Psych final exam
Which of the following is the best example of fluid intelligence?
Using cubes to figure out the solution to a previously unseen puzzle
a mental image of a spatial layout is called
a cognitive map
a particular group of brain cells seem to provide a basis for observational learning. researchers call these specialized cells
mirror neurons
A standardized test must have all of the following EXCEPT
multiple-choice questions
In adult humans, which of the following is typically true of REM sleep?
It is correlated with dreaming.
According to the ethical guidelines set by the American Psychological Association (APA), which of the following is true of psychological research in which animals are used as subjects?
It should conform to all APA ethical guidelines for animal research.
the hypothesis that intelligence is in part inherited is best supported by the fact that the IQ correlation for
pairs of identical twins is greater than for pairs of fraternal twins
henry took an intelligence test and scored lower than he thought he should. He kept retaking the test, but he kept getting about the same score each time. This series of events indicates that the test was
reliable
Tina is reading an important letter when she accidentally splashes water on the paper. The water has smudged a few words, but she is still able to understand what the letter says. This can be explained by
top-down processing
which of the following best reflects contemporary interpretations of classical conditioning?
they take into account cognitive processes like expectancy
in high school, it did not seems to make a difference how much Clive studied spanish, he always earned poor grades. now that clive is in college, he is required to take spanish again. according to the concept of learned helplessness, which of the following statements can be most expected from clive as he starts the new spanish class?
"Why study? There isn't anything I can do to improve my Spanish skills."
in a normal distribution of test scores, the percentage of scores that all at or below the mean score is
50
A test has a mean of 80 with a standard deviation of 4. Which of the following scores is within one standard deviation of the mean?
77
Experimental research differs from correlational research in that experimental research
may reveal a causal relation
People who have experienced severe damage to the frontal lobe of the brain seldom regain their ability to
make and carry out plans
Although people can acquire phobias to almost any object or situation, certain phobias (e.g., those to snakes, spiders, heights) are much more common than others. This finding can best be explained by which of the following concepts?
Biological preparedness
Which of the following is true of the frequency distributions shown in the graphs above?
Distribution B has more variation than distributions A or C.
Which of the following theories most accurately explains pitch perception? Opponent process Frequency Place
II only
Michael, who has an IQ of 60, is able to do complex calculations in his head, regardless of the size of the numbers. When he is with his family and friends, he does not engage socially; he focuses on his numerical calculations. Which of the following best describes these characteristics?
Savant syndrome
A cancer patient becomes nauseated following chemotherapy treatments. After a few treatments, the patient begins having a sick feeling whenever entering the treatment room. The treatment room has become
a conditioned stimulus
charles spearman's concept of g is most accurately defined as
a single, underlying intellectual capacity reassured by intelligence tests
The intensity at which a sound becomes audible for a given individual is known as the individual's
absolute threshold
the APA was administered to to incoming college psychology majors. their scores were later compared to their performance in the introductory psychology course, and high scores on PAT were related to high grades in the course. therefore the PAT has
adequate standardization
information is relayed to the spinal cord or the brain by
afferent neurons
Kathy is learning how to cook. She follows every direction on each recipe step by step to make sure her food tastes good. Which of the following describes the problem-solving approach that Kathy is using?
algorithm
activation of the sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system results in
an increase in respiratory rate
A dog retrieves the newspaper every day because in the past it received a food reward for this behavior. The dog's behavior is an example of which of the following?
an operant response
After having a stroke resulting from a blockage of blood to the medial temporal lobe, Gerald could not remember new information, such as the books he had just read, new songs he had just heard, or the faces of new people he had just met. Gerald was experiencing
anterograde amnesia
A basic assumption underlying the evolutionary approach to sexual attraction is that men seek potential mates who
appear fertile
Which of the following refers to the potential of an individual to perform an as-yet-unlearned task?
aptitude
which process transfers information from sensory memory to short-term memory?
attention
The area labeled X in the drawing above denotes which of the following structures?
axon terminals
When struck by light energy, cones and rods in the retina generate neural signals that then activate the
bipolar cells
The intelligence quotient (IQ) has traditionally been based on the relationship between an individual's mental age and his or her
chronological age
the coiled tube in the inner ear that contains the auditory receptors is called the
cochlea
drawing a random sample of people from a town for an interview study of social attitudes ensures that
each person in the town has the same probability of being chosen for the study
most glands in the human body are a part of which system?
endocrine
In memory experiments on free recall, the recency effect refers specifically to the
enhanced recall of items at the end of a list of words
in extreme cases, surgically severing the corpus callosum is a treatment for which of the following conditions?
epilepsy
an individual's ability to remember the day he or she first swam the length of a swimming pool is most clearly an example of which of the following kinds of memory?
episodic
The next question(s) are based on this scenario: A researcher randomly assigned boys and girls to each of two groups. One group watched a violent television program while the other group watched a nonviolent program. The children were then observed during a period of free play, and the incidence of aggressive behavior was recorded for each group. This research method is best characterized as
experimental
An individual's fear of dogs that is lost as the individual is exposed to dogs in nonthreatening situations is referred to by behaviorists as a fear that has been
extinguished
The reversible figure above illustrates the Gestalt organizing principle of
figure-ground
Visual acuity is best in the
fovea
Failure to recognize that an object typically not used for a particular purpose can, in fact, serve that purpose illustrates which of the following?
functional fixedness
Sigmund Freud believed that dream analysis was a useful device for
gaining insight into unconscious motives
A group of friends watched a recent episode of a crime investigation show and concluded that they would have been able to figure out who was responsible for a crime more proficiently than did the television investigators. The friends' overestimation of their ability to determine who committed the crime is most likely due to a reasoning error known as
hindsight bias
Mary participates in an exercise program because she experiences an increase in energy and feelings of well-being at the end of each exercise session. The best explanation for Mary's perseverance in the program is that exercise
increases her level of endorphins
Dylan has difficulty solving a physics problem in class. The next day, he suddenly thinks of a solution to the problem as he is watching a friend play the guitar. The thought process that Dylan experienced is an example of
insight learning
When Sophie reads her history assignments, she goes over them very carefully and tries to memorize each fact. Emma, on the other hand, studies by trying to relate the new information to things she has experienced, been told about by others, or seen in movies and on television. Emma's performance on history tests will probably be better than Sophie's due to differences in
levels of processing
in elementary school, lisa learned to speak some Japanese in addition to english. as a sophomore in high school, lisa took a class in chinese. she found that some of the new vocab was difficult to learn because her earlier japanese vocabulary was competing with the new chinese words. this situation best illustrates
proactive interference
in developmental psychology, one advantage of cross-sectional over longitudinal studies is that cross-sectional research
requires comparatively little time
Which of the following is a binocular cue for depth perception?
retinal disparity
The correlation between two measures obtained on a group of individuals is graphically represented as a
scatterplot
A student's test score of 86 is at the 42nd percentile. This means that this student has
scored the same as or higher than 42 percent of her fellow students
using cell phones while driving increases the number of accidents because use of the phones requires
selective attention
The chart above illustrates which of the following psychological concepts?
serial position effect
The first time four-year-old Savannah attempted to make her bed, her father praised her for covering the pillow with a blanket. After a few times, her father began praising Savannah for covering the pillow and tucking in the corners of the sheet. Finally, Savannah's father praised her when she covered the pillow, tucked in the corners of the sheet, and smoothed the blanket. The process described in this scenario is known as
shaping
the thalamus processes information for all of the following senses EXCEPT
smell
Cognitive psychologists are most likely to study
the acquisition of knowledge, planning, and problem solving
