famous studies
a researcher tells participants they are testing memory. Participants are instructed to deliver increasingly pain shock to another person whenever they answer incorrectly. Many continue despite hearing screams. What psychological concept is being demonstrated
obedience to authority
The scenario mirrors Milgrams experiment. Participants obeyed an authority figure even when their actions conflicted with personal morals.
A person touches a hot stove and immediately pulls away before consciously feeling pain. Why does this happen?
reflex controlled by the spinal cord
Reflexes are automatic responses processed by the spinal cord before information reaches the brain
The motor cortex controls voluntary movement and different regions correspond to different body areas?
classical conditioning
The bell became a conditioned stimulus through repeated association with food
A student remembers the first and last terms on a vocabulary list better than the middle terms. Why?
The serial position effect
People tend to recall items at the beginning and end of a list more easily.
A person repeatedly checks whether doors are locked despite knowing they are secure. Which disorder is most associated with this behavior?
OCD
Obsessions create anxiety, while compulsions temporarily reduce it.
After seeing several confederates give an obviously incorrect answer about the length of a line, a participant gives the same incorrect answer, why?
conformity due to normative social influence
The participant likely wanted acceptance from the group and avoided standing out, even though they knew the answer was wrong
After a head injury, a person struggles to form new long-term memories but remembers events from childhood. Which brain structure was likely damaged?
hippocampus
hippocampus is critical for creating new explicit memories
A teacher gives extra credit to students who complete optional assignments, increasing participation. Why did participation increase?
positive reinforcement
A desirable consequence was added, making the behavior more likely
After learning Spanish vocabulary, a student struggles to remember newly learned French vocabulary. What is occurring?
Proactive interference
Old information interferes with learning new information.
A person experiences sudden episodes of intense fear, racing heart, and shortness of breath without clear danger. What disorder is likely present?
Panic disorder
Panic attacks occur unexpectedly and involve intense physiological arousal.
A college student is randomly assigned to act as a prison guard and begins displaying increasingly aggressive behavior toward “prisoners.” Which study does this resemble and what does it suggest?
Stanford Prison Experiment, showing how social roles can influence behavior
Zimbardo’s study demonstrated that situational factors and assigned roles can strongly affect behavior.
A student feels terrified when hearing a loud noise during a storm. Which brain structure is most involved in this emotional reaction?
amygdala
The amygdala plays a major role in fear processing and emotional responses
A child avoids touching a hot stove after being burned once. Which learning principle explains this?
punishment reducing behavior
The unpleasant consequence decreased the likelihood of repeating the behavior.
Witnesses to a robbery remember details differently after discussing the event with one another. Why?
Misinformation effect
Post-event information can alter memory.
Someone loses interest in hobbies, struggles to sleep, and feels hopeless for months. What diagnosis best fits?
Major depressive disorder
Persistent low mood and loss of interest are key symptoms.
Researchers discover participants act differently when they know they are being observed. What problem might this create?
participant reactivity (Hawthorne effect)
Awareness of observation can alter behavior and reduce the validity of findings.
Someone suffers damage to the frontal lobe and begins making poor decisions and acting impulsively. Why?
impairment of executive functioning
The frontal lobe helps regulate judgment, planning, and self-control.
A student learns how to solve a difficult math problem by watching a classmate. Which psychologist would best explain this?
Albert Bandura
Bandura’s social learning theory emphasizes learning through observation and modeling
A student suddenly remembers the answer during an exam after mentally returning to the classroom where the material was learned. Why?
Context-dependent memory
Recall improves when retrieval conditions resemble learning conditions.
A person alternates between episodes of depression and periods of unusually high energy and impulsive behavior. Which disorder is suggested?
Bipolar disorder
Bipolar disorder includes depressive and manic episodes.
A psychologist wants to determine whether violent video games cause aggression. Why would a correlational study be insufficient?
correlation does not establish causation
Other variables may influence aggression, so an experiment would be needed to establish a causal relationship.
Researchers electrically stimulate a patient’s motor cortex. What would most likely happen?
movement in a specific body part
The motor cortex controls voluntary movement and different regions correspond to different body areas.
A gambler continues playing because wins occur unpredictably. Why is this schedule so powerful?
variable-ratio schedule
Unpredictable rewards create high rates of responding and resistance to extinction.
A person is certain a childhood memory is accurate, but evidence later proves it never happened. What does this demonstrate?
False memories
Memory is reconstructive and can be altered over time.
A veteran experiences flashbacks and intense distress when hearing sounds similar to combat. Which disorder best explains this?
PTSD
Traumatic memories can be triggered by stimuli associated with the original event.