Psych Exam Final Questions
A correlation coefficient expresses the______of the correlation between two variables. A. strength B. significance C. direction D. both a. and b. E. both a. and c.
Answer Key:E
In the video shown in class of the lawyer with damage to Broca's area, what side of his body was weak? A. Neither side of his body was weak B. Right side of his body was weak C. Both sides of his body were weak D. Left side of his body was weak
Answer Key:B
Jim examines the effects of drinking coffee vs. drinking water on happiness. He runs an experiment in which he gives coffee to participants who arrive on Friday Saturday and Sunday and gives water to participants who arrive on Monday Tuesday and Wednesday. He finds that the people who drink coffee give much higher happiness ratings than do the people who drink water. What is a problem with this experiment? A. He did not use representative variables B. He did not randomly assign participants to his conditions C. He is not using a representative sample D. He did not compute a correlation coefficient E. He does not have a control condition
Answer Key:B
Loftus and colleagues showed people slides in which a red car was stopped at a yield sign. People who were asked whether another car had passed the red car when it was stopped at the stop sign were likely to later remember: A. only that it was some traffic sign B. that it was really a stop sign C. that it was really a yield sign D. only that the red car stopped at a sign
Answer Key:B
Mary is deciding whether she should study for her Intro to Psych test or go to the party she just heard about. Mary decides to do a few hours of studying and then go out for a little bit. The way Mary made her decision is a good example of which of Freud's processes at work? A. Superego B. Ego C. Rationalization D. Id
Answer Key:B
People are most confident of their decisions just ______ they have acted on them, a finding explained by ______. A. before; cognitive dissonance theory B. after; cognitive dissonance theory C. after; the theory of planned behavior D. before; the theory of planned behavior
Answer Key:B
Which Gestalt principle of grouping allows you to perceive the following as three rows of 10 asterisks rather than 30 separate asterisks? ********** ********** ********** A. common movement B. good continuation C. similarity D. proximity
Answer Key:D
"I'm taking a nice cold shower" can sometimes be mistaken for "I'm taking an ice cold shower." Why? A. The speech stream rarely contains silences between words. B. They contain the same morphemes, but in different orders. C. There are only about 40 phonemes in English, not enough to distinguish between sentences that sound the same D. They contain ambiguous or vague referents.
Answer Key:A
According to Maslow's theory of a hierarchy of human needs, which of these is at the top? A. self-actualization needs B. physiological needs C. safety needs D. esteem needs E. belongingness and love needs
Answer Key:A
According to Treisman, single features are detected: A. in parallel (all at once). B. serially (one at a time). C. by attending to the gaps between lines. D. by reorienting the figure mentally.
Answer Key:A
An older person would show the "young-good, old-bad" bias on the Implicit Association Test. True or False? A. True B. False
Answer Key:A
Baby April can't find the toy when her mom hides it under a blanket. With this information, which of Piaget's developmental stages would a psychologist conclude she is in? A. Sensorimotor B. Preoperational C. None of the responses is correct D. Concrete operational E. Egocentric
Answer Key:A
Festinger and Carlsmith paid subjects a large or a small amount of money to tell other people that a boring task was interesting. The subjects who were paid _____ money felt the task was _______ interesting in order to _________. A. less; more; reduce cognitive dissonance B. less; less; compensate for the low payment C. more; less; reduce cognitive dissonance D. more; more; justify the high payment
Answer Key:A
Gamblers often persist at gambling even when they very rarely receive a payoff. This persistence is predicted by: A. Resistance to extinction when performance has been maintained with variable schedules of reinforcement. B. The fact that there is typically a pause in performance after each reinforcement. C. The gradual increase in performance with successive approximation of reinforcements. D. Research on learned helplessness.
Answer Key:A
How could an experimenter reduce subjects' tendency toward obedience in a Milgram-type experiment? A. deliver orders to the subject over the phone instead of being in the same room with the subject B. have the learner at a remote site rather than in a room adjacent to the subject's C. offhandedly mention the $2.4 million research grant the lab has just received to pursue this area of work D. both A and B
Answer Key:A
I described research with rats that were put in a maze everyday for many days. Some of the rats were rewarded regularly, others were never rewarded and others were not rewarded until some days had passed. Why was this research important? A. It challenged the behaviorist belief that learning depends on reinforcement B. It challenged the behaviorist belief that fixed-ratio reinforcement is more effective than variable-interval reinforcement C. It challenged the behaviorist belief that positive reinforcement is more effective than negative reinforcement D. It challenged the behaviorist belief that positive reinforcement is more effective than positive punishment
Answer Key:A
In the class video about the placebo effect on wisdom teeth patients which of the following best describes the result of the study? A. The patient in the computer condition did not show the placebo effect B. Both patients in the doctor and computer conditions showed the placebo effect C. The patient in the doctor condition did not show the placebo effect D. No patients showed a placebo effect
Answer Key:A
Injections of epinephrine (which increases physiological arousal) increase the intensity of emotion, but only if the person is in the presence of emotion-inducing stimuli. The research finding best supports: A. Schachter's theory B. The common-sense theory C. Ekman's facial feedback theory D. James's theory
Answer Key:A
Jim is listening to a singer with a low-pitched (i.e., low frequency) voice. Where in the cochlea are the receptor cells that are processing this low-frequency sound? A. Receptor cells for low-frequencies are located at the end of the cochlea farthest from the Oval window B. Receptor cells for low-frequencies are located at the beginning of the cochlea near the Oval window C. Receptor cells for low-frequencies are distributed throughout the cochlea
Answer Key:A
Left visual neglect, a condition in which one has an inability or difficulty attending to the left side of their visual space or of an object is caused by: A. a lesion in the right parietal lobe. B. damage to the part of the optic nerve originating from the right side of the retina. C. damage to the optic chiasm. D. a lesion in the right occipital lobe.
Answer Key:A
Modern psychology is based on a ______ view of the mind which proposes that mental functions stem from brain functions. A. materialist B. Descartian C. behaviorist D. Aristotlean E. dualist
Answer Key:A
Operant conditioning involves learning the association between: A. a response and a reinforcement B. a stimulus and a reinforcement C. two stimuli D. two responses
Answer Key:A
Positive reinforcement ________ the likelihood of the behavior negative reinforcement _________the likelihood of the behavior. A. increases increases B. decreases decreases C. decreases increases D. increases decreases
Answer Key:A
Rats are more likely to learn to link flavors and smells with sickness whereas they are more likely to learn to associate light and sound with shocks. This is an example of: A. biological preparedness B. imprinting C. discrimination learning D. observational learning
Answer Key:A
Sally is participating in the Strange Situation test. She becomes considerably upset when her mom leaves the room. When she returns, Sally runs to her for comfort and quickly calms down and becomes happy. Sally is showing which attachment style? A. secure B. anxious C. avoidant D. disorganized
Answer Key:A
Sperling's "Partial Report Method" demonstrates the operation of... A. iconic sensory memory. B. working memory. C. linguistic relativity. D. the phonological loop. E. chunking.
Answer Key:A
"Since animals have no soul much behavior does not require a soul" was a justification for the study of behavior advanced by a proponent of which philosophy? A. Dualism B. Monism C. Empiricism D. Materialism
Answer Key:B
Stephen has never suffered from depression, but recently went through an extremely stressful event. Which of the following would predict the lowest likelihood of Stephen soon suffering from major depression? A. Stephen's identical twin brother, Jon, has no history of major depression. B. Stephen's fraternal twin brother, Jon, has no history of major depression. C. Stephen's fraternal twin brother, Jon, has a history of major depression. D. Stephen's identical twin brother, Jon, has a history of major depression.
Answer Key:A
Susan does not try to quit smoking, even though she knows it is bad for her health. She reasons that her actions won't really change her chance of getting cancer. Susan most likely has a(n) _____ locus of control. A. external B. internal C. type A D. randomized E. type B
Answer Key:A
The ______ visual stream runs from the primary visual area of the occipital lobe to the ______ and is responsible for ______. A. "where"; parietal lobe; mapping locations of objects. B. "what"; frontal lobe; identifying objects. C. "who"; temporal lobe; recognizing faces. D. "where"; temporal lobe; figuring out how a person must move to pick up objects.
Answer Key:A
The fact that IQs have tended to ______ worldwide over the years is evidence of the importance of ______. A. increase; cultural influences B. decline; genetic heritage C. decline; cultural influences D. increase; genetic heritage
Answer Key:A
The length of a light wave determines its: A. hue, or color B. saturation, or richness of color C. brightness D. acuity
Answer Key:A
The receptor cells for hearing are: A. Hair cells B. Basilar cells C. Cochlea cells D. Tympanic cells
Answer Key:A
The strategy known as chunking increases memory efficiency by: A. decreasing the number of items that must be remembered by increasing the amount of information in each item. B. decreasing the number of items that must be remembered by associating the items with a well-established mental image of a scene. C. associating each item with a well-established mental image and thus increasing the amount of information in each item. D. breaking each original item down into smaller pieces and thus decreasing the amount of information in each item.
Answer Key:A
What is the only way to determine a causal relationship between two variables? A. experimentation B. measurement C. observation D. correlation
Answer Key:A
What will most likely happen as a neurosurgeon sedates the entire left cerebral hemisphere of a patient who is asked to count aloud with both arms extended upward? A. The patient's right arm will fall limp and he will become speechless. B. The patient's left arm will fall limp and he will become speechless. C. The patient's right arm will fall limp but he will continue counting aloud. D. The patient's left arm will fall limp but he will continue counting aloud.
Answer Key:A
When asked how long he would feel upset if he were to break up with his girlfriend, Jim states that he would feel devastated for months. In fact, a few months after breaking up, Jim is actually marginally happier. This is an example of: A. impact bias. B. Ekman's facial feedback theory. C. Schachter's theory of emotion. D. James's theory of emotion.
Answer Key:A
When experts heard a description of Milgram's study and were asked to predict the results: A. Consistent with the fundamental attribution error, they underestimated the percentage of participants who would be fully obedient. B. Contrary to the fundamental attribution error, their predictions were fairly accurate. C. Consistent with the fundamental attribution error, their predictions were fairly accurate. D. Contrary to the fundamental attribution error, they underestimated the percentage of participants who would be fully obedient.
Answer Key:A
When infants are securely attached to their mother, what are they likely to do in the Strange Situation paradigm when they are in the presence of their mother? A. explore the room B. cling to their mother C. act impulsively D. show a fear of strangers
Answer Key:A
Which method of reinforcing behavior is most effective at producing behavior that is highly resistant to extinction. A. variable B. negative C. positive D. fixed
Answer Key:A
Which of the following is true of sensory memory? A. it is of high capacity and short duration B. it is of low capacity and long duration C. it is of high capacity and long duration D. it is of low capacity and short duration
Answer Key:A
Which of the following statements about the sensorimotor area of the cerebral cortex is correct? A. The more sensitive the body region, the more cortex is devoted to it. B. The bigger the body region, the more cortex is devoted to it. C. Stimulation of a cortex area results in sensation on the same side of the body. D. The sensory area for a given region is far from the motor area for it.
Answer Key:A
Which of these is evidence for the genetic influence on the hunger drive: A. Weights of adopted children correlate highly with biological and not adoptive parents. B. Siblings raised in different families have very different weights as compared to siblings raised together. C. Anorexia lowers reproductive success. D. Obesity can run in families.
Answer Key:A
While on vacation you meet the actor who played the villain Lord Voldemort in the Harry Potter movies. Remembering the horrible acts by this villain, you can't help but feel nervous and a little afraid while talking to the actor. Your behavior is likely influenced by the: A. person bias. B. actor-observer bias. C. social identity bias. D. cognitive dissonance bias.
Answer Key:A
You have accidentally hit your thumb with a hammer. The diffuse, long-lasting pain you will feel is carried to your central nervous system by: A. C fibers. B. motor neurons. C. pain hormones. D. A-delta fibers.
Answer Key:A
You realize that you love cookies too much and need to cut back on how much you eat them. So you have bought a device that will dispense two cookies when you press a button. But as soon as the cookies have been dispensed the device locks itself for 8 hours forcing you to wait to get more cookies. The device is reinforcing your tendency to press the button on a _____ schedule of reinforcement. A. fixed-interval B. variable-ratio C. variable-interval D. fixed-ratio
Answer Key:A
A 4 year old is shown a row of 7 red checkers. He is asked to place a black checker immediately next to each red one. Upon doing so, the child agrees that there are as many red as black checkers. The experimenter then spreads out the black checkers so that they lie in a line longer than the red checkers. The child is asked if there are more red or black checkers. The child will answer: A. red checkers B. black checkers C. the child will be too confused to answer D. that there are the same number of each
Answer Key:B
A classmate suffers some brain damage as the result of a car accident. The person can remember things that happened prior to the accident but cannot form new long-term memories. This person is likely to have sustained damage to the: A. cerebellum B. hippocampus C. hypothalamus D. amygdala
Answer Key:B
An infant's ability to distinguish between two very similar sounds that represent different phonemes in a language other than the infant's own: A. is very limited and stays the same as the infant grows older. B. is present in early infancy but deteriorates as the infant grows older. C. deteriorates during the first 4 months of infancy and then improves during the next 4 months with greater exposure to language. D. is absent early in infancy but improves as the infant grows older.
Answer Key:B
Artists create the illusion of depth in two-dimensional pictures by using: A. binocular disparity B. monocular cues C. motion parallax D. stereopsis
Answer Key:B
Bart likes to listen to music on his radio but the radio is old and sometimes fails to work. If Bart pounds on the top he can get it to work but he never knows exactly how many times he will have to hit it before it turns on. Bart's pounding is being reinforced on a _____ schedule of reinforcement. A. fixed-interval B. variable-ratio C. variable-interval D. fixed-ratio
Answer Key:B
Billy complains to his mom that he wants more chocolate milk. His mom takes the amount of chocolate milk remaining in Billy's glass and pours it into a taller but narrower glass. Billy is furious because he knows that he still has the same amount of chocolate milk and he suspects that his mom thinks he's an idiot. This outcome illustrates that Billy understands: A. object permanence. B. concrete operations. C. sensorimotor operations. D. formal operations. E. egocentrism.
Answer Key:B
Bowlby argues that attachment is caused by: A. the fact that the parent carries the infant everywhere and the infant gets used to that closeness. B. the infant's built-in tendency to seek contact with a parent and to fear the unfamiliar. C. the emotional satisfaction that the parent provides. D. the fact that the parent attends to the infant's basic needs like food and warmth.
Answer Key:B
David is 12 months old and has never seen a dog. Before he approaches and touches the dog, he looks at his mother to see how she is responding. This best illustrates which of the following? A. Obedience B. Social referencing C. Habituation D. Object permanence E. Theory of mind
Answer Key:B
Dr. Luftnogin conducted a study investigating the impact of caffeine on sleep. He solicited volunteers from local doctors' offices as his participants. Dr. Luftnogin's comparison groups were determined by asking volunteers if they consumed caffeine on a daily basis around 4-5 times a week or consumed caffeine rarely or not at all. Dr. Luftnogin found that high consumers of caffeine had disrupted sleep patterns and were more likely to smoke cigarettes. Dr. Luftnogin concluded that reducing caffeine consumption from one's diet is important for reducing health risks. What type of study is this: A. Experimental study B. Correlational study C. Case study D. Double-blind study
Answer Key:B
For most people pain medicine reduces the effects of a bad headache which makes it more likely that people will take pain medicine the next time they have a headache. This is an example of: A. positive punishment B. negative reinforcement C. negative punishment D. positive reinforcement
Answer Key:B
From the inner ear, action potentials in the auditory nerve travel to the _________ in the brain. A. auditory bulb B. thalamus C. hypothalamus D. pituitary gland
Answer Key:B
Gabrielle perceives the group of fish as a single school rather than as many separate individual fish because they swim in the same direction and at the same rate. This illustrates the Gestalt principle of grouping known as: A. proximity B. common movement C. good continuation D. similarity
Answer Key:B
Gate-contol theory of pain argues for a metaphorical "gate" that is located in the: A. Synapses B. Spinal cord C. Amygdala D. Peripheral nervous system
Answer Key:B
Imagine a movie called "Lamb to the Slaughter," in which the heroine beats the victim to death with a frozen leg of lamb. She then cooks the lamb and feeds it to the police, who are searching her house for a baseball bat, which they think is the murder weapon. The fact that the police never considered the leg of lamb as a weapon is a perfect example of: A. Predictable world bias B. Functional fixedness C. Conjunction fallacy D. The availability bias
Answer Key:B
Imagine that two people have had identical experiences throughout their lives. This means that whatever differences exist in their intelligence are influenced: A. largely by heredity. B. completely by heredity. C. completely by environment. D. equally by heredity and environment.
Answer Key:B
Imagine that you are looking at an image which depicts many blue lines and many red lines, some of which are vertical and some of which are horizontal. You search for the only line that is both blue and horizontal. Most people would consider this task: A. difficult, because while colors "pop out," line orientations do not "pop out." B. difficult, because the conjunction of color and line orientation does not "pop out." C. easy, because your attention will cause the line that is both blue and horizontal to "pop out." D. easy, because your attention will cause the line that is both blue and horizontal to "pop out."
Answer Key:B
In class we read a scenario and had to decide if we would pay a speeding ticket fine or contest the charges. The results showed that people were likely to guess that others___________, providing evidence for the ___________ . A. shared their opinion; effects of situational conformity. B. shared their opinion; false consensus effect. C. would pay the fine; false consensus effect. D. would contest the charges; false consensus effect.
Answer Key:B
Renée Baillargeon showed infants as young as 4 months a possible event (a solid screen obscuring a solid object) and an impossible event (a solid screen passing through a solid object). In contrast to Piaget's conclusion regarding the age at which physical principles are understood, Baillargeon's infants looked: A. about equally long at both events. B. longer at the impossible than at the possible event. C. for the ball and tried to retrieve it in both conditions. D. longer at the possible than at the impossible event.
Answer Key:B
Stroop found that subjects are slowest to identify... A. a color name (e.g., red) if the name is spelled in a conflicting ink color (e.g., blue). B. ink color (e.g., blue) if the ink spells out a conflicting color name (e.g., red). C. a color name (e.g., red) if there are different colored words printed nearby (e.g., blue ones). D. ink color (e.g., blue) if the ink spells a word that is not a color (e.g., truck).
Answer Key:B
Studies of emotion across cultures have shown that: A. all emotional responses are universal across cultures. B. recognition of emotional expressions is fairly universal, but cultural rules influence how we show emotions to others. C. recognition of emotional expressions depends on where you grew up. D. all of the options are correct.
Answer Key:B
Suppose an action potential has just begun to occur in the presynaptic neuron and that another will then be triggered in the postsynaptic neuron. Which order BEST describes the anatomical structures that play a part in this series of events? A. cell body → dendrites → axon → axon terminal B. axon → axon terminal → synapse → dendrites C. dendrites → synapse → cell body → axon D. synapse → cell body → axon terminal → axon
Answer Key:B
Suppose you view two squares, A and B, and all depth cues are eliminated. Objectively, square B is twice as far from you as square A, but square B is also twice as large as A. How will you perceive squares A and B? A. Square A will appear to be larger than square B. B. Squares A and B will appear to be the same size. C. Without depth cues, neither square will be visible at all. D. Square B will appear to be larger than square A.
Answer Key:B
The apparent narrowing of a river as it flows directly away from you into the distance best illustrates the depth cue known as: A. continuity B. linear perspective C. interposition D. convergence E. relative motion
Answer Key:B
The members of a club you run tend to take the club for granted. According to cognitive dissonance theory, if you want members to value their membership more, you should: A. Lower membership fees B. Increase membership fees C. Let more people join D. Improve the facilities
Answer Key:B
The skit in class involved two characters who meet at a neighborhood bar. Which defense mechanism was John using about his drinking. A. Repression B. Rationalization C. Projection D. Displacement
Answer Key:B
The smallest meaningful unit of a language, that is the smallest unit that stands for some object, event, characteristic, or relationship is called: A. syntactive structure B. a morpheme C. a word D. a phoneme
Answer Key:B
The span of short-term memory is greater for single-syllable words than for multiple-syllable words. This finding _____ the hypothesis that items are maintained in the ______ of working memory. A. contradicts; phonological loop B. supports; phonological loop C. contradicts; echoic store D. supports; echoic store
Answer Key:B
The stimulus that was originally __________ becomes __________ after it has been paired with the ___________. A. unconditioned conditioned unconditioned response B. neutral conditioned unconditioned stimulus C. neutral conditioned unconditioned response D. unconditioned conditioned unconditioned stimulus
Answer Key:B
The type of memory that enables a skater to execute graceful moves on the ice would be an example of ______ memory. A. episodic B. procedural C. semantic D. declarative
Answer Key:B
Two presidential campaign aids knock on your door and ask if they can put a 20'x20' campaign banner in your yard. Upon your refusal, they ask if you would consider a small lawn sign instead - to which you agree. They just used which kind of persuasion? A. Script-based B. Reciprocity-based C. Norm-based D. Consistency-based
Answer Key:B
Visual sensory memory lasts for _____, while auditory sensory memory lasts for _____. A. as long as you are concentrating on something; a lifetime B. approximately 0.3 seconds; approximately 2 seconds C. approximately 2 seconds; approximately 0.3 seconds D. about a minute; a few minutes
Answer Key:B
Which of the following is an example of extinction? A. After repeated presentations of the sound of a bell a dog ceases to turn his head toward it. B. A rat stops pressing a bar when food is no longer presented after a lever press. C. Over a period of time a man requires larger doses of a drug to obtain the same effect. D. All of these. E. After learning to peck a key for food a pigeon requires larger and larger amounts of food in order to peck the key again.
Answer Key:B
Which of the following neuroimaging techniques has the best temporal resolution: A. PET B. EEG C. fMRI D. MRI
Answer Key:B
Which of the following structures, located in the middle of the brain, is often described as being the relay station connecting various parts of the brain? A. the hypothalamus B. the thalamus C. the basal ganglia D. the cerebellum
Answer Key:B
Which of the following tasks could an amnesic, like E.P. or Jeremy (or any patient with amnesia because of hippocampal damage) NOT do: A. Keep a phone number briefly in mind while walking from a phone book to a phone B. Learn the spatial layout of his current neighborhood C. Learn to ride a bike D. Remember his birthday
Answer Key:B
Which of the following tends to increase across adulthood? A. working memory capacity B. crystallized intelligence C. mental speed D. fluid intelligence
Answer Key:B
When we make attributions for our own behavior, as opposed to the behavior of others, we tend to: A. overestimate the importance of dispositional factors. B. ignore the importance of salient situational factors. C. see our behavior as more governed by situational factors than observers do. D. both A and B
Answer Key:C
Which of these is NOT an explanation that Milgram and others have emphasized in interpreting the basic results of his obedience studies? A. The experimenter was closer, and hence a more potent social influence on the subject than was the learner. B. The conditions of the experiment caused people's aggressive tendencies, which are normally suppressed, to rise to the surface. C. Volunteers came into the experiment with an attitude in which they respected scientific research. D. The experimenter acted in a self-assured manner and indicated that he was responsible if anything went wrong.
Answer Key:B
Which reflex occurs when the baby is startled? A. babinski B. moro C. grasping D. rooting
Answer Key:B
You saw Bruce Springsteen in concert last night and today your friend asks about the kind of guitar that Bruce was playing. The part of memory that allows you to form a mental image of Bruce's guitar is: A. the visual processor B. the visuo-spatial sketchpad C. echoic memory D. iconic memory
Answer Key:B
Your mom reminisces about her college days, and how much she feels she has changed since then. Based on general personality trends, what is one story she is likely to tell? A. She is willing to try things now that she would not have back then B. She remembers enjoying parties more as a college student C. She trusts people less now after having gone through life D. She remembers being more organized in college
Answer Key:B
A 3 year old and a 5 year old watch Megan and Lucy hide a cookie in a yellow box. They then watch Megan leave and Lucy move the cookie to a blue box. When asked where Megan will look for the cookie, most likely: A. both children will say, "the blue box" B. both children will say, "the yellow box" C. the older child will say, "the yellow box"; the younger child will say, "the blue box" D. the younger child will say, "the yellow box"; the older child will say, "the blue box"
Answer Key:C
A correlational study may suggest a cause-effect relationship between two variables but it does not in itself constitute evidence of cause and effect. Why not? A. The variables are measured and compared only after they have been manipulated so it's impossible to be sure what caused the difference. B. Correlational studies manipulate only one variable at a time so it's impossible to compare variables for evidence of cause and effect. C. The variables are measured and compared but neither is systematically manipulated so it's impossible to be sure which is cause and which is effect. D. A and B E. all of the these are correct
Answer Key:C
According to cognitive dissonance theory, justification of effort is responsible for the fact that: A. we tend to downplay the amount of effort we exerted to reach a goal. B. we have fewer negative emotions while engaging in an effortful task. C. we value a goal more highly if it was difficult to reach. D. both B and C
Answer Key:C
After staring at a very intense blue color for a few minutes, Carrie shifted her gaze to a white wall and "saw" the color __________. Carrie's experience provides support for the __________ theory. A. green; trichromatic B. green; opponent-process C. yellow; opponent-process D. black; opponent-process E. yellow; trichromatic
Answer Key:C
An emphasis on beliefs and habits of thought that affect one's ability to take control of one's own life is most consistent with _____ theories of personality. A. psychodynamic B. physiologically based C. social-cognitive D. trait
Answer Key:C
Carl's corpus callosum has been surgically severed to control severe epilepsy. When an object is presented to Carl's left visual field, he is: A. unable to identify the object with his right hand, but is able to vocally describe it. B. unable to identify the object with his left hand and is unable to vocally describe it. C. unable to identify the object with his right hand and is unable to vocally describe it. D. unable to identify the object with his left hand, but is able to vocally describe it.
Answer Key:C
Dendrites are the part of the neuron that receives information from other neurons. What part of the other neuron is sending information to dendrites: A. myelin sheath B. cell body C. axon D. dendrites
Answer Key:C
Do stressful childhood experiences cause mental distress later on in adulthood? Sally investigated this question by identifying a group of people who had suffered such experiences in childhood and a group who had not and then she determined how many in each group had experienced a period of severe mental distress in adulthood. This study is an example of a(n): A. descriptive study. B. experimental study. C. correlational study. D. psychoanalytic study.
Answer Key:C
Even though Bill knows that Professor Smith gives difficult exams, he believes that his friend Oliver failed the most recent exam because he isn't very bright. Which attributional error is Bill showing? A. social identity error B. actor-observer error C. fundamental attribution error D. just-world error
Answer Key:C
Experimenter-expectancy effects (also known as observer-expectancy effects) can influence: A. None of these alternatives. B. both the subject's behavior and the observer's perceptions of the subject's behavior. C. the observer's perceptions of the subject's behavior. D. the subject's behavior.
Answer Key:C
Faced with a new disease that will kill 1,000 people, participants in group A are asked to choose between plan 1, which is guaranteed to save 400 people or plan 2, which has a 60% chance of saving no one and a 40% chance of saving everyone. Participants in group B are offered plan 1 in which 600 people will die or plan 2 which has a 60% chance of all 1,000 people dying and a 40% chance of no one dying. Research on framing indicates that: A. majorities of both sets of participants will choose plan 2. B. most participants in group A will choose plan 2, and most participants in group B will choose plan 1. C. most participants in group A will choose plan 1, and most participants in group B will choose plan 2. D. majorities of both sets of participants will choose plan 1.
Answer Key:C
Imagine that you are a research assistant. Your job is to have subjects look at a light or listen to a sound and then to have them describe their experience in terms of quality intensity duration and clarity. This technique is ______ and has been ______. A. called inward reflection found to accurately describe visual and auditory experience B. an example of cognitive psychology criticized for being unscientific C. called introspectionism criticized for being unscientific D. an example of Gestalt methodology found to accurately describe visual and auditory experience
Answer Key:C
In a study of conformity, Asch found that if a single confederate disagreed with the others, subjects were: A. more likely to conform than when the confederates were unanimous. B. just as likely to conform as when the confederates were unanimous. C. less likely to conform than when the confederates were unanimous, even if the dissenting answer was wrong. D. less likely to conform than when the confederates were unanimous, but only if the dissenting answer was correct.
Answer Key:C
In an experiment on memory, subjects who slept in between studying a list of words and being tested did better than subjects who engaged in normal, waking activities between studying and being tested. This finding supports the: A. retrieval-cue theory of forgetting B. decay theory of forgetting C. interference theory of forgetting D. poor encoding theory of forgetting
Answer Key:C
In classical conditioning the animal must learn about the relation between: A. Conditioned Response and Unconditioned Stimulus B. Conditioned Stimulus and Unconditioned Response C. Conditioned Stimulus and Unconditioned Stimulus D. Conditioned Response and Unconditioned Response
Answer Key:C
Information in the phonological loop will fade unless it is refreshed every: A. 1/2 second B. 1 second C. 2 seconds D. 3 seconds
Answer Key:C
Jack and his girlfriend go to college in different states. He misses her terribly but is beginning to feel attracted to someone else. Instead of acknowledging these new feelings, he directs all of his energy into his work. He is showing which defense mechanism: A. displacement B. repression C. sublimation D. projection E. rationalization
Answer Key:C
Jennifer is the best pitcher on the east coast. If she damages her ____________ Jennifer will be unable to behave in ways that require well-timed and fast sequences of movements, like throwing a fastball. A. hippocampus B. thalamus C. cerebellum D. basal ganglia
Answer Key:C
Julie is three years old. When she wants her mother's attention she continually tugs on her mother's clothes and says "Mom Mom Mom." Sometimes her mother will turn to her immediately but other times her mother may wait a minute or two before attending to her. Her mother is reinforcing Julie's behavior on a ______ schedule of reinforcement. A. fixed-ratio B. fixed-interval C. variable-interval D. variable-ratio
Answer Key:C
Mei's friend, Layla, is unhappy. According to Ekman's facial feedback theory of emotion, if Mei wants to help Layla feel happier, which of these pieces of advice would be most effective? A. watch Mei smile for the next minute B. imagine the faces of happy children C. smile every 5 seconds for the next minute D. close your eyes and put your hands on Mei's smiling face
Answer Key:C
Over the course of a night's sleep, our deepest level of sleep when we are hardest to awaken occurs most often during: A. sleep spindles B. rapid-eye-movement sleep C. sleep cycles right after we fall asleep D. sleep cycles before our normal wake-up time
Answer Key:C
Robert Rescorla produced a conditioned fear response (freezing) in rats. The unconditioned stimulus was a loud sound and the conditioned stimulus was a signal light. He then habituated half the rats to the loud sound. When he tested the rats with the signal light the results were consistent with the S-S theory of classical conditioning. Knowing this which of the following results should you choose as the most likely? A. The habituated rats froze much less to the light indicating that they had learned a connection between the light and freezing. B. The unhabituated rats froze much less to the light indicating that they had learned a connection between the light and freezing. C. The habituated rats froze much less to the light indicating that they had learned a connection between the light and the sound. D. The unhabituated rats froze much less to the light indicating that they had learned a connection between the light and the sound.
Answer Key:C
The only aspect of language acquisition that seems to have a critical period is the acquisition of: A. vocabulary B. pragmatics C. grammar D. semantics
Answer Key:C
The order of sleep stages as they occur cyclically throughout the night most closely corresponds to: A. Stage 1, stage 2, stage 3, stage 4, REM, stage 3, stage 2, stage 1 B. Stage 1, stage 2, stage 3, stage 4, stage 3, stage 2, stage 1 C. Stage 1, stage 2, stage 3, stage 4, stage 3, stage 2, REM D. Stage 1, stage 2, stage 3, stage 4, REM
Answer Key:C
To get the best view of a star at night, you should turn your eyes away from the star slightly, so that the light from the star falls outside the fovea, because: A. the cones are more sensitive to light from distant objects B. the cones are more sensitive to light under conditions of low illumination C. the rods are more sensitive to light under conditions of low illumination D. the rods are more sensitive to light from distant objects
Answer Key:C
What happened in the second complementary afterimage demonstration in class with the green and red circles? A. the colors did not switch positions in the afterimage (green stayed green and red stayed red) B. the colors changed to blue and yellow circles in the afterimage (green became blue and red became yellow) C. the colors switched positions in the afterimage (green became red and red became green) D. the colors changed to black and white circles in the afterimage (green became black and red became white)
Answer Key:C
What is heritability? A. Who cares? This concept has been totally discredited and is no longer used in scientific circles. B. The percentage of genes an individual inherits from each parent. C. The proportion of variability in a characteristic across individuals that can be attributed to genetic variation. D. The proportion of a characteristic in a given individual that can be attributed to genetic as opposed to environmental influences.
Answer Key:C
What was Pavlov's term for the event that elicits an unlearned reflexive response? A. conditioned stimulus B. unconditioned response C. unconditioned stimulus D. conditioned response
Answer Key:C
When asked to estimate the average number of recorded terrorist acts per year since 1970, people will give higher estimates if there has recently been a highly publicized terrorist incident. This exemplifies the: A. base-rate bias. B. representativeness bias. C. availability bias. D. confirmation bias.
Answer Key:C
Which of the following best characterizes the difference between REM sleep and the other stages of sleep? A. The muscles are tenser during REM sleep than during the other stages. B. all of these responses are correct. C. Dreams primarily occur during REM sleep but not as much during the other stages. D. The EEG shows slow, high-amplitude waves during REM sleep and successively faster, lower-amplitude waves during the other stages.
Answer Key:C
Which of the following is most explicitly related to regenerative, growth-promoting, and energy- conserving functions? A. The skeletal motor system. B. The sympathetic division of the autonomic system. C. The parasympathetic division of the autonomic system. D. The central nervous system.
Answer Key:C
Which of the following is the best example of classical conditioning? A. Sally's dog brings her the newspaper and gets in return a pat on the head. B. Ted drops his economics course after failing the first exam. C. Sam underwent a painful dental procedure and now his palms sweat when he sees the door to his dentist's office. D. Bob buys a lottery ticket each time he gets his car inspected because four years ago he won $100 on a ticket he bought after a car inspection.
Answer Key:C
Which of these options is the best description of neurotransmitters? A. None of these options is correct B. Vibrational C. Chemical D. Electrical
Answer Key:C
Which of these strategies of persuasion does NOT depend on the norm of reciprocity? A. Pregiving technique B. That's not all technique C. Foot-in-the-door technique D. Door-in-the-face technique
Answer Key:C
While enjoying one of Monet's paintings of water lilies, you notice that some lilies appear to be more distant than others are because they have been painted smaller and are more densely packed together. This perception is based on the pictorial cue for depth known as: A. occlusion. B. relative image size. C. texture gradient. D. linear perspective.
Answer Key:C
Why did Descartes' version of dualism suggest that it is possible to study behavior scientifically? A. Descartes proposed that all human behaviors are produced by the interaction of body and soul. B. Descartes proposed that the soul does not exist outside the body. C. Descartes proposed that behaviors common to both human beings and animals are produced by the body alone. D. Descartes proposed that the body controls movement by physical means and the soul controls thought by nonphysical means.
Answer Key:C
You discover a long-lost CD from your favorite band. ______ would argue that your perception of the event causes arousal in your body. This arousal then causes you to feel the emotion of "excitement." A. The common-sense theory B. Ekman's facial feedback theory C. James's theory D. Schachter's theory
Answer Key:C
According to psychodynamic theories, what characteristics of the mind underlie personality differences? A. habits of thought and beliefs that are acquired through experiences B. relatively stable, biologically based predispositions to behave in certain ways C. belief systems and meaningful stories that govern people's lives D. unconscious motives and the ways people defend themselves from anxiety
Answer Key:D
According to reciprocal determinism, the following have a dynamic relationship: A. behavior and environment. B. behavior and internal cognitions. C. environment and internal cognitions. D. all of the above
Answer Key:D
An antipsychotic drug reduces the influence of the neurotransmitter, dopamine, and is used in the treatment schizophrenia. This drug is likely a _____. A. Dopamine amine B. Dopamine inhibitor C. Dopamine agonist D. Dopamine antagonist
Answer Key:D
An individual selling memberships in a book club gives potential buyers a laminated bookmark before beginning the sales pitch. This individual is trying to boost sales by taking advantage of the: A. pique technique B. low-ball technique C. foot-in-the-door technique D. reciprocity norm
Answer Key:D
Both MRI and fMRI have excellent __________________, but in comparison fMRI provides better __________________. A. Resolution; diagnostic tools B. Temporal resolution; spatial resolution C. Neural resolution; spatial resolution D. Spatial resolution; temporal resolution
Answer Key:D
Bret lives next door to a dog that sometimes barks in the middle of the night. When this happens Bret opens the window and yells at the dog to be quiet. The dog stops barking and this now makes Bret more likely to yell at the dog whenever he barks in the future. The dog's behavior is under the influence of: A. negative punishment B. negative reinforcement C. positive reinforcement D. positive punishment
Answer Key:D
Elizabeth was training for her upcoming boxing match when her training partner knocked her out, giving her a concussion. Since her injury Elizabeth has had troubles tracking and following the location of moving objects, probably meaning that she has received damage to what part of her brain? A. Occipital lobe B. Frontal lobe C. Temporal lobe D. Parietal lobe
Answer Key:D
Francis Gall founder of phrenology asserted that: A. the mind is composed of distinct innate faculties. B. the surface of the skull can be read as an accurate index of psychological aptitudes and tendencies. C. the size of an organ other things being equal is a measure of its power. D. all of the above.
Answer Key:D
Fred is given a ticket by the police for speeding and never speeds again. What has caused this change in behavior? A. positive reinforcement B. negative punishment C. negative reinforcement D. positive punishment
Answer Key:D
If an individual has impaired speech comprehension, and produces meaningless speech, what is the most likely explanation of his problem? A. surgically separated left and right hemispheres B. damage to the hippocampus C. damage to Broca's area D. damage to Wernicke's area
Answer Key:D
In an Asch experiment, the target line is 5 inches long but the confederates say the 6-inch line is the one that matches it. The real research participant will be more likely to give the correct answer if: A. The confederates unanimously give the wrong answer. B. One confederate gives the right answer (5-inch line) while the rest all say it's the 6-inch line. C. One confederate wrongly states that the 7-inch line matches while the rest all say it's the 6-inch line. D. B and C
Answer Key:D
In one of Pavlov's experiments a dog learned to salivate at the sound of a bell. In this case the bell was a(n) _____ and the salivation it elicited was a(n) _____. A. conditioned reflex conditioned response B. conditioned stimulus unconditioned response C. unconditioned stimulus conditioned response D. conditioned stimulus conditioned response
Answer Key:D
In the container test, children are shown a familiar kind of container such as an M&M bag and asked what the bag contains. Groups of 3- and 6-year-old children respond appropriately and are then asked to open the bag. Once opened, the bag is found to contain an unpredicted item, such as a pencil. The bag is then closed, and the children are asked to guess what another person who has not looked inside will think is in it. What typically happens? A. Most 3- and 6-year-olds will answer "M&Ms." B. Most 3- and 6-year-olds will answer "pencil." C. Most 3-year-olds will give a specific prediction, but most 6-year-olds will refuse to answer. D. Most 3-year-olds will answer with "pencil," but most 6-year-olds will answer "M&Ms."
Answer Key:D
Maggie Bruck discovered the following about children's memory of a doctor's examination: A. Insecurely-attached children were more likely to express false memories. B. Children as young as 3-years-of-age can resist being influenced by experimenters' leading questions. C. False memories were more likely to occur when the doctor was male, regardless of the child's gender. D. Using anatomically-correct dolls did not prevent false memories.
Answer Key:D
Our eyes have a blind spot, which is caused by: A. a lack of rods in the fovea. B. a lack of cones in the fovea. C. a lack of cones in peripheral vision. D. a lack of receptors in a spot on the retina.
Answer Key:D
People who party all the time usually but not always get lower grades than those who party less. Which of the following correlation coefficients between partying and G.P.A. might possibly describe this relationship? A. +1.00 B. -1.00 C. +0.80 D. -0.80
Answer Key:D
People with amnesia show a normal capacity to form and use ________memories. A. declarative B. explicit C. source D. implicit E. episodic
Answer Key:D
Prozac, a drug commonly used to treat depression, is a A. selective serotonin inhibitor B. selective serotonin agonist C. selective serotonin antagonist D. selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor
Answer Key:D
Suppose a drug addict usually takes his drug in an alley. One day the police are watching the alley and the addict takes the drug in the bus depot men's room. He dies. Why would the same dose that he could tolerate in the alley kill him in the men's room? A. Unconditioned stimuli in the men's room produced physiological responses that increased the drug's effect. B. He had habituated to the stimuli in the alley but not to those in the men's room. C. Repeated use of the drug had sensitized him to it. D. Stimuli in the alley that had become conditioned stimuli for physiological responses that counteract the drug's effect were absent in the men's room.
Answer Key:D
Suppose you are filling out a credit-card application that asks for your previous and current addresses. You cannot remember your current address because your previous address keeps intruding and coming to mind, a problem due to: A. decay. B. retroactive interference. C. association by similarity. D. proactive interference.
Answer Key:D
Suppose you are filling out a credit-card application that asks for your previous and current addresses. You cannot remember your previous address because your new address keeps intruding, a problem due to: A. proactive interference B. decay C. association by similarity D. retroactive interference
Answer Key:D
Taste receptors are located: A. on the tongue B. on the roof of the mouth C. in the throat D. in all of these places
Answer Key:D
The burst of anger that Bill Gates felt when he was hit in the face with a pie is most likely caused by which of these structures: A. Thalamus B. Hippocampus C. Hypothalamus D. Amygdala
Answer Key:D
The so-called fast emotion pathway leads from the ________ directly to the amygdala. A. Occipital lobe B. Hypothalamus C. Pineal gland D. Thalamus
Answer Key:D
The video clip of "the Office" is NOT an example of classical conditioning? Remember this is the clip with Jim and Dwight holding out his hand. Which of the following is true? A. Dwight holding out his hand is NOT an automatic reflexive response B. Operant conditioning better explains the phenomenon in the clip C. Habituation better explains the phenomenon in the clip D. A and B E. B and C
Answer Key:D
There were a number of problems with our in-class "ankle-squeeze experiment." One potential problem was ____. In order to fix it we should have used the method of _____. A. Selection bias random assignment B. Observer-expectancy effects random sampling C. Observer-expectancy effects random assignment D. Selection bias random sampling
Answer Key:D
What is an effective method for reducing experimenter-expectancy (also known as observer-expectancy) effects? A. random assignment B. placebo protocol C. random sampling D. double-blind protocol
Answer Key:D
What sleep stage has the biggest, slowest waves? A. 1 B. 2 C. REM D. 4
Answer Key:D
When a child adds "ed" to an irregular verb to create past tense (e.g. "eated"), this indicates that the child: A. has an innate sense of grammatical rules B. heard someone use the verb this way, and learned it by heart C. is behind in grammar and doesn't know the proper use of verbs D. knows the grammatical rule and is extrapolating it to new verbs E. learned grammar through a system of rewards and reinforcements
Answer Key:D
When talking about the process of chunking, I talked about chess players. Which of the following is correct? A. Regardless of the kind of arrangement of chess pieces, expert chess-players will remember more than novices B. All of these responses are correct C. An expert chess-player is likely to have a photographic memory D. Expert chess-players are no different from novices at remembering a random arrangement of chess pieces
Answer Key:D
Whenever Bill was late to school his teacher would take away his right to participate in the morning playtime activities. Bill is no longer late to school. Bill's late behavior has been: A. negatively punished B. negatively reinforced C. positively punished D. positively reinforced
Answer Key:D
Which of the following situations would cause our estimate of IQ heritability to go down? A. The IQs of identical twins reared apart are more highly correlated than those of fraternal twins reared together. B. The IQs of fraternal twins reared together are more highly correlated than those of unrelated (adopted) siblings reared together. C. The IQs of identical twins reared together are more highly correlated than those of fraternal twins reared together. D. The IQs of identical twins reared together are more highly correlated than those of identical twins reared apart.
Answer Key:D
Bill hears a door slam in his dorm room and jumps in reaction to the noise. Then a few seconds later it slams again and soon again. As Bill continues to hear the door slam he jumps less and less each time. Bill's response illustrates the principle of: A. extinction B. discrimination training C. generalization D. spontaneous recovery E. habituation
Answer Key:E
Crystallized intelligence refers to: A. aspects of intelligence that are genetically determined. B. none of these options. C. the static nature of intellectual ability after puberty. D. the reduction in intellectual fluidity with aging. E. an individual's range of learned knowledge.
Answer Key:E
Jim observes that how much students sleep at night is correlated with the amount of time that they surf the internet. From this data Jim can conclude that: A. Surfing the internet makes it difficult for students to sleep B. When students don't sleep enough they are likely to surf the internet C. Both A and B are true D. Some unknown variable is influencing both how much students sleep and surf the internet E. Not any single one of these is a valid conclusion
Answer Key:E
Participants in Milgram's obedience study were less likely to go to high levels of shock when A. the teachers could see the learners B. someone else in the room disagreed with the experimenter C. they were at a distance from the experimenter D. both B and C E. all of these
Answer Key:E