Psychology Quiz 1

positive correlation

A correlation where as one variable increases, the other also increases, or as one decreases so does the other. Both variables move in the same direction.

Cerebellum

A large structure of the hindbrain that controls fine motor skills.

myelin sheath

A layer of fatty tissue segmentally encasing the fibers of many neurons; enables vastly greater transmission speed of neural impulses as the impulse hops from one node to the next.

linear perspective

A monocular cue for perceiving depth; the more parallel lines converge, the greater their perceived distance.

gene

A segment of DNA on a chromosome that codes for a specific trait

Yasmin has an interview lined up for her dream job as a real estate agent. What advice would you give to help her succeed in the interview, based on what you know about research on successful interviewing? A)Focus on improving her skills at interacting well with others, since interviewers tend to look favorably upon applicants who are easy to talk to. B)Try to get as many related experiences as possible, since interviewers will only take the most qualified applicants. C)Try to diversify her areas of study, since a well-rounded applicant will be looked upon more favorably. D)Take as many classes about real estate as possible, since the best candidate will have the most knowledge.

A) Focus on improving her skills at interacting well with others, since interviewers tend to look favorably upon applicants who are easy to talk to.

Allele

An alternative form of a gene.

Genotype

An organism's genetic makeup, or allele combinations.

Barry states that psychology is the study of the mind. Candace states that psychology is the science of behavior. How might you evaluate these two statements?

Both statements are partially correct.

terminal branches

Branched endings of an axon that transmit messages to other neurons

Dendrites

Branchlike parts of a neuron that are specialized to receive information.

basal ganglia function

Direct input from frontal lobe, facilitates motor movements, inhibits unneeded movements Spatial-temporal aspects of speech Damage: unusual body postures, dysarthria, change in body tone, involuntary uncontrolled movements interfere with voluntary speech, walk or other movements (dyskinesias)

left brain hemisphere

Dominant for spoken and written language; reasoning; analysis

cell body

Largest part of a typical neuron; contains the nucleus and much of the cytoplasm

Suppose you stare at an illustration of the American flag for a while and then glance at a blank white page. Why do the red stripes look green when you glance at the blank page?

Opponent-process cells activated by red light become fatigued.

social psychologists

Psychologists who study how people influence one another's behavior and mental processes, individually and in groups AND the influence of context on human behavior

Amygdala function

Responsible for the response and memory of emotions, especially fear

Meta-analysis research

The process of statistically analyzing data from previously published research studies

The idea that the more money you make the happier you will be is said to be false. Yet you may have believed this to be true before reading this information. Why is this likely to be the case?

We have intuitive beliefs and rely on these beliefs to help us navigate the world.

developmental psychology

a branch of psychology that studies physical, cognitive, and social change throughout the life span

A researcher argues that the number of violent TV shows that a child watches is positively correlated with the aggressiveness of the child's play because the discipline style of the parents causes both TV viewing and aggressive play. The researcher believes that parental discipline style is which of the following?

a common-causal variable

relative size

a monocular cue for perceiving depth; the smaller retinal image is farther away

clinical psychologist

a psychologist who diagnoses and treats people with emotional disturbances

participant bias

a tendency for research participants to respond in a certain way because they know they are being observed, or they believe they know what the researcher wants

common-causal variable

a variable that is not part of the research hypothesis but that causes both the predictor and the outcome variable and thus produces the observed correlation between them

To test someone's hearing, an audiologist plays a variety of tones to identify the faintest tone that someone can hear with 50 percent accuracy. This kind of test assesses a person's ________ threshold.

absolute

experimenter expectancy bias

actual change in the behavior of the people or nonhuman animals being observed that is due to the expectations of the observer

Structuralism

an early school of psychology that used introspection to explore the elemental structure of the human mind

In comparison to cones, rods:

are more sensitive to light

Fidelma is undertaking survey research. Which of the following is she probably doing?

asking a sample of students a series of questions about their sexual attitudes and behaviors

What do personality psychologists study?

aspects of behavior that are relatively stable over time

central nervous system

brain and spinal cord

falsifiable

capable of being disproved

right brain hemisphere

controls left side of body, functions primary as artistic and creative side, function in areas (art awareness, crativity, imagination, intuition, insight, holistic(alternative) thoughts, music awarness, 3D forms left hand controls)

motor cortex function

controls voluntary movements

contralateral control

each hemisphere of the brain controls the opposite side of the body

In Dr. Suarez' social psychology lab, Dr. Thomas' research assistants are more likely to unconsciously reinforce aggressive behavior among children who view a violent video film than among children viewing a nonviolent film. Dr. Suarez' research is susceptible to.

experimenter expectancy bias

internal validity

extent to which we can draw cause-and-effect inferences from a study

external validity

extent to which we can generalize findings to real-world settings

If a popular media outlet tells readers they should change their diets based on the results of a new study conducted on mice, they have overestimated the study's ________ validity.

external

Randy is really hoping to see Lady Gaga after the concert. He sees a person who looks like her and exclaims "Hey, Lady Gaga!" But really, it's just a fan and not Lady Gaga. In signal detection terms, Randy's response reflects a __________.

false alarm

Compare your forearm, hand, and fingers to a neuron where the action potential moves toward your shoulder. In such an analogy, the dendrites would be your:

fingers

Stormy remembers a really difficult breakup in her life. Which part of the brain is most likely helping with her ability to remember this emotional event?

hippocampus

Psychodynamic

how behavior springs from unconscious drives and conflicts

cognitive

how we encode, process, store, and retrieve information

Pizza! Beer! Sex! Our motivation or drive for such things is based in part on the activity of the brain region known as the ________.

hypothalamus

Interposition

if one object partially blocks our view of another, we perceive it as closer

correct rejection

if the signal is not presented and the participant does not detect it

Professors Chase and Sanborn are conducting an experiment on the effects of caffeine on memory. Participants are randomly assigned to a caffeine or a no-caffeine group and their recall of items on a word list is later assessed. Which pair correctly identifies a variable in this experiment?

independent variable; caffeine

A group of clinicians is interested in testing which kinds of therapies are most effective for people with social phobia. To do so, they have clients complete different forms of therapy and assess their symptoms over the course of the study. In this example, the kind of therapy is a(n) ________ variable and clients' symptoms of social phobia are a(n) ________ variable.

independent; dependent

Which of the following best describes the "everyday research" that we all perform when we try to understand thoughts and behavior?

it can lead us to believe that we know the causes of things when we really do no

Hippocampus function

learning and memory

In a beginning drawing class, your instructor suggests that an illusion of depth may be created in a two-dimensional picture by including parallel lines that converge at a vanishing point. Your instructor is referring to a monocular depth cue known as:

linear perspective

The amygdala is to emotion as the hippocampus is to:

memory

A monkey makes an involuntary gesture when a portion of its brain is electrically stimulated. The area of the brain that was most likely stimulated is the:

motor cortex

Archer has been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, which means he has a hard time controlling his movements. These symptoms result from impaired transmission of electrical signals. Which part of a neuron is damaged in Archer?

myelin sheath

sensory neurons

neurons that carry incoming information from the sensory receptors to the brain and spinal cord

Interneurons

neurons within the brain and spinal cord that communicate internally and intervene between the sensory inputs and motor outputs

naturalistic observation

observing and recording behavior in naturally occurring situations without trying to manipulate and control the situation

Proprioception

our ability to sense the positions of our body parts

Phenotype

physical appearance

A researcher hypothesizes that people who spend more time sleeping each night will perform better on cognitive tasks administered first thing in the morning. Based on the information provided, the predicted correlation between time slept and task performance is best described as...

positive

Each alternative below identifies a potential relationship between two variables. Which alternative most likely misidentifies the Type: of relationship between the two variables it names? positive - job satisfaction and absenteeism negative -- alcohol use and GPA negative - physical fitness and body-mass index positive -- self-esteem and academic achievement

positive - job satisfaction and absenteeism

cognitive psychologists

psychologists who study the way people think, remember, and mentally organize information

retina function

receive light that the lens has focused, convert the light into neural signals, and send these signals on to the brain for visual recognition, contains the photoreceptor cells

external invalidity

refers to the possibility that conclusions drawn from experimental results may not be generalizable to the "real" world

sensory cortex function

registers and processes body touch and movement sensations

Thalamus function

relay station for sensory impulses, pain

Replication

repeating the essence of a research study, usually with different participants in different situations, to see whether the basic finding extends to other participants and circumstances

Cones

retinal receptor cells that are concentrated near the center of the retina and that function in daylight or in well-lit conditions. The cones detect fine detail and give rise to color sensations.

Rods

retinal receptors that detect black, white, and gray; necessary for peripheral and twilight vision, when cones don't respond

Left-handers appear to excel in abilities associated with the _______ hemisphere in the brain, illustrating the principle of ________ control.

right; contralateral

Adelaide notices a flicker of motion out of the corner of her eye as she hurries down a dim alley late at night. Sydney deciphers a complex wiring diagram under the bright glare of her desk lamp. Adelaide's vision is driven mainly by her _________. Sydney is mainly using her ________.

rods; cones

Why do we adapt after prolonged exposure to a constant stimulus?

so that we detect potentially important changes in what's going on

Dr. Anderson studies how we change our behavior to match that of other people. Dr. Anderson is best described as a _____ psychologist.

social

Sariah decides to throw her ring away and pulls her arm back to begin the throwing motion. Which nervous system is most likely active?

somatic

Glenn sees certain shapes in his mind when he listens to music. For instance, horns and trumpets sound triangular to him. Glenn's example illustrates _________.

synesthesia

Which of the following defines plasticity?

the brain can adapt to the effects of experience or damage

outcome variable

the dependent variable in a correlational study that is being predicted by the predictor variable

sympathetic nervous system

the division of the autonomic nervous system that arouses the body, mobilizing its energy in stressful situations

parasympathetic nervous system

the division of the autonomic nervous system that calms the body, conserving its energy

somatic nervous system

the division of the peripheral nervous system that controls the body's skeletal muscles

face validity

the extent to which a test item appears to fit the particular trait it is measuring

Trevor is scratching his head, trying desperately to solve a verbal analogy as part of a standardized entrance examination; Sienna, meanwhile, is giving an oral presentation in a political science class. Which of the following statements best describes the relative activity of the brain's two hemispheres in these two students?

the left hemisphere is more active than the right for both these students.

absolute threshold

the minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus 50 percent of the time

autonomic nervous system

the part of the peripheral nervous system that controls the glands and the muscles of the internal organs (such as the heart). Its sympathetic division arouses; its parasympathetic division calms.

Synethesia

the production of a sense impression relating to one sense or part of the body by stimulation of another sense or part of the body.

false alarm

the subject perceived a signal when none was present

opponent process theory of color vision

the theory that receptor cells for color are linked in pairs, working in opposition to each other

Behaviorism

the view that psychology should be an objective science that studies behavior without reference to mental processes

Roast beef with a rich brown gravy is often described as a 'savory' dish. The basic taste prominent in such a dish is _____________.

umami

occipital lobe function

vision

hypothalamus function

water, balance/bp/temp regulation/hunger/thirst/sex.

Professors Chase and Sanborn are conducting an experiment on the effects of caffeine on memory. Participants are randomly assigned to a caffeine or a no-caffeine group and their recall of items on a word list is later assessed. Which pair below correctly names and identifies the variables in this experiment?

word recall-dependent variable; caffeine-independent variable