PSYCH 120 Exam 1 Questions With Complete Solutions

Although psychology and philosophy are related, psychology eventually grew out of philosophy to become a separate discipline. What distinguishes psychology from philosophy? correct answer: psychology emphasizes answering questions using the scientific method Dr. Debord is a therapist who helps people with adjustment problems such as relationship problems and career guidance. He is most likely trained as a ________ . correct answer: counseling psychologist Dr. Hou works for an automobile manufacturer. She works to improve the interior design of cars to make them more comfortable and safer to drive. She is most likely a ________ . correct answer: human factors psychologist Some psychologists test theories about basic principles of behavior and mind. Examples would include social psychologists, cognitive psychologists, and developmental psychologists. As a group, these psychologists are called ________ . correct answer: research psychologists Which of the following statements regarding the relationship between the mind and the body would most psychologists today agree with? correct answer: There is no separation of the mind and body. Which of the following reflects an empiricist, as opposed to a nativist viewpoint on the origins of knowledge? correct answer: Greek philosopher Aristotle's idea that the mind is a tabula rasa-a blank slate on which experiences are written Professor Hahn believes that psychology should not study consciousness because it is difficult to measure directly. He is most likely a proponent of which school of thought? correct answer: behaviorism Dr. Jacobs is a clinical psychologist who uses a combination of different techniques depending on the problem her client is dealing with. For example, she treats phobias behaviorally, uses both cognitive and behavioral techniques with depression, and utilizes a systems approach with families. Her approach to therapy would best be characterized as ________ . correct answer: eclectic Which of the following was NOT a factor in psychology's cognitive revolution? a. the development of the computer, which became a model of the human mind b. improved research techniques that allowed researchers to infer mental processes from observable behavior c. B. F. Skinner's admission that behaviorism had reached its limits d. Advances in technology that allowed researchers to directly measure the activity of brain cells correct answer: c. B. F. Skinner's admission that behaviorism had reached its limits Evolutionary psychology is most similar to which of the early schools of psychology? correct answer: functionalism Which of the following is the best operational definition of a good student? correct answer: A good student is one who has a GPA of 3.0 or better. Although most journalists make a modest living, a few working in the biggest markets earn huge salaries in the millions of dollars. Due to its sensitivity to these outliers, the ________ is misleading and a better representation of journalist's salaries would be ________ income. correct answer: mean; median Dr. Gerard determines psychology class grades solely by the percentage of items answered correctly on the tests. She says she would be thrilled to give everyone in the class "As" if they could achieve a 90% average on the tests. What type of grading technique does Dr. G. Use? correct answer: absolute grading Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic theory was based primarily on descriptive data from a few case studies. Critics question how well the experiences of these unusual individuals represent others. The concern referred to is that this type of research may lack ________ . correct answer: external validity Suppose you calculate a correlation coefficient of -0.46 for the relationship between college grades and time spent partying. Which of these is the most accurate interpretation of this finding? correct answer: The more time spent partying, the lower the GPA Why is it not possible to determine causality from a correlation? correct answer: There could be a third variable causing both Dr. Jenkins wants to see if specific goals lead to better performance than "do your best" goals. To test this, he goes to a 5K running race to recruit participants. He asks some racers to try for a specific time that is difficult but possible for them and others to do their very best. On average, those with the specific goals run faster than those trying to do their best. What is the independent variable in this example? correct answer: the type of goal set-specific or "do your best" Researchers want to see of increasing blood sugar will improve memory function in senior citizens. To test this, they give a group of elderly people lemonade made with either sugar or a non-caloric sweetener followed by a memory test. In this study, what is the dependent variable? correct answer: scores on the memory test (results are dependent on the scores) In order to control all possible confounding variables, Dr. Jackman runs her study in a laboratory using a computer simulation. This increases ________ at the possible cost of losing ________ . correct answer: internal validity; external validity After a study is over, when is it okay to not tell participants about any deception that was used during the study? correct answer: It is never okay. The full nature of any deception should be disclosed. Which of the following is NOT true regarding reasons for using animals in research? a. Animal research allows for a level of control impossible in human studies. b. Animal studies often lead to breakthroughs in human problems. c. Life-span studies that would take 80 years with people can be accomplished in a few years with animals. d. There are few guidelines for animal research. correct answer: d. There are few guidelines for animal research. Myelin can greatly speed the action potential by enabling ________ . correct answer: saltatory conduction If a neuron is compared to a gun, the ________ would be the trigger. correct answer: axon hillock Too much dopamine is related to the disease ________ , whereas too little dopamine is associated with ________ . correct answer: schizophrenia; Parkinson's What would be the effect on a person who received a drug that acted as an acetylcholine antagonist? correct answer: They would become paralyzed Both sympathetic arousal and parasympathetic calming responses are controlled by the ________ nervous system. correct answer: autonomic A woman was in a car accident and suffered an injury to her head. Although a three-dimensional image of her brain is needed to help decide what treatment would be best, any method using chemicals or radiation cannot be used because she is pregnant. As her doctor, what type of scan would you recommend? correct answer: MRI Some blame poor decision-making by teenagers on the ________ lobes being the last area of the brain to fully develop. correct answer: frontal What is a reasonable explanation for the finding that artists and architects are proportionately more likely to be left handed? correct answer: The right hemisphere, which usually plays a more important role in spatial tasks, is dominant in left-handed people. How does the nervous system control the endocrine system? correct answer: The hypothalamus controls the pituitary. The communication of the endocrine system is ________ and ________ . correct answer: slow; long-lasting Male and female differences in performance are ________ and due to ________ factors. correct answer: small; both biological and environmental Evolutionary psychologists believe that adaptation through natural selection occurs with psychological traits just as it does with physical characteristics. To be considered an adaptation, a trait must satisfy three criteria. Which of the following is NOT one of these criteria? correct answer: The trait must continue to mutate A "gene" is most similar in meaning to the word ________ correct answer: instruction In which stage of prenatal development would it be most dangerous to the developing child for a pregnant woman to contract the German measles? correct answer: embryonic period The finding that women who experience morning sickness are less likely to suffer miscarriages suggests correct answer: that morning sickness may be a natural defense against the influence of teratogens. Which of these findings highlights the importance of nurture to development? a. Rats raised in enriched environments develop more complex and better functioning brain tissue than rats raised in barren environments. b. The nervous system matures in a down-and-out fashion-from the head down and from the center out. c. Hopi babies, who are traditionally bound to cradle boards for much of their first year of life, show no delays in walking. d. A human newborn's brain is about 25% of the size of an adult's, but a newborn chimpanzee's is about 60%. correct answer: Rats raised in enriched environments develop more complex and better functioning brain tissue than rats raised in barren environments. Although our brains lose neurons as we age, correct answer: the remaining neurons sometimes increase in complexity. The first time baby Huey was shown a picture of a moose, he looked at it for 15 seconds. On the 20th time he is shown the moose, what will his response be if he demonstrates habituation? correct answer: He will only glance at it briefly before looking away. Before having solid food, how will an infant respond to a drop of lemon juice put in her mouth? correct answer: She will grimace because the reaction is present at birth. When three-year-old Emma's grandmother asks her a question over the phone, Emma nods her head. Not realizing that grandma can't see her is an example of ________ . correct answer: egocentrism If you avoid speeding because you're afraid you'll get a ticket, Kohlberg would say you are acting at the ________ level of moral development. correct answer: preconventional In the strange situation test, 12-month-old Tia plays happily while her mother is in the room, gets upset when her mother leaves, and calms down quickly when her mother returns. Tia would be classified as having a ________ attachment style. correct answer: secure According to terror management theory, we avoid things that remind us of ________ . correct answer: our own mortality Which of the following statements regarding day care is true? a. Children who go to day care centers where the staff have college training in child development show higher levels of cognitive development. b. Children who go to day care centers are better socialized and show fewer problem behaviors. c. It is best to avoid sending your child to day care due to consistent negative effects on social and mental development. d. Vocabulary suffers even in children who go to high-quality day care. correct answer: Children who go to day care centers where the staff have college training in child development show higher levels of cognitive development. How is focusing accomplished in the human eye? correct answer: by changing the shape of the lens Trichromatic theory is to ________ as opponent-process theory is to ________ . correct answer: cones; the visual pathway Why is it that a very dim star disappears when you look directly at it, but you can see it by looking slightly away from it? correct answer: Cones are concentrated in the fovea, and rods are concentrated in peripheral vision. Perceiving monsters in the shadows when walking through the woods alone is an example of using ________ processing to see what we are expecting to see. correct answer: top-down processing Which theory of pitch perception best explains why older people have difficulty hearing high-pitched sounds? correct answer: place theory The ability to easily recognize the same melody played by different instruments demonstrates the auditory system's remarkable ability to ________ . correct answer: maintain perceptual constancy Compared with a person with normal hearing in both ears, a person who is deaf in one ear may have difficulty ________ . correct answer: with sound localization According to gate control theory, correct answer: the brain can block pain signals from reaching higher neural centers. Gina is unable to compete in her gymnastics competition due to an ear infection that has affected her ________ . correct answer: vestibular sense Which sense has the most different kinds of receptor cells? correct answer: smell What is the difference between taste and flavor? correct answer: Taste refers specifically to the sensations produced by the taste buds, while flavor describes the experience that includes the taste and smell of food. A weightlifter can just barely notice the difference between 30 and 31 pound dumbbells when doing curls. How much would you have to add to his 300 pound barbell for him to notice the difference when he does bench press? correct answer: 10 pounds When Aiden moved to downtown Chicago, the constant street noise kept him awake. After a few nights, however, he was able to fall asleep easily. What psychological concept best accounts for this change? correct answer: sensory adaptation In a psychology study, Kurt listens to spoken messages presented individually to each ear through headphones. He is unable to remember the content of a message in his right ear while repeating a message sent to his left ear. The researchers are utilizing a research technique called ________ . correct answer: dichotic listening Which of the following illustrates the cocktail party effect? a. People who frequent parties have more, but shallower friendships. b. People tend to speak more loudly after drinking alcohol. c. You hear someone say your name over the din of a noisy party. d. Men find women more attractive after they've been drinking alcohol. correct answer: c. You hear someone say your name over the din of a noisy party. How much does talking on a cell phone increase the risk of an accident? correct answer: to levels similar to a person with a blood-alcohol level above the legal limit In a car accident, Alex suffered damage to the right parietal lobe of the cerebral cortex. Now he shows some odd behaviors like only shaving the right side of his face. As his doctor, what would you suspect is his diagnosis? correct answer: visual neglect Near the end of the night a person is most likely to be in ________ sleep. correct answer: REM When a rat is completely deprived of sleep for three weeks, correct answer: it will almost certainly die According to the activation-synthesis model, dreams correct answer: are caused by random activity in the brain Which of the following is a parasomnia? correct answer: night terrors The headache that Heather gets on afternoons when she did not get her morning coffee is an example of ________ . correct answer: withdrawal symptom Many psychoactive drugs including alcohol, cocaine, and amphetamines are addictive because they affect the neurotransmitter ________ , which is part of the brain's natural reward system. correct answer: dopamine Which of the following is NOT classified as a hallucinogen? a. mescaline b. LSD c. marijuana d. Ecstasy correct answer: d. ecstasy A person who begins to smell colors after taking a hallucinogen is experiencing a phenomenon called ________ . correct answer: synesthesia Which of the following statements about hypnosis is true? a. The brain waves of hypnotized subjects are similar to those of a person in a deep sleep. b. People who are highly susceptible to hypnosis tend to be weak willed and conforming. c. Major surgeries can be performed in some people using hypnosis as the primary anesthesia. d. Forgotten memories can be recovered and accurately enhanced using hypnosis. Hide Feedback correct answer: c. Major surgeries can be performed in some people using hypnosis as the primary anesthesia. Anthony's heart rate and blood pressure decrease and his brain waves become primarily alpha after a few minutes of repeating a mantra. Anthony is ________ . correct answer: meditating Using hypnosis to separate pain from its conscious experience is an example of correct answer: hypnotic dissociation Which of the following is NOT an example of learning? a. Bud, the family dog, gets excited when he hears his leash rattle as it's taken off the hook. b. Emma decides not to color on the wall after watching her sister get a time-out for doing so. c. At age three, Emma could not reach the light, but at age four, she can turn it on by herself. d. During dinner, Bud the family dog waits under four-year-old Emma's chair for crumbs to fall. correct answer: c. At age three, Emma could not reach the light, but at age four, she can turn it on by herself. When Sofia got married, her new husband's snoring kept her awake. Now that she has been married for five years, it doesn't bother her and she scarcely notices it any more. Her diminished response to her husband's snoring is ________ . correct answer: habituation In which type of learning would you find a US, UR, CS, and CR? correct answer: classical conditioning Which of the following will lead to the strongest conditioning? a. The unconditioned stimulus is presented just before the conditioned stimulus. b. A second stimulus is presented at the same time as an already existing conditioned stimulus for extra clarity. c. The conditioned stimulus is presented just before the unconditioned stimulus. d. The conditioned stimulus and unconditioned stimulus are presented at the same time. correct answer: c. The conditioned stimulus is presented just before the unconditioned stimulus. Drug tolerance is a ________ to the environment, such as a particular room, where a person normally takes drugs. correct answer: conditioned response The increased alertness that Aubrey experiences after unknowingly drinking decaffeinated coffee is a(n) ________ . correct answer: conditioned response Which of the following is an operant response? a. A child hits a "Bobo" doll in imitation of an older child. b. A dog learns to roll over to earn a treat. c. Learning to blink at the sound of a tone that has been followed by a puff of air to the eye. d. A child wants Sugar-O's cereal after seeing commercials for it during Saturday morning cartoons. correct answer: b. A dog learns to roll over to get a treat In using operant conditioning to train your dog, a cue such as the word "sit" is a ________ . correct answer: discriminative stimulus Camila studies more as her exam approaches because she wants to earn an A in the class. Brianna studies to avoid failing the class. Camila is motivated by ________ while Brianna is motivated by ________ . correct answer: positive reinforcement; negative reinforcement Which reinforcement schedule leads to fast acquisition of learning but is easily extinguished? correct answer: continuous reinforcement When animal trainers Keller and Marion Breland tried to train a raccoon to drop a coin into a piggy bank, the animal would "wash" the coin instead. The difficulties the Brelands had in applying operant principles to animals demonstrate that correct answer: there are biological constraints on learning Mirror neurons in the brain allow us to correct answer: learn by observation When his dad mows the lawn, Nathan follows along with his toy lawnmower. This is an example of observational learning called ________ . correct answer: modeling Red-winged blackbirds will refuse to eat a particular food if they observe another bird become ill after eating the food. This shows that animals are capable of ________ . correct answer: observational learning Which of the following is NOT one of the mechanisms of Baddeley's working memory model? a. sensory register b. central executive c. phonological loop d. visuospatial sketch pad correct answer: sensory register In the Peterson distractor task, people are asked to recall a short list of three letters after delays ranging from 3 to 18 seconds. They were asked to count backward by threes during the delay. What does this test measure? correct answer: the duration of short-term memory ________ is an exact copy of the environmental message, whereas ________ is usually in the form of an inner "voice." correct answer: sensory memory; short-term memory Although both lists are the same length, CATDOGPIG is easier to remember than CXVRTDMLG due to a short-term memory strategy called ________ . correct answer: chunking Which of the following is NOT a type of long-term memory? a. periodic b. semantic c. procedural d. episodic correct answer: a. periodic Although Ken has been tying his own shoes every day for the past 30 years, he is having a hard time describing how to do it to his four-year-old daughter Kendra. His difficulty is because ________ memory is inaccessible to conscious awareness. correct answer: procedural During the drive home from work, Gary's wife calls and asks him to stop at the grocery store and pick up the following list of items: milk, bananas, eggs, juice, apples, cheese, tea, yogurt, bread. Gary arrives home with six of the items. Which three is he most likely to have forgotten? correct answer: juice, apples, cheese Mason amazes his classmates by giving his speech without notes. He does this by mentally attaching the main points to object in his house and then imagining walking through his house while giving a speech. He is using an ancient mnemonic device called ________ . correct answer: the method of loci Assuming you have already read the chapter, which of the following is the best strategy for preparing for a multiple-choice exam? a. Practice answering multiple-choice questions from a study guide. b. Study the important parts you highlighted when you read through the chapter the first time. c. Read through the chapter another time to make sure you are thoroughly familiar with material. d. Make up and answer questions relevant to the material. correct answer: a. Practice answering multiple-choice questions from a study guide. What is the advantage of schema-based remembering? correct answer: It helps fill in the gaps with fuzzy or incomplete recollections. Memory researchers believe that most, if not all, forgetting is caused by correct answer: failure to access the right retrieval cues. In an experiment, Loftus and Palmer (1974) asked students to watch a video of a car accident. Some students were asked to estimate the speed of the cars as they "smashed" into each other; others were asked the speed of the cars when they "contacted" each other. Which students were likely to remember seeing broken glass? correct answer: only those given the smashed wording Roderick was hit so hard when he caught the winning touchdown pass on the last play of the game that he was knocked out. When he regained consciousness, he was unable to remember any of the game. Roderick is suffering from ________ . correct answer: retrograde amnesia What does the Ebbinghaus forgetting curve show? correct answer: Most forgetting occurs rapidly and is followed by a more gradual decline. In a study by Jenkins and Dallenbach (1924), students who slept during the time between learning new information and testing remembered better than those who remained awake. The study supported the idea that forgetting is due to ________ . correct answer: retroactive interference Which of the following mechanisms of forgetting has the least evidence that it occurs? a. cue dependence - retrieval failure is due to lack of cues b. amnesia - forgetting caused by injury or disease to the brain c. decay - memories fade with the passing of time d. proactive interference - old memories interfere with new memories correct answer: c. decay -- memories fade with the passing of time