Common mistakes Psych 114 Multiple choice

At a particular high school, there is a negative correlation between popularity and academic success. Which statement can be inferred from this fact? 1. Students who do well academically probably will be viewed as less popular. 2. Devoting a great deal of time to study causes students to not seek out personal relationships with others. 3. Having lots of friends results in less time for study and causes students to do worse in school. 4. Students who do well in class tend to be popular.

1. students who do well academically probably will be viewed as less popular (not casual)

Humans develop the ability to recognize themselves in mirrors starting at around age _____ months.

18

Which statement about the spinal cord is TRUE? 1. All areas are responsible for the same functions. 2. The spinal cord quickly grows back after damage. 3. Damage lower in the spinal cord leads to greater loss of function. 4. Different areas have different functions.

4. different areas have different functions

Where did the principles of respect for persons, beneficence, and justice first appear, as applied to research?

Belmont Report

Although William James and Sigmund Freud employed two very different theoretical approaches to psychology, what was the common thread in their views?

By studying the errors in mental processes, we gain a better understanding of the normal functioning mind.

Dr. Billings studies brain wave patterns that occur when people are dreaming. He attaches a device to the outside of people's skulls to measure electrical activity in their brains. What type of device is he using?

EGG - measures patterns of electrical activity in large brain areas that can be examined from outside the skull

The health department is testing the effectiveness of a recent campaign promoting a healthy lifestyle. Which statement is the BEST operational definition of a "healthy lifestyle"?

Eat five servings of fruit/vegetables and be physically active for 30 minutes or more each day

Although cognitive processes depend on the brain, humans (and their behaviors) are also a product of the environment. How does cultural psychology include this aspect?

It examines how behavior is influenced by the cultural values, traditions, and beliefs shared by a group.

What is the major drawback to the psychosexual stage theory?

It offers after-the-fact interpretations, rather than testable predictions.

Alice thinks she's having a stroke. What would be the BEST way to diagnose a stroke?

MRI - looks at areas of brain and sees which is damaged by a stroke

In a study about viewing violence in movies and rates of violent crimes, what was found?

On evenings when people watched violent movies, there were fewer violent crimes.

_____ are the differences in the way situations are interpreted by different people.

Personal constructs

Which statement is NOT a point that distinguishes the psychoanalytic and humanistic schools of psychological thought?

Psychoanalytic theory is based on sound scientific research, while the humanistic theory is generally untestable.

Why was the advent of the computer so important for the development of cognitive psychology?

Psychologists surmised that the brain is roughly analogous to a computer and could be studied in a similar manner.

What characteristic do the Thematic Apperception Test and the Rorschach Inkblot Test have in common?

They are neither reliable nor valid in predicting behavior.

The classic "Little Albert" experiment by _____ demonstrated that the environment can control the behavior of human beings at very young ages.

Watson and Rayner

Judgments of facial attractiveness are similar across many cultures whereas the age at which a person can recall his or her earliest memories vary widely from culture to culture. Judgments of attractiveness could be labeled as _____, while earliest memories are _____.

absolute; relativistic

L-Dopa is a drug given to individuals with Parkinson's disease. This drug helps with the symptoms of the disease because it is a(n) _____ for dopamine.

agonist

Drugs that increase the action of a neurotransmitter are called:

agonists

By studying people with brain damage in certain regions of the brain, we gain a better understanding that:

all cognitive processes rely on the brain

The _____ areas of the brain allow information to be connected to meaning, with neurons in the region being more adaptable to change.

association

the _____ areas of the brain allow information to be connected to meaning, with neurons in the region being more adaptable to change.

association

Two things people can do to help themselves think critically are:

be willing to accept things they don't believe and take experimental results as truth

Maximizing benefits and reducing research risks is associated with the principle of:

benefice

Psychological states and experiences that occur most commonly across the world are usually _____ based, whereas those that are the least universal are rooted in _____.

biologically; culture

According to Aristotle, being completely shaped by experience, with no innate structures, would make your mind like a(n):

blank slate

_____ direct(s) and produce(s) human behaviors, personality traits, and even psychological disorders.

both genes and the enviroment

Compared with vertebrates, invertebrates lack a hierarchical organization of their:

central nervous system

How does existentialism propose that an individual cope with life's anxieties?

confronts and accepts that anxiety and fear of dying are part of life

Social psychology examines issues such as conformity, racism, and stereotyping by:

considering the effects of other people on a person's cognitive processes

According to social role theory, where do sex differences in personality come from?

cultural standards

If you sprain your ankle and your doctor asks you to develop a theory about how your ankle works, she is probably a(n):

dogmatist

When naturalistic observation is NOT an option, which technique is best to use to avoid demand characteristics?

double-blind design

Dr. Sterling, a leading researcher in Alzheimer's disease, is studying the effects of a new drug on 10 Alzheimer's patients in the hospital where he works. What is the population of this study?

everyone with Alzheimers disease

According to the _____ approach, the human brain is more like a computer specialized to do a few tasks very well and less like an all-purpose computer that can learn to do anything.

evolutionary psychology

Chad explains his irresponsible spending by speculating that he shares genes with ancestors who had no need to save for the future because their lives were brutish and short. Which field of psychology is MOST consistent with his view?

evolutionary psychology

The Smith family has very little money and no health insurance. A researcher approaches them and promises free healthcare for their three children for 2 years if he can subject the children to a series of experimental vaccines that may have serious side effects. The Smith family feels compelled to participate to get the free health care. According to the APA code of ethics, this researcher is in violation of the principle of:

freedom from coercion.

Random sampling is MOST closely associated with:

generalizability

What guides the development of the brain for both an individual and a species?

genes

Consistent with the existential and the psychodynamic approaches, _____ helps to relieve our anxiety about death.

high self-esteem

Which part of the brain forms FIRST in prenatal development?

hindbrain

which major area of the brain deals with info coming in from and going out through the spinal cord

hindbrain

What structure sends signals to the pituitary gland?

hypothalamus

the purpose of Freud's psychoanalytic approach to therapy (called psychoanalysis) is to:

identify unconscious thoughts and bring them into awareness.

Celeste wants to understand why her identical twin sisters are more alike than are she and their older sister. Celeste is interested in which goal of scientific research?

identifying the cause-and-effect relationships that explain differences between groups

What two developments led psychologists away from behaviorism?

interest in mental events and evolution

If an experiment has a high degree of _____, a causal relation can be demonstrated between two variables.

internal validity

Unlike the behavioral approach, social cognitive personality researchers believe that the _____ of the environment influences personality.

interpretation

By asking people to pay attention to and record their feelings and perceptions of an event, Wilhelm Wundt used the method of _____ to analyze the basic elements of the mind.

introspection

Which statement describes a critical component of a good hypothesis?

it is falsifiable

Noam Chomsky's rebuttal of B. F. Skinner's ideas on _____ helped to bring cognitive psychology to the forefront.

language

As a reaction to Freud's psychosexual theory and its dark view of human nature, humanistic psychologists focused on how humans _____, leading to personality development.

make healthy choices

In drug testing, some groups of people are given specific doses of the drug in order to examine the effects. In this case, the researchers are _____ the amount of drug given.

manipulating

Damage to this area of the brain can be deadly, as this structure controls heart rate, respiration, and circulation.

medulla

The pineal gland secretes _____, which plays a role in the _____.

melatonin; sleep/wake cycle

---- affects dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine, influencing the systems that help humans to perceive visual images.

methamphetamine

Vijay has problems orienting to sounds. For example, he cannot tell from which direction music is coming, either the television or the stereo. What area of his central nervous system is likely malfunctioning?

midbrain which relates to orientation and movement

_____ are activated when watching another animal's behavior and are involved in social behavior.

mirror neurons

Research has demonstrated that introverts typically respond _____ to stimuli as compared to extraverts.

more strongly

A trait that reflects a grandiose view of one's self combined with a tendency to seek admiration from and exploit others, is known as:

narcissism

On a job interview, when Mary Eileen is asked to describe herself, she goes into detail about her earliest memories and favorite places she visited as a child. Although this is a description of herself, this type of self-_____ is probably not what the interviewers were looking for.

narrative

The more time children spend playing video games at home, the lower their grades are at school. This represents a:

negative correlation

The _____ forms the basis of the spinal cord during prenatal development.

neural tube

Robin tells you that he is a completely different person than he used to be. According to what you know about the five-factor theory of personality, is this the case?

no, because personality remains relatively constant throughout the life span

beta blocker drugs prevent the action of -- in the heart, resulting in a slower heart rate

norepinephrine

Psychologists studying infant memory want to determine at what age babies can remember specific events. An experimenter uses several puppets to demonstrate a series of actions while the infant watches. After a delay, the experimenter records how many of the actions the child imitates when playing with the puppets. What is the dependent variable?

number of imitated actions

Which factor serves as a source for one's self-esteem?

ones comparison group

What is a drawback of personality inventories?

people may not know themselves well enough to accurately report certain factors

According to research on what people believe is the likelihood of coincidences:

people routinely underestimate the likelihood of coincidences happening by chance

Anthony is nice to you in class but rude to you in the dining hall. This situation provides an example of the _____ controversy.

person situation

Which group of psychologists developed their ideas in isolation from academic and laboratory settings?

psychoanalysts

When Meredith is with her friends, she is very talkative and outgoing, but when she meets new people, she is often shy and quiet. Meredith's behavior is a good example of how _____ makes people difficult to study.

reactivity

Which factor is NOT a challenge to scientifically studying human behavior?

reliability

You decide to use a person's eye color as a measure of intelligence. Which statement is probably TRUE?

reliable but lacks validity

According to humanists such as Maslow, in order to try and find meaning in life and strive toward self-actualization, one must first:

satisfy basic physiological and safety needs.

The _____ is a set of principles used to describe the relationships between ideas and empirical evidence.

scientific method

According to the humanistic approach, the last need humans pursue is that of:

self actualization

What does your agreement or disagreement with the statement, "On the whole, I am satisfied with myself," indicate?

self esteem

____ explains why we feel uncomfortable when someone views us differently from how we view ourselves.

self verification

According to evolutionary theory, _____ may have allowed humans who could get along well with others to determine how accepted they were by others.

self-esteem

is the human tendency to take credit for one's successes and downplay one's role in losses.

self-serving bias

Which action is NOT done by the mind?

sensing

In order to process information from the external world, _____ receive input from the body and transfer the information to the brain through the spinal cord.

sensory neurons

The three major types of neurons include:

sensory neurons, motor neurons and interneurons

The homunculus shown in the book illustrates how much of the _____ cortex is devoted to each area of the body.

somastosensory

---- of neurons occurs because the brain must process a wide variety of types of information.

specialization

The _____ branches down from the brain and allows messages to be sent to different parts of the body

spinal cord

After making a New Year's resolution to eat healthy foods, you decide to have a bite of ice cream and end up eating most of a carton instead. You feel guilty about not maintaining your resolution. According to the psychodynamic approach, what part of the mind is responsible for your reaction of guilt to your own behavior?

superego

Aristotle argued that a child's mind is:

tabula rasa

damage to this area of the brain could leave a person unable to navigate his or her way through a room

tectum

A stroke or other damage in the _____ lobes can lead to deficits in hearing and language.

temporal

spinal reflexes require input from

the spinal cord

According to the work of Mischel, what is the relationship between traits and behavior?

they are somewhat correlated

The endocrine system works closely with the limbic system to regulate:

thoughts, emotions, behavior

Sylvia begins to run a temperature and her heart races. Which endocrine gland may be creating these problems for her?

thyroid

What are defense mechanisms?

unconscious coping mechanisms that reduce anxiety

When working with laboratory animals, when can painful stimuli be used?

when alternatives are not available

In a groundbreaking study, Dr. DuBois reported that monkeys could acquire both English and French. When asked for the data by a colleague, Dr. DuBois did not share them. Should Dr. DuBois share the data?

yes, because the APA code requires data sharing for re-analysis