Psychology 101 ¨C McNamara Fall ¡¯00 Exam 1 Name (print) __________________

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Multiple Choice (1 point each) Choose the best answer for each of the following. Mark your answers on the scantron sheet provided. Use a #2 pencil only.

 

1. Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and mental processes. The mental processes here refer to:
  1. the contents and processes of subjective experience
  2. unconscious thought processes that underlie behavior
  3. activity within the cells of the brain
  4. intellectual function and intelligence

2. Watson¡¯s behaviorism and Freud¡¯s psychoanalysis differ because:
  1. behaviorism stresses the function of the mind while psychoanalysis stresses potential for growth
  2. behaviorism stresses observable behavior while psychoanalysis stresses unconscious conflicts or urges
  3. behaviorism stresses the potential for human growth while psychoanalysis stresses unconscious urges
  4. Behaviorism stresses biological activity while psychoanalysis stresses observable behavior.

3. Wilma can normally type very quickly, but she finds that when her boss watches her type she types much more slowly. Wilma¡¯s change in typing speed illustrates the concept of:
  1. experimental control
  2. negative correlation
  3. reactivity
  4. systematic observation

4. Which measure of central tendency is most affected by extreme scores:
  1. the mean
  2. the mode
  3. the median
  4. the standard deviation

5. Dr. I. Forgot was running an experiment on visual memory. First he had participants look at a photo of a room with several items in it. Next he showed a photo of the room with a missing vase that was present in the previous photo. It turned out that only 5% of his sample could identify the missing vase! This experiment demonstrates that:
  1. people have very poor memory for visual stimuli
  2. attention relies on long-term memory
  3. our mental representation of individual objects relies on attention
  4. our subconscious plays a large role in the memory of items that we do not attend to

6. In the human eye, the majority of the focusing is accomplished by the:
  1. Retina
  2. Pupil
  3. Cornea
  4. Vitreous humor

7. To determine whether a person's apparent detection ability is due to true sensory sensitivity or due to response bias, researchers are most likely to use:
  1. signal detection analysis
  2. Weber's law
  3. sensory adaptation
  4. the stimulus invariant approach

8. In order to learn whether the people in Hyatt opposed or supported the expansion of the town¡¯s elementary school, Mayor Black randomly selected and interviewed 100 of the town¡¯s 10,000 residents. In this instance, the 10,000 people who live in Hyatt would be considered to be:
  1. a representative sample
  2. the dependent variable
  3. a population
  4. the independent variable

9. Olfaction refers to our sense of:
  1. taste
  2. smell
  3. balance
  4. pain

10. Anastasia replaced all the 60-watt light bulbs in her house with 40-watt light bulbs. She claimed that the 40-watt bulbs gave off the same amount of light. Then she came up with a better idea that since she couldn¡¯t notice the 20-watt¡¯s difference at all, why not replace the 40-watt bulbs with 20-watt ones. As soon as she replaced all the light bulbs to 20-watt ones she found that her house was much darker than with the 40-watt bulbs. How will you explain this to Anastasia?
  1. the ability to detect a stimulus depends on people¡¯s absolute threshold for the stimulus
  2. 20-watt¡¯s difference is the just noticeable difference for Anastasia, which means that she can detect it 50% of the time
  3. sensory adaptation made Anastasia less sensitive to the light
  4. the more intense the stimulus, the larger the difference it takes for people to notice the change in the stimulus

11. The human body would not be able to perform basic internal housekeeping functions necessary for survival if it didn't have:
  1. an autonomic nervous system
  2. a somatic nervous system
  3. a corpus callosum
  4. a hippocampus

12. The standard deviation for a data set:
  1. is the arithmetic average of the set of scores
  2. is the middle point in the set of scores
  3. is the difference between the largest and smallest scores
  4. indicates how much the individual scores vary from the mean

13. For humans, a full sleep cycle typically lasts about:

  1. 5-10 minutes
  2. 20-40 minutes
  3. 50-70 minutes
  4. 70-90 minutes

14. The primary advantage of experimental research over correlational research is that experiments:
  1. are easier to conduct than correlational studies
  2. use descriptive statistics rather than inferential statistics
  3. can determine cause-effect relationships
  4. involve more natural behavior than correlational studies

15. Humans, but not other animals, teach one another new skills. This occurs because only humans have
  1. a cerebral cortex.
  2. a theory of mind.
  3. written language.
  4. right-hand dominance.

16. The following graph of Stevens's power law ____________Weber¡¯s law.

  1. implies
  2. is inconsistent with
  3. is equivalent to
  4. none of the above; not enough information to decide.

17. Harrison conducts a decision-making experiment to determine if people reason more logically when they have more time to think about the problem. One group is given 15 minutes to work on the problems and the other group is given 20 minutes. After running the experiment, Harrison discovers that the average age of people in the 15-minute group is 19.6 years, and the average age of people in the 20-minute group is 24.5 years. In this study Harrison needs to be concerned about internal validity because:
  1. there are two experimental groups and no control group
  2. the length of time allowed for the decision is a confounding variable
  3. there is no dependent variable in the experiment
  4. the age of the participants is a confounding variable

18. Random assignment to either the control or experimental group is an important aspect of experimental procedures. Random assignment is used to ensure that:
  1. a representative sample of participants is initially selected
  2. expectancy effects are minimized within the experiment
  3. the independent variable will be reliable and valid
  4. the experimental group and the control group are as similar as possible

19. According to the guidelines established by the American Psychological Association (APA) researchers can:
  1. never use deception in a research study
  2. only use deception if the deception is fully disclosed during the debriefing
  3. only use deception if the participants are paid for taking part in the study
  4. only use deception in descriptive research

20. The electrical signal that travels along the axon of a neuron is called:
  1. a resting potential
  2. a synaptic gap
  3. an action potential
  4. a neurotransmitter

21. Which gestalt grouping principle explains why we see these squares as 3 columns instead of as 3 rows:
  1. similarity
  2. common fate
  3. closure
  4. proximity

22. The part of the neuron that receives information and carries information into the cell body is the:
  1. soma
  2. dendrites
  3. axon
  4. terminal buttons

23. Researchers measured the amount of time that it took children to turn their eyes to see an unexpected stimulus. In children with attention deficit disorder, there were significant differences in the pattern of eye movements:
  1. to the left, indicating some deficit in left hemisphere brain function
  2. to the left, indicating some deficit in right hemisphere brain function
  3. to the right, indicating some deficit in the right hemisphere brain function
  4. to the right, indicating some deficit in left hemisphere brain function

24. If you became blind in one eye, you would no longer be able to use __________ to perceive depth.
  1. binocular disparity
  2. shading
  3. texture gradients
  4. linear perspective

25. If the P-Channel within the thalamus was not functioning correctly, you might expect that a person would have trouble:
  1. distinguishing colors
  2. detecting movement
  3. localizing objects
  4. perceiving geons

26. Psychologists who pretended to be mentally ill in order to be admitted to various mental health facilities, and then investigated conditions within those facilities, were using:
  1. participant observation as a method of research
  2. the case study method of research
  3. survey research
  4. correlational research

27. The adaptive value of the plasticity of the brain is :
  1. the capability of adjusting to a particular environment and compensating for cell loss
  2. the stability provided by having neural circuits firmly established and operating in a set way
  3. the ability to transfer information for processing by a different hemisphere, to avoid overload
  4. the advantage of being able to grow new neurons to replace neurons lost through damage or aging

28. If light were to hit both the center and surround portions of a cells receptive field in the retina, the result would be:
  1. faster neural firing of that cell
  2. slower neural firing
  3. no net increase in firing
  4. a characteristic "U" shaped increase in response

29. If researchers discover a strong negative correlation between activity level and cholesterol level, it would indicate that:
  1. people with low cholesterol levels tend to be less active than people with high cholesterol levels
  2. there is no relationship between cholesterol level and activity level
  3. individuals who lower their cholesterol level will become more sluggish
  4. people with low cholesterol levels tend to be more active than people with high cholesterol levels

30. When riding in a car you notice that objects closer to you move at much greater speeds than objects farther away. This experience of motion parallax is best explained by:
  1. your brain calculating different distances between the two retinas to determine speed ratios
  2. the law of common fate
  3. perceptual processing is more rapid for objects that are closer and lower in the visual field
  4. your calculation of the angles of light refraction between you and objects at different distances

31. Researchers studying plant growth raised plants in two different rooms. One room had soft music playing 24 hours a day; the other room was silent. The researchers found that the plants grew better in the room where the music was played. In this study the amount that the plants grew would be:
  1. the dependent variable
  2. a placebo
  3. a confounding variable
  4. the independent variable

32. One method that can control for experimenter expectancy effects is to use:
  1. a single-blind procedure
  2. two control groups
  3. random assignment
  4. a double-blind procedure

33. Vance is a psychologist who works for a large company, helping to train new recruits and improve employee morale. Vance would most likely be classified as :
  1. a clinical psychologist
  2. an applied psychologist
  3. a research psychologist
  4. a psychiatrist

34. Most modern psychologists:
  1. rely on self-reports of individuals in order to understand human nature
  2. investigate brain function in order to understand human and animal behavior
  3. use insight and logical reasoning to explain and understand behavior.
  4. observe behavior in a systematic way, and develop ideas that can be tested through more observation

35. Joe has a serious head cold and is now experiencing problems with balance. According to your text, Joe may be suffering from problems with his:
  1. hippocampus
  2. vestibular system
  3. ventricles
  4. thalamus

36. Dr. Lowd is running an experiment on auditory perception. She is interested in finding out how sensitive our ears are. First, Dr. Lowd plays a tone at 1 dB. Next, she plays a tone at 2 dB. Dr. Lowd continues to play tones at increasing levels until the subject can hear the tone in the headphones. Dr. Lowd is utilizing:
  1. just noticeable differences
  2. incremental difference adjustments
  3. absolute thresholds
  4. sensory adaptation

37. We watched a film in class about a "split-brain" patient. This patient was shown paintings of faces constructed from fruits or vegetables. When the painting was flashed in the right visual field, the patient typically reported seeing __________, and when the painting was flashed in the left visual field, the patient typically reported seeing __________.
  1. a face; a face
  2. fruits or vegetables; fruits or vegetables.
  3. a face; fruits or vegetables.
  4. fruits or vegetables; a face.

38. The elementary features or building blocks of experience are the basis of:
  1. perception
  2. transduction
  3. kinesthetic feedback
  4. sensation

39. During his Intro. Psychology class John always gets sleepy. One day John fell fast asleep but luckily John¡¯s friend was around to wake him up before Dr. McNamara noticed. Nevertheless, before waking him up John¡¯s friend noticed that he was exhibiting Rapid Eye Movement, a characteristic of sleep that is highly correlated with dreaming. If John was in the middle of REM, what brain wave activity would you expect to see right before John was woken up?
  1. alpha waves
  2. beta waves
  3. theta waves
  4. delta waves

40. You are very concerned about your friend Lucy who was diagnosed with sleep apnia. This condition means that Lucy:
  1. is unable to sleep at night
  2. stops breathing occasionally throughout the night
  3. cannot be woken up
  4. is unable to reach REM sleep, therefore depriving her of vital brain reactions that occur during this brain state

41. Opiates are considered:

  1. depressants
  2. stimulants
  3. hallucinogens
  4. b arbituates

42. With respect to emotional development, Dr. Pendergrast has an empiricist view. This means that Dr. Pendergrast is most likely to believe that:
  1. certain aspects of emotional expression are innate
  2. researchers should be most concerned with the function emotions serve
  3. experience determines which emotions an individual will eventually display
  4. to understand emotions fully, researchers must understand each component of emotional expression

43. Some researchers believe that hypnosis is nothing more than social role playing. This argument can be refuted with evidence that:
  1. hypnotized subjects do exactly what the hypnotist tells them to
  2. hypnotized subjects often exhibit a lack of autonomic perceptual responses
  3. hypnotized subjects respond to post-hypnotic suggestions
  4. hypnotized subjects do not have a change in EEG levels while hypnotized

44. When Ralph touched a hot candle flame with his finger the message was carried from his hand to his spinal cord along:
  1. sensory neurons
  2. motor neurons
  3. interneurons
  4. glial cells

45. One neurotransmitter that often produces inhibitory effects and stabilizes communication within the brain is:
  1. dopamine
  2. acetylcholine
  3. serotonin
  4. GABA

46. Many of us find the "monk problem" discussed in class difficult to solve. The difficulty we have is in
  1. defining the problem
  2. identifying the problem
  3. representing the problem
  4. planning

47. Craik and McDowd designed an experiment in which college students and volunteers from a senior citizen center were asked to learn memory lists. The researchers then measured how well each group remembered the words that were presented. In this experiment the independent variable is:
  1. the age of the people taking part in the study (college age or senior citizen)
  2. the number of words that were remembered
  3. the general education level and verbal abilities in each group
  4. the words that were selected for the memory lists

48. Within the hindbrain, the planning and coordination of complex motor skills is associated with :
  1. the medulla and the pons
  2. the cerebellum
  3. the reticular formation
  4. the hippocampus

49. Psychologists refer to "top-down processing" as:
  1. the processing that starts with the actual physical message
  2. the knowledge, beliefs, and expectations that influence our processing
  3. the many different brain regions that work in "parallel" to pull out features of a message
  4. the categorical organization of information in our brains

50. Sexual differentiation occurs:
  1. at the point of conception
  2. during the embryonic stage of the pregnancy
  3. during the germinal stage of the pregnancy
  4. during the fetal stage of the pregnancy

51. One reason people are able to adapt in response to environmental experiences is that:
  1. the brain exhibits plasticity
  2. brain function is highly specialized
  3. the nervous system develops completely before we are born
  4. brain function is split across the two cerebral hemispheres

52. Several theories have been proposed for why we dream. If you were convinced by the activation-synthesis hypothesis, you would believe that:
  1. we dream as a way to fulfill our inner desires that we cannot express
  2. we dream in order to exercise our brains
  3. dreaming is a consequence of random activity in the brain
  4. dreaming is activated by higher regions of the brain and then interpreted by lower regions

53. The neurons that have no direct contact with the world are:
  1. sensory neurons
  2. interneurons
  3. motor neurons
  4. glial cells

54. The Gestalt law of similarity states that visual elements:
  1. the are close to each other will be perceived as a single group
  2. that are moving in the same direction will be perceived as a single group
  3. that share common features or properties will be perceived as a single group
  4. which have gap will be perceived as complete objects

55. In painting, artists can often give the impression of depth by drawing objects such as train tracks as pairs of converging lines. The impression of depth originates due to the monocular depth cue of:
  1. convergence
  2. linear perspective
  3. binocular disparity
  4. stereoscopic imagery

56. Bonnie was playing the piano when her little sister asked her how to spell "rhinoceros." Bonnie was able to think through the complicated spelling without stopping her piano practice. This suggests that, for Bonnie:
  1. piano playing has become an automatic process
  2. spelling has become an automatic process
  3. piano playing is an effortful process that requires conscious attention
  4. spelling does not require focused attention

57. Size constancy refers to our perception that objects:
  1. have a constant shape even when viewed from different distances
  2. have a constant size even when viewed from different distance
  3. become smaller as they move away from us
  4. become larger as they move away from us

58. As a rock musician who has experienced prolonged exposure to high-amplitude music, Harlan is beginning to lose his hearing. It is most likely that this hearing loss involves problems in the:
  1. auditory canal
  2. eardrum
  3. tiny bones of the middle ear
  4. cochlea

59. The gate control theory suggests cognitive factors influence pain by opening or closing a "gate" in

  1. the spinal cord
  2. the free nerve endings
  3. the Pacinian corpuscle
  4. the somatosensory cortex

60. Sensory psychologists typically identify four basic tastes. These are:

  1. sweet, salty, bitter and sour
  2. sweet, sour, spicy, and piquant
  3. sweet, salty, hot, and cold
  4. sour, salty, spicy, and bland

 

Completion (1 point for each blank). Complete each of the following statements with the appropriate answer(s). Write your answers in the spaces provided.

  1. Founded on a theory, _______________ operational definitions are precise specification of what should be measured, how it should be measured, and why it should be measured.
  2. _______________ Broca¡¯s area was discovered early in the 19th century and was one of the first brain regions to be concretely linked with speech production.
  3. Underproduction of acetycholine has been linked with _______________ Alzheimer¡¯s Desease
  4. The process known as _______________ accommodation is accomplished by changing the shape of the lens in the eye.
  5. Information in the LEFT visual field gets projected to the _______________ right side of the retina, which in turn gets sent to the _______________ right hemisphere.
  6. People who tend to ignore things that appear toward one side of the body suffer from a condition known as _______________ visual neglect.
  7. Alan is studying an abstract painting. As he studies the painting he is recording all his impressions and feelings as soon as he experiences them. Alan¡¯s technique for understanding his conscious experience of the painting is known as _______________ introspection.
  8. When increasing amounts of a drug are necessary to produce the same physiological effect it is called _______________.
  9. The cells in the nervous system that remove waste and help neurons communicate more efficiently are: _______________ Glial cells
  10. When the results of a scientific observation are representative of real life, the results have _______________ external validity.
  11. According to Decartes, the mind and body communicate via the _______________ pineal gland.
  12. Your friend does research on the mind-body problem. If he believes that God is the only true cause of the mind and body, and that neither one influences the other, he would believe in the theory of _______________ occasionalism.
  13. The protective layer surrounding nerve fibers is called _______________ myelin sheath.
  14. The _______________ frontal lobes are the largest lobes in the cortex, and are thought to be involved in a variety of functions, including planning and decision making.
  15. Severing the _______________ corpus callosum would prevent your left hemisphere from communicating with your right hemisphere.
  16. The question regarding the relative influence of genetic factors vs. environmental influences on development is also known as the _______________ nature vs. _______________ nurture debate.
  17. Drugs that mimic the action of neurotransmitters are called _______________. agonists
  18. The light-sensitive surface at the back of the eye, which contains rods and cones, is _______________. the retina