Why is psychology considered a science?
It focuses on observation, drawing conclusions, and prediction.
From where did psychology emerge?
Early philosophical thought, the work of Wilhelm Wundt, and the natural sciences
Temira tells her roommate Carmella that she recently read that people who paint their rooms blue get better grades. Carmella knows that painting their room will be a lot of work. Therefore, she asks Temira where she got her information and what evidence her sources had for their conclusion. She also wonders if there might not be another reason that people with blue rooms have higher grades—for example, maybe smart people prefer the color blue. What skill is Carmella using?
Critical Thinking
Dewayne is taking a psychology class. He isn't really interested in discussions about the unconscious, childhood influences, or the way different structures in the brain work. Instead, he is interested in the purpose of certain psychological mechanisms. For example, he wonders why we feel disgusted by a food that made us sick or why some emotions are the same all over the world and others aren't. Dewayne is thinking most like a
Functionalist
Zhuang is trying to decide which major he should choose in college. His older brother notes that Zhuang is always asking questions, so maybe he should become a scientist. If Zhuang asks the same kinds of questions that successful scientists ask, he is probably asking things like:
Why? How do you know? Where's your evidence? Is there another explanation?
After encountering a number of patients who had physical problems without any apparent physical cause, Sigmund Freud reasoned that the causes must be psychological and beyond his patients' conscious awareness. For example, one of his patients, a woman named Anna O., sometimes developed paralysis in her limbs even though there was nothing physically wrong with her. Based on his observations, Freud eventually developed a theory he called psychoanalysis. What was Freud actually analyzing?
internal, mostly unconscious psychological forces
Olivia and Hannah are talking about dreaming one day after their psychology class. Most mornings Olivia doesn't remember any of her dreams, but occasionally she has vivid recollections when she wakes. Hannah says she has the same experience and wonders why. When they talk to friends about the phenomenon, they notice a pattern related to the stress of the previous day. They verbalize this pattern as, "If someone feels stressed out over something one day, then she is more likely to remember her dreams the following day." Olivia and Hannah have just formed a
Hypothesis
Hailie is writing a psychology research paper. She has collected research from the past three decades, which her professor says is fine. What is confusing for Hailie is that her articles say different things. She finally asks you why all of the research has been published if some of it is obviously wrong. You tell her that
part of the scientific process is testing and retesting a theory, to see if everyone gets the same results each time; if they don't, the research may not agree.
For her Experimental Psychology class, Kristen has developed the hypothesis that "intelligent people are more stressed out." Kristen's teacher tells her she needs to use operational definitions for her variables. This means that she needs to
define which behaviors or qualities differentiate one person's "intelligence" from the next person's, and define the behaviors she associates with "stressed out."
Suppose we have noticed that some rats seem to couple more often than others. This would correspond to which step in the scientific method?
Observe
What if we decide to give only some female rats caffeine and then we watch to see if those given caffeine couple more often than those not given caffeine. This would correspond to which step in the scientific method?
Test
In the scientific method, a prediction or ___________________ is developed.
Hypothesis
After reading a newspaper article discussing research demonstrating that regular aerobic exercise improved a person's memory performance, Olga wondered if lifting weights daily would have the same effect. Olga has generated a(n)
Hypothesis
Professor Boredom has noticed that his students keep falling asleep during his lectures. He thinks that keeping the lights in the lecture hall on at their brightest level will help to keep students awake. He decides to give the same lecture to three groups of people. He holds one class session with bright lights, one class session with normal lighting, and one class session with dim lights. Professor Boredom has a teaching assistant count the number of sleepers at the end of each class.
What is Professor Boredom's hypothesis in this example?
Bright lights will keep more students awake in class than dimmer lights.
Which of the following is not a valid hypothesis?
George Washington would have liked a Mac computer better than a PC.
A researcher has designed a study to test the effects of different types of individual psychotherapy on people's levels of depression. She has randomly assigned people to one of three groups: a cognitive-behavioral treatment group, a psychodynamic treatment group, or a no-treatment control group. She then measures people's level of depression after the treatment. Which of the following statements is true?
Depression is the dependent variable; the treatment group is the independent variable.
A market-research firm calls you on the phone and asks you a series of questions about your attitudes toward exercise. The market-research firm is conducting a(n)
Survey
How can causality be demonstrated?
through an experiment
A researcher obtained a correlation coefficient of -.65 for the relationship between job satisfaction and experiences of discrimination in the workplace. What does this correlation coefficient mean?
People who experienced more discrimination were less likely to be satisfied with their job.
A school psychologist is interested in studying the effectiveness of a reading improvement program. He has randomly assigned participants to one of two groups. The first group receives training in phonics, while the second group is put on a waiting list and receives no training. What is the control group?
The group that received no training
Which of the following is an advantage of laboratory studies?
control of extraneous variables
An experimenter is interested in determining if there are differences in happiness, life satisfaction, and optimism between people who have been given a self-help book to read versus those who have been given a sports article to read. What is the independent variable?
reading material
Which correlation indicates the strongest relationship between two variables?
-.85
Gary's son Sam is learning to drive. Each night, Gary takes Sam out in the family car for driving lessons. Gary notices that Sam improves more in lessons in which Gary is extremely critical. In fact, more critical Gary is, the more Sam improves. After Sam gets his driver's license, Gary's wife Chrissy tells him that every time Gary was critical of Sam, she took him out so he could improve before his father's next lesson. What was the problem with Gary's initial interpretation of Sam's improvement?
Third Variable Problem
Stephanie conducts an experiment to learn if brunettes have more fun. She has three brunette female friends and three blonde female friends go to the same party and record how many times they are asked to dance. In her experiment, Stephanie has defined her ____________ as the number of times the friends were asked to dance, and her ____________ as hair color.
dependent variable; independent variable
Conducting an in-depth interview of a single person with a rare illness is an example of
A case study
Jake has found a correlation between the amount of time he spends exercising every day and the number of hours he sleeps at night. The more he exercises, the longer he sleeps. However, his psychology instructor explained to him that correlation does not mean causation. This means that
by itself, the correlation doesn't say if more exercise causes longer sleep.
Which of the following is the best example of a positive correlation?
The less interesting the lecture, the less likely you are to remember everything the instructor said.
here is a strong negative correlation between smoking while pregnant and the birth weight of the baby. This means that
the more you smoke while pregnant, the less your baby will weigh at birth.
Maria loves to dance. She has noticed that whenever she dances, she has more energy the next day. Maria has noticed a _________ correlation.
positive
David has been exercising more and losing weight. So far, he has lost 8 pounds. This is an example of a __________ correlation.
negative
Dr. Humor wonders if knock-knock jokes are funnier than jokes involving "crossing the road." He has several people tell participants a series of both types of jokes and has the participants rate how funny they believe each joke to be. In this example, the dependent variable is
The participants' humor ratings.
Researchers have found that using flash cards is a better study method than highlighting key terms in a textbook. In this example, the independent variable is
The study method
All of the following are APA ethical standards for psychology experiments except
Participants must be allowed to select the conditions of the experiment in which they participate.
John is planning on conducting an experiment to see how men and women differ in geography performance. After describing the study to the participants, he gives them a written geography test. To make sure he doesn't mix up his data, he has each person write their name at the top of their test. Before John leaves the room, he informs the participants that they should drop their exam in an open box outside his office door so that he can pick up the exams when he returns later that week. John's study should
Not be approved because he has violated the ethical standard of confidentiality/privacy.
Which of the following areas of specialization would focus on the ways in which stress is related to cancer remission?
Health Psychology
Little Billy is terrified! He just heard a noise in his room, and he is sure that this means there are monsters coming to get him. Which part of Billy's nervous system will prepare him for fight or flight?
Sympathetic Nervous System
Which of the following is NOT a division of the nervous system?
External
The two main divisions of the nervous system are:
central and peripheral
Which part of the neuron is responsible for receiving information?
dendrites
Multiple sclerosis is caused by lesions on
myelin tissue
_____ allow ions to enter the neural cell.
channels
When a neuron is resting, the inside of the cell membrane is _____ and the outside of the cell membrane is _____.
negative, positive
When a neuron is depolarized, the inside of the cell membrane is ____ and the outside of the cell membrane is ____.
positive, negative
The little blips of electricity generated by neurons are called the
Action potential
Which of the following is true about the action potential?
It is an all-or-nothing response determined by the strength of the signal.
What is the difference between magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)?
MRI does not allow researchers to examine the brain in action, while fMRI does.
Which lobe of the cerebral cortex responds to visual stimuli?
occipital lobe
Stem cells are unique because
they can develop into almost any type of cell.
Which lobe of the cerebral cortex is associated with personality?
Frontal Lobe
Marta was recently in an automobile accident and she suffered a traumatic brain injury. Since she is having a lot of trouble seeing, the neurologist suspects that she has damage in the _______________ and/or the _____________.
midbrain; occipital lobe
Randy wants to become a professional musician. He is already very proficient on the guitar and violin. Which brain structure allowed him to hear music?
Temporal Lobe
To relieve epileptic seizures, Bill has had his corpus callosum severed. Now Bill has difficulty
communicating between his right and left hemispheres.
Deciding which chapters to review for an upcoming exam is regulated by the
cerebral cortex.
John lifts a box and places it on a shelf. Based on our current understanding of brain functioning,
neuroscientists recognize that even simple behaviors, such as lifting a box, require the action of many parts of the brain.
When Ephraim was very young, he suffered brain damage. Fortunately, his brain was able to adapt, and the axons of some of his functioning neurons grew new branches near the damaged cells. This process is known as
collateral sprouting.
The process through which the senses detect environmental stimuli and transmit them to the brain is called ____.
sensation
Synaesthesia refers to
one sense inducing an experience in another sense.
The absolute threshold is the level at which someone can detect a stimulus ____ percent of the time.
50
Which of the following affect our perception?
individual physiological differences, the stimuli, and culture
In order to determine your _____, you might slowly turn up the volume on the stereo one decibel at a time until you could just hear it.
Absolute Threshold
Alessandra's family has always had at least one pet, so she is comfortable around dogs. Her friend Tyra, however, was bitten by a dog a few years ago and is now afraid of all dogs. While Alessandra and Tyra are walking to school, they are approached by a dog that is wagging its tail. Alessandra bends down to pet the dog, but Tyra backs up because she is afraid. Both girls are ________________ the same dog, but the way each experiences or ____________ the dog is different.
sensing; perceives
There is a short in the light in Holden's office, so it makes a soft but constant, high-pitched sound. Maintenance workers have not been able to fix the problem. When Travis walks into Holden's office, he says, "How can you stand that awful noise?" Holden spends a moment listening, and then says, "I don't even hear it anymore." Holden has been exposed to the sound so long that he has experienced
Sensory Adaption
Tovah is trying to put together a jigsaw puzzle. Since she has no idea what the completed picture is supposed to be, she has to rely on the shapes and colors of the individual pieces to create and understand the "whole picture." We can refer to Tovah's efforts to combine individual elements of the puzzle into a unified whole as
Bottom-up Proccessing
How does environmental stimulation reach our brain?
through our skin, nose, eyes and ears
Our eyes capture light __________ much like a camera.
mechanically
In the "Set It Off" Challenge, participants watched a video, and many of them missed the gorilla that walked across the screen. Why did they miss such an obvious occurrence?
They were focused on counting the number of passes the basketball players in yellow made to each other, while trying to ignore the players in dark blue.
Julia is holding a basket of apples that weighs five pounds. Sammy keeps adding more apples to Julia's basket and asks her to tell him when she notices that the basket is heavier. Julia notices a difference when the basket's weight reaches six pounds. Now Julia is holding a basket of apples weighing ten pounds. According to Weber's Law, how much additional weight in apples must be added for Julia to notice a difference?
2 pounds
Based on what you have learned about Weber's Law and just noticeable differences,
It is easier to detect changes in stimulus intensity when the intensities are low.
The famous quote "don't shoot until you see the whites of their eyes," usually attributed to William Prescott, refers to which structure of the eye?
Sclera
The eye bends light through the ____, which does the majority of the bending of the light, and the _____, which fine tunes the light.
cornea; lens
If you look at the color green for an extended period of time and then look away, you will see an afterimage of red. Which theory accounts for this phenomenon?
opponent-process theory
Isaac is in a room that is almost completely dark. He notices while lying in bed that if he tries to focus on the faint little red light on the fire detector, it seems to disappear. When he asks his mother why this happens, she explains that the eye receptors that understand color do not function well in very dim light. To which receptors is she referring?
cones
When we are reading, the distance of each letter from those around it affects which word we see. For example, SCARCITY means something different from SCAR CITY. THERAPIST is different from THE RAPIST and PROSECUTE is different from PROSE CUTE. Which Gestalt principle are we using to decide which letters to consider part of full words?
proximity
When Billy flips a coin, it appears to be different shapes as it rotates in the air. Sometimes it looks like a circle, sometimes more oval, and, when flat, like a thin sliver. By using which perceptual rule does Billy know that although his perception of the penny's shape may change, it never actually changes shape?
Constancy
Perception involves the brain
correct
Interpreting visual stimuli based on experience in the real world.
A student is studying for a philosophy exam. She is trying to remember a list of philosophy concepts and associates each one with a personal event in her life. Which of the following is she employing?
Elaboration
The Atkinson-Shiffrin theory of memory includes
sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory.
Most people can keep _____ items in their short-term memory.
7 ± 2
Your ability to use a computer mouse is an example of what type of memory?
procedural
Your memory of civil war history is an example of what type of memory?
Semantic Memory
A middle-school teacher places words such as "calm" and "success" on the walls of his classroom to impact the behavior and achievement of his students. What memory process is he using?
priming
Cailean has always wished she had a "photographic memory." She sits on the steps of one of the academic buildings and watches the people. Sometimes she closes her eyes and tries to recall everything about what she was seeing. Each time, though, the memory quickly seems to dissolve. In what kind of memory is the visual information stored while it lasts?
iconic
Although Alex had never taken chemistry before, he still knew, based on experiences with other college courses, what to expect on the first day of class. Alex has a(n) ______ for "the first day of class."
schema
When Rose meets a new person, she repeats the person's name over and over in her head in an attempt to remember that name at a later time. Which part of working memory is activated by this activity?
Phonological loop.
Paul is driving to his friend Peter's house for the first time. Paul has a map, but because he is on a busy highway, he can glance at the map only every few minutes. Between these glances, Paul keeps a picture of the map in his head by using the __________ component of working memory.
Visuo-spatial sketchpad.
Sylvie asks her brother Sam if she can borrow his car. Sam says she can if she will first go to the car and retrieve his Rihanna CD from his giant CD collection. So that she won't forget which CD Sam wants, Sylvie imagines a picture of Rihanna in her head while humming the song "Umbrella" as she walks to the car. Sylvie is relying on which component(s) of working memory to help her out?
Phonological loop, and Visuo-spatial sketchpad
Remembering is better when a person's mood at encoding is similar to their mood at retrieval. This is an example of
state-dependent memory.
A student's class always met in room 100. However, when that student took the final exam, the class met in room 317. The student experienced memory problems at the final exam. What could account for the student's memory problems?
context-dependent memory
In high school, a student took German; however, she decided to take Russian in college. She finds that she is having trouble learning to speak Russian because she keeps using German words instead of Russian words. What type of problem is she experiencing?
proactive interference
Research shows that recovered memories of child abuse are
often difficult to either prove or disprove.
A person who cannot create new memories
has anterograde amnesia.
In his research with nonsense syllables, Ebbinghaus found that
most forgetting occurs shortly after the information is learned.
A cat that associates the sound of a can opener with being fed has learned through
classical conditioning
Which one of the following statements is true about learning?
Learning occurs through experience.
After seeing dogs catching Frisbees in the park, Lionel decides that he wants to teach his dog Ivan to do it too. He takes Ivan to the park and sits with him, making sure that he watches the other dogs successfully catching Frisbees. What technique is Lionel using on Ivan, and what are the chances for success?
He is using observational learning, and his chances for success are pretty bad, because dogs are not as likely as people to learn in this way.
Tamara normally feeds her cat canned cat food. She noticed that every time she uses her electric can opener, her cat comes to the kitchen. What is the conditioned stimulus?
the sound of the electric can opener
Robert had a serious car accident while Mozart was playing on his stereo. Now, every time Robert hears a Mozart song, he feels frightened and panicked. What is the unconditioned stimulus?
The car accident
Contingency in classical conditioning refers to
the frequency with which the conditioned stimulus and the unconditioned stimulus occur together.
You have trained your dog to bark on command by giving her rawhides when she is successful. However, you quit giving her the rawhides when she barks and you find that eventually she will not bark on command. What has occurred?
extinction
Bryn adopted her cat, Minnie, from the local shelter. She feeds Minnie dry food, but the previous owner fed her canned food. Every time Bryn opens her refrigerator, her new cat comes running. Bryn never gives Minnie food after she opens the refrigerator, however, so eventually Minnie stops showing up. Once in a while, though, Minnie will come running when Bryn opens the refrigerator, as if food is forthcoming. This reappearance of Minnie's old behavior is called
spontaneous recovery.
Dogs are often used in airports to detect explosives materials and/or narcotics. Their trainers teach them to smell out a certain substance by rewarding them with treats for correctly identifying a substance. In what type of learning are the dogs engaging?
Operant Conditioning
Which neurotransmitter has been shown to be most closely associated with reinforcement of behaviors?
Dopamine
Which of the following is a primary reinforcer?
eating some delicious ice cream
Which of the following statements is correct?
Classical conditioning focuses on involuntary responses, while operant conditioning focuses on voluntary behaviors.
Behaviors tend to be MOST resistant to extinction when the reinforcement
is unpredictable
Troy would like to teach his dog to play a toy piano. Since the dog is unlikely to spontaneously begin playing the piano, Troy first rewards his dog for going near the piano, then for touching the piano, then for pressing on one of the keys of the piano, and so on until the dog is able to play a simple tune. This process is called
Shaping
Janice is trying to teach her dog to heel, so she buys a choke collar. Every time the dog strains on the leash, the collar restricts around his neck. When the dog drops back to walk beside her, the collar loosens up. In theory, this should cause the dog to learn to walk beside Janice. What type of consequence does the dog experience when he strains on the leash?
Positive Punishment
Positive reinforcement____________and negative reinforcement ________________.
strengthens behavior by adding a stimulus; strengthens behavior by removing a stimulus
One of the students in your class often asks questions of your professor. You see that the professor rolls her eyes each time the student asks a question. You find that you are reluctant to ask the professor a question. What have you experienced?
Observational Learning
After studying a psychological concept for some time, Vatana still has not been able to grasp the concept. However, while she is driving to work, she has an "ah-ha!" moment and the concept finally makes complete sense to her. Vatana has experienced
insight learning
Kalliyan has taken the same route home from work for years, but today the road is closed due to an accident. Kalliyan has an important work presentation that she can't miss, so she takes a back road that she knows is there but has never used. She is displaying
latent learning
Taste aversion can be explained by
preparedness.
In comparing a computer to the human brain, the computer's hardware is like _____ and the computer's software is like _____.
the brain; cognition
Which of the following scenarios would best be explained by the prototype model of concept structures?
determining whether something is a flower if it is similar to a rose
Rose believes that she is more likely to die from a tornado than from heart disease because tornados make big news. Which of the following errors has Rose made?
availability heuristic
Focusing on information that supports your beliefs and discounting information that contradicts your beliefs is an example of
Confirmation Bias
Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of critical thinkers?
picking and answer and sticking with it
After an event has occurred, people often wrongly believe that they "knew all along" what the outcome would be. This error is known as the
hindsight bias
While trying to learn what a "dog" is, Arash mentally compares every animal to his family's new puppy. If the animal is similar enough, he decides that it is also a dog. Arash's puppy serves as a _______________ for the concept of "dog."
prototype
Whenever Leslie's father gets home before 6 p.m., she knows he finished work early and will probably be in a good mood. The last two times he came home early, he took Leslie to dinner. Leslie hears her father's car pull into the garage at 5:30 p.m. and thinks, "We're going out to dinner!" Leslie is using
Deductive reasoning
If an adult is 20 years old and her mental age is 30, what is her IQ, according to Stern's formula?
150
If an intelligence test asks questions that would more likely be familiar to a person living in a city than to a person living in the country, the test is
Culturally Bias
The Raven Progressive Matrices Test is an example of a(n)
Culture-Fair tests
In Professor Gugliotti's psychology class, the exam grades fell exactly on a normal curve. What does this tell us about the results?
Most of the class got Cs, with fewer people getting As or Fs.
Research on the personality trait of extraversion has shown that its heritability is approximately 50 percent. What does this mean?
Genetics can explain 50 percent of the differences in extraversion among the population at large.
Six-year-old Kirstin was recently given an IQ test at school, and the results show that she has an extremely high IQ. Her parents are concerned about Kirstin's social development. What advice should you give them?
They have no reason to be concerned. People with high IQs are typically well adjusted socially.
A single general ability that influences all areas of intellectual functioning is called the
g-factor
Jim loves the outdoors. He is interested in different types of plants and flowers and also likes digging for fossils and old artifacts. Jim is most likely strong in which type of intelligence?
Naturalist
In French, the phrase "Haven't the police found you yet?" is written "La police, ne t'a pas encore trouvé?" Since French speakers arrange words differently than English speakers, the literal translation is "The police, not you have yet found?" In other words,
French and English speakers use different rules, called ________________, to govern word order.
syntax
Which of the following supports Noam Chomsky's assertion that humans are designed for language acquisition?
Children from different cultures develop language at about the same age and in the same order.
Development can be best described as
the product of the interaction of nature and nurture
Sonja and Pete are engineers who met during college. They share a love of mathematics and science and have successful engineering careers. When their daughter Gabriella is born, they decorate her room with numbers and spend a great deal of time counting objects and talking about math with her. In her school years, Gabriella is particularly gifted in mathematics. Gabriella does not become an engineer, but she does have a career as a terrific math teacher. Which statement is most accurate in describing Gabriella?
Gabriella's development shows the influence of genetics, environment, their interaction, and Gabriella's capacity to forge a life theme that is meaningful to her.
A fertilized egg is called a(n)
zygote
An infant is repeatedly shown a picture of his mother's face and a picture of geometric shapes. Each time, the infant tends to gaze at the picture of his mother's face. This finding is an example of
preferential looking.
Zofia's dermatologist has recommended a drug called Accutane for her acne. Accutane has potentially serious detrimental effects on a fetus, so Zofia is required to have a pregnancy test both before she begins treatment and every month that she takes the medication. In this situation, Accutane would act as a(n) ________________ on an unborn child.
teratogen
Which theory of aging states that our cells can only divide about 100 times, which is why humans can only live to about 120?
Cellular-clock theory
A newborn
can see objects about one foot away
At one year, a baby's visual sensitivity is _______ times greater than it was at birth.
four
Understanding that while the shape of an object may change, the mass of the object stays the same is an example of
conservation
Eliska is nine months old. One of her favorite games is peek-a-boo, and recently she has begun to pry at her mother's fingers when Mother covers her face. Eliska has developed _______________, the understanding that Mother is still behind her hands even when Eliska can't see her.
object permanence
A person's knowledge of the working of automobiles is an example of
crystalized intelligence
The term for a cognitive framework for understanding what it means to be male or female in a given culture is
gender schema
Among other factors, the development of gender involves
sensory, personality and cognitive factors
Efforts that are geared to helping others are referred to as
prosocial behavior.
Which of the following is NOT considered a health behavior?
Reading
Your roommate has been engaging in risky sexual behavior all semester, yet she denies that anything is wrong. She is likely in the ____ stage of the stages of change model.
pre contemplation
In the long run, writing about traumatic life events ______.
is associated with physical and psychological health benefits
A psychologist is interested in increasing safer sex behaviors. In developing an intervention to increase safer sex behaviors, she focuses on the ways in which participants' friends view condom usage. Her inclusion of social group norms in her intervention is consistent with which theory of health behavior?
theory of reasoned action
Someone who is researching different types of smoking cessation aids (for example, nicotine gum and nicotine patches) is in which stage of the stages of change model?
preparation/determination
Which theory focuses on the distinction between intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation?
self-determination theory
An individual believing that he or she can successfully engage in a behavior that promotes health is an example of
self-efficacy
A student has been experiencing stress because she has been struggling in her classes all semester. After a while, she realizes that she has developed a host of physical symptoms, such as fatigue, runny nose, and coughing. In what stage of the general adaptation syndrome is this student?
Exhaustion Stage
In order, starting from the first stage, what are the stages of the general adaptation syndrome?
alarm, resistance, exhaustion
Viggo needs to take an extended leave of absence from work for personal reasons. The remaining employees are required to perform Viggo's duties, and Dewitt is the only one who understands how to do many of them. Though Dewitt's body is unable to maintain the alarmed state it entered when he learned of the additional work, he remains "stressed out" over the weeks that follow. He hopes Viggo will return before he becomes truly overwhelmed. Dewitt is in the _______________________ stage of the general adaptation syndrome (GAS).
resistance
Alicia came home from work today and seemed okay, but then found that she had lost the change from her change purse. It probably amounted to $2.00 or less, but she started sobbing and can't seem to stop crying. Her family doesn't understand what is wrong. Use your knowledge about stressors to help her family understand what probably happened. Which inference below is most appropriate?
She had a hard day where a lot of different things went wrong.
Which hormones are the brain designed to release under stress?
adrenaline and cortisol
What is a telomere?
the protective coating at the end of chromosomes
Myra worked in one of the Twin Towers at the World Trade Center. She called in sick on September 11, but she really just wanted to go shopping with her sister who was in town visiting. She was sick with grief when she realized that all her coworkers and friends lost their lives, and she felt guilty that she was still alive because she lied and stayed home. What is Myra experiencing?
Survivor Guilt
Allegra tries to lead a healthy life. She maintains a vegetarian diet, avoids fatty foods, and gets a flu shot every year. She tells others that her only vice is smoking. While she knows that she should quit, she believes that her otherwise healthy lifestyle will offset the effects of tobacco. Is she right?
No. Smoking is the single largest cause of preventable death, and the only way to offset the negative effects of smoking is to quit.
Which of the following has NOT been a criticism of Freud's theory?
He placed too much emphasis on cultural influences on development, and not enough emphasis on biological influences.
Since her physician told Fabienne that she needs to lose weight to improve her health, she has been trying to eat healthily. But every time she goes out to a restaurant, she can't resist ordering several unhealthy desserts. Her friends suggest that she try to eat the foods she craves in moderation, but she tells them that when she sees the sweets she's not "supposed" to eat, she can focus on nothing but how badly she wants them. Freud would say that Fabienne's _____________ is encouraging her to overeat certain foods.
ID
Marisa wants to go out with her boyfriend but she has a big paper to write. According to Freud, which part of her psyche will try to balance her desire to be with her boyfriend with her responsibility to do her homework?
superego
The element of the psyche that might make you feel guilty if you steal your little sister's allowance is your
ego
Which of the following has NOT been a criticism of the humanistic approach to personality?
The humanist perspective underestimates the effect of the situation on human behavior.
Don's dream is to be a pro golfer. His parents, however, have made it clear that they think he will not succeed at this goal, and that they will not be happy with him unless he goes into the family business. Carl Rogers would say that the parents are imposing _______ on Don.
Conditions of Worth
A state of self-fulfillment in which a person reaches his highest potential is called
self- actualization
The _______ is who you are. The _________ is who you would like to become.
actual self; ideal self
Unconditional positive regard is
loving and respecting another person regardless of his or her thoughts or actions.
Psychological and physical health is more common among people who are
high on the traits of extraversion and conscientiousness, and low on neuroticism.
Octavia enjoys being around others and is well-known for her social grace. She is warm and engaging with everyone she meets regardless of whether the setting is the classroom, her workplace, a restaurant, or her own home. Based on this information and relying on the Five Factor Model, we can say that she would be MOST likely to score high in
agreeableness
Elijah often worries about his future. He almost always lies awake the night before a test concerned that he will fail. On the rare occasion that he does receive a grade that is lower than the one for which he hoped, he becomes depressed and irritable. His friends tease him that he takes everything far too seriously, or that he's going to have a nervous breakdown before he reaches 20. Based on this information and relying on the Five Factor Model, we can say that Elijah would be MOST likely to score high in
neuroticism
Andrew is quite talkative and fun loving. He loves to socialize with others and enjoys being around other people. Andrew would score high on which personality factor?
extraversion
George is a worrier. He always seems tense, because he is anxious about his health, his job, and his relationships. Which factor of personality best encapsulates these attributes of George?
neuroticism
Dan McAdams felt that, in order to understand a person's personality, we must take into account that person's
complete life story
Dr. Verlitzer thinks it would be impossible to fully describe a person without knowing the person's entire history. He feels that a complete history would entail knowing the person's psychological, physical, and social history, and analyzing the person from multiple perspectives. Dr. Verlitzer subscribes to the _______ approach to personality.
personological
Why did Mischel develop CAPS theory?
to explain the fact that some traits are more heavily influenced by the situation than others, and that this varies from person to person and situation to situation
Dr. Drust asks his client Nairi to complete a test that will help him pinpoint the type of depression she has and which personality characteristics may be contributing to her problem. The test consists of 567 true and false questions and addresses attitudes and emotions, behaviors and symptoms, and life history. Dr. Drust has given Nairi the
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2).
Assuming that the reason a person is obese is because he or she has no willpower is an example of
the fundamental attribution error
Tom is surprised to find that not all of his friends think about affirmative action in the same way he does. Tom's surprise can be explained by
the false consensus effect
A woman is concerned that if she does poorly on a math exam, she will confirm the stereotype that women are not good at math. What is likely to happen and why?
She will do poorly on the exam because of stereotype threat.
Matthew did poorly when trying out for his school's soccer team. To make himself feel better about his performance, he said to himself "at least I wasn't as bad as Brad." Matthew's self-talk is an example of
social comparison.
If you believe it is wrong to steal but you sneak into a movie theater with a friend, you would likely experience cognitive
Dissonance
________ did research about the inconsistencies between thought and action.
Festinger
Social psychologists have found that performance in any given situation may be influenced by
the threat of being negatively stereotyped.
A stranger goes straight to the front of a long line waiting to speak with a customer service representative at a department store. In applying the fundamental attribution error, you would most likely think
the stranger is a rude person
People are most likely to apply the fundamental attribution error to
a celebrity
What is the difference between egoism and altruism?
Egoism involves helping others with the expectation of help in return, while altruism involves helping others with no expectation of help in return.
In his famous studies on obedience, Stanley Milgram asked participants to
deliver electrical shocks to another person.
Members of some hate groups cover their faces and sometimes their entire bodies while they mistreat their targeted group. This can also happen if the hate group is extremely large or a "mob mentality" forms. In these situations, people find it easier to participate in crimes they would not normally commit due to
deindividuation.
An employer who thinks that members of a specific group are inferior is an example of _____; the employer's refusing to hire members of that group is an example of _____.
prejudice; discrimination
A danger of using stereotypes is that
they cause us to view people not as individuals but rather as typical group members.
Which of the following is true regarding stereotypes?
Stereotypes are more dangerous to groups with relatively low power in society.
Freud considered ____ to be the primary motivating force of human behavior.
the unconscious
_____ is a defense mechanism that involves pushing threatening impulses out of conscious awareness.
repression
Alex is shy and keeps to himself most of the time. Alex would score low on what trait?
extraversion
______ are enduring characteristics of our personality. _____ are briefer or more temporary experiences.
traits/states
What does "personology" refer to?
the study of the whole person
Sam's therapist administered the Rorschach inkblot test during their last session. Sam completed a(n) _____ test of personality.
projective
Cerys has read all the books on mythology in his school's library, and he is intrigued by how the stories all seem to have similar elements and themes. In each story there is a hero and a villain, a damsel in distress, a wise old man or woman to guide the hero, and a funny sidekick. Jung would tell Cerys that the commonalities are there because the story creators were all tapping the
collective unconscious
When many people first learn of the classic conformity and obedience studies, they often believe that the participants in these studies are weak-minded people and they tend to underestimate the power of the social situation. This is an example of ______.
the fundamental attribution error
According to self-perception theory, if you're not sure how you feel about something, how can you find out?
look at your behavior
What is the key social emotion involved with altruism?
empathy
The assumption that ethnic outgroups are not only different, but that other groups are inferior to your group, is called _____.
ethnocentrism
Which of the following are true about defense mechanisms?
They can distort reality, they can reduce anxiety, and they can help us adapt to societal expectations.
After finding several receipts for hotel rooms, flowers, and expensive gifts that she never received, Sharon is still convinced that her husband is not having an affair. Sharon is using which defense mechanism to minimize her anxiety?
Denial
The self-enhancing bias suggests that
we believe we are somewhat better than others in a variety of dimensions.
Paul is completing a survey regarding academic issues. Based on what you know about self-enhancing biases, Paul is likely to
claim he works harder than most students in his classes.
Depression is classified as a(n) _____ disorder.
mood
_____ is a severe psychological disorder that is characterized by highly disordered thought processes.
schizophrenia
If Froshia was studying abnormal psychology and she attributed psychological disorders to organic, internal causes she most likely would be viewing these disorders from a ______ approach.
Biological
Which of the following statements is most consistent with the biopsychosocial model?
Genetic heritage causes a predisposition to mental illness, but environmental and cognitive/emotional factors must be present for mental illness to develop.
A soldier who survived a bloody battle finds that she has recurrent nightmares, avoids her military friends, and jumps when she hears a loud noise. Based on these symptoms, what disorder does she most likely have?
PTSD
Thirty-year-old Armand feels compelled to save objects that others might throw away. He is afraid that he will discard something he later will need, so his home is filled with old newspapers, empty boxes, worn-out clothing, antiquated computer equipment, and even the seeds from the fruit and vegetables he has eaten. Armand's neighbors have complained to the homeowner's association because he has been forced to store some things outside his home. He is embarrassed by his need to hoard objects, but he is overcome by dread if he tries to throw things away. Based on this information, Armand may have
OCD
Shelia's friends noticed that her behavior changed suddenly. She began to stay up late into the night, rarely sleeping. She impulsively decided to paint every room in her house and to buy all new furniture for her house. She also started drinking more and engaging in risky behavior, such as unprotected sex. Her friends noticed that when she spoke, she spoke very rapidly and quickly jumped from subject to subject. What may Shelia be experiencing?
A manic Episode
Depression can be caused by people having unrealistic views of themselves and the world. This explanation of depression is consistent with which theory?
Cognitive Theory
Darin had an automobile accident in which his brother and another passenger were killed. Though Darin wasn't seriously hurt in the accident, he can't remember any of the accident details. Darin is exhibiting which ego defense mechanism?
repression
Gladys is a therapist who is constantly reminding her clients that people have a natural capacity for personal growth and positive qualities. Gladys likely endorses the _____ of personality.
the humanistic perspective
According to humanistic theory, a child who receives _____ from her parents is likely to avoid the problems associated with _____, which determine the circumstances under which people approve or disapprove of themselves.
unconditional positive regard/conditions of worth
Which of the following individuals illustrates the trait of extraversion?
Ethan, who communicates with all the members of his choir group lightheartedly
A client is asked to look at a picture and to tell a story that describes what she thinks is happening in the picture. Her therapist will use the content of the story to make inferences about the client's personality. The client is likely taking the _____.
Thematic Apperception Test
The tendency for observers to underestimate the impact of the situation and overestimate the impact of inner dispositions upon another's behavior is called _____.
the fundamental attribution error
Cindy recently played in a softball game in which she misplayed a ground ball for an error. Later in the same game, she made a great catch on a very difficult play. According to the self-serving bias, she would attribute her error to _____ and her good catch to her _____.
a bad bounce/good fielding skills
Alex regularly gives donations of blood to the Red Cross because he received a life-saving transfusion when he was in a car accident two years ago. His helping behavior is best explained by _____.
the concept of reciprocity