles?

Personality psychologists

Which type of research is conducted because the researcher is interested in the topic and not because the information is needed to solve an immediate personal or social problem?

Pure

Damage to which part of the brain causes impairment in the ability to comprehend the meaning of spoken language and to think of the proper words to express one's own thoughts?

Wernicke's area

Most historians set the debut of modern psychology as a laboratory science in the year 1879 when the first psychological lab was established in Leipzig, Germany by

Wilhelm Wundt

Researchers generally agree on the existence of four primary taste qualities, which are sweet, sour, salty, and

bitter

Which of the following is the microscopic rod-shaped body in the cell nucleus that carries genes that transmit hereditary traits from generation to generation?

chromosome

The tendency to perceive a broken figure as being complete or whole, even if there are gaps in a sensory input, is called

closure

Light first passes through the transparent tissue which covers the front of the eye's surface. This transparent tissue is called the

cornea

To investigate whether observed behavior or measured traits are related to one another, such as intelligence and academic performance, researchers use a mathematic method of determining whether one variable increases or decreases as the other variable increases or decreases. This method is called a(n)

correlational method

A study in which neither the subjects nor the observers know who has received the treatment is called a ________ study.

double-blind

Which perspective in psychology views people as free to choose and as being responsible for choosing ethical conduct?

existential

An oblong area of the hindbrain involved in the regulation of heartbeat, blood pressure, movement, and respiration is the

medulla

Messages from skin senses all over the body, such as warmth, cold, touch, and pain, are received by the somatosensory cortex of the brain, which is located in the ________ lobes.

parietal

Traits that are influenced by combinations of genes are said to be

polygenic

Which of the following facilitate(s) the transmission of pain messages to the brain and heighten(s) circulation to the injured area, causing the redness and swelling that we call inflammation?

prostaglandins

The science that seeks to describe, explain, predict, and control behavior and mental processes is called

psychology.

For a few thousandths of a second after firing, a neuron is insensitive to messages from other neurons and will not fire, this is called

refractory period

A study is conducted using a small segment of a larger group that is of interest to the researchers and to which the results of the study will be generalized. This smaller segment is called a

sample

Which of the following is the process by which we become more sensitive to stimuli of low magnitude and less sensitive to stimuli that remain the same, such as background noise outside a window?

sensory adaptation

Which part of the peripheral nervous system connects the central nervous system with sensory receptors, skeletal muscles, and the surface of the body and transmits messages about sights, sounds, smells, temperature, and body positions?

somatic nervous system

When visual stimuli is flashed too briefly or auditory stimuli is played at a volume too low, they fall just below a person's absolute threshold for conscious perception, which is known as

subliminal stimulation

A method of scientific observation in which a large group of people answer questions about their attitudes or behavior is called

survey

Which of the following is a set of hypothesized statements that proposes reasons for relationships among events and allows us to derive explanations and predictions?

theory

Cretinism is a condition characterized by stunted growth and intellectual disability and is caused by a deficiency of which hormone during infancy and childhood?

thyroxin