Sensation and Perception

In Milgram's experiments, participants were torn between whether they should respond to the pleas of the ______ or the demands of the ______.

"learner"; experimenter

The area of the retina where the optic nerve leaves the eye is called the

blind spot

Diffusion of responsibility often plays an important role in the

bystander effect

People are less likely to give aid if an emergency occurs in the presence of many observers. This is known as

bystander effect

Although Sue Yen sees her chemistry teacher several times a week, she didn't recognize the teacher when she saw her in the grocery store. This best illustrates the importance of

context effects

In Milgram's first study of obedience, the majority of "teachers" who were ordered to shock a "learner"

continued the whole way through

Which of the following is the correct order of structures light passes through in the eye?

cornea, pupil, lens, retina

Sensation is to ________ as perception is to ________.

detection; interpretation

Some people are better than others at detecting slight variations in the tastes of various blends of coffee. This best illustrates the importance of

difference thresholds

Ksana insists that her boyfriend's car accident resulted from his carelessness. Her explanation for the accident provides an example of

dispositional attribution

Fritz Heider concluded that people tend to attribute others' behavior either to their

dispositions or their situations

Accepting others' opinions about reality is to ________ as the desire to gain approval is to ________.

informational social influence; normative social influence

The amount of light entering the eye is regulated by the

iris

While playing tennis you need to know where your limbs are located so you can move them into the right positions to run or swing your racket. Which of the following senses provides this information?

kinesthesis

The philosopher John Locke believed that people

learn to perceive the world through experience.

Objects are brought into focus on the retina by changes in the curvature and thickness of the

lens

The convergence of parallel lines provides the distance cue known as

linear perspective

Cocking your head would be most useful for detecting the ______ of a sound.

location

A perceptual set is a

mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another

Joe Wilson, age 55, has been told by experts that a hearing aid would restore his lost sense of hearing. It is likely that Joe's hearing loss involves problems within the

middle ear

Depth perception that uses information transmitted to only one eye depends on

monocular cues

Conformity resulting from the acceptance of others' opinions about reality is said to be a response to

normative social influence

Interposition is a cue for depth perception in which closer objects

obstruct our view of distant objects

In 1942, German reserve police officers obeyed orders to kill some 1500 Jews in the village of Jozefow, Poland. This incident illustrated that people are most likely to be destructively obedient when

orders come from a source of authority

The ability to simultaneously recognize the color, shape, size, and speed of an oncoming automobile best illustrates

parallel processing

The process by which we select, organize and interpret sensory information in order to recognize meaningful objects and events is called

perception

After watching a scary television movie, Julie perceived the noise of the wind rattling her front windows as the sound of a burglar breaking into her house. Her mistaken interpretation best illustrates the influence of

perceptual set

The receptor cells that convert light energy into neural signals are called

photoreceptors

Poverty and unemployment are likely to be explained in terms of personal dispositions by ________ and in terms of situational influences by ________.

political conservatives; political liberals

Photographs of people were rated more positively if the photos immediately followed a briefly flashed image of kittens. This best illustrates the impact of

priming

The perceptual tendency to group together stimuli that are near each other is called

proximity

The adjustable opening in the center of the eye is the

pupil

The process of receiving and representing stimulus energies through the nervous system is called

sensation

After listening to your high-volume car stereo for 15 minutes, you fail to realize how loudly the music is blasting. This best illustrates

sensory adaptation

The fundamental attribution error refers to our tendency to underestimate the impact of ________ and to overestimate the impact of ________ in explaining the behavior of others.

situational influences; personal dispositions

As the retinal image of a horse galloping toward you becomes larger, it is unlikely that the horse will appear to grow larger. This best illustrates the phenomenon of

size constancy

Class members are asked to work cooperatively in groups on major course papers. Every member of a group is to receive exactly the same grade based on the quality of the group's paper. This situation is most likely to lead to

social loafing

University students were observed to pull harder on a rope when they thought they were pulling alone than when they thought three others were pulling with them on the same rope. This best illustrates

social loafing

Which branch of psychology is most directly concerned with the study of how people think about, influence, and relate to one another?

social psychology

Standing atop a mountain on an utterly dark, clear night, most of us would see a candle flame atop another mountain 30 miles away. This best illustrates

the absolute threshold

Magazine computer ads seldom feature endorsements from Hollywood stars or great athletes. Instead, they offer detailed information for consumers to develop more positive opinions about the company's products. This advertising strategy best illustrates

the central route to persuasion

Compared with people from East Asian cultures, those from individualistic Western countries are more likely to demonstrate

the fundamental attribution error

If an image falls on the eye's blind spot, you do not detect it. Which of the following best explains this phenomenon?

the image is not perceived because without receptor cells, transduction cannot occur

Deindividuation refers to

the loss of self-awareness and self-restraint

Experiencing a green afterimage of a red object is most easily explained by

the opponent- process theory

Instead of providing arguments in favor of a political candidate, ads may build political support by associating pictures of the candidate with emotion-evoking music and images. This strategy best illustrates

the peripheral route to persuasion

The sequentially flashing Christmas tree lights appeared to generate pulsating waves of motion. This best illustrates

the phi phenomenon

According to the Young-Helmholtz theory

the retina contains three kinds of color receptors

The process by which our sensory systems convert stimulus energies into neural messages is called

transduction

The area of the brain that receives information from the nose is directly connected with the limbic system. This connection may explain why smells are often involved in which of the following?

vivid memories

Which of the following best explains why we have difficulty locating sounds that are directly overhead

when the sound is directly overhead, it reaches both ears simultaneously

Cones and rods are to vision as ________ are to audition.

hair cells

The mechanical vibrations triggered by sound waves are transduced into neural impulses by

hair cells

A 3-D movie enhances our sense of depth perception by simulating the effects of

Retinal disparity

The fundamental attribution error is most likely to lead observers to conclude that unemployed people

Are irresponsible and unmotivated

The discomfort we feel when two thoughts are inconsistent is called

Cognitive Dissonance

Damage to the hammer, anvil, and stirrup is most likely to cause

Conduction hearing loss

Freire did very poorly on his last arithmetic test. The tendency to make the fundamental attribution error might lead his sixth-grade teacher to conclude that Freire did poorly because

Freire did poorly because he is unmotivated to do well in school

In one experiment, most of the participants who viewed a videotape of men tossing a basketball remained unaware of an umbrella-toting woman sauntering across the screen. This illustrated

Inattentional Blindness

Why is transduction important to sensation?

It converts physical stimuli, such as light, into neural messages

Which theory best explains the occurrence of afterimages?

Opponent process

A cochlear implant would be most helpful for those who suffer

Sensorineural hearing loss

Bottom-up processing involves analysis that begins with the

Sensory receptors

Imagine that a softball player wears special glasses that shift her visual field upward 20 degrees. This means that when the player wears these glasses, everything appears higher than it actually is. With practice the player can hit a ball with the glasses on. What will happen when the player first hits a ball with the glasses off?

She will believe that the ball is lower than it really is.

The quick succession of briefly flashed images in a motion picture produces

Stroboscopic movement

The effect of prior experience and current expectations on perception best illustrates the importance of

Top-down processing

The principle that two stimuli must differ by a constant proportion for their difference to be perceived is known as

Weber's Law

An integrated understanding of pain control in terms of mental distraction, the release of endorphins, and the presence of empathic caregivers is most clearly provided by

a biopsychosocial approach

During a hearing test, many sounds were presented at such a low level of intensity that Mr. Antall could hardly detect them. These sounds were below Mr. Antall's

absolute threshold

the minimum amount of stimulation a person needs to detect a stimulus 50 percent of the time is called the

absolute threshold

According to the gate-control theory, a back massage would most likely reduce your physical aches and pains by causing

activation of large nerve fibers in your spinal cord

The best explanation for the inaction of bystanders during the Kitty Genovese murder is that they failed to

assume personal responsibility for helping the victim.

A subliminal message is one that is presented

below one's absolute threshold for awareness.

Taste and smell are both what kind of senses?

chemical

While singing to you on your birthday, your friends leave off the very last word of the song, "Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday dear David, Happy birthday to...." Your tendency to mentally fill in the last word best reflects which of the following Gestalt principles of organization?

closure

As your teacher dims the lights to show a movie clip, you still perceive your friend's shirt as red. Which of the following best explains this phenomenon?

color constancy

The foot-in-the-door phenomenon refers to the tendency to

comply with a large request if one has previously complied with a small request

Adjusting one's behavior or thinking toward a group standard is called

conformity

Solomon Asch asked people to identify which of three comparison lines was identical to a standard line. His research was designed to study

conformity

After an exciting football game in which the home team loses by one point, a crowd of fans throws bottles and begins to tear up the field. This behavior is best understood in terms of

deindividuation

Which of the following is the correct sequence of structures that sound waves pass through on the way to the auditory nerve?

eardrum, hammer, anvil, stirrup, cochlea

According to Milgram, the most fundamental lesson to be learned from his study of obedience is that

even ordinary people, who are not usually hostile, can become agents of destruction

The pitch of a sound is determined by what?

frequency

Normative social influence results from peoples' desire to

gain social approval

Who emphasized that the whole may exceed the sum of its parts?

gestalt psychologists

An overwhelming desire for harmony in a decision-making group increases the probability of

groupthink

The light-sensitive inner surface of the eye, containing the rods and cones, is the

retina

Under very dim levels of illumination

rods are more light-sensitive than cones.

The set of prescribed behaviors associated with a particular social position is best described as a(n)

role

The participants in Philip Zimbardo's simulated prison study

role-playing on attitudes

Because she was listening to the news on the radio, Mrs. Schultz didn't perceive a word her husband was saying. Her experience best illustrates

selective attention

In University of Utah driving-simulation experiments, students conversing on cell phones were slower to detect and respond to traffic signals. This best illustrates

selective attention

During the months when there is a large amount of pollen in the air, your hay fever severely affects your sense of smell. At the same time your food all seems to taste the same. This illustrates the importance of

sensory interaction

As a door opens, it casts an increasingly trapezoidal shape on our retinas; however, we still perceive it as rectangular. Which of the following best explains this phenomenon?

shape constancy

Caitlin concluded that her husband was late for dinner because he was caught in heavy traffic. Her conclusion best illustrates

situational attribution