Psych Multiple Choice Exam 3 Part 1

Researchers have found that despite the number of color names in a language, the basic abilities
to perceive color are unchanged. This finding would be troublesome for the theory of ________.

Sapir and Whorf

The system of rules that governs how we combine words to form grammatical sentences is
called

syntax

Don tells Ray he wants to get a new sports car. Ray immediately understands why, because he is
familiar with the common characteristics of sports cars and knows what makes them different
from family cars. Ray is using mental categories called

concepts

A group of businessmen and women get together to try to solve the problem of decreased sales
of their company’s products. One of them suggests that they generate as many ideas as they can
in a short period of time without being critical of any of them. This technique of stimulating
divergent thinking is called ________.

brainstorming

The tendency to perceive and approach problems in the same ways that have worked in the pastis called

B) sensorimotor

You are learning Russian in preparation for a trip next summer. Although you are doing a good
job recognizing the written signs you need to know, you are having trouble with the sounds of
the Russian language. Which of the following aspects of language is giving you trouble?

B) PKU

On September 6, 2007, Alex the African gray parrot died. He was an important part of the work
conducted by researcher Irene Pepperberg in ________.

D) 21

The system of rules for combining words and phrases to make meaningful sentences is called
________.

B) perimenopause

The period of life from about age 13 to the early twenties, during which a young person is nolonger physically a child but is not yet an independent, self-supporting adult, is called ________.

B) adolescence

Javier was born 3 days ago. His parents have noticed that he has several reflexes which the
doctors have been testing. Which of the following is not a reflex exhibited by healthy newborns?

D) walking reflex

The growth spurt for girls typically begins at what age?

B) 10

Erikson’s theory of social development viewed the period from ages 3 to 6, his third stage, as
characterized by the major challenge of ________.

D) initiative versus guilt

Jeremy is 17 years old. According to Erikson, his chief task will be acquiring a sense of ________.

A) identity

Medication for ADHD for children can also be proven effective for adult symptoms. Which of
the following are types of medications that are used to treat this condition?

B) stimulants and antidepressants

Which of the following terms is used to describe any substance, such as a drug, chemical, or virus, that can bring about a birth defect?

D) teratogen

Which of the following is NOT evidence of puberty in boys?

C) higher pitch of the voice

Leticia has just learned that she is terminally ill. She is now always irritable, often throws things on the floor, and yells at members of her family and the nurses who care for her. According to Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, Leticia is most likely in the ________ stage of dying.

B) anger

Which of the following is a disadvantage of the longitudinal design?

B) Participants may drop out due to moving, loss of interest, or death.

In which of Piaget’s stages does the child develop conservation?

C) preoperational

Juan and Carlos are identical twins. Juan was raised by his father and mother, and Carlos was accidentally placed with another family after a "mix up" at the hospital. At the age of 15, both boys "ran into each other" at a football game and noticed how they appeared to be "mirror images of each other." After proving they were twins by genetic testing, the families discussed some of the differences between the boys. Juan is very athletic and intelligent and excels in basketball but does not take school seriously and has F’s in all subjects. Carlos is also athletic and intelligent, and excels in baseball and makes straight A’s as a result of his strict home life and study routine. Although they are identical twins, what do you think accounts for the differences in their academic performance based on the research?

B) nurture

Monozygotic twins ________.

A) are genetically identical

A baby’s language that consists of repetition of consonant-vowel combinations is called
________.

B) babbling

Your little brother has a big ball of clay. While he watches, you roll the ball of clay into a long
snake-like shape. He begins to cry because he thinks he has less clay now. Which of Piaget’s stages is your brother likely to be in?

D) preoperational

Times when certain internal and external influences have a major impact on development are called ________.

A) critical periods

What is the sequence of stages of moral development as identified by Lawrence Kohlberg?

B) preconventional, conventional, postconventional

According to Kohlberg, most adolescents are at the ________ level of morality.

D) conventional

________ develop when two eggs each get fertilized by two different sperm, resulting in two zygotes in the uterus at the same time.

A) Dizygotic twins

Sarah is in her forties. Her menstrual cycle is irregular and she is experiencing "hot flashes" that are keeping her awake at night. The changes Sarah is experiencing are called ________.

D) the climacteric

Which of the following describes the fetal period?

…the period during which tremendous growth occurs and the organs continue to develop and become functional

Professor Grant is interested in studying the development of a sense of humor. She collects data from groups of 6-year-olds, 16-year-olds, 26-year-olds, and 46-year-olds. What type of research design is Professor Grant using?

cross-sectional design

The ________ theory of aging suggests that unstable oxygen molecules cause damage to the structure of cells, increasing with age.

free radical theory

The frequent finding that asthmatics often experience shortness of breath concurrently with tremendous anxiety is an example of how emotions and physiological symptoms often occur simultaneously. As such, it supports which of the following theories of emotion?

Cannon-Bard theory

Seeing a snake, running away from it, and then becoming frightened is the sequence of events postulated by the ________ theory.

James-Lange

Which theory of emotion proposes that stimuli cause physiological changes in our bodies and
emotions result from those physiological changes?

James-Lange

"I think I’m afraid; therefore, I am afraid." Name the theory of emotion that this statement
characterizes.

cognitive arousal theory

Which of the following behaviors is NOT an example of drive-reduction theory?

going jogging when you are bored

Jenny has an intense interest in food but eats sparingly and with disgust. She has an intense fear of becoming obese, and even though she looks emaciated, she still claims she "feels fat" and refuses to eat enough to maintain even a minimal normal body weight for her frame. She is most likely suffering from ________.

anorexia nervosa

Which statement is most consistent with the James-Lange theory of emotion?

I’m anxious because I perspire."

Drives serve to activate responses that are aimed at reducing the drive, thereby returning the body to a more normal state called ________.

homeostasis

Jell-O uses the slogan, "There’s always room for Jell-O." To which theory of motivation is this
slogan most relevant?

incentive

Monica put all her time and energy into getting into the acting club because her main goal in life "was to be a famous star!" Monica’s drive to be famous was a (an) ________ drive.

?

People who are attempting to become extremely thin by refusing to eat suffer from ________.

anorexia nervosa

Sam is known to be the fastest worker in the mail room. He has worked in the mail room for
only a short time, but prides himself on being competent and a quick learner. He often gets
positive comments from coworkers and his boss, which helps to motivate him and has a positive effect as he continues to challenge himself at work. As a result of his efficient style, he is also given more freedom than other workers as his boss is impressed by his ability to sort and organize mail. Sam is likely to be ________ motivated as he continues to challenge and push himself to perform even better each day.

extrinsically

Anna Nicole weighed about 125 pounds most of her adult life. However, it seemed like
whenever Anna Nicole gained weight it was easy to lose and get back to 125. But when she
wanted to go below 125 it took forever, and even the slightest deviation from her diet got her
back to 125. What explanation would you give Anna Nicole?

Her weight, 125, is her set point. Leave it alone.

Each of the following is a symptom of bulimia EXCEPT ________.

refusal to maintain body weight at or above minimal normal weight for age and height

To psychologists, motivation refers to ________.

an inferred process within an organism that causes it to move toward a goal or away from an unpleasant situation

Physical arousal has to be interpreted cognitively before it is experienced as a specific emotion,
according to ________.

Schachter and Singer

Obesity is defined as the condition of being at least ________ percent over the ideal body weight.

20

The theory stating that behaviors are motivated by an organism’s attempts to reduce tension
from conditions such as hunger or thirst and return the body to a state of balance is called
________ theory.

drive-reduction

Which of the following is correct concerning the interaction of culture and food?

American women eat when they are depressed whereas Japanese women eat because of social demands.

Primary drives are ________.

unlearned

The Yerkes-Dodson Law says ________.

D) performance is affected by levels of physical arousal

Paul Ekman and his colleagues gathered abundant evidence supporting the universality of
________ basic facial expressions of emotion.

B) seven

Research has shown that people who regularly work crossword puzzles, take classes, read, and
stay mentally active are less likely to develop ________ than those who fail to use their minds.

D) senile dementia

Which of the following statement is true about Kanzi, the bonobo chimp?

D) all of these

Which type of thinking is most closely related to creativity?

D) divergent

What are mental categories representing activities, objects, qualities, or situations that share
some common characteristics?

B) concepts

Jordan is a 10-year-old boy who has a mental age of 8 years. His IQ would be ________.

C) 80

The trial-and-error method of solving problems is also known as ________.

A) the mechanical solution

Most researchers who study the role of race and IQ testing have concluded that ________.

?

What systematic problem-solving method guarantees a solution, provided that one exists?

B) algorithmic method

When adults who are speaking to infants change the pitch and rhythm in their speech, they are
altering their ________.

C) intonation

Agatha Harkness-Smythe is determined to ban guns in the United States. This is a controversial
topic and social scientists have debated whether the ownership of guns by citizens increases or
decreases crime. Agatha could go to the library and look up studies on the linkage between guns
and crime rates. Instead, Agatha just reads the local newspaper and only cuts out articles about
robberies in which the "bad guy" used a firearm. Agatha is demonstrating ________.

C) confirmation bias

In Kosslyn’s "imaginary island" study, researchers found that it does take longer to view a mental image that ________.

A) is larger or covers more distance than one that is smaller and more compact

Which classification of developmental delay affects most of the population classified in this
fashion?

?

What type of thinking could be described as taking different directions in search of a variety of answers to a question?

B) divergent

A loose screw on the visor causes it to drop down while Ben drives; however, he keeps
forgetting to take a screwdriver out to the car to fix it. When he notices the visor drop again, he
reaches into his pocket for a dime he uses to tighten the screw holding the visor. What
problem-solving difficulty did Ben overcome?

A) functional fixedness

Kohler demonstrated "Aha!" or insight behavior with ________.

A) chimps

Which of Erik Erikson’s psychosocial crises revolves around the child’s learning to direct his or her own behavior?

B) initiative versus guilt

According to Erikson, an emotional and psychological closeness that is based on the ability to
trust, share, and care, while still maintaining one’s sense of self, is called ________.

C) attachment

At what point during infancy can babies tell the difference between their own mother’s milk
scent and another woman’s milk scent?

?

Ovum is a term used to describe ________.

B) the female sex cell or egg

When faced with a conflict between law and conscience, Liz follows her conscience despite the
personal risk. This would be characteristic of ________.

D) postconventional morality

Jeremy is 17 years old. According to Erikson, his chief task will be acquiring a sense of ________.

B) identity

The period of life from about age 13 to the early twenties, during which a young person is no
longer physically a child but is not yet an independent, self-supporting adult, is called
________.

A) adolescence

According to Thomas and Chess, a child that is very irregular in sleeping and eating, resists
change, and tends to be loud is labeled a(n) ________ child.

D) difficult

In ________ syndrome, the 21st pair of chromosomes contains an extra chromosome resulting in symptoms such as wide-set almond-shaped eyes and mental retardation.

D) Down

Aaron is a middle-aged physician. He gives back to the community by acting as a mentor to
teenagers interested in entering the medical profession. Erikson would say that Aaron is
experiencing ________.

C) generativity

Jill is motivated by money and the things money will bring her. Jack is motivated by a belief in
the importance of doing good things, and his incentives are based on that belief. Which theory
incorporates both these types of motivational causes?

A) expectancy-value theory

Which of the following is NOT one of Myers’s suggestions for becoming happier?

C) Do not sleep more than 5 hours a night.

Which of the following shows a focus on the lowest of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs?

C) Mark works hard as an attorney only so that he can attract more clients, more money, and be secure in the knowledge that his family can survive.

According to Abraham Maslow, developing one’s potential to its fullest extent results in
________.

B) to have frequent contact with others

According to Maslow, the motive of self-actualization makes one want ________.

A) to convince others of one’s true worth

Which statement about motivation is TRUE?

C) Motivation energizes and directs behavior.

The term Terman’s Termites refers to ________.

A) a sample of gifted children who were studied and followed into adulthood

At the current time, which statement is true about our knowledge of whether animals can use
humanlike language?

A) It is still unclear if animals can show humanlike language at any level of development.

If intelligence is determined primarily by heredity, which pair should show the highest
correlation between IQ scores?

C) identical twins

What are the smallest units of meaning in a language?

B) morphemes

Greta’s child has facial deformities, a smaller than normal head, heart defects, mental
retardation, learning difficulties, and delayed growth. If these defects can be traced to a
teratogen used by Greta when she was pregnant, which was she most likely abusing?

C) alcohol

Emily and her husband are thrilled as they peer into Emily’s uterus by means of an ultrasound.
The physician reports that the pregnancy appears normal, and that their baby’s fingers, toes,
heart, and circulatory system are developing as expected. The couple learns that the baby is only
¾ of an inch long. Given this information, the current stage of prenatal development is the
________.

B) embryonic period

The study of heredity is called ________.

D) genetics

________ proposed that two things have to happen before emotion occurs: physical arousal and
labeling.

A) Schachter and Singer

The part of the brain that seems to influence emotion is the ________.

A) amygdala

Language is based on universal sound units called ________.

A) phonemes

Jean Piaget is noted for his theory of ________.

C) cognitive development

Each of the following is a symptom of anorexia nervosa EXCEPT ________.

C) recurrent episodes of binge eating followed by purging of the foods just eaten

Because of the need to measure the IQ of people of varying ages, newer IQ tests base their
evaluation of IQ on ________.

B) deviation scores from the mean of the normal distribution

Dr. Smith believes people who are very aggressive have become so because of their life
experiences. Dr. Goldberg believes people are more or less aggressive from birth because of
genetic factors. Which of the following terms best describes an issue in human development that
is highlighted by their disagreement?

B) nature versus nurture

Parrots seem to talk. They utter words that sound like human language. Thus, can this behavior be thought to be speech? Which statement about parrots is supported by the research?

C) Parrots have the language abilities of a 3-year-old child.

In a heuristic called ________, a person determines the difference between the current situation and the goal and then tries to reduce that difference by various methods.

D) means-end analysis

Howard Gardner and Robert Sternberg agree to be interviewed together on the topic of
intelligence. At the end of the interview, what do you conclude is their major point of
agreement?

A) Standardized tests do not assess the many facets of intelligence.

Which of the following questions would be more likely to produce divergent thinking?

D) "How many uses can you think of for a stapler?"

According to Robert Sternberg, which type of intelligence is least likely to predict success in an academic environment?

A) practical intelligence

What term do psychologists use to describe our tendency to search for evidence that supports our belief and to ignore evidence that might disprove it?

D) confirmation bias

A test is said to be reliable if ________.

A) a person’s score on a test is pretty much the same every time he or she takes it

Pragmatics are defined as ________.

C) the practical aspects of communicating with others, or the social "niceties"of language

On a newly developed IQ test, an individual scores at the 110 level on the first half of the test, and 150 on the second half of the test. What does this test appear to lack?

B) reliability

The divergent thinking technique of starting with a central idea and drawing a "map" with lines from the center to other related ideas and then forming a mental image of the concepts and their connections is known as ________.

D) mind or subject mapping

Kosslyn asked subjects if frogs have lips and a stubby tail. What did the subjects report?

They visualized a frog, starting with the face ("no lips") and mentally rotated the image to look for the stubby tail.

Which of the following groups of children is most likely to have the most similar IQ scores?

C) identical twins reared together

Which of the following is one of the animals that has been taught to use language with some success?

D) none of these

Poor nutrition and medical care, poor living conditions (older, cheaper buildings often have lead paint on the walls), and a lack of intellectual support are thought to lead to ________.

B) familial retardation

According to Robert Sternberg, ________ refers to the ability to break problems down into component parts, or analysis, for problem solving. This is the type of intelligence that is
measured by intelligence tests and academic achievement tests.

B) analytical intelligence

All parents think their little kids are geniuses. However, to be classified as a genius, the IQ score must be above ________.

D) 140

What do we call the hypothesis that language influences what we think?

A) the linguistic relativity hypothesis

A psychological test that measures what we intend it to measure is said to be ________.

D) valid

When people are asked to say how many windows they have in their dwelling, the amount of time people take to come up with the answer ________.

B) depends on the number of windows

Which of the following is NOT one of the three areas of intelligence described by Sternberg?

C) exponential

Which developmental psychologist theorized that concepts preceded and aided the
development of language?

C) Piaget

Which is the most likely prototype for the concept "vehicle"?

D) car

Which of the following tests would be bested suited to an 8-year-old child?

C) WISC-III

Most standardized tests of intelligence have a distribution of scores that ________.

C) follows the normal curve

Culture-fair tests attempt to measure ________.

C) the intelligence of people coming from outside the culture in which the test was devised

The ability to understand the world, think rationally or logically, and use resources effectively when faced with challenges or problems is the psychologist’s working definition of ________.

A) intelligence

Which of these is an element of the formal definition of mental retardation?

C) IQ below 70

What two categories of subtests make up the Wechsler intelligence tests?

C) performance and verbal

In problem solving, the term rule of thumb refers to ________.

B) heuristics

Which of the following statements about heredity and intelligence is TRUE?

A) Differences in intelligence between identical twins must be due to differences in their environments.

An 8-year-old child who scored like an average 10-year-old on an intelligence test would have
a mental age of ________ and an IQ of ________.

B) 10; 125

The rhythm and emphasis on each word is called ________.

C) intonation

The term artificial intelligence was coined first by ________.

C) John McCarthy

Alfred Binet designed the first ________ test.

B) intelligence

A male has a thin, frail-looking area on his X chromosome of the 23rd pair. As children, people with this syndrome are typically mildly developmentally delayed but shift to severe or profound developmental delay as adults. This is known as ________.

C) fragile X syndrome

What problem-solving strategies don’t guarantee solutions but make efficient use of time?

D) heuristics

Which was NOT a finding of the Terman and Oden (1974) study of gifted kids?

B) They were clearly much more likely to be females.

Let’s say we could teach a dolphin to understand the difference between the sentences "Themparrot kissed the dolphin" and "The dolphin kissed the parrot." If this were demonstrated, it might mean the dolphin had an understanding of ________.

B) syntax

Researchers have found that ________ influenced by culture.

C) both language and thought are

The system of rules that governs how we assign meaning to the morphemes we use is called ________.

B) semantics

Research has shown that people who regularly work crossword puzzles, take classes, read, and stay mentally active are less likely to develop ________ than those who fail to use their minds.

C) senile dementia

Sally is enrolled in a high school geometry course, which she describes as "drawing figures and figuring drawings." In a typical class, students draw geometric figures and use a formula to calculate an aspect of the figure such as its area. Each time Sally uses a formula she is making use of what psychologists call ________.

B) algorithms

Fraternal twins are ________ similar genetically than are other brothers and sisters.

D) no more ?

Megan just turned 32. She is keenly aware of biological changes that occur as she gets older. What’s more, she measures the sensitivity of her senses and other physical characteristics by using sophisticated testing equipment. In which of the following areas is she likely to find some decline?

C) vision and hearing

What was Mary Ainsworth trying to determine when she devised an experimental method
called the Strange Situation?

B) the nature of attachment between caretakers and babies

Tameeka is at a point in her pregnancy during which she is experiencing muscle contractions
and movement and kicks. Which period of prenatal development is Tameeka currently
experiencing?

A) fetal

The twenties is a time of ________.

C) peak physical health

________ develop when two eggs each get fertilized by two different sperm, resulting in two zygotes in the uterus at the same time.

A) Dizygotic twins

Your little sister picks up objects, feels every part of them, and then puts them in her mouth.
What stage of Jean Piaget’s model of cognitive development does this behavior suggest she is in?

B) sensorimotor

Sheila was born a female with only one X chromosome on the 23rd pair. As a result she is infertile, has difficulty learning, and did not develop breast tissue and rounded hips as her
female peers did. Which disorder is likely to be diagnosed?

A) Turner’s

Humans have a total of ________ chromosomes.

A) 46

The period of five to ten years during which a woman’s reproductive system begins to decline is called ________.

B) perimenopause