Psychology Final Flashcards
- Psychology is most accurately defined as the _____.
a. study of people through description and analysis of past events and artifacts
b. study of people in terms of large-scale social forces and with a focus on groups rather than
individuals
c. scientific study of thought and behavior
d. scientific study of human culture and origins
c. scientific study of thought and behavior
- The field of psychology is concerned with the scientific study of:
a. directly observable behaviors but not internal states and processes.
b. internal states and processes but not directly observable behaviors.
c. personality and abnormal behavior.
d. directly observable behaviors and internal states and processes.
d. directly observable behaviors and internal states and processes.
- _____ is the study of how we perceive information, how we learn and remember, how we acquire
and use language, and how we solve problems.
a. Social psychology
b. Cognitive psychology
c. Clinical psychology
d. Educational psychology
b. Cognitive psychology
- _____ studies the links among brain, mind, and behavior.
a. Social psychology
b. Industrial psychology
c. Behavioral neuroscience
d. Developmental psychology.
c. Behavioral neuroscience
- Which of the following early approaches to psychology focused on why and how people think and
feel?
a. Structuralism
b. Functionalism
c. Socialism
d. Behaviorism
b. Functionalism
- In experimental research, the _______________ variable is the variable that is manipulated by the
experimenter.
a. independent
b. dependent
c. operational
d. random
a. independent
- When considering the mind-body puzzle, ancient philosophers who argued that the mind is NOT
separate from the body would belong to which philosophical position?
a. dualism
b. monism
c. structuralism
d. functionalism
b. monism
- The statement, “… answers to the great questions of psychology will ultimately be found in
‘physiology.’ … All behavior, all experience, all feeling, indeed all the subject matter of
psychology, are nothing more than the outcomes of the activity of the nervous system,” is most
consistent with which of the following views?
a. dualism
b. monism
c. functionalism
d. structuralism
b. monism
- With regard to specific meanings of the terms sensation and perception, studies of subliminal
stimuli have revealed that subliminal stimuli are:
a. both sensed and perceived.
b. neither sensed nor perceived.
c. perceived but not sensed.
d. sensed but not perceived.
d. sensed but not perceived.
- Freud’s psychoanalytic theory:
a. has been consistently supported by modern science.
b. has been consistently rejected by modern science.
c. has been generally ignored by modern science.
d. generally has inspired modern science.
d. generally has inspired modern science.
- The visual receptors in the eyes called ___________ function best in dim lighting and are
primarily brightness receptors.
a. rods
b. cones
c. fovea
d. ganglion cells
a. rods
- _____ is the study of how we perceive information, how we learn and remember, how we acquire
and use language, and how we solve problems.
a. Social psychology
b. Cognitive psychology
c. Clinical psychology
d. Educational psychology
b. Cognitive psychology
- The absolute threshold is technically defined as the lowest intensity at which a stimulus can be
detected ______ of the time.
a. 100%
b. 75%
c. 66%
d. 50%
d. 50%
- The rapid shift of the neuron’s electrical potential from –70 millivolts to +40 millivolts is called:
a. polarization.
b. an action potential.
c. a resting potential.
d. hyperpolarization.
b. an action potential.
- When a neuron is stimulated, tiny protein structures embedded in the cell membrane called
_____________ are activated and pump specific ions back and forth, thus changing the overall
potential of the neuron.
a. ion channels
b. action potentials
c. neurotransmitters
d. glial cells
a. ion channels
- What is the effect of the myelin sheath on the conduction of neural impulses?
a. Myelin sheaths decrease the speed of electrical conduction.
b. Myelin sheaths increase the speed of electrical conduction.
c. Myelin sheaths have no effect on the speed of electrical conduction.
d. Myelin sheaths are responsible for the refractory period after a neuron has fired.
b. Myelin sheaths increase the speed of electrical conduction.
- Axon is to dendrite as:
a. anion is to graded potential.
b. send is to receive.
c. polarize is to depolarize.
d. resting potential is to action potential.
b. send is to receive.
- The Young-Helmholtz trichromatic theory of color vision is LEAST able to explain which of the
following?
a. our ability to see an afterimage
b. our ability to see the color red
c. our ability to detect a subliminal image
d. our ability to see the color blue
a. our ability to see an afterimage
- The resting potential of the typical neuron is determined by:
a. extra negative ions on the outside of the neuron and extra neutral ions on the inside of the
neuron.
b. extra positive ions on the inside of the neuron and extra neutral ions on the inside of the
neuron.
c. extra positive ions on the inside of the neuron and extra negative ions on the outside of the
neuron.
d. extra positive ions on the outside of the neuron and extra negative ions on the inside of the
neuron.
d. extra positive ions on the outside of the neuron and extra negative ions on the inside of the
neuron.
- Inattentional blindness refers to:
a. purposely not paying attention to unpleasant stimuli.
b. the failure of unattended stimuli to register in consciousness.
c. the failure of a stimulus to be perceived because the light from the stimulus falls on the blind
spot of the retina.
d. an inability to pay attention to more than two stimuli at a time.
b. the failure of unattended stimuli to register in consciousness.
- Which of the following are among the functions affected by the hypothalamus?
a. mating, fleeing, fighting, feeding
b. fine muscle control
c. respiration and heart rate
d. alerting the higher brain centers that sensory information is about to come in
a. mating, fleeing, fighting, feeding
- The primary job of the amygdala is to:
a. organize emotional response patterns, particularly aggression and fear.
b. create and store memories.
c. regulate body temperature and sexual behavior.
d. regulate heart rate and respiration.
a. organize emotional response patterns, particularly aggression and fear.
- The two major divisions of the peripheral nervous system are which of the following?
a. Afferent and efferent
b. Sympathetic and parasympathetic
c. Somatic and parasympathetic
d. Somatic and autonomic
d. Somatic and autonomic
- Jason is a psychologist. He is actively researching the interactions of people on social networking
sites. Jason is most interested in finding out whether a person can get addicted to social
networking sites and if such interactions can become dangerous to those involved. Jason is most
likely to be a ______ psychologist.
a. personality
b. cognitive
c. developmental
d. clinical
d. clinical
- Which of the following types of psychologists is most likely to conduct a research on how
reasoning skills or emotional skills change with age?
a. Educational psychologist
b. Developmental psychologist
c. Behavioral psychologist
d. Clinical psychologist
b. Developmental psychologist
- Which of the following questions is most likely to be discussed by a social psychologist?
a. Why are behaviors modified by environmental situations?
b. How does the presence of other people change an individual’s thoughts, feeling, or
perceptions?
c. How do people visualize objects in their minds?
d. How does parent-infant bonding affect adult relationships?
b. How does the presence of other people change an individual’s thoughts, feeling, or
perceptions?
- “An empirical objective science of behavior that has no need for the theories of mind or personal
freedom” characterizes which of the following?
a.Gestalt psychology
b.Structuralism
c.Behaviorism
d.Humanistic psychology
c.Behaviorism
- The independent variable is the __________, and the dependent variable is the _________.
a. experiment; cause
b. cause; effect
c. effect; correlation
d. experiment; correlation
b. cause; effect
- As Salma views a famous Impressionist painting that is hung on a wall, her ___________ send
signals from her brain to coordinate fine muscles in her eye to focus on parts of the painting.
a. motor neurons
b. sensory neurons
c. mirror neurons
d. interneurons
a. motor neurons
- The ___________ lies directly in front of the _________.
a. primary visual cortex; auditory cortex
b. auditory cortex; somatosensory cortex
c. somatosensory cortex; motor cortex
d. motor cortex; somatosensory cortex
d. motor cortex; somatosensory cortex
- ___________ is responsible for the left and right hemispheres of the brain’s ability to
communicate back and forth with each other.
a. Corpus callosum
b. Wernicke’s area
c. Thalamus
d. Cingulate gyrus
a. Corpus callosum
- Children and teenagers act more impulsively than adults partially because their ______ are not
fully developed.
a. parietal lobes
b. frontal lobes
c. temporal lobes
d. occipital lobes
b. frontal lobes
- For which of the following reasons is ancient Greece significant in the history of psychology?
a. The foundations for psychology as a science can be traced to ancient Greece.
b. Wilhelm Wundt, one of the first known psychologists, established his laboratory in ancient
Greece.
c. The first doctorate in psychology was awarded in ancient Greece.
d. The ancient Greeks compiled the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
a. The foundations for psychology as a science can be traced to ancient Greece.
- A hypothesis is best considered as a(n):
a. tentative explanation or prediction about some phenomenon.
b. attempt to explain something after it has already occurred.
c. set of formal statements that explain how certain events are related to one another.
d. particular type of experimenter expectancy.
a. tentative explanation or prediction about some phenomenon.
- The last process of the scientific method is to _____.
a. communicate
b. observe
c. test
d. predict
a. communicate
- Empiricism made the specific claim that our knowledge and understanding should be based upon:
a. intuition.
b. basic research.
c. observation.
d. reason.
c. observation.
- Which of the following is NOT a basic process of the scientific method?
a. Observing
b. Falsifying
c. Interpreting
d. Testing
b. Falsifying
- Which of the following psychologists study and treat mental disorders?
a. cognitive psychologists
b. clinical psychologists
c. biological psychologist
d. developmental psychologist
b. clinical psychologists
- In most persons, the left hemisphere of the brain
a. Controls the left side of the body
b. Controls speech
c. Is larger than the right
d. Receives tactile information from the left side of the body
b. Controls speech
- The ethical standard of ___________ refers to how participants should be given full descriptions
about the procedures involved in a study and told that they are free to withdraw from a study at any time.
a. informed consent
b. right to privacy
c. psychological risk
d. social risk
a. informed consent
- In ____________________, the organism learns to associate two stimuli such that a
previously neutral stimulus comes to produce a reflexive response that was previously
produced by a different stimulus.
a. operant conditioning
b. modeling
c. classical conditioning
d. shaping
c. classical conditioning
- Probably the most important contribution of Ivan Pavlov’s work with dogs was that it:
a. illustrated the nature of the digestive process.
b. disproved prior operant conditioning theories.
c. provided valuable insight into the nature of learning.
d. showed how fixed action patterns can be modified.
c. provided valuable insight into the nature of learning.
- All of the following would strengthen the classical conditioning process, EXCEPT:
a. presenting the UCS without the CS.
b. presenting a particularly strong UCS.
c. repeatedly presenting the CS-UCS pairings.
d. making sure the time interval between the CS and UCS is short.
a. presenting the UCS without the CS.
- In 1946, Austrian physiologist Hans Selye coined the term ___________ to describe the
common pattern of responses to prolonged exposure to stress.
a. general adaptation syndrome
b. Klinefelter’s syndrome
c. Münchausen syndrome
d. chronic fatigue syndrome
a. general adaptation syndrome
- When the CS is presented repeatedly without the UCS, the CR will gradually weaken in a
process called:
a. negative reinforcement.
b. habituation.
c. discrimination.
d. extinction.
d. extinction.
- A dog salivates in response to food. In this instance, the salivation would technically be
considered a(n):
a. UCS
b. CS
c. UCR
d. CR
c. UCR