AP PSYCH: Multiple choice
Why would the median, rather than mean, be the appropriate measure of central tendency in determining housing values in a particular community?
The median is minimally affected by extreme scores.
an inexperienced pilot prepares for an emergancy landing after her single-engine plane loses power. Her emotional arousla is likely to be accompanied by...
increased blood sugar levels
Dr. Ochoa develops tests to accurately identify the most qualified job applicants in a large manufacturing firm. Which psychological specialty does Dr. Ochoa's work best represent?
industrial-organizational psychology
A researcher who gathers and analyzes data from student essay test responses without talking with the students about the study violates which ethical principle of human experimentation?
informed consent
Which of the following defines ethical principles that should guide human experimentation?
informed consent, protection from harm, confidentiality, debriefing
Professor Kholer observed chimpanzees discover a novel way to reach a banana hung out of their reach. This scenario is most likely an example of which type of learning?
insight learning
Layla has difficulty going to sleep and staying asleep. Layla is most likely suffering from
insomnia
Mr. Porter believes that aggression is an unleaned behavior characteristic of all children. He obviously believes that aggression is a(n)...
instinct
Light-wave amplitude determines the
intensity of colors
Caroline loves to read and enjoys looking up meanings of words that she does not know. In school, her teacher promises a gold star to students each time they learn a new word. The teacher's behavior is most likely to undermine...
intrinsic motivation
Marcy grows roses for the sheer joy of it; Jennifer grows them to sell at a profit. Marcy's behavior reflects (blank), wheras Jennifer's behavior reflects (blank).
intrinsic motivation;extrinsic motivation
The self reflective observation of one's own sensations and feelings is called .
introspection
People's dislike of novel food best illustrates
neophobia
The chemical messengers released into the spatial junctions between neurons are called
neurotransmitters
Which of the following drugs is classified as a stimulant?
nicotine
In the hypothesis ,"Students who study a list of terms in the morning, just after waking up, will recall more terms than students who study the list just before falling asleep," what is the dependent variable?
number of terms remembered
Color constancy refers to the fact that...
objects are perceived to be the same color even if the light they reflect changes.
The behavioral perspective is most likely to emphasize the importance of .
observable responses
After one chimpanzee sees a second chimp open a box that contains a food reward, the first animal opens a similar box with great speed. This best illustrates...
observational learning
Working in a community health center, Dr. Thatcher treats adults who suffer from severe depression. Dr. Thatcher is most likely a(n) psychologist.
clinical
While singing to you on your birthday, your friends leave off the very last word of the song,"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear David, happy birthday to..." Your tendency to mentally fill in the last word best reflects which of the following Gestalt principles of organization?
closure
Dr. MacPherson believes that the way students organize and think about the information in their textbooks will strongly influence their ability to later remember and use what they have studied. Dr. MacPherson's ideas most directly exemplify the perspective.
cognitive
Which perspective is most concerned with how individuals interpret their experiences?
cognitive
Which psychological perspective highlights the manner in which people encode, process, and retrieve information?
cognitive
Some psychologists believe that rats develop mental representations of mazes they have explore. These representations have been called...
cognitive maps
In Pavlov's experiments, the dog's salivation triggered by the sound of the tone was a(n)...
conditioned response
In Adolus Huzley's Brave New World, infants develop a fear of roses after roses are presented with electric shock. In this ficitonal example, the presentation of the roses is the
conditioned stimulus
Which receptor cells most directly enable us to distinguish different wavelengths of light?
cones
A researcher who publishes the results of a case study might be most worried about violating which ethical principle of human experimentation?
confidentiality
People have a tendency to search for information that supports their preconceptions. What do psychologists call this tendency?
confirmation bias
Because she believes that boys are naughtier than girls, Mrs. Zumpano, a second-grade teacher, watches boys more closely than she watches girls for any signs of misbehavior. Mrs. Zumpano's surveillance strategy best illustrates...
confirmation bias.
In an experiment designed to study the effectiveness of a new drug, research participants who receive a placebo are participating in the (blank) group.
control
Which of the following is the correct order of structures light passes through in the eye?
cornea, iris, pupil, lens, retina
Split-brain patients have had their (blank) surgically cut.
corpus callosum
Increases in the hormone insulin leads to...
decreasing blood glucose levels.
Our inablility to remember information presented in the seconds just before we fall asleep is most likely...
encoding failure
Jose has just played a long, bruising football game but feels little fatigue or discomfort. His lack of pain is most likely caused by the release of...
endorphins
To prevent encoding failure you should...
engage in effortful processing.
In a complete sexual response cycle...
the plateau phase immediately precedes orgasm.
In Pavlov's experiments on the salivary conditioning of dogs, the US was...
the presentation of food in the dog's mouth
The text defines stress as...
the process by which we perceiveand respond to environmental threats and challenges.
According to frequency theory
the rate at which impulses travel up the auditory nerve matches the frequency of the tone being heard
The minimum level of stimulation require to trigger a neural impulse is called the
threshold
In the hypothesis," Students who study a list of terms in the morning, just after waking up, will recall more terms than students who study the list just before falling asleep," what is the independent variable?
time of day
The refractory period is the...
time span after orgasm during which a male cannot be aroused to another orgasm.
The need to take larger and larger does of a drug in order to experience its effect is an indication of...
tolerance
Our experiences, assumptions, and expectations may give us a perceptual set that influences what we perceive. This is an example of
top-down processing
The local fire department sounds the 12 o'clock whistle. The process by which your ears convert the sound waves from the siren into neural impulses is an example of...
transduction
The process by which our sensory systems convert stimulus energies into neural messages in called
transduction
Which theory states that emotion results from the cognitive labeling of our physiological arousal?
two-factor
Noticing that his heart was pounding and that his palms were sweaty while he was taking a difficult test, Harley concluded that he was "anxious." Noticing that his heart was pounding and that his palms were sweaty when an attractive lady asked him to dance, Harley concluded that he was "falling in love." The differing emotions experienced by Harley can best be explained by the...
two-factor theory
When students perceive the arousal that accompanies test-taking as energizing rather than debilitating, they experience much less anxiety. This is best understood in terms of the...
two-factor theory
A therapist tells his patient who is afraid of elevators that his rapid breathing while on an elevator is not due to fear but is a natural consequence of too little oxygen in a small, enclosed space. With this new interpretation of his arousal, the patient no longer dreads elevators. The reduction in the patient's fear is best understood in terms of the...
two-factor theory.
In Pavlov's experiments, the dog's salivation triggered by the taste of food was a(n)...
unconditioned response
In Aldous Huxely's Brave New World, infants develop a fear after books are repeatedly presented with a loud noise. In this fictional example, the loud noise is a(n)...
unconditioned stimulus
Lil Albert developed a fear of rats after a white rat was paired with a loud noise. In this case, the loud noise was the...
unconditioned stimulus
The distinctive feature of the psychodynamic perspective is its emphasis on .
unconscious conflicts
A variable interval schedule of reinforcement is one in which a response is reinforced only after a(n)...
unpredictable time period has elapsed.
Terry has not had a decent night of sleep in over a week. If this sleep deprivation continues, he will become increasingly susceptible to...
viral infections and other sicknesses
People are more vulnerable to obesity if they experience...
sleep deprivation
The misinformation effect refers to the...
incorporation of misleading information into one's memory of an event.
The law of effect refers to the tendency to...
repeat behaviors that are rewarded.
Dilation and constriction of the pupil are controlled by the
iris
In a group of 5 individuals, two report annual incomes of $10,000 and the other three report incomes of $14,000, $15,000, and $31,000, respectively. The mode of this group's distribution of annual incomes is...
$10,000
Which of the following correlation coefficients expresses the weakest degree of relationship between two variables?
+1.00
Which of the following correlation coefficients expresses the strongest degree of relationship between two variables?
-0.67
Mr. and Mrs. Berry have five children aged 2,3,7,9, and 9. The median age of the Berry children is .
8
Who would have been most likely to ignore mental processes and to define psychology as ,"the scientific study of observable behavior"?
John B. Watson
Long term potentiation refers to...
An increase in a neuron's firing potential.
Which of the following is most accurate about a typical night's sleep?
As sleep progresses, NREM-3 sleep diminishes while REM sleep increases.
The psychologist most closely associated with the study of operant conditioning was...
B.F. Skinner
Which brain are is primarily involved with controlling speech?
Broca's area
The idea that an emotion-arousing stimulus is simultaneously routed to the cortex and to the sympathetic nervous system is central to the...
Cannon-Bard theory.
Sleep researches who are interested in brain wave activity are likely to use which kind of brain scan?
EEG
Ernie has begun watching sexually explicit movies. Based on research, how might this activity affect his relationship with his wife?
Ernie is likely to view his wife as less attractive.
Who emphasized that the whole may exceed the sum of its parts?
Gestalt psychologists
The researcher most closely associated with the study of classical conditioning is...
Ivan Pavlov (Pavlov's dogs)
Cassandra's mother told her, "You know you are in love when your heart beats fast and you experience that unique trembling feeling inside," This remark best illustrates the (BLANK) theory of emotion.
James-Lange
Which of the following suggests that the experience of emotion results from an awareness of our own physiological responses to an emotion-arousing event?
James-Lange
Who introduced the term behaviorism?
John B. Watson
Every day as she walks to school, Mamie passes a mural painted on the side of a building. However, when asked, she says she does not remember ever seeing it. Which of the following is the best explanation for this occurrence?
Mamie has not paid attention to the incoming information so it was not encoded into long-term memory
Which psychologist was the first woman to receive a Ph.D. in psychology after Harvard University declined to give Mary Calkins the Ph.D.?
Margaret Washburn
Who was a student of William James and the first female president of the American Psychological Association>
Mary Calkins
In its early years, psychology focused on the study of , but from the 1920's into the 1960's, American psychologists emphasized the study of .
Mental life; observable behavior
During a state of emotional arousal, the adrenal glands release (blank) into the bloodstream.
Norephinephrine
Which theory suggests that dreams are mental responses to random bursts or neural stimulation?
activation-synthesis theory
Who is the best examplee of a Type A persoality>
Philip, a competitive, hot tempered corporation president
After Carlos had been asleep for about an hour and a half, his heart began to beat faster, his breathing became fast and irregular, and his closed eyes began to dart back and forth. Carlos was most likely experiencing...
REM sleep
Who are likely to show the greatest similarity in personality?
Ruth and Ramona, identical twins
Who would be most likely to emphasize the role of the UNCONSCIOUS in affecting behavior?
Sigmund Freud
Hermann Ebbinghaus' use of nonsense syllables to study memory led to the discovery that...
The amount remembered depends on the time spent learning.
The two-factor theory of emotion was proposed by...
Stanely Schacter and Jerome Singer.
Which of the following is true for those assigned to the experimental group in an experiment?
The experimental group receives the experimental treatment.
Miss Jan De Jong is orderly, neat, fairly quiet, and shy. She enjoys reading in her spare time and belongs to a social club that includes three librarians, nine real estate agents, and eight social workers. A tendency to conclude that Jan must be one of the three librarians would illustrate the powerful influence of...
The representativeness heuristic
The principle that two stimuli must differ by a constant proportion for their difference to be perceived is known as
Weber's law
The first psychological laboratory was established by
Wilhelm Wundt
The early school of psychology known as functionalism was developed by
William James
Who was the American philosopher who authored a textbook in 1890 for the emerging discipline of psychology?
William James
Evidence that some cones are especially sensitive to red light, other to green light, and still others to blue light is most directly supportive of the (blank) theory.
Young-Hemholtz theory
According to the two-factor theory, the two basic components of emotions are (blank) and (blank) .
a cognitive label; physical arousal.
As he attempted to spell the word "receive," Tim reminded himself " i before e except after c." TIm's self-reminder best illustrates the use of...
a heuristic
Motivation is defined by psychologists as...
a need or desire that energizes and directs behavior toward a goal.
Circadian rhythm refers to
a pattern of biological functioning that occurs on a roughly 24-hr cycle
Which of the following is the best definition of illusory correlation?
a perceived but nonexistent correlation
Shortly after hearing a list of items, people tend to recall the last items in the list especially quickly and accurately. This best illustrates...
a recency effect
According to the text, learning involves...
a relatively permanent change in behavior due to experience.
Identical twins originate from the fertilization of
a single egg cell by a single sperm cell
During a hearing test, many sounds were presented at such a low level of intensity that Mr. Antall could hardly detect them. These sound were below Mr. Antall's...
absolute threshold
The minimum amount of stimulation a person needs to detect a stimulus 50% of the time is called the...
absolute threshold
Alzheimer's disease is most closely linked to the deterioration of neurons that produce...
acetylcholine
A brief electrical charge that travels down the axon of a neuron is called the...
action potential
The depolarization of a neural membrane can create a(n)...
action potential
According to Maslow, our need for...
adequate clothing must be met before we are preoccupied with satisfying our need for self esteem.
Epinephrine and norepinephrine are released by the
adrenal glands
Some opiate drugs have molecular structures so similar to endorphines that the they MIMIC endorphin's euphoric effects in the brain, making these opiate drugs which kind of molecule?
agonists
Cameron, a 50 year old electrician, opens his pay envelope and, to his surprise, finds a pink slip inside, indicating that he has been fired from his job. Which phase of the general adaption syndrome is Cameron most likely experiencing?
alarm reaction
The three successive phases of the general adaptation syndrome are...
alarm reaction, resistance, and exhaustion (ARRE)
To demonstrate that brain stimulation can make a rat violently aggressive, a neuroscientist should electrically stimulate the rat's
amygdala
Jamiila systematically tried each successive key on her dad's key ring until she found the one that unlocked his office door. This best illustrates problem solving by means of...
an algorithm
A drive refers to...
an aroused, motivated state that is often triggered by a aphysiological need.
An experiment was designed to study the potential impact of alcohol consumption on emotional stability. A specification of the procedures used to measure emotional stability illustrates
an operational definition.
Molecules that are similar enough to a neurotransmitter to bind to its receptor sites on a dendrite and block that neurotransmitter's effects are called what?
antagonists
Researchers condition a flatworm to contract its body to a light repeatedly pairing the light with a n electric shock. The stage in which the flatworm's contraction response to light is established and gradually strengthened is called...
aquisition
Which theory would be most helpful for explaining why people are motivated to watch horror movies?
arousal theory
Encoding that occurs with no effort or a minimal level of conscious attention is known as...
automatic processing
Our tendency to judge the likelihood of an even on the basis of how readily we can remember instances of its occurence is called the...
availability heuristic
Which drugs are most likely to be prescribed as tranquilizers?
barbituates
Hair cells line the surface of the...
basilar membrane
Contemporary psychology is best defined as the scientific study of .
behavior and mental processes
Akira believes that her son has become a good student because she always praises his learning efforts. Her belief best illustrates a perspective.
behavioral
Which perspective most clearly focuses on how we learn observable responses?
behavioral
A subliminal message is one that is presented
below one's absolute threshold for awareness
In a class lecture, Professor Hampton emphasized the extent to which abnormal blood chemistry can contribute to psychological disorders. The professor's lecture highlighted a perspective on psychological disorders.
biological
Mr. Lopez believes that severe depression results primarily from an imbalanced diet and abnormal brain chemistry. Mr. Lopez favors a perspective on depression.
biological
Garcia and Koelling's studies of taste aversion in rats demonstrated that classical conditioning is constrained by...
biological predispositions
When people discuss the "nature vs nurture" controversy. Nature refers to (blank) and Nurture refers to (blank).
biology; environment
The biological perspective in psychology would be most likely to emphasized that behavior is influenced by .
blood chemistry
Trying to see a hidden representational image in a piece of abstract art by looking carefully at each element in the picture and trying to form an image employs which kind of perceptual process?
bottom-up processing
Pets who learn that the sound of an electric can opener signals the arrival of their food illustrate...
classical conditioning
Which of the following psychoactive drugs is most likely to impair people's ability to sleep? heroin caffeine alcohol marijuana barbituates
caffeine
In 1953, H.M. underwent surgery to control his seizures. Doctors removed tissue from the hippocampus. As a result H.M.'s memory was severely impaired. Psychologists studied H.M.'s memory function until his death in 2008. Which research method did the psychologists utilize in this situation?
case study
Which research method is typically used to examine one participant in depth, usually because the individual's situation/behavior is rare or unusual?
case study
Dr. Milosz electrically stimulates the lateral hypothalamus of a well-fed laboratory rat. This procedure is most likely to ...
cause the rat to begin eating
A Skinner Box is a(n)
chamber containing a bar or key that an animal can manipulate to obtain a reward.
Researches found that 40% of people focused on repeating a list of challenging words failed to notice a change in the person speaking. This best illustrates...
change blindness
While a man provided directions to a construction worker, two experimenter rudely interrupted by passing between them carrying a door. The student's failure to notice that the construction worker was replaced by a different person during this interruption illustrates...
change blindness
After four years of working nights, Raymond now works days. His present difficulty in getting to sleep at night is most likely due to a disruption of his normal...
circadian rhythm
If college graduates typically earn more money than high school graduates, this would indicate that level of education and income are .
dependent variable
Drugs such as alcohol and opiates that calm neural activity and slow body functions are called...
depressants
An undersupply of serotonin is most closely linked to ...
depression.
A brain lesion refers to (blank) of tissue.
destruction
Compared with men, women would probably be better at...
detecting emotions of two people having a discussion over lunch.
Dogs strapped into a harness and given repeated and unavoidable shocks
developed a conditioned reinforcer
Dr. Winkle conducts basic research on the systematic changes in intelligence associated with aging. It's most likely that Dr. Winkle is a(n) psychologist.
developmental
Some of Pavlov's dogs learned to salivate at the sound of one particular tone and not to other tones. This illustrates the process of...
discrimination
The tremors of Parkinson's disease result from the death of nerve cells that produce the neurotransmitter
dopamine
Which theory most clearly emphasizes the importance of HOMEOSTASIS in motivation?
drive-reduction theory
Sounds and words that are not immediately attended to can still be recalled a couple of seconds later because of our...
echoic memory
Basing decisions or conclusions on observable evidence describes which of the following?
empirical approach
The inability to remember how Lincoln's head appears on a penny is most likely due to a failure in...
encoding
The process of getting information into memory is called...
encoding
A hormone that increases heart rate, blood pressure and blood sugar levels in times of emergency is...
epinephrine
Professor Crisman believes that most women prefer tall and physically strong partners because this preference enhanced the survival of our ancestors' genes. This viewpoint best illustrates the perspective.
evolutionary
The hindsight bias refers to people's tendency to
exaggerate their ability to have foreseen the outcome of past events.
Margo never enjoys spring break because at the end of every finals week she catches a bad cold. Margo is most likely in which stage of the general adaptation syndrome? (ARRE)
exhaustion
A research method in which an investigator manipulates factors that potentially produce a particular behavior is called a(n)...
experiment
Correlational research is most useful for purposes of .
explanation
The arousal theory of motivation would be most useful for explaining an infant's urge to...
explore
The basic components of emotion are...
expressive behaviors, physiological arousal, and conscious experience.
After Pavlov had conditioned a dog to salivate to a tone, he repeatedly sounded the tone without presenting the food. AS a result, (blank) occurred.
extinction
Patients reportedly feel less depressed following between-the-eyebrows Botox injections that immobilize their frown muscles. This best illustrates the...
facial feedback effect
researchers have found that people experience cartoons as more amusing while holding a pen their teeth than while holding it with their lips. This finding best serves to support the...
facial feedback hypothesis
Some people are unable to arrange six matches to form four equilateral triangles becasue they fail to consider a three dimensional arrangement. This best illustrates the effects of (BLANK) on problem solving.
fixation
Coffee shops that reward their customers with one free cup of coffee after every ten coffee purchases are using a (BLANK) reinforcement schedule.
fixed-ratio
Exceptionally clear memories of emotionally significant events are called...
flashbulb memories
The cochlea is a ...
fluid-filled tube in which sound waves trigger nerve impulses.
The most basic or lowest-level need in Maslow's hierarchy or human motives includes the need for...
food and drink
Which theory best explains how we perceive low-pitched sounds?
frequency theory
In 1848, Phineas Gage, a railroad construction foreman, survived when an explosion drove an iron rod through his head. The once friendly, soft-spoken Gage became irritable and dishonest. Gage's case provided evidence that which region of the brain plays a role in personality and behavior?
frontal lobes
Adolescents are most likely to start smoking in order to
gain social acceptance
Which theory suggests that large-fiber activity in the spinal cord can prevent pain signals from reaching the brain?
gate-control theory
Little Albert was conditioned by John B. Watson to fear furry white rats. After conditioning, Albert also showed fear to rabbits, dogs, and fur coats. This best illustrates...
generalization
Monica's psychotherapist reminds her so much of her own father that she has many of the same mixed emotional reactions to him that she has to her own dad. Her reactions to her therapist best illustrate the importance of...
generalization
The polygraph measures the changes in (BLANK) that accompany emotion.
heart rate
Which of the following is the component of the limbic system that plays an essential role in the processing of new memories?
hippocampus
The body's tendency to maintain a constant internal state is known as...
homeostasis
A.L. Washburn swallowed a balloon. When inflated, the balloon filled his stomach and transmitted his stomach contractions to a recording device Washburn found that...
hunger pangs accompany feelings of hunger.
Hunger controls are located within the brain's...
hypothalamus
The secretions of the pituitary gland are most directly regulated by the
hypothalamus
The address for obtaining tickets to a popular quiz show flashes on the TV screen, but the image disappears before Sergei has had a chance to write down the complete address. To his surprise, however, he has retained a momentary mental image of the five-digit zip code. His experience best illustrates (BLANK) memory
iconic
Because she had a serious traffic accident on Friday the 13th of last month, Felicia is convinced that all Friday the 13ths will bring bad luck. Felicia's belief best illustrates...
illusory correlation
On the telephone, Dominic rattles off a list of 10 grocery items for Kyoko to bring home from the store. Immediately after hearing the list, Kyoko attempts to write down the items. She is most likely to forget the items...
in the middle of the list
In one experiment, most of the participants who viewed a videotape of men tossing a basketball remained unaware of an umbrella-toting woman sauntering across the screen. This illustrated...
inattentional blindness
Which of the following best describes explicit memories?
include memory for general knowledge
The biggest danger of relying on case-study evidence is that ...
it may be unrepresentative of what is generally true .
Which of the following in a UNCONDITIONED response?
jerking your hand off a very hot stove
A synapse is a(n)...
junction between a sending neuron and a receiving neuron
While playing tennis you need to know where you limbs are located so you can move them into the right positions to run or swing your racket. Which of the following senses provides this information?
kinesthesis
Severing a cat's reticular formation from higher brain regions cause the cat to...
lapse into a coma.
According to freud, the personally threatening and censored meaning of a dream is it's (BLANK) content.
latent
Greg remembered a recent dream in which his girlfriend suddenly grabbed the wheel of his speeding car. Greg's therapist suggested that the dream might be a representation of the girlfriend's efforts to avoid sexual intimacy. According to Freud, the therapist was attempting to reveal the (Blank blank) of Greg's dream.
latent content
If rats are allowed to wander through a complicated maze, they will subsequently run the maze with few errors when a food reward is placed at the end. Their good performance demonstates
latent learning
After experiencing inescapable brutalities as a prisoner in a Nazi concentration camp, Mr. Sternberg became apathetic, stopped eating, and gave up all efforts to physically survive the ordeal. Mr. Sternberg's reaction most clearly illustrates...
learned helplessness
Jeremy wears his baseball cap backward because he noticed his older brother does so. This illustrates the importance of...
modeling
The convergence of parallel lines provides the distance cue known as
linear perspective
Which type of memory has an essentially unlimited capacity?
long-term memory
Freud called the REMEMBERED story line of a dream it's (blank) content.
manifest
The arithmetic average of a distribution of scores is the .
mean
The most commonly reported measure of central tendency is the .
mean
semantic encoding refers to the processing of...
meanings
Your life would be most immediately threatened if you suffered destruction of the...
medulla
A perceptual set is a
mental predisposition that influences what we perceive.
An algorithm is a...
methodological step-by-step procedure for solving problems.
Depth perception that uses information transmitted to only one eye depends on...
monocular cues
Compared with formerly depressed people, those who are currently depressed are more likely to recall their parents as rejecting and punitive. This best illustrates...
mood-congruent memory
When the release of ACh is blocked, the result is...
muscular paralysis
The slowdown of neural communication in multiple sclerosis involves a degeneration of the...
myelin sheath
The survival of organisms best suited to a particular environment is known as
natural selection
Professor Ober carefully observes and records the behaviors of children in their classrooms in order to track the development of their social and intellectual skills. Professor Ober is most clearly engaged in ...
naturalistic observation
Psychologist who carefully watch the behavior of chimpanzee societies in the jungle are using a research method known as...
naturalistic observation
Lissette wonders whether personality differences between her African-American and Asian-American friends result from biological or cultural influences. In this instance, Lissette is primarily concerned with the relative contributions of .
nature and nurture
Closing your bedroom door so that you won't hear the TV that is interfering with your studying is an example of...
negative punishment
Revoking the driver's license of a reckless driver is intended to serve as a...
negative punishment
If psychologists discovered that wealthy people are less satisfied with their marriages than poor people are, this would indicate that wealth and marital satisfaction are...
negatively correlated
Dan and Joel, both 4-yr olds, have been watching reruns of "Superman" on TV. Joel's mother recently found the boys standing on the garage roof, ready to try flying. What best accounts for the boys' behavior?
observational learning
Which region of the brain will a fMRI show as active when a person is looking at a photo?
occipital lobes
The sense of smell is known as
olfaction
Children often learn to associate pushing a vending machine button with the delivery of a candy bar this best illustrates the process underlying ...
operant learning
A specification of how a researcher measure a research variable is known as a(n)...
operational definition
The process of replication is most likely to be facilitated by
operational definition
Morphine and heroin are...
opiates
In one experiment, college men were injected with epinephrine before spending time with either a joyful or an irritated person. The results of this experiment support the idea that...
our experience of emotion depends on how we interpret the body's arousal
REM sleep is called paradoxical sleep because
our nervous system is highly active, while our voluntary muscles hardly move.
The ability to simultaneously process the pitch, loudness, melody, and meaning of a song best illustrates
parallel processing
Turning in at her street, Dominique saw fire trucks in front of her apartment building. Her heart beat wildly until someone yelled," Just a false alarm," Her pulse then began to return to normal, due to the action of her (BLANK) nervous system.
parasympathetic
Which lobes of the brain receive the input that enables you to feel someone scratching your back?
parietal
As the brain receives information about the lines, angles, and edges of object in the environment, higher-level cells process and interpret the information to consciously recognize objects. This process best illustrates
perception
In 1972, a British newspaper published pictures of a "Loch Ness Monster." Many people readily perceived photographs of a floating tree trunk as the partially submerged monster. This illustrates the powerful influence of a ...
perceptual set
After losing his left hand in an accident, Jack continued to experience pain in his nonexistent hand. His experience illustrates...
phantom limb sensations
When two adjacent lights blink on and off in quick succession, we perceive a single light moving back and forth between them. This is called the...
phi phenomenon
At the age of 22, Joe was 7 ft 6 inches tall. His tall stature was probably influenced by the overproduction of which growth hormone?
pituitary gland
In a study of the effects of alcohol consumption, some participants drank a nonalcoholic beverage that actually smelled and tasted like alcohol. This nonalcoholic drink was a ...
placebo.
The capacity of one brain area to take over the functions of another damaged brain areas is known as brain ...
plasticity
In order to learn about the political attitudes of all students enrolled at Arizona State University, Professor Marlow randomly selected 800 of these students to complete a questionnaire. In this instance, all the students enrolled at Arizona State University are considered to be a(n)...
population
The complete set of cases from which samples may be drawn is called a(n)...
population
When Lotus and Palmer asked observers of a filmed car accident how fast the vehicles were going when they "smashed" into each other, the observers developed memories of the accident that...
portrayed the even as more serious that it had actually been
Robert was late for school, so he parked in a space reserved for teachers. Later, when he went to get inside his car, he noticed a yellow parking ticket under the windshield wiper. The parking ticket would be considered...
positive punishment
Which of the following is the best example of the testing effect?
repeated quizzing of information increases the chances it will be recalled
Hearing the word "rabbit" may lead people to spell the spoken word "hair" are "h-a-r-e." This best illustrates the outcome of a process known as...
priming
Arnold so easily remember his old girlfriend's telephone number that he finds it difficult to recall his new girlfriend's number. Arnold's difficulty best illustrates...
proactive interference
The disruptive effect of prior learning on the recall of new information is called...
proactive interference
Accommodation refers to the
process by which the lens changes shape to focus images on the retina
When someone mentions Ivy League colleges, Trisha immediately thinks of Harvard University. In this instance, Harvard University is a...
prototype
The perceptual tendency to group together stimuli that are near each other is called
proximity
The specialist most likely to have a medical degree is a(n) .
psychiatrist
Chemical substances that alter perceptions and moods are called (blank) drugs.
psychoactive
A clinical psychologist who explains behavior in terms of unconscious drives and conflicts is employing a(n) perspective.
psychodynamic
Mrs. Alfieri believes that her husband's angry outbursts against her result from his UNCONSCIOUS hatred of his own mother. Mrs. Alfieri is looking at her husband's behavior from a(n) perspective.
psychodynamic
To study to effects of noise on worker productivity, researchers have one group of subjects work in a noisy room and a second group work in a quiet room. To ensure that any difference in the productivity of the two groups actually result from the different noise levels to which the groups are exposed, the researchers would use ...
random assignment
Ebbinghaus discovered that the rate at which we forget newly learned information is intitially...
rapid and subsequently slows down.
Reuptake refers to the ...
reabsorption of excess neurotransmitters molecules by a sending neuron.
Spontaneous recovery refers to the
reappearance, after a pause, of an extinguished conditioned response
The function of dendrites is to..
receive incoming signals from other neurons.
An event that increases the frequency of the behavior that it follows is a(n)...
reinforcer
Renny knew the red tulip was closer to her than the yellow tulip because the red one cast a larger retinal image than the yellow one. This illustrates the importance of the distance cue known as...
relative size
A type of motivated forgetting in which anxiety-arousing memories are blocked from conscious awareness is known as...
repression
After learning the combination for his new locker at school, Milton is unable to remember the combination for his year-old bicycle lock. Milton is experiencing the effects of...
retroactive interference.
The inability to remember events in one's life which occurred prior to a brain injury is known as...
retrograde amnesia
Prozac, a drug commonly prescribed to treat depression, prevents the sending neuron from taking in excess serotonin. Which process does this drug prevent from taking place?
reuptake
George was worried about his bakery's new cupcakes after two customers dislikes them on the first day, but when he surveyed his customers over the next week, more than 90% of the customers said they loved them. By giving too much weight to those two customers before the survey, George almost committed an error known as...
sampling bias
Mr. Dayton occasionally stops breathing while sleeping. He wakes up to snort air for a few seconds before falling back asleep. Mrs. Dayton complains that he husband snores. Clearly, Mr. Dayton suffers from...
sleep apnea
Obesity is a risk factor for developing which of the following sleep disorders?
sleep apnea
As you look at an apple, its reflected light travels to the eye. The rods and cones absorb the light and help transmit the information to the brain. This process best illustrates...
sensation
As you are reading this question, the cells in your eyes are firing in response to the light coming from this paper. Which type of neuron is carrying this message to the brain?
sensory
The tendency to immediately recall the first and last items in a list better than the middle items is known as the (BLANK) effect.
serial position
Our weight thermostats are somewhat flexible and are influenced by environmental as well as biological factors. Some researchers have therefore adopted the term...
settling point
"The magical number seven, plus or minus two" refers to the storage capacity of (BLANK) memory.
short-term
When you are expecting an incoming text message, you are much more likely to notice it the second it arrives . This best illustrates...
signal detection theory
Which theory emphasizes that personal expectations and motivations influence the level of absolute thresholds?
signal-detection theory
Heuristics are...
simple thinking strategies for solving problems quickly and effectively
The rhythmic bursts of brain activity that occur during NREM-2 sleep are called...
sleep spindles
Activation of the parasympathetic nervous system...
slows heart rate and accelerates digestion
Dr. Kozak has concluded that the unusually low incidence of alcohol dependence among citizens of a small African country can be attributed to strong fundamentalist religious influences in that region. This belief best illustrates a(n) perspective.
socio-cultural
The psychologist Jean Piaget constructed a vivid, detailed memory of being kidnapped after hearing his nursemaid's false reports of such an event. His experience best illustrates...
source amnesia
Damage to the left cerebral hemisphere is most likely to reduce people's ability to ...
speak fluently
Lee was momentarily terrified as a passing automobile nearly side swiped his car. When one of his passengers joked that he almost had a two-color car, Lee laughed uncontrollably. Lee's emotional volatility best illustrates the...
spillover effect.
The quick succession of briefly flashed images in a motion picture produces
stroboscopic movement
An animal trainer is teaching a miniature poodle to balance on a ball. Initially, he gives the poodle a treat for approaching the ball, then only for placing its front paws on the ball, and finally only for climbing on the ball. The trainer is using the method of...
successive approximations
A researcher interested in investigating the attitudes or opinions of a large sample of people is most likely to use which research method?
survey
As her professor distributed the mathematics test to the class, Blair's heart started to pound and her palms began to sweat. These physiological reactions were activated by her (BLANK) nervous system.
sympathetic
Which division of the nervous system AROUSES the body and mobilizes its energy in emotionally stressful situations?
sympathetic
While you are hiking in the mountains, a rattlesnake slithers across your trail. Which of the following triggers the "fight-or-flight" response, increasing your heart rate and blood pressure, as you run away?
sympathetic nervous system
Bradley was romantically in Angel. Based on research by Stanley Schacter and Jerome Singer, if Bradley wishes to increase the odds that she'll return his interest, he should...
take her rock climbing.
The auditory hallucinations experiences by people with schizophrenia are most closely linked with the activation of areas in which brain area??
temporal lobes
REM rebound involves the...
tendency for REM sleep to increase following REM sleep deprivation
A mental set is a...
tendency to approach a problem in a way that has been successful in the past.
A hypothesis is a(n)
testable prediction that gives direction to research.
Which brain structure relays information from the eyes to the visual cortex?
thalamus
Experiments with the visual cliff suggest that
the abilty to perceive depth is at least partly innate.
What is most likely to occur when the brain is repeatedly flooded with artificial opiates?
the brain stops producing endorphins
The range is
the difference between the highest and lowest scores in a distribution.
Abdul has volunteered to participate in an experiment evaluating the effectiveness of aspirin. . Neither he nor the experimenters know whether the pills he takes during the experiment contain aspirin or are merely placebos. The investigators are apparently making use of...
the double-blind procedure
An axon is...
the extension of a neuron that carries messages away from the cell body.
The pitch of a sound is determined by what?
the frequency of the sound wave
B.F. Skinner's work elaborated what E.L. Thorndike had called...
the law of effect
Experiencing a green afterimage of a red object is most easily explained by ...
the opponent-process theory
Chunking refers to...
the organization of information into meaningful units.
Visually associating five items needed from the grocery store with mental images of a bun, a shoe, a tree, a door, and a hive best illustrates the use of...
the peg-word system
Jamille performs better on foreign language vocabulary tests if she studies the material 15 minutes every day for 8 days than if she crams for 2 hours the night before the test. This illustrates what is known as...
the spacing effect
The set point is...
the specific body weight maintainned automatically by most adults over long periods of time.
Following a catastrophic earthquake, residents of one community came together and provided each other with emotional support. This reaction best illustrates...
the tend-and-befriend rsponse.
If a result is statistically significant, this means that ...
there is less than a 5 % likelihood that the results occurred by chance.
The discomfort and distress that follow the discontinued use of certain drugs is called...
withdrawal