Psych test 2 adaptive questions

A researcher studies how thinking, emotions, and physical abilities change from infancy to old age. What field is this?

Developmental psychology

An infant raised in a high-stress, low-nutrition environment shows delayed brain development. What explains this?

Environment negatively affects synaptic development and brain growth.

A child in a poor environment improves after early education programs. Why?

Enrichment can reduce negative environmental effects on brain development.

A baby turns its head when its cheek is touched. What reflex is this?

Rooting reflex

A newborn automatically begins sucking when something touches its mouth.

Sucking reflex

A baby tightly grips a finger placed in its palm.

Grasping reflex.

A baby learns to walk without being taught. What explains this?

Maturation

A newborn prefers sugar water over plain water. Why?

Infants prefer sweet tastes

A parent worries their newborn can’t see clearly. What’s true?

Poor vision at birth is normal

A baby cries when their mom leaves but is quickly comforted when she returns.

Secure attachment

A baby ignores their caregiver when they leave and return.

Avoidant attachment

A baby is extremely upset when caregiver leaves and cannot be comforted when they return.

Ambivalent attachment

A monkey prefers a soft cloth “mother” over a wire one that provides food. What does this show?

Attachment is based on comfort not just food.

A toddler looks for a toy that was hidden under a blanket.

Object permanence

A child believes others see the world exactly as they do.

Egocentrism

A child thinks a taller glass has more juice even if amounts are equal.

Lack of conservation

A child understands that reshaping clay doesn’t change its amount.

Conservation

A teen can think about hypothetical situations and future possibilities.

Formal operational stage

A teacher helps a student solve a problem step-by-step, then slowly removes help.

Scaffolding

A child’s thinking and language are shaped by their culture.

Sociocultural theory

A baby says “ba-ba-ba-” repeatedly with no meaning.

Babbling

A toddler says “milk” to mean “I want milk.”

One-word stage

A child says '“I goed to the store”

Overregularization

A toddler says “want cookie” instead of full sentences.

Telegraphic speech

A teen makes risky decisions because emotions overpower reasoning. Why?

Limbic system is more active than frontal cortex.

A teenager is trying to figure out who they are and what they believe

Identity vs. role confusion

A toddler insists on doing everything independently (“I do it”)

Autonomy vs. shame

A child feels proud after doing well in school

Industry vs. inferiority

A young adult struggles to form close relationships

Intimacy vs isolation

An older adult reflects on life with regret

Integrity vs. despair

Parents are strict with many rules but show litte warmth.

Authoritarian

Parents are warm but set few rules

Permissive

Parents set rules but are also supportive and responsive

Authoritative

Parents are uninvolved and indifferent.

Neglectful

A child follows rules to avoid punishment.

Preconventional

A person follows laws to gain approval from others

Conventional

A person breaks a law because it violates human rights.

Postconventional

A 22-year-old is exploring careers and relationships but not settled yet.

Emerging adulthood

An older adult focuses more on meaningful relationships than achievements.

Emotional prioritization in aging

An elderly person struggles with memory and daily tasks due to brain damage

dementia

A student studies more efficiently after practicing over time and improving their study habits. What is happening?

Learning (change in behavior from experience)

After practicing piano daily, a child’s brain forms stronger neural connections. What explains this?

Learning changes synaptic connections between neurons.

You stop noticing the sound of a fan after a while.

Habituation

After hearing a loud noise repeatedly, you become jumpier each time.

Sensitizaiton

A dog starts salivating when it hears a bell that was repeatedly paired with food. What type of learning is this?

Classical conditioning.

A student feels anxious when entering a classroom where they previously failed a test. Why

Classical conditioning (association)

Food naturally makes a dog salivate. What is the food?

Unconditioned stimulus

Salivating automatically to food.

Unconditioned response.

A bell before conditioning that causes no reaction.

Neutral stimulus

The bell after being paired with food.

Conditioned stimulus

Salivating to the bell after learning

Conditioned response

A dog gradually learns that a bell means food.

Acquisition

A dog stops salivating to a bell after it is no longer paired with food.

extinction

After extinction, the dog suddenly salivated again after hearing the bell.

Spontaneous recovery

A dog salivates to different tones similar to the original bell.

Stimulus generalization

A dog only responds to one specific tone and ignores others

stimulus discrimination

A light is paired with a bell that already causes salivation, and eventually the light alone causes salivation.

Higher order conditioning

A child develops a fear of dogs after being bitten once.

Classical conditioning

A therapist gradually exposes a patient to spiders while teaching relaxation.

Exposure therapy (systematic desensitization)

A person pairs a feared object with something positive to reduce fear.

Counterconditioning

Someone eats sushi once, gets sick, and refuses to eat it again.

Conditioned taste adversion

A child studies more because they get rewarded with extra screen time.

Operant conditioning.

A cat presses a lever and gets food, so it keeps pressing it.

Law of Effect

A dog is given food for sitting

Primary reinforcer

A student studies to earn money

secondary reinforcer

A behavior increases after a reward is given

Reinforcement

A behavior decreases after a consequence

Punishment

A teacher gives candy for good behavior

Positive reinforcement

Taking medicine removes a headache, making you more likely to take it again.

Negative reinforcer

A student gets detention for talking in class

positive punishment

A teen loses their phone for breaking rules.

Negative punishment

Which increases behavior: reinforcement or punishment?

Reinforcement

What decreases a behavior?

punishment

A worker gets paid every 2 weeks.

Fixed interval

A student has surprise quizzes.

Variable interval

A worker gets paid per item completed

Fixed ratio

A gambler wins money unpredictably

variable ratio

Which schedule leads to the highest and most consistent responding?

Variable ratio

Which schedule causes pauses after the reward?

Fixed schedules

A punishment only works sometimes and is delayed. Why is it ineffective?

It is not consistent or immediate.

What must a punishment be to work?

Immediate, consistent, intense, and not signaled.

Why is reinforcement usually better than punishment?

It builds a desired behavior, while punishment only stops behavior.

A trainer rewards a dog for getting closer and closer to rolling over.

shaping

A therapist uses rewards to replace bad habits with good ones.

Behavior modification

A rat learns a maze without reward but later performs well when rewarded

Latent learning

A child learns to tie shoes by watching a parent.

Observational learning

A child imitates a popular influencer’s behavior.

Modeling

A child avoids a behavior after seeing someone else get punished.

Vicarious conditioning.

A student studies, remembers the material later, and recalls it during the test. What three processes are involved?

Encoding, storage, retrieval

A student scrolls on TikTok during a lecture and later cannot remember the material. Why?

Limited attention impairs memory formation.

You briefly see a flash of light and remember it for a split second.

Sensory memory

You hold a phone number in your mind just long enough to dial it.

Short-term memory

You remember information form a class you took last year.

Long-term store

Sophia groups numbers into chunks (123-456-789) to remember them.

Chunking

A person can only remember about 7 things at once.

Short-term memory capacity

Reese repeats a phone number in her head to remember it.

rehearsal loop

Colten imagines rearranging furniture in his rv.

visuospatial sketchpad

James weighs out the pros and cons before coming to a decision.

Executive control system

Kendall connects new information to personal experiences to remember it better.

Elaborative rehearsal

Maddie just repeats information over and over without thinking about the meaning.

Maintenance rehearsal