Midterm

________ is defined as a special kind of systematic observation, used by correlational researchers, that involves obtaining measures of the variables of interest in multiple waves over time. a. A longitudinal design b. A double-blind experiment c. Naturalistic observation d. Structuralism

A longitudinal design

What can you do to become a better consumer of psychology in everyday life? a. Stay up to date by reading about psychological research online and blogs available from all sources. b. Avoid overgeneralizing based on little information. c. Only believe in psychological principles that have been derived on the basis of personal experience. d. Draw causal conclusions from correlational studies.

Avoid overgeneralizing based on little information.

Which of the following is true of concepts? a. Concepts prevent us from generalizing. b. Concepts are independent of experiences and objects. c. Concepts complicate the memory process. d. Concepts provide clues about how to react to a particular object or experience.

Concepts provide clues about how to react to a particular object or experience.

According to the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (2010), which of the following illustrates practical skills? a. Grace is an extremely responsible manager. b. Emily is excellent at handling accounts. c. Noah follows and obeys traffic rules. d. Daniel drives to work daily.

Daniel drives to work daily.

________ is the proportion of observable differences in a group that can be explained by differences in the genes of the group's members. a. Familiarity b. Accountability c. Heritability d. Cognizance

Heritability

Which of the following statements is true of babbling? a. It usually begins when babies are 18-24 months old. b. It is unlikely to be determined by biological readiness. c. It refers to the endless repetition of sounds and syllables. d. It is determined by the amount of reinforcement or the ability to hear.

It refers to the endless repetition of sounds and syllables.

In the context of the biological and environmental influences on language, which of the following statements is true about language and the brain? a. Language processing mainly occurs in the brain's left hemisphere. b. Broca's area contributes to language comprehension. c. Wernicke's area is involved in speech production. d. Infants are able to attach meaning to words only after the age of one.

Language processing mainly occurs in the brain's left hemisphere.

________ are the thoughts, feelings, and motives that each of us experiences privately but that cannot be observed directly. a. Mental processes b. Behaviors c. Fetal processes d. Mannerisms

Mental processes

________ involves the manipulation of genes using technology to determine their effect on behavior. a. Molecular genetics b. Selective breeding c. Genome-wide association method d. Behavior genetics

Molecular genetics

Which of the following is true of observational learning? a. In observational learning, the learner does not reproduce the actions of another person. b. In observational learning, there is no relatively permanent change in behavior. c. Observational learning is one way in which human infants acquire skills. d. Observational learning helps the learner form associations between events.

Observational learning is one way in which human infants acquire skills.

________ provide an objective description of how variables are going to be measured and observed in a particular study. a. Independent variables b. Operational definitions c. External validity checks d. Experimenter biases

Operational definitions

In the context of loss aversion, identify a true statement about sunk-cost fallacy. a. People ascribe greater value to things they already own, compared to objects owned by someone else. b. People disregard prior experiences or failures when making predictions about the possibility of an outcome. c. People are reluctant to give up on a venture because of past investment. d. People tend to report falsely, after the fact, that they accurately predicted an outcome.

People are reluctant to give up on a venture because of past investment.

________ is the perceptual experience of the frequency of a sound. a. Amplitude b. Loudness c. Pitch d. Sound wave

Pitch

Professor Izadi is interested in determining the association between sleep and cognitive performance. He surveyed his students about the number of hours they slept the night before an exam and then correlated these scores with their test grades. He found a +.81 correlation between these two variables. What does this result mean? a. There is a high negative correlation between hours of sleep and exam performance. b. There is a low negative correlation between hours of sleep and exam performance. c. There is a high positive correlation between hours of sleep and exam performance. d. There is a low positive correlation between hours of sleep and exam performance.

There is a high positive correlation between hours of sleep and exam performance.

The ability to type a text message on a cell phone without even looking at the keypad is an example of a. complete lack of awareness. b. executive function. c. automatic processing. d. an altered state of consciousness.

automatic processing.

Which of the following approaches to psychology focuses on how we direct our attention, perceive, remember, think, and solve problems? a. sociocultural b. behavioral c. cognitive d. psychodynamic

cognitive

Liam is able to sing, play the guitar, and play the harmonica simultaneously. Which of the following characteristics of the nervous system most likely is represented by Liam's ability to carry out the multitude of tasks? a. complexity b. adaptability c. polarization d. plasticity

complexity

Inmates at a correctional facility take part in an experiment on social development. Once the experiment is over, the correctional officer goes home and tells his roommates about the results of the study and about the inmates who did not perform well. In this scenario, which ethical guideline of psychological research has been violated by the correctional officer? a. limited deception b. informed consent c. freedom from coercion d. confidentiality

confidentiality

In the context of the connectionist network perspective of memory, the process by which interconnected networks are formed is called a. consolidation. b. separation. c. disassociation. d. condensation.

consolidation

Tranquilizers and alcohol are a. stimulants. b. hallucinogens. c. depressants. d. amphetamines.

depressants

Dr. Grant conducts research on stress management. Group A receives progressive relaxation training prior to taking the test, while Group B receives no training. Group A is the ________, while Group B is the ________. a. treatment group; placebo group b. experimental group; control group c. control group; treatment group d. placebo group; control group

experimental group; control group

Which of the following is one of the functions of the sympathetic nervous system? a. convey information from skin to the central nervous system (CNS) b. calm the body c. fight-or-flight reaction d. tell muscles what to do

fight-or-flight reaction

Andrea, a customer care executive, is able to clearly determine if her caller is a child or an adult. Which of the following dimensions of sound plays the most important role in Andrea's ability to distinguish voices? a. loudness b. timbre c. amplitude d. frequency

frequency

Which of the following essential body functions are under the control of the autonomic nervous system? a. functions of reproductive system b. excretory functions c. sensory functions such as vision and hearing d. functions of heart rate, breathing, and digestion

functions of heart rate, breathing, and digestion

Nathan is suffering from amnesia, an illness that prevents the retrieval of new memories. In the context of the organization of the brain, which area of Nathan's brain is most likely responsible for the amnesia? a. basal ganglia b. reticular formation c. cerebellum d. hippocampus

hippocampus

Dennis, a psychologist, conducts a survey to determine why most people tend to help a crying child. After the survey, he explains that most people help a crying child because they choose to live by higher values such as altruism. In this scenario, Dennis's explanation is reflective of the ________ approach to psychology. a. biological b. behavioral c. humanistic d. psychodynamic

humanistic

Which of the following is usually a trait of creative thinkers? a. dogmatic thinking b. categorical thinking c. risk avoidance d. inner motivation

inner motivation

Classical conditioning explains how neutral stimuli become associated with a. learned behavior. b. instrumental behavior. c. involuntary responses. d. conditioned responses.

involuntary responses.

Which of the following describes the reinforcement element in observational learning? a. judging whether to repeat a behavior depending on the consequences of the behavior b. encoding the information and keeping it in memory so that it can be retrieved later c. imitating and enacting a model's actions to achieve similarity in reproduction of the set of behaviors initially observed d. attending to what the model is saying or doing

judging whether to repeat a behavior depending on the consequences of the behavior

Emma, a psychologist, wants to study the relationship that exists among college girls who stay in hostels. She disguises herself as a college student and shares a dorm with some girls for a month. During her stay, she observes their various behaviors and makes notes when the girls are fast asleep. Which of the following is best exemplified in this scenario? a. the placebo effect b. experimenter bias c. a double-blind experiment d. naturalistic observation

naturalistic observation

The ________ is defined as a dual-purpose gland under the stomach that performs both digestive and endocrine functions. a. pancreas b. pituitary gland c. adrenal gland d. hypothalamus

pancreas

Molly's natural hair color is brown, but she has had it dyed blonde. Molly changed her a. phenotype. b. genotype. c. chromosomes. d. genetic heritage.

phenotype

Which of the following types of energy reception is most activated when a person is watching a silent movie? a. thermoreception b. chemoreception c. mechanoreception d. photoreception

photoreception

Susan Mineka and Arne Ohman (2002; Ohman and Mineka, 2003) have investigated the fascinating natural power of snakes to evoke fear in many mammals. The research study on conditioning humans and monkeys to associate snakes with fear is an example of a. aversive conditioning. b. avoidance learning. c. preparedness. d. habituation.

preparedness

A(n) ________ reinforcer is innately satisfying, and it does not require any learning on the organism's part to make it pleasurable. a. secondary b. primary c. tertiary d. intermediary

primary

Ryan, a high-school football player, received a head injury during a game. Following recovery, Ryan was unable to remember anything that happened before the injury. However, he was able to form new relationships and new memories. In the context of forgetting, Ryan's condition best exemplifies a. anterograde amnesia. b. retrograde amnesia. c. the primacy effect. d. the recency effect.

retrograde amnesia.

Which of the following organs are involved in men's and women's sexual development and reproduction? a. testes and ovaries b. adrenal glands c. pituitary glands d. pancreas

testes and ovaries

According to ________, memory for pictures is better than memory for words. a. Ebbinghaus's curve of forgetting b. the Atkinson-Shiffrin theory c. the dual-code hypothesis d. parallel distributed processing (PDP)

the dual-code hypothesis

Which of the following refers to the fact that robots that represent very close facsimiles of humans are likely to evoke revulsion in people? a. morphology b. the representativeness heuristic c. the uncanny valley d. the Flynn effect

the uncanny valley

A(n) ________ is a broad idea or set of closely related ideas that attempts to explain observations and to make predictions about future observations. a. theory b. hypothesis c. operational definition d. experimental bias

theory