Perception & Attention
In classical conditioning, what is the conditioned stimulus (CS)?
A) A response triggered by a stimulus
B) A stimulus that naturally triggers a response
C) A previously neutral stimulus that now triggers a response
D) A learned behavior that happens automatically
Correct Answer: C) A previously neutral stimulus that now triggers a response
Explanation: The conditioned stimulus (CS) starts as neutral but after being paired with an unconditioned stimulus (US), triggers a learned response. In Pavlov’s experiment, the bell (CS) initially had no effect but, after pairing with food (US), made the dog salivate.
How do schemas influence memory?
A) They help organize information but can cause false memories
B) They only improve recall and never distort memory
C) They prevent us from recalling unrelated details
D) They store all past experiences exactly as they happened
Correct Answer: A) They help organize information but can cause false memories
Explanation: Schemas are mental frameworks that help us organize and interpret new information based on past experiences. While they make processing more efficient, they can also create false memories by filling in missing details with what we expect to be there.
Jake is buying a car. The first dealership he visits offers a price of $25,000. Later, he goes to another dealer, where the same car is listed for $22,000, but he still feels like it's expensive compared to the first price. This is an example of:
A) The availability heuristic
B) The anchoring effect
C) Confirmation bias
D) The representativeness heuristic
Correct Answer: B) The anchoring effect
Explanation: The anchoring effect happens when the first piece of information we see influences our later judgments. Jake first sees the car priced at $25,000, which sets his expectation for what the car "should" cost. When he later sees the $22,000 price, he still perceives it as expensive because he's comparing it to the original anchor ($25,000) instead of evaluating it objectively.
A teacher notices that some students give up easily when struggling with math, saying they’re “just not good at it,” while others persist and see mistakes as learning opportunities. Based on Carol Dweck’s research, what is the key difference between these students?
A) Those who give up have lower crystallized intelligence, while those who persist have higher fluid intelligence
B) The first group has a fixed mindset, while the second group has a growth mindset
C) The students who give up rely on Gardner’s multiple intelligences theory, while the others rely on Sternberg’s triarchic theory
D) The students who persist are higher in emotional intelligence, while the others are lower in it
Correct Response: B) The first group has a fixed mindset, while the second group has a growth mindset
Explanation: Students with a fixed mindset believe intelligence is unchangeable, so they give up when faced with difficulty. Those with a growth mindset see challenges as opportunities to improve, leading to persistence and resilience in learning.
During a visual attention experiment, participants are asked to focus on counting basketball passes in a video. In the middle of the video, a person in a gorilla suit walks through the scene, but many participants fail to notice it. This failure to detect the gorilla provides evidence for which of the following?
A) The early selection model of attention, because irrelevant stimuli are filtered out before processing meaning
B) The late selection model of attention, because all stimuli are processed for meaning before attention filters them
C) Inattentional blindness, because focused attention on one task prevents awareness of unexpected stimuli
D) Change blindness, because participants fail to notice a gradual change in the scene
Correct Answer: Inattentional blindness, because focused attention on one task prevents awareness of unexpected stimuli
Explanation: Inattentional blindness occurs when we fail to notice an unexpected stimulus because our attention is focused elsewhere. In the basketball video experiment, participants were so focused on counting passes that they didn’t see the gorilla, showing how attention filters out information we aren’t actively looking for.