AP Psychology Semester One Final Review
Which of the following is an amphetamine derivative that acts as a mild hallucinogen?
Ecstasy
Which of the following questions about the word depressed would best prepare you to correctly remember tomorrow that you had seen the word on today's test?
How well does the word describe you?
Which of the following is true of positive and negative reinforcers?
Positive reinforcers increase the rate of operant responding; negative reinforcers increase the rate of operant responding.
Which of the following best describes the view of the mind held by Plato and Socrates?
The mind is separate from the body and continues after the body dies.
Which of the following is true of night terrors?
They typically occur during Stage 4 sleep.
Which of the following best illustrates psychology's current understanding of the relationship between thinking and language?
Thinking affects language, which then affects our thoughts.
A chess-playing computer program that routinely calculates all possible outcomes of all possible game moves best illustrates problem solving by means of
an algorithm.
Increasing excitatory signals above the threshold for neural activation will not affect the intensity of an action potential. This indicates that a neuron's reaction is
an all-or-none response.
The belief that weather conditions signal the onset of arthritis pain best illustrates
an illusory correlation.
Noam Chomsky has emphasized that the acquisition of language by children is facilitated by
an inborn readiness to learn grammatical rules.
Some people are unable to arrange six matches to form four equilateral triangles because they fail to consider a three-dimensional arrangement. This best illustrates the effects of ________ on problem solving.
fixation
Brainstorming sessions that encourage people to spontaneously suggest new and unusual solutions to a problem are designed to avoid
fixations.
Blake is a carpet installer who wants to be paid for each square foot of carpet he lays rather than with an hourly wage. Blake prefers working on a ________ schedule of reinforcement.
fixed-ratio
Short-term memory is slightly better
for auditory information than for visual information.
In considering the seven sins of memory, transience is to the sin of ________ as suggestibility is to the sin of ________.
forgetting; distortion
Companies are being encouraged to enroll their employees in a 401(k) plan automatically while allowing them to choose to raise their take-home pay by "opting out" of the plan. The previous plan had asked employees to "opt-in" to participate in the plan. Under the "opt-out" rather than "opt-in" system, enrollments in 401(k) plans soared. This best illustrates the impact of
framing
People are less upset than when they miss getting an early payment discount than when they are asked to bear a late payment surcharge. This best illustrates the importance of
framing
In trying to figure out how to copy and paste an item into a document, Arlene could try all possible key combinations or she could check the pull-down menus, a much faster way to solve her problem. Arlene is relying on
heuristics
Unlike implicit memories, explicit memories are processed by the
hippocampus
Which of the following is the component of the limbic system that plays an essential role in the processing of new memories?
hippocampus
Thinking about sex (in your brain's cerebral cortex) can stimulate a region of the limbic system to secrete hormones. These hormones trigger the pituitary gland to influence hormones released by other glands in the body. Which brain region influences the endocrine system?
hypothalamus
Marci vividly remembered winning a stuffed animal at a carnival game when she was a child. However, when she mentioned this to her parents, she was told that the event never occurred. Marci's experience may have been influenced by
imagination inflation.
To quickly teach a dog to roll over on command, you would be best advised to use
immediate reinforcers rather than delayed reinforcers.
Smokers with a greater fear of flying than of smoking's toxicity best illustrate that we often have a greater fear of risks that are
immediate.
Cerebellum is to ________ memory as hippocampus is to ________ memory.
implicit; explicit
Which of the following best describes explicit memories?
include memory for general knowledge
Knowing the difference between an experimental condition and a control condition is most relevant to understanding the nature of
independent variables.
Mrs. Ramos claims to remember being sexually abused by her father when she was less than a year old. Memory experts are most likely to doubt the reliability of her memory due to their awareness of
infantile amnesia.
Research indicates that the percentage of total sleep spent in REM sleep is higher in ________ than in ________.
infants; adults
Which of the following defines ethical principles that should guide human experimentation?
informed consent, protection from harm, confidentiality, debriefing
The biggest danger of relying on case-study evidence is that it
may be unrepresentative of what is generally true.
The arithmetic average of a distribution of scores is the
mean
As we retrieve memories from our memory bank, we often alter them based on past experiences and our current expectations. This best illustrates
memory construction.
Karl and Dee had a joyful wedding ceremony. After their painful divorce, however, they began to remember the wedding as a somewhat hectic and unpleasant event. Their recollections best illustrate the nature of
memory construction.
A perceptual set is a
mental predisposition that influences what we perceive.
In the early 1960s, the cognitive revolution in psychology involved a renewal of interest in the scientific study of
mental processes.
Sound wave vibrations are transmitted by three tiny bones located in the
middle ear.
Researchers discovered that the regions of the frontal lobe activated when a monkey moves peanuts to its own mouth are also activated when the monkey simply observes other monkeys move peanuts to their mouths. This discovery pointed to the significance of
mirror neurons.
Which of the following best accounts for people's greater fear of commercial air flights than of driving an automobile?
perceived control
The process by which we select, organize, and interpret sensory information in order to recognize meaningful objects and events is called
perception
Although he was wearing a pair of glasses that shifted the apparent location of objects 20 degrees to his right, Lars was still able to play tennis very effectively. This best illustrates the value of
perceptual adaptation.
The somatic nervous system is a component of the ________ nervous system.
peripheral
After losing his left hand in an accident, Jack continued to experience pain in his nonexistent hand. His experience illustrates
phantom limb sensations.
When Fred pronounced the words "this" and "that," he noticed that they share a common
phoneme.
Physical pain and intense cravings indicate
physical dependence.
Unpleasant withdrawal symptoms are indicative of
physical dependence.
Deep sleep appears to play an important role in
physical growth
The personality theorist, Sigmund Freud, was an Austrian
physician.
In a drug treatment study, participants given a pill containing no actual drug are receiving a(n)
placebo
The capacity of one brain area to take over the functions of another damaged brain area is known as brain
plasticity
After Kato's serious motorcycle accident, doctors detected damage to his cerebellum. Kato is most likely to have difficulty
playing his guitar.
Resting potential is to action potential as ________ is to ________.
polarization; depolarization
To learn about the TV viewing habits of all the children attending Oakbridge School, Professor DeVries randomly selected and interviewed 50 of the school's students. In this instance, all the children attending the school are considered to be a(n)
population
Robert was late for school, so he parked in a space reserved for teachers. Later, when he went to get his car, he noticed a yellow parking ticket under the windshield wiper. The parking ticket would be considered
positive punishment.
Receiving delicious food is to escaping electric shock as ________ is to ________.
positive reinforcer; negative reinforcer
If college graduates typically earn more money than high school graduates, this would indicate that level of education and income are
positively correlated.
While Bev was hypnotized, her therapist suggested that during the next several days she would have a strong desire to eat well-balanced meals. The therapist was apparently making use of
posthypnotic suggestion.
Alex tickles his brother by stroking adjacent ________ spots on his skin.
pressure
Photographs of people were rated more positively if the photos immediately followed a briefly flashed image of kittens. This best illustrates the impact of
priming
Learning a new ATM password may block the recall of a familiar old password. This illustrates
proactive interference.
Using barely recognizable syllables to communicate meaning best illustrates a 12-month-old's developing capacity for
productive language.
People are likely to take less time to recognize a woman as a nurse than a man as a nurse because a woman more closely resembles their nurse
prototype
People more easily detect male prejudice against women than female prejudice against men because the former more closely resembles their prejudice
prototype
Eva had difficulty recognizing that a sea horse was a fish because it did not closely resemble her fish
prototype.
When someone mentions Ivy League colleges, Trisha immediately thinks of Harvard University. In this instance, Harvard University is a
prototype.
Christmas is to holiday as ________ is to ________.
prototype; category
The title of a song is on the tip of Gerard's tongue, but he cannot recall it until someone mentions the songwriter's name. Gerard's initial inability to recall the title was most likely caused by
retrieval failure.
After a car accident where Ava suffered a head injury she is unable to recall events from the previous 6 months. Ava is suffering from
retrograde amnesia
Prozac, a drug commonly prescribed to treat depression, prevents the sending neuron from taking in excess serotonin. Which process does this drug prevent from taking place?
reuptake
The goal of constraint-induced therapy is to
rewire damaged brains by forcing patients to use a nonfunctioning limb.
Research participants were asked to identify a word that could be associated meaningfully with each of three other words. Solutions that occurred with sudden insight were accompanied by a burst of activity in the brain's ________ lobe.
right temporal
Which cells for visual processing are located closest to the back of the retina?
rods and cones
The occipital lobes are to ________ as the temporal lobes are to ________.
seeing; hearing
Because she was listening to the news on the radio, Mrs. Schultz didn't perceive a word her husband was saying. Her experience best illustrates
selective attention.
To remember the information presented in her psychology textbook, Susan often relates it to her own life experiences. Susan's strategy is an effective memory aid because it facilitates
semantic encoding.
When her teacher mentioned the arms race, Krista understood that the word "arms" referred to weapons and not to body parts. Krista's correct interpretation best illustrates the importance of
semantics.
Word meaning is to word order as ________ is to ________.
semantics; syntax
Which of the following play the biggest role in our feeling dizzy and unbalanced after a thrilling roller coaster ride?
semicircular canals
The process of receiving and representing stimulus energies by the nervous system is called
sensation
Hearing a sequence of sounds of different pitches is to ________ as recognizing the sound sequence as a familiar melody is to ________.
sensation; perception
As you are reading this question, the cells in your eyes are firing in response to the light coming from this paper. Which type of neuron is carrying this message to the brain?
sensory
With her eyes closed and her nose plugged, Chandra was unable to taste the difference between an onion and a pear. Her experience best illustrates the importance of
sensory interaction.
Some information in our fleeting ________ is encoded into short-term memory.
sensory memory
A rat in a Skinner box is reinforced with a food pellet only if the rat moves close to the lever. Next, reinforcement is withheld until the rat stands on its hind legs, then until the rat touches the lever, and finally, until the rat presses the lever. This example best illustrates
shaping
Alex learned how to make 3-point basketball shots by successfully making very short shots before shooting from increasingly longer distances from the hoop. This learning strategy best illustrates the process of observational learning.
shaping
Peterson and Peterson asked people to count aloud backward after they were presented with three consonants. This study found that ________ memories have a limited duration without active processing and rehearsal.
short-term
Your consciously activated but limited-capacity memory is called ________ memory.
short-term
For the most rapid acquisition of a CR, the CS should be presented
shortly before the US.
When you are expecting an incoming text message, you are much more likely to notice it the second it arrives. This best illustrates
signal detection theory.
Dr. Wilson attributes the delinquent behaviors of many teens to the pressures associated with being members of street gangs. Her account best illustrates a(n) ________ perspective.
social-cultural
A fixed-ratio schedule of reinforcement is one in which a response is reinforced only after a(n)
specified number of responses have been made.
A fixed-interval schedule of reinforcement is one in which a response is reinforced only after a(n)
specified time period has elapsed.
The classic gate-control theory suggests that pain is experienced when small nerve fibers activate and open a neural gate in the
spinal cord.
The knee-jerk reflex is controlled by interneurons in the
spinal cord.
Language refers to the
spoken, written, or signed words and the ways they are combined to communicate meaning.
Unlike the use of algorithms or heuristics, insight does not involve
strategy-based solutions.
Professor Woo noticed that the distribution of students' scores on her last biology test had an extremely small standard deviation. This indicates that the
students' scores tended to be very similar to one another.
Parapsychology refers to the
study of phenomena such as ESP and psychokinesis.
Introductory psychology students performed best on a midterm psychology test if they had previously spent five minutes a day visualizing themselves
studying effectively.
Audiotapes of soothing ocean sounds accompanied by faint and imperceptible verbal messages designed to increase a desire to lose weight best illustrate
subliminal stimulation.
Which of the following is an unconditioned response?
sweating in hot weather
An accelerated heartbeat is to a slowed heartbeat as the ________ nervous system is to the ________ nervous system.
sympathetic; parasympathetic
Neurotransmitters are chemical messengers that travel across the
synaptic gap.
Lavonne was careful to avoid the use of dangling participles and run-on sentences in her essay because she did not want to lose points for faulty
syntax.
A mental set is a
tendency to approach a problem in a way that has been successful in the past.
A hypothesis is a(n)
testable prediction that gives direction to research.
Your ability to experience the physical pleasure of a hot shower is most likely to be disrupted by damage to your
thalamus
Mandy came home late. As she reached to turn on the kitchen light, her hand brushed against something unexpected. Her adrenal glands, as a part of the "fight-or-flight" response, released epinephrine and norepinephrine, which increased her heart rate and blood pressure. Even after she realized it was just the curtain, her excited feelings lingered. This example illustrates
that endocrine messages tend to outlast the effects of neural messages.
Lyle was asked if more words start with the letter r, or have r as the third letter. Since he could think of more words that started with r, he concluded that must be the correct answer. Lyle's reasoning best illustrates
the availability heuristic.
Many people perceive carjackings as more serious threats to their lives than failing to use seatbelts because carjackings are so much more memorable. This best illustrates the importance of
the availability heuristic.
Bilingual children, who inhibit one language while using the other, can better inhibit their attention to irrelevant information. This has been called
the bilingual advantage.
Most Americans still have accurate flashbulb memories of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001. This best illustrates that memory formation is facilitated by
the body's release of stress hormones.
Our inability to fall asleep early as we had planned is most likely a reflection of
the circadian rhythm.
Punishment is a potentially hazardous way for teachers to control young children's behaviors because
the use of punishment could condition children to fear and avoid school.
Desensitization and imitation are two factors that contribute to
the violence-viewing effect.
Framing refers to
the way in which a problem or issue is phrased or worded.
In the hypothesis "Students who study a list of terms in the morning, just after waking up, will recall more terms than students who study the list just before falling asleep," what is the independent variable?
time of day
Which of the following best illustrates the impact of central nervous system activity in the absence of normal sensory input?
tinnitus
The effect of prior experience and current expectations on perception best illustrates the importance of
top-down processing.
The process by which our sensory systems convert stimulus energies into neural messages is called
transduction
Classical conditioning involves a learned association between
two stimuli.
Telegraphic speech is most closely associated with the ________ stage of language development.
two-word
Which basic taste attracts us to protein-rich foods?
umami
Contemporary psychologists are most likely to criticize Whorf's linguistic determinism hypothesis for
underestimating the extent to which thinking occurs without language.
Chomksy suggested that diverse human languages share a
universal grammar.
On the first day of class, Professor Wallace tells her geography students that pop quizzes will be given at unpredictable times throughout the semester. Clearly, studying for Professor Wallace's surprise quizzes will be reinforced on a ________ schedule.
variable-interval
The feature detectors identified by Hubel and Weisel respond to specific aspects of ________ stimulation.
visual
The area of the brain that receives information from the nose is directly connected with the limbic system. This connection may explain why smells are often involved in which of the following?
vivid memories
Margie insists that she never dreams, but her sister feels she can prove otherwise. To prove that Margie does dream, the sister should
wake Margie after 5 minutes of REM sleep and ask her what she's dreaming.
A majority of respondents in a national survey agreed that "classroom prayer should not be allowed in public schools." Only 33 percent of respondents in a similar survey agreed that "classroom prayer in public schools should be banned. " These divergent findings best illustrate the importance of
wording effects.
Surveys indicate that people are much less likely to support "welfare" than "aid to the needy." These somewhat paradoxical survey results best illustrate the importance of
wording effects.
Our lips are more sensitive than our knees to sensations of touch due to which of the following?
A larger area of the sensory cortex is associated with our lips.
Which of the following would be most characteristic of a 2-year-old's telegraphic speech?
"eat apple"
Which of the following correlations between self-esteem and body weight would enable you to most accurately predict body weight from knowledge of level of self-esteem?
+0.60
A human sperm cell contains
23 chromosomes.
Why is it dangerous to combine alcohol with a sleeping pill?
Alcohol and sleeping pills are depressants; their combined action reduces nervous system activity and can lead to death.
Marvin happens to wear a red shirt when he takes a test he expects to fail. Surprisingly, he does well on the test, so he wears the red shirt every time he takes a test. Which of the following explains Marvin's superstitious behavior?
Any behavior that is accidentally reinforced is more likely to be repeated.
Which of the following is most accurate about a typical night's sleep?
As sleep progresses, Stage 3 and Stage 4 sleep diminish while REM sleep increases.
The psychologist most closely associated with the study of operant conditioning was
B. F. Skinner.
Six-month-old Ohmar recognizes the difference between squares and circles just as accurately as his 3-year-old brother, who can correctly name the different shapes. This fact would most directly challenge
Benjamin Whorf's linguistic determinism hypothesis.
The infant Albert developed a fear of rats after a white rat was associated with a loud noise. In this example, fear of the white rat was the
CR
To assess whether Mrs. Webster had Alzheimer's disease, researchers conditioned her to blink in response to a sound that signaled the delivery of a puff of air directed toward her face. In this application of classical conditioning, the sound was a
CS
Extinction occurs when a ________ is no longer paired with a ________.
CS; US
Who emphasized that the whole may exceed the sum of its parts?
Gestalt psychologists
Who introduced the term behaviorism?
John B. Watson
Who would have been most likely to ignore mental processes and to define psychology as "the scientific study of observable behavior"?
John B. Watson
Which of the following is a psychedelic drug?
LSD
Why are researchers careful to use large, representative samples in their studies?
Larger, representative sample sizes help ensure reliable and valid results.
Which psychologist was the first woman to receive a Ph.D. in psychology after Harvard University declined to give Mary Calkins the Ph.D.?
Margaret Washburn
Who was a student of William James and the first female president of the American Psychological Association?
Mary Calkins
Which of the following is an example of biofeedback?
Milos learns to relax by being provided with information on changes in his heart rate
The concentration of glucose in active regions of the brain underlies the usefulness of a(n)
PET scan.
Who would be most likely to emphasize the role of the unconscious in affecting behavior?
Sigmund Freud
Which of the following best describes how the brain processes and controls language?
Subfunctions of speech (such as producing speech, reading aloud, and understanding speech) are processed by different parts of the brain.
Which of the following is true of "hypnotically refreshed" memories?
The combine fact and fiction.
Cocking your head would be most useful for detecting the ______ of a sound.
location
How have gender roles in the United States changed over time?
Traditional masculine or feminine traits are not as significant in mate selection as they were in the past.
In Pavlov's experiments, the taste of food triggered salivation in a dog. The food in the dog's mouth was the
US
Those who learn sign language as teens never become as fluent as children exposed to sign language from birth. This best illustrates the importance of ________ for mastering language.
a critical period
As he attempted to spell the word "receive," Tim reminded himself "i before e except after c. " Tim's self-reminder best illustrates the use of
a heuristic.
In elementary school and high school, Charlie got away with copying his test answers from classmates. Because the college has test proctors who are very observant, Charlie spends as many hours devising new ways to cheat as it would take him to study and perform well in an honest fashion. Charlie's strategy for passing tests illustrates the consequences of
a mental set.
Introductory psychology students were more likely to achieve a good midterm exam grade if prior to the exam they repeatedly practiced visual imagery that involved
a process simulation.
Shortly after hearing a list of items, people tend to recall the last items in the list especially quickly and accurately. This best illustrates
a recency effect.
To demonstrate that brain stimulation can make a rat violently aggressive, a neuroscientist should electrically stimulate the rat's
amygdala
Transferring messages from a motor neuron to a leg muscle requires the neurotransmitter known as
acetylcholine
Some opiate drugs have molecular structures so similar to endorphins that they mimic endorphin's euphoric effects in the brain, making these opiate drugs which kind of molecule?
agonists
Which brain area is primarily involved with reading aloud?
angular gyrus
Due to illness that caused damage Kobie is unable to get memories from short term to long term memory. This is called
anterograde amnesia
Every morning, Krista pages through a picture book with her 12-month-old daughter. For each picture, Krista points to the picture and identifies it by name, such as "dog." This example best illustrates the use of which of the following in helping her daughter learn language?
association
The most extensive regions of the cerebral cortex, which enable learning and memory, are called the
association areas.
Both classical and operant conditioning are forms of
associative learning.
Infants are first able to discriminate speech sounds during the ________ stage.
babbling
Researchers are interested in studying the impact of drugs on human fetuses. In this case, why would a correlational study be more appropriate than an experiment?
because participants could not be ethically assigned to an experimental or control condition
A researcher who assesses the heritability of intelligence is most likely a(n)behavior geneticist.
behavior geneticist.
Rochelle is extremely thin but is convinced that she is too fat. Rochelle's certainty is best explained by which of the following concepts?
belief perseverance
Encouraging people to elaborate on why their own personal views on an issue are correct is most likely to promote
belief perseverance.
A prototype is a
best example of a particular category.
Mr. Lopez believes that severe depression results primarily from an imbalanced diet and abnormal brain chemistry. Mr. Lopez favors a ________ perspective on depression.
biological
Which perspective is most relevant to understanding the impact of strokes and brain diseases on memory?
biological
The area of the retina where the optic nerve leaves the eye is called the
blind spot.
Ms. Shields, a recent stroke victim, cannot consciously perceive the large book on the coffee table in front of her. Yet, when urged to identify the book, she correctly reads aloud the printed title on the book cover. Her response best illustrates
blindsight
The sequence of brain regions from the evolutionarily oldest to newest is
brainstem; limbic system; cerebral cortex.
In 1848, Phineas Gage, a railroad construction foreman, survived when an explosion drove an iron rod through his head damaging the functioning of the frontal lobes. This instance provided evidence that the frontal lobe plays a role in personality and behavior. Researchers have continued to study Gage's brain to better understand this link. Which research method is being used?
case study
To promote cognitive efficiency, concepts are often organized into
category hierarchies.
Researchers use experiments rather than other research methods in order to distinguish between
causes and effects.
The association areas are located in the
cerebral cortex.
The thin surface layer of interconnected neural cells that covers the cerebrum is called the
cerebral cortex.
Researchers found that 40 percent of people focused on repeating a list of challenging words failed to notice a change in the person speaking. This best illustrates
change deafness.
In explaining human behavior, psychoanalysts are likely to focus on ________, whereas humanistic psychologists concentrate on ________.
childhood experiences and unconscious thought processes; current environmental influences on potential
The benefits of brain plasticity are most clearly demonstrated in
children who have had a cerebral hemisphere surgically removed.
Research participants picked one of two photographed faces as more attractive. When researchers cleverly switched the photos, participants readily explained why they preferred the face they had actually rejected. Their behavior illustrated
choice blindness.
Sherry easily remembers the telephone reservation number for Holiday Inns by using the mnemonic 1-800-HOLIDAY. She is using a memory aid known as
chunking
Last year, Dr. Moritano cleaned Natacha's skin with rubbing alcohol prior to administering each of a series of painful rabies vaccination shots. Which of the following processes accounts for the fact that Natacha currently becomes fearful every time she smells rubbing alcohol?
classical conditioning
Automatically blinking to an air puff is to ________ as raising your hand to answer a question is to ________.
classical conditioning; operant conditioning
Dr. Roberts hypothesized that students in a classroom seating 30 would get higher course grades than students seated in an auditorium seating 300. In this example,
classroom size has been operationally defined.
For no apparent reason, Adam has recently begun to feel so tense and anxious that he frequently stays home from work. It would be most beneficial for Adam to contact a(n) ________ psychologist.
clinical
While singing to you on your birthday, your friends leave off the very last word of the song, "Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday dear David, Happy birthday to...." Your tendency to mentally fill in the last word best reflects which of the following Gestalt principles of organization?
closure
The coiled, fluid-filled tube in which sound waves trigger nerve impulses is called the
cochlea
Which term refers to all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating?
cognition
Dr. MacPherson believes that the way students organize and think about the information in their textbooks will strongly influence their ability to later remember and use what they have studied. Dr. MacPherson's ideas most directly exemplify the ________ perspective.
cognitive
Which perspective is most concerned with how individuals interpret their experiences?
cognitive
Some psychologists believe that rats develop mental representations of mazes they have explored. These representations have been called
cognitive maps.
Professor Pegler's research efforts focus on how the use of heuristics influences the way people assess financial risks. Which specialty area does his research best represent?
cognitive psychology
The tendency to search for information consistent with our preconceptions is called
confirmation bias.
University students were asked to figure out the rule used to devise the three-number sequence 2-4-6. After generating sets of three numbers to learn whether their sets met the rule, they typically convinced themselves of the wrong rule. Their errors best illustrated the impact of
confirmation bias.
Effortful processing can occur only with
conscious attention.
Automatic processing occurs without
conscious awareness
A trainer wants to train a chicken to peck a key to obtain food. If she wants the chicken to learn this trick quickly and the behavior to be resistant to extinction, she should use ________ reinforcement until the response is mastered and then follow with a period of ________ reinforcement.
continuous; partial
In an experiment designed to study the effectiveness of a new drug, research participants who receive a placebo are participating in the ________ condition.
control
Which of the following is the correct order of structures light passes through in the eye?
cornea, iris, pupil, lens, retina
Information is most quickly transmitted from one cerebral hemisphere to the other by the
corpus callosum.
A questioning attitude regarding psychologists' assumptions and hidden values best illustrates
critical thinking.
In transmitting sensory information to the brain, an electrical signal travels from the ________ of a single neuron.
dendrites to the cell body to the axon
An undersupply of serotonin is most closely linked to
depression
Weber's law is relevant to an understanding of
difference thresholds.
Jacqueline is sexually aroused by the sight of her handsome boyfriend but not by the sight of her equally handsome brother. This best illustrates the value of
discrimination
The danger of using the representativeness heuristic is that it may lead us to
disregard probability information that is relevant to our judgments.
The perceived size of an object is most strongly influenced by that object's perceived
distance
Generating multiple possible answers to a problem illustrates
divergent thinking.
When looking at a flying bird, we are consciously aware of our cognitive processing ("It's a bird!") but not of our subconscious processing of the bird's form, color, distance, and movement. This illustrates what psychologists call
dual processing.
While in a context similar to one you've been in before, you see a stranger who looks and walks like one of your friends. These circumstances are likely to trigger the experience of
déjà vu.
Basing decisions or conclusions on observable evidence describes which of the following?
empirical approach
Although Arturo has looked at his watch thousands of times, he is unable to recall whether the watch features Arabic or Roman numerals. This is most likely due to a failure in
encoding
Priming is to retrieval as rehearsal is to
encoding
Hormones are the chemical messengers of the
endocrine system.
Opiate drugs occupy the same receptor sites as
endorphins
The human capacity for storing long-term memories is
essentially unlimited
Mark believes that people are genetically predisposed to dislike bitter-tasting foods because this has enhanced human survival. His belief best illustrates the ________ perspective.
evolutionary
Which perspective highlights the reproductive advantages of inherited psychological traits?
evolutionary
Many researchers believe that pleasing tastes attracted our ancestors to energy- or protein-rich foods that enabled their survival. Such researchers are most likely
evolutionary psychologists.
To exercise maximum control over the factors they are interested in studying, researchers engage in
experimentation
After Pavlov had conditioned a dog to salivate to a tone, he repeatedly sounded the tone without presenting the food. As a result, ________ occurred.
extinction
After being classically conditioned to salivate to a tone, a dog continues to hear a tone but does not receive food; as a result, salivation will decrease, then disappear. A dog owner may use operant conditioning to train a dog to "sit" by presenting a treat each time the dog sits. However, the behavior may diminish if the treats are discontinued. Both examples illustrate
extinction
Whenever Arlo reminded himself that his musical skills could earn him fame and fortune, he became less creative in his musical performance. This best illustrates that creativity may be inhibited by
extrinsic motivation.
Research suggests that an important factor contributing to drug abuse by youth and young adults is
feeling that one's life is meaningless.
People are very likely to decide to be organ donors when the default option on their renewable drivers' license forms is yes but they can choose to drop out. They are much less likely to decide to be organ donors if the default option on their license forms is no but they can choose to opt in. This best illustrates the effects of
framing.
Which theory best explains how we perceive low-pitched sounds?
frequency theory
In 1848, Phineas Gage, a railroad construction foreman, survived when an explosion drove an iron rod through his head. The once friendly, soft-spoken Gage became irritable and dishonest. Gage's case provided evidence that which region of the brain plays a role in personality and behavior?
frontal lobes
Marlene forgot to bring a pillow on the camping trip, so she spent a very uncomfortable and restless night. Unfortunately, she never thought of using her down-filled jacket as a pillow. Marlene's oversight best illustrates
functional fixedness.
Raul and Sophia were having a picnic when it started to rain. They did not think of using their big plastic tablecloth as a temporary rain shelter and so were drenched within minutes. Their oversight best illustrates
functional fixedness.
Little Albert was conditioned by John B. Watson to fear furry white rats. After conditioning, Albert also showed fear to rabbits, dogs, and fur coats. This best illustrates
generalization
Monica's psychotherapist reminds her so much of her own father that she has many of the same mixed emotional reactions to him that she has to her own dad. Her reactions to her therapist best illustrate the importance of
generalization
It is difficult to explain language acquisition solely in terms of imitation and reinforcement because children
generate all sorts of sentences they have never heard before.
Molecular behavior geneticists seek links between __________ and specific disorders.
genes
In suggesting that our ancestral history has prepared us to fear snakes, psychologists are emphasizing that what we fear is influenced by
genetic factors.
Studies of identical twins who had been reared apart most clearly highlight the importance of ________ in personality development.
genetic predispositions
Adopted individuals are more susceptible to alcohol dependence if one or both biological parents have a history of it. This indicates that alcohol dependence is
genetically influenced.
Humanistic psychologists focused on the importance of
healthy growth potential.
Hypnosis involves a state of
heightened openness to suggestion.
When asked to indicate whether San Diego or San Antonio has more inhabitants, more German university students answered correctly than did American university students. This best illustrated the adaptive value of a(n)
heuristic.
In one experiment, Wolfgang Köhler watched an ape suddenly solve a problem of reaching bananas hanging from the ceiling by stacking and climbing up a number of crates. Which of the following did Köhler conclude the ape used in problem solving?
insight
What type of learning sometimes occurs after an extended period of thinking about a problem but little or no direct, systematic interaction with the environment?
insight learning
Marcy grows roses for the sheer joy of it; Jennifer grows them to sell at a profit. Marcy's behavior reflects ________, whereas Jennifer's behavior reflects ________.
intrinsic motivation; extrinsic motivation
Behaviorists dismissed the value of
introspection
In contrast to our explicit conscious reasoning, our seemingly effortless and automatic feelings or thoughts are called
intuitions
Chomsky suggested that as a child first begins hearing language, appropriate settings or standards regarding the rules of that language are activated in the child's
language acquisition device.
Chomsky's theory of language development suggests that children have an inborn
language acquisition device.
The isolated Piraha tribespeople of Brazil have no words for specific numbers higher than 2. If shown seven nuts in a row they find it difficult to lay out the same number from their own pile of nuts. This best illustrates the impact of
language on thinking.
Greg remembered a recent dream in which his girlfriend suddenly grabbed the wheel of his speeding car. Greg's therapist suggested that the dream might be a representation of the girlfriend's efforts to avoid sexual intimacy. According to Freud, the therapist was attempting to reveal the ________ of Greg's dream.
latent content
The best evidence that animals develop cognitive maps comes from studies of
latent learning.
After experiencing inescapable brutalities as a prisoner in a Nazi concentration camp, Mr. Sternberg became apathetic, stopped eating, and gave up all efforts to physically survive the ordeal. Mr. Sternberg's reaction most clearly illustrates
learned helplessness.
Compared with rods, cones are
less sensitive to dim light and more sensitive to fine detail.
Skinner is to shaping as Bandura is to
modeling
Evolutionary psychologists have suggested that men are ________ likely than women to prefer mates with a fertile-looking appearance and ________ likely than women to prefer mates with wealth and social status.
more; less
Compared with women, men are ________ likely to sacrifice to gain sex and ________ likely to perceive warm responses as a sexual come-on.
more; more
In the words "lightly," "neatly," and "shortly," the "ly" ending is a(n)
morpheme
In the words "lightly," "neatly," and "shortly," the "ly" ending is a(n)
morpheme.
The smallest speech units that carry meaning are called
morphemes
Research participants who were exposed to very convincing arguments about the desirability of frequent toothbrushing misrecalled how frequently they had brushed their teeth in the preceding two weeks. This best illustrates
motivated forgetting.
An area at the rear of the frontal lobes that controls voluntary movements is called the
motor cortex.
The slowdown of neural communication in multiple sclerosis involves a degeneration of the
myelin sheath
The slowdown of neural communication in multiple sclerosis involves a degeneration of the
myelin sheath.
The prevalence of genetically predisposed traits that have a reproductive advantage is best explained in terms of
natural selection.
The survival of organisms best suited to a particular environment is known as
natural selection.
Psychologists who carefully watch the behavior of chimpanzee societies in the jungle are using a research method known as
naturalistic observation.
Arguments as to whether psychological differences between men and women result from biological or social influences most clearly involve a debate over the issue of
nature versus nurture.
Escape from an aversive stimulus is a ________ reinforcer.
negative
Mason, a stockbroker, runs two miles every day after work because it reduces his level of stress. Mason's running habit is maintained by a(n) ________ reinforcer.
negative
When 4-year-old Michael hit his sister, his Mom placed him in a time-out by having him stand in a corner for 4 minutes. A time-out is considered to be
negative punishment.
People can simultaneously process many aspects of sensory information such as color, shape, and size. This best illustrates the functioning of multiple
neural networks.
By simply thinking about a move, which activates their brain cells, people may be able to move a robotic arm. This best illustrates
neural prosthetics.
Physical exercise and exposure to stimulating environments are most likely to promote
neurogenesis
Dendrites are branching extensions of
neurons
The chemical messengers released into the spatial junctions between neurons are called
neurotransmitters
The best evidence that there is a critical period for language acquisition is the fact that
people most easily master the grammar of a second language during childhood.
Which of the following sensory receptors detect hurtful temperatures, pressure, or chemicals?
nociceptors
In a well-known experiment, preschool children pounded and kicked a large inflated Bobo doll that an adult had just beaten on. This experiment served to illustrate the importance of
observational learning.
At 17 months of age, Julie says "wada" whenever she wants a drink of water. Julie is most likely in the ________ stage of language development.
one-word
Children often learn to associate pushing a vending machine button with the delivery of a candy bar. This best illustrates the process underlying
operant conditioning.
Morphine and heroin are
opiates
Which theory best explains the occurrence of afterimages?
opponent-process
In English, adjectives precede nouns. This is a rule of syntax, which is the
orderly arrangement of words into grammatically sensible sentences.
REM sleep is called paradoxical sleep because
our nervous system is highly active, while our voluntary muscles hardly move.
Sasha believes that she is a very good driver. Her belief leads her to take unnecessary risks, such as driving too fast and cutting in front of other drivers. Sasha's driving appears to be affected by
overconfidence
The brain's release of endorphins reduces
pain
The ability to simultaneously recognize the color, shape, size, and speed of an oncoming automobile best illustrates
parallel processing.
Injury to the left ________ lobe damages the convergent thinking required for successful performance on intelligence tests.
parietal
Which lobes of the brain receive the input that enables you to feel someone scratching your back?
parietal
The specialist most likely to have a medical degree is a(n)
psychiatrist
A clinical psychologist who explains behavior in terms of unconscious drives and conflicts is employing a(n) ________ perspective.
psychodynamic
Mrs. Alfieri believes that her husband's angry outbursts against her result from his unconscious hatred of his own mother. Mrs. Alfieri is looking at her husband's behavior from a(n) ________ perspective.
psychodynamic
The adjustable opening in the center of the eye is the
pupil
To study the effects of noise on worker productivity, researchers have one group of subjects work in a noisy room and a second group work in a quiet room. To ensure that any differences in the productivity of the two groups actually result from the different noise levels to which the groups are exposed, the researchers would use
random assignment.
Which procedure helps to ensure that the participants in a survey are representative of a larger population?
random sampling
Drug tolerance refers to the
reduced effect of a drug resulting from its regular usage
After drinking three cans of beer, Akiva felt less guilty about the way he mistreated his wife and children. Akiva's reduced guilt most likely resulted from the fact that his alcohol consumption has
reduced his self-awareness.
In an effort to remember how to spell "rhinoceros," Samantha spells the word aloud 30 times. She is using a technique known as
rehearsal
Renny knew the red tulip was closer to her than the yellow tulip because the red one cast a larger retinal image than the yellow one. This illustrates the importance of the distance cue known as
relative size.
The law of effect refers to the tendency to
repeat behaviors that are rewarded.
Which technique involves repeating the essence of an earlier research study with different participants and in different circumstances?
replication
Judging the likelihood that things fall into a certain category on the basis of how well they seem to match a particular prototype refers to the use of the
representativeness heuristic.
Which region of your brainstem plays a role in arousing you to a state of alertness when someone nearby mentions your name?
reticular formation
Abdul has volunteered to participate in an experiment evaluating the effectiveness of aspirin. Neither he nor the experimenters know whether the pills he takes during the experiment contain aspirin or are merely placebos. The investigators are apparently making use of
the double-blind procedure.
Ojinska sold many more raffle tickets when she told potential buyers they had a 10 percent chance of winning a prize than when she told them they had a 90 percent chance of not winning. This best illustrates
the framing effect.
According to Emily's grandfather, Adolf Hitler's obvious emotional instability made it clear from the beginning days of his international conflicts that Germany would inevitably lose World War II. The grandfather's claim best illustrates
the hindsight bias.
People have always responded so positively to Alyssa's good looks that she has developed a socially confident and outgoing personality. This best illustrates
the interaction of nature and nurture.
Leland's language does not distinguish between "family love" and "romantic love," so he has difficulty realizing that he deeply loves his sister. Which of the following is most relevant to Leland's difficulty?
the linguistic determinism hypothesis
Many of the experimental participants who were asked how fast two cars in a filmed traffic accident were going when they smashed into each other subsequently recalled seeing broken glass at the scene of the accident. This experiment best illustrated
the misinformation effect.
Visually associating five items needed from the grocery store with mental images of a bun, a shoe, a tree, a door, and a hive best illustrates the use of
the peg-word system.
Miss Jan De Jong is orderly, neat, fairly quiet, and shy. She enjoys reading in her spare time and belongs to a social club that includes three librarians, nine real estate agents, and eight social workers. A tendency to conclude that Jan must be one of the three librarians would illustrate the powerful influence of
the representativeness heuristic.
The tendency for distributed study to yield better long-term retention than massed study is known as
the spacing effect.
Which research method would be most appropriate for investigating the relationship between the religious beliefs of Americans and their attitudes toward abortion?
the survey
