Psych Exam 1: Chapters 1-4
Out of the 46 chromosomes that humans have, how many are sex linked?
2
People called "supertasters," about ________ percent of people, have more taste buds than the rest of us.
25
Which of the following correctly defines the word "hypothesis"?
A testable prediction
Sam was a researcher interested in disentangling genetic and environmental influences on human behavior. What practice of adoption agencies made Sam's work more difficult?
selective placement
When you detect physical energy by way of organs such as your eyes, ears, or skin, you are experiencing
sensation
The authors accept the philosophical belief that science is ________, that is, neither good nor bad.
value-neutral
Which of the following senses allows us to maintain balance using fluid-filled canals in the inner ear?
vestibular
Neurons respond to neurotransmitters by generating ________ activity.
electrical
Psychics who perform poorly in lab tests and blame their poor performance on "bad vibes" from skeptical researchers are displaying which sign of pseudoscience?
Ad hoc immunizing hypotheses
Alex had ________ , a rare disorder in which affected people are not able to detect pain or temperature. This puts Alex at significant risk for injury.
CIPA
The "third variable problem" is associated with which scientific thinking principle?
Correlation isn't causation.
Yannick says he will have his new baby inoculated against any childhood diseases because he's afraid the shots will cause autism. You point out that there is no scientific evidence to support that idea. Yannick says he knows that, but he just feels that it's true anyway. What logical fallacy is at work?
Emotional reasoning fallacy
Jen's doctor was concerned about the possibility that a brain tumor might be the cause of her headaches. To rule that out, she recommended that Jen have (a/an) ________, which uses magnet fields to measure the release of energy from water in biological tissues
MRI
Which statement is true about the binding problem?
Psychologists have not successfully explained it.
When we say that the heritability of a trait is 70 percent, it means that
about 70 percent of the differences among individuals in their level of that trait is caused by their genes.
According to astronomer Carl Sagan, scientific skepticism includes (1) a willingness to keep an open mind to all claims, and (2) a willingness to
accept claims only after researchers have subjected them to careful scientific tests
In the case of the mother who was able to lift a heavy automobile to save her baby (who was trapped underneath), the hormone that gave her that remarkable strength was
adrenaline
The basic difference between male and female comes down to chromosomes. Females have an XX pair and males have
an XY pair
Cheng doesn't want to take the SAT or ACT exams because he believes they will not accurately reflect his ability to succeed in college and are no more useful than flipping a coin. Cheng's guidance counselor explains that psychologists have actually determined that, while not perfect, these tests are significantly better than chance at predicting college success. These psychologists are engaged in
applied research
Professor Santander mentioned stem cells, and found that most of his class already knew what they were—particularly the controversy surrounding them. Professor Santander explained that the reason stem cells are so interesting to scientific research is that stem cells
are not yet specialized for a specific function
Dr. Alonzo is studying the effect on depression of the loss of important personal relationships and the lack of social supports. Because this research addresses social and cultural influences on psychology, it is considered to be
at the top level of analysis
Which term means our sense of hearing
audition
Reports of the effectiveness of prefrontal lobotomy on schizophrenia were tragically wrong because they were
based on subjective clinical reports
Sound is transduced by hair cells in the organ of Corti and ________ in the inner ear.
basilar membrane
Psychologists in which field consider the mind to be a "black box" in that we know what goes in and what comes out but don't need to worry about what happens inside.
behaviorism
The phrase "don't confuse me with the facts" would BEST describe which self-deception trap?
belief perseverance
When we have a "normal" distribution of data, the graphed data will form the shape of a
bell
The taste of food can give us information about its quality. For instance, an unfamiliar ________ taste might indicate the presence of poison or dangerous bacteria.
bitter
The mental procedure that we use to create a whole by perceiving its parts is called
bottom-up processing
We perceive the ________ of an object based on the intensity of the light that is reflected to our eyes.
brightness
Research has found that a single area of the brain can have multiple functions. Which brain area plays a role in speech and also lets us know when a musical note is off key?
broca's area
Which of the following is one of the four lobes of the cerebral cortex?
occipital lobe
The proverbs "birds of a feather flock together" and "opposites attract" are examples of how things we consider to be common sense
can actually be contradictory
Which research design would we use to study a rare or unusual phenomenon that would be hard to re-create in a laboratory setting?
case study
Pockets that contain cerebrospinal fluid that protect the brain from injury and supply nutrients are called
cerebral ventricles
Which imaging technology reconstructs multiple x-rays to create a three-dimensional model of the brain?
computed tomography (CT)
Which phrase indicates that when evaluating a story about psychology research, we should generally place more confidence in a reputable science journal than a popular magazine?
consider the source
The curved, transparent layer of the eye that covers the iris and pupil, and bends incoming light to focus the visual image on the back of the eye is called the
cornea
A common mistake people make in interpreting correlation results is to jump the gun and assume that
one variable has caused the other one
We like foods that taste and smell good, but what we tend to think of as "good" also depends on
culture
The process in which researchers inform participants about what the test was about and, sometimes, explain their hypothesis in nontechnical language is called
debriefing
Based on their relative _______ levels, the sound of a nearby clap of thunder will be perceived as louder than a lawn mower.
decibel
Reporting measures of central tendency that are nonrepresentative of most participants is an example of _________ of statistics.
deliberate misuse
When research participants pick up clues as to the nature of the researcher's hypothesis, their responses can be influenced by what they believe the researcher wants to find. These clues are called
demand characteristics
Although alcohol does not actually kill brain cells, it can destroy ________ in the brain.
dendrites
The classic visual cliff experiment designed by Eleanor Gibson established that infants can perceive
depth
According to the gate control model, ________ is an effective way of short-circuiting painful sensations.
distraction
Research has shown that people are especially prone to find patterns of meaning in meaningless stimuli when they
don't feel a sense of control
Which system controls secretion of blood-borne chemical messengers?
endocrine system
Wyman wanted to design a study that would be high in internal validity and allow him to infer causation. Which research design should Wyman use?
experimental design
The purpose of sending research articles to peer reviewers prior to publication is to
identify flaws in the research
The theoretical framework of psychology known as structuralism had two major problems. One was that highly trained introspectionists often disagreed on subjective reports. The other was the discovery of
imageless thought
Tiana had to submit her research proposal to a(n) ________, a group found at every major American research college and university that reviews all research carefully to protect participants against abuses.
institutional review board
Wilhelm Wundt developed the first full-fledged psychological laboratory in 1879 in Leipzig, Germany. He pioneered the technique of _______________, in which trained observers reflected on and reported on their own mental experiences.
introspection
Science begins with the premise that knowledge should first be acquired through observation. This premise is called
intuition
Evolutionary psychology has been criticized because
its predictions are difficult to falsify.
In psychology, basic research examines how the mind works. Applied research
looks at ways to solve real-life problems using basic research
Why do most individuals on both sides of the animal rights debate believe that it is "a dreadful idea" for animal activists to release captive laboratory animals?
many of the animals die shortly after being released
Which measure of the central tendency can be affected by an extreme score?
mean
The belief that "seeing is believing" is an example of
naive realism
Which type of research design is considered high in external validity, that is, the extent to which findings can be generalized to real-world situations?
naturalistic observation
Louisa was considering two explanations that could account for the same data equally well, and remembered ______________, which said we should probably choose the simplest one
occam's razor
Men who were exposed to a certain chemical in a nasal spray were more likely to give money to a team partner during a risky investment game. That chemical was
oxytocin
You've just had a nice dinner and are nodding off on the sofa. At this time, which part of your nervous system is going to work?
parasympathetic
Touch and pain information travels through the brain stem and thalamus to reach the somatosensory cortex, as well as other cortical areas such as the
parietal lobe
Our brains rely on knowledge and experience to make educated guesses about the sensory information we receive. Which of the following is formed when our expectations influence our perceptions?
perceptual set
What wildly popular theory in the 1800s was the origin of the phrase "having one's head examined"?
phrenology
Which of the following is a Gestalt principle?
proximity
Which of the following is an indication of pseudoscience
relying on anecdotes
Which of the following helps us to avoid the pitfalls of relying too much on intuition and heuristics?
research design
Although Shere Hite sent out 100,000 surveys to American women for her study on male-female relationships in the 1980s, her results were flawed because
respondents did not represent a random selection of the population being studied
The continually occurring process by which synaptic vessels reabsorb a particular neurotransmitter, thus halting neurotransmission, is known as
reuptake
By testing hypotheses and analyzing the results of these tests, scientists can provisionally accept the theory behind the hypothesis, reject the theory outright, or
revise the theory
One important aspect of a research study that peer reviewers consider is whether the study considers alternate explanations. This is called
ruling out rival hypotheses
When we hear a media report about psychological findings that offer an explanation, we should ask ourselves if this the only possible explanation. This is the first principle of scientific thinking:
ruling out rival hypotheses
Analytical thinking is ________ compared to intuitive thinking.
slow
In class, Kaylie's instructor spoke of the "nerve cable" in the body, without identifying it with a name. Which of the following extends from the base of the brain to about two-thirds of the way down the vertebral column?
spinal cord
What event affecting the brain can cause the one hand to refuse to cooperate with the other, as in the case of the man whose left hand turned off the television and hit his family members?
split-brain surgery
Which term means applying mathematics to describe and analyze data?
statistics
Mark Twain referred to three kinds of untruths: "Lies, damned lies, and statistics," because
statistics can be used to mislead people
In a study of _________, none of the participants who were presented with religious words without realizing it took the opportunity to cheat on a different task.
subliminal perception
Madeline felt heavily pressured while she was studying for exams. Madeline had to do well to keep her scholarship, to say nothing of pleasing her parents. Arousal of the ________ occurs not only during an emergency but also in response to other stressors, like important exams.
sympathetic nervous system
As neurotransmitters exit the sending axon and before passing into the receiving dendrite, they must pass through the central
synaptic cleft
Your sister, Mya, tells you that to her, the numeral 7 is always green and 4 is always red. She is surprised to find that you don't share this experience. You are surprised to discover that she has a rare condition known as
synesthesia.
Scientists who study the brain use the term "plasticity" to describe
the ability of the nervous system to change
The question of how we combine cues of shape, motion, color, and depth over time into a meaningful total picture is called
the binding problem
Magic tricks can fool us because performers capitalize on the way our perception and attention work. Which saying is the most correct?
the hand is quicker than the brain
Which of the following is one of the APA's published codes of ethics regarding Informed Consent?
the research, its expected duration, and any potential risks, discomfort, or adverse effects associated with it.
Sigmund Freud's psychoanalysis focused on
the role of unconscious
The process whereby the nervous system converts an external stimulus into electrical signals within neurons.
transduction
Gray decided to present his statistical data in a(n) ________, which is considered a "no-no" as a way to present statistical data.
truncated line graph
Physiological studies to determine if humans possess taste receptors for ________ demonstrate the importance of replicating research results.
umami