WARNING: The correct answers are NOT at the end of
this exam. You will have to figure out
the answers yourself.
1. What does the term phrenology refer to?:
A. The idea that an individual’s behavior is determined by his/her history of reward and punishment.
B. The idea that studying the lumps and bumps on someone’s head will tell you about the person’s personality and abilities.
C. The idea that an individual’s behavior is influenced by the gravitational pull of the planets.
D. The study of special chemicals secreted by many animals, which trigger particular reactions in members of the same species.
2. Sigmund Freud founded what field of psychology?
A. Functionalism
B. Structuralism
C. Psychoanalysis
D. Introspection
3. In experimental design, _________ refers to the experimental factor you manipulate and ___________ refers to the behavior being measured.
A. Independent variable; dependent variable
B. Dependent variable; independent variable
C. Confounding variable; dependent variable
D. Dependent variable; confounding variable
4. Which of the following is not true of magnetic resonance imaging techniques?
A. They rely on the fact that protons in the brain behave like tiny magnets.
B. They can detect the content of mental processes.
C. They can pinpoint areas of brain injury.
D. They highlight electrical changes that occur during mental tasks.
5. Blindsight is associated with damage to which part of the cortex?
A. Temporal lobe
B. Occipital lobe
C. Anterior lobe
D. Frontal lobe
6. What is the underlying premise behind the interpretation of response time data?
A. Longer response times indicate an undesired response.
B. Longer response times indicate a more complex response.
C. Longer response times indicate a simpler response.
D. Longer response times indicate an inaccurate response.
7. If stimulated, which part of the brain can cause severe outbursts of anger and rage? (hint: Charles Whitman, the tower shooter, had a tumor pressing on this part of his brain).
A. The hippocampus
B. The amygdala
C. The nucleus accumbens
D. The Occipital lobe
8. According to the text, what is the best definition of culture?
A. The values and beliefs of people who share the same skin color
B. The values and beliefs of people who share the same language
C. The values and beliefs of people who share the same food
D. The values and beliefs of a certain group of people who share the same language and environment
9. All of the following are characteristic of the psychodynamic approach to psychology EXCEPT:
A. The tripartite model of the mind (id, ego, and superego)
B. The iceberg metaphor for the unconscious
C. An emphasis on the importance of childhood experience
D. A focus on predicting and controlling behavior
10. When can a neuron partially fire?
A. Anytime
B. During a relative refractory period
C. During an absolute refractory period
D. Never
11. A researcher uses a computer that is later found to have a timing error such that it always adds 0.25 seconds onto every recording. What type of statistical problem is this?
A. A random error
B. A systematic error
C. An open-ended error
D. A reliability error
12. According to lecture, which of the following is an example of an applied psychologist?
A. Brain researcher
B. Animal behavior researcher
C. Cross-cultural psychologist
D. School counselor
13. Which brain structure best differentiates humans from other animals?
A. Brain stem
B. Hippocampus
C. Prefrontal cortex
D. Amygdala
14. During free association
A. Patients are asked to report their dreams.
B. Patients may talk about anything they like for as long as they like.
C. Patients describe their dreams.
D. Patients talk about their relationship with their parents.
15. According to the text, what is a critical period?
A. A time when experience is crucial for proper development
B. A time when children become critical of their parents
C. A time when the brain grows in size
D. A time when the risk of brain injury is highest
16. In a video shown
in class, researchers gave teachers a list of students who were expected to
bloom academically. This list was
actually randomly generated, yet when the teachers believed a child was
supposed to bloom, the child:
A. Performed worse
B. Performed better
C. Became depressed
D. Became hostile
17. According to the text, a “good” theory has
A. Many references to the unconscious.
B. Multiple interpretations.
C. Testable hypotheses.
D. All of the above.
18. According to the text, what is hypothesized to account for the placebo effect?
A. Dopamine
B. CCK
C. Endorphins
D. Substance P
19. According to the text, social psychologists believe that
A. Only certain personality types can commit evil acts.
B. Hormones are the only things that cause people to commit evil acts.
C. Almost all people can be influenced to commit evil acts.
D. Evil acts are committed under the influence of unconscious processes.
20. What is not an area that releases hormones?
A. Pancreas
B. Thyroid
C. Esophagus
D. Testes
21. According to the text, a 1950s era study by David Hubel and Torsten Wiesel on the activity of cat’s nerve cells in brain areas associated with vision
A. Led to the establishment of guidelines mandating ethical treatment of research subjects.
B. Confirmed researchers’ expectations that certain nerve cells would fire when cats viewed slides of dots.
C. Led to the chance discovery that certain nerve cells fire in response to lines and edges.
D. Led to the invention of the fMRI.
22. According to the text, what is the dominant theory about the role of nature and nurture in human behavior?
A. Biology is the only important factor.
B. Cultural forces are the only important factors.
C. Early humans were more affected by culture, whereas modern humans are more affected by biology.
D. The effects of biology and culture are tightly interwoven.
23. All of the following are strengths of case studies EXCEPT:
A. They provide proof that a given condition exists
B. They include a lot of detailed information about the individual’s current condition and past history
C. They give us useful information about the population as a whole
D. They provide a starting point for further research
24. Of the following men, whose research most strongly suggested that the brain functioned as a whole, rather than having separate parts with separate functions?
A. Paul Broca
B. Franz Joseph Gall
C. Phineas Gage
D. Carl Lashley
26. What does the term “dualism” refer to?
A. A belief that the mind and body are interrelated but separate structures
B. A belief that the mind and body are the same structure
C. A belief that the mind and body exist only in non-human animals
D. A belief that the mind is a nonexistent concept
27. Which of the following is a “split-brain” patient?
A. Someone diagnosed with multiple personality disorder
B. Someone who has had his or her corpus callosum severed
C. Someone who has schizophrenia
D. Someone who can never make up their mind
28. ______ are chemical messengers that travel through the bloodstream, while _____, although chemically similar, transmit information through the nervous system.
A. Chromosomes; hormones
B. Chromosomes; teratogens
C. Teratogens; neurotransmitters
D. Hormones; neurotransmitters
29. A scientist using Wundt’s method of introspection would
A. Observe people’s behaviors while they are in thought.
B. Ask people about their childhood experiences.
C. Ask people to report their dreams.
D. Ask people to inspect and report on the content of their thoughts.
30. According to the text, messages pass through a neuron’s parts in what order?
A. Dendrites, soma, terminal buttons, axon
B. Soma, terminal buttons, axon, dendrites
C. Soma, axon, dendrites, terminal buttons
D. Dendrites, soma, axon, terminal buttons
31. According to lecture, someone working in experimental psychology would most likely:
A. Observe animals in their natural environment
B. Test theoretical models of behavior in controlled studies
C. Use theoretical models to improve race relations in the community
D. Practice clinical psychology
32. In the movie shown in lecture, what happened when the nucleus accumbens in rats was electronically stimulated?
A. The rats became unmotivated and had no reason to learn because they were no longer driven by a reward.
B. The rat became very drowsy and disoriented.
C. The rats became aggressive.
D. The rats would endure severe electrical shock in order to maintain stimulation.
33. An experimental study is useful because ______, while a correlational study is useful because _____.
A. It can infer causality; it is widely applicable
B. It is widely applicable; it can infer causality
C. It can infer causality; it employs random assignment
D. It employs random assignment; it can infer causality
34. Which of the following is not a lobe in the brain?
A. Frontal
B. Anterior
C. Occipital
D. Temporal
35. According to the text, when are recessive genes expressed?
A. When they are paired with other recessive genes
B. When they are paired with other dominant genes
C. When the environmental factors are right
D. Recessive genes are never expressed.
36. Consider the following statement: People learn not to steal because their experience teaches them that the consequences are undesirable. This hypothesis was most likely generated from which perspective?
A. Behaviorist
B. Cognitive
C. Neurobiological
D. Evolutionary
37. What is the best description of the brain’s development?
A. The brain develops through around age 6, then stops.
B. The brain develops through around age 13, then stops.
C. The brain develops continually throughout life.
D. The brain is fully developed at birth.
38. If there is a negative correlation between two variables, this means that:
A. An increase in one variable corresponds to an increase in the other
B. An increase in one variable corresponds to a decrease in the other
C. An increase in one variable causes an increase in the other
D. There is no relationship between the two variables.
39. According to the text, what system is activated by sexual arousal, fear, and constant worry?
A. Endocrine system
B. Parasympathetic division of ANS
C. Sympathetic division of the ANS
D. None of the above
40. Which of the following is NOT a necessary step for conducting an experiment:
A. Naturalistic observation
B. Random assignment
C. Setting up a control condition
D. Operationalization
41. According to the text, evolutionary theory could be applied to the study of
A. Aggression.
B. Sexual behavior.
C. Language.
D. All of the above.
42. What is a synapse?
A. A chemical that serves as a messenger.
B. The end of a neuron that receives messages from other neurons.
C. The space between the dendrites of one cell and the terminal branches of another cell.
D. An excitatory signal.
43. Paul Broca observed “Tan”, a man who could only utter one word. What did these observations suggest?
A. That certain parts of the brain are responsible for certain tasks.
B. That damage to the frontal left lobe can damage a person’s ability to speak.
C. That case studies can be an important way to discover how the brain works.
D. All of the above.
44. Which of the following psychologists is most closely associated with the behaviorist approach?
A. Sigmund Freud
B. Wilhelm Wundt
C. B.F. Skinner
D. Phineas Gage
45. The classroom demonstration using the “React-o-meter” to test the reaction times of men vs. women was subject to which of the following experimental problems?
A. Using only some of the data.
B. A small sample size.
C. A biased experimenter.
D. All of the above.