Psychology Exam
Plasticity best reflects which of the following characteristics of the nervous system?
Adaptability
Marijuana and LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide) are considered to be
Hallucinogens
Which of the following is true about the types of coping?
Problem-focused coping is likely to involve coming up with goals and implementation intentions
In the context of the auditory system, frequency theory states that
The perception of a sound's frequency depends on how often the auditory nerve fires
Recollections of one's first family vacation to Disneyland are most likely part of one's
episodic memory
Which of the following is usually a trait of creative thinkers?
inner motivation
According to Howard Gardner's multiple intelligences, a psychiatrist is most likely to score high on
interpersonal intelligence.
Unlike implicit racism, explicit racism
is a person's conscious and openly shared attitude.
All of the following are symptoms of borderline personality disorder EXCEPT
reduced awareness.
A good strategy in subgoaling is to
work backward in your planning by first creating a subgoal that is closest to the final goal, and then work backward to the subgoal that is closest to the beginning of the problem-solving effort.
Which of the following best represents the fluctuations of body temperature in a 24-hour day?
Circadian rhythms
Which of the following statements is true of nightmares?
Nightmares' content invariably involves danger
According to Freud, the superego
considers whether the id's impulses can be satisfied in acceptable moral terms.
When a teenager studies specifically to avoid his or her parents' disapproval, then his or her attitude toward studying is most likely a result of
extrinsic motivation.
The fact that we hear about airplane crashes on news more often than we hear about automobile crashes may lead us to believe that we are more likely to die in a plane than a car. This is an example of
the availability heuristic.
Juan, a 27-year-old, is a marketing manager. He often complains of tiredness and lethargy. However, his medical reports do not suggest any deficiency or illness. His wife, Emma, is a nurse. She asks him to take a pill every night. The pill is actually a simple candy. After 15 days, Juan says that he feels much better and energetic. This scenario best exemplifies
the placebo effect.
Which of the following statements would be most typical of someone in the preparation/determination stage of change?
"I'm going to do something about this problem, starting next week."
Which of the following is an advantage of conducting psychological research in a laboratory?
A laboratory is a controlled setting with many of the complex factors of the real world removed
Zoe is under a lot of stress because her project receives negative client feedback. She gives up on trying to do damage control and thinks that the client feedback is meant to be. In the context of personality characteristics related to health, Zoe is likely to have
A low level of personal control
Dr. Simpson found a +.50 correlation between ice cream cone sales and violent crimes in a community. Which of the following represents the best interpretation of this result?
A third variable, such as heat, may account for the association between ice cream sales and violent crime
Judy thinks she is depressed over her teacher's criticism of her paper. Judy's therapist explains to her that Judy's own illogical belief—that the criticism means she is stupid—is really why she is depressed. Judy is likely to be seeing a therapist who is providing ________ therapy.
Aaron Beck's cognitive
According to research on alcoholism, which of the following individuals is most likely to become dependent on alcohol?
Aaron, who began drinking at age 12 with the neighborhood kids
Gary is watching a play. He can hear the dialogue at all times except when the actors are whispering in a scene. This is because the actors' whispers are too soft for Gary to hear. In other words, the whispers are most likely below Gary's
Absolute threshold level
Mark has decided that it is finally time to quit smoking. He started using nicotine patches to help him control the craving to smoke. He is in the ________ stage of the change model.
Action/willpower
One criticism of place theory is that it
Adequately explains high-frequency sounds but not low-frequency sounds
When a rat is first introduced to an overcrowded cage, it will most likely enter the ________ stage of the general adaptation syndrome.
Alarm
Which of the following statements is true of alcohol?
Alcohol strongly affects women more than men because of the differences in body fat and stomach enzymes
Your coworker Christina was just laid off. You immediately inform her about a relevant job opening that you recently heard about. In the context of benefits of social support, you have tried to help Christina by offering
An important piece of information
In the context of prenatal development, which of the following is true of the fetal period?
At 4 months, the fetus is 5 inches long and weighs about 5 ounces.
Michelle, a researcher, conducts a study to investigate how people's hands sweat during stressful interviews. In this scenario, Michelle is most likely following the ________ to psychology.
Biological approach
Andrea, a psychologist, conducts a study to determine the effect of students' ages on their college grades. She divides a class into two groups: Below Age and Above Age. Members of the Below Age group are less than 18 years of age, whereas members of the Above Age group are 18 years of age or above. In this scenario, which of the following illustrates the dependent variable?
College grades
Dan is at an international food fest with his brother Jude. When Dan is served a dish of Mopane worm stew, Jude tells him reassuringly, "That's food!" and Dan comprehends his statement regarding the concept of food. Which of the following characteristics of concepts has been illustrated in this scenario?
Concepts provide clues about how to react to a particular object.
In the context of memory processes, which of the following scenarios best illustrates the process of encoding information?
Deborah is watching a movie in the theater.
Psychological research on sleep and memory has found that staying up all night to study for an exam is likely to
Decrease memory performance
Jane is having trouble sleeping. As she sits on her bed looking around the dark room, she notices that her peripheral vision seems to be better than her central vision. This is because vision in low light conditions
Depends on the rods
In the context of behavioral therapies, which of the following is true of desensitization?
Desensitization is based on the classical conditioning process of extinction.
Emily selects a new paint color for her bedroom. She notices a difference between sky blue and midnight blue. Emily's ability to distinguish between these two colors can best be explained by the concept of
Difference threshold
Dr. Grant conducts research on stress management. Group A receives progressive relaxation training prior to taking the test, while Group B receives no training. Group A is the ________, while Group B is the ________.
Experimental group; control group
While conducting research, Dr. Aoki used double-blind experiments to reduce the potential for
Experimenter bias and participant bias
Which of the following is one of the functions of the sympathetic nervous system?
Fight-or-flight reaction
Marsha does a good job because she knows that her performance will result in a bonus if she meets her goals. Georgia does a good job because she feels a sense of accomplishment when she meets her goals. Both women do the same kind of work. Who is most likely to perform better?
Georgia is most likely to perform better.
Which of the following is true of Alfred Adler's view on birth order?
He believed that sensitive parents could help children in any position in the family to negotiate their needs for superiority.
Dennis, a psychologist, conducts a survey to determine why most people tend to help a crying child. After the survey, he explains that most people help a crying child because they choose to live by higher values such as altruism. In this scenario, Dennis's explanation is reflective of the ________ approach to psychology.
Humanistic
________ is a characteristic of good problem solvers.
Humility
Which of the following statements is true regarding the psychoanalytic technique of dream analysis?
In dream analysis, every dream, including nightmares, contains a hidden, disguised unconscious wish.
In the context of memory encoding, which of the following statements is true of mental imagery?
It entails visualizing material that one wants to remember in ways that create a lasting portrait.
Which of the following is a disadvantage of the trichromatic theory of color vision?
It fails to adequately explain afterimages
Which of the following statements is true of caffeine?
It is derived from natural components of plants
In the visual system, which of the following statements is true of parallel processing?
It is the simultaneous distribution of information across different neural pathways
In the context of the neural impulse, which of the following is true about the depolarization of neuron membranes?
It occurs when there is a decrease in the charge difference between the fluids inside and outside of the neuron
Which of the following is true of the term "levels of processing" in memory?
It refers to a continuum of memory processing.
Which of the following is true of the delayed maturation hypothesis about the origins of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)?
It says that individuals with ADHD have brains that develop more slowly than typically developing individuals.
Which of the following statements is true of drive reduction theory?
It states that as a drive becomes stronger, people are motivated to reduce it.
Which of the following statements is true of observational learning?
It takes place when a person notices and imitates another's behavior.
Which of the following pairs are correctly matched?
Low levels of dopamine—Parkinson disease
Luke, who frequently takes drugs, keeps complaining that his drapes are growing tentacles that are threatening to strangle him. Luke is most likely taking
Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD)
In the context of the visual system, which of the following scenarios best illustrates the functionality of rods in the retina?
Marcus is trying to find his seat in the dark in a movie theater
Margaret fell down her basement stairs and suffered serious injury to her amygdala. What memory problems is she most likely to have now?
Margaret will have difficulty with emotional memories.
When one hears any sound, one's eardrum vibrates. These vibrations are then transferred to the inner ear by the hammer, anvil, and stirrup. These three bones are all located in the
Middle ear
Which of the following statements is true of the central nervous system (CNS)?
More than 99 percent of all nerve cells are located in the CNS
Falling asleep all of a sudden while talking to a friend is most likely an example of
Narcolepsy
Miguel returns home after work on his birthday. As soon as he steps into his house, his children surprise him and gift him a watch. As a result of the excitement, he suddenly falls to the floor and enters rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. Which of the following disorders is best illustrated in this scenario?
Narcolepsy
According to the all-or-nothing principle,
Once the electrical impulse reaches a certain level of intensity, it fires and moves all the way down the axon without losing any intensity
Identify an accurate statement related to operant conditioning.
Operant conditioning is a form of associative learning.
In the context of loss aversion, which of the following statements is true of the endowment effect?
People ascribe greater value to things they already own, compared to objects owned by someone else.
While walking in the woods, Rachel feels a sudden pain in her neck. Due to the nature of the pain, she recognizes that she has been stung by a bee. In this scenario, which of the following processes has most likely helped her identify the source of her pain?
Perception
Although many individuals use both problem-focused and emotion-focused coping strategies, over the long term,
Problem-focused coping rather than emotion-focused coping usually works best
During a therapy session, Mrs. Brown's therapist, Donald, asks Mrs. Brown about her dreams because he believes that they are a key to her unconscious mind. In this scenario, Donald is most likely using the ________ approach to psychology.
Psychodynamic
Which of the following statements about biological therapies is FALSE?
Psychologists can prescribe drugs for psychological disorders in most states.
J. B. Watson and B. F. Skinner believed that
Psychology should focus on an organism's visible interactions with the environment—that is, behaviors
Which of the following is true of defense mechanisms?
Repression is the foundation for all of the psychological defense mechanisms.
According to the five-factor model of personality, which of the following individuals exhibits the trait of openness to experience?
Sarah, who resigns from her well-paid job and sets up her own business
Madison is addicted to drugs. According to the stages of the change model, if she is in the contemplation stage of changing her habit, which of the following will occur during this stage?
She will reevaluate the role of this addiction in her life
According to Peterson and others (2011), participants in research studies tend to answer questions in a way that will make them look good rather than in a way that communicates what they truly think or feel. This is a potential problem with
Surveys
Which division of the peripheral nervous system is responsible for producing physiological symptoms (such as increased heart rate and butterflies in the stomach) under conditions of stress?
Sympathetic
The somatic nervous system consists of motor nerves, whose function is to
Tell muscles what to do
Which of the following statements is true of prenatal development in humans?
The beginnings of organs appear during the embryonic period.
Which of the following is true of the visuospatial sketchpad?
The capacity of the visuospatial sketchpad is limited.
Gregory is an excellent basketball player. He is always able to gauge the distance between himself and the basket correctly, and he never misses a shot. To help him use this spatial location skill, which of the following regions of the cerebral cortex should function the most efficiently?
The parietal lobe
Which of the following characterizes pubertal change in adolescents?
The peak of pubertal change occurs at an average age of 11½ for girls and 13½ for boys.
A client is asked by her therapist to look at a picture and to tell a story that describes what she thinks is happening in the picture. The therapist will use the content of the story to make inferences about the client's personality. The client is likely taking the
Thematic Apperception Test.
Which of the following is true of the studies that have explored terror management theory?
They state that people endorse cultural beliefs more strongly than before when they are reminded of their death.
Emma has recently started to suffer from migraine headaches and seizures. She also suffers from anxiety and depression. In the context of neurochemical messengers, which of the following conditions is most likely to be the cause for her symptoms?
Too much glutamate
According to the stages of change model, when conscious attention is no longer required to maintain the new, healthy behaviors and such behaviors simply are part of the individual's lifestyle, ________ has been achieved. This occurs during the ________ stage of change.
Transcendence/maintenance
According to the stages of change model, a key element in the preparation stage is
Whether individuals truly feel they are ready to change
In the context of shaping, operant conditioning relies on the notion that
a behavior is likely to be repeated if it is followed by a reward.
Individuals with dissociative disorders have
a less voluminous hippocampus and amygdala.
According to Eysenck's theory, introversion and extraversion are characteristic patterns of behavior that
aim to regulate arousal around baseline.
Claudia plans to cook her mother's famous lasagna. She carefully follows her mother's recipe to ensure that the dish turns out correctly. In this case, Claudia is using a(n)
algorithm
From the perspective of self-determination theory,
an essential aspect of healthy functioning is actively engaging in behaviors that are self-directed.
Jessie, a young American, is obsessed about losing weight. She is paranoid about having calories and often starves herself. Despite being dangerously underweight for her age, Jessie refuses to eat as she is terrified of the possibility of gaining weight. Which of the following disorders best fits the description of Jessie's condition?
anorexia nervosa
Robert's teacher, Martha, has complained about his behavior on several occasions. According to Martha, Robert cannot focus in class and is constantly distracted. She also mentioned that Robert is extremely active and very impulsive by nature. If Robert were to be taken by his teacher to Dr. Miller, a psychiatrist, he is likely to be diagnosed with
attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.
As part of a smoking-cessation program, Paul receives an injection of a nausea-inducing drug and then is asked to smoke a cigarette. Even though he knows he is receiving the drug, it is hoped that Paul will associate the nausea symptoms with smoking and will thus smoke less. This example best demonstrates the procedures typically used in
aversive conditioning.
If a therapist gives an alcoholic a drink laced with a nausea-inducing drug so that she or he will become ill after drinking the alcohol, the therapist is using
aversive conditioning.
To find out a simple, yet accurate, way of measuring customer satisfaction, Carl, the human resource manager of a company, conducts a meeting and requires all employees to openly give their ideas and suggestions. He encourages them to think creatively and come up with as many ideas as possible, from which one will be chosen. Which of the following concepts related to creative thinking does this scenario exemplify?
brainstorming
Chronic sore throat, kidney problems, dehydration, gastrointestinal problems, and dental problems are complications commonly experienced by individuals who suffer from
bulimia nervosa.
Allison is at a workshop where a presenter is trying to persuade people to make a rather risky but potentially profitable financial investment. The arguments for investing appeal to logic and reasoning. After slowly and carefully considering the presenter's arguments, Allison finds that this person's idea sounds compelling and decides to invest. This example best demonstrates the
central route to persuasion.
Lightning is associated with thunder and regularly precedes it. Thus, when we see lightning, we often anticipate that we will hear thunder soon afterward. This is an example of
classical conditioning.
Hugo, a therapist, helps his clients recognize the connections between their thoughts and their feelings and helps them use thinking to change their feelings. He emphasizes that thoughts are the main source of psychological problems. In this scenario, Hugo is most likely practicing
cognitive therapy.
Elsa is studying for her psychology exam with the TV on in the background. Research on the effects of divided attention suggests that watching TV while studying will ________ Elsa's exam performance.
decrease
Welma is unable to accept the fact that she has been diagnosed with lung cancer. She refuses treatment despite her family's attempts to convince her. According to Freud's psychoanalytic theory, Welma is unconsciously engaging in a defense mechanism called
denial
One aspect of family therapy is the idea that a family member's symptoms are a function of the family relationships. If, for example, a teenage son is the scapegoat for the parents, which family-therapy technique would be the most appropriate to use?
detriangulation
Best friends Kate and Diana are at the park, watching their children play together. Kate reminds Diana about the time that they had a big fight on the same playground as children and didn't talk to each other for almost a week. In the context of long-term memory, Kate's recollection of this event best exemplifies the use of her ________ memory.
episodic
Annie's mother pays her $5 for every book she reads. Annie does not love reading books, but she reads crazily because she enjoys spending the earned money on candies and toys. In this scenario, Annie is driven by ________ motivation.
extrinsic
Filip, a finance executive, loves playing with numbers and hates sports. His manager, Daphne, asks him to represent their company in an upcoming corporate tennis match. He agrees to participate because he wants to impress Daphne and increase his chances of being promoted and receiving a big raise in his salary. In this scenario, Filip is driven by
extrinsic motivation.
In the context of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) related disorders, an individual with hoarding disorder is most likely to
find it difficult to throw things away, troubled by the feeling that he or she might need them at a later time.
An adolescent who hypothesizes and speaks in terms of possibilities may well be functioning in Piaget's cognitive stage of
formal operational thought.
A key aspect of self-regulation is:
getting feedback about how people are doing in their goal pursuits.
A schizophrenic patient hears multiple voices inside his head talking to him at the same time and forcing him to do things. It can be inferred that the patient is experiencing the symptom of
hallucinations.
In the context of sociocultural factors predicting prosocial behavior, Eagly and Crowley (1986) noted that men are more likely than women to
help in situations in which a perceived danger is present.
One of the most important criticisms of Piaget's theory of cognitive development is that
his theory underestimated infant cognition and overestimated adolescents' and adults' cognitive achievements.
People often form general rules and concepts based on specific experiences and examples. This type of reasoning is known as
inductive reasoning.
Sammy is in third grade. When he won the spelling bee, he felt proud of his accomplishment. But when he could not complete his arithmetic assignment on time, he felt incompetent. Which of Erikson's psychosocial development stages is exemplified in this scenario?
industry vs. inferiority
Berta, a 23-year-old fashion designer, is not happy at work or at home. She is unable to create new designs for her clients. She has also filed for a divorce from her husband. According to Jeffrey Arnett, which of the following features of emerging adulthood is exemplified in this scenario?
instability
According to Abraham Maslow, which of the following traits is least likely to be associated with self-actualizers?
intolerance
Amelia, a 25-year-old software engineer, wants to participate in a charity event. She plans to make and sell greeting cards at the event and subsequently use the money collected to help various social causes. This scenario best illustrates
intrinsic motivation.
Jane is afraid of crowds. If her therapist uses systematic desensitization technique, Jane will be asked to
learn how to relax.
Which of the following best illustrates positive punishment in operant conditioning?
lecturing and reprimanding a child for being rude to his or her teachers
In the context of persuasion strategies, the door-in-the-face technique involves
making the biggest request at the beginning followed by the smaller request.
Conor, a 22-year-old management student, stays with his parents and does not know how to cook. When he is offered a good job in a different city, he decides to relocate within a month. Conor is confident that he will learn how to cook and overcome the initial obstacles faced by first-time cooks in a month's time. In the context of self-determination theory, Conor best demonstrates ________ in this scenario.
mastery
Mark, a high school student, dislikes the fact that his mother yells at him in the morning to wake him up. His mother usually wakes up at 5:30 A.M., and he tries to wake up at around 5:15 A.M. to avoid listening to his mother's yelling. In the context of operant conditioning, which of the following is exemplified in this scenario?
negative reinforcement
Christos is an insecure individual. He tends to be anxious, stressed, and moody. According to the five-factor model of personality, Christos is likely to score high on
neuroticism.
In the context of the types of therapy, client-centered therapy follows a(n) ________ approach.
nondirective
Emma, a chemistry teacher for eighth grade, plays a video in class to demonstrate the process of conducting a basic experiment in chemistry. Her students are required to watch the video attentively, remember all the steps and safety instructions, and reproduce the same experiment independently. Which of the following is best illustrated when the students reproduce the experiment?
observational learning
Alex cannot control his impulse to wash his hands every five minutes. He washes his hands almost 100 times a day because he is terrified of being contaminated by germs. If Alex doesn't wash his hands, he experiences overwhelming anxiety. In the context of anxiety and anxiety-related disorders, it can be inferred that Alex is most likely to be diagnosed with
obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Chloe is liberal and tolerant. According to the five-factor model of personality, Chloe is likely to score high on
openness to experience.
Some bears kept in zoos allow veterinarians to routinely conduct total body checkups. These bears open their mouths for teeth cleaning and present their paws for nail clipping. Your friend wonders how anyone could ever get these dangerous animals to be so cooperative without anesthesia. You, a psychology student, quickly summarize that the bears had most likely undergone
operant conditioning.
Kate is on the phone talking to her friend Paul, who is referring her for a job interview. Paul gives Kate a phone number, but before Kate can write it down, the call is disconnected. Kate can only recall the last three digits of the number that Paul gave her. This scenario best illustrates the ________ effect.
recency
If children cannot grasp the concept of conservation, they are unable to
recognize that while superficially different, some aspects of objects can be restored when an operation is reversed.
William volunteers to work in a war-torn country to try and improve the lives of the citizens. They currently have enough to eat and drink. According to Maslow's hierarchy of needs, what would these citizens need next?
safety
Parents warn a new babysitter that their son, Dennis, is very aggressive and mischievous. As a result of this initial expectation, the babysitter starts calling the child "Dennis the Menace" and he behaves in ways that elicit aggressive and mischievous behaviors from Dennis. This example best demonstrates the phenomenon called
self-fulfilling prophecy.
Andrea works as a customer care executive and resolves approximately 30 to 40 customer complaints in a day. She comes to realize that she spends most of her time thinking about how much she dislikes her job. She eventually concludes that she does not like her job. In this scenario, Andrea's attitude supports
self-perception theory.
After hearing a friend's telephone number for the first time, Harold was immediately able to recite all seven digits of the phone number in perfect order. Harold most likely used his ________ to recite these digits.
short-term memory
Chloe's 3-year-old son, Dave, is very excited about his first day at playschool. He leaves home in a happy mood and enjoys the 20-minute drive to school. At the school, he starts crying when he sees all the other children around him crying. This scenario best illustrates
social contagion.
To feel good about themselves, Samantha and John need to feel good about the groups to which they belong. To improve their self-image, they continually compare their in-groups, the group to which they belong, with out-groups. This example best describes
social identity theory.
Lewis is afraid of stairs and slopes. He avoids climbing the stairs in any building and always uses the elevator. He goes to great lengths to stay away from houses or other buildings that do not have elevators. Which of the following anxiety disorders does Lewis most likely exhibit in this scenario?
specific phobia
In the context of the psychological influences on aggression, the frustration-aggression hypothesis states that
the blocking of an individual's attempts to reach a goal triggers aggression.
Adolescents often have difficulty controlling their emotions and making sound decisions about risky behavior. Brain research suggests that this is due to the fact that during adolescence
the development of the prefrontal cortex is slower than that of the amygdala.
Although Jeff frequently exceeds the speed limit by at least 10 mph, he justifies his behavior by erroneously thinking that most other drivers do the same. This belief best illustrates
the false consensus effect.
