AP Psych 100 Question Exam

81) Which of the following is the median of Rachel's scores?

9.5

59) The idea that the explanation for prejudice lies in children's modeling of their parents' prejudicial beliefs, emotions, and behaviors is most closely aligned with the theories of which of the following?

Albert Bandura's observational learning

80) Which of the following is the range of Rachel's scores?

15

24) Kathy is learning how to cook. She follows every direction on each recipe step by step to make sure her food tastes good. Which of the following describes the problem-solving approach that Kathy is using?

Algorithms: Problem solving formulas that guarantee a correct outcome if correctly applied.

35) The Barnum effect in psychological assessment refers to

Barnum effect: "An individual's tendency to accept personality descriptions, no matter how vague and generalized they may be."

65) Which of the following is a common symptom of the manic phase of bipolar disorder?

Bipolar disorder - Mental abnormality involving swings of mood from mania to depression

26) Consistent with the concept of neural plasticity, neurons in mammals have been found to change the way they function as a result of repeated stimulation by doing which of the following?

Brain Development: Prolific branching of dendrites and formation of synaptic contacts can be seen in microscope slides of the cerebral cortex from infants, representing the rapid learning that occurs in the first year after birth.

41) Which of the following is NOT a method for reducing the dissonance a person might experience after refusing to contribute money for a gift to a coworker?

Cognitive dissonance - A highly motivating state in which people have conflicting cognitions, especially when their voluntary actions conflict with their attitudes saying a phrase such as "I am so rude" over and over

22) According to Wilhelm Wundt, the focus of scientific psychology should be the study of

Devoted to uncovering basic structures that make up mind and thought This early theory of the mind posited that the mind is made of parts or "structures", (memory, perception, emotion, etc.) that are combined to produce behavior

89) During a quiz, a student is asked, "Which is more common in the English language, the letter "k" as the first letter in a word or the letter "k" as the third letter in a word?" Which of the following would be the student's likely response if he relied on the availability heuristic to answer the question?

Faulty heuristic strategy that estimates probabilities based on information that can be recalled from personal experience the letter k is the first letter

57) Which of the following is the best example of fluid intelligence?

Fluid intelligence -The ability to see complex relationships and solve problems. Young people have more!

70) The Flynn effect is best illustrated by which of the following statements?

Flynn Effect: "The Flynn Effect describes a secular increase in average IQ scores, typically averaging about three IQ points per decade, that has been occurring since the introduction of IQ tests in many industrialized societies."

Motion Parallax: "A monocular cue of visual depth perception, in which, as the observer moves, nearby objects seem to move rapidly while distant objects appear to move slowly."

Fundamental attribution error - Tendency to emphasize a person's disposition while ignoring external pressures. We blame ourselves, or others blame us, for things over which we have no control

45) Specific phobia differs from generalized anxiety disorder in which of the following way?

Generalized anxiety disorder - Characterized by persistent and pervasive feelings of anxiety, without any external cause Phobias- A group of anxiety disorders involving a pathological fear of a specific object or situation. The fear must be intense and unreasonable!

23) Tina's mother often entertains Tina by bouncing a bunny puppet back and forth along the side of Tina's crib. Initially, Tina pays close attention to the puppet but after a while, she begins to ignore it and continues doing what she was doing before the puppet appeared. Which of the following psychological concepts best explains Tina's change in behavior?

Habituation

73) The notion of self-actualization is most closely associated with which of the following approaches to explaining personality?

Humanistic Theories include - Abraham Maslow's self-actualizing personality - Carl Rogers' fully functioning person

47) A dog bit Sam when he was a small child and now Sam believes all dogs bite. Which of the following is a type of reasoning that Sam is using to come to this conclusion?

Inductive Reasoning: Drawing general inferences from specific observations. Consider this argument

91) Which of the following is an example of an individual who demonstrates an internal locus of control?

Internal locus of control. Your own efforts determine whether you succeed or fail. This is also known as self-efficacy

55) When viewed from the window of a moving train, nearby objects seem to pass by more quickly than do more distant objects. This cue for depth perception is called

Motion Parallax: "A monocular cue of visual depth perception, in which, as the observer moves, nearby objects seem to move rapidly while distant objects appear to move slowly."

99) Researchers have found a negative correlation between income and dental problems. What conclusion can correctly be drawn from this statement?

Negative correlation A rise in the incidence of dental problems causes income to be lower.

98) Jeff always tells his children not to use bad language when something does not go the way they want. Unfortunately, Jeff uses bad language occasionally and his children have observed him do so. Now Jeff's children use bad language. This can be explained by

Observational learning (Vicarious Learning or Social Learning

33) A polygraph machine is often called a "lie detector," although it does not detect lies. Instead, it responds to changes in

Polygraphs: "Polygraphs attempt to detect untrue or deceptive answers by recording involuntary stress-induced physiological responses."

25) When a projective technique is used, a person could be asked to

Projective tests: The person being tested in some way projects what is in their mind onto a neutral object. You have already seen the TAT Test. By far the most famous is the Rorschach Inkblot Test project their subjective or true opinions and beliefs onto other people or even objects

40) Immediately after firing, a neuron is incapable of responding to stimulation. This condition is referred to as

Refractory Period: " The time of recovery needed for a nerve cell that has just transmitted a nerve impulse or for a muscle fibre that has just contracted."

34) In Mary Ainsworth's Strange Situation experiment, infants who were classified as securely attached were more likely to

Secure attachment: An infant is more likely to explore his world because he knows Mom will come to their rescue smiled and greeted their parent happily, seeked contact comfort and support

6) Standard deviation is a measure of how much

Standard Deviation is "a measure of variability that indicates the average difference between the scores and their mean." That is, it indicates how much a score deviates from the mean.

Which of the following studies in the field of social psychology met with the greatest criticism about the ethical issues involved?

Stanley Milgram's studies on obedience

21) In classical conditioning, stimulus generalization occurs when an organism responds

Stimulus generalization involves giving a conditioned response to stimuli that are similar to the CS. Pavlov's dogs, after being conditioned with a school bell, also drooled to a church bell, a hand bell, and an alarm clock bell

9) The ability to see a cube in the diagram above is best explained by which of the following?

Subjective contours

16) Research on the development of personality traits across the life span has revealed that

Temperament— Basic, pervasive personality dispositions that are apparent in early childhood and establish the tempo and mood of an individual's behaviors Cardinal traits define peoples' lives

13) People were asked to sign a petition in support of a political candidate. Later, those who signed the petition were asked to donate money to the candidate, and many of them did. This phenomenon is best characterized as

The Foot in the Door (FITD) Technique

27) SSRIs such as Zoloft have been shown to reduce depression primarily by

Usually affect serotonin and/or norepinephrine: These are neurotransmitters- Regulates sleep and dreaming, mood, pain, aggression, appetite and sexual behavior Controls heart rate, sleep, sexual responsiveness, stress, vigilance and appetite

95) An evolutionary psychologist would explain that humans desire social interaction, social acceptance, and social affiliation due to a need for

View of Human Nature: Behavior is developed and adapted over time What Determines Behavior: Natural selection

7) Cognitive psychologists are most likely to study

View of Human Nature: People are information-processing systems What Determines Behavior: Mental interpretation of our experience

4) Which of the following explanations most clearly demonstrates an internal attribution for the reason a student fell asleep in class?

We are making a dispositional attribution. This often leads to Fundamental attribution error - Tendency to emphasize a person's disposition while ignoring external pressures.We blame ourselves, or others blame us, for things over which we have no control student doesn't care about class

63) Which of the following examples best illustrates the defense mechanism of regression?

When using this defense mechanism, an individual regresses (goes backward) to an earlier stage of childhood because acting more child-like relieves anxiety or gets us what we want.

84) Ashley began her banking career as a teller, but she was quickly promoted to increasingly more responsible managerial positions. Despite the fact that she has very limited experience to justify her promotions, she believes that she has been successful because she is very talented. Which of the following explanations is Ashley using to justify her success?

When we associate a person's behaviors with external forces we are making a situational attribution. This often leads to Self-serving bias - Attribution pattern in which one takes credit for success but denies responsibility for failure. The opposite of the Fundamental Attribution Error. We blame others for situations over which we have control

51) A cancer patient becomes nauseated following chemotherapy treatments. After a few treatments, the patient begins having a sick feeling whenever entering the treatment room. The treatment room has become

a conditioned stimulus

38) Amanda experienced discomfort in class. She put on a sweater when she realized her discomfort was caused by the cold. Her behavior was motivated by

a drive

2) Darien's father dictated who Darien's friends should be and what classes he should take, and he set an extremely early curfew. If Darien went against his father's wishes, the repercussions were harsh and swift. What type of parenting did Dairen experience?

authoritarian

11) Jim decides to seek treatment for his alcoholism that involves taking a medication that causes nausea when paired with alcohol. What type of treatment has Jim chosen?

aversion therapy

61) Lithium carbonate is used to treat

bipolar disorder

82) Which of the following psychological theories would explain posttraumatic stress disorder as being the result of irrational beliefs and ideas?

cognitive therapy

29) Sandy's father's behavior gives her the impression that he will love her only if she gets very good grades. Carl Rogers would probably say that Sandy

conditional positive regard by placing conditions of worth

30) Because the most popular students in the high school tend to wear a particular brand of athletic show, a new student buys a pair of shoes of the same brand. Such behavior demonstrates which of the following social psychological concepts?

conformity

44) Participants were asked to rate the importance of achieving honor-roll status. Researchers found that students from smaller families rated the importance more highly than students from larger families. The research team concluded that a student's attitude toward school achievement is the result of family size. Which of the following is the most important error made by the research team?

correlation does not equal causation

69) Which of the following is an example of a cognitive distortion according to Aaron Beck's cognitive therapy model of treatment?

dichotomous thinking: forming an all-or-nothing conception of the situation "If I don't get all A's in colleges, then my degree will be worth nothing"

10) Following the failure of his business, Mr. Jones disappeared and was discovered two years later in another state practicing law without a license. When questioned, he responded that he had found himself in a strange city and could not remember any personal information. Mr. Jones most likely would be diagnosed with

dissociative fugue

72) Cocaine blocks the reuptake of which neurotransmitter?

dopamine

28) Which of the following treatments assumes a biological cause for a disorder?

electroconvulsive therapy

83) Client-centered therapists try to appreciate how the world appears from the client's point of view. This is an example of which of the following concepts?

empathy

8) A person with damage to Broca's area would most likely demonstrate which of the following symptoms?

expressive aphasia, difficulty speaking

48) Which of the following is more associated with environmental effects than with genetic influence?

fetal alcohol syndrome

17) A tumor that destroys the ventromedial hypothalamus is likely to produce which of the following?

frequent eating and obesity

68) Serena is in a hotel room with a cake that needs slicing, but she does not have a knife. She goes to the bathroom and comes back with a long strand of dental floss, which she uses to cut the cake. Serena has overcome which barrier to problem solving?

functional fixedness

85) One-year-old Marcus turns away in disgust if a bitter substance is placed on his tongue. The reason for such a reaction is most likely

head turning reflex - an inborn distaste for bitter that protects us from potential poisons in the environment

74) When people consume large amounts of alcohol, they are often unable to recall what they did and said while they were drinking. This occurs because alcohol interferes with the brain's ability to form new memories in the

hippocampus

90) Research has shown that a major reason for poor performance while multitasking is that while multitasking, people

inattentional blindness - switch their attention rapidly from task to task, so they miss critical information associated with a task that is not receiving their attention

The results of Harry Harlow's experiments with infant monkeys and surrogate mother show that

infants need contact comfort

12) The ratio of mental age to chronological age for a child of average intelligence is

intelligence quotient - 100

92) Research studies indicate that people who are intrinsically motivated as compared to people who are extrinsically motivated tend to

intrinsic motivation - like to engage in activity extrinsic motivation - want a reward

36) The nature-nurture issue is best exemplified by which of the following questions?

is level of intelligence the result of one's environment and specific learning or is it a result of biological maturation

94) In the first part of an experiment, one group of rats received reinforcement after correctly navigating a maze. A second group received no reinforcement after wandering around the maze. In the next part, both groups received reinforcement after navigating the maze. Despite not receiving reinforcement at the beginning of the experiment, the second group performed as well as the first. The learning that occurred in the second group in the absence of reinforcement is called

latent learning

37) An individual was admitted to the hospital after experiencing a mild tingling on the right side of the face and a sudden inability to speak. Using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), a doctor would likely find

left hemisphere

67) Mary is introduced to three new people at a party. Later, however, she cannot remember the names of any of her new acquaintances, even though she remembers what she ate, her old friends who were there, and the address of the host. What may account for Mary's inability to remember these individuals' names?

never encoded names into long-term memory

100) A psychologist who classifies an individual's personality according to the person's manifestations of traits such as neuroticism, openness, and extraversion probably believes in which model of personality?

nomothetic, Big Five Traits

5) A researcher interested in finding a simple way to estimate intelligence decides to evaluate skull circumference as a possible indicator of intelligence. He finds that the size of an adult's skull remains the same from one measurement to the next, but he finds that skull circumference is not a very good predictor of intelligence. In this example, skull circumference as a measure of intelligence is

not valid

64) Scott lost his vision at a young age. When he was much older, he received a corneal transplant that allowed him to see again. After so many years of not being able to see, he had a very difficult time interpreting visual information such as faces and expressions. His visual problems most likely came from processing difficulties in the

occipital lobes (contain visual cortex)

88) If an individual has lost the ability to feel pain in the left arm, there is most likely damage to what area of the brain?

parietal lobes

96) Yun was learning English as an adult. She found that she had trouble with some of the sounds in English because those sounds were not part of her native Chinese. The difficulty she was having involved

phonemes

97) Children who are consistently praised for receiving high grades in school will likely continue to work for high grades. Using an operant conditioning explanation of this phenomenon, which of the following is true?

positive reinforcement will help create that response again

14) Which of the following factors is an important predictor of attraction?

proximity, similarity, self-disclosure, physical attractiveness

49) Cognitive psychologists are most likely to use which method of treatment with their clients?

rational emotive behavioral therapy

62) After an electrode implanted in a cat's brain stimulates the cat's amygdala, the cat will most likely do which of the following?

react with fear or aggression

87) Henry took an intelligence test and scored lower than he thought he should. He kept retaking the test, but he kept getting about the same score each time. This series of events indicates that the test was

reliable

79) Ben was enjoying a walk in the woods on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. As he went around a curve, he noticed a bear walking toward him. Immediately his pupils dilated, he began to perspire, and his heart accelerated. These changes are most closely related to the function of the

sympathetic nervous system

53) Melvin, a server at a restaurant, is in the middle of a lunch rush. He is completing orders, serving customers, and seating new guests. He has adapted to this level of stress and is coping. Which of the following terms identifies a stage in Hans Selye's general adaptation syndrome that Melvin is currently experiencing?

resistance

46) Significant damage to which of the following parts of the brain will most likely cause a person to fall into a deep coma from which the person will be unable to awaken?

reticular activating system

32) Which of the following is the correct path a neural impulse will follow through the different layers of the retina?

rods and cones, bipolar cells, ganglion cells, optic nerve

75) Research shows that women who are referred by a physician to participate in a study of eating disorders have more severe problems than women who volunteer on their own to participate in the study. If research on eating disorders regularly involves only women referred by physicians, the results of the studies might be limited because of the presence of

sampling bias

54) Which of the following is true of a child with high self-efficacy regarding her ability to play soccer?

self-efficacy - your own efforts determine whether you succeed or fail

60) To study differences in the cognitive processing of younger and older adults, Genevieve assessed a group of 30 year olds and a group of 60 year olds using the same cognitive task. She found no significant difference in cognitive processing between the two groups. Which of the following is a true statement that best explains her findings?

semantic memory - general knowledge

1) Which developmental milestone must be reached before an infant experiences separation anxiety?

sensorimotor

15) On his first day of work at the bakery, Brad was nearly overwhelmed by the sweet odor of the baked goods. However, by lunchtime, he did not even notice the smell. This is an example of

sensory adaptation

77) The chart above illustrates which of the following psychological concepts?

serial position effect

39) Raul wants to teach his daughter Sonia to tie her shoes. First he praises her when she manipulates her shoelaces in any way. Then he praises her when she makes a simple knot. Once she does that consistently, he praises her only when she makes a knot and a loop. He continues the pattern until she can do all the steps required to tie her shoes. Raul's actions are an example of which of the following techniques?

shaping - reinforcing successive approximations

3) In Philip Zimbardo's Stanford prison experiment, young men were assigned roles as either guards or prisoners. The results showed that

situations can exert powerful effects on morality and identity

71) The data above represent research findings by Bibb Latané and colleagues. What psychological principle is best represented in the graph?

social facilitation

43) On an intelligence test, the number of questions an individual answers correctly is meaningless without which of the following?

standardization to create a percentile

58) Which of the following treatments would be most effective for someone who experiences a rapid heartbeat, light-headedness, and nausea when speaking in public?

systematic desensitization

66) What hormone seems to be most closely linked with aggressive behavior?

testosterone

20) Which of the following characteristics is generally associated with the use of hallucinogens?

the experience of vivid, distorted images that are not based on sensory input

18) Which of the following elements constitutes the independent variable in the study?

the researchers telling the participants they did below average

93) The results of a correlational study involving student volunteers in a psychology laboratory might not apply to the general population because

the sample is not randomly chosen and therefore may not be a representative sample

78) Thomas is thirty years old and is very shy. He becomes anxious in social situations, so he avoids them. Thomas does not have close friends and rarely leaves his apartment. However, he writes a very successful and popular Internet blog, is usually content and calm while working at home, and has a positive relationship with his family. Psychologists would be hesitant to label Thomas as psychologically disordered because his behavior

there's no distress

19) Which of the following violations of ethical guidelines occurs in the study?

they were never debriefed

76) If mice lack an enzyme essential to the process of long-term potentiation, which of the following will be the most likely consequence?

they will be unable to learn - long- term potentiation

86) Tina is reading an important letter when she accidentally splashes water on the paper. The water has smudged a few words, but she is still able to understand what the letter says. This can be explained by

top-down processing

42) Receptors that are especially important for helping a person maintain balance are located in the

vestibular system - inner ear

31) An individual bystander is most likely to help an injured person under which of the following circumstances?

when a smaller amount of people are present or they are the only one