Intro to Psychology - Midterm Exam

Match each neurotransmitter with its corresponding known or suspected effect.

Acetylcholine - Possible role in Alzheimer's disease Dopamine - Addiction, too little associated with Parkinson's, too much associated with schizophrenia Endorphins - Elevate mood and reduce pain GABA - Major neural inhibitor Serotonin - Low levels associated with depression, also related to impulsivity

_____ theory states that dreams are byproducts of random stimulation of brain cells. _____ view suggests that dreams serve an information-processing function and help us sift through our everyday experiences and thoughts.

Activation-synthesis; cognitive

Match each brain structure with its corresponding function.

Corpus callosum - Connects left and right brain hemispheres Amygdala - Influences aggression and fear Hypothalamus - Regulates hormones and drives, like hunger, thirst, sex, and aggression Thalamus - Brain's sensory switchboard; Integrates sensory information (except smell) Hippocampus - Forming and retrieving memory Medulla - Major life functions, like breathing and heart rate Cerebellum - Balance and fine motor skill coordination

Match each theory of forgetting with the appropriate example.

Decay theory - I haven't reviewed the major perspectives in psychology and forgot about humanistic and psychodynamic Retroactive interference - I moved to a new apartment and am having a hard time remembering my old address Proactive interference - I accidentally called my new girlfriend by my ex-girlfriend's name Motivated forgetting - I don't remember many details from 1998 because that was the year I got divorced Encoding failure - I don't remember the major perspectives in psychology because I never fully studied them. Retrieval failure - I tried to recall the major perspectives in psychology, but I couldn't remember them on the test.

________ is a vivid memory of circumstances associated with strongly emotional or surprising events that triggers hormone release.

Flashbulb memory

Which of the following is a ethical issue/criticism of the Watson and Rayner's Little Albert study?

It was a violation of APA ethnical guidelines for research.

Which of the following is TRUE regarding short-term memory?

Its capacity is limited to 5-9 items.

A correlation exists between cancer and stress. Which of the following is true?

Knowing a person's stress level can predict that person's likelihood of cancer.

What type of neurons in the brain are known to fire when we watch someone else perform, and when we perform a movement we have watched someone else perform?

Mirror

Match each type of consequence with the appropriate example.

Positive Reinforcement - You work hard at your job and you get a bonus Negative Reinforcement - You're allowed to skip the final exam because you did so well on your module quizzes Positive Punishment - A parent adds more chores for a bad report card Negative Punishment - A child's favorite toy is taken away because she disobeyed

What effect will multiple sclerosis, a degenerative disorder that causes myelin to disintegrate, have on a person's nerve impulses?

They will slow down.

Match the terms of classical conditioning with how it can be used to explain prejudice.

Unconditioned Stimulus - Parent's hostile reaction to disliked outgroups Unconditioned Response - Child is fearful and upset at parent's hostile reaction Conditioned Stimulus - Member of disliked outgroup Conditioned Response - Child is fearful and upset at member of disliked outgroup

If you stubbed your toe, how could you apply the gate-control theory of pain to keep your toe from hurting?

You could rub the toe that hurts.

What is MOST likely to happen to your sleep cycles the first time you get uninterrupted sleep after missing many night's sleep cramming for an exam?

You have more than the usual amount of REM sleep.

Emotional memory is stored in the _____.

amygdala

Research indicates that meditation has been somewhat successful in reducing stress because of its effects on what part of the brain?

amygdala

Studying how to improve athletic performance fits with which type of research?

applied

Another term for "learning" is _____.

conditioning

Individuals who experience flashbacks, nightmares, and impaired functioning following a life-threatening or other horrifying event are _____.

experiencing posttraumatic stress disorder

One of the main effects of Alzheimer's disease is an extreme decrease in __________.

explicit/declarative memory

If researchers gave participants varying amounts of a new "memory" drug and then gave them a story to read and measured their scores on a quiz, the _____ would be the independent variable (IV), and the _____ would be the dependent variable (DV).

exposure to the drug; quiz scores

A researcher predicts that drinking too much alcohol will induce violence at football games. The researcher is at what stage of the scientific method?

forming a testable hypothesis

The case of Phineas Gage suggests that the _____ lobes regulate our personality and are largely responsible for much of what makes us uniquely human.

frontal

Research shows that _________ contribute more to people's stress levels than ____________.

hassles; major life events.

According to Type A characteristics, ________ is the strongest predictor of heart disease.

hostility

The release of cortisol during the fight-or-flight response occurs at the end of what pathway?

hypothalamus, pituitary, adrenal cortex

The BEST way to deal with insomnia is to _____.

limit the use of your bedroom to sleep (rather than reading/watching TV)

The difference between neurons in the PNS and neurons in the CNS is that _____.

neurons in the PNS can regenerate

If three people standing next to each other witnessed a robbery and each person described the robber differently, then these different interpretations MOST LIKELY would illustrate differences in _____.

perception

In a study on student conformity, researchers selected a group of college students who appeared to represent the characteristics of students from the entire college campus. The selected group served as the _____ of the college _____.

sample; population

What happened to the chimpanzee in Köhler's insight experiment?

sat for a while, then used a stick to bring the banana within reach

An example of ___________ would be if you didn't even notice the loud crash outside the door while you were focused on taking your driver's exam.

selective attention

A patient suffering from ________ might undergo surgery to separate the left and right brain hemisphere.

severe epilepsy

A couple broke up several years ago and no longer feels any romantic feelings toward one another. This couple has a chance encounter years later, the romantic feelings start to reappear. This is an example of ______________.

spontaneous recovery

In isolation, ___________not cause ulcers; it is a contributing factor along with biological factors.

stress

According to research, eyewitnesses generally report _____ confidence in the accuracy of their inaccurate memories.

strong

If you have just witnessed a car accident, your heart rate and respiration rate are likely to be elevated due to _____ nervous system activity.

sympathetic

When we organize patterns in order to perceive an entire stimulus rather than just its parts, we are using _____ principle of perception.

the Gestalt

Yuor ablity to raed thsi sntenece desipte its mnay mssipllengis is deu to ____.

top-down processing

Which of the following is an important characteristic of hypnosis?

use of imagination and hallucination

Match the modern perspective in psychology with its appropriate description.

Psychodynamic perspective - Explores unconscious dynamics, internal motives, conflicts, and past experiences, associated with Freud. Humanistic perspective - Stresses free will and sees human nature optimistically striving to be better. Associated with Carl Rodgers and Abraham Maslow. Behavioral perspective - Rejects unconscious and introspection. Focuses on learning. Cognitive perspective - Emphasizes thoughts, perception, and information processing. Studies things like attention and memory. Biological perspective - Looks at genetics, happenings in the brain, and other parts of the nervous system. Sociocultural perspective - Looks at how factors, like ethnicity, religion, occupation, and class impact our thinking and behavior. Biopsychosocial model - An eclectic approach that integrates and unifies all major perspectives Evolutionary perspective - Argues for how natural selection favors behaviors that increase an organism's ability to survive and reproduce