Psychology Final Exam Study Guide

Which of the following best describes the opponent-process theory?

It explains afterimages.

Which major force in psychology emphasized unconscious thought processes?

Freudian psychology

These cells in the nervous system support, nourish, and protect neurons.

Glial cells

This famous experiment by _____ involved rearing monkeys with two artificial mothers.

Harry Harlow

A grandmother is in her early eighties and is starting to seem frail to her grandchildren. Which of the following are they likely to notice about her abilities?

Her hearing, distance perception, and sense of smell are diminishing.

Spongebob Squarepants wants to test the effect of visualization on his ability to hold his breath in Sandy's house. He decides to visualize a calm peaceful scene for five minutes before entering her home to see if this will help him hold his breath longer than normal. In this experiment visualization is the______, and time spent holding breath is the_______.

Independent Variable; Dependent Variable

Marty, a clinical psychologist, evaluates employee motivation and performance for large companies. He is aligned most closely with:

Industrial/organizational Psychology.

Like two scales balancing each other out, these components of the peripheral nervous system regulate arousal and relaxation so we can remain in a state of homeostasis.They are the:

Sympathetic & Parasympatheic

_____ are agents such as chemicals and viruses that can reach the embryo or fetus and cause it harm.

Teratogens

Cherise is babysitting for her two-year-old nephew for the first time. While her back is turned, he touches his index finger to the pan she just took out of the oven. He pulls his finger away quickly, and a few seconds later begins to scream. Why is his screaming delayed in comparison to pulling away his finger?

The hand-withdrawal reflex involves only the spinal cord, not the brain.

Which of the following is INCORRECT regarding the human sense of taste?

There is no such thing as a "super-taster."

_____ refers to the conversion of physical forms of energy into neural signals.

Transduction

Margaret Floy Washburn set a major precedent for women psychologists. She ______

Was the first woman to receive a Ph.D. in Psychology.

A neutral facial expression may be perceived as sadder at a funeral than at a circus. This BEST illustrates:

a context effect.

Professor Delano proposes that because people are especially attracted to those who are good-looking, handsome men will be more successful than average-looking men in getting a job. The professor's prediction is an example of

a testable hypothesis.

A child's realization that others may have beliefs different from their own best illustrates the development of:

a theory of mind.

When children adapt their current understandings to incorporate their new experience, this is known as:

accommodation.

Carlos is confident in is Mexican-American cultural background, and proud of his family traditions. He could be described as having ___________________.

achieved an ethnic identity.

To demonstrate that brain stimulation can make one rat attack another rat, a neuroscientist should electrically stimulate the rat's

amygdala

Neural stimulation that exceeds the threshold triggers

an action potential.

Tinnitus is a phantom _____ sensation.

auditory

The part of the peripheral nervous system that controls the glands and the muscles of the internal organs is called the

autonomic nervous system.

The view that psychology should be an objective science that studies observable human activity without reference to mental processes is known as

behaviorism

The _____ is the point at which the optic nerve leaves the eye.

blind spot

Our genes are housed in long strands called ____________________.

chromosomes.

Hammer, anvil, and stirrup are three tiny bones that transmit vibrations to the:

cochlea.

5-year-old Otto complained to his mother that the pizza was not big enough. Otto's mom cut the pizza into smaller slices, thus making Otto happy as he believed the pizza had become larger. Otto lacks the concept of:

conservation.

MOST of the signals neurons receive are _____; others are the opposite, or _____.

excitatory; inhibitory

During this stage of Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development, children are able to represent things with words and images and use intuitive rather than logical reasoning.

preoperational

When each person has an equal likelihood of participating in a research study, the sample of participants is said to be:

random.

Dr. Wilson attributes the delinquent behavior of many teens to the peer pressure associated with being members of street gangs. Her account best illustrates a(n) ________ perspective.

socio-cultural

Kittens, monkeys, and humans who experience sensory deprivation early in life end up with permanent damage to their visual functioning. This finding suggests that:

there is a critical period for normal sensory and perceptual development.

Individuals interpret what their senses detect using:

top-down processing.

Premature babies are especially likely to gain weight if stimulated by:

touch and massage.

The recently discovered gustatory sense is called ________ and it tastes savory.

umami

Dr. Jones has spent her career conducting outcome studies on the effective treatments for PTSD. Which best classifies Dr. Jones?

experimental psychology

Because of complications from diabetes, Molly's pregnancy resulted in a miscarriage at 12 weeks. In what stage of prenatal development was the baby?

fetus

Our brain automatically and continuously merges the images from both eyes into one seamless visual experience which includes ______________ perception.

form

The part of the brain where a person's decision-making and personality are housed is the _____________.

frontal lobes.

The sensory experience of bending one's knees or raising one's arms illustrates:

kinesthesis.

Men do not experience the equivalent of _____; that is, they do not experience a cessation in fertility or a sharp drop in hormones.

menopause

Cognitive psychology involved a renewal of interest in the scientific study of

mental processes.

The neurons that carry outgoing information from the central nervous system to the body's muscles and glands are the:

motor neurons.

According to Lawrence Kohlberg, people who develop an abstract level of reasoning where they perceive the basic rights of people and are guided by their own ethical principles are demonstrating what he calls:

postconventional morality.

Humanistic psychologists focused attention on the importance of people's

potential for healthy growth.

_____ are retinal receptors that detect black, white, and gray, whereas _____ detect fine detail and give rise to color sensations.

Rods; cones

Vestibular sense plays an important role in:

performing a cartwheel without falling down.

Messages are transmitted from your spinal cord to muscles in your hands by the ________ nervous system.

peripheral

Ty's parents divorced when he was 5 years old. His father moved out of state, and his mother is busy trying to keep a roof over their heads. Ty is now 13 and has been getting into some minor troubles with school and with the law. Despite this, his mother still allows Ty to come and go when he wishes, she rarely if ever punishes him, and she gives into whatever he wants. She feels guilty about the divorce and that he does not have a father. Some psychologists would say that Ty's mother has this type of parenting style.

permissive.

The master gland of the endocrine system is the

pituitary gland.

Perception of high sounds is best explained by _________________, while perception of low sounds is best explained by _____________, and middle frequency pitches are best explained by _____________.

place theory; frequency theory; volley theory

Nutrients and oxygen are transferred from a mother to her developing fetus through the:

placenta.

To learn about the TV viewing habits of all the children attending Oakbridge School, Professor DeVries randomly selected and interviewed 50 of the school's students. In this instance, all the children attending the school are considered to be a(n)

population.

The research shows that higher religious faith is significantly correlated with living a longer life. As religiousness goes up, lifespan goes up. This is an example of a _______________ correlation.

positive

Humans have about ______ olfactory receptors which come in hundreds of different types and allow us to distinguish up to 10,000 different scents.

10 million

Lora and Lisa are monozygotic twins, thus they share __________ of the same genes. Mike and Matt are dizygotic twins, thus they share __________ of the same genes.

100%; 50%

Emerging Adulthood is a relatively new, Western stage of development that lasts from age _______.

18-26

Pain control can be accomplished through:

ANY OF THESE. massage. hypnosis. acupuncture.

Little Gabe has just witness his first horse while visiting a rodeo. He points to the horse and yells, "Doggie!" Little Gabe has obviously_________his new experience but not_________it yet.

Assimilated; Accommodated

A bug flew into Shannon's ear and got stuck right outside her eardrum. The doctor told her that the bug was lodged in her:

Auditory Canal

Holly was caught taking two cookies from the cookie jar instead one. Her parents sent her to her room. When she was finished with her punishment, her parents had a discussion with Holly about why they punished her. This is an example of_________parenting.

Authoritative

Which of the following best describes the author's views of the creation v. evolution debate?

Creation is a religious belief and falls outside the domain of science.

Robert has an amazing ability to know when the room temperature drops one degree. This means that he has a very sensitive:

Difference Threshold

Neurotransmitter is to _____ as neural receptor site is to _____.

Key; Lock

Which of the following is most true about right-handedness and left-handedness.

Left-handed people use both hemispheres to process speech.

The idea that parents and teachers use "scaffolding" to help children learn language comes from a psychologist named:

Lev Vygotsky.

Janine is in the ICU after having a stroke in her brain. A neurologist examined her and found that she has severe abnormalities experiencing emotions and drives. He concludes that the stroke must have damaged which part of her brain?

Limbic System

Frederick has had a stroke in the left hemisphere of his brain. Which of the following is the most likely symptom that he will encounter?

Loss of ability to speak.

Who was a student of William James and the first female president of the American Psychological Association?

Mary Whiton Calkins

When it comes to the sense of smell, all of the following are true EXCEPT which one?

Men are notoriously more sensitive to smells.

Patricia is an ER doctor working at a nearby hospital. During one of her shifts, a patient presents with a traumatic brain injury (TBI). The patient is complaining that he cannot see. Patricia concludes that the TBI must have occurred in which part of the brain?

Occipital lobe

___________ constancy refers to our ability to perceive objects as unchanging despite changes in position, lighting, etc.

Perceptual

________ is a mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another.

Perceptual set

A study shows that U.S. counties with high numbers of liquor stores also have high crime rates. Based on this data we can:

Predict future crime rates based on the number of liquor stores in an area.

Assessing whether conclusions are warranted by the existing evidence is an example of

critical thinking.

This bushy, branching extension of a neuron receives messages and conducts impulses toward the cell body.

dendrite

Schizophrenia is most closely linked with an overabundance of the neurotransmitter

dopamine.

Acetylcholine (Ach) is a neurotransmitter that

enables muscle contractions.

Professor Crisman believes that most women prefer tall and physically strong partners because this preference promoted the survival of our ancestors' genes. This viewpoint best illustrates the ________ perspective.

evolutionary

The nature vs. nurture issue refers to the debate over the relative contributions that ________ make to the development of psychological traits.

genes and experience

Jeremy is 16 years old and is trying out different clothes and hairstyles. His father is confused and sometimes shocked by his pairing of shirts and pants, earrings, chains, and hair colors. His mother on the other hand, just laughs. According to Erik Erikson, Jeremy is in the stage of development called:

identity vs. role confusion.

Henry is 14 and worries that everyone at school will notice his acne. This level of self-consciousness during adolescence is called ________________.

imaginary audience.

Marissa resents the burden and constraints of caring for her infant daughter. She frequently ignores her daughter's cries for attention. As a consequence, her daughter may display signs of:

insecure attachment.

Another name for sensorineural hearing loss is ________, and is usually caused by damage to the _____________.

nerve deafness; hair cells

Neural plasticity means that the brain has the ability to grow new _______________________ throughout the lifespan.

neural connections

Which perspective is more likely to study the impact of strokes and brain diseases?

neuroscience

Jimmy Dean wants study how long his consumers feel full after eating some of his delicious processed meats. He decides that he should measure "fullness" by recording how long his participants take before having another meal after eating his product. This is called a(n):

operational definition.

To learn about the TV viewing habits of all the children attending Oakbridge School, Professor DeVries randomly selected and interviewed 50 of the school's students. In this instance, the 50 interviewed children are considered to be a(n)

representative sample.

When a baby's cheek is touched, the baby will turn toward the touch and open his or her mouth in search of a nipple. This is known as the _____ reflex.

rooting

According to Jean Piaget, object permanence and stranger anxiety develop during this stage of cognitive development.

sensorimotor

When someone wears too much perfume but does not notice, this is called:

sensory adaptation.

According to a recent _____________________, more than 14,000 separate research studies on differences between men and women were statistically combined to find an overall small size of the effect of gender on psychological variables that have been studied over the past 20 years.

survey

The key components of a scientific theory are

testable, falsifiable, and modifiable.

Which brain structure, known as the relay station of the brain, receives information from all the senses except smell?

thalamus

The release of hormones by the adrenal glands is most likely to trigger

the "fight-or-flight" response.

When people appear bigger in one corner than in the other corner, this BEST describes the optical illusion created by the ________________________.

the Ames illusion.

Improved judgment, impulse control, and the ability to plan for the future develop during the teens and early twenties largely as a result of:

the development of the frontal lobe of the brain.

Which of the following methods is most helpful for clarifying cause-effect relationships?

the experiment.

The birth of psychology is often attributed to Wilhelm Wundt because he pioneered the investigation of mental processes using

the scientific method.

One of the most important sources of meaning and purpose in a person's life is _________________.

their spiritual or religious faith.