Psychology Clep Practice Test Questions

Which of the following is the philosophical approach to studying human behavior that emphasizes the purpose or usefulness of behavior?

A. Structuralism

B. Behaviorism

C. Functionalism

D. Psychoanalysis

E. Humanism

(C) Functionalists focus on the value that behaviors and other psychological characteristics have for an organism's adaptation to its environment. Structuralists focus on what those behaviors and characteristics are, and on finding the basic components that make them up.

Which of the following approaches is used by a psychologist who studies depression by examining levels of a certain neurotransmitter in the brains of depressed and non-depressed people?

A. psychoanalytic

B. behavioral

C. humanistic

D. cognitive

E. biological

(E) The biological perspective emphasizes the roles of hormones, neurotransmitters, and other biological and physiological agents in determining behavior. Psychoanalysts emphasize unconscious wishes and fears; behaviorists emphasize learning; humanists emphasize authenticity of one's self; and cognitivists emphasize thought processes

Which of the following approaches is used by a psychologist who emphasizes the power of rewards and punishments to influence behavior?

A. behavioral

B. cognitive

C. humanistic

D. psychoanalytic

E. biological

(A) Using rewards (or reinforcers) and punishment to change behavior is called "operant conditioning." Operant conditioning is a form of learning, which is central to the behavioral approach to psychology.

A researcher wants to know whether failure at a task causes aggression. As part of her study, some subjects are told they have failed at a task, whereas others are told they have succeeded. Failing or not at the task would be

A. a placebo.

B. the independent variable.

C. a within-subjects manipulation.

D. the dependent variable.

E. a counterbalancing procedure.

(B) Experiments test cause-and-effect relationships by manipulating the presumed cause (the independent variable) and measuring the effect in terms of differences in behavior (the dependent variable) across the experimental and control groups.

Which of the following correlation coefficients represents the strongest relationship between two variables?

A. 0.31

B. -.06

C. 0.73

D. -.81

E. 0.5

(D) Correlation coefficients provide two pieces of information: the direction of a relationship between two variables and the magnitude of that relationship. The magnitude can range from 0 to 1 and, regardless of the direction of the relationship, higher numbers indicate stronger relationships.

"Nature" is to "nurture" as _______ is to _______.

A. genetics; environment

B. biology; physiology

C. physiology; genetics

D. upbringing; social status

E. social status; biology

(A) "Nature" has to do with inborn, genetic, biological reasons for behavior, whereas "nurture" has to do with behaviors, or changes in behaviors, that are the product of experiences.

Which of the following areas of the brain, located at the top of the spinal cord, regulates breathing, waking, and heartbeat?

A. Thalamus

B. Reticular formation

C. Parietal lobe

D. Medulla

E. Cerebellum

(D) The medulla is at the base of the brainstem, which is at the top of the spinal cord. The thalamus is at the top of the brainstem and the reticular formation is in the middle of the brainstem. The parietal lobe is at the back of the brain. The cerebellum hangs under the back of the brain behind the brainstem.

Which of the following greatly speeds up the transmission of signals through a neuron?

A. Dendrites

B. A myelin sheath

C. Depolarization

D. An action potential

E. Vesicles

(B) A myelin sheath is a layer of fatty tissue that insulates the axons of some neurons. Dendrites are a part of the neuron itself, as are vesicles. An action potential is the signal that passes down the neuron. Depolarization is one of the signal-related processes that is accelerated by having a myelin sheath on the neuron.

The period during which the neuron cannot fire is described as which of the following?

A. Lock-up

B. Absolute refractory period

C. Resting period

D. Reset period

E. Hyper-polarization period

(B) The absolute refractory period is a resting pause during which neurons pump positively charged sodium ions back out.

The Somatic Nervous System is part of the

A. central nervous system

B. peripheral nervous system

C. autonomic nervous system

D. sympathetic division

E. parasympathetic division

(B) The central nervous system includes only the brain and spinal cord. The rest of the nervous system is called the peripheral nervous system and is divided into the somatic nervous system, which controls the voluntary movement of skeletal muscles, and the autonomic nervous system (which has two divisions: sympathetic and parasympathetic).

Neurons stimulate nearby glands, muscles, or other neurons through chemicals released from their

A. axons

B. somas

C. dendrites

D. terminal buttons

E. nucleus

(D) Neurotransmitters are stored in terminal buttons on the neuron's axon where they're released to signal adjacent cells.

The reticular formation

A. regulates heartbeat and breathing

B. controls hunger

C. helps control arousal

D. regulates fear and aggression

E. coordinates voluntary movement

(C) Heart rate and breathing are regulated by the medulla; the hypothalamus controls hunger; the amygdala regulates fear and aggression; and voluntary movement is coordinated by the cerebellum.

The nervous system's ability to detect and encode energy from stimuli is called

A. perception

B. parallel processing

C. top-down processing

D. sensation

E. subliminal perception

(D) Perceptual processes (such as perception, top-down processing, subliminal perception) and parallel processing have to do with what happens after stimuli are sensed.

The minimum stimulation needed to detect a stimulus half of the time it's presented is called

A. perception

B. the absolute threshold

C. the just-noticeable difference

D. the difference threshold

E. feature detection

(B) Perception happens after detecting a stimulus. The just-noticeable difference (or difference threshold) is the smallest difference a person can detect between two stimuli. Feature detection has to do with specific neurons' abilities to detect particular features of a stimulus (e.g., lines or angles).

Tina has a box of CDs that's twice as heavy as Gary's. Tina's box would have to have eight more CDs in it before it would feel heavier, whereas Gary's would have to have only four more CDs in it in order for it to feel heavier. This illustrates

A. sensory adaptation

B. Weber's Law

C. the Young-Helmholtz theory

D. opponent-process theory

E. feature detection theory

(B) Weber's Law says that our thresholds for distinguishing between two similar stimuli is a constant proportion of the size of the original stimulus.

Which type of cell allows us to distinguish different wavelengths of light?

A. Ganglion cells

B. Cones

C. Bipolar cells

D. Rods

E. Auditory

(B) Light energy strikes rods and cones: Rods enable black-and-white vision; cones enable color. That energy is transduced into signals sent along bipolar cells and ganglion cells. Ganglion fibers make up the optic nerve, which carries information to the brain. (Something "auditory" has to do with hearing, not vision.)

Which of the following is a binocular cue for perceiving distance?

A. Interposition

B. Motion parallax

C. Linear perspective

D. Relative clarity

E. Convergence

(E) Convergence has to do with the extent to which your eyes must turn inward in order to focus on an object (less convergence is a cue to greater distance). The other cues are based on what only one eye can see.

The fact that parallel lines appear to converge as they get farther away is referred to as

A. retinal disparity

B. relative motion

C. a texture gradient

D. interposition

E. linear perspective

(E) Linear perspective is a monocular cue to distance. The more that two lines converge, the greater their perceived distance. Retinal disparity is the difference between two images on your two retinas; relative motion is the perception that objects closer than a fixation point seem to move backwards (relative to the fixation point); a texture gradient, from coarse to smooth, is a cue to increasing distance; and when one object blocks another (interposition), it appears closer.

When a series of lights on a movie marquee are turned on and off, one after the other, in succession, it appears that a single light is moving around the marquee. This illustrates

A. shape constancy

B. linear perspective

C. perceptual adaptation

D. perceptual set

E. the phi phenomenon

(E) Shape constancy is the ability to recognize an object when seeing it from a new angle; linear perspective is a monocular cue to distance; perceptual adaptation is the ability to adjust to novel sensory input; and a perceptual set is a predisposition to interpret stimuli in a particular way.

If someone is awake, has his or her eyes closed, and is in a relaxed state, an EEG would most likely indicate the presence of

A. alpha waves

B. sleep spindles

C. delta waves

D. rapid eye movements

E. large, slow brain waves

(A) Just prior to entering the first stage of sleep, the brain produces relatively slow, regular waves called alpha waves. Sleep spindles occur during Stage 2 sleep; delta waves are long, slow waves that occur during Stage 4 sleep; and rapid eye movements occur during REM sleep.

During which stage of sleep are hynogogic sensations most likely to occur?

A. Stage 1

B. Stage 2

C. Stage 3

D. Stage 4

E. REM

(A) Sensations of falling or floating, called hypnogogic sensations, occur during the five minutes or so of light sleep, just as one has fallen asleep.

Among humans, the sleep cycle repeats itself every

A. hour

B. 90 minutes

C. 2 hours

D. 30 minutes

E. 45 minutes

(B) Stage 1 sleep lasts about 5 minutes, Stage 2 lasts about 20 minutes, Stage 3 is several minutes long, and Stage 4 lasts about 30 minutes; the next half hour is spent returning through Stage 3 and Stage 2 sleep, and then entering a period of REM sleep. Stage 4 gets shorter with each cycle, whereas REM sleep gets longer.

Narcolepsy is a sleep disorder involving

A. difficulty waking up after a normal night of sleep

B. interruptions in breathing during sleep

C. having trouble staying asleep

D. having trouble falling asleep

E. uncontrollable attacks of intense sleepiness

(E) Sleep apnea involves trouble breathing, and trouble getting to sleep or staying asleep is insomnia.

The idea that the behavior of people who are hypnotized is controlled by normal, conscious processes is part of the theory that says hypnosis entails

A. REM rebound

B. hallucinations

C. role playing

D. dissociation

E. paradoxical sleep

(C) The social influence theory of hypnosis says that people who have been hypnotized are simply fulfilling a social role—that of a good hypnotized subject—and so their behavior while hypnotized reflects normal, everyday psychological processes.

Which of the following is involved in classical conditioning and operant conditioning, respectively?

A. stimulus-stimulus pairings .. non-associative learning

B. non-associative learning .. stimulus-response pairings

C. stimulus-response pairings .. stimulus-stimulus pairings

D. stimulus-stimulus pairings .. stimulus-response pairings

E. associative learning .. non-associative learning

(D) In classical conditioning, learning has to do with figuring out relationships between or among stimuli; in its simplest form, a conditioned stimulus is paired with an unconditioned stimulus. In operant conditioning, a relationship between one's behavior (a response) and its consequences (a stimulus) is learned.

Wally is allergic to cat fur and it makes him sneeze violently. Anita has a lot of cats and her clothes often have cat fur on them. After three dates with Anita, Wally has begun to sneeze violently as soon as he sees her.

What type of learning does this illustrate?

A. Operant conditioning

B. Vicarious learning

C. Observational learning

D. Classical conditioning

E. Spontaneous recovery

(D) In classical conditioning, learning is evidenced by the appearance of a particular response (like sneezing) to a stimulus that hadn't produced it before (Anita).

Wally is allergic to cat fur and it makes him sneeze violently. Anita has a lot of cats and her clothes often have cat fur on them. After three dates with Anita, Wally has begun to sneeze violently as soon as he sees her.

In this example, cat fur would be a(n)

A. unconditioned stimulus

B. reinforcer

C. conditioned stimulus

D. model

E. punisher

(A) Because cat fur automatically and reflexively produces the relevant response (sneezing), it must be the unconditioned stimulus (and sneezing must be the unconditioned response).

Wally is allergic to cat fur and it makes him sneeze violently. Anita has a lot of cats and her clothes often have cat fur on them. After three dates with Anita, Wally has begun to sneeze violently as soon as he sees her.

In this example, sneezing would be

A. an unconditioned response, but not a conditioned response

B. a conditioned response, but not an unconditioned response

C. a punisher

D. a reinforcer

E. both an unconditioned response and a conditioned response

(E) Wally didn't learn to sneeze in response to cat fur, but apparently did learn to sneeze in response to Anita. When cat fur causes his sneezing, then, that sneezing is an unconditioned response; when Anita causes his sneezing, that sneezing would be a conditioned response.

Jeff won money in the state lottery after buying five tickets, then after buying six more tickets, then four more tickets (that is, after every fifth ticket, on average). Which reinforcement schedule maintains Jeff's ticket-buying behavior?

A. Continuous

B. Fixed ratio

C. Variable ratio

D. Fixed interval

E. Variable interval

(C) Jeff's winning depended on how many responses he made (that is, how many tickets he bought), so this is a ratio schedule, but the number of responses needed varied from one win to the next, so it's a variable schedule. Here's a tip: On an interval schedule, the odds of getting reinforced go up with the mere passage of time (that doesn't happen with any form of gambling).

Lucy whines when she doesn't get her way. Last Monday, her mother refused to give in to her whining for five minutes before finally giving Lucy what she was demanding. On Tuesday, her mother resisted for 10 minutes before giving in. On Wednesday, she resisted for 20 minutes. Lucy is being taught to whine for longer and longer periods of time through

A. discrimination training

B. shaping

C. partial reinforcement

D. modeling

E. punishment

(B) This situation illustrates the method of successive approximations, or shaping. In this case, it took five minutes of whining for Lucy to get her first reinforcement, then 10 minutes (which more closely "approximates" 20 minutes), then 20 minutes (which more closely approximates some longer period of time), and so forth.

Sally stopped hitting her brother when she saw a girl on a television show hit someone and then get in trouble for it. What type of learning on Sally's part does this illustrate?

A. Latent learning

B. Partial reinforcement

C. Shaping

D. Generalization

E. Vicarious learning

(E) Vicarious learning is also called "social learning," "observational learning," or "modeling." The idea is that learning happens when people mentally represent the contingency between a behavior and its consequence, even without doing the behavior or experiencing the consequence themselves. Sally learned that hitting would produce punishment (a contingency) by seeing that contingency enforced for someone else.

A rule-of-thumb strategy for solving problems is called a(n)

A. algorithm

B. heuristic

C. prototype

D. insight

E. fixation

(B) A heuristic is a mental shortcut for solving problems (e.g., "always look for National Public Radio at the low end of the FM dial first"). Algorithms are step-by-step, methodical solutions; a prototype is an ideal example of a category; insight is a flash of inspiration, rather than a strategy; and fixations interfere with solving problems.

A child saying "doll" while holding her hand out, as if expecting to be given the doll, would be an example of

A. babbling

B. syntax

C. phonetics

D. telegraphic speech

E. echoic speech

(D) Telegraphic speech is a one- or two-word "sentence" which is accompanied by gestures and expressions that fill in the speaker's intentions.

A child's ability to recognize speech sounds that aren't used in its language begins to disappear during which stage of language development?

A. The one-word stage

B. The babbling stage

C. The two-word stage

D. The multi-word stage

E. The telegraphic stage

(B) By 12 months of age, children are essentially deaf to sounds that aren't used in their native language (unless they've been exposed to those sounds).

Remembering how to get from your house to a friend's house, without consciously knowing how to do it, is an example of

A. iconic memory

B. implicit memory

C. echoic memory

D. flashbulb memory

E. working memory

(B) Implicit memory is also called "procedural memory," whereas explicit, or declarative, memory involves being aware of what you know. A brief photographic memory of an image is called iconic memory; a brief memory of an auditory stimulus is called echoic memory. Flashbulb memories are vivid memories of emotionally charged events. Working memory is another term for "short-term memory."

Achievement tests

A. how well someone is likely to do at a specific task

B. measure the ability to learn

C. measure learned skills or knowledge

D. assess differences across people in the personality traits they have

E. measure intelligence

(C) The ability to do well is measured with aptitude tests; the ability to learn is presumably a function of intelligence; personality tests measure differences in traits.

According to psychoanalytic theory, the part of your personality that steers you toward socially acceptable behavior, even if it doesn't satisfy any needs, is called

A. the reality principle

B. id

C. superego

D. ego

E. the self-concept

(C) Superego operates according to the morality principle: Do what's right and don't do what's wrong, regardless of the consequences.

Homer loves his wife deeply, but he also can't stand the fact that she leaves their car dirty whenever she drives it and he wants to tell her about his anger. According to the psychoanalytic theory, which part of Homer's personality can help him resolve the conflict between loving his wife and being angry at her?

A. Id

B. Ego

C. Superego

D. The morality principle

E. The ideal self

(B) Because ego is the only part of personality that's realistic, and flexible, part of its job is to get needs met in a realistic way. In part, that means resolving conflicts between opposing ways of behaving. Id and superego are inflexible and unrealistic.

If Darlene plays basketball as a way to vent her angry impulses in a socially acceptable way, which defense mechanism is she using?

A. Regression

B. Rationalization

C. Projection

D. Reaction formation

E. Sublimation

(E) Regression involves returning to an earlier way of behaving (e.g., an older child or adult throwing a temper tantrum, like a child); rationalizing involves attempts to justify irrational behavior with rational arguments; projecting is attributing characteristics you don't like in yourself to other people; and reaction formations involve doing the opposite of what you really want to do.

Relatively unique patterns of behavior are

A. traits

B. defense mechanisms

C. self-serving biases

D. attitudes

E. reaction formations

(A) Traits are patterns of behavior (e.g., expressing extraverted behavior in many ways across many situations) that describe dimensions along which people differ (e.g., anywhere from no extraversion to extremely high extraversion).

From Carl Rogers' humanistic perspective, the most important aspect of personality is

A. id

B. the conscience

C. the collective unconscious

D. the self

E. superego

(D) The three components of the personality, according to Rogers, are the self-concept, ideal self, and actual self, and one's goal in life to integrate these three components. Id, conscience, and superego are important Freudian concepts, and the collective unconscious is a Jungian, concept.

Multiple-personality is a rare form of which category of psychological disorders?

A. Anxiety

B. Dissociative

C. Hypochondriasis

D. Schizophrenia

E. Personality

(B) Having multiple personalities (if such a thing actually exists) is called "dissociative identity disorder." (Schizophrenia involves a break from reality; one could have several personalities, each of which can deal with reality, and thus not be schizophrenic.)

Wally is 30 years old and lives at home with his parents. He frequently takes money out of his mother's purse, has killed the neighbor's cat for coming into his yard, and shoots at passing cars with a BB gun. He doesn't feel badly about any of this. Which personality disorder does Wally have?

A. Antisocial

B. Narcissistic

C. Schizophrenia

D. Dissociative

E. Obsessive-compulsive

(A) People who are antisocial violate others' rights and property without guilt or remorse. Narcissists have fantasies of success and fame, wanting others to treat them as someone important; schizophrenia involves difficulty distinguishing between reality and fantasy; dissociative disorders involve the fragmentation of personality; and obsessive-compulsive disorder is an anxiety disorder involving repetitive patterns of thoughts or behaviors.

Dave's mother occasionally has outbursts of uncontrollable behavior, but usually sits motionless in a chair. Dave once tried to help his mother feed herself by lifting her hand up to her mouth, but when he let go her hand remained in mid-air. Which form of schizophrenia does Dave's mother have?

A. Paranoid

B. Residual

C. Disorganized

D. Catatonic

E. Undifferentiated

(D) Catatonia is characterized chiefly by excessive, purposeless movement or by immobility, but might also involve waxy flexibility, echolalia, or echopraxia.

Allison's parents fight constantly. They're loud and violent, and Allison hates it. One day she woke up to find that she could no longer hear. Which disorder does Allison have?

A. Conversion

B. Schizophrenia

C. Mood

D. Panic

E. Dissociative identity

(A) A conversion disorder involves the "conversion" of a psychological conflict ("My parents fight and I can't do anything about it") into a physical symptom (not being able to hear) that eliminates the conflict.

Having a patient relax as much as possible and say whatever comes into his or her mind is central to the technique of

A. systematic desensitization

B. a token economy

C. free association

D. rational-emotive therapy

E. counter-conditioning

(C) Psychoanalysts rely on this technique as a way to get patients past their resistance to talking about anxiety-provoking issues and, memories.

Systematic desensitization would involve

A. anti-psychotic drugs

B. associating relaxation with anxiety-arousing situations

C. challenging client's irrational thoughts

D. helping a client understand his or her "self"

E. pairing unpleasant experiences with undesirable behaviors

(B) Systematic desensitization is based on principles of classical conditioning. Phobic objects presumably arouse anxiety (as a conditioned response) because they've been paired in the past with something that unconditionally aroused anxiety. By pairing them with situations in which the client relaxes, they should come to produce a new conditioned response—relaxation.

A first-grade teacher gives his students gold stars when they read on their own during classroom "free time." When they get 10 stars, they can spend their free time playing outside. What technique for behavior change is this teacher using?

A. Counter-conditioning

B. Flooding

C. Free association

D. Systematic desensitization

E. A token economy

(E) In token economies, people are given tokens of some sort that have little inherent value (e.g., gold stars) and can exchange those tokens for tangible rewards.

Which of these people is most likely to be prescribed Thorazine?

A. Tommy, who's depressed

B. Art, who can't remember anything 15 minutes prior to an accident he was in

C. Gilda, who suffers from delusions of persecution

D. Lloyd, who has mood swings

E. Terry, who's agoraphobic

Which of these people is most likely to be prescribed Thorazine?

A. Tommy, who's depressed

B. Art, who can't remember anything 15 minutes prior to an accident he was in

C. Gilda, who suffers from delusions of persecution

D. Lloyd, who has mood swings

E. Terry, who's agoraphobic

Which psychological principle explains that whether or not an individual notices a faint stimulus is dependent upon a number of variables, including expectations and experiences?

A. just noticeable difference

B. signal detection

C. bottom-up processing

D. Weber's law

E. absolute threshold

(B) According to the signal detection theory, our ability to notice a faint stimulus will vary, due to psychological factors, including motivation, past experiences, and expectations. Signal detection theory rejects the idea of an absolute threshold, which is the minimum stimulation needed for a person to detect a given stimulus 50 percent of the time, because an absolute threshold can vary. The just noticeable difference does not relate to the ability to notice a stimulus, as stated in the example; rather it refers to the ability to detect the smallest difference or change between two similar stimuli. Weber's Law is a formula for determining the just noticeable difference.

Edward Thorndike was a pioneer in conditioning research who studied how cats learned to escape from puzzle boxes. He investigated the type of learning in which responses followed by a positive outcome would be repeated, but responses followed by a negative outcome would not be repeated; this is called

A. classical conditioning

B. vicarious conditioning

C. instrumental conditioning

D. Pavlovian conditioning

E. response-cost training

(C) Edward Thorndike studied instrumental conditioning, which involves an increase in the probability of a response occurring as a result of a positive outcome. This type of learning would come to be called operant conditioning by B.F. Skinner. Vicarious conditioning involves the ability to learn by watching what happens to others. Pavlovian conditioning is another name for classical conditioning and involves repeatedly pairing a neutral stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus in order to elicit a learned response. Response-cost training is another term for punishment.

The parasympathetic nervous system would have which of the following effects?

A. Raising blood sugar

B. Producing perspiration

C. Inhibiting digestion

D. Slowing heart rate

E. Dilating the pupils of the eye

(D) The parasympathetic nervous system tends to reduce signs of arousal associated with the "fight or flight" response produced by the sympathetic nervous system.

Which of the following is often called the master gland?

A. Thyroid

B. Adrenal

C. Pancreas

D. Ovaries/Testes

E. Pituitary

(E) Secretions from the pituitary gland influence the release of hormones from other glands in the endocrine system.

The resting potential for a neuron is

A. 0 mV

B. 40 mV

C. 70 mV

D. - 40 mV

E. -70 mV

(E) This refers to the electrical charge inside the neuron, relative to the charge outside; the charge is positive outside and negative inside. When part of a neuron fires, that part is "depolarized."

Which section of the brain translates thoughts into speech?

A. Wernicke's area

B. Occipital lobe

C. Corpus callosum

D. Broca's area

E. Parietal lobe

(D) Broca's area is responsible for directing the muscle movements involved in speaking. Wernicke's area, another brain structure involved in speech, is the part of the brain where acoustical codes—including spoken words—are decoded and interpreted.

Neurons are held together and provided with nutrients by

A. neurotransmitters

B. hormones

C. glia cells

D. serotonin

E. dopamine

(C) Glia cells act as a sort of "neuronal glue," holding neurons together. They also provide myelin sheathing and nutrients, and clean up excess ions and neurotransmitters. Serotonin and dopamine are neurotransmitters that help neurons communicate with one another. Hormones affect body tissues.

What is the most common inhibitor in the brain, and may have something to do with eating and sleeping disorders?

A. Acetylcholine

B. GABA

C. Dopamine

D. Norepinephrine

E. Serotonin

(B) Acetylcholine contributes to learning and memory; dopamine influences emotions, memory, and movement; norepinephrine helps regulate arousal; and serotonin helps to regulate mood.

Patients with severe seizures sometimes have which part of their brain disconnected from other parts?

A. Thalamus

B. Limbic system

C. Corpus callosum

D. Frontal lobes

E. Hypothalamus

(C) The corpus callosum is a bundle of nerve fibers that connects the two hemispheres of the brain. Severing it prevents seizures from spreading across the brain from one hemisphere to the other.

As daytime approaches, our body temperatures typically rise. This illustrates the effects of

A. dreaming

B. delta waves

C. the circadian rhythm

D. paradoxical sleep

E. REM rebound

(C) "Circadian" is from the Latin for "about" (i.e., circa) and "day" (i.e., dies), so it means "about the day," or a 24-hour period. If a rise in body temperature happens on a daily basis, then, it reflects a circadian rhythm.

Sleep spindles

A. occur during Stage 1 sleep

B. are long, slow brain waves

C. are characterized by alpha waves

D. are rapid, rhythmic bursts of brain activity

E. are characterized by delta waves

(D) These bursts of brain activity occur during Stage 2 sleep.

A sleep disorder involving an interruption in breathing is called

A. sleep apnea

B. narcolepsy

C. insomnia

D. REM rebound

E. hypnosis

(A) Narcolepsy involves unpredictable and uncontrollable attacks of sleep; insomnia involves an inability to fall asleep; REM rebound is an increase in REM sleep following a period of REM deprivation.

Which of the following drugs would be used as a tranquilizer?

A. Opiates

B. Barbiturates

C. Amphetamines

D. Hallucinogens

E. Anti-psychotics

(B) Barbiturates and opiates (e.g., heroin and morphine) are derivatives of opium; they depress the nervous system, but they're highly addictive and have strong side-effects; amphetamines speed up the body's functions; hallucinogens (like LSD) produce distorted perceptions; and anti-psychotics treat psychological disorders that involve hallucinations or delusions, like schizophrenia.

Which of the following would be considered a psychedelic drug?

A. Cocaine

B. Marijuana

C. THC

D. Heroin

E. LSD

(E) LSD causes produces hallucinations and sensory images in the absence of any appropriate sensory input.

The bias toward thinking of objects only in terms of their normal uses, instead of some novel use for which they might be needed, is called

A. the availability heuristic

B. the representativeness heuristic

C. functional fixedness

D. confirmation bias

E. belief perseverance

(C) The availability heuristic involves using the memorability or salience of an event as the basis for judging how often it happens; the representativeness heuristic involves using the similarity between an event and some class of events as the basis for deciding whether that event is a member of the class; confirmation bias is the tendency to look for information that confirms, rather than disconfirms, our beliefs; and belief perseverance is the tendency to maintain discredited beliefs.

People are likely to overestimate the percentage of lawsuits that go to trial, as opposed to being settled out of court, because lawsuits that go to trial are more memorable than those that don't. This phenomenon is called

A. the representativeness heuristic

B. overconfidence

C. confirmation bias

D. the framing effect

E. the availability heuristic

(E) The availability heuristic involves using the memorability or salience of an event as the basis for judging how often it happens. The representativeness heuristic involves using the similarity between an event and some class of events as the basis for deciding whether that event is a member of the class; overconfidence refers to people's tendency to be more confident of judgments than they rationally ought to be; confirmation bias is the tendency to look for information that confirms, rather than disconfirms, our beliefs; and the framing effect refers to the tendency for people's judgments to be influenced by the way in which a problem is presented.

The area of language that deals with linking words to the objects and ideas they represent is

A. semantics

B. syntax

C. pragmatics

D. phonetics

E. telegraphic speech

(A) Syntax refers to the rules for combining words in meaningful ways; pragmatics is about the ways in which people use language (e.g., sarcasm, metaphors); phonetics has to do with the perception and production of speech sounds; and telegraphic speech is the use of one- or two-word utterances in conjunction with gestures and expressions to stand for relatively complex ideas.

To better remember the names of the five Great Lakes you might use the acronym HOMES (Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior). This is an example of

A. chunking

B. rehearsal

C. automatic processing

D. flashbulb memory

E. the serial-position effect

(A) The term "chunking" refers to the grouping of material into manageable, and memorable, units. Rehearsal involves repeating material in order to learn it; automatic processing refers to the mental activities involved in learning things without effort; flashbulb memories are vivid memories of emotionally charged events; and the serial-position effect is the tendency for people to remember material from the middle of a list less well than material from the beginning or end of the list.

When given a list of names, which ones are you most likely to remember?

A. Those at the beginning of the list

B. Those in the middle of the list

C. Those at the end of the list

D. Those at the beginning and at the end

E. They should all be equally memorable

(D) The tendency for people to remember material from the beginning or end of a list better than material from the middle of a list is called the serial-position effect.

The means by which you're able to determine how well you've done on a test compared to other people who have taken the same test is known as

A. validity

B. reliability

C. a correlational study

D. factor analysis

E. standardization

(E) Validity has to do with whether a test measures what it's supposed to; reliability has to do with whether a test measures something consistently; correlational studies are about groups, not individuals; and factor analysis is a statistical tool used for identifying patterns in data.

When you're thirsty, drinking water will reduce

A. achievement motivation

B. an instinct

C. a drive

D. extrinsic motivation

E. homeostasis

(C) According to drive-reduction theories, needs like thirst and hunger disrupt a steady internal state (i.e., homeostasis) and create a "drive" to return the body to homeostasis.

All of the following factors have been shown to affect the desire to affiliate EXCEPT

A. hunger

B. birth order

C. uncertainty

D. fear

E. intelligence

(E) Intelligence has not been shown to affect affiliation. All the other factors have been experimentally manipulated in the lab, and have been shown to affect the desire to affiliate. Similarity of co-affiliators and the degree of possible verbal communication have also been shown to affect affiliation.

The most basic need in Maslow's hierarchy of needs is

A. self-actualization

B. belongingness

C. nourishment

D. security

E. self-esteem

(C) From bottom to top, Maslow's hierarchy describes needs for nourishment, safety, belongingness and love, esteem, and self-actualization.

When Debbie was late for a test, she felt her heart racing and decided she was scared. When an attractive man asked her out she felt her heart racing and decided she was in love. Which theory explains this difference in her emotional responses?

A. James-Lange

B. Cannon-Bard

C. Instinct theory

D. Two-factor theory

E. Opponent-process theory

(D) According to two-factor theory, the quality of arousal is the same regardless of the emotion we experience. How we label that arousal, though, determines the quality of the emotional experience.

A high level of arousal would be most likely to interfere with someone's ability to

A. understand the instruction manual for a complex software program

B. sweep the kitchen

C. watch television

D. ride a bike

E. get dressed

(A) Performance on easy, well-learned tasks is facilitated by arousal; performance on complex, difficult tasks is made worse by arousal.

Four-year-old Steve thinks his mother knows what he's doing, even though she's a hundred miles away and only talking to him on the phone. According to Piaget, which cognitive process accounts for Steve's ideas about what his mother knows?

A. Accommodation

B. Assimilation

C. Egocentrism

D. Concrete operational thought

E. Conservation

(C) Egocentricity refers to the tendency (which presumably gets weaker with age) to believe that other people think and feel what one thinks and feels oneself; in other words, a difficulty distinguishing oneself from others.

During which of Piaget's stages of development should a child come to understand that there can be as much pie in two small pieces as in one big one?

A. Sensorimotor

B. Pre-operational

C. Concrete operational

D. Formal operational

E. Pre-conventional

(C) Recognizing that changes (or differences) in appearance are often irrelevant to quantitative measures of objects (like their mass, volume, number, etc.) is called conservation.

According to Erik Erikson, once a sense of identity has been achieved, young adults begin to search for

A. trust

B. intimacy

C. competence

D. autonomy

E. integrity

(B) According to Erikson, young adults face a crisis between achieving intimacy and being left isolated.

Charlie won't make fun of other kids because he wants his teachers to like him. Which of Kohlberg's stages of moral development is Charlie in?

A. Conventional

B. Pre-conventional

C. Formal operational

D. Pre-operational

E. Post-conventional

(A) According to Kohlberg, people in the conventional stage of morality decide what to do on the basis of social approval. People in the pre-conventional stage base moral decisions on avoiding punishment or getting concrete rewards; people in the post-conventional stage make decisions based on universal rights and ethical principles.

How quickly and abstractly you're able to reason is referred to as

A. concrete operational thought

B. fluid intelligence

C. crystallized intelligence

D. egocentrism

E. temperament

(B) The term "crystallized intelligence" refers to the body of information that one has accumulated over one's life. Crytallized intelligence increases with age, whereas fluid intelligence tends to decline in late adulthood.

According to Freud's psychoanalytic theory, behavior is driven by needs for what two things?

A. Genuineness and acceptance

B. Unconditional positive regard and empathy

C. Self-expression and self-actualization

D. Sex and aggression

E. Congruence and self-actualization

(D) Sex and aggression reflect the "life" and "death" instincts, respectively. The other options refer to humanistic concepts.

Jill is angry at her husband, but is behaving in unusually loving and kind ways toward him. Which defense mechanism is Jill using to hide her anger?

A. Reaction formation

B. Projection

C. Regression

D. Identification

E. Rationalization

(A) In a reaction formation, one behaves in a manner opposite of the way in which one truly wants to behave (in order not to do something—the thing one really wants to do—that would cause anxiety). Projection involves attributing characteristics you don't like in yourself to other people; regression is the return to infantile behavior; identification involves becoming like someone else; and rationalization involves attempts to justify irrational behavior with rational arguments.

Mark believes that there's not much he can do to make good things happen for him or to keep bad things from happening to him. Mark's beliefs illustrate

A. reciprocal determinism

B. a self-serving bias

C. a reaction formation

D. conditions of worth

E. external locus of control

(E) "Locus of control" has to do with what one sees as responsible for events in one's life. Having an internal locus of control means you see yourself as responsible for what happens to you; having an external locus of control means you see others (or uncontrollable events) as responsible for what happens to you.

Which approach to studying personality has as one of its goals reducing all traits down to smaller set of traits that describe most of the differences in people's behavior?

A. Psychoanalytic

B. Humanistic

C. Social-cognitive

D. Trait

E. Person-centered

(D) The trait approach emphasizes describing behavior in terms of individual differences in the levels of various traits people might have.

Which type of therapy is most likely to focus on the patient's or client's childhood experiences?

A. Behavior modification

B. Bio-medical therapy

C. Client-centered therapy

D. Psychoanalysis

E. Rational-emotive therapy

(D) Psychoanalysts trace problems in adults' behaviors to repressed childhood conflicts. The other therapies focus on what the client can do now to change his or her behavior.

When phobias are interpreted within a classical conditioning framework, the problem behavior is considered to be a(n)

A. conditioned response

B. unconditioned response

C. operant behavior

D. unconditioned stimulus

E. conditioned stimulus

(A) Phobic objects produce fear in a few people, but not everyone, so the fear must have been learned. In classical conditioning terms, a learned behavior is a conditioned response.

Jay is afraid of asking women out. Rather than having Jay work his way up to asking someone out by learning to relax when thinking about doing it, his therapist goes with Jay to a bar and tells him to just go ahead and ask someone out. Which therapeutic technique is this therapist using?

A. A token economy

B. Systematic desensitization

C. Flooding

D. Free association

E. Aversion therapy

(C) Flooding involves exposing someone to an experience he/she dreads in order to force the extinction of a (learned) fear. Token economies involve rewards for desirable behavior (it's not clear that Jay will be rewarded); systematic desensitization involves experiencing a hierarchy of anxiety-producing situations from least stressful to most stressful; the psychoanalytic technique of free association involves encouraging clients to say whatever thoughts enter their minds; and aversion therapy pairs an aversive experience (such as nausea) with what would otherwise be a pleasure-producing stimulus (such as alcohol).

All of the following are true of Valium EXCEPT:

A. It is less likely than barbiturates to present the danger of addiction.

B. It can eliminate the effects of fear.

C. It is effective in calming anxiety.

D. It is often used to treat schizophrenia.

E. It is meant only for short- or medium-term use.

(D) Valium depresses nervous system activity, and so calms people down (as do Librium and alcohol). Valium—as with benzodiazepines generally—is considered superior to barbiturates because it's less likely to become addictive, though long-term use—sometimes just a matter of weeks—can allow the body to build up tolerance.

In Zimbardo's famous Stanford Prison Study, college students were randomly assigned to be either prisoners or guards. The results of this study illustrate best the effects of

A. mere exposure on liking

B. frustration on aggression

C. the presence of others on the successful performance of a task

D. the fundamental attribution error on decision making

E. role-playing on attitudes

(E) In Zimbardo's study, people assigned to be guards quickly began to act like guards (without any direct pressure to do so). Similarly, people assigned to be prisoners began to act like prisoners.

Feelings of cognitive dissonance are likely to be highest when we perform a behavior freely and have an attitude that is

A. inconsistent with the behavior

B. consistent with the behavior

C. favorable toward the behavior

D. unfavorable toward the behavior

E. neither favorable nor unfavorable toward the behavior

(A) "Dissonance" is a state of tension that stems from doing something one is opposed to doing. If the behavior can be blamed on something situational (e.g., "I got a lot of money to do that" or "I was forced to do that"), then there isn't much tension. But when we choose to do something that's inconsistent with our values, beliefs, or attitudes, we feel a great deal of tension.

Jeff is part of a 10-member committee appointed to hire a new secretary for his work unit. He disagrees with the other committee members about the qualifications of Candidate A and doesn't want to hire him. Jeff is most likely to go along with the others anyway if

A. he stated his opinion publicly early in the discussion

B. his level of self-esteem is relatively high

C. voting is done by secret ballot

D. the other committee members all agree with each other

E. he feels strongly about hiring a secretary with the credentials he's seeking

(D) Conformity is more likely when one faces a unanimous majority. Conformity is less likely after making a public commitment to a position, when one has high self-esteem, when one is anonymous, and when the issue is something one feels deeply about.

In Milgram's studies of obedience, "teachers" delivered the highest levels of shocks to the "learner" when

A. the two were in the same room together

B. the experimenter called instructions in over the phone

C. another subject refused to deliver shocks

D. the experiment appeared to be supported by a prestigious institution

E. the "teachers" had to hold the "learner's" hand on the shock plate

(D) Obedience was reduced when teachers were close to the learners, when the experimenter (i.e., the authority) was at a distance, another subject modeled disobedience, and when the teachers could not distance themselves from what they were doing.

Students who thought they were pulling on a rope with three other people didn't pull as hard as they did when they thought they were pulling alone. This illustrates

A. groupthink

B. social loafing

C. the bystander effect

D. group polarization

E. social facilitation

(B) Social loafing is a reduction in effort on the part of the individual when working on a group task (relative to the effort put in when working alone). Groupthink is a desire for group harmony that produces acquiescence when making a decision; the bystander effect is the tendency for people not to give help in an emergency when other bystanders are around; group polarization is a tendency for people with similar opinions to shift their opinions in a more extreme direction after discussion; and social facilitation is an improvement in performance when in the presence of others.

Cindy always sits near the same person in her math class. Despite the fact that he doesn't seem especially friendly, Cindy has started becoming fond of him. Cindy's growing feelings of liking illustrate

A. the mere-exposure effect

B. the bystander effect

C. social facilitation

D. the fundamental attribution error

E. the actor-observer difference

(A) Within certain limits, as novel things or persons become more familiar, they also become more likable. The more we see someone, the more likely we are to like him/her.