Department of Psychology
Psychology 1
Summer 2010
Final Examination
Scoring Key and Item Analysis
In the scoring key that follows, correct answers are marked with double pound signs (##).
Following procedures outlined in the Exam Information page, the statistical analysis identified five (5) bad items: #s 34, 36, 43, 81, and 98. These items were rescored correct for all responses.
The average score on the exam, before rescoring, was 63.82, with a standard deviation of 14.40 -- 64%
correct, which is a little low by the standards of my exams in Psych 1, in which my usual mean is somewhere between 65-70% correct. After rescoring, the mean rose to 68.53 (SD = 14.45), which is right in the ballpark. The median score on the rescored test was 69.50.
The scores entered into the ANGEL gradebook reflect this rescoring. No other items will be rescored.
In what follows, I provide the percentage of the class that got each item correct, as well as the item-to-total correlation (rpb) for each item. I also include commentary on why the right answer is right, and the others wrong.
Choose the best answer to each of the following 100 questions. Questions are drawn from the text and lectures in roughly equal proportions, with the understanding that there is considerable overlap between the two sources. Usually, only one question is drawn from each major section of each chapter of the required readings; again, sometimes this question also draws on material discussed in class. Read the entire exam through before answering any questions: sometimes one question will help you answer another one.
Most questions can be correctly answered in one of two ways: (1) by fact-retrieval, meaning that you remember the answer from your reading of the text or listening to the lecture; or (2) inference, meaning that you can infer the answer from some general principle discussed in the text or lecture. If you cannot determine the correct answer by either of these methods, try to eliminate at least one option as clearly wrong: this maximizes the likelihood that you will get the correct answer by chance. Also, go with your intuitions: if you have actually done the assigned readings and attended the lectures, your "informed guesses" will likely be right more often than they are wrong.
1. Which of the following statements is false?
a. Humans are born less mature than most animals.
b. The number of synapses increases dramatically in the two years after birth.
c. The brains of full-term newborns are fully developed. ##
d. Adults have fewer synapses than they had at age two.
67% of the class got this item correct; item-to-total rpb = .37. The brain is far from mature at birth. Children's growth in brain size and complexity continues for many years. For example, if one simply counts the number of synapses per cortical neuron, this number is 10 times greater for a 1-year-old than it is for a newborn.
2. Newborn infants can do all of the following except:
a. focus on objects four feet or closer
b. track a moving stimulus
c. readily discriminate brightness and color
d. reach for and grab an object six feet away ##
87% correct, rpb = .18. Infants' use of the hand develops dramatically across the first year of life. At 16 weeks of age, infants may be able to reach for objects but cannot hold onto them. At 20 weeks, infants may be able to grab objects using the hand as a whole. Thus, newborn infants would be unable to reach for and grab an object six feet away.
3. When young infants lose sight of a toy they have been enjoying looking at, they typically
a. start to cry and fuss inconsolably.
b. show little concern. ##
c. reach all around where the toy was last seen.
d. blink repeatedly as though that will make the toy reappear.
45%, .52. Infants show little concern when they lose sight of a toy because, according to Piaget, infants lack a sense of object permanence, i.e., the understanding that objects exist independent of our momentary sensory or motoric interactions with them. As a result, when the toy is no longer visible, it has "ceased to exist" in the mind of that child.
4. Recent research using the habituation technique with infants suggests that
a. Piaget's observations of infant behavior were incorrect; infants do search for hidden objects.
b. the inferences Piaget drew from his observations of infant behavior were wrong; infants have some concept of objects as independent, unitary entities. ##
c. infants develop object permanence later than Piaget thought.
d. the development of object permanence is very much as Piaget described it.
70%, .18. Habituation procedures present a display, for example a rod behind a solid block that occludes the rod's central portion, until infants become bored with it (or habituated) and stop looking at the display. Then, researchers present infants with one of two test displays. Infants spend more time looking at the test display that is a broken rod than a test display that is a complete rod, signaling that the broken rod is a relatively "novel" display that attracts their attention. This indicates that infants had perceived the original stimulus as not broken, suggesting that infants have some notion of objects as independent and unitary entities. Option A is true, but it doesn't have anything to do with the habituation technique.
5. Recent research on conservation of number indicates that
a. this understanding develops very much when and how Piaget said it did.
b. Piaget overestimated numerical understanding in the preoperational stage.
c. the appearance of this understanding is discontinuous, as Piaget said, but it happens a year or so earlier than he said it did.
d. preschoolers can pass conservation tasks if the number of items is small enough. ##
52%, .46. In the conservation task, when comparing two sets of items, even 3- and 4-year-olds can correctly point to the set that is smaller and larger as long as the number of items is small enough.
6. Which of the following statements regarding evidence of cross-cultural differences in cognitive development is true?
a. The lives of people in most cultures do not require abstract thought or reasoning.
b. People who do poorly on Piagetian cognitive tasks often show remarkable intellectual abilities in the context of their own lives.
c. Piagetian tasks, like object classification, may be interpreted differently by people from other cultures.
d. Both b and c ##
75%, .17. Cultures may differ in their patterns of cognitive development such that people who do poorly on certain Piagetian cognitive tasks, such as problems of syllogistic reasoning, may in fact show complex and sophisticated reasoning in the context of their own lives (e.g., showing remarkable feats of inference while hunting game). Cultural differences may also render certain types of tests, like the Piagetian task of object classification, inappropriate because there may be assumptions built into the tests that are not applicable cross-culturally. For example, the object classification test may assume that individuals will sort objects into groups using semantic categories, but in some cultures individuals may sort by functional categories.
7. With aging,
a. all aspects of memory decline.
b. implicit memory declines precipitously.
c. there are large individual differences in the extent of memory decline. ##
d. working memory shows little to no decline.
50%, .22. The extent of decline in memory varies from one person to the next, and the declines that are observed are far from calamitous, with good memory performance often observed in 60-, 70-, and 80-year-olds.
8. Harlow's experiments with baby monkeys showed that
a. when frightened, infants flock to a food-producing "mother."
b. when frightened, infant monkeys prefer "contact comfort" above food. ##
c. rhesus monkeys do not show attachment behaviors.
d. mother ducks could successfully rear baby monkeys once the monkeys had imprinted.
90%, .45. When infant monkeys were frightened, they invariably rushed to the terry-cloth "mother" that provided contact comfort instead of to the wire-figure "mother" that was equipped with a nipple that yielded milk.
9. According to Ainsworth, the reaction of securely attached infants to the departure and return of their mother in the Strange Situation is to show
a. some distress when she leaves and enthusiasm when she returns. ##
b. little distress when she leaves and mild pleasure when she returns.
c. little distress when she leaves and little interest when she returns.
d. considerable distress when she leaves and enthusiasm when she returns.
63%, .60. Children who are securely attached will explore, play with toys, and even make wary overtures to the strangers, so long as the mother is present. When the mother leaves, these infants will show minor distress. When she returns, they will greet her with enthusiasm.
10. Anthropological studies suggest that societies whose dominant means of livelihood is through agriculture as opposed to hunting stress which of the following values as they raise their children?
a. self-reliance and initiative
b. conformity and responsibility ##
c. religiousness and respect for tradition
d. generosity and tolerance
75%, .44. In cultures based on agriculture, parents generally encourage responsibility and conformity in their children, preparing the children for the adult roles they will eventually assume: the patient, cooperative life of a farmer who must plow his soil at specified times. In contrast, hunting and fishing societies generally encourage self-reliance and initiative in their children ' reasonable values for people who have to wrest their food from nature in day-to-day encounters.
11. When we say that, to some extent, an infant shapes her own environment, we are talking about
a. the conscious choices she makes about where to go and what to do.
b. the way her temperament influences how others interact with her.
c. the way her abilities influence how others interact with her.
d. Both b and c. ##
80%, .32. Children can have an effect on their environment. For example, children's temperament can impact their parents (e.g., stubborn or impulsive children tend to elicit more coercive forms of parenting). Also, children with certain abilities, such as understanding and respecting logical reason ("Don't touch the stove, it's hot") will be treated differently from a child who does not.
12. Susie tells Sally that she does not eat cookies before dinner because her parents will send her to her room for the rest of the night. Susie is in which stage of Kohlberg's moral reasoning?
a. rationalization
b. postconventional
c. conventional
d. preconventional ##
67%, .50. Preconventional reasoning involves moral judgments focused on getting rewards and avoiding punishments (e.g., getting sent to her room).
13. In one study, mothers were introduced to the same six-month-old baby, called either "Joey" or "Janie," and asked to play with the child. The results indicated that
a. unlike fathers given the same task, mothers played the same way with the infant whether they thought it was male or female.
b. mothers treated the baby more gently if they thought it was a girl than if they thought it was a boy. ##
c. mothers, unlike fathers, were just as likely to give the infant a doll when they thought it was male as when they thought it was female.
d. mothers, unlike fathers, quickly caught on to the deception and recognized the child's actual sex.
52%, .35. In this study, the same baby was dressed up either as a boy (Joey) or girl (Janie). Researchers found that mothers were more likely to give dolls to the girl and hammers to the boy; they also treated the girl more gently than they did the boy.
14. Erikson and other authors devote considerable attention to the "midlife transition." This transition involves a
a. reappraisal of one's life and career. ##
b. redefinition of life purpose from personal to more social and altruistic goals.
c. turning away from more material interests to more philosophical and spiritual ones.
d. renewed interest in the ideas and pursuits of one's adolescence and young adulthood.
52%, .49. The "midlife transition" is a stage of adult development in which individuals reappraise what they have done with their lives thus far and may reevaluate their marriage and career.
15. One interesting detail about the DSM-IV definition of mental disorder is that it
a. makes no reference to normality. ##
b. excludes the possibility of cross-cultural variation.
c. excludes organic disorders'those associated with brain damage.
d. All of the above are correct.
23%, .25. The definition of mental disorders provided in the DSM-IV states that: "Each of the mental disorders is conceptualized as a clinically significant behavioral or psychological syndrome or pattern that occurs in a person and that is associated with present distress (a painful symptom) or disability (impairment in one or more important areas of functioning) or with a significantly increased risk of suffering death, pain, disability, or an important loss of freedom." This definition makes no reference to normality. A lot of you went for D, but DSM includes categories of both "organic" disorders and culture-specific disorders.
16. According to the diathesis-stress model of mental disorder,
a. genes play little role in insanity.
b. disorders will emerge only when both diathesis and stress are present. ##
c. diathesis is a more important factor than is stress.
d. stress is a more important factor than is diathesis.
77%, .49. The diathesis-stress model states that one set of factors (the diathesis) creates a predisposition or risk for the disorder, and a different set of factors (the stress) provides the trigger that turns the potential into the actual disorder. In this conception, neither the diathesis nor the stress by itself causes the disorder; instead, the disorder only emerges if both sets of factors are present.
17. Why is it clearly the case that merely labeling a disorder is not the same thing as explaining a disorder?
a. because the label is purely descriptive'it provides a name for the symptoms, not a causal mechanism ##
b. because labels can be harmful
c. because labels are extremely unreliable, according to research
d. because labels have no connection to signs and symptoms
73%, .17. Labels provided by the DSM can be enormously useful for clinical psychologists treating cases. At the same time, labels can be problematic: it is easy to fall into the trap of thinking that once we have labeled a disorder, we have explained a person's problems. That is false ' rather, labels are just the first step on a path toward explanation and treatment.
18. __________ are misinterpretations of real events, while __________ are experiences with no real basis in external sensory stimulation.
a. Disturbances of thought; hallucinations
b. Hallucinations; ideas of reference
c. Delusions; hallucinations ##
d. Ideas of reference; delusions
90%, .23. Delusions are incorrect beliefs that are rigidly maintained despite the absence of any evidence for the belief, and, in many cases, despite contradictory evidence. Hallucinations are sensory experiences in the absence of any actual input.
19. Environmental factors must play a role in causing schizophrenia because
a. some cultures produce no schizophrenics.
b. concordance among identical twins is far from 100%. ##
c. adopted children can become psychotic.
d. None of the above.
70%, .40. The etiology, or cause, of schizophrenia is complex, involving psychological, neurological, and genetic factors. While findings suggest that there is substantial genetic contribution to the development of schizophrenia, the concordance rate for identical twins is not 100%; therefore, there are other nongenetic factors at play, including prenatal factors, viruses, daily stress, and other environmental factors. The fact that the concordance rate is less than 100% implicates the nonshared environment.
20. Which one of the following people is most likely to successfully commit suicide?
a. John: deep in his depression, does not care about anyone or anything
b. Sissy: still in a hospital setting, seems to be on the road to recovery
c. Bart: having had several good therapy sessions, seems to be regaining some control of his life ##
d. Karyn: extremely depressed, and will not leave her apartment or see anyone
23%, .23. A difficult item, because it's counterintuitive, that the risk of suicide increases as depressed patients start to feel better. But it's true. Suicide risk is relatively low for those in the depths of depression; gloom is deepest, but so is inertia, and the patient may not have the energy or tenacity to complete the act. Rather, the most vulnerable time with regard to suicide is the period of recovery from depression and emergence from closely supervised care.
21. An individual is diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder (PSTD) rather than acute stress disorder if
a. the reaction to the stressful event is dissociation.
b. the posttraumatic symptoms include waking flashbacks to the stressful event.
c. the reaction to the stressful event persists for at least one month. ##
d. All of the above.
20%, .61. If reactions to traumas, such as dissociation, flashbacks, and outbursts of anger, are enduring (i.e., persisting for 1 month after the stressor) the diagnosis becomes one of PTSD rather than an acute stress disorder.
22. Which of the following statements regarding dissociative identity disorder is true?
a. Dissociative identity disorder was considered very rare until relatively recently.
b. Critics believe that some apparent cases of dissociative identity disorder are inadvertently produced by the suggestions of therapists.
c. Each auxiliary personality seems to be built on a nucleus of particular memories.
d. All of the above answers are true. ##
58%, .24. Dissociative identity disorder (DID) was considered very rare until 30 years ago. It has been suggested that the flood of diagnoses at this time may have reflected a fad among therapists who inadvertently led their suggestible patients to develop the signs and symptoms of the syndrome. Often, each auxiliary personality is built on a nucleus of particular memories possessed by the patient -- or even an offhand statement such as "I don't feel like myself today", which is mistake as the voice of an "alter ego"..
23. Which of the following describes the interaction between dissociative disorders and memories of childhood abuse?
a. Dissociative disorders always cause false memories of childhood abuse.
b. Childhood abuse always causes dissociative disorders.
c. We do not know for certain whether dissociative disorders make false memories of abuse more likely or if abuse leads to dissociative disorders. ##
d. Dissociative disorders and childhood abuse are unrelated.
90%, .52. Individuals who are likely to dissociate also may be prone to developing false memories. Hence, if dissociative symptoms and memories of childhood abuse go together, this may indicate that the incidents of abuse lead to dissociation, or the cause-effect relationships may be the reverse: dissociation may predispose someone to generate (false) memories of childhood abuse.
24. Benjamin Rush was one of the founders of American psychiatry. His assorted treatment practices, circa the 18th century, included
a. twirling patients on special devices at speeds that rendered them unconscious.
b. submerging patients in hot or cold water until they almost drowned.
c. making patients retain their feces for as long as a month.
d. Both a and b. ##
78%, .03. Benjamin Rush, the father of American psychiatry, would submerse patients in hot or cold water until they were just short of drowning, or twirl them on special devices at speeds that rendered them unconscious. Such methods were said to reestablish balance between bodily and mental functions.
25. How do classical antipsychotics affect the dopamine system in the brain?
a. They amp it up, and increase dopamine.
b. They kill dopamine receptors.
c. They block dopamine receptors, thus decreasing neurotransmission. ##
d. They keep dopamine active for longer periods of time in the synaptic cleft.
73%, .37. Classic antipsychotics reduce the major positive symptoms of schizophrenia by blocking dopamine receptors in key brain pathways.
26. SSRIs like Prozac, Paxil, and Zoloft have been touted as miracle drugs for depression. The evidence for that claim, however, is lacking. Like all medications, SSRIs have limitations, including:
a. They begin to work only after about one month or so.
b. They cause insomnia in upward of 30 percent of patients.
c. They cause lack of sexual desire or sexual response in upward of 30 percent of patients.
d. All of the above answers are correct. ##
82%, -.02. SSRIs' limitations include: a) the beneficial effects of the drug emerge only after a medication is taken for a month or so; b) they carry side effects, including weight gain, nausea, diarrhea, and insomnia, as well as a loss of sexual desire or response; c) there is some concern that these drugs may be addictive.
27. Bilateral ECT is __________ than unilateral ECT.
a. less effective
b. more effective ##
c. associated with fewer cognitive side effects
d. associated with fewer memory-related side effects
53%, .12.While the cognitive side effects of ECT are diminished if the ECT is delivered to just one side of the brain, this unilateral ECT is less effective than bilateral ECT.
28. Psychoanalytically oriented therapists focus on __________, while behavior therapists focus on __________.
a. doing; understanding
b. feeling; action
c. understanding; doing ##
d. present; past
73%, .33. Psychoanalytically oriented therapists emphasize gaining insight or understanding into buried thoughts and wishes, whereas behavior therapists emphasize changing overt, observable behavior
29. The key to family and couples distress is to understand
a. the differences between man and woman, parent and child.
b. the lack of communication between family members.
c. the relationships within the family system. ##
d. the problems of each individual family member.
47%, .33. Family and couple therapists generally regard the family as an emotional system, so the feelings and functioning of each individual are heavily influenced by interactions within the system. Therefore, it is important to understand relationships within the family system in addressing family and couples distress.
30. In evaluating drug therapies, a method of controlling for spontaneous improvements might be
a. to carry out a longitudinal study on all of the participants.
b. to administer before and after tests with many subjects.
c. to use a comparison group of untreated subjects that has the same diagnosis. ##
d. to simultaneously give each subject a placebo along with the medication.
82%, .20. To control for spontaneous improvements when evaluating drug therapies, scientists will use a comparison group of untreated subjects that has the same diagnosis.
31. Part of the reason why we eat what we do depends on biology; another part of the reason depends on culture and direct social influences. For example,
a. women are much more likely than men to believe they are overweight.
b. we are more likely to eat when surrounded by others.
c. Americans grow hungry around 6 p.m., on average, while the British are more likely to seek food a couple of hours earlier, around "tea time."
d. All of the above answers are correct. ##
87%, .37. Both biological and cultural factors influence our appetite. For example, many Europeans feel hungry for their main meal of the day in the early afternoon, while others on the continent, like the French, grow hungry for dinner only in the evening. With respect to food intake, weight reduction steps are particularly popular with women, who are much more likely than men to believe that they are overweight. Social factors also influence our appetite. For example, we are more likely to eat when we are surrounded by others who are eating.
32. Virtually all the nerves in the peripheral nervous system (PNS) connect to the brain via which structure?
a. the cranial nerves
b. efferent nerves
c. the spinal cord ##
d. glial cells
85%, .35. Nearly all the nerves in the PNS connect to the brain (i.e., CNS) via the spinal cord. The exception is the vagus nerve, which connects directly to the brainstem.
33. So-called subcortical structures lie underneath the cortex. One of these is the thalamus, which
a. controls speech and verbal reasoning.
b. specializes in the processing of emotion.
c. acts as a relay station for sensory information. ##
d. controls motivated behaviors like eating, drinking, and sexual activity.
47%, .52. The thalamus is a brain region that acts as a relay station for nearly all the sensory information going to the cortex.
34.In which of the lobe would you expect neurons to be most reliably activated by stimulation of the auditory nerve?
a. frontal
b. parietal
c. occipital
d. temporal ##
43%, .12. A bad item. But I don't know why: the fact that the temporal lobe contains the primary auditory cortex is pretty basic.
35. A neuron is stimulated by a stimulus that just achieves threshold. After an interval of a few seconds, a new stimulus is applied that is half as intense as the previous one. The resulting action potential will have what peak voltage?
a. Half the previous voltage.
b. The same voltage.
c. Twice the previous voltage.
d. There will be no action potential. ##
62%, .25. Remember the all-or-none rule. An action potential only occurs if stimulus intensity achieves the critical excitation threshold (about -55 mv in mammals). Thus, if the stimulus intensity is half as intense as the previous one ' which just barely met threshold ' then it is subthreshold and therefore will not result in an action potential.
36. What structure is most responsible for governing the autonomic nervous system?
a. the sympathetic system
b. the parasympathetic system ##
c. the hypothalamus
d. the endocrine system
28%, .25. A bad item. A and B are both correct, and an argument could be made for C, by virtue of its role in homeostatic regulation. Sorry, I don't know what I was thinking about. The parasympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system tends to restore the body's internal activities to normal after action has been completed, and maintains and is most responsible for governing the autonomic nervous system.
37. Why do we need so many cues for eating? Why didn't evolution just find one way for organisms to monitor their nutritional state?
a. Backup systems provide safety'if one fails, another can kick in.
b. Different signals monitor different aspects of our nutritional needs.
c. Some cues make other cues more persuasive and determinative.
d. All of the above are correct. ##
87%, .05.We developed a broad set of signals controlling when an organism starts and stops eating for a few reasons: a) safety provided by backup systems ' if one system fails for some reason, the organism is still protected, b) different signals monitor different aspects of our nutritional needs (e.g., longer-term needs signaled by leptin vs. sorter-term needs signaled by cues from the stomach), and c) some cues potentiate other cues, i.e., they make the other cues more salient and more persuasive.
38. High testosterone levels in the bloodstream are associated with increased physical aggressiveness. Even so,
a. some human aggression bears no relationship to testosterone levels.
b. testosterone is not associated with aggression in many other species, like lizards, turtles, mice, and monkeys.
c. it is unclear whether or not testosterone causes aggression, or if aggressive feelings lead to an increase in the secretion of testosterone.
d. Both a and c are correct. ##
67%, .01. While aggression is partially influenced by hormones, particularly the sex hormone testosterone, at least some human aggression bears no relationship to testosterone levels and therefore must be shaped by other factors. But the causal relation between testosterone and aggression may well be reciprocal: while increases in testosterone can cause aggression, it also seems likely that increases in aggression, caused by some other factor, can lead to increases in aggression.
39. Contrary to evolutionary theory about the nature of the experience of jealousy, some research shows that:
a. both men and women are more upset by emotional rather than sexual infidelity. ##
b. only men are upset by emotional infidelity, not women.
c. jealousy is in fact far rarer than generally believed.
d. jealousy does not seem to exist in non-human primates.
53%, .09. One study investigated people who had had an actual experience with a mate cheating and asked them how they felt about the infidelity. There was no gender difference in the respondents' reactions: both men and women were more upset by an emotional than a sexual infidelity.
40. Say an infant has become bored with the visual presentation of a pink square. Then, when researchers make the square spin counterclockwise, the infant's interest perks up again. What is this kind of change in responsiveness called?
a. positive reinforcement
b. dishabituation ##
c. a conditioned response
d. a conditioned stimulus
75%, .56. Dishabituation is an increase in responsiveness caused by the presentation of something novel, or by a change in a habituated stimulus.
41. How does reconditioning differ from spontaneous recovery?
a. Reconditioning refers to processes that are seen only in classical conditioning, whereas spontaneous recovery refers to processes that are seen only in operant conditioning.
b. Reconditioning refers to the addition of a second CS that precedes the original CS of a CS'US pairing whereas spontaneous recovery refers to the elimination of conditioned fear.
c. Reconditioning refers to the presentation of the CS after extinction and a subsequent rest period whereas spontaneous recovery refers to the act of presenting further CS'US trials after extinction.
d. Reconditioning refers to the act of presenting further CS'US trials after extinction whereas spontaneous recovery refers to the presentation of the CS after extinction and a subsequent rest period. ##
67%, .48. Reconditioning is defined as the presentation of further reinforced conditioning trials after a conditioned response has been extinguished. Spontaneous recovery is defined as the reappearance of a previously extinguished response after a time interval in which neither the conditioned stimulus nor the unconditioned stimulus is presented.
42. What does shaping involve?
a. rewarding the organism only after the desired response has been performed
b. intermittent reinforcement regardless of the organism's behavior
c. an intermittent schedule of reinforcement contingent on the organism's behavior
d. reinforcing responses that are more and more similar to the desired response ##
65%, .45. Shaping involves reinforcing certain behavioral responses that are more and more similar to the desired response (using the method of successive approximations).
43. How do evolutionary psychologists explain the existence of general laws of learning common to many species of animals?
a. Different species of animals have the same neural circuitry, causing them to form stimulus-response relationships in exactly the same way.
b. Brain processes are similar across a wide range of species, resulting in similarities of learning styles.
c. Evolutionary forces have acted on different species to produce a single, effective form of learning that increases the likelihood of survival. ##
d. Different species of animals all live in environments that share the same physical laws of nature, thus constraining mental processes and behavioral outcomes.
45%, -.11. A bad item. C is clearly correct answer, though B and D are at least debatable. Evolutionary psychologists suggest that general laws of learning common to many species of animals exist because natural selection favors certain learning mechanisms that allow creatures to learn about the consequences of their actions and to adjust their futures accordingly ' and that increase the likelihood of survival. But for some reason the item just didn't pan out statistically, and we have to go with the statistics, not our subjective impressions!
44. A research subject listens to a 1,000 hertz tone. The frequency of the tone is slowly increased and the subject is instructed to acknowledge when she hears a change in the tone of the pitch. At 1,050 hertz, the subject notes that the pitch of the tone is not the same as it was before. In this case, what does the change of 50 hertz represent?
a. the absolute threshold
b. the difference threshold ##
c. a hypothetical change in the physical sensation
d. discrimination learning in classical conditioning
78%, .63. The difference threshold is the smallest stimulus change that an observer can reliably detect.
45. The kinesthetic receptors are located in the __________ and provide information about __________.
a. muscles, tendons, and joints; the position of the body in space ##
b. epidermis; pressure
c. hypothalamus; the position of the body in space
d. inner ear; movements of the head.
53%, .39. Kinesthesis is the collective term for information that comes from receptors in the muscles, tendons, and joints and that informs us about our movements and the orientation of our body in space. Thus, the kinesthetic receptors are located in the muscles, tendons, and joints, and provide information about the position of the body in space.
46. Compare two tones of 1,000 hertz and 500 hertz. What can we say about the movement of the basilar membrane in response to these tones?
a. The peak of the vibratory wave will be at a different location with respect to the oval window for the 1,000-hertz tone as for the 500-hertz tone. ##
b. The peak of the vibratory wave will be at the same location with respect to the oval window for the 500-hertz tone as for the 1,000-hertz tone.
c. There will be a peak in the vibratory wave for the 500-hertz tone, but there will be no such peak for the 1,000-hertz tone, which affects the entire membrane equally.
d. There will be a peak in the vibratory wave for the 1,000-hertz tone, but there will be no such peak for the 500-hertz tone, which affects the entire membrane equally.
60%, .06. As the frequency of tones is varied, the pattern of the basilar membrane's motion changes and, in particular, the point of greatest movement (i.e., the peak of the vibratory wave) shifts in an orderly fashion with respect to the oval window. But the most important concept here is the duplex theory of pitch, which means that different mechanisms account for the sensations of pitch below 500 cps, and above 1000 cps.
47. Where does most visual analysis occur in higher animals (e.g., cats and monkeys)?
a. at the level of the receptors
b. at the level of the retina
c. at the level of the lateral nucleus
d. at the level of the visual cortex ##
78%, .54. Most visual analysis occurs at the level of the visual cortex in higher animals.
48. Which of the following best describes the phenomenon of motion parallax?
a. Points closer than the target of our gaze seem to be moving in the opposite direction to us, while points beyond the target of our gaze appear to be moving in the same direction as we are. ##
b. Points closer than the target of our gaze appear to be moving in the same direction as we are, while points beyond the target of our gaze seem to be moving in the opposite direction to us.
c. As we approach an object, it appears to grow in size. As we move away from it, it appears to get smaller.
d. As we approach an object, the image gets sharper. As we move away from an object, the image gets fuzzier.
62%, .50. Motion parallax is a depth cue provided by the fact that, as an observer moves, the images cast by nearby objects move more rapidly on the retina than the images cast by objects farther away. Therefore, points closer than the target of an observer's gaze appear to be moving in the opposite direction, while points beyond the target of gaze appear to be moving in the same direction.
49. Research shows that simple visual features'say, an angular shape'tend to "pop out" from a display. Additional research reveals that
a. people can locate an angle hidden within a dozen curves just as quickly as if it were sandwiched between two curves. ##
b. people can locate angular objects faster than curved objects.
c. people can locate curved objects faster than angular objects.
d. although shapes do "pop out," different object orientations do not.
45%, .29. Simple visual features can be perceived in a fashion that seems remarkably fast and essentially effortless. For example, when a target is an angular shape amid a field of round shapes, participants find it very quickly. The number of round shapes in which the angular shape is embedded has very little effect on the search time: participants can locate a V hidden within a dozen circles almost as quickly as they can locate one sandwiched between just two circles.
50. Why is our perceptual system open to error in interpretation as seen in the perception of ambiguous figures?
a. Subjective interpretation is necessary when the perceptual input is ambiguous. ##
b. Error response in our perceptual system is probably an evolutionary oversight.
c. Our bottom-up processing system breaks down when confronted with ambiguous figures.
d. Researchers have yet to find out exactly why our system is so open to error.
73%, .39. Why did evolution allow a perceptual system that is occasionally open to error? It simply is the case that perceptual input is often ambiguous, so it is interpretable only if we make some inferences and assumptions. If we just "stuck to the facts," we might not perceive anything at all.
51. For which of the accompanying figures are we unable to develop a perceptual hypothesis?
![]() |
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![]() |
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a. |
b. |
c.## |
d. |
43%, .38. A perceptual hypothesis is formed based on prior knowledge and past experience and is crucial in perception. When we look at something, we develop a perceptual hypothesis based on prior knowledge. The hypotheses we develop are nearly always correct, however, on rare occasion, perceptual hypothesis can be disconfirmed by the data we perceive. Such as figure in answer C and other 'impossible figures' we know these figures cannot possible show three dimensional forms, but we perceive them as if they were three dimensional anyhow.
52. The capacity of a normal person's working memory
a. depends substantially on what particular type of items is in store.
b. is practically unlimited.
c. is limited primarily by the capacities of the long-term storage system.
d. is roughly seven items. ##
88%, .35. Working memory's capacity is seven items, no mater how an "item" is defined, give or take one or two. Psychologists call this the "magical number seven".
53. Which of the following facts about memory has the most relevance for a student who is currently in the process of studying for an exam?
a. The capacity of working memory is severely limited.
b. Maintenance rehearsal confers little or no benefit in aiding recall. ##
c. Items are easily displaced from working memory.
d. The video-recorder theory of memory is almost certainly false.
42%, .38. Maintenance rehearsal is a strategy that keeps information in working memory but with little long-term effect. You are unlikely to recall a stimulus that you thought about only a in mindless, mechanical fashion. Likewise, if a stimulus was in front of your eyes, or presented to your ears, for many seconds but you paid little attention to the stimulus, you probably will not be able to remember that stimulus later.
54. Which of the following is the principle distinction between retrograde and anterograde amnesia?
a. Retrograde is inherited; anterograde is learned.
b. Anterograde is temporary; retrograde is permanent.
c. Anterograde involves forgetting things after a certain time; retrograde involves forgetting things prior to a certain time. ##
d. Anterograde affects long-term memory; retrograde affects working memory.
80%, .44. Retrograde amnesia means 'in a backward direction', or a loss of memory for events prior to a certain time (likely the brain injury). Anterograde amnesia means in 'in the forward direction' or an inability to learn anything new, an inability to form new memories.
55. Which of the following is likely to result in the most memory interference?
a. learning a list of French words just after learning a list of Spanish words ##
b. learning how to make chili just after learning how to skate
c. learning how to juggle just after learning how to blow a bubble
d. learning about learning just after learning about memory
90%, .15. Not all learning causes interference. Interference occurs when the things to be remembered are essentially incompatible and yet are similar sorts of material ' such as two different languages. No interference is observed between dissimilar sorts of material, such as learning a language and learning to skate.
56. Subjects are given an unfamiliar map with several points highlighted and are asked to study it. Later, without looking at the map, they are asked to picture an object moving from one of the highlighted points to another. What will the results of this test most likely show?
a. "Travel" time is unrelated to how far apart the points are.
b. Response times vary, such that points that are farther apart take longer for the object to "travel" than points that are closer together. ##
c. That this task does not involve analogical processes.
d. That this task contradicts findings from other mental rotation studies.
78%, .26. Experimental evidence shows that the time needed to picture the movement of the object is proportional to the distance between the two points on the map. This highlights the parallels between mental images and visual stimuli, between imaging and perceiving.
57. In the sentence "The zebra came over to the zookeeper," the phrase "The zebra" serves as
a. a proposition.
b. the subject. ##
c. the predicate.
d. a relational concept.
88%, .10. The subject is the item in a sentence about which a statement is being made ' in this case, the zebra.
58. In much of human problem solving, like driving to an airport or making a medical diagnosis, each subgoal is
a. a failed step toward the solution.
b. usually determined mainly by the original problem.
c. usually determined by both the original problem and by the eventual goal. ##
d. usually determined mainly by the eventual goal.
80%, .38. Our thinking about a problem and its solution (the initial state and the goal state) is usually guided both by a sense of where we are right now and by a sense of where we want to get.
59. What advantage is there to using a heuristic rather than an algorithm?
a. A heuristic will present a more clearly defined solution.
b. The heuristic is often more efficient. ##
c. The heuristic is more likely to result in a correct response.
d. The heuristic will result in only one possible solution.
73%, .41. An algorithm is a procedure guaranteed to solve a problem or answer a question, to the extent a solution or answer is possible. A heuristic is a strategy that usually brings the right answer, though with a lower reliability than an algorithm. There is a trade-off between efficiency and accuracy: algorithms are sometimes cumbersome to use and require considerable effort or time, while heuristics are relatively efficient.
60. Research has shown that men, on average, earn higher scores than do women on tests of mathematical ability. At the same time,
a. the scores of men and women overlap massively. ##
b. women show more interest in math than do men.
c. women are more likely to major in math in college than are men.
d. men outperform women on tests of so-called fluid intelligence.
72%, .44. The overlap in scores is determined by the degree of variability among the scores. Variability is the degree to which individual cases differ from one to the next. A highly variable group will have a frequency distribution that is wide and relatively flat. Mathematical ability data presents a high degree of variability, which produces almost overlapping frequency curves.
61. Based on years of research, what can we comfortably assert about IQ and reliability?
a. Score at age six correlates with score at age 18. ##
b. The older we get, the dumber we become, as measured by IQ.
c. There is no correlation between childhood IQ and IQ in adulthood.
d. IQ tests are valid, but not reliable.
48%, .58. There is a high correlation between measurements of someone's IQ at age 6 and at age 18. These results tell us that the IQ tests are reliable and also that they are measuring something that seems to be an enduring trait of the individual.
62. Which of the following activities is likely to involve more fluid than crystallized intelligence?
a. driving a car
b. completing a crossword puzzle with a familiar theme
c. repairing a toilet with a bobby pin ##
d. balancing a checkbook
55%, .38. Fluid general intelligence refers to the ability to deal with new and unusual problems. Crystallized general intelligence refers to an individual's repertoire of previously acquired skills and information.
63. Which of the following is inconsistent with the idea that there is a hereditary component in the development of intelligence?
a. more highly correlated intelligence scores for identical than fraternal twins
b. greater similarity of intelligence scores between adopted children and their biological parents than with their adoptive parents
c. more highly correlated intelligence scores for full siblings than half-siblings who share only one parent
d. a positive correlation between intelligence scores of adopted children and their adoptive parents ##
78%, .32.There is a strong resemblance between the intelligence scores of an adopted child and the scores of his biological parents ' a resemblance that is almost certainly due to genetic factors rather than environmental influences. In contrast, the intelligence scores of the adopted children turn out not to resemble the scores of their adoptive parents. A finding of such a correlation (D) would run counter to the conclusion that the development of intelligence has a hereditary component.
64. Morphemes are to phonemes as meanings are to __________.
a. sounds ##
b. Words
c. structural principles
d. Syntax
53%, .35. Phonemes are the smallest sound units in a language, while morphemes are the smallest units of language that carry bits of meaning.
65. Spoken utterances of garden-path sentences such as "The cabin struck by the tree fell" are less likely to result in confusion than a written statement of the same sentence. Why would this be?
a. Spoken utterances are usually accompanied by extralinguistic factors and conversational inference. ##
b. Spoken utterances are processed more rapidly than written statements.
c. Written statements are accompanied by extralinguistic factors like visual interpretation that require more processing.
d. It is easier to verbally express prototypes than it is to visually express them.
73%, .42. The "garden path" is a reference to the saying "to be led down the garden path", meaning "to be misled". While reading, human beings process language one word at a time, however, listeners are richly guided by factors external to language itself; by their broad knowledge of likelihoods and plausibility in the world, and by the immediate circumstances in which speech occurs.
66. Say a child is shown a new toy, and at the same time his mother exclaims, "That's a blicket! Wow, a blicket!" Under what circumstances will the child now think that the name for the new toy is indeed blicket?
a. He will automatically associate his mother's exclamation and the toy.
b. if the mother looks at the toy while identifying it as a blicket ##
c. if the mother repeats the labeling at least 15 times
d. if the mother repeats the labeling at least once per day over the course of 14 days
70%, .32. A child would not associate the word with the toy by an automatic process. Rather, the child appears to seek evidence that the mother is attending to the toy, too, glancing into her eyes and following their direction to determine whether she was focusing on the toy. If the mother was attending to another object, the child did not assign the new word "blicket" to the toy when it was presented later.
67. Assume that a critical period exists for learning to write and that this critical period is from age two to fifteen. If someone has not learned to write by the time he reaches twenty, what would you predict?
a. He will have great difficulty ever learning to write. ##
b. He will have great difficulty learning to write but will eventually master the task.
c. He may easily learn the related skill of reading but he will never learn to write.
d. His ability to learn to write will be directly affected by the skill level of his teacher.
72, .28. According to the critical period hypothesis, the brain of the young child is particularly well suited to the task of language learning. As the brain matures, this critical period draws to a close, so that later learning becomes more difficult.
68. People are most likely to seek social comparison when
a. decisions are easy and obvious in order to confirm their choices.
b. decisions are difficult and a situation is not fully understood. ##
c. a situation is well-understood and social consensus is needed.
d. they have sufficient time to gather information.
80%, .43. People seek the opinion of others when they encounter a situation that they do not fully understand. To evaluate the situation, they need more information. With more difficult discriminations, more social conformity will occur; conversely, where people have less reason to listen to others (e.g. because they are convinced that they are more competent or knowledgeable), they rely less on others' views, and less conformity is observed.
69. Gustav Le Bon held that the individual in a crowd
a. is still subject to the law of individual functioning.
b. descends to the level of primitive, barbarous instincts. ##
c. acts in accordance with his own best interests.
d. still feels very much alone.
38%, .50. In the first, and still highly influential, theory of crowd behavior, Gustav Le Bon contended that people in crowds become wild, stupid, and irrational, and give vent to primitive impulses. Their emotion spreads by a sort of contagion, rising to an ever-higher pitch as more and more crowd members become affected. Thus, fear becomes terror, hostility turns into murderous rage, and each crowd member becomes a barbarian.
70. Diffusion of responsibility leads to
a. decreased probability of bystander intervention. ##
b. increased probability of bystander intervention.
c. no change in the probability of bystander intervention.
d. It depends on the situation.
85%, .35. The presence of multiple bystanders creates a diffusion of responsibility, with each bystander persuaded that someone else will respond to the emergency situation, someone else will take the responsibility, and are thus less inclined to be directly involved.
71. Proximity
a. enhances liking. ##
b. decreases familiarity.
c. is unrelated to liking.
d. is unrelated to familiarity.
75%, .55. Familiarity breeds liking, and proximity breeds familiarity. Proximity makes it likelier to get to know someone, making him or her more familiar, and familiarity in turn is a source of attraction.
72. It is important to distinguish, in the study of personality, between traits and states. What is one difference?
a. Traits are temporary.
b. States are caused by neurochemistry.
c. Traits are relatively enduring. ##
d. Only traits affect behavior.
70%, .55. Unlike states, which are temporary (e.g., being angry at this moment), traits are relatively enduring (e.g., being generally hot-headed).
73. Critics of trait theory argue that
a. people's personalities seem stable because we repeatedly see them in the same social settings.
b. the belief that there are consistent personality traits is an error of inference.
c. traits are in the eye of the beholder rather than in the personality of the individual beheld.
d. All of the above. ##
70%, .32. Critics of trait theory suggest that people seem to behave much less consistently than a trait conception would predict. While people's personalities may appear stable in a given social setting, there is a limited correlation of those traits across different settings.
74. What is the purpose of a defense mechanism?
a. It keeps the id from dominating people's thoughts.
b. It defends the consciousness against anxiety. ##
c. It keeps the superego happy.
d. It allows for positive coping in society.
63%, .24. A defense mechanism helps quell anxiety, such as by repressing the thoughts that trigger it and pushing them from conscious view.
75. Carl Rogers believed that unconditional positive regard was important for
a. achieving full independence from parents and other adults.
b. developing a strong sense of personal self-worth. ##
c. acquiring a self-concept.
d. All of the above.
23%, .26. A hard item, but the basics of Rogers' humanistic approach are of considerable importance. According to Rogers, unconditional positive regard'the sense of being accepted and loved without condition or reservation'is fundamental for the development of an abiding, positive sense of self-worth.
76. Tucker is defending a client wrongly accused of theft and is deciding whether the jury should see a tape showing the client confessing under extreme duress. Tucker's knowledge of the fundamental attribution error leads him to the conclusion that the jury would probably
a. disregard the client's confession and concentrate on the circumstances under which it was extracted.
b. deplore the police brutality involved, but still tend to believe that the confession was sincere. ##
c. weigh the confession against the circumstances under which it was made and be more convinced of the client's innocence.
d. not be influenced by the client's confession nor the circumstances under which it occurred.
53%, .40.The fundamental attribution error describes the tendency to over-value dispositional or personality-based explanations for the observed behaviors of others while under-valuing situational explanations for those behaviors. Thus, the jury is likely to believe that the client is guilty because of his confession, even though the confession was made under stressful circumstances. the basic idea behind the fundamental attribution error is that people discount the role of the situation in causing behavior, and attribute behavior to the actor's internal traits and states instead. If people didn't make the FAE, they might attribute the confession to police coercion. But because they do commit the FAE, they'll discount the police coercion and conclude that he confessed because he really was guilty.
77. The out-group homogeneity effect refers to the observation that we tend to
a. see all out-groups as having the same set of (generally negative) characteristics.
b. see out-group members as being more similar to each other than in-group members. ##
c. perceive most other people as members of an out-group.
d. see out-group members as having the same characteristics and beliefs as members of our smallest in-group.
45%, .40. Since observers generally tend to have much less exposure to groups other than their own, they have little opportunity for learning in detail about such other groups and as a consequence they are likely to perceive the out-group as merely a mass of more or less similar people.
78. One reason that attitudes do not always predict behavior is that
a. situational pressures may cause people to behave in ways that are inconsistent with their attitudes.
b. general attitudes may not predict specific behaviors.
c. people often lie about attitudes.
d. Both a and b. ##
88%, .33. Attitudes sometimes do not predict behavior because, in some cases, situational pressures impact attitudes'such as the need to stop at a red light irrespective of one's attitude toward law enforcement. An attitude will be more predictive of behavior the more specific it is, as a general attitude may not predict a more specific behavior. If people are lying about their attitudes, then their expressed attitudes are not their true attitudes. A and B represent reasons why even true attitudes don't predict specific behaviors very well.
79. Schachter and Singer investigated physiological concomitants of emotion. In general, their results suggest that
a. different amounts of epinephrine produce different emotions.
b. the same state of arousal is interpreted as the same emotional experience across different situations.
c. different attributions yield different emotional experiences from the same state of arousal. ##
d. different arousal patterns underlie different emotional experiences.
57%, .36. Schachter and Singer's work suggests that there are two elements to emotion: the bodily arousal itself and the cognitive appraisal of where that arousal comes from. For example, when participants in an experiment had been injected with a stimulant, their explanation as to why they felt aroused depended on whether they were told about the stimulant effects of the drug.
80. The long period of dependency in human development
a. is about as long as periods of dependency in most other mammals.
b. seems well-suited to learning and cultural transmission of knowledge. ##
c. seems primarily to serve the purpose of allowing sensory abilities to develop fully.
d. means that the child's behavior is either random or reflexive for the first several years.
80%, .38. A long period of dependency is ideal for a creature whose major specialization is its capacity for learning and whose basic invention is culture'the ways of coping with the world that each generation hands to the next. Human infants have a great deal to learn and a huge capacity for learning'under these circumstances, there is much to be gained by a long period of dependency.
81. According to Piaget, eight-month-olds typically
a. demonstrate a fully developed sense of object permanence.
b. show little concern when they lose sight of an object they have been looking at.
c. look for an object where it was originally hidden rather than where it was hidden most recently. ##
d. cry and fuss when they lose sight of an object they've been enjoying looking at, but make no effort to find the object.
27%, .06. A bad item. Eight months is well within Piaget's sensory-motor period, which is defined by the lack of object permanence. But by this age infants do start to search for toys that have been hidden. However, their searching for the toy shows a peculiar limitation, searching for the toy in the place where it had been originally hidden. So their sense of object permanence is not completely developed yet.
82. Studies of infants' reactions to physically possible and physically impossible events indicated that infants
a. were equally surprised by both sorts of events, indicating that they had no idea that two objects cannot occupy the same space at the same time.
b. were more surprised by impossible events, indicating that they understood that two objects cannot occupy the same space at the same time. ##
c. were equally uninterested in both possible and impossible events, indicating that they saw the world as a place in which the basic relationships between objects could change from moment to moment.
d. showed more of an interest in the possible event, presumably because it was familiar.
63%, .44. Even four-month olds spent more time looking at an object that was arranged in an impossible situation, showing that infants have some notion of the principles that govern objects in space and the impossibility for two objects to occupy the same space at the same time.
83. Which of the following statements concerning Piaget's stages of intellectual development is true?
a. Piaget probably overstated the extent of qualitative differences between younger and older children.
b. Although young children may understand the basics of concrete operations, older children can apply these insights to a wider range of problems.
c. Although three-year-olds can tell the difference between two and three objects regardless of how they are spaced, they do not understand the general principle that number is always independent of arrangement.
d. All of the above answers are true. ##
73%, .30. Piaget's views involve sharp discontinuities that are not borne out by the evidence, even though there are indeed considerable difference between a pre-school child, for example, and a 7-year-old. An older child will display a higher degree of confidence and awareness I a response, as compared to a younger child, which allows for more complex reasoning and can use this understanding in a broad range of circumstances. While preschoolers can tell the difference between two and three buttons regardless of arrangement, their comprehension is quite fragile and will flounder, unlike older children, if the task is made slightly harder.
84. What is the relationship between separation anxiety and attachment?
a. The more attached the child is, the less he feels separation anxiety.
b. If the child is securely attached, then he never feels separation anxiety because he trusts the caregiver to return.
c. The presence of separation anxiety indicates that the child has formed an attachment to the caregiver. ##
d. If the child is insecurely attached, then he never feels separation anxiety, since he does not care whether the mother (or father) returns at all.
68%, .14. Separation anxiety is an indication that an infant has formed an attachment to a caregiver.
85. According to Ainsworth, the reaction of insecurely attached (anxious/avoidant) infants in the Strange Situation is to show
a. some distress when their mother leaves and mild pleasure or relief when she returns.
b. considerable distress and panic when their mother leaves and great enthusiasm when she returns.
c. considerable distress and panic when their mother leaves but emotional ambivalence when she returns. ##
d. little concern when their mother leaves and aloofness toward her when she returns.
53%, .54. Anxious/avoidant children are distant and aloof while the mother is present, and, although they sometimes search for her in her absence, they typically snub her when she returns.
86. In Kohlberg's stage of preconventional morality, our moral behavior is governed by
a. avoiding punishment and gaining rewards. ##
b. codes of law and order.
c. ethical principles.
d. All of the above.
65%, .53. Kohlberg held that moral reasoning is divided into an early stage and a late stage, with six distinct stages overall. The first pair of stages relies on what Kohlberg calls preconventional reasoning. In these stages, moral judgments are focused on getting rewards and avoiding punishment.
87. The age at which adolescence ends and adulthood begins
a. varies widely across cultures and time periods. ##
b. is generally three years after the onset of puberty.
c. is determined by the completion of physical growth.
d. is determined purely by legal standards.
88%, .23. While the start of adolescence is typically defined by the onset of puberty, the end of adolescence is not well marked, as demonstrated by the variety of ages that different countries use for deciding when someone is eligible for "adult privileges".
88. The most common mode of hallucination in mental illness is
a. auditory. ##
b. visual.
c. tactile.
d. kinesthetic.
65%, .45. Hallucinations are sensory experiences in the absence of any actual input. In patients with schizophrenia, these are usually auditory hallucinations, and, in particular, voices.
89. What effect do antipsychotic drugs have on the brain?
a. They disable the frontal lobes.
b. They block dopamine receptors. ##
c. They enhance serotonin.
d. They disable the amygdala, a brain structure sometimes referred to as the "fear center."
75%, .46. Neurons communicate with one another mainly via neurotransmitters, and different circuits in the brain are responsive to different neurotransmitters. According to the dopamine hypothesis, the main cause of schizophrenia is an abnormally high level of activity in the brain circuits sensitive to dopamine. Classical antipsychotics block receptors for dopamine and produce relief from many of the symptoms associated with schizophrenia.
90. Which of the following may be a symptom of depression in an adolescent?
a. a preoccupation with nihilistic books and music
b. missed classes
c. belligerent and defiant behavior
d. all of the above ##
63%, .05. Depressed adolescents show most of the symptoms of depression in general, but in addition some of their symptoms come in distinctly teenage form: substance abuse, apathy about life reflected in the number of classes they miss, and irritability that emerges as belligerence and defiance. While these traits can occur without depression, the full set of traits, together with other symptoms of depression, can be an indication of profound emotional problems.
91. According to a conditioning account of phobias, the feared object acts as a(n)
a. conditioned stimulus. ##
b. unconditioned stimulus.
c. conditioned response.
d. unconditioned response.
58%, .42. In the modern view, phobias result from classical conditioning: the person who suffers from the phobia has experienced some painful, frightening, or embarrassing event, and this is the unconditioned stimulus. The conditioned stimulus, in turn, was linked to the event, and so has become the feared object, fear-inducing in itself.
92. Atypical antipsychotics like Clozaril are different from classical antipsychotics like Thorazine in which way?
a. Only atypical antipsychotics treat positive symptoms.
b. Only classical antipsychotics treat negative symptoms.
c. Only atypical antipsychotics treat both positive and negative symptoms. ##
d. Only classical antipsychotics treat both positive and negative symptoms.
67%, .42. Atypical antipsychotics not only reduce the major positive symptoms (such as delusions and hallucinations) but also reduce the major negative symptoms. Like the classical antipsychotics, the atypical antipsychotics block the neurotransmission of dopamine, but their enhanced benefits, especially with negative symptoms, are probably due to other mechanisms, including alterations in serotonin neurotransmission or a more selective effect on particular subsets of dopamine neurons.
93. One crucial feature of Freud's psychoanalysis is transference, defined as
a. uncovering repressed memories.
b. using energy in more socially acceptable ways.
c. the tendency to respond to therapists as if they were one's parents. ##
d. the need to switch from one therapist to another, every year or so, to avoid boredom.
48%, .51. Transference for Freud indicates the patient's tendency to respond to the analyst in ways that re-create her responses to the major figures in her own early life, such as parents.
94. Aversion therapy attempts to eliminate problematic behavior by
a. substituting intensely pleasurable behavior, oftentimes sexual in nature.
b. attaching negative feelings to it. ##
c. the use of a token-economy system.
d. making the behavior physically impossible to perform anymore.
80%, .41. Aversion therapy is a behavior-therapy technique that attempts to eliminate problematic behavior by attaching negative feelings to it.
95. The goals of many modern therapies (e.g., humanistic and existential) are broader than those of traditional psychoanalysis. As a result,
a. therapists are no longer concerned about alleviating symptoms.
b. therapy seems appropriate for a larger proportion of the population. ##
c. clients remain in therapy for longer periods of time.
d. therapeutic success is more easily demonstrated.
60%, .31. Since Freud's time, psychotherapy has been extended to cover increasingly wider terrain. The individuals now receiving therapy are no longer just a select group of well-educated adult patients but include children, the developmentally disabled, sociopaths, and substance abusers.
96. To describe bell-shaped curves, it is usually sufficient to specify just two things. What are they?
a. sample size and mode
b. mean and median
c. the curve's "center" and its variability ##
d. the lowest score and the highest score
78%, .45. To describe a bell-shaped curve it is usually sufficient to specify just two attributes. First, we must locate the curve's center. This gives us a measure of the "average case." The second attribute is variability, or the degree to which individual cases differ from one to the next. This second attribute will determine whether the departures from the curve's center form a wide and relatively flat frequency distribution, as is seen in a highly variable group, or a narrow and steep frequency distribution for a group with little variability.
97. A negative correlation indicates that as the value of one variable increases,
a. so does that of the other variable.
b. the value of the other remains constant.
c. the value of the other variable decreases. ##
d. the value of the other moves randomly.
93%, .15. Correlation is the degree to which two measures vary together or, conversely, are independent of each other. When the correlation coefficient r is negative, higher scores on one measure are associated with lower scores on the other.
98. Dr. Ellanger is studying the effects of various interventions on the well-being of nursing home clients. Clients in Group A, who were asked to take care of a potted plant, lived an average of 5.6 months longer than did Clients in Group B, who received a potholder as a gift. The standard error of this mean was 3.2. From this information, we can conclude:
a. nothing, because we do not know the standard deviations of the means for the two groups.
b. that people who are given a potted plant to care for will live longer than those who are not.
c. there was actually no significant difference between the two groups. ##
d. the two groups differed significantly in terms of longevity, but additional controls are needed to determine whether the potted plant was the critical variable.
8%, .15. A bad item. A very, very bad item, probably because it required too much calculation. But remember The Rule of Two. To decide between a null hypothesis, which asserts that the difference between the means was obtained by chance, and the alternative hypothesis, which asserts that the difference is genuine and exists in the population, we need to divide the obtained mean difference (5.6) by the standard error (3.2), a measure of the variability of that mean difference. If the resulting ratio is large enough (greater than 2 the null hypothesis can be rejected. Since 5.6/3.2< 2 ( or 1.75) we cannot reject the null hypothesis and must conclude that there is no significant difference between the two groups.
99. Because it implies the use of a _____ scale, it is probably best to avoid such statements as "George is twice as extraverted as Martha".
a. nominal
b. ordinal
c. interval
d. ratio ##
60%, .24. To make a statement that is based on a ratio scale needs a true zero point. Many psychological variables cannot be described in ratio terms, such as extraversion, because we do not know the zero point for this scale.
100. Mental retardation is often classified as mild, moderate, and severe based on the individual's IQ score. What would we expect, given the normal distribution of IQ?
a. There are more people with severe than mild mental retardation .
b. There are more people with mild than severe mental retardation. ##
c. There are more people with moderate than mild mental retardation.
d. None of the above.
70%, .38. Mild mental retardation falls in the IQ range of 50-69, moderate in the 35-49 and severe in the 20-34 range. The standard deviation for IQ is 15, so mild retardation falls around 2 SDs away from the mean and severe mental retardation falls around 4.5 SD away from the mean. Since all normal curves have the same shape, the percentage of scores that fall between the mean and 1SD is always the same: 34%. Likewise, the percentage of the scores that fall between 1 and 2 SD is always the same: 14 percent, and so on. The greater the number of SDs away from the mean, the fewer the percentage of scores fall in that range.
A provisional answer key will be posted to the course website.
The exam will be provisionally scored to identify and eliminate bad items.
The exam will then be rescored with bad items keyed correct for all responses.
Grades will be posted to the course website.
A final, revised, answer key, and analyses of the exam items,
will be posted on the course website after grades are posted.
Requests for rescoring must be received within
two (2) days of the posting of grades.
Each request should be accompanied by a paragraph
indicating why the answer given in the key is incorrect.