Sensation and Perception
People who are color blind most likely have deficiencies in their
A. rods
B. cones
C. lens
D. optic nerve
cones
(perceive color opposed to rods perceiving black and white)
A patient reports constant sleepiness. A series of tests reveal that the patient’s sleep is frequently disrupted by periods of interrupted breathing and brief awakenings. Which of the following diagnoses would account for such symptoms?
A. Sleep terrors
B. Narcolepsy
C. REM behavior disorder
D. Sleep apnea
Sleep Apnea
(disorder characterized by cessation or interruption of breathing during sleep)
Which of the following is the most accurate statement regarding the difference between classical and operant conditioning?
A. Classical conditioning involves the acquisition of voluntary responses, whereas operant conditioning involves reflexes.
B. Classical conditioning involves the formation of associations between two stimuli, whereas operant conditioning involves the formation of associations between responses and their consequences.
C. Classical conditioning was first demonstrated by Edward Thorndike’s studies with cats, whereas operant conditioning was first demonstrated by Ivan Pavlov’s studies with dogs.
D. Classical conditioning involves a learner’s active response in order to obtain reinforcement, whereas in operant conditioning the learner is passive.
Classical conditioning involves the formation of associations between two stimuli, whereas operant conditioning involves the formation of associations between responses and their consequences.
A baby looks under the sofa for a ball that has just rolled underneath it. According to Jean Piaget, the baby’s action shows development of
A. conservation of mass
B. object permanence
C. logical thinking
D. metacognition
object permanence
(idea that objects still exist even if you can't currently see them)
Which of the following types of test is designed to measure an individual's knowledge of a subject?
A. Achievement
B. Aptitude
C. Projective
D. Interest inventory
Achievement
Damage to the occipital lobe would most likely affect a person’s
A. balance
B. vision
C. fine motor movements
D. language processing
vision
(occipital lobe responsible for all aspects of vision)
The biological clock that operates in human beings to adjust their functioning to night-and-day periodicity is referred to as
A. spontaneous neural activity
B. a fixed-interval schedule
C. a circadian rhythm
D. active consciousness
circadian rhythm
(a natural, internal 24-hour cycle that governs various physiological processes, including sleep-wake patterns, hormone release, and body temperature)
A cancer patient becomes nauseated following chemotherapy treatments. After a few treatments, the patient begins having a sick feeling whenever entering the treatment room. The treatment room has become
A. a conditioned reinforcer
B. a neutral stimulus
C. a conditioned stimulus
D. an unconditioned stimulus
a conditioned stimulus
(classical conditioning)
According to the psychosocial theory of development, individuals in early adulthood often seek a life partner with whom they will share their most closely held secrets and hopes. This psychosocial stage of development is called
A. generativity versus stagnation
B. intimacy versus isolation
C. industry versus inferiority
D. identity versus role confusion
intimacy vs isolation
A test that measures a student’s potential ability is
A. an achievement test
B. an aptitude test
C. an intelligence test
D. a personality inventory
an aptitude test
Bob is concerned because his children have been eating too much of an expensive breakfast cereal, so he brings home a less expensive version that looks and tastes exactly the same to him. His children immediately notice that the new cereal is less sweet. Which of the following concepts best explains the conflicting perceptions of Bob and his children?
A. Perceptual adaptation
B. Sensory adaptation
C. Difference threshold
D. Signal-detection theory
difference threshold
(the smallest amount by which two sensory stimuli can differ in order for an individual to perceive them as different.)
In adult humans, which of the following is typically true of REM sleep?
A. It is correlated with dreaming.
B. It alternates with NREM sleep in 30-minute cycles.
C. It occurs during the first half of an individual’s sleep cycle.
D. It involves decreased blood pressure and heart rate.
It is correlated with dreaming.
(it's a phase of sleep characterized by high brain activity and rapid eye movements, which are associated with vivid, often bizarre, dreams)
(correlation because we dream outside of REM sleep, but they most often occur during this time and we often remember dreams that occur during REM)
Of the following, a behavioral psychologist is most likely to study the
A. perceived locus of control of adults who experience panic attacks
B. formation of emotional attachments to significant others
C. defense mechanisms used by depressed adults and children in stressful situations
D. effects of token economies on establishing social skills among children with emotional disturbances
effects of token economies on establishing social skills among children with emotional disturbances
(Applied behavior analysis involves applying principles of conditioning to address mental disorders and developmental disabilities. Exposure therapies (such as systematic desensitization), aversion therapies, and token economies all employ principles of applied behavior analysis.)
Five-year-old Mary watches while her teacher pours equal amounts of water into two similar glasses. The liquid from one of the glasses is then poured into a tall, thin container, and Mary is asked which contains more—the original glass or the tall, thin container. She says the tall, thin container contains more liquid. According to Jean Piaget, this example illustrates a lack of
A. egocentrism
B. conservation
C. object permanence
D. preconventional thought
conservation
(the ability to understand that the quantity or amount of something remains the same even when its appearance is changed)
Research finds that, in general, the higher an incoming college student scores on an aptitude test, the higher the student’s college grade point average (GPA). Which of the following best describes this relationship?
A. A bimodal distribution
B. A normal distribution
C. A skewed distribution
D. A positive correlation
a positive correlation
(not causation, but both increase together)
The intensity at which a sound becomes audible for a given individual is known as the individual's
A. absolute threshold
B. response threshold
C. critical frequency
D. just noticeable difference
absolute threshold
(the minimum intensity of a stimulus that a person can detect 50% of the time)
A researcher wants to examine how much information from waking life ends up in dreams. The researcher recruits 40 volunteers from a local community college to record the details of their daily activities. The participants will be given a sleep monitor that gently wakes them each time they end an REM cycle, after which they will complete a detailed dream diary. The study is planned to last for two weeks. Why would an institutional review board be hesitant to approve this study?
A. This type of research should be done with animal subjects.
B. The researchers are disrupting sleep for an extended period, which may cause harm.
C. The researchers would not be able to hide the identities of the participants.
D. The researchers would be using deception without debriefing.
The researchers are disrupting sleep for an extended period, which may cause harm.
(harming subjects goes against typical ethical guidelines)
Barney is a somewhat distractible second-grade student who finds schoolwork a bit boring. After a couple of minutes of working silently, Barney often starts to misbehave until his teacher, Ms. Skinner, calls his name and scolds him. However, he enjoys this attention from her and continues to misbehave. With respect to Barney’s misbehavior, Ms. Skinner’s attention serves as
A. positive reinforcement
B. negative reinforcement
C. differential reinforcement
D. primary reinforcement
positive reinforcement
(applying a stimulus making it positive, and making the behavior more likely, making it reinforcement)
In the Strange Situation setting, a toddler named George engages in very little exploration and spends almost all of his time with his caregiver when the caregiver is present. George’s attachment style is best described as which of the following?
A. secure
B. insecure
C. preoperational
D. concrete operational
insecure
(avoidant, anxious, and disorganized behavior)
The concept of g is most accurately defined as which of the following?
A. a specific type of performance that is affected by intelligence
B. one of seven fundamental abilities that determine behavior
C. a single, underlying intellectual capacity measured by intelligence tests
D. the storehouse of knowledge and facts that we accumulate during our adult years
a single, underlying intellectual capacity measured by intelligence tests
A doctor is assessing a patient with a sensory disorder. In the first assessment, she asks the patient to touch his nose with his eyes closed. In the next assessment, she asks the patient to walk a short distance with his eyes closed. Which of the following senses is the doctor most likely evaluating?
A. Gustation
B. Vision
C. Kinesthesis
D. Touch
kinesthesis
(Kinesthesis the sense of one's body movement. Kinesthesis allows the body to move in coordinated ways without having to look at the various parts of the body as it moves.)
Rafael has a sleep disorder for which he takes medically prescribed amphetamines. For which of the following sleep disorders is Rafael most likely being treated?
A. Sleep apnea
B. Narcolepsy
C. Insomnia
D. Circadian rhythm sleep disorder
narcolepsy
(a chronic neurological disorder that affects the body's ability to regulate sleep-wake cycles. It is characterized by excessive daytime sleepiness and sudden episodes of sleep (called "sleep attacks"))
(amphetamines are a common stimulant drug)
A dog retrieves the newspaper every day because in the past it received a food reward for this behavior. The dog’s behavior is an example of which of the following?
A. An operant response
B. An unconditioned response
C. An unconditioned stimulus
D. A classically conditioned response
An operant response
(food was used as positive reinforcement)
Samantha thinks her teddy bear cries when it is left alone. According to Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development, Samantha is most likely in which of the following stages?
A. Sensorimotor
B. Preoperational
C. Concrete operational
D. Formal operational
preoperational
(Ages 18 months to 7 years; Can imagine the future & reflect on the past; Develop basic numerical abilities and better communication skills; Egocentric (can’t understand another’s perspective), has trouble delaying gratification; Can’t understand conservation of matter; Has difficulty distinguishing fantasy from reality (ex: cartoon characters are real people))
The earliest efforts to measure intelligence were directed at which of the following?
A. testing the worth of various theoretical definitions
B. operationally defining one theory of intelligence
C. predicting children’s success in school
D. establishing the learning potential of French military
predicting children’s success in school
(Binet Intelligence Test)