UvA Psychology Selection Exam Questions and Answers Latest
Question 1
Define consciousness
Correct Answer
A person's subjective experience of the world and the mind.
Question 2
Define cartesian theatre
Correct Answer
A mental screen or stage on which things appear to be presented for viewing by the mind's eye
Question 3
WHat makes it so hard to study consciousness?
Correct Answer
There is no way to measure the conscious experience directly
Page 1 of 47
,Question 4
What is the hard problem of consciousness?
Correct Answer
The difficulty of explaining how subjective experience could ever arise.
Question 5
Define phenomenology
Correct Answer
How things actually seem in the state of consciousness in terms of the quality of experience.
Question 6
WHat is the homunculus problem?
Correct Answer
Difficulty of explaining the experience of consciousness by advocating another internal self.
Question 7
What is the problem of other minds?
Correct Answer
The fundamental difficulty we have in perceiving the consciousness of others. There is a personal quality to qualia that
cannot be directly accessed by others, no matter how well you describe the experience. For example, I know how red
looks like to me but no matter how well I describe the colour red I will never be able to know if others see red(experience
life) in the same way I do.
Page 2 of 47
,Question 8
Define Qualia
Correct Answer
Subjective experiences we have as part of our mental life.
Question 9
Define materialism
Correct Answer
Philosophical position that mental states are a product of physical processes alone.
Question 10
Define anthropomorphism
Correct Answer
The tendency to attribute human qualities to nonhuman things
Page 3 of 47
, Question 11
Gray et al(2007)
Correct Answer
Aim: To investigate how people perceive other minds
Method: Participants took part in a large online survey in which they were asked to compare the minds of 13 different
targets such as a baby, chimp, robot , man and woman, on 18 different mental capacities such as feeling pain, pleasure,
hunger and consciousness.
Results: Participants who were judging the mental capacity to feel pain, for example, compared targets: is a frog able to
feel more pain than a dog? Is a baby or a robot more able to feel pain? Is a seven-week-old fetus or a man in a persistent
vegetative state more able to feel pain? When the researchers examined all the comparisons on the different mental
capacities with the computational technique of factor analysis (see Chapter 9), they found two dimensions of mind
perception.
Conclusion: People judge minds according to the capacity for experience, such as the ability to feel pain, pleasure,
hunger, consciousness, anger or fear, and the capacity for agency, such as the ability for self-control, planning, memory
or thought
Page 4 of 47
Question 1
Define consciousness
Correct Answer
A person's subjective experience of the world and the mind.
Question 2
Define cartesian theatre
Correct Answer
A mental screen or stage on which things appear to be presented for viewing by the mind's eye
Question 3
WHat makes it so hard to study consciousness?
Correct Answer
There is no way to measure the conscious experience directly
Page 1 of 47
,Question 4
What is the hard problem of consciousness?
Correct Answer
The difficulty of explaining how subjective experience could ever arise.
Question 5
Define phenomenology
Correct Answer
How things actually seem in the state of consciousness in terms of the quality of experience.
Question 6
WHat is the homunculus problem?
Correct Answer
Difficulty of explaining the experience of consciousness by advocating another internal self.
Question 7
What is the problem of other minds?
Correct Answer
The fundamental difficulty we have in perceiving the consciousness of others. There is a personal quality to qualia that
cannot be directly accessed by others, no matter how well you describe the experience. For example, I know how red
looks like to me but no matter how well I describe the colour red I will never be able to know if others see red(experience
life) in the same way I do.
Page 2 of 47
,Question 8
Define Qualia
Correct Answer
Subjective experiences we have as part of our mental life.
Question 9
Define materialism
Correct Answer
Philosophical position that mental states are a product of physical processes alone.
Question 10
Define anthropomorphism
Correct Answer
The tendency to attribute human qualities to nonhuman things
Page 3 of 47
, Question 11
Gray et al(2007)
Correct Answer
Aim: To investigate how people perceive other minds
Method: Participants took part in a large online survey in which they were asked to compare the minds of 13 different
targets such as a baby, chimp, robot , man and woman, on 18 different mental capacities such as feeling pain, pleasure,
hunger and consciousness.
Results: Participants who were judging the mental capacity to feel pain, for example, compared targets: is a frog able to
feel more pain than a dog? Is a baby or a robot more able to feel pain? Is a seven-week-old fetus or a man in a persistent
vegetative state more able to feel pain? When the researchers examined all the comparisons on the different mental
capacities with the computational technique of factor analysis (see Chapter 9), they found two dimensions of mind
perception.
Conclusion: People judge minds according to the capacity for experience, such as the ability to feel pain, pleasure,
hunger, consciousness, anger or fear, and the capacity for agency, such as the ability for self-control, planning, memory
or thought
Page 4 of 47
