PSYCHOLOGY 100.docx

PSYCHOLOGY 100 ? PRACTICE EXAM 1 Name_______________________________________________ ____ 1. Naturalistic observations, case studies, and surveys all have in common that a. they take place in an artificial setting b. they involve manipulating the variables of interest in the study c. they involve describing behavior d. they show cause and effect relationships ____ 2. A neurologist believes that Hillary may have epilepsy. To confirm this diagnosis the neurologist needs to record the overall electrical activity in Hillary's brain. The best way for the neurologist to obtain this information would be to use a. a positron emission tomography (PET) scan b. electrical stimulation of the brain (ESB) c. an electroencephalograph (EEG) d. a computerized tomography (CT) scan ____ 3. A researcher is investigating the effect of high room temperatures on aggressive behavior in preschoolers. Half of the children are in a classroom where the temperature is a warm 88 degrees and half are in a classroom where the temperature is a normal 77 degrees. The researcher measures the number of hitting incidents that occur in each classroom. In this study the temperature of the room is the a. dependent variable b. experimental group c. control group d. independent variable ____ 4. Mrs. Smith, an elementary school teacher, believes that girls are smarter than boys. She predicts that the girls in her class will learn more than the boys during the school year. Her prediction is a a. hypothesis b. opinion c. fact d. theory ____ 5. Julia is currently in the midst of a major depression. It is most likely that she has a. reduced activity at norepinephrine synapses b. excess levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine c. reduced levels of the neurotransmitter GABA d. increased activity at serotonin synapses ____ 6. If a radio play-by-play announcer describing each pitch during a baseball game fails to notice a naked fan running across the infield, the announcer would be demonstrating a. inattentional blindness b. attentional blindness c. perceptual set d. feature analysis ____ 7. If a sound source is coming from your right side, your right ear will ?hear? a. a louder sound than your left ear will ?hear? b. a softer sound than your left ear will ?hear? c. a more complex sound than your left ear will ?hear? d. the sound after your left ear ?hears? the so ____ 8. If while watching an exquisite sunset you stop and analyze your sensations, thoughts, and feelings, you would be performing introspection as the ____ once did. a. structuralists b. behaviorists c. functionalists d. psychoanalysts ____ 9. When you first put on a pair of tight-fitting pants in the morning you may be aware of pressure on your waist, however, after a few minutes the pants will not feel as tight as a result of a. tactile stretching b. tactile continuity c. sensory adaptation d. sensory overload ____ 10. If your roommate slowly and carefully turns up the volume on the stereo until you can determine ?now it?s louder than it was before,? it would be most accurate to say the volume increased by a a. perceivable difference b. just noticeable difference c. fractional difference d. proportional difference ____ 11. If a researcher varies the loudness of music in a factory to observe its effect on the rate of productivity of the employees, the dependent variable is the a. factory setting b. rate of productivity c. style of music being used d. loudness of music being used ____ 12. A clinical psychologist notes that an unusually large number of obese people are depressed or anxious, and she offers an explanation that excess weight causes emotional disorders. Her explanation is a(n) a. hypothesis b. theory c. opinion d. fact ____ 13. Neurons that respond selectively to very specific features of more complex stimuli are a. perception detectors b. selective detectors c. feature detectors d. appearance detectors ____ 14. Karlette took some new medication for her hay fever. The medication made her heart start to race, and she became agitated and jittery. It is likely that the medication is increasing the activity in Karlette's a. parasympathetic nervous system b. somatic nervous system c. cerebellum d. sympathetic nervous system ____ 15. If a person's hippocampus is completely destroyed, the person would have difficulties a. with her sense of vision and hearing b. with her memory c. controlling her food intake d. controlling her response to pleasurable stimuli ____ 16. An animal species normally active at night (or nocturnal) would be expected to have a visual system that consists primarily of a. rods b. cones c. bipolar cells d. ganglion cells ____ 17. You act impulsively, then wonder why. Freud would tell you that your behavior was influenced by your a. unconscious mind b. conscious mind c. inability to think quickly d. lack of rational thought ____ 18. Which of the following is not a common methodological flaw to consider when evaluating scientific research? a. distortions of self-report b. sampling bias c. subject effect d. placebo effect ____ 19. Which of the following correlation coefficients indicates the strongest relationship between two variables? a. -1.51 b. -.80 c. 0 d. +.50 ____ 20. It is most accurate to state that family, twin, and adoption studies are designed to determine the effect of ____ on human behavior. a. living in the same environment b. experience c. genetics d. both experience and genetics ____ 21. If the occipital lobe of the brain is stimulated a person would be most likely to report a. hearing a sound b. smelling an odor c. seeing a flash of light d. moving a part of his body ____ 22. Conclusions concerning cause and effect relationships are only possible when the ____ method is used. a. survey b. experimental c. correlational d. descriptive ____ 23. The school of psychology that takes the most positive view of human nature is a. behaviorism b. functionalism c. humanism d. Psychoanalysis ____ 24. The fact that your criterion for "hearing" mysterious noises at night may change after a rash of burglaries in your neighborhood can best be explained by a. Weber's law b. Fechner's law c. sensory adaptation d. signal-detection theory ____ 25. Critical thinking includes all of the following except a. originally believing that the stated position on a topic is incorrect b. generating multiple solutions to problems c. using principles of likelihood when dealing with probabilistic events d. working systematically toward a desired goal ____ 26. Following split-brain surgery an individual would have difficulty naming an object that he briefly saw in the left visual field because while the ____ hemisphere "saw" the object, naming tasks are under the control of the ____ hemisphere. a. right; left b. left; right c. dominant; nondominant d. nondominant; dominant ____ 27. During the last few decades people have become more aware of the sexual abuse of children by adults, and psychologists have devoted more research attention to the long-term effects of childhood sexual abuse. These observations best reflect which unifying theme in psychology? a. psychology evolves in a sociohistorical context b. behavior is determined by multiple causes c. psychology is theoretically diverse d. people?s experience of the world is highly subjective ____ 28. If you wonder about the adaptive purpose of a common behavior (such as toddlers following their mothers around or teenagers wanting more independence from their parents) you?re wondering would be most consistent with the principles of a. cultural psychology b. humanism c. biological psychology d. evolutionary psychology ____ 29. If Dr. Maple is a behaviorist he would be most likely to believe that the cause of a child's disruptive behavior in school is the result of a. a learning disability b. his genetic inheritance c. his prior experiences d. a combination of his genetic inheritance and his prior experiences ____ 30. While Freud might explain an individual's depression by focusing on the person's unconscious thoughts, a physiological psychologist might focus instead on a chemical imbalance in the brain. This difference in explanations best illustrates the text's unifying theme of a. psychology evolves in a sociohistorical context b. heredity and environment jointly influence behavior c. psychology is theoretically diverse d. psychology is empirical ____ 31. A psychologist measures blood alcohol level to determine intoxication. In this example, blood alcohol level is the ____ definition of intoxication. a. operational b. dictionary c. objective d. precise ____ 32. If a psychologist hopes that his research will help to solve some practical problem, his hope reflects which goal of science? a. application and control b. construction and revision c. understanding and prediction d. measurement and description ____ 33. In a discussion with your professor she tells you that she believes that the focus of psychological study should be to break the conscious experience into its basic elements. Which of the following historical schools of thought is your professor's idea most indicative of? a. behaviorism b. functionalism c. structuralism d. psychoanalysis ____ 34. Unlike the other sensory systems, perceptual preferences for the sense of ____ are strongly influenced by social processes. a. vision b. smell c. taste d. touch ____ 35. Artists use ____ cues to create a perception of depth on a two-dimensional surface. a. monocular b. binocular c. accommodation d. disparity ____ 36. Handyman Bob just hit his thumb with a hammer; the sensation will be transmitted to the central nervous system by ____ nerve fibers. a. afferent b. efferent c. autonomic d. sympathetic ____ 37. The maximum firing rate for individual neurons is 1000 neural impulses per second. This biological limitation would make it difficult for a. place theory to fully explain pitch perception b. opponent-process theory to fully explain color perception c. trichromatic theory to fully explain color perception d. frequency theory to fully explain pitch perception ____38. Which of the following is NOT part of a typical neuron? a. Dendrites b. Axon c. Synapse d. Glia ____39. Using the diagram below, choose the answer that best describes the areas of the cerebrum shown a. 1 = parietal lobe, 2 = frontal lobe, 3 = temporal lobe, 4 = occipital lobe b. 1 = temporal lobe, 2 = occipital lobe, 3 = parietal lobe, 4 = frontal lobe c. 1 = occipital lobe, 2 = frontal lobe, 3 = parietal lobe, 4 = temporal lobe d. 1 = frontal lobe, 2 = occipital lobe, 3 = temporal lobe, 4= parietal lobe ____ 40. Mike broke his nose in a recent boxing match. The doctors packed his nose and told him he will need to breathe through his mouth for the next 10 to 14 days. Mike is likely to find that while his nose is packed, a. food will taste better because his sense of taste will be temporarily enhanced to compensate for his missing sense of smell b. he will have problems with his equilibrium and balance c. food will have little taste because much of a food's flavor depends on our sense of smell d. he will have trouble detecting motion because the main pathway to his superior colliculus will be blocked 1. 2. 3. 4. ____ 41. Roger and Lydia met for a blind date. Roger had been told by his best friend that Lydia was charismatic and vivacious. During their date Lydia was friendly but she was quite shy and didn't initiate much of the conversation. Still, Roger thinks that Lydia is one of the most exciting people that he has met, and he can't wait to see her again. Roger's reaction to his date with Lydia shows that a. unconscious motivation has little impact on overt behavior b. people's experience of the world is highly subjective c. behavior is determined by multiple causes d. cultural heritage has a large impact on behavior ____ 42. Which of the following is NOT likely to be considered a critical thinking skill? a. working systematically toward a desired goal b. accepting the views of an appropriate authority figure c. distinguishing among facts, opinions, and reasoned judgments d. understanding how reasons and evidence support or refute conclusions ____ 43. Which of the following explanations is most likely to be used by an evolutionary psychologist to explain gender differences in spatial abilities? a. The principles of natural selection tend to operate differently in males and females. b. Through evolution, males were classically conditioned to develop certain kinds of spatial abilities. c. When they are young, males are more likely than females to be encouraged to engage in spatially-oriented activities. d. Division of labor between the sexes in hunting and gathering societies created different adaptive pressures for males and females. ____ 44. John Watson argued that psychology should study only observable behavior. This position is most consistent with which of the textbook's unifying themes? a. Psychology is empirical. b. Psychology evolves in a sociohistorical context. c. Heredity and environment jointly influence behavior. d. Our experience of the world is highly subjective. ____ 45. In the 1920s, there were many fundamental disputes between competing schools of thought in psychology. These disputes illustrate which of the textbook's unifying themes? a. Psychology is empirical. b. Psychology evolves in a sociohistorical context. c. Psychology is theoretically diverse. d. Our experience of the world is highly subjective. ____ 46. Structuralism is the historical school of psychology that asserted that the purpose of psychology was to: a. study behavior b. discover the smaller elements that comprise consciousness c. explore the unconscious d. examine the purposes of conscious processes ____ 47. Recent research trends in psychology involve two areas largely ignored by early behaviorists. These two areas are a. observable and measurable responses b. cognition (thinking) and physiological processes c. classical and operant conditioning d. the effect of environmental events and the behavior of lower animals ____ 48. Because our experience of the world is highly subjective, researchers use a. the double-blind procedure as a safeguard b. case studies as a safeguard c. extraneous variables as a safeguard d. psychoanalytic methods as a safeguard ____ 49. Imagine that a group of researchers conducted a single-blind study designed to test the effectiveness of subliminal-message weight-loss tapes. Suppose the researchers found that everyone lost weight during the study, even those who were given tapes without any subliminal messages. This type of result would a. indicate that the independent and dependent variables in the study are negatively correlated b. provide evidence that subliminal tapes are effective in promoting weight loss c. be evidence of a placebo effect d. be evidence that the study contained confounding variables ____ 50. An experimenter tests the hypothesis that physical exercise helps people's mood (makes them happier). Subjects in the experimental group participate on Monday and Tuesday and those in the control group on Wednesday and Thursday. What is the dependent variable? a. the hypothesis b. the day of the week c. the exercise d. the mood (degree of happiness) ____ 51. Researchers find a negative relationship between alcohol consumption and speed of response: the more alcohol consumed the slower the response speed. Which of the following fictitious statistics could possibly represent that correlation? a. -4.57 b. -0.87 c. +0.91 d. +0.05 ____ 52. The term "statistical significance" refers to a. how important the data are for future research on the topic b. the conclusion that there are no reasonable alternative explanations c. the inference that the observed effects are unlikely to be due to chance d. the representativeness of the sample ____ 53. Donald and Ronald are identical twins who have been raised apart, in separate adoptive homes. However, both brothers have developed the same psychological disorder. This information could be used as evidence to suggest that a. environmental factors have more influence than genetic factors in this disorder b. both genetic and environmental factors contribute equally to this disorder c. genetic factors have more influence than environmental factors in this disorder d. neither genetic nor environmental factors contribute to this disorder ____ 54. Which part of the neuron has the responsibility for receiving information from other neurons? a. the cell body b. the soma c. the axon d. the dendrites ____ 55. The visual cortex is to the auditory cortex as the occipital lobe is to the a. occipital lobe b. frontal lobe c. temporal lobe d. parietal lobe ____ 56. We have gathered 50 people together to determine the absolute threshold on a particular tone. The absolute threshold will have been reached when: a. the first person reports hearing the tone b. all persons report hearing the tone c. 25 persons report hearing the tone d. no persons are able to hear the tone ____ 57. The fact that we are generally much more aware of the changes in our sensory environments than we are of the constants is the general idea behind a. signal detection theory b. sensory adaptation c. the method of constant stimuli d. sensory equalization ____ 58. You are sitting in an arena watching the end of a very close basketball game and you fail to notice that one of the referees has removed his shirt. This an example of: a. a visual illusion. b. inattentional blindness. c. retinal disparity. d. attentional blindness ____ 59. With which of the following statements would a behaviorist agree? a. Conscious experiences can be studied in an objective, precise way. b. In order to understand behavior, one must understand the motives behind the behavior. c. Behavior can only be explained in terms of phenomenology, that is, an individual's interpretation of experience. d. Psychology should be the science of behavior that can be observed by others. ____ 60. If you have finally succeeded in getting your dog to stop begging for food from the table while the family is eating dinner by making sure no one in the family ever gives the dog table-scraps, it is most accurate to say that you have ____ the dog's begging response. a. shaped b. punished c. extinguished d. reinforced ____ 61. At preschool, Jessi has learned that she must wash her hands before snack-time in order to get a snack. At home, she has started to wash her hands before eating. Jessi's behavior illustrates the process of a. stimulus discrimination b. stimulus generalization c. response generalization d. response discrimination ____ 62. A wild animal, such as a wolf, eats a new food that has a novel taste, an unusual color, and an unusual form or shape that it finds at a place where it had never found food before. Hours after eating the food the wolf develops nausea. In the future the wolf would be most likely to avoid foods ____ as the new food. a. found at the same place b. of the same color c. of the same taste d. of the same form or shape ____ 63. As a teenager it seemed that your mom was always nagging you to clean your room. Eventually you learned that if you cleaned your room every Saturday morning you would not have to listen to her nagging. Your mother was successful in getting you to clean your room through the use of ____ to establish ____. a. negative reinforcement; avoidance learning b. negative reinforcement; escape learning c. punishment; avoidance learning d. punishment; escape learning ____ 64. If a baseball player who has been in a batting slump for several weeks alters his batting stance and wears a new batting glove one day and gets three hits, the cognitive explanation of conditioning suggests that for the next game, the baseball player will a. continue to experiment with another batting stance and batting glove b. continue to use the new batting stance c. continue to use the new batting glove d. continue to use both the new batting stance and new batting glove ____ 65. If you are "shaping" a child to pick up all his toys, what would you need to do each time the child does a better job of picking up his toys than he did previously? a. model the correct behavior by picking up the remaining toys b. give the child a closer approximation to the reinforcement c. give the child a UCS d. give the child a reinforcement ____ 66. Examples of behaviors learned through classical conditioning would include all the following except a. both pleasant and unpleasant emotional responses b. simple reflexive behaviors such as blinking c. the physiological functioning of the immune system d. voluntary behaviors such as setting the table for dinner ____ 67. When as a young child you first realized that you could use money to buy candy and soda, money began to become an effective a. secondary reinforcer b. primary reinforcer c. operant reinforcer d. classical reinforcer ____ 68. It is very likely that you learned how to turn on the TV and change channels as a young child without your parents ever specifically teaching you to do so. (In fact, your parents were probably happier when they had control over the TV.) In this case, your learning would, most likely, be an example of a. observational learning b. modeling c. operant conditioning d. classical conditioning ____ 69. When Beth goes with her Dad to the grocery store, she always asks him to buy chocolate ice cream. Approximately once a month he will purchase the ice cream. Beth's asking for chocolate ice cream is being reinforced on a ____ schedule. a. variable ratio b. variable interval c. fixed interval d. fixed ratio ____ 70. While new responses are more easily established with ____ reinforcement, responses maintained with ____ reinforcement are more resistant to extinction. a. continuous; intermittent b. intermittent; continuous c. primary; secondary d. secondary; primary ____ 71. A relatively durable change in behavior or knowledge that is due to experience defines a. development b. classical conditioning c. learning d. operant conditioning ____ 72. Darrel was dancing with his new girlfriend at an Elvis tribute. When the band started playing "Can't Help Falling in Love with You" his girlfriend gave him a long passionate kiss, which Darrel found very enjoyable. Now Darrel finds that every time he hears "Can't Help Falling in Love with You" on the radio, he becomes mildly excited. In this example, the long, passionate kiss is a. a conditioned stimulus b. an unconditioned response c. a conditioned response d. an unconditioned stimulus ____ 73. A student who studies in order to earn high grades is working for ____; a student who studies in order to avoid low grades is working for ____. a. negative reinforcement; positive reinforcement b. positive reinforcement; negative reinforcement c. negative reinforcement; negative reinforcement d. positive reinforcement; positive reinforcement ____ 74. Your spouse withdraws attention from you each time you begin criticizing her cooking. Eventually, you stop criticizing your spouse's cooking. The withdrawal of attention can be categorized as a. punishment b. observational learning c. negative reinforcement d. modeling ____ 75. Mariah developed a fear of the water when she fell off a river raft last summer. This year she took swimming lessons and thought she had finally overcome her fear of water. She was eagerly looking forward to an upcoming rafting trip, however, as soon as she stepped onto the raft she was instantly terrified again. This illustrates the classical conditioning process known as a. extinction b. second-order conditioning c. stimulus generalization d. spontaneous recovery