PSYCH 101 MIDTERM EXAM REVIEW

What is the definition of learning?

A relatively permanent change in behavior brought about through experience

The theorist ______________ developed the theory of observational learning.

Albert Bandura

____________ disease is a progressive, irreversible brain disorder that is characterized by gradual deterioration of memory, reasoning, language, and eventually physical functioning.

Alzheimer

__________ intelligence is the ability to judge, evaluate, compare, and contrast.

Analytical

According to Thorndike's law of effect, which of the following are true?

Behaviors followed by good results are more likely to occur again. Behaviors followed by bad results are less likely to occur.

______area is a region in the left hemisphere of the brain that is involved in the control of speech. People with damage in this part of the brain have problems saying words correctly.

Broca's

_________ is a learning disability characterized by difficulty with learning to read fluently and with accurate comprehension, despite normal intelligence.

Dyslexia

Which statement about the seven contemporary approaches to psychology is most accurate?

Each perspective provides some insight into human behavior and mental processes.

Which of the following are functions of autobiographical memory?

It provides us with identity. It allows us to learn from our experiences. Sharing personal experience creates social bonds.

Which of the following are recommended for organizing for memory processes?

Organize the material in a way that will allow you to memorize. Review notes that you are preparing to memorize. Experiment with different organizational techniques.

__________refers to the ability of the brain to adapt and repair itself.

Plasticity

Some psychologists argue that psychology should be value-free and morally neutral. Why do some psychologists think this would this be difficult to do?

Psychologists are human and therefore cannot be value-free, even if they try.

_______ is the scientific study of behavior and mental processes.

Psychology

What is infinite generativity?

The ability to produce an infinite number of sentences using a relatively limited set of rules

Psychology has its roots in both philosophy and the natural sciences.

True

What is operant conditioning?

a form of associative learning in which the consequences of a behavior change the probability of the behavior's occurrence

The _______ threshold is the minimum amount of stimulus energy that a person can detect.

absolute

Most psychologists work in

academic settings

Critical thinking is a(n) _____ process that involves engaging with ideas and not settling for simple answers.

active

A change in the responsiveness of the sensory system based on the average level of surrounding stimulation is called sensory

adaptation

Before it can be conducted, all psychological research is subject to review by

an institutional review board.

What is a variable?

anything that can change

Uncle Charlie loves to tell family stories. His nephews observe that these stories evolve over time, but they enjoy hearing them because Charlie is a great storyteller. This is an example of how _____ memory fosters intimacy and creates social bonds.

autobiographical

The meaningless speechlike sounds uttered by infants, such as dadada, is called

babbling

________ modification is the use of operant conditioning to change human behavior by analyzing and adjusting the rewards and punishers in a particular setting.

behavior

In Pavlov's original experiment, the conditioned stimulus (CS) was the

bell

The nervous system is made up of _____ of communicating cells.

billions

Which approach to psychology emphasizes the role of physical processes such as brain and nervous system functioning?

biological

Which part of the neuron contains the nucleus?

cell body

Thinking, language, memory, and reasoning are all part of ___________ psychology.

cognitive

Which psychological perspective focuses on the mental processes involved in knowing—that is, how we direct our attention, perceive, remember, think, and solve problems?

cognitive approach

__________sprouting is the process by which axons of healthy neurons adjacent to damaged neurons grow new branches to make up for the damage.

collateral

Journalists are often not trained in psychological research; therefore, they frequently have issues presenting material appropriately. One of the better sources for learning about research is

college professionals

The brain is able to juggle multiple tasks simultaneously. That makes it a(n) _____ organ.

complex

When it comes to categorizing new information, our brains use several techniques; for example, the mental category that is used to group objects, events, and characteristics is called a(n)____________

concept

________ research serves the purpose of determining the basic dimensions of a phenomenon and defining what it is or how often it occurs, but it cannot provide causal information.

descriptive

Which of the following are types of psychological research?

descriptive experimental correlational

A(n) ________ gene will exhibit its trait even in the presence of a recessive gene.

dominant

Dr. Marsh has her General Psychology class go through an exercise in which they look at a group of objects and attempt to remember them. Then she has the class look at another group of objects and create a story involving them. The class finds the second group of objects easier to remember because of _____.

elaboration

According to the concept of levels of processing, the process of _____ involves three levels.

encoding

The initial recording of information into memory is called

encoding

Explicit memory has two subtypes. Autobiographical memory, a special form of _____________ memory (which is one of explicit memory's subtypes), is a person's recollections of his or her life experiences.

episodic

The ___________ perspective uses concepts such as adaptation, reproduction, and "survival of the fittest" as the basis for explaining specific human behaviors.

evolutionary

What are the three basic types of research used in psychology?

experimental correlational descriptive

Hermann Ebbinghaus was the first person to conduct scientific research on

forgetting

Afferent neurons convey information

from the senses to the brain

The four lobes of the brain are the

frontal occipital temporal parietal

A brain _____ is an experimental procedure involving the implantation of healthy tissue into damaged regions of the brain.

graft

Estimates of ___________can change over time and across different groups; estimates for intelligence may differ with changes in nutrition, quality of school, neighborhood stability, and other factors.

heritability

What are some traits of those who are intellectually gifted?

higher than normal IQ well-adjusted

The endocrine system conveys information in the form of chemical messengers known as _____.

hormones

Which psychological perspective emphasizes a person's positive qualities, capability for positive growth, and the freedom to choose any destiny?

humanistic approach

In order to remember the way to the library, Kareem created a mental picture of all of the things he sees on his usual route. Kareem used mental_____________ to remember the necessary route.

imagery

Reinforcement is the process in operant conditioning by which a stimulus or event following a particular behavior ___________the probability that the behavior will be repeated. The consequences of the behavior can be either positive or negative.

increases

Many people think of ____________ in terms of reasoning and thinking skills, but a broader definition is that it is an all-purpose ability to do well on cognitive tasks, to solve problems, and to learn from experience.

intelligence

What setting would researchers choose if they needed to remove the complex factors of the real world to conduct their research?

laboratory

Many experts believe that biological evolution that occurred long before ___________ emerged shaped humans into linguistic individuals.

language

_____________ is a communication system that follows rules of syntax and grammar.

language

A behaviorist might study

learning through environmental determinants

A relatively permanent type of memory that stores huge amounts of information is _____ memory.

long term

An experiment involves _____ one variable and observing the effect on another variable.

manipulating

The __________ is the region of the brain that governs breathing and regulates reflexes.

medulla

_________ is defined as the retention of information or experience over time.

memory

Dr. Quincy loves to have students in her Abnormal Psychology class work with case studies and reflect upon diagnostic questions, instead of reading and studying material. This is because Dr. Quincy is familiar with the research on memory and understands that

memory of material is better when we think deeply and connect new information with information we already have.

Dr. Wu asks students to look at real-world problems related to political science, instead of reading and studying textbooks and note cards with definitions. This is because Dr. Wu is familiar with the research on memory and understands that

memory we can connect to knowledge we already have is recalled better

Being alert and mentally present for one's everyday activities is known as which of the following?

mindfulness

The complex interaction of neurons working together to integrate and organize incoming and outgoing information is referred to as a neural

network

Nerves cells called convey information within the nervous system.

neurons

Encoding failure occurs when the information was

never entered into long-term memory

Each parent contributes _____ chromosome(s) to each pair of chromosomes.

one

A Skinner box is a chamber with a highly controlled environment that was used to study

operant conditioning processes with laboratory animals.

Before using memory processes, you must first the information you are about to study.

organize

The autonomic nervous system works to monitor processes such as breathing, heart rate, and digestion. The _____ nervous system is a subsystem within the autonomic system that calms the body.

parasympathetic

All of the following are aspects of thinking, EXCEPT

physically manipulating objects

The entire group about which the investigator draws conclusions is known as a

population

Which brain imaging technique can be used to show which general region of the brain is active at a given moment by measuring the amount of glucose in various areas of the brain and then sending this information to a computer for analysis?

positron emission tomography (PET) scan

Alan had a list of items to buy at the hardware store, but when he arrived at the store, he found he had forgotten to bring his list. "Oh, well," he said, "I remember the first three, so I may as well get those." This illustrates the _____ effect.

primacy

The type of memory that involves remembering information about doing something in the future is _____ memory.

prospective

The technique that Freud developed is called

psychoanalysis

The mental activity of transforming information to reach conclusions is known as____________ . This activity is involved in problem solving and decision making.

reasoning

Alzheimer disease involves deterioration of which of the following?

reasoning memory physical functioning language

____________ is a memory task in which the person has to retrieve previously learned information; _____ is a memory task in which the person has to identify learned items.

recall; recognition

Which of the following are examples of the areas in which psychological animal research has provided benefits to human populations?

rehabilitation of neuromuscular disorders alleviation of the effects of stress and pain behavioral medicine drugs to treat anxiety and severe mental illness

Which of the following is the memory process by which information held in memory is brought out of storage?

retrieval

Bette is able to focus on one voice in a crowded restaurant, demonstrating

selective attention

Marisol is reading her textbook while ignoring the argument her younger siblings are having in the same room. Marisol's situation is a good example of

selective attention

_________is the process of receiving stimulus energies from the environment.

sensation

__________ memory holds information from the world in its original form for only an instant, not much longer than the brief time it is exposed to the visual, auditory, and other senses.

sensory

Correlational research involves gathering data on

sets of variables

Which of the following refers to rewarding successive approximations of a desired behavior?

shaping

You are driving down the highway and see a billboard with a phone number on it. You tell yourself to remember it, but after you drive a little farther, you find you've forgotten it. This describes the limitations of___________ - _____________memory.

short-term

The approach specifically examines the ways in which social and cultural environments influence behavior.

sociocultural

Gary has decided to landscape his front yard. He has set some deadlines for himself: by Tuesday, he wants to have the weeds pulled, and by Friday, he wants to have the new plants in. Gary is using __________ in reaching his goal of a new front yard.

subgoals

My sister claims that she can taste colors. This is an example of

synaesthesia

A(n) ___ is the tiny gap between the axon terminal and the next neuron.

synapse

Overall, psychology may concern itself with the nervous system, emotion and motivation, and mind and body. However, it is essentially all about

the individual

The Atkinson-Shiffrin theory of memory proposed that there are _____ systems in memory.

three

Aversive conditioning is a form of conditioning that repeatedly pairs a stimulus with a very unpleasant stimulus.

true

An IQ test is considered ____________ if it actually tests cognitive ability.

valid

In a complex behavior, such as escaping from a burning building, how many brain systems are typically involved?

virtually all