Section 3 AP Psych MCQ
Gustatory receptors are sensitive to all of the following taste qualities EXCEPT
spicy
In an experiment designed to determine whether watching violent scenes on television increases the frequency of aggressive behavior in children, one group of subjects saw a nonviolent cartoon and another group saw a violent cartoon. In the play period that followed the viewing of the cartoons, researchers observed the two groups of children together and counted instances of aggressive behavior.
watched the nonviolent cartoon
Research in the field of positive psychology is most supportive of which of the following conclusions?
Perception of control is related to a sense of well-being.
Which of the following approaches to psychology focuses on adaptive, creative, and fulfilling aspects of human experiences?
Positive
Which of the following types of validity is established by demonstrating that there is a correlation between scores on a test and later academic performance?
Predictive
A sudden inability to remember how to tie a certain kind of knot indicates a deficit in which kind of memory?
Procedural
Domingo has just hit Play to begin listening to a new song he bought. Based on the structure of the ear, what will the sound waves contact first after moving through Domingo's auditory canal?
The eardrum
A test that measures a student's potential ability is
an aptitude test
Metacognition refers to
thinking about thinking
Which study is a researcher who wants to draw correct cause-and-effect conclusions about the sense of smell likely to conduct?
A study in which the researcher randomly assigns 50 people to a group that is exposed to a strong smell of roses and 50 people to a group that experiences an odor-free environment to see whether the group exposed to the strong smell of roses reports experiencing more memories.
Which of the following characterizes a behavioral approach to psychology?
A study of how reinforcement affects learning
Which of the following is the best example of shaping?
A teacher rewards a student for sitting quietly for ten minutes on Monday, fifteen minutes on Tuesday, twenty minutes on Wednesday, and thirty minutes on Thursday.
Which of the following scenarios best demonstrates the role of context effects in memory?
Amy studied for a vocabulary test in the same classroom and at the same time of day as the normal class, and she performed better on the test than students who studied in different classrooms under different conditions.
Which of the following best supports the hypothesis that basic human emotions, such as sadness, are innate?
Basic emotions are understood and expressed in a similar fashion by individuals from diverse cultures.
Bobby is seventeen and has been engaging in risky behaviors, such as reckless driving, skipping class, and breaking curfew. Which of the following is an explanation for Bobby's actions that most psychologists support?
Bobby is still developing new neural connections in his brain
Dr. Patel is conducting a study to test a hair-growth shampoo she is developing. She instructs fifty participants to use the hair-growth shampoo once daily for a month and another fifty to use a regular shampoo once a day for a month. Dr. Patel measures the participants' hair length at the beginning and the end of the thirty days. Which of the following is the dependent variable?
Change in hair length
Dr. Marcia assigned students a paper in which they had to support the side of a controversial topic they did not agree with. Before asking the students to write the paper, she gave them a survey to determine how strongly they disagreed with the topic. After the students wrote their papers, Dr. Marcia gave them another survey to rate their disagreement with the topic. She observed that the students' feelings about the topic became more strongly in agreement with the topic. Which of the following is the best conclusion?
Cognitive dissonance was likely a contributing factor to the students' change in feelings.
Which of the following is the term associated with psychologists not sharing their clients' personal information with others?
Confidentiality
Which of the following is a term for a variable that researchers do not control and that can affect the results of a study?
Confounding variable
Responses extinguish fastest when they are learned through which type of reinforcement schedule?
Continuous
Because studies of learning show that events occurring close together in time are easier to associate than those occurring at widely different times, parents should probably avoid which of the following?
Delay of punishment
According to the graph above, the greatest degree of attitude change is likely to be produced by which of the following forms of advertising?
Easy messages on television and difficult messages in newspaper
Which of the following is an example of the tip-of-the-tongue effect?
Emma is telling her friend what she did over summer vacation when she discovers she cannot think of a specific word that she would like to say. She stops telling the story, because she has the distinct feeling that she is about to be able to think of the word if she waits just a moment.
A childhood friend asked Jeffrey whether he remembered where they went on summer vacation when they were eight years old. Jeffrey's ability to recall correctly will rely on which of the following?
Episodic memory
Research on human mating preferences suggests that men place greater value on physical attractiveness and youthfulness, whereas women place greater value on social status and financial resources. Which of the following psychological points of view best explains this behavior?
Evolutionary
For every twenty cell phones that Tom sells, he will get a $50 bonus. The bonuses are an example of which of the following types of reinforcement schedules?
Fixed ratio
Martin fell off his skateboard and badly bruised his elbow. He immediately began rubbing the area around the bruise until the pain subsided. This method of reducing pain can be explained by which of the following?
Gate-control theory
The claim that a whole is different from the sum of its parts is central to which of the following schools of thought?
Gestalt psychology
Damage to which of the following best explains conduction deafness?
Hammer, anvil, and stirrup
Rik, who is an adolescent, was always studious and quiet throughout childhood. His parents are concerned because he suddenly dyed his hair, pierced his tongue, and started hanging out with a different crowd. A few months later, he tried out for the football team and became so active in sports that he neglected his schoolwork. According to psychologists, which of the following would best explain Rik's changes in behavior?
He is going through the process of exploring his identity that many adolescents experience.
Shamir wants to be a doctor like both of his parents when he gets older. He never thought of doing anything else. Which of the following best explains Shamir's decision?
He is identity foreclosed.
Jeff lives in the United States, and he recently flew to Spain. Even after sleeping for several hours on the flight, he still felt lethargic for a few days. If Jeff has not caught an illness, which of the following is the most likely explanation for his physical response?
His circadian rhythm has been disrupted.
Rocio is continually learning new skills and gaining insights into herself. Although she is not experiencing any distress, she chooses to see a therapist. This primary emphasis on growth is most reflective of which of the following perspectives?
Humanistic
What is the correct chronological order of the following perspectives of psychology, from past to present? 1. Behaviorism 2. Psychoanalysis 3. Structuralism 4. Humanism
III, II, I, IV
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. What is the dependent variable in this study?
Incidence of aggressive behavior
Research participants are randomly assigned to one of three groups. One group listens to a list of words, another group reads a list of words printed on paper, and the remaining group hears and reads the words. The researcher then tests the participants' memories to see how many words the members of each group can recall. The modality in which the words are presented (i.e., auditory, visual, or both) is which type of variable?
Independent
Martha is an undergraduate student who is interested in pursuing a career in psychology. She wants to use her knowledge of psychology to help employees become more productive in the workplace. Which field of psychology should Martha select in graduate school?
Industrial-organizational
In the early years of psychology, a research participant might have been asked to observe carefully and systematically his conscious experiences. What method would the participant be using?
Introspection
Which of the following statements best describes the placebo effect?
It can be brought about by the individual's expectations.
Which of the following statements is true of behaviorism?
It holds that development is largely a product of learning.
Emiko's cat often meows for food. Emiko decides to eliminate the behavior by feeding the cat only when it does not meow. Over the next few weeks, she sometimes ignores the cat when it meows. Other times, she feeds the cat when it meows. Which of the following is the most reasonable prediction to make about the cat's meowing for food?
It will increase due to a variable schedule of reinforcement.
Which of the following psychologists would have been likely to say, "I do not care about the unconscious or hidden motives—I want to study behavior directly"?
John Watson
Leo and Caitlin are both experiencing feelings about their date tonight. Leo has had bad dates lately, and so he feels fear and dejection. Caitlin, meanwhile, has had very good dates, and so she feels excited and happy. According to Richard Lazarus' appraisal theory,
Leo and Caitlin have an immediate unconscious interpretation of the scenario, which leads them to simultaneously both label their feelings as either positive or negative and have the appropriate physiological response
Makayla and Noah are listening to a song that ends with all the instruments playing the same note. Makayla can distinguish the various instruments playing the note, while Noah cannot. Which of the following best explains their perceptual differences?
Makayla is better at discriminating timbre than Noah.
Which of the following behaviors best demonstrates an emotional response associated with the short route from the thalamus to the amygdala, as described by Joseph LeDoux?
Miguel jumps up on a chair because he thinks he sees something moving along the wall. When he realizes it was just a dust ball, he gets off the chair.
Rafael has a sleep disorder for which he takes medically prescribed amphetamines. For which of the following sleep disorders is Rafael most likely being treated?
Narcolepsy
To stop his uncle's constant requests, Jimmy takes out the garbage. This makes him more likely to take out the garbage in the future. Jimmy's behavior is being controlled by which of the following types of reinforcement?
Negative
Taking a painkiller to relieve a toothache is behavior learned through which of the following processes?
Negative reinforcement
Which of the following statements about the perception of taste is true?
Older adults frequently experience decreases in the sense of smell that make it more difficult to perceive the flavor of food
The notion that human behavior is greatly influenced by unconscious thoughts and desires is most consistent with which of the following psychological approaches?
Psychodynamic
Which of the following methods best limits the influence of unknown variables in an experiment?
Random assignment
Which of the following is NOT a method for reducing the dissonance a person might experience after refusing to contribute money for a gift to a coworker?
Saying a phrase such as "I am so rude" over and over
Melinda went skydiving. As soon as she landed, a handsome man helped her gather her parachute. Melinda's heart was beating quickly and her hands were perspiring. Melinda inferred that she must be attracted to him. Which of the following is a theory of emotion that would best explain the relationship between Melinda's physiological state and her apparent attraction to the man that helped her?
Schachter two-factor
When given a drug that produced general arousal, research participants placed in a room with a happy confederate described their emotional state as happy, while those placed in a room with an angry confederate described their emotional state as angry. Which theory of emotion best explains these results?
Schachter-Singer
Which of the following is the most appropriate criterion for evaluating the predictive validity of an intelligence test?
School grades
The chart above illustrates which of the following psychological concepts?
Serial position effect
A researcher is training laboratory rats to run a complex maze. Each time the rats learn a new part of the maze, they are rewarded with a pellet of food. Within a few hours, the rats have learned the entire maze. Which of the following did the researcher use to teach the rats the maze?
Shaping
Raul wants to teach his daughter Sonia to tie her shoes. First he praises her when she manipulates her shoelaces in any way. Then he praises her when she makes a simple knot. Once she does that consistently, he praises her only when she makes the knot and a loop. He continues the pattern until she can do all the steps required to tie her shoes. Raul's actions are an example of which of the following techniques?
Shaping
In an experiment, either a sad video or a happy video was shown to participants to influence their moods. The participants were then asked to memorize a list of words. Later, the participants were again shown either the same video they had seen before memorizing the words or they were shown the other video, and they were then asked to recall the words they had memorized previously. The results of the experiment, summarized in the chart above, best illustrate which psychological concept?
State-dependent memory
Which of the following scenarios involves using cued recall?
Steven studies a list of word pairs and is later given the first word of each pair and asked to recall the second word in the pair.
A psychological researcher designs a study to determine whether positive feedback affects self-esteem. The researcher requires each participant to toss twenty coins into a coffee can that is three feet away. Half of the participants are told that their performance is superior, and the other half are told that their performance is well below average. Although some of the participants want to quit tossing coins after a few attempts, they are told that once they begin the study they have to complete it. After the coin toss, participants take a test measuring selfesteem. Following the test, all participants are debriefed and told that information about their performance was false. Results of the study indicate that participants who are told their performance is well below average report lower levels of self-esteem than do those who are told their performance is superior. Which of the following elements constitutes the independent variable in the study?
The feedback about relative performance in coin tossing
A researcher has a hypothesis that men are more likely to be influenced by the central route to persuasion when buying a car than women are. The researcher randomly selects thirty men and thirty women to observe while they buy a car, and the researcher finds that women pay attention to information about the reliability of the car, whereas men pay attention to available colors that the car comes in. Which conclusion can the researcher draw?
The hypothesis is not supported, because the results indicate that women are influenced more by the central route to persuasion than men are.
Which of the following statements is supported by the results of this experiment?
The medicine was more effective in reducing the severity of the headaches than was quiet rest.
Janice cleaned out the office refrigerator without being asked. The operant conditioning concept of positive reinforcement is illustrated in which scenario?
The next day, her boss gave her a gift certificate to a local coffee shop. As a result, Janice now regularly cleans out the office refrigerator.
Children who are consistently praised for receiving high grades in school will likely continue to work for high grades. Using an operant conditioning explanation of this phenomenon, which of the following is true?
The praise functions as a positive reinforcer.
Which of the following findings about emotions is well supported by research?
There are several universal emotions.
Based only on the variable described for each of the following pairs of individuals, which individuals are most likely to show different facial expressions when experiencing the same emotion?
Two individuals who are from different cultures that have different display rules for the emotion
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. What is the independent variable in this study
Type of television program viewed
Marjorie's little brother tends to bother her when he is bored. Marjorie wants to figure out which toy will keep her brother occupied the longest so he will not bother her. She conducts a study where each day at 6P.M. for a week she gives her brother a different toy and on one of the days she gives him no toys to play with. She measures the amount of time he spends playing with each toy before he comes to bother her. Which of the following is the independent variable in this example?
Type of toy
People who play slot machines in gambling casinos usually exhibit steady, rapid rates of responding. This is because most games of chance use what schedule of reinforcement?
Variable-ratio
Which of the following operant conditioning concepts is an example of positive punishment?
While driving through the state of Mississippi, Lance was stopped for speeding and had to pay an expensive speeding ticket. As a result, he no longer goes over the speed limit when driving in Mississippi.
When a child behaves well for an entire day, the child earns a star. After acquiring fifteen stars, the child is allowed to pick a prize from a toy chest. The star is best described as
a secondary reinforcer
In an experiment designed to determine whether watching violent scenes on television increases the frequency of aggressive behavior in children, one group of subjects saw a nonviolent cartoon and another group saw a violent cartoon. In the play period that followed the viewing of the cartoons, researchers observed the two groups of children together and counted instances of aggressive behavior. The dependent variable in the experiment is the
amount of aggressive behavior exhibited by the children
A teacher creates a test that will predict how well a student will do as a commercial airline pilot. The test is taken before the training, and then the teacher correlates the test score to the number of safe flying hours. The teacher is trying to determine whether the test has
criterion-related validity
Stanley Schachter and Jerome Singer view emotion as resulting from
cognitive labels of physiological changes
A researcher would test the elaboration likelihood model by
conducting an experiment in which the researcher showed a class two commercials to determine their persuasive power. One commercial explained that a certain brand of seltzer water has no preservatives or sugar, which makes it healthier than other beverages. The other commercial showed a celebrity drinking the seltzer water and saying that she drinks it all the time.
According to Wilhelm Wundt, the focus of scientific psychology should be the study of
conscious experience
The debate over whether development occurs gradually, without discernible shifts, or through a series of distinct stages is termed
continuity vs. discontinuity
In an experiment to test the effects of hunger on aggressive behavior, aggressive behavior would be the
dependent variable
Vance is a popular honors student who, unlike his reference group, writes his best papers sitting on his motorcycle in the basement of his college dormitory. His behavior can be considered abnormal only if abnormality is defined as
deviation from cultural norms
One major objection to the early Skinnerian approach to psychology is that it
did not take into account internal thoughts and feelings
Paul Ekman found that when Japanese students watched films of surgery, they masked their expressions of disgust with a smile when an authority figure entered the room but not when alone. American students maintained their expressions of disgust both alone and in the presence of an authority figure. Ekman's findings illustrate what he calls
display rules
Dorothea Dix was known for
documenting the poor conditions of mental asylums, which eventually led to their reform
Thomas is thirty years old and is very shy. He becomes anxious in social situations, so he avoids them. Thomas does not have close friends and rarely leaves his apartment. However, he writes a very successful and popular Internet blog, is usually content and calm while working at home, and has a positive relationship with his family. Psychologists would be hesitant to label Thomas as psychologically disordered because his behavior
does not appear to cause distress or impair his day-to-day functioning
Contemporary definitions of abnormal behavior typically characterize such behavior as all of the following EXCEPT
due to inappropriate child-rearing practices
Whenever Sarah's mother answered the phone, Sarah would yell for her mother's attention and her mother would end the phone conversation. Then Sarah's mother began ignoring Sarah's yelling and eventually Sarah stopped behaving that way. The change in Sarah's behavior is an example of
extinction
The view that human emotions are universal has been supported by studies of
facial expressions
Ralph is aware that smoking is harmful to his health, but he continues to smoke. According to cognitive dissonance theory, it is most likely that Ralph will
focus on the social advantages to smoking
Chuck is walking down the street and someone asks him to sign a petition to put clean-air legislation on the next ballot. He decides to sign the petition. Then the person asks whether he would like to give a donation to the associated environmental group. This technique is known as
foot in the door
The perceived pitch of a tone is largely determined by its
frequency
It can be assumed that an individual described as a supertaster
is very sensitive to hot peppers
Survey research has shown that people with high levels of empathy (that is, an ability to imagine and feel what others are experiencing) tend to indicate lower ratings of enjoyment of violent humor than people with lower levels of empathy. Based on these results, one can conclude that
level of empathy correlates negatively with enjoyment of violent humor
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
A four-year-old child frequently pulled on the dog's tail to gain attention. To reduce this undesirable behavior, the parent took away one hour of television viewing every time the child pulled the dog's tail. Within one week, the undesirable behavior was significantly reduced. The above scenario illustrates
negative punishment
Elizabeth picks up the clothes from her bedroom floor and puts them away to avoid her mother's repeated nagging. Elizabeth's behavior is being influenced by
negative reinforcement
Because he is afraid of public speaking, Scott withdraws from a class that requires an oral presentation and enrolls in another class without a presentation requirement. He continues the pattern, switching classes each semester to avoid giving presentations. Scott's behavior has been
negatively reinforced
The area labeled A contains the
ossicles
A major university develops an assessment that is meant to provide data on whether potential students will be successful at the university level. If there is a relationship between the results of the assessment and student success, that will best indicate that the assessment has
predictive validity
In studying the behavior of five year olds in freeplay situations, a cognitive psychologist would be most interested in the children's
problem-solving strategies
Memories of well-learned skills, such as riding a bicycle, are classified as
procedural
A test is administered to 1,000 fourth graders across the country, and then it is readministered to the same children 90 days later. The test-retest results will yield an evaluation of the test's
reliability
When Lois looks at her wedding pictures, she has vivid memories of the early years of her marriage. The pictures serve as
retrieval cues
Carlos wants to lose weight but is having a hard time motivating himself to go to the gym after work because he enjoys watching movies after work instead. To increase his likelihood of going to the gym, Carlos should
reward himself immediately after going to the gym
Research shows that women who are referred by a physician to participate in a study of eating disorders have more severe problems than women who volunteer on their own to participate in the study. If research on eating disorders regularly involves only women referred by physicians, the results of the studies might be limited because of the presence of
sampling bias
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
Tahani is hiking in the woods and sees some movement in the trees. She immediately tenses up. A few moments later, after she realizes that the trees were just rustling in the wind, she calms down. According to Joseph LeDoux, Tahani's reaction is due to the fact that
there is a fast processing path that sends sensory information directly to the amygdala, causing Tahani's initial fear response, and a slower processing path that processes the content of sensory information first, which overrode Tahani's fear response
The general function of the bones in the middle ear is to
transfer sound information from the tympanic membrane to the oval window