Psych practice exam questions

Although basic emotions are experienced the same way across cultures, there are cultural guidelines that govern how and when to express emotions. These are called ____

a) display rules

b) exhibitionism markers

c) demonstrativeness customs

d) overt expressiveness norms

A) display rules

In classical conditioning, the behavior is ____ whereas in operant condition the behavior is ______

a) decreased; increased

b) automatic ; voluntary

c) voluntary ; automatic

d) increased ; decreased

b) automatic ; voluntary

Psychologist Mary Ainsworth developed the _____ test to assess the different types of attachment that might exist between a child and his or her primary caregiver

a) seperation - reuinifcation

b) seperation

c) strange situation

d) attachment schema

c) strange situation

What percent of subjects in Milligram’s experiment on obedience actually completed the shock series?

a) less than 1%

b) between 5% and 10%

c) about 65%

d) about 90%

c) about 65%

Gwen has posted a questionnaire on Facebook asking her friends to support her idea of cell phones in the classroom. She ignores anyone opposing her beliefs, which is an example of ____

a) naïve realism

b) conjunctive fallacy

c) confirmation bias

d) attribution bias

c) confirmation bias

When she is not at a bar, Jayla preaches to everyone about the dangers of smoking. However, she does smoke an occasional cigarette when she is at the bar with her friends, although at those times she feels somewhat frustrated by her own smoking behavior. Jayla is likely experiencing ____ when she smokes

a) groupthink

b) cognitive dissonance

c) social facilitation

d) compliance

b) cognitive dissonance

Agnostina is sitting at the table with her son Nikko. She takes his tall glass of milk, which is only half full, and pours it not a shorter wider glass. Then she says “Honey which glass has more milk?”
Nikko immediately points to the taller glass, as he is chewing his peanut butter sandwich. Nikko has not yet mastered Piagets skill of _____

a) centration

b) conservation

c) object permanence

d) egocentrism

b) conservation

According to Selye, some people may develop illnesses such as organ damage, depression, anxiety, or a weakened immune system during the ____ stage of the general caption syndrome.

a) alarm

b) collapse

c) exhaustion

d) resistance

c) exhaustion

Our visual sneery receptor cells are located in the _____

a) cornea

b) fovea

c) optic nerve

d) retina

b) fovea

OR

d) retina

Phineas Gage had a tamping iron propelled through his head. His frontal lobe was severely damaged. As a result of the accident, Phineas Gage _____

a) died from his injuries

b) suffered loss of his arms and legs

c) lost his sense of hearing

d) suffered a change in personality

d) suffered a change in personality

Which of the following does research show contributes to happiness?

a) being in your 20s

b) making more than $75,000 a year

c) living in California

d) practicing gratitude

d) practicing gratitude

Identify the operant principle in the following scenario : Molly, age 10, loses her glasses while playing at the park. Her parents require her to use part of her birthday money to buy replacement glasses, which makes Molly upset. She had planned to use her birthday money to buy an iPod.

a) positive reinforcement

b) negative reinforcement

c) positive punishment

d) negative punishment

D) Negative punishment

Identify the operant principle in the following scenario: Whenever Juan hits his little brother, his mom gives him an extra chore to do. Juan is now hitting his brother less often.

a) positive reinforcement

b) negative reinforcement

c) positive punishment

d) negative punishment

c) positive punishment

Milgram’s study on obedience has bene criticized on the basis of _____

a) methodological weaknesses

b) inability to replicate

c) lack of real - life application

d) ethics

d) ethics

According to psychological research described in the How to Study article, which TWO study techniques were shown to be the most effective?

a) hoping for the best

b) distributed practice

c) self testing

d) elaborative interrogation

e) self - explanation

f) interleaved practice

c) self testing and b) distributed practice

Concerned with his own academic flaws and weaknesses, Preston often aggressively lashes out as his instructors via his evaluations of their teaching ability on instructor rating websites and during class teaching evaluations. This is an example of which Freudian defense mechanism?

a) denial

b) projection

c) intellectualization

d) displacement

b) projection

During with of Piaget’s stages does a child demonstrate the ability to reason about abstract ideas of hypothetical situations?

a) formal operations

b) sensorimotor

c) concrete operations

d) pre operational

a) formal operations

Which type of receptor cell is associated with seeing colors?

a) ganglia

b) bipolar

c) rods

d) cones

d) cones

Julie is expected to cut the lawn weekly. Her parents only give her money once in a while after she cuts the lawn. Julia is being conditioned using a ____ schedule of reinforcement.

a) continuos

b) partial

c) classical

d) fixed ratio

b) partial

______, whose goal was to explain the role of mental processes in behavior, developed as a reaction to ________’s tenancy to think of the ming like a black box.

a) structuralism; psychoanalysis

b) behaviorism ; cognitivism

c) psychoanalysis; structuralism

d) cognitivism; behaviorism

d) cognitivism; behaviorism

A student researcher wishes to maximize the external validity of his or her research design. What research method should you recommend to him or her?

a) case study design

b) naturalistic observational design

c) correlational design

d) experimental design

b) naturalistic observational design

According to the discrete emotions theory, emotions _____

a) differ significantly across cultures

b) are independent of physiological responses at all

c) exist to serve evolutionary functions that are the same in all of us

d) are found only in civilized cultures

c) exist to serve evolutionary functions that are the same in all of us

Identify the conditioned stimulus in the following scenario: When you were a child, your mother always made you chocolate chip cookies when you were sad, cheering you up. As an adult, whenever you smell chocolate chip cookies baking, you feel happier.

a) feeling happier

b) your mother

c) smelling chocolate chip cookies

d) feeling sad

c) smelling chocolate chip cookies

According to Piaget, egocentrism and a lack of conservation ability are both qualities that are seen int the ____ stage of development

a) pre operational

b) formal operations

c) concrete operations

d) sensorimotor

a) pre operational

During what stage of sleep are we most likely to experience a vivid dream?

a) non - REM sleep

b) stage 2 sleep

c) REM sleep

d) stage 4 sleep

c) REM sleep

Following a car accident, Jane and Joan both suffer head injuries resulting with amnesia. Joan cannot remember events that occurred before the car accident, which Jane cannot remember events that occurred after the accident. Joan suffers from _____ amnesia and Jane from _______ amnesia

a) anterograde ; retrograde

b) retrograde; anterograde

c) proactive ; retroactive

d) retroactive ; proactive

b) retrograde; anterograde

Reminiscing about the day you moved to Elon represents which type of long term memory?

a) semantic

b) procedural

c) episodic

d) unconscious

c) episodic

Who is most likely suffering from retrograde amnesia?

a) Mariana, who struggles to remember the names of people she just met

b) Billy, who cannot seem to learn a foreign language

c) Margie who cannot remember much of anything before being attacked on the street after a late - night party

d) Cecil, who can’t remember much of anything after his wife died

c) Margie who cannot remember much of anything before being attacked on the street after a late - night party

Dr. Kripnick is studying the impact of nutrition on learning. To conduct the experiment, he takes a sample of his population and exposes one randomly selected group to a high sugar diet, while the second group gets a balanced diet. He then proceeds a lecture on the Civil War and gives everyone an exam after the lecture. In this case scores on the exam is the _______ variable.

a) confoudning

b) dependent

c) casual

d independent

b) dependent

According to Freud, the motivated forgetting of distressing external experiences is known as _____

a) repression

b) amnesia

c) archetyping

d) regression

a) repression

The major difference between pseudoscience and science is that ______

a) pseudoscience addresses different questions about science

b) pseudoscience is less similar to popular psychology than science is

c) pseudoscience lacks the safeguards against cognitive biases that characterize science

d) pseudoscience lacks the general level of public support that characterizes science

c) pseudoscience lacks the safeguards against cognitive biases that characterize science

The typically negative behaviors an individual displays toward others based on membership in a particular group is referred to as _____; the typically negative attitudes an individual has toward others based on membership in a particular group is referred to as ____

a) discrimination ; aggression

b) stereotypes ; discrimination

c) prejudice ; discrimination

d) discrimination ; prejudice

d) discrimination ; prejudice

According to Kohlberg, behavior motivated by the avoidance of punishment and the gaining of rewards represents _____ morality

a) pre conventional

b) conventional

c) post conventional

d) formal conventional

a) pre conventional

Which of the following theories states that emotions drive from our interpretations of our bodily reactions to stimuli?

a) James - Lange theory of emotion

b) two - factor theory of emotion

c) somatic marker theory

d) Cannon - Bard theory of emotion

a) James - Lange theory of emotion

A patient in a psychiatric hospital exhibits disordered thinking, bizarre behavior, and hallucinations. This person is probability suffering from ____

a) schizophrenia

b) bipolar disorder

c) a dissociate disorder

d) a passive - aggressive personality

a) schizophrenia

The differences between insomnia and narcolepsy is _____

a) insomnia causes people to have difficulty falling asleep when they want to, which narcolepsy causes people to fall asleep when they do not want to

b) narcolepsy causes people to have difficulty falling asleep when they want to, while insomnia causes people to fall asleep when they do not want to

c) insomnia is a Stage 1 and stage 2 disorder, while narcolepsy is a REM stage disorder

d) narcolepsy is a stage 1 and stage 2 disorder, while insomnia is a REM stage disorder

a) insomnia causes people to have difficulty falling asleep when they want to, which narcolepsy causes people to fall asleep when they do not want to

Knowing that Raleigh is the capital of North Carolina best represents which type of memory?

a) semantic

b) echoic

c) procedural

d) episodic

a) semantic

According to Freud, defense mechanism are unconscious attempts to minimize feelings of ____

a) denial

b) anxiety

c) repression

d) regression

b) anxiety

_____ are receptors that are best for seeing details

a) Cones

b) Rods

c) Bipolar cells

d) Ganglion cells

a) Cones

When you ride a bike, what type of long - term memory does this use?

a) episodic

b) semantic

c) sensory

d) procedural

d) procedural

Dr. Potter, an English professor, is curious about his students attitudes toward one of his favorite books. What research method is he most likely to use to gather this information?

a) survey

b) case study

c) experiment

d) naturalistic aberration

a) survey

While Sid is sitting at this desk at work an image of harming his young son pops into his mind. Each time this occurs, he touches all four corners of his desk in a particular order. Sid probably suffers from

a) generalized anxiety disorder

b) agoraphobia

c) obsessive - compulsive disorder

d) panic disorder

c) obsessive - compulsive disorder

Which of the following is TRUE about neurotransmitters?

a) neurotransmitters can bind to any receptor side

b) neurotransmitters may be enhanced by reuptake of the neurotransmitter back into the axon terminal

c) neurotransmitters bind to the receptor sites that are specific to that type of neurotransmitter

d) neurotransmitters are responsible for communication with one neuron

c) neurotransmitters bind to the receptor sites that are specific to that type of neurotransmitter

The ______ variable is what the researchers “manipulate” or varies in an experimental study

a) control

b) dependent

c) operational

d) independent

independent

A key aspect of an experiment that is missing in other research design is ______

a) description of the phenomena of interest

b) explanation of why a relationship exists

c) prediction of the effects of differences in variable on another

d) random assignment of participants to different groups

d) random assignment of participants to different groups

Psychologists from which school of thought are most likely to ask “why” in order to understand the function or adaptive purpose of our thoughts, feelings, or behaviors

a) behaviorsism

b) psychoanalysis

c) introspection

d) functionalism

d) functionalism

OR

a) behaviorsism

Which of the following statements is TRUE?

a) Action potentials either fire completely or they do not fire at all

b) action potentials travel from the axon terminal to the dendrite

c) action potentials will jump from node to node only on demyelinated axons

d) action potentials can occur in a rapid - fire sort of process, with no break

a) Action potentials either fire completely or they do not fire at all

What is the correct sequence of stage in the general adaption syndrome?

a) resistance, alarm, exhaustion

b) exhaustion, resistance, alarm

c) alarm, exhaustion, resistance

d) alarm, resistance, exhaustion

d) alarm, resistance, exhaustion

Davis has such an intense, irrational fear of clowns that he cannot take his daughter to see the circus when it is in town. Davis would most correctly be diagnosed as suffering from ____

a) obsessive - compulsive disorder

b) panic disorder

c) a phobia

d) posttraumatic stress disorder

c) a phobia

Kayla has experienced a decrease in the need for sleep in the past three nights, is extremely talkative and creative, and has been irresponsible with money during this time. Kayla is in the midst of a(n) ____

a) dissociated amnesiac episode

b) major depressive epos

c) manic episode

d) obsessive episode

c) manic episode

As we sleep during the night, we spend most of our time in ______ sleep

a) REM

b) stage 1

c) stage 2

d) stage 4

c) stage 2

The system of memory that can hold approximately seven “chunks” or information for approximately 15 seconds is called ______ memory

a) long - term

b) permastore

c) sensory

d) short - term

d) short - term

The neural impulse traveling down the axon is _____ : it gets accorded the synapse by _______

a) electrical; remaining electrical but changing from positively charged to negatively charged

b) electrical; remaining electrical but changing from negatively charged to positively charged

c) chemical; being changed into an electrical message

d) electrical; being changed into a chemical message

d) electrical; being changed into a chemical message

Indemnify the unconditioned stimulus in the following scenario; Cancer patients receiving chemotherapy frequently develop nausea and vomiting as a result of the chemicals. After several treatment, some patients develop nausea when they see the nurse.

a) the nurse

b) chemotherapy chemicals

c) nausea when they see the nurse

d) nausea as a result of the chemicals

b) chemotherapy chemicals

Sleep apnea causes airways to become blocked during sleep. This conditioned leads to

a) multiple awakenings during the night

b) sleepwalking

c) odd behavior such as eating or driving while asleep

d) night terrors

a) multiple awakenings during the night

Match the description to the personality trait. Alejandra impulsively decided to take a last - minute flight to California but due to her lack of responsibility and diligence she is running last for her flight.

a) openness

b) agreeableness

c) extraversion

d) conscientiousness

e) neuroticism

d) conscientiousness

Match the description to the personality trait. When choosing groups for a class project, everyone wants to work with Darius because he’s nice, cooperative, and empathetic.

a) openness

b) agreeableness

c) extraversion

d) conscientiousness

e) neuroticism

b) agreeableness

Match the description to the personality trait. Marco’s friends are trying to convince him to go to a party but Marco would rather stay at home and read a book than socialize with acquaintances .

a) openness

b) agreeableness

c) extraversion

d) conscientiousness

e) neuroticism

c) extraversion

Match the description to the personality trait. Buffie has an active imagination and likes to try new things. She often spends her weekends checking out different art galleries.

a) openness

b) agreeableness

c) extraversion

d) conscientiousness

e) neuroticism

a) openness

Match the description to the personality trait. Raj often interprets situations negatively which leads him to feel sad, frustrated, disappointed, and angry.

a) openness

b) agreeableness

c) extraversion

d) conscientiousness

e) neuroticism

e) neuroticism