Common Questions on psychology
Common Questions on psychology
1.) Psychologists formally define learning as:
A.) a process that produces a relatively enduring change in behavior or knowledge as a result of past experience.
b.) a process that produces a relatively enduring change in behavior or knowledge due to natural or instinctive processes.
c.) a relatively enduring change in behavior that is the result of developmental factors or maturation.
d.) replacing old habits with new habits.
2.) Who discovered the basic process of classical conditioning?
A.) Robert Rescorla
b.) B. F. Skinner
c.) John B. Watson
d.) Ivan Pavlov
3.)Prior to conditioning, a dog will salivate in response to food placed in its mouth. Using classical conditioning terms, the food would be labeled the _____, while the dog salivating would be labeled the _____.
A.) conditioned stimulus; unconditioned stimulus
b.) conditioned stimulus; conditioned response
c.) unconditioned response; unconditioned stimulus
d.) unconditioned stimulus; unconditioned response
4.)If you own a dog that tends to salivate and get excited when you shake a box of dog biscuits, you may have noticed that your dog also drools when you shake a bag of cat food. If so, this would be an example of:
A.) stimulus generalization.
b.) spontaneous recovery.
c.) stimulus discrimination.
d.) higher order conditioning.
5.)John B. Watson believed that psychology should study:
A.) consciousness.
B.) observable behavior.
C.) conditioned stimuli.
D.) physiological processes.
6.)In Watson and Rayner’s famous “Little Albert” study, what was the unconditioned stimulus (UCS)?
A.) the loud clanging sound
b.) the sight of the white rat
C.) fear in response to the loud clanging sound
D.) fear in response to the sight of the rat
Ans: A
7.) The notion that an organism is innately predisposed to form associations between certain stimuli and responses is termed:
A.) biological preparedness.
B.) latent learning.
C.) instinctive drift.
D.) the law of effect.
8.) What is the law of effect?
A.) The law of effect was a notion, suggested by Marion and Keller Breland, explaining how instinctual behaviors affect how wild animals learn new behaviors.
B.) The law of effect was the theoretical model, suggested by John B. Watson, describing the effect of fear on infants.
C.) The law of effect was the basic rule that Albert Bandura used to explain how imitation occurs in a wide variety of social situations.
D.) The law of effect was a principle, formulated by Edward Thorndike, that described how voluntary behaviors can be modified by their consequences.
9.) Positive reinforcement _____ the likelihood that a behavior will be repeated. Negative reinforcement _____ the likelihood that a behavior will be repeated.
A.) increases; increases
B.) increases; decreases
C.) decreases; increases
D.) decreases; decreases
10.) Your dog jumps up on a visitor and you smack him with a rolled up newspaper. The next time you have visitors, your dog doesn’t jump on them. This is an example of:
A.) negative reinforcement.
B.) higher order conditioning.
C.) positive punishment.
D.) negative punishment.
11.) In operant conditioning, a discriminative stimulus is defined as a(n):
specific stimulus in the presence of which a particular response is more likely to be reinforced.
stimulus that evokes a wide variety of behaviors.
consequence that decreases the likelihood of a behavior being repeated.
reinforcer that is naturally reinforcing for a given species
12.) A rat in a Skinner box receives a food pellet every 10 times it presses a bar. The rat is on a _____ schedule of reinforcement.
fixed-ratio
variable-ratio
fixed-interval
variable-interval
Ans: A
13.) _____ conducted the famous Bobo doll research, which showed the power of _____.
Edward Tolman; cognitive maps
Edward Thorndike; the law of effect
B. F. Skinner; reinforcement and punishment
Albert Bandura; observational learning
14.) According to the stage model of memory:
the capacity to remember changes with each age and stage of the lifespan.
memory consists of the stages of maintenance rehearsal, elaborative rehearsal, and clustering.
memories evolve in stages from simple memories to complex memories.
memory involves the stages of sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory.
15.) Which stage of memory enables us to perceive the world around us as continuous, rather than as a series of disconnected visual images or disjointed sounds?
working memory
short-term memory
long-term memory
sensory memory
16.) While auditory sensory memory can last for about _____, visual sensory memory lasts for about _____.
three to four seconds; half a second
three to four minutes; half a minute
30 to 40 seconds; half a second
half a second; three to four seconds
17.) The amount of information that can be held in long-term memory:
depends on the amount of maintenance rehearsal performed on the information.
seems to be limitless.
is seven items or bits of information, plus or minus two.
is four items or bits of information, plus or minus one.
18.) Knowledge of how to perform different skills and actions is called _____ memory, while knowledge of facts, concepts, and ideas is called _____ memory.
semantic; episodic
episodic; procedural
procedural; semantic
procedural; episodic
19.) The tip-of-the-tongue experience is a common example of:
retrieval failure
the serial position effect.
encoding failure.
misinformation effect
20.) According to Ebbinghaus’s research:
encoding failure is the chief cause of most forgetting.
all new information will eventually be forgotten.
memories are distributed throughout the brain.
the most rapid forgetting of new material occurs relatively soon after the material is originally learned.
21.) Which is the best explanation for encoding failure?
The information was not processed beyond the sensory memory stage.
Old information interferes with one’s ability to process novel information.
The information enters one’s short-term memory, but it is never encoded into long-term memory.
The information was stored in working memory, but it was then repressed in long-term memory.
22.) In a study by Elizabeth Loftus, subjects watched a film of an automobile accident, then answered a series of questions, including one asking them to estimate the speed of the cars. Which subjects gave the highest speed estimates?
the subjects who were asked, “About how fast were the cars going when they smashed into each other?”
the subjects who were asked, “About how fast were the cars going when they contacted each other?”
the subjects who were asked, “About how fast were the cars going when they went by the stop signs?”
the subjects who were asked, “About how fast were the cars going when they entered the intersection?”
23.) The brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease develop:
an enlarged hippocampus and hypothalamus.
an abundance of beta-amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles.
shrunken ventricles and loss of cerebral spinal fluid.
a proliferation of new neurons in the hippocampus.
24.) Thinking often involves the manipulation of two forms of mental representations:
concepts and mental images.
perception and intelligence.
learning and cognition.
prototypes and stereotypes.
25.) A natural concept is:
the most typical instance of a particular concept.
a mental category formed as the result of everyday experience.
a mental category formed by learning the rules or features that define it.
a mental representation of an object or event that is not physically present
26.) Trial and error is defined as:
a problem-solving strategy that involves attempting different solutions and eliminating those that do not work.
a problem-solving strategy that involves following a specific rule, procedure, or method, which inevitably produces the correct solution.
a problem-solving strategy that involves following a rule of thumb to reduce the number of possible solutions.
the sudden realization of how a problem can be solved.
27.) In problem solving, an algorithm is defined as:
a problem-solving strategy that involves attempting different solutions and eliminating those that do not work.
a problem-solving strategy that involves following a specific rule, procedure, or method, which inevitably produces the correct solution.
a problem-solving strategy that involves following a general rule of thumb to reduce the number of possible solutions.
the sudden realization of how a problem can be solved.
28.) A decision-making strategy that involves evaluating all the options, one characteristic at a time, starting with the most important, and discarding an option if it doesn’t meet that criterion, is called the:
single-feature model.
additive model.
elimination by aspects model.
integrative model.
29.) A system that combines arbitrary symbols to produce an infinite number of meaningful statements is a definition of:
A.) a mental set.
B.) language.
C.) the linguistic relativity hypothesis.
D.) an algorithm.
30.) A characteristic of human language is that we can communicate meaningfully about ideas, objects, and activities that are not physically present. This characteristic is called:
a.) syntax.
b.) symbolism.
c.) displacement.
d.) generativity.
31.) Which intelligence theorist believed that intelligence test scores were useful primarily to identify children who needed special help?
A.) Lewis Terman
B.) David Wechsler
c.) Alfred Binet
d.) Charles Spearman
32.) American psychologist Lewis Terman translated and adapted Binet’s intelligence test. Terman called this test the:
A.) Terman Intelligence Scale (TIS).
B.) Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS).
c.) Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale.
D.) Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC).
33.) During World War I, the U.S. military developed the _____ to screen millions of recruits.
A.) Army Alpha and the Army Beta tests
B.) Binet-Simon Intelligence Test
C.) Stanford-Binet Intelligence Test
D.) Military Achievement Test (MAT)
34.) Wechsler’s test provided scores on 11 subtests measuring different abilities, which were grouped to provide an overall _____ and _____ for the test taker.
verbal score; performance score
mental age; chronological age
aptitude score; achievement score
validity score; reliability score
35.) In many societies, the average IQ scores of minority groups are lower than the average IQ scores of the dominant or majority groups. Why can’t heritability estimates be used to explain group differences in intelligence?
A.) Heritability estimates can only be used to predict individual variation from standardized test scores and do not apply to group differences.
B.) Unless the environmental conditions of two racial groups are virtually identical, it is impossible to estimate the overall genetic differences between the two groups.
c.) Estimates of genetic differences apply only to characteristics that are determined by a single gene or gene pair.
d.) Heritability estimates only apply to intelligence scores that are averaged over a period of at least 20 years, and group data does not exist for that period.
36.) Motivation is defined as:
A.) full use and exploitation of talents, capacities, and potentialities.
B.) an impulse that activates behavior to reduce a need and restore homeostasis.
C.) he biological, emotional, cognitive, or social forces that act on or within an organism to activate and direct behavior.
D.) a distinct psychological state that involves subjective experience, physical arousal, and a behavioral expression or response.
37.) Intensity in motivation is seen as the:
A.) High level of vigour
b.) continued efforts or determination to achieve a particular goal, often in the face of obstacles.
c.) initiation or production of behavior toward a goal.
D.) subjective experience and physiological response that usually accompany motivated behavior.
38.) Persistence is a characteristic of motivation that is demonstrated by the:
A.) initiation or production of behavior toward a goal.
b.) high level of vigour in responding
C.) continued efforts or determination to achieve a particular goal, often in the face of obstacles.
d.) subjective experience and physiological response that usually accompanies motivated behavior.
39.) ____ theories of motivation claim that behavior is motivated by the desire to reduce internal tension caused by unmet biological needs.
A.) Drive
B.) Incentive
C.) Humanistic
D.) Instinct
40.) ___ refers to the notion that the body monitors and maintains internal states, such as body temperature and energy supplies, at relatively constant levels.
Self-actualization
Homestasis
Incentive motivation
The basal metabolic rate
41.) To get someone to come to do an great job and take pride in their work, a monetary bonus is obviously the best motivator.” This statement best illustrates _____ theories of motivation.
incentive
humanistic
drive
arousal
42.) The view that people are motivated to maintain an optimal level of arousal that is neither too high nor too low is called:
arousal theory
drive theory
incentive theory.
humanistic theory.
43.) The rate at which your body uses energy for vital bodily functions when at rest is called the:
body mass index.
set-point rate.
setting point rate
basal metabolic rate.
44.) Excess caloric intake is to _____ as restricted caloric intake is to _____.
positive energy balance; negative energy balance
pobasal metabolic rate; body mass index
body mass index; basal metabolic rate
negative energy balance; positive energy balance
45.) Which of the following is referred to as “the hunger hormone”?
insulin
ghrelin
glucose
cholecystokinin
46.) Increased brain levels of neuropeptide Y cause:
increased eating behavior and increased body metabolism.
decreased body metabolism and decreased eating behavior.
increased eating behavior and decreased body metabolism.
increased body metabolism and decreased eating behavio
47.) People are considered to be _____ if they have a body mass index between 25 and 29.9, unless the BMI is due to muscle and bone rather than fat.
obese
overweight
normal weight
underweight
48.) The human sexual response cycle was first mapped by sex-research pioneers:
A.) William Masters and Virginia Johnson.
B.) William James and Carl Lange.
C.) Edward Deci and Richard Ryan.
D.) Stanley Schachter and Jerome Singer.
49.) Which of the following is NOT a factor that influences human sexuality?
A.) biological factors
B.) psychological factors
C.) social and cultural factors
D.) the estrus cycle
50.) The shortest stage of the human sexual response is:
A.) excitement.
B.) plateau.
C.) orgasm.
D.) resolution.
