Answers at the End of the Exam

 

Introductory Psychology (PSY301, Pennebaker 3:00) – Test 1

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

 

1.  ________  describes the beliefs, customs, and values that are shared within a group of people who speak with a common language and exist in a common environment, which is passed on from one generation to another.

A.   Evolutionary Theory

B.    Culture

C.   Adaptations

D.   Natural Selection

E.    Behavior

 

2.  Which of the following is true about the “Mozart effect”?

A.  Listening to Mozart can cure neurological illnesses

B.  Listening to Mozart clearly influence intelligence in both babies and college students

C.  Listening to Mozart appears to enhance only certain motor skills and not overall intelligence

D.  People should believe the results of the first Mozart study and ignore more critical responses to the original study

E.  Results from studies using college aged participants should be applied to infants that did not participate in the study

3.  How does the hypothalamus influence physical growth?

A.  By affecting the release of growth hormone      

B.  By activating calcium receptors in the bones and tissues       

C.  By directing the reception of growth hormone at the receptor sites 

D.  By overriding the action of the pituitary gland

E.  The hypothalamus does not influence physical growth

 

4.  You have been having problems sleeping lately. You wake up repeatedly during the night often feeling out of breath, and your room-mate has been complaining about your snoring. You are most likely suffering from:

A.   Insomnia

B.    Night Terrors

C.   Apnea

D.   Narcolepsy

E.   Overactive imagination

 

5.  Which of the following statements is true regarding cell bodies:

A.   Dendrites always receive signals from a single surrounding cell body

B.    Sodium and calcium cause a cell body to fire

C.   Action potentials sometimes fire at 50% power

D.   Dendrites receive signals from other cells that can cause the cell body to fire an action potential

E.  Nerve cells, unlike muscle cells, do not have nuclei

 

6.  If. Dr. Pennebaker wanted to study the influence of body image on self-esteem, then body image would be his ________ and self-esteem would be his _______.

A.  Independent variable…dependent variable

B.  Independent variable…confound

C.  Dependent variable…independent variable

D.  Dependent variable…confound

E.  Confound… control

 

7.  Al is a rat placed in a Skinner box.  Al has an electrode that sends signals to his hypothalamus each time he presses a lever.  Which of the following best describes the rate at which Al is likely to press the lever?

A.  Al will press the lever continuously until he passes out.

B.  Al will press the lever at a rate faster than he will finish a bowl of food that is beside the lever.

C.  Al will press the lever at a rate that matches the rate of recovery from orgasm.

D.  It depends on which area of the hypothalamus is being stimulated.

E.  It depends on if the lever is placed at the tip of Al’s tongue or not.

 

8.      Which if the following is not true with regard to a correlational design?

A.  It does not indicate causality

B.  It indicates in which direction the cause-effect relationship is moving

C.  There could possibly be a third-party variable influencing the relationship

D.  Knowing the relationship between variables allows researchers to make predictions

E.  The variables being measured must be operationally defined

 

9.  _____________ is to depression, as _____________ is to Parkinson’s Disease.

A.  Sadness, Schizophrenia

B.  Curare, Norephinephrine

C.  Serotonin, Dopamine

D.  Peripheral nervous system, Central nervous system

E.   Epinephrine, Adrenaline

 

10.  Which of the following is NOT true with regards to dreams?

A.  Everyone has them, even if they don’t remember them

B.  One theory about why we dream is that we do it to consolidate our memories

C.  There are methods that allow you to more successfully remember your dreams

D.  Freud believed that dreams were the window to our unconscious

E.  You will only experience one dream during the course of a night

 

11.    Which of the following is NOT a measure of central tendency?

A.  Median

B.  Standard Deviation

C.  Mode

D.  Mean

E.  Average

 

12.  Clear differences between males and females have been shown in the organization of the hypothalamus. This difference is thought to be due to:

A.  The varying levels of hormones during nervous system development

B.  The amount of hormones released by the pituitary gland during puberty

C.  The potency of testosterone released by the male sperm

D.  Males using their hypothalamus more often than females

E.  The X chromosome inhibiting testosterone reuptake

 

13.  Glutamates may be released by specialized glial cells called astrocytes. The role of astrocytes in the nervous system is

A.  To communicate to Star Control Command when our daily horoscopes are off

B.  Restricted to the production of myelin and the control of inhibitory neurotransmitters. 

C.  To control overproduction of GABA.    

D.  Not fully understood, but known to support the polarization of neurons.  

E.  Known to affect mood and memory

 

 

 

14.  Which of the following theories best supported the viewpoint that a perception of objects is subjective (meaning that two people can look at the same object and see different things)?

A.  Gestalt Theory

B.  Natural Selection

C.  Dualism

D.  Adaptive Theory

E.  Stream of consciousness theory

 

15.    What type of study would investigate the relationship between height and income?

A. Descriptive      

B. Correlational    

C. Experimental    

D. Observational

E.  Superficial

16.  Writing the correct answers to this test requires:

A.  Specialized myelin-to-myelin communication. 

B.     Somatosensory neurons only.   

C.  Communication between the brain and motor neurons only on a special circuit.

D.     Telepathic communication with Dr. Pennebaker

E.  Communication among millions of different neurons

 

17.  A beauty contest judge rated all of the dogs in a dog show on a physical attractiveness scale.  In this contest, Robbie the poodle received a z-score of 0 for physical attractiveness.  What does this score tell us about Robbie’s physical attractiveness?

A.  Robbie has no good looks at all, relative to all poodles.

B.  Robbie’s score was not valid, and must be rated again.

C.  Robbie ranks at the lowest possible percentile for attractiveness, relative to all dogs in the dog show.

D.  Robbie is average in attractiveness, relative to all dogs in the dog show.

E.  Robbie has no physical flaws, and so he has a chance of winning the beauty contest portion of the dog show.

 

18.  After a head injury, a child has difficulty keeping his balance and is noticeably less coordinated.  What portion of the brain was most likely injured?

A.   The parietal lobe

B.    The brainstem

C.   The cerebellum

D.   The occipital lobe

E.    The sympathetic system

 

19.  The concept behind critical periods is that:

A.  Everyone must have similar cultural experiences to develop normally

B.  Certain levels of trace elements such as magnesium and thalimine need to be secreted into the bloodstream during the critical first years of life in order for a person to develop normally

C.  A mother and child must be united immediately after birth in order for them to bond

D.  There are specific points in development when the brain develops critical thinking abilities

E.  Certain environmental experiences need to happen during specific time windows in order for a person to develop normally

 

20.  According to William James, what does a stream of consciousness tell us about the mind?

A.  Transitions between thoughts are totally random

B.  Thinking is a form of serial processing

C.  Ideas that do not appear in stream of consciousness thinking are not worth thinking about

D.  Unconscious thoughts do not exist

E.  Consciousness does not exist

21.  If your hippocampus was severely damaged when you were 11 years old, you would most likely suffer from what consequence?

A.  You would be unable to produce vital hormones that were housed in the hippocampus

B.  You would be unable to store new memories but would retain old memories

C.  You would be unable to retrieve old memories until after puberty

D.  Your hormone levels would drop because the pituitary gland is attached to the hippocampus

E.  You would be well suited for a job as a London taxi driver

 

22.  Which one of the following methods would be most appropriate to use if Dr. Gosling was interested in studying the effect of sleep deprivation on grades? 

A.   A case study that provides detailed information on all of the activities that a given student performed the day before the test

B.    Randomly assign undergrads into 3 groups: one that gets 4 hours of sleep every night, one that gets 6 hours of sleep every night, and one that gets 9 hours of sleep every night, and then monitor their grades throughout the semester

C.   Physiological measurements, in order to understand the biological effects of lack of sleep

D.   Behavioral observation, in order to observe the eating patterns of people who are sleep deprived

E.    A longitudinal study, because the only way to understand sleep deprivation is to study a group of people over the course of a year

 

23.   The advantage to studying monozygotic twins is that:

A.   They are easy to locate and track for research

B.    All of their behaviors are identical

C.   They are treated the same in their environment

D.   They have better temperaments than dizygotic twins

E.   They are genetically identical

 

24. Which of the following is NOT true about correlational data involving 2 variables?

A.   A positive correlation is when one variable increases with another variable

B.    A negative correlation is when one variable decreases with another variable

C.   A negative correlation is when one variable increases, the other decreases

D.   Correlation coefficients range from -1 to +1

E.    A correlation of zero suggests there is no relationship between the two variables

 

25.  Sam argues that children are born able to read, while Jamie argues that children learn to read through the influence of their parents reading to them. This is an example of the following debate:

A.  Mind-Body

B.  Darwin-Descartes

C.  Innate-Nature

D.  Dualism-Individualism

E.  Nature-Nurture

 

26.  In class, students were asked to look passively at a picture of a necker cube. When just sitting there and passively looking at the picture, it has been found that:

A.   Extraverts are more likely see the cube flipping perspective more often than introverts because extraverts are generally more active

B.    Introverts are more likely to see the cube flip than extraverts because an introvert’s central nervous system tends to be more active while they are sitting quietly

C.   Extraverts see the cube flipping at faster rates because they tend to get bored sitting quietly in comparison with introverts

D.   Introverts see the cube flipping at slower rates lead such quiet lives

E.    The necker cube has the ability to change perspectives on its own even when no one is looking at it

27.     In order to study depression in teenagers, you hand out questionnaires at four of the local high schools to students between the ages of 14-18 years. What step in the research flowchart (described in the textbook) are you in?

A.   Formulate hypothesis

B.    Design study

C.   Collect the data

D.   Analyze data

E.  Disseminate the results

 

28.  Which of the following is NOT part of the peripheral nervous system?

A.      Sympathetic

B. Autonomic

C.      The brain and spinal cord

D.      Somatic nervous system

E. Parasympathetic

29.  Imagine you are at the end part of the chain of activity on a production line. Your boss, who in his previous career was a neuroscientist, comes up to you and calls you an antagonist; what would he be implying?

A.  That you interfere with production

B.  That you speed production 

C.  That you take stuff out of the process that is defective         

D.  That you sleep on the job, doing nothing

E.  That if he were Luke Skywalker, you’d be wearing black and breathing deeply

 

30.  On any given single night, what is the ironically similar effect between taking sleeping pills and a night of sleep deprivation?

A.  Both cause you to get less REM than with a night of natural sleep.

B.  Both cause you to feel better rested than with a night of natural sleep.

C.  Both lead you to consolidate a greater number of memories than with a night of natural sleep.

D.  Neither is ever studied by sleep researchers.

E.  Both are addictive.

 

31.  What did Dr. Pennebaker measure when he used a lie detector on a student?

A.  Heart rate

B.  Skin conductance

C.  General sensory reactance

D.  Stuttering

E.  Body Posture

 

32.  In a study, Joe measures aggression from the number of times a person swears. This is an example of:

          A.  Random assignment

          B.  Operational definition

          C.   Negative correlation

          D.   Positive correlation

                   E.    Negative reinforcement

 

33.  A man was in a car accident and injured his occipital lobe. He claims to be blind but if you wave your hand in front of his eyes, he blinks. He can also guess with surprising accuracy what you are holding in your hand even though he claims he can’t see it. You would diagnose him with:

A.  Epilepsy

B.  A tumor of the hypothalamus

C.  Occipito-ocular bimorphism syndrome

D.  Blindsight

E.  Phantom blindness

 

34.  Circadian rhythms can best be described as:

A.  Biological clocks controlling hormone levels, temperature and the

sleep cycle

B.  The rise and fall of the sun everyday

C.  The ancient art of star tracking, which is used today to predict sleep patterns

D.  Special heartbeats that trigger the heart to increase or decrease the flow of blood

E.  Pheromones released by a female to attract a male during mating season

 

35.  You’re dreaming that you are flying over Austin, and all of a sudden realize that you are really awake but can’t stop yourself from sensing that you are flying, can’t open your eyes, and can’t move your body.  What is this state called?

A.  Insomnia

B.  Sleep walking

C.  Sleep paralysis

D.  Sleep apnea

E.  Sleep spindle

 

36.  In class, Dr. Pennebaker examined the heart rate (HR) of a student. What did he find across most tasks?

A.  The student’s HR increased when taking in information from the environment

B.  The student’s HR decreased when screening information out from the environment

C.  The student’s HR decreased when taking in information from the environment

D.  The student’s HR increased when it was discovered he was lying

E.  The student’s HR stayed the same regardless of the task

 

37.  According to lecture, which of these is NOT primarily associated with the reptilian brain:

A.  Sleeping

B.  Waking up

C.  Feeling happy

D.  Attention to moving objects

E.  Activity level

 

38.  Which of the following did NOT influence the cognitive revolution?

A.  The growing use of computers, containing software programs that dictated how information is processed

B.  The founding of the Center for Cognitive Studies at Harvard University by George A. Miller

C.  The increased popularity of information-processing theories of cognition

D.  Freud’s theory that unconscious mental forces produce psychological discomfort

E.  The view of the brain as hardware that functioned with the mind as software

 

39.  Charles Whitman wrote in his suicide note “I think there is something wrong with my brain.”  If only he had taken Introductory Psychology, which of the following might Charles Whitman have specified to his psychiatrist before resorting to violence?

A.  I think there is something wrong with my Broca’s Area.

B.  I think there is something wrong with my amygdala.

C.  I think there is something wrong with my corpus callosum.

D.  I think I suffer from blindsight.

E.  I think there is a reptile in my brain.

 

40.   ________ refers to whether the data you collect address the question you are asking; _________ refers to whether your measure will be consistent over time.

A.  Accuracy…reliability

B.  Reliability…validity

C.  Validity…reliability

D.  Reliability…accuracy

E.  Validity…accuracy

41. You’ve just been introduced to someone and adjust your thoughts and behaviors accordingly because she smiles when she meets you.  A psychologist would likely explain this at the _______ level of analysis.

A.      Brain system

B.      Automatic

C.      Individual differences

D.      Interpersonal

E.    Genetic

 

42.  Which of the following factors accounts for variation between clones?

A.    The environment

B.    Stem cells

C.   Genetics

D.   The placenta

E.    There is no variation between clones

43.  Postsynaptic receptors receive neurotransmitters based on the receptor’s _______:

  A.   Molecular structure

B.     Potassium ions

C.     Mood

D.              Sodium ions

E.   Volume

 

44. The primary auditory cortex is located in the _____ lobe.

F.    Occipital

G.   Hearing

H.   Prefrontal

I.       Frontal

E.   Temporal

45.  The neuronal workspace model suggests that

A.  We come into consciousness when one area of the brain becomes more activated than any other. 

B.  We come into the conscious realm when our brain hears or sees even the slightest stimulus.

C.  The more neurons that fire, the more work we are capable of accomplishing.     

D.  Every reaction triggers an equal reaction, causing us to be aware of our surroundings.

E.  Neurons enjoy personal space just as much as humans do between each other.

 

 

ANSWERS

1. b

2. c

3. a

4. c

5. d

6. a

7. d

8. b

9. c

10. e

11. b

12. a

13. d

14. a

15. b

16. e

17. d

18. c

19. e

20. b

21. b

22. b

23. e

24. b

25. e

26. b

27. c

28. c

29. a

30. a

31. b

32. b

33. d

34. a

35. c

36. c

37. c

38. d

39. b

40. c

41. d

42. a

43. a

44. e

45. a