Psychology


Chapter 1


1.
The placebo effect best illustrates the impact of ________ on feelings and behaviors.
A) positive expectations
B) random sampling
C) random assignment
D) the double-blind procedure
Correct Answer(s):         A


2.
The cognitive perspective in psychology focuses on how:
A) behavior is influenced by environmental conditions.
B) people try to understand their own unconscious motives.
C) people encode, process, store, and retrieve information.
D) feelings are influenced by blood chemistry.
Correct Answer(s):         C


3.
Which perspective would focus on the extent to which different styles of parenting are encouraged among various ethnic communities?
A) psychodynamic
B) socialcultural
C) evolutionary
D) neuroscience
Correct Answer(s):         B


4.
Nature is to nurture as the ________ perspective is to the ________ perspective.
A) social-cultural; neuroscience
B) evolutionary; behavioral
C) cognitive; neuroscience
D) behavioral; social-cultural
Correct Answer(s):         B


5.
Clinical psychologists are most likely to be involved in:
A) providing therapy to troubled people.
B) the systematic study of how people's behavior is influenced by their enduring personality traits.
C) the experimental study of motivation and emotion.
D) assessing the linkages between biology and behavior.
Correct Answer(s):         A


6.
The personality theorist, Sigmund Freud, was an Austrian:
A) chemist.
B) theologian.
C) physician.
D) politician.
Correct Answer(s):         C


7.
Which psychological specialists are most likely to be involved in applied research?
A) developmental psychologists
B) industrial/organizational psychologists
C) personality psychologists
D) biological psychologists
Correct Answer(s):         B


8.
In its early years, psychology focused on the study of ________, but from the 1920s into the 1960s, American psychologists emphasized the study of ________.
A) unconscious motives; conscious thoughts and feelings
B) mental life; observable behavior
C) environmental influences; hereditary influences
D) maladaptive behavior; adaptive behavior
Correct Answer(s):         B


9.
A hypothesis is a(n):
A) set of principles that organizes observations and explains newly discovered facts.
B) testable prediction that gives direction to research.
C) unprovable assumption about the unobservable processes that underlie psychological functioning.
D) observable relationship between specific independent and dependent variables.
Correct Answer(s):         B


10.
The specialist most likely to have a medical degree is a(n):
A) developmental psychologist.
B) clinical psychologist.
C) personality psychologist.
D) psychiatrist.
Correct Answer(s):         D


11.
The case study is a research method in which:
A) a representative sample of people are questioned regarding their opinions or behaviors.
B) a single individual is studied in great depth.
C) an investigator manipulates one or more variables that might affect behavior.
D) organisms are carefully observed in a laboratory environment.
Correct Answer(s):         B


12.
Contemporary psychology is best defined as the scientific study of:
A) conscious and unconscious mental activity.
B) behavior and mental processes.
C) maladaptive and adaptive behaviors.
D) observable responses to the environment.
Correct Answer(s):         B


13.
Several weeks after a political election, voters often exaggerate their ability to have predicted the election outcome. This best illustrates:
A) the hindsight bias.
B) the placebo effect.
C) random assignment.
D) illusory correlation.
Correct Answer(s):         A


14.
Which perspective most clearly focuses on how we learn observable responses?
A) behavioral
B) evolutionary
C) neuroscience
D) behavior genetics
Correct Answer(s):         A


15.
Cognitive neuroscience studies relationships between:
A) thought processes and brain functions.
B) natural selection and genetic predispositions.
C) philosophy and physiology.
D) childhood memories and psychological disorders.
Correct Answer(s):         A



Chapter 2



1.
Hormones are the chemical messengers of the:
A) autonomic nervous system.
B) limbic system.
C) reticular formation.
D) endocrine system.
Correct Answer(s):         D


2.
Your conscious awareness of your own name and self-identity depends primarily on the normal functioning of your:
A) cerebral cortex.
B) hypothalamus.
C) cerebellum.
D) amygdala.
Correct Answer(s):         A


3.
The “little brain” attached to the rear of the brainstem is called the:
A) limbic system.
B) cerebellum.
C) corpus callosum.
D) reticular formation.
Correct Answer(s):         B


4.
Surgical destruction of brain tissue is called a(n):
A) MRI.
B) synapse.
C) lesion.
D) EEG.
Correct Answer(s):         C


5.
Which brain structure relays information from the eyes to the visual cortex?
A) cerebellum
B) medulla
C) amygdala
D) thalamus
Correct Answer(s):         D


6.
In order to identify which of Lucy's brain areas was most active when she talked, neuroscientists gave her a temporarily radioactive form of glucose and a(n):
A) EEG.
B) hemispherectomy.
C) MRI scan.
D) PET scan.
Correct Answer(s):         D


7.
A synapse is a(n):
A) automatic response to sensory input.
B) junction between a sending neuron and a receiving neuron.
C) neural cable containing many axons.
D) chemical messenger that triggers muscle contractions.
Correct Answer(s):         B


8.
The best way to detect enlarged fluid-filled brain regions in some patients who have schizophrenia is to use a(n):
A) EEG.
B) MRI.
C) PET scan.
D) brain lesion.
Correct Answer(s):         B


9.
The sense of hearing is to the ________ lobes as the sense of touch is to the ________ lobes.
A) frontal; occipital
B) parietal; temporal
C) temporal; parietal
D) occipital; frontal
Correct Answer(s):         C


10.
Reuptake refers to the:
A) release of hormones into the bloodstream.
B) movement of neurotransmitter molecules across a synaptic gap.
C) reabsorption of excess neurotransmitter molecules by a sending neuron.
D) inflow of electrically charged atoms through an axon membrane.
Correct Answer(s):         C


11.
The knee-jerk reflex is controlled by interneurons in the:
A) brainstem.
B) limbic system.
C) cerebellum.
D) spinal cord.
Correct Answer(s):         D


12.
A simple, automatic, inborn response to a sensory stimulus is called a(n):
A) reflex.
B) neural network.
C) action potential.
D) neurotransmitter.
Correct Answer(s):         A


13.
An axon is:
A) an antagonist molecule that blocks neurotransmitter receptor sites.
B) a cell that serves as the basic building block of the nervous system.
C) the extension of a neuron that carries messages away from the cell body.
D) a layer of fatty tissue that encases the fibers of many neurons.
Correct Answer(s):         C


14.
Olds and Milner located reward centers in the brain structure known as the:
A) medulla.
B) amygdala.
C) cerebellum.
D) hypothalamus.
Correct Answer(s):         D


15.
The two major divisions of the nervous system are the central and the ________ nervous systems.
A) somatic
B) sympathetic
C) autonomic
D) peripheral
Correct Answer(s):         D

Chapter 3


1.
If a genetically based attraction to beautiful people contributes to survival, that trait will likely be passed on to subsequent generations. This best illustrates:
A) natural selection.
B) gender typing.
C) collectivism.
D) behavior genetics.
Correct Answer(s):         A


2.
Children's tendency to classify behavior and personality traits in terms of masculine and feminine categories is of most direct relevance to:
A) Freudian psychology.
B) behavior genetics.
C) gender schema theory.
D) evolutionary psychology.
Correct Answer(s):         C


3.
Men judge women as especially attractive if:
A) they appear youthful, and women judge men as especially attractive if they appear youthful.
B) they appear mature, and women judge men as especially attractive if they appear youthful.
C) they appear youthful, and women judge men as especially attractive if they appear mature.
D) they appear mature, and women judge men as especially attractive if they appear mature.
Correct Answer(s):         C


4.
Since 1960, Americans have experienced a(n):
A) decrease in the incidence of depression and a decrease in work hours.
B) decrease in the incidence of depression and an increase in work hours.
C) increase in the incidence of depression and a decrease in work hours.
D) increase in the incidence of depression and an increase in work hours.
Correct Answer(s):         D


5.
The home environment most clearly has a greater influence on children's ________ than on their ________.
A) gender identity; gender schemas
B) religious beliefs; personality traits
C) temperament; political attitudes
D) extraversion; table manners
Correct Answer(s):         B


6.
Social learning theorists emphasize that:
A) children will exhibit only those gender-typed behaviors for which they have been directly rewarded.
B) observation and imitation play a crucial role in the gender-typing process.
C) all of the above are true.
D) children will not learn gender-typed behaviors if the same-sex parent is absent from the home.
Correct Answer(s):         B


7.
Cultural diversity best illustrates our:
A) gender identities.
B) genetic variations.
C) human temperaments.
D) adaptive capacities.
Correct Answer(s):         D


8.
Chromosomes are contained within:
A) sperm cells.
B) blood cells.
C) all of the above.
D) brain cells.
Correct Answer(s):         C


9.
The importance of romance in marriage relationships is most strongly emphasized in cultures characterized by:
A) gender-typing.
B) collectivism.
C) individualism.
D) gender schemas.
Correct Answer(s):         C


10.
According to evolutionary psychologists, our predisposition to overconsume fatty junk foods illustrates that we are biologically prepared to behave in ways that promoted the ________ of our ancestors.
A) reproductive success
B) personal space
C) neuroticism
D) gender-typing
Correct Answer(s):         A


11.
A willingness to switch jobs and move from one part of the country to another best illustrates one of the consequences of:
A) gender schemas.
B) collectivism.
C) gender-typing.
D) individualism.
Correct Answer(s):         D


12.
In comparison to parental influence, peer influence is:
A) more likely to affect a child's English accent and less likely to affect a child's educational success.
B) less likely to affect a child's English accent and less likely to affect a child's educational success.
C) more likely to affect a child's English accent and more likely to affect a child's educational success.
D) less likely to affect a child's English accent and more likely to affect a child's educational success.
Correct Answer(s):         A


13.
The impact of our cultural backgrounds on the development of our personal values best illustrates the influence of:
A) the environment.
B) temperament.
C) individualism.
D) personal space.
Correct Answer(s):         A


14.
Gender identity refers to:
A) how masculine a boy is or how feminine a girl is.
B) the sense of being male or female.
C) one's biological sex.
D) the set of expected behaviors for males and for females.
Correct Answer(s):         B


15.
Lacking any exposure to language before adolescence, a person will never master any language due to the ________ of unemployed neural connections:
A) temperament
B) mutation
C) cloning
D) pruning
Correct Answer(s):         D