General Psych (midterm) Flashcards
The psychological perspective that is associated with William James is:
functionalism
Because psychologists want to be precise and measure as carefully as they can, they use ________ to study psychology.
the scientific method
Mary is a psychologist who focuses on the role of the conscious and unconscious minds. To which perspective does Mary ascribe?
psychodynamic perspective
Freud believed that personality was formed:
in the first 6 years of life
What did Watson believe about behavior?
that it is learned
________ focuses on how people think, remember, store, and use information.
Cognitive psychology
Addison is 45 years old and is suffering from hot flashes and extreme moodiness. From a(n) _____ perspective, Addison’s symptoms can be attributed to menopause.
biopsychological
A ________ has a medical degree and is a medical doctor who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders.
psychiatrist
Researchers use ________ for reducing bias and error in the measurement of data.
the scientific method
Teri sat in the preschool classroom and watched the children play, writing down how well they interacted with each other. The children could see that Sasha was watching them, so they made an attempt to be extra well-behaved for her. Teri’s research will be impacted by:
the observer effect.
A researcher wants to describe children’s normal behavior on the playground. The best method for this research is to use
naturalistic observation.
When Donna took the survey in the mall, she noticed that the interviewer was wearing an Obama button. She answered the questions more favorably toward Obama than she might otherwise have, probably because:
of courtesy bias.
Experimenters control the effects of extraneous or confounding variables upon members of experimental and control groups by using:
double-blind studies.
Mrs. Minor participated in a study in which she was given no treatment for her condition. Mrs. Minor was in the ________ group.
control
Mrs. Puckett participated in a study in which she was told she would try out a new allergy medicine. She was in the group that received a sugar pill, but she believed that the pill did indeed help control her allergy symptoms. This phenomenon is known as:
the placebo effect.
A drug company is determining the effects of a treatment for depression. Neither the researcher nor the participants know who is getting the treatment and who is given a sugar pill. This type of study is:
double-blind.
Dr. Evans wants to show a causal relationship between tobacco smoking and cancer. Dr. Edwards should:
conduct an experiment using animal participants.
If a correlation coefficient is positive:
the two variables increase in the same direction.
Correlation will tell researchers all of the following EXCEPT ________ between variables.
if there is causation
Which of the following is a guideline for doing research with people?
Participants must be allowed to make an informed decision about participation.
The ____ is a network of cells that carries information to and from all parts of the body.
nervous system
A branch of the life sciences that deals with the structure and functioning of the nervous system is called ________.
neuroscience
Special types of glial cells generate a protective fatty substance called:
myelin.
Neurons fire:
either full strength or not at all.
When the action potential gets to the end of the axon:
the message gets transmitted to another cell.
The sac-like structures that are found at the end of a neuron’s axon and that contain neurotransmitters are called:
synaptic vesicles.
The venom of a black widow spider is an example of a(n) __________, which mimics or enhances the effects of neurotransmitters.
agonist
The ______ is composed of the brain and the spinal cord.
central nervous system
is the brain’s ability to change both the structure and function of many cells in response to experience and trauma.
Neuroplasticity
According to the textbook, scientists are investigating the use of stem cells to:
repair damaged or diseased brain tissue.
When people are walking, raising their hands in class, or smelling a flower, they are using the:
somatic nervous system.
The job of the sympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system is to:
get the body ready to deal with stress.
The part of the autonomic nervous system known as the “eat-drink-and-rest” system is the:
parasympathetic division.
The “master gland” that controls or influences all of the other endocrine glands is the:
pituitary gland.
The adrenal glands are located right on top of:
each kidney.
A(n) _____ is used to record the activity of the cortex just below the skull.
electroencephalograph
The part of the brain that controls life-sustaining functions, such as heartbeat, breathing, and swallowing, is the:
medulla.
Which sense is the only one that is NOT processed through the thalamus?
smell
A work-related accident left Bob with a paralyzed left arm and an inability to recognize the left side of his visual field. Bob’s condition is called:
spatial neglect.
Which statement most accurately explains the difference in functioning between the right hemisphere of the brain and the left hemisphere?
The right processes information all at once, whereas the left breaks things down into parts.
On Sara’s walk to campus one morning, she was thinking about what a nice day it was, how many people were already on campus, and how she had to stop by the bookstore on her way to class. Sara was experiencing:
waking consciousness.
Which of the following parts of the body controls the sleep-wake cycle?
hypothalamus
Derek was lying on the couch and had fallen asleep when all of a sudden his body jerked, and he woke up because he felt like he was falling. Derek was most likely in which stage of sleep?
non-REM Stage 1
Delta waves begin to appear in which stage of sleep?
non-REM Stage 3
Which of the following is TRUE about night terrors?
They are a state of panic experienced while asleep.
Theodora suffers from an inability to get to sleep and to stay asleep. Which of the following would help Theodora with her insomnia?
going to bed and getting up on a regular schedule
A person with sleep apnea:
stops breathing for 10 seconds or more.
Niles has begun to fall asleep suddenly during the day, sometimes in appropriate places. Niles is most likely suffering from:
narcolepsy.
The ________ of a dream is the actual dream itself.
manifest content
Debbie’s psychoanalyst tells her that the monster in her dream symbolizes her abusive father. He is discussing the dream’s:
latent content.
In the ____________, dreams are less realistic because they come not from the outside world of reality but from within people’s memories and experiences
activation-synthesis hypothesis
The key to hypnosis seems to be:
a heightened state of suggestibility.
Hypnosis is unable to do which of the following?
-relieve pain
-help people relax in situations that would normally cause them stress
-give people superhuman strength
-create amnesia for whatever happens during the session
give people superhuman strength
In Hilgard’s theory, the _______ remains aware of what is going on during hypnosis.
“hidden observer” part of the mind
Withdrawal is a sign of:
physical dependence on a drug.
Which of the following is NOT true about psychoactive drugs?
-Some can cause users to develop a drug tolerance.
-Many were originally developed to help people.
-All of them produce physical dependence in users.
-They alter thinking, perception, memory, or some combination of these abilities.
All of them produce physical dependence in users.
Methamphetamine is an example of a:
stimulant
Which of the following kills the most people in the United States every year?
-illnesses related to smoking
-homicide
-alcohol-related car accidents
-heroin overdose
illnesses related to smoking
Barbiturates are known as:
the major tranquilizers.
Opium and its derivatives, morphine and heroin, duplicate the action of which of the following?
endorphins
After having many cavities fixed as a child, Kyle now has an active dislike of the dentist’s drill. His tendency to become anxious when hearing a similar-sounding noise is termed:
stimulus generalization.
Carla was bitten by a dog when she was a toddler. She’s older now, but still backs up in fear whenever a dog approaches her. This is an example of:
conditioned emotional response.
Whenever Vernon comes home too late on a Saturday night, his parents refuse to give him his weekly allowance. Vernon’s parents are using what technique to modify his behavior?
punishment by removal
A teacher has decided to give “caught being good” tickets to her students when they behave according to class rules. This teacher also rewards students with gold stars each time they improve their math speed. This teacher is using:
operant conditioning.
_____ is learning new behavior by watching a model perform that behavior.
Observational learning
Which psychologist is best known for working with children and a Bobo doll to study whether aggressive behavior is learned by watching others be aggressive?
- B. F. Skinner
-Albert Bandura
- Martin Seligman
-Edward Tolman
Albert Bandura
Which of the following is one of Bandura’s elements of observational learning?
-memory
-mastery
-flattery
-perception
memory
In his study of rats in mazes, Tolman concluded that the rats in the group that did not receive reinforcement for solving the maze had:
learned the maze by wandering around in it and forming a cognitive map.
Learning that remains hidden until its application becomes useful is called:
latent learning.
In Köhler’s experiment, Sultan the chimp first used just one stick that was lying in his cage to rake the banana into the cage, and then he learned to fit two sticks together to reach a banana placed farther away. This was an example of:
insight.
In Seligman’s study on dogs, the dogs that were not conditioned to fear the tone:
jumped over the fence when the shock started.
The law of effect states if an action is followed by a pleasurable consequence, the action is likely to:
be repeated.
In a(n) ________, the occurrence of reinforcement is more predictable and therefore the individual being reinforced is more likely to adjust his response to the timing of the reinforcement.
fixed interval schedule of reinforcement
Small steps in behavior that are reinforced, one after the other, to create a particular goal behavior are known as:
successive approximations
Birds, who find their food by sight, will avoid any object or insect that simply looks like the one that made them sick. This is a result of:
biological preparedness
Pavlov initially set out to study his dogs’ ___________.
digestive systems
A naturally occurring stimulus that leads to an involuntary (reflex) response is a/an:
unconditioned stimulus.
In his classical conditioning experiment, Pavlov’s dogs were conditioned to salivate when they:
heard the sound of the metronome.
_________ is the disappearance or weakening of a learned response following the removal or absence of the unconditioned stimulus (in classical conditioning) or the removal of a reinforcer (in operant conditioning).
Extinction
Changes such as an increase in height or the size of the brain are called:
maturation.
Which of the following is a feature of the storage stage of memory?
-bringing information housed in long-term memory to mind
- converting sound into vibrations
-holding information just long enough to work with it
-converting visual information into something meaningful
holding information just long enough to work with it
The _________ assumes that how long a memory will be remembered depends on the stage of memory in which it is stored.
information-processing model
The information-processing model assumes that the length of time a memory will be remembered depends on:
the stage of memory in which it is stored.
Short-term memory tends to be encoded primarily in:
visual form.
The ______ acts as interpreter for both the visual and auditory information in short-term memory (STM).
central executive
Once you learn how to tie your shoes, the action becomes part of:
procedural memory.
In _________, new long-term declarative memories cannot be formed.
anterograde amnesia
An example of an episodic memory would be:
-the fact that 2 plus 2 equals 4.
-the names of the planets in the solar system.
-how to ride a bicycle.
-a special gift you received on your 13th birthday.
a special gift you received on your 13th birthday.
It is extremely difficult to bring ______ into consciousness.
implicit memories
In the three-stage process of memory, the second stage is:
short-term memory.
Visual sensory memory is known as:
iconic memory.
Echoic memory lasts ______ iconic memory.
about two to four seconds longer than
Information that enters long-term memory by automatic encoding:
requires little or no effort to retrieve.
While hypnosis may make it easier to recall some memories, it also:
makes it easier to create false memories.
Higher false recall and recognition response can be predicted by:
symptoms of depression.
Decay is the fading of:
a memory trace.
Long-term memories may be inaccessible because:
of interference.
Anterograde amnesia can be caused by:
a concussion.
Early memories from the first few years of our lives are often difficult to bring into consciousness because they tend to be:
implicit.
Autobiographical memories:
-tend to form when children are able to talk about shared memories with adults.
-are easily lost.
-are always implicit.
-begin to form at birth.
tend to form when children are able to talk about shared memories with adults.
Mechanical solutions may involve solving by:
rote.
Which of the following is a true statement regarding algorithms?
-They will always result in a correct solution, if there is a correct solution to be found.
-They are what happens when the mind simply reorganizes a problem and comes up with a solution in an “aha!” moment.
-They are also known as mechanical solutions.
-They are also known as “rules of thumb.”
They will always result in a correct solution, if there is a correct solution to be found.
A useful heuristic that works much of the time is:
working backward from the goal.
Writing a term paper may be best approached by using:
subgoals.
The ________ heuristic is based on one’s estimation of the frequency or likelihood of an event based on how easy it is to recall relevant information from memory or how easy it is to think of related examples.
availability
When people think, they often have _______ in their minds.
images and words
Divergent thinking is especially difficult to teach to:
Japanese children
Csikszentmihalyi found that:
creative people are not necessarily unconventional in all aspects of their lives.
Brainstorming, keeping a journal, and subject mapping are all _________________________.
strategies to stimulate divergent thinking
Gardner theorized that there are ____ types of intelligence.
nine
Sternberg’s three types of intelligence are analytical, creative, and:
practical.
___________ is a method for comparing mental age and chronological age that was adopted for use with the revised Binet intelligence test.
Stern’s formula
Standard deviation is the average variation of scores from the:
mean
________ is a developmental delay related to living in poverty and one that usually produces relatively mild intellectual disabilities.
Familial retardation
Terman determined that gifted people:
are more resistant to mental illnesses than those of average intelligence.
In The Bell Curve, Herrnstein and Murray made the unfounded claim that:
intelligence is largely inherited.
In some languages, changing the ______ of a spoken word can change its entire meaning.
phonemes
In a well-known animal language research study, Kanzi the chimp _________________________.
demonstrated four consistent sounds to represent banana, grapes, juice, and the word yes
Vegetables, fruit, vehicles, and animals are all examples of _______, or categories of objects.
concepts
Which of the following examples does NOT illustrate divergent thinking?
-Aida builds a tower using a deck of cards.
-Michelle knits a blanket and uses it as a cover for her bed.
-Jennifer makes a bowling game using empty plastic bottles and an orange.
-Michael turns a piece of paper into a paper airplane
Michelle knits a blanket and uses it as a cover for her bed.
