Psychology Exam 1 Chapter 1 - 4 2015

The American psychologist and philosopher who proposed that the subjective experience of consciousness is an ongoing stream of mental activity was:

William James.

The branch of psychology that studies the relationship between behavior and bodily processes and systems is known as:

biological psychology.

Jodie is preparing for her biology midterm exam. To experience peak mental alertness and best consolidate her memory, she should study at either:

9 A.M. OR 9 P.M.

In an effort to relax after a stress-filled week, Joanne had a couple of glasses of wine, while her coworker Jim took a Valium. Both alcohol and Valium work by increasing the activity of the neurotransmitter ______, which inhibits action potentials and slows brain activity.

GABA

Which of the following is true about the practice of acupuncture?

It has been shown to be an effective method of pain relief.

Which of the following is NOT true of pain?

It serves no purpose.

He was the founder of Gestalt psychology

Max Wertheimer

_______ is the scientific study of the nervous system.

Neuroscience

_____ refers to smell while _____ refers to taste.

Olfaction; gustation

During psychotherapy Domenic is being asked to discuss his early childhood experiences and dreams. Domenic's therapist was MOST likely been influenced by the ideas of:

Sigmund Freud

Which of the following characterizes the relationship between olfactory function and aging?

Significant loss of olfactory function is likely.

Of the following statements about ethical principles, which is the most accurate?

The use of deception is appropriate under special conditions.

As part of the ______ process, psychologists are obligated to describe the nature, results, and conclusions of the research, and to correct misconceptions that the participants may have had about the research.

debriefing

The chapter prologue tells the story of Asha, who suffered a stroke. This story illustrates that the brain has a remarkable ability to gradually shift functions from damaged to undamaged areas, a phenomenon called:

functional plasticity.

The principle of perception could BEST be characterized as

how the brain actively organizes and interprets the signals sent from our sensory receptors.

When people have this condition, objects near the eyes appear blurry because the light reflected off the objects is focused behind the retina.

hyperopia

The part of the brain known as "the brain within the brain" that is essential to regulating such behaviors as eating, drinking, sexual activity, fear, and aggression, is the:

hypothalamus.

According to the Psych For Your Life box titled "Maximizing Your Brain's Potential," research about enriched versus impoverished environments has revealed that:

impoverished environments decrease neurogenesis.

Eight-year-old Billy gets out of bed at 1 A.M. and starts to sleepwalk. He is most likely:

in stage 4 NREM sleep.

According to the Psych For Your Life box titled "Maximizing Your Brain's Potential," research on rats has shown that exposure to an enriched environment:

increases the number and length of dendrites, enlarges the size of neurons, and produces more synaptic connections.

Shelby is talking on the phone while working on her algebra homework. Which of the following is she doing?

multitasking

The scientific study of the biological bases of behavior and mental processes known as biological psychology, is also called:

psychobiology.

You are a member of a research team that has been awarded a grant to examine racial attitudes of psychologists working with racially diverse patients. In order to sample this specific group using surveys, you need to narrow the population of interest and then ______ who will be chosen to receive the surveys.

randomly select

Studies investigating the benefits of exercise in human and rat subjects have shown that exercise produces increased blood flow to the hippocampus. The primary benefit of increased blood flow to the hippocampus involves:

the birth of new neurons.

Accommodation refers to:

the process by which the lens changes shape to focus incoming light so that it falls on the retina.

People have no problem staying up a little later each night on the weekend. The most likely explanation for this is that:

the suprachiasmatic nucleus naturally tends toward a 24.2-hour day.

A red pen is displayed in Roger's peripheral vision while he stares straight ahead. He correctly identifies the object but is unable to name the color. The reason for this is that:

there are many rods but very few cones in the periphery of the retina

The research on the relationship of nightmares to age suggests that:

they most often occur during middle and late childhood.

Phrenology, the method of predicting personality type by the shape of the skull, is a form of:

pseudoscience

In a research study looking at whether "blondes have more fun," all blonde-haired participants were asked to fill out questionnaires that inquired about their hobbies and other fun activities in which they engaged. The subsequent findings revealed a correlation coefficient indicating that the two factors seldom occurred together. The number the researchers MOST likely found was:

+.10.

Regarding pain response, ______ fibers are to the fast pain system as ______ are to the slow pain system

A-delta fibers; C fibers

If researchers destroy the amygdala of a timid cat, it is likely that the cat will:

become less fearful.

According to the Culture and Human Behavior box titled, "Culture and the Muller-Lyer Illusion: The Carpentered-World Hypothesis," research on the relationship between culture and perception can lead one to conclude that perception is the result of an interaction between:

a stimulus and a perceiver shaped by prior experience.

The ability to hear the tick of a watch at 20 feet is an example of a(n):

absolute threshold.

These brain-wave patterns are associated with relaxed wakefulness and drowsiness.

alpha brain waves

The inability to smell specific odors or the complete lack of a sense of smell is known as:

anosmia

This is the capacity to selectively focus awareness on particular stimuli in your external environment or on your internal thoughts or sensations.

attention

The sense of hearing is also referred to as:

audition.

A picture of a hammer is flashed to the left of the midpoint during an experiment with a split-brain patient. When she is asked to indicate what she saw, the patient will:

be unable to verbally report what she saw

Resembling a snail, the ______ is a fluid-filled tube that contains the basilar membrane and hair cells.

cochlea

In order to control the arthritic pain in his knees, Fred now wears magnetic insoles in his shoes and magnetic bracelets on his wrists. Fred is convinced that his pain has been somewhat reduced since he started wearing these devices. Fred's self-administered strategy of pain control is an example of:

complementary and alternative medicines (CAM).

The humanistic psychology movement founded by Carl Rogers was different from the psychoanalytic approach in its emphasis on one's:

conscious experiences

Dr. Martin, a psychology professor, encourages his students to always consider alternative explanations for research findings. One student raises her hand and asks him, "Do you mean you want us to be ______ thinkers?" Dr. Martin replies, "Yes."

critical

Findings on the phenomenon called social loafing have reminded researchers about the importance of studying ______ perspectives of psychology.

cross-cultural

In order for an action potential to begin, the neuron must ______, which has been preceded by a stimulation of other neurons or sensory receptors.

depolarize

Mrs. Henry notices that near the horizon the moon appears larger than when it is overhead in the sky. As a result of ______, this effect occurs.

distance cues that make the horizon moon seem farther

In a research study designed to test the effects of alcohol on sociability, it is important that neither the subject nor the investigator be aware of who receives alcohol and who does not. This is called the ______ technique.

double-blind

Katrina views some of her classmates as "not normal" because they are neither white nor European like herself. Katrina is holding on to a(n) ______ worldview.

ethnocentric

Manny has been diagnosed with schizophrenia. His psychiatrist believes that Manny's hallucinations and perceptual distortions may be caused, in part, by ______ amounts of the neurotransmitter ______.

excessive; dopamine

Mrs. Davis has an appointment to see Dr. Myers, a brain imaging specialist. Mrs. Davis's brain scan will involve her lying in a scanner while electromagnetic signals track changes in metabolic activity in her brain. Based on this information and according to the Focus On Neuroscience box titled "Psycholog

fMRI.

The structuralist approach was both applauded and criticized for its emphasis on:

introspection

When Julius returns from getting a drink of water, he resumes lifting a 150-pound free weight and notices that someone has added a five-pound ring to each end. For Julius, the additional 10 pounds:

is a just noticeable difference.

The compelling perceptual illusion known as the Moon illusion, involves a misperception that the moon is:

larger when it is on the horizon than when it is directly overhead.

The separate work of Broca and of Wernicke provided the first compelling clinical evidence that language and speech functions are performed primarily by the ______ cerebral hemisphere.

left

The path of light in a human eye is initiated by:

light waves passing through the cornea, pupil, and lens.

As Paulo gazed down the railway tracks, it seemed to him that the two parallel rails actually met in the far distance. Paulo is experiencing the monocular depth cue of:

linear perspective

For his statistics class, Casey is statistically pooling the results of several studies into a single analysis. Clearly, Casey has been assigned to conduct a:

meta-analysis

Edwin played in a heavy metal rock band for most of his young adult life, and now he has suffered significant hearing loss. Unfortunately for Edwin, a hearing aid will NOT help. It is likely that he is suffering from:

nerve deafness.

Neurotransmitters are to the ______, as hormones are to the ______.

nervous system; endocrine system

Experimental research differs from descriptive methods of research in that experimental research is able to answer how:

one variable causes change in a second variable.

. The role of the endocrine system could best be summarized as:

operating to secrete hormones into the bloodstream.

The _____ includes the pinna, the ear canal, and the eardrum.

outer ear

A few years ago, several Texas residents reported seeing a UFO. Although living in separate residences, each person similarly described the UFO. A few months after the sighting, it was revealed that the UFO was in fact a test run by NASA involving airplanes in the area. The strong conviction the witnesses had to the UFO sighting was likely linked to the idea of:

perceptual set.

As a result of the absence of ______ in the ______ part of the eye, we have a tiny hole, known as a blind spot, in our field of vision.

photoreceptors; optic disk

Also known as ______, the relative highness or lowness of a sound, is determined by the frequency of a sound wave.

pitch

Samantha has just delivered her first baby and is starting to breast-feed him. Samantha has her ______ gland to thank for producing prolactin and oxytocin to stimulate her breast milk to "let down" and begin flowing.

pituitary

Matthew has recently been diagnosed with schizophrenia. The therapeutic approach used in his outpatient treatment facility involves a focus on Matthew's personal well-being rather than just on alleviating his symptoms. This approach is known as the ______ psychology perspective.

positive

If a right-handed individual sustained severe damage to the right cerebral hemisphere, this would most likely reduce a number of abilities. But damage to the right hemisphere is NOT likely to affect his or her ability to:

produce and understand written and spoken language.

Detection of physical stimuli is to the interpretation of the information as ______ is to ______.

sensation; perception

As Demi moves away from the camera, her image on the screen grows smaller and smaller, yet viewers do not perceive Demi as the incredible shrinking woman. This illustrates:

size constancy

Sleep stages 3 and 4 are also known as:

slow-wave sleep.

A correlation coefficient indicates the:

strength or weakness of the relationship between two factors.

Matthew is drinking a glass of lemonade at a dinner party one night. Given his sensitivity to artificial sugar, he is immediately able to detect it in the drink. This is an example of which type of absolute threshold?

taste

A common cause of conduction deafness is:

that the tiny bones of the middle ear have become damaged or brittle

As a result of the work Mike does for a living, he finds that he experiences irritability, tiredness, an inability to sleep, and difficulty in concentrating after he returns home from a trip. It is likely that, as a result of the ____________ for his work, Mike is experiencing _______________.

traveling; jet lag

Mrs. Klein likes Parmesan cheese so much that she often cooks pastas and other dishes on which she can sprinkle fresh Parmesan. This preference for the savory flavor associated with this type of food reflects Mrs. Klein's ______ taste category.

umami

One of the difficulties in trying to experimentally study such variables as chronic noise and stress levels, is that subjecting participants, particularly children, to these variables would be:

unethical