PSY Midterm 1

25 July 2022
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question
The view that psychology should be an objective science that studies observable human activity without reference to mental processes is known as A) behaviorism. B) cognitive neuroscience. C) humanistic psychology. D) positive psychology
answer
A) behaviorism.
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Looking inward and reporting your immediate sensations, images, and feelings is called A. humanism. B. introspection. C. behaviorism. D. cognitive neuroscience.
answer
B. introspection.
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Mrs. Alfieri believes that her husband's angry outbursts against her result from his unconscious hatred of his own mother. Mrs. Alfieri is looking at her husband's behavior from a(n) ________ perspective. A. behavioral B. psychodynamic C. behavior genetics D. evolutionary
answer
B. psychodynamic
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The cognitive perspective in psychology focuses on how A) feelings are influenced by blood chemistry. B) people try to understand their own unconscious motives. C) behavior is influenced by environmental conditions. D) people encode, process, store, and retrieve information.
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D) people encode, process, store, and retrieve information.
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Dr. Robinson conducts research on the relationship between brain chemistry and intellectual functioning. Which psychological specialty does Dr. Robinson's research best represent? A. biological psychology B. industrial-organizational psychology C. clinical psychology D. social psychology
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A. biological psychology
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Clinical psychologists specialize in A) constructing surveys. B) animal research. C) providing therapy to troubled people. D) providing drugs to treat behavioral disorders.
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C) providing therapy to troubled people.
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Efforts to discover whether the intelligence of children is more heavily influenced by their biology or by their home environments are most directly relevant to the debate regarding A) structuralism versus functionalism. B) evolution versus natural selection. C) observation versus introspection. D) nature versus nurture
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D) nature versus nurture
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Complementary accounts of the same behavior that can supplement one another represent different A) cognitive functions. B) unconscious drives. C) levels of analysis. D) natural selections.
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C) levels of analysis.
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Contemporary psychology is best defined as the science of A) conscious and unconscious mental activity. B) observable responses to the environment. C) behavior and mental processes. D) maladaptive and adaptive behaviors.
answer
C) behavior and mental processes.
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Professor Crisman believes that most women prefer tall and physically strong partners because this preference promoted the survival of our ancestors' genes. This viewpoint best illustrates the ________ perspective. A) social-cultural B) cognitive C) evolutionary D) psychodynamic
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C) evolutionary
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The specialist most likely to have a medical degree is a A) clinical psychologist. B) personality psychologist. C) developmental psychologist. D) psychiatrist.
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D) psychiatrist.
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Humanistic psychologists focused attention on the importance of people's A) childhood memories. B) genetic predispositions. C) unconscious thought processes. D) potential for healthy growth.
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D) potential for healthy growth.
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Professor Brody attempts to measure the relative contributions of inborn traits and social influences on homosexual behavior. Her research efforts best illustrate the interests of the ________ perspective. A. behavioral B. cognitive C. behavior genetics D. psychodynamic
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C. behavior genetics
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Dr. Mills conducts research on why individuals conform to the behaviors and opinions of others. Which specialty area does his research best represent? A) cognitive psychology B) social psychology C) developmental psychology D) clinical psychology
answer
B) social psychology
question
In its early years, psychology focused on the study of ________, but from the 1920s into the 1960s, American psychologists emphasized the study of ________. A) environmental influences; hereditary influences B) maladaptive behavior; adaptive behavior C) unconscious motives; conscious thoughts and feelings D) mental life; observable behavior
answer
D. mental life; observable behavior
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Which psychologists are MOST likely to be involved in applied research? A) industrial-organizational psychologists B) developmental psychologists C) personality psychologists D) biological psychologists
answer
A. industrial-organizational psychologists
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Professor Gutierrez, who believes that human emotions are best understood as being jointly determined by heredity, learning, and the individual's social and cultural contexts, is evidently a proponent of the A. psychodynamic perspective. B. biopsychosocial approach. C. neuroscience perspective. D. evolutionary perspective.
answer
B. biosychosicial approach
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Dr. Santaniello conducts research on how children's moral thinking changes as they grow older. It is most likely that Dr. Santaniello is a(n) ________ psychologist. A) social B) clinical C) developmental D) industrial-organizational
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C. developmental
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In the early 1960s, the cognitive revolution in psychology involved a renewal of interest in the scientific study of A) mental processes. B) hereditary influences. C) unconscious motives. D) learned behaviors
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A. mental processes
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Who was the American philosopher who authored a textbook in 1890 for the emerging discipline of psychology? A) Wundt B) Watson C) Freud D) James
answer
D. James
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In an experimental study of the extent to which mental alertness is inhibited by sleep deprivation, alertness would be the A. dependent variable. B. control condition. C. independent variable. D. experimental condition.
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A. dependent variable.
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Which method offers the most reliable way of assessing whether athletic performance is boosted by caffeine consumption? A. the survey B. naturalistic observation C. the case study D. the experiment
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D. the experiment
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When Leanne heard about experimental evidence that drinking orange juice triggers hyperactivity in children, she questioned whether the tested children had been randomly assigned to experimental conditions. Leanne's reaction best illustrates A. illusory correlation. B. overconfidence. C. hindsight bias. D. critical thinking.
answer
D. critical thinking.
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A tendency to notice and remember instances in which our premonitions of disaster are subsequently followed by harmful events is most likely to contribute to A. the placebo effect. B. hindsight bias. C. random assignment. D. illusory correlations.
answer
D. illusory correlations.
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A correlation of +0.70 between children's physical height and their popularity among their peers indicates that A. children's height has no causal impact on their popularity. B. higher levels of popularity among your peers is associated with greater physical height in children. C. being unusually short or tall has a negative impact on children's popularity. D. there is no statistically significant relationship between children's height and their popularity.
answer
B. higher levels of popularity among your peers is associated with greater physical height in children
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After the horror of 9/11, many people said the CIA and FBI should obviously have foreseen the likelihood of this form of terrorism. This perception most clearly illustrates A. the placebo effect. B. hindsight bias. C. replication. D. random sampling.
answer
B. hindsight bias.
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A negative correlation between people's work-related stress and their marital happiness would indicate that A. higher levels of marital happiness are associated with lower levels of work-related stress. B. work-related stress has a negative impact on marital happiness. C. marital unhappiness promotes work-related stress. D. marital happiness has no causal influence on work-related stress.
answer
A. higher levels of marital happiness are associated with lower levels of work-related stress.
question
To assess whether sense of humor is affected by sexual stimulation, researchers exposed married couples to either sexually stimulating or to sexually nonstimulating movie scenes prior to watching a comedy skit. In this research, the independent variable consisted of A. sense of humor. B. level of sexual stimulation. C. marital status. D. reactions to the comedy skit.
answer
B. level of sexual stimulation.
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Researchers control factors that might influence a dependent variable by means of A. naturalistic observation. B. operational definitions. C. replication. D. random assignment.
answer
D. random assignment.
question
First Jackie notices that her two children tend to get into more physical conflicts after watching a particular cartoon. She watches the cartoon with them one day and is shocked by the amount of violence in the cartoon. She then looks into previous research on aggression and based on what she learns and her observations she starts to think that viewing violent behavior increases aggression in children. What would the conclusion that Jackie came to be called?
answer
Theory
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In order to collect more information Jackie starts watching her older son more carefully. She records all of the television shows he watches and keeps a tally of every time he hits his little sister or any other children who visit. After 2 weeks of of studying her son's behavior, Jackie looks over her notes. It seems like her son might be more aggressive on days when he watches more violent cartoons, but there is a lot of variation in his behavior. What type of research method is Jackie using to study her son's aggression?
answer
Case study
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Jackie realizes that there is too much variation in her son's behavior to draw any firm conclusions about a link between viewing violence and aggressive behavior, so she decides to get the opinions of other mothers. She goes to her PTA meeting and requests that all of the parents who are present fill out a form asking them a few questions about their children's television viewing behavior and their tendency to behave aggressively. What research method is Jackie using to collect this information?
answer
A Survey
question
Which statistical measure should be used to determine if the number of hours these children watch violent television is related to the number of aggressive behaviors that these children display?
answer
A correlation
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Jackie has concerns that some of the mothers may have downplayed some of their children's negative behavior, so she wants to see it for herself. She talks to the principal and finds out that violent films are occasionally shown in some history lessons. Jackie gains permission to sit in on classes, so she can record what types of material are presented to a class and then she sits on a bench during that class's recess and records the details surrounding every act of aggression on the playground (without getting involved or engaging any of the students). What research method is Jackie using to collect this information?
answer
Naturalistic Observation
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Jackie is concerned that the students at her children's school may differ from students in the rest of the country. What technique should Jackie use to make sure the children she chooses for her next study represent the population of children in the United States?
answer
Random Sampiling
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Once Jackie flies in her children from all over the country, she decides to set up a study in which half of the children will view a violent cartoon and the other half will view a non-violent cartoon. Then they will be taken to a playroom filled with toys for a half hour. The amount of time each child spends engaging in aggressive play will be recorded with a stop watch. What research method is Jackie using to measure aggression after viewing violence?
answer
An experiment
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Jackie predicts that the children who watch the violent cartoon will spend more time engaging in aggressive play than children who watch the non-violent cartoon. What is this prediction called?
answer
a hypothesis
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The children who viewed the violent cartoon were in the ___________.
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experimental group
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The children who viewed the non-violent cartoon were in the ___________.
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control group
question
Mr. Brown has gathered evidence that the self-esteem of students is negatively correlated with their typical levels of anxiety. Before he uses this evidence to conclude that self-esteem reduces anxiety, Mr. Brown should first be reminded that A. we often exaggerate the extent to which others share our opinions. B. events often seem more probable in hindsight. C. random sequences of events often don't look random. D. correlation does not prove causation.
answer
D. correlation does not prove causation.
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Retinal disparity is an important cue for A. perceiving distance. B. shape constancy. C. perceiving color. D. brightness constancy.
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A. perceiving distance.
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Which of the following would play a role in quickly alerting you to a gas leak in your home? A. olfactory receptors B. cochlea C. basilar membrane D. nociceptors
answer
A. olfactory receptors
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The taste sensation umami is most likely to attract us to foods that are A. starchy. B. rich in protein. C. bitter. D. sweet.
answer
B. rich in protein.
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The minimum amount of stimulation a person needs to detect a stimulus 50 percent of the time is called the A. absolute threshold. B. perceptual set. C. just noticeable difference. D. critical period.
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A. absolute threshold.
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The process of transforming air pressure waves into neural messages that the brain interprets as meaningful sound is known as A. sensory interaction. B. kinesthesis. C. audition. D. the vestibular sense.
answer
C. audition.
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The monocular depth cue in which an object blocking another object is perceived as closer is A. continuity. B. linear perspective. C. relative height. D. interposition.
answer
D. interposition.
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Giulio's bag of marbles is twice as heavy as Jim's. If it takes 5 extra marbles to make Jim's bag feel heavier, it will take 10 extra marbles to make Giulio's bag feel heavier. This best illustrates A. sensory adaptation. B. Weber's law. C. bottom-up processing. D. perceptual set.
answer
B. Weber's law.
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In response to a harmful stimulus, ________ initiate neural impulses leading to the sensation of pain. A. olfactory bulbs B. vestibular sacs C. nociceptors D. the semicircular canals
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C. nociceptors
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Our sense of the position and movement of individual body parts is called A. the vestibular sense. B. sensory interaction. C. kinesthesis. D. olfaction.
answer
C. kinesthesis.
question
Accommodation refers to the A. process by which the lens changes shape to focus images on the retina. B. quivering eye movements that enable the retina to detect continuous stimulation. C. process by which stimulus energies are changed into neural messages. D. diminishing sensitivity to an unchanging stimulus.
answer
A. process by which the lens changes shape to focus images on the retina.
question
During the months when there is a large amount of pollen in the air, your hay fever severely affects your sense of smell. At the same time your food all seems to taste the same. This illustrates that your normal ability to savor tastes depends on A. tinnitus. B. top-down processing. C. synesthesia. D. sensory interaction.
answer
D. sensory interaction.
question
The sense of touch includes the four basic sensations of A. pressure, pain, warmth, and cold. B. pain, pressure, hot, and cold. C. pleasure, pain, warmth, and cold. D. wetness, pain, hot, and cold.
answer
A. pressure, pain, warmth, and cold.
question
As the retinal image of a horse galloping toward you becomes larger, it is unlikely that the horse will appear to grow larger. This best illustrates the importance of A. size constancy. B. closure. C. relative motion. D. relative luminance.
answer
A. size constancy.
question
Rods are A. more light-sensitive and less color-sensitive than are cones. B. less light-sensitive and less color-sensitive than are cones. C. more light-sensitive and more color-sensitive than are cones. D. less light-sensitive and more color-sensitive than are cones.
answer
A. more light-sensitive and less color-sensitive than are cones.
question
Eardrum vibrations are transmitted to the cochlea by a piston consisting of A. the hammer, anvil, and stirrup. B. bipolar and ganglion cells. C. the basilar membrane. D. protruding hair cells.
answer
A. the hammer, anvil, and stirrup.
question
Sensory adaptation refers to A. the process by which stimulus energies are changed into neural impulses. B. diminished sensitivity to an unchanging stimulus. C. the effect of our expectations on perception. D. the process of organizing and interpreting sensory information.
answer
B. diminished sensitivity to an unchanging stimulus.
question
Carmella, Jorge, and Gail were all sitting behind the same bowling lane, so Ruth perceived that they were all members of the same bowling team. This best illustrates the organizational principle of A. continuity. B. proximity. C. closure. D. interposition. Check
answer
B. proximity.
question
According to the opponent-process theory, cells that are turned "on" by A. yellow light are turned "off" by red light. B. red light are turned "off" by blue light. C. green light are turned "off" by blue light. D. green light are turned "off" by red light
answer
D. green light are turned "off" by red light
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A time lag between left and right auditory stimulation is important for accurately A. locating sounds. B. judging amplitude. C. recognizing rhythms. D. detecting pitch.
answer
A. locating sounds.
question
The fovea refers to A. an area of the thalamus that receives information from the optic nerve. B. a colored muscle that adjusts light intake. C. the outer protective surface of the eye. D. the central focal point in the retina.
answer
D. the central focal point in the retina.
question
seratonin
answer
Affects mood, hunger, sleep, and arousal. Undersupply linked to depression; some antidepressant drugs raise serotonin levels
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Acetylcholine (ACh)
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Enables muscle action, learning, and memory ACh-producing neurons deteriorate as Alzheimer's disease progresses
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Norepinephrine
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Helps control alertness and arousal Undersupply can depress mood and cause ADHD-like attention problems
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Dopamine
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Influences movement, learning, attention, and emotion Oversupply linked to schizophrenia; undersupply linked to tremors and decreased mobility in Parkinson's disease and ADHD
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Medulla
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controls most basic functions such as heartbeat and breathing