psychology quizzes 1-4

A spook house in a local carnival offered its potential patrons free admission if they would allow themselves to be blindfolded and then to eat raw worms. Although they were actually fed cold spaghetti, most of the customers believed they were swallowing real worms. What is the MOST plausible explanation for this finding?

Food flavor is really a composite of taste, smell, sight, and texture.

Why do most individuals on both sides of the animal rights debate believe that it is a bad idea for animal activists to release captive laboratory animals?

Many of the animals die shortly after being released

Psychics who perform poorly in laboratory tests and then blame their poor performance on "bad vibes" from skeptical researchers are displaying which sign of pseudoscience?

ad hoc immunizing hypotheses

if the limbic system were destroyed, which of the following structures would be damaged?

amygdala and hippocampus

The purpose of the myelin sheath is to _________

insulate the neuron so it can act more efficiently

The police have arrested a suspect in an assault case and the victim has agreed to look at a lineup to see if he can identify the person who attacked him. Gary, a police psychologist, is advising the detectives on the most accurate way to put together a lineup. What should he recommend that they use?

sequential line-up

Approximately how many neurons are contained in the human brain?

85 billion

An approach to psychology that relied heavily on dream interpretation, symbolism, unconscious motives, and the suppression of sexual and aggressive urges was developed by __________.

Sigmund Freud

Which of the following is a strength of experiments?

They allow for the establishment of cause-effect relationships

Professor Clark gives her students an assignment to develop hypotheses on global warming. To be consistent with a scientific method, students should develop their hypotheses based on __________.

a well-supported scientific theory

The idea of placing a third brake light at the base of a car's back windshield and changing the color of fire engines from red to yellow are examples of __________.

applied psychological research

Twin and adoption studies addressing the nature-nurture debate are typically conducted by __________.

behavior geneticists

Because none of us wants to believe we are wrong, we are usually reluctant to give up cherished notions. This phenomenon is known as __________.

belief perseverance

A sample that does not truly represent the population in question is known as a _____________ sample.

biased sample

Axons _______.

carry messages away from a cell body

The cell body is enclosed by the

cell membrane

The FIRST division of the nervous system consists of the:

central and peripheral nervous systems.

Naturalistic observation can be problematic if people realize they are being observed. This is because they might __________.

change their behavior

A person who is blind in one eye can use all of the visual cues except _______.

convergence

The cerebellum __________.

coordinates actions so that movements are efficient

Light first enters the eye through the _______.

cornea

The easiest way to determine if two variables are associated with one another is to use a(n) __________ research design.

correlational

Hearing begins when sound waves bump against the _______.

eardrum

In an experiment, a researcher manipulates one variable to see how it affects a second variable. The second variable, which is observed for any possible effects, is called the __________.

dependent variable

The variable that an experimenter assesses or measures to determine whether or not the manipulation has had an effect is the __________ variable.

dependent variable

You meet a psychologist who tells you that she conducts research on children to determine how their cognitive processes differ as the child gets older. You recognize that this person is most likely a(n) __________.

developmental psychologist

If a researcher wanted to know how loudly a person must speak in order to be heard above the noise of two other simultaneous conversations, the researcher would likely measure the ________

difference threshold

When Ann went to her doctor, he gave her a hearing test. During the test, the doctor struck several tuning forks, each of which vibrated at a distinct pitch, and asked her to choose two tones that sounded almost the same in pitch. The doctor was testing Ann's __________.

difference threshold

Which term describes a curved line on a graph that can be bell shaped, negatively skewed, or positively skewed?

distribution curve

Research has shown that people are especially prone to find patterns of meaning in meaningless stimuli when they __________.

do not feel a sense of control

One reason people are drawn to believing in pseudoscience is that we use our emotions as guides to evaluate the validity of claims. This is known as the affect heuristic or the __________.

emotional reasoning fallacy

The glands that secrete hormones directly into the bloodstream are called __________.

endocrine glands

The method of psychological research which utilizes a control group, a dependent variable, and an independent variable is

experiment

One of the great debates that has shaped the field of psychology is the question of whether people choose their behaviors or are obliged to act in certain ways by factors beyond their control. This is known as the __________ debate.

free will-determinism

Hertz is a unit of measurement of __________.

frequency

Muller-Lyer, Ponzo, and Zollner are all _________.

geometrical illusions

The endocrine system is made up of:

glands which release hormones into the bloodstream.

The extent to which genes contribute to differences in a trait among a group of individuals is known as __________.

heritability

Chemical substances released by the endocrine glands to help regulate bodily functions are __________.

hormones

The wavelength of the light to reach your eyes determines what _______ you see.

hue

When we perceive a reliable association between two events (although none exists), such as the presence of rainy weather and arthritis flare-ups, we are experiencing the phenomenon called __________

illusory correlation

Time, expertise, and resources are all obstacles that __________.

increase reliance on authorities

In an experiment, a researcher manipulates one variable to see how it affects a second variable. The manipulated variable is called the:

independent variable

If you examine the research that has been conducted in psychology, you will find that much of the knowledge from popular, less-scientific psychology sources __________.

is contradicted by what psychological research has demonstrated

Evolutionary psychology has been criticized because __________.

its predictions are difficult to falsify

As an object gets closer, its visual angle becomes _______, and its retinal image gets ________.

larger;smaller

As a discipline, psychology spans multiple __________, which can be thought of as the rungs on a ladder.

levels of analysis

_______ theory was developed to isolate the limits of sensory sensitivity.

method of limits

When you look out the window of a car that is traveling 60 mph, objects at different locations appear to move in different directions and different speeds. This apparent motion is known as:

motion parallax

While riding on a train, David notices that the trees and telephone poles close to the tracks seem to flash by, while the buildings, trees, and mountains that are farther away seem to move by more slowly. This phenomenon is called_____________.

motion parallax

A young man reads in a letter that he has just won $1,000 in a state-wide lottery and he literally jumps for joy. Which neurons are sending messages from his brain to his legs ordering them to jump?

motor neurons

Which term describes the common sense belief that we see the world as it really is?

naive realism

Bud and Sandy are discussing the merits of new automobiles. Bud noted, "This car model has been tested by four different consumer agencies in hundreds of tests with virtually the same outcomes each time; it is very reliable." Sandy countered, "Yeah, but my neighbor down the street bought that car, and he has had nothing but problems. I would stay away from it." Which hallmark of pseudoscience has Sandy fallen prey to?

overreliance on anecdotes

Calm is to aroused as _______ is to _______.

parasympathetic; sympathetic

Corey was in an automobile accident that resulted in an injury to her brain. She now has difficulty maintaining her balance and normal body positions. Her sense of touch has also been injured. The part of her brain most likely injured was her ___________.

parietal lobe

The fact that many people, when looking at the moon that orbits Earth, see a face (commonly called "the man in the moon") can be explained by the phenomenon of __________

patternicity

A mechanism by which experts in a field carefully screen the work of their colleagues is known as __________

peer review

The autonomic and somatic nervous systems are divisions of the _______ system.

peripheral

The pea-sized gland that is stimulated by light and helps regulate activity levels over the course of a day is the:

pineal

After carefully observing thousands of students, Dr. O'Brien revealed to his colleagues that students with brown eyes are statistically more likely to write with pens instead of pencils. Although his colleagues did not question his statistics, they did suggest that a finding such as this lacked __________.

practical significance

Media reports have a tendency to try to present two opposing sides of an issue as though both sides were equally valid. What is this tendency called?

pseudosymmetry

Identify the term that behavioral geneticists use to describe the extent to which genes limit how much a trait can change in response to new environments

reaction range

Adaptation is the process in which _______

receptor sensitivity changes depending upon the intensity of the stimulus

Rods and cones are found in the _______.

retina

The eyes convert light energy into neural responses that we experience as sight. The conversion of light energy into sight is done by receptor cells in the _______

retina

Light receptors which see best at night are the ______

rods

The four primary taste sensations are sweet, bitter, sour, and _______.

salt

A psychologist, studying pilot trainees, picks a select group of trainees who are hopefully representative of all other trainees. The group of trainees being studied by this psychologist are collectively known to researchers as a __________.

sample

The purpose of a control group in an experiment is to:

serve as a check on the interpretation of results.

Which of the following is NOT one of the four primary taste qualities that humans perceive?

sour

Almost all research done in psychology is analyzed _______.

statistically

Which term indicates applying mathematics to describe and analyze data?

statistics

A weakness of ________ is that subjects participating in the research often report, consciously and unconsciously, inaccurate information.

surveys

One evening Betty was walking to the dorm from the gym when she was stopped by two men who demanded her money. Since she was a good athlete, Betty decided to make a run for it. Pretending to open her purse, she suddenly turned and dashed off. Although pursued, Betty outran her assailants. During this incident, which part of Betty's nervous system was most directly responsible for her successful escape?

sympathetic nervous system

British philosopher John Locke stood on the nurture side of the nature-nurture debate, comparing the mind of a newborn to a sheet of paper that had yet to be written on. Others later used which term to describe the same idea?

tabula rasa

The brain's "relay station" is the _______.

thalamus

The forebrain is one of _______ operationally distinct sections of the brain.

two

Some main warning signs of pseudoscientific claims include overreliance on anecdotes, exaggerated claims, absence of connectivity to other research, lack of peer review, and __________.

use of scientific-sounding terms that make little sense

The range of electromagnetic wavelengths that we can see is called the:

visible spectrum

In a study in which college students are pampered (given endless amounts of money, cable TV, and spicy Chinese food) to see whether this will improve their scores in their psychology course, what is the independent variable?

whether students were pampered or not