Psychology Exam 1 (old)

Which of the following correlation coefficients represents the strongest correlation between two variables?

-0.85 (remember greater integer is greater connection. ie: -0.85 > 0.25)

Which value represents a realistic measurement of a neuron's resting potential?

-60 mV

To which pair of siblings would the term "dizygotic" apply?

A brother and sister born at the same time

Which part of the brain relays information between the spinal cord and the cerebellum?

Brainstem

Which part of the brain plays the greatest role in controlling higher mental functions?

Cerebrum

Which term refers to the branchlike extensions of the neuron that receive signals from other neurons?

Dendrites

Schizophrenia most often presents itself at what stage?

Early adulthood, when people begin to face the world on their own

_______ is best suited to monitoring the activation of synapses.

Electroencephalography (EEG)

What is a mainstream psychologist most likely to think about Sigmund Freud?

Freudian theory is untestable and not grounded in science.

Which of the following perspectives argues that human behavior develops in certain ways because it serves a useful purpose?

Functionalism

Which factor is most closely associated with the eventual onset of schizophrenia?

Growing up in a big city

How is natural selection related to psychology?

Humans behave as they do in part because that behavior promotes survival.

Which statement best describes a valid gene-environment interaction on behavior?

Identical twins adopted by different families often display behaviors typical of their adoptive families.

Which of the following factors would most severely reduce the usefulness of a placebo in a controlled experiment?

It is relatively easy for subjects to distinguish the placebo from a potentially effective treatment.

Which of the following investigation types does not represent the descriptive method of scientific inquiry?

Laboratory experimentation

What do studies of maternal nurturing behavior in rats suggest about humans?

Maternal neglect early in life may have lasting impacts on a person's ability to cope with life's challenges.

Which of the following is a measure of central tendency?

Median

Which is true of twins who are discordant for a certain trait?

One of them has the trait and the other does not.

Which situation is most consistent with the results of twin studies of schizophrenia?

Schizophrenia is more likely to materialize in a twin who experiences extreme stress.

Which confounding variable is teased out when psychologists study the traits of identical twins?

Similar environments shared by relatives

Which statement reflects a reasonable attitude for a good student of psychology to have toward any claim about human behavior?

Skepticism is advisable until an idea is proven right.

Which of the following approaches to psychology did Edward Titchener advocate in the late 1800s?

Structuralism

Which factor was identical for all of the Genain quadruplets?

The genetic makeup that contributed to the onset of schizophrenia

A researcher is designing an experiment intended to study the effects of the physical environment on reading comprehension. Which of the following factors would be best characterized as an independent variable in such an experiment?

The level of lighting in settings where test subjects are asked to read

All of the following statements are true of large data sets with negatively skewed distributions except:

The mode is less than the median.

Which technology can be used most effectively to temporarily disrupt the function of specific brain regions?

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)

The year 1879 might be thought of as the beginning of psychology as a science because that is the year

Wilhelm Wundt developed and opened the first psychology laboratory.

Neurotransmitters are packaged inside _______, in microscopic spheres called _______.

axon terminals; vesicles

A neuron's _______ meets another neuron's dendrite at a(n)_______.

axon; synapse

In cases where only one of two identical twins develops schizophrenia, all of the following factors may be responsible except

birth order.

The hallmarks of psychology as a science are

careful experimentation and the application of critical thinking.

Twins who share a certain physical or behavioral trait are _______ for that trait.

concordant

Cases of spurious correlations are typically explained in terms of _______ variables that are _______ two correlated variables.

confounding; affecting

Contemporary standards of informed consent require a psychologist using human subjects in an experiment to disclose the _______ before the experiment commences.

details of any risks the subjects will face

Twins who do not share 100 percent of their genes are called

dizygotic.

Parents who agree with John Locke's notion of tabula rasa would most likely

expose their children to a rich variety of sensory experiences.

Cognitive psychology

focuses on how people think, remember, store, and use information.

The principle of Occam's razor compares _______ in terms of the _______.

hypotheses; assumptions they make

Hyperpolarizing a neuron _______ its polarity, making it _______ likely to fire.

increases; less

A researcher presents his participant with a series of flashing lights at varying intervals. After each presentation of a light, he asks the participant to fully describe her internal experiences, a method known as

introspection.

When administered to subjects in an experiment, a placebo is a treatment that

is believed to be free of medical effects.

The hippocampus plays the most significant role in

memory.

Psychology is best defined as the study of

mind and behavior

Because neurons are full of proteins that tend to be _______ charged, they tend to attract _______ charged ions.

negatively; positively

The study of the nervous system is called

neuroscience

In a typical controlled experiment designed to test the effects of a new drug, _______ will be administered to the _______ group.

only the placebo; control

Endorphins have the most significant impact on

pain.

Positron emission tomography (PET) uses _______ to show how the brain works.

radioactive markers

A psychologist working at a university is interested in designing an experiment to explore the impact of stress on women's sleep cycles. She will use university students as subjects. In this situation, the students at her university represent a _______, which is part of the _______.

study population; theoretical population

The _______ is part of the _______.

sympathetic nervous system; autonomic nervous system

The process of reuptake removes neurotransmitter molecules from

synaptic clefts

An important principle to remember when studying psychology is that

the act of learning changes the physical structure of the brain.

Heritability estimates tell us

the degree to which variations in a population can be attributed to genetics

Twin studies of the heritability of schizophrenia generally show that

the heritability of schizophrenia is about 50 percent.

A psychological test designed to measure creativity is considered a reliable tool based on whether

the same subjects would score consistently over time.

The estimated heritability of 48 percent for neuroticism in the population supports the claim that

the variability in neuroticism is due partly to genetic variability in the population.

A _______ is a set of consistent _______ that have undergone successful testing.

theory; hypotheses

A good scientific hypothesis is

tied to observable phenomena.

Plato's allegory of the cave indicates that

truths about reality are not always obvious.

According to the social brain hypothesis, each of us can deal effectively with social interactions with roughly 150 people. This implies that

we are capable of maintaining social networks of up to 150 people throughout our lives.