Answers at the End of the Exam

Pennebaker/Gosling Introductory Psychology Class

Exam 2 October 2, 2006

1.	On the topic of taste, an example of absolute threshold would be
	a.	The maximum saturation of a taste that our neurons will react to
	b.	The minimum intensity of a taste that can be detected
	c.	The most robust taste that we can tolerate
	d.	The maximum number of flavors that will be detected
	e.	The average number of neurons that will fire in response to a flavor

2.	Which of the following would NOT help you determine depth?
	a.	Shadow
	b.	Binocular Disparity
	c.	Motion Parallax
	d.	Absorption
	e.	Linear Perspective

3.	A parallel distributed process is a model for
	a.	Long-term potentiation
	b.	Neural networks
	c.	NMDA receptor action
	d.	Vagus nerve stimulation
	e.	Token economies

4.	Jack and Jill used to go up a hill to fetch a pail of water everyday. Then bottled water was popularized, and so for years now, they do not fetch water at the top of the hill anymore. However, they still occasionally hike up the hill. Just the other day, Jill went up the hill for a leisurely stroll, and immediately began to fill a pail with water. Even though Jill was not thirsty, she felt she had to fill a pail with water is an example of:
	a.	Spontaneous recovery
	b.	Preventing forest fires
	c.	Automatic implicit priming syndrome (AIPS)
	d.	Extinction
	e.	Shaping

5.	The fact that Little Albert learned fear toward not only a white rat but also a ball of wool and a Santa mask represents the phenomenon of
	a.	Second-order conditioning
	b.	Generalization
	c.	Discrimination
	d.	Reconditioning
	e.	Cry baby

6.	The study of children’s play habits with the “Bobo” doll provided evidence that
	a.	Boys can play with dolls even though it is counter-stereotypical
	b.	Memory based learning can be transmitted observationally in boys but not girls
	c.	Aggression is an innate unconditioned response with Bobo dolls
	d.	Intracranial self-stimulation can activate reward circuits
	e.	Aggressive behavior can be learned through observation

7.	According to the Opponent Process Theory, if you were to stare at a red Ferrari for about 40 seconds and then look at the concrete, what color will this concrete momentarily appear?
	a.	The color of the concrete will always appear the same
	b.	Red
	c.	Green
	d.	White
	e.	Black

8.	If you wanted to speed up the time it took for a pain signal to reach your brain, you would hypothetically
	a.	Take 2 Tylenols
	b.	Increase your vitamin C intake
	c.	Try to relax when you felt pain
	d.	Hold your breath
	e.	Add myelin to the axon

9.	If your dog had object agnosia what would she experience?
	a.	She couldn’t find a verbal label for her ball
	b.	She couldn’t feel her ball
	c.	She couldn’t recognize her ball
	d.	She would no longer like her ball
	e.	She would treat her ball as a living object.

10.	If you were to travel inside the retina, you would see that as you moved toward the periphery of the retina the percentage of rods _____ and as you move toward the fovea the percentage of cones _____.
	a.	Stays the same; increases
	b.	Decreases; decreases
	c.	Increases; increases
	d.	Increases; decreases
	e.	Decreases; stays the same

11.	Why would winning money in a gambling game cause dopaminergic activity?
	a.	Money is a natural reinforcer.
	b.	Receiving any object (such as money, chips, or even pieces of wood) from another human activates the dopamine system because dopamine is a social hormone.
	c.	Gambling always activates the dopamine system.
	d.	Secondary reinforcers can activate the dopamine system.
	e.	Money is a primary reinforcer.

12.	What is the main difference between classical conditioning and operant conditioning?
	a.	Classical: reward-based learning; operant: caused by reflexive actions
	b.	Classical: caused by reflexive actions; operant: requires cognitive evaluation
	c.	Classical: learning two events are related; operant: behavior leads to a consequence
	d.	Classical: behavior leads to a consequence; operant: caused by reflexive actions
	e.	Classical: punishment-based learning; operant: reward-based learning

13.	On the good old family road trip Dad takes the back country road, which is horrendously curvy. What is causing your nausea and dizziness?
	a.	Your eyes are trying to compensate for the quick changes in direction
	b.	The fluid in your ears bend hair cells in a direction that is opposite to the direction indicated by your visual cues
	c.	Your brain is sloshing from side to side, increasing the blood to the main vessels
	d.	The area in the back of your eyes swells up, creating the sensation of feeling ill
	e.	The smells on the back country road, causing your olfactory bulb to swell

14.	It is possible that humans communicate with each other unconsciously through chemical signals called
	a.	ESP
	b.	The fourth dimension
	c.	The haptic sense
	d.	Pheromones
	e.	Bad breath

15.	If you trained a rat to fear a blue light by pairing it with a painful electric shock, what would be your conditioned stimulus?
	a.	The reward
	b.	Electric shock
	c.	Fear
	d.	Extinction
	e.	Blue light

16.	The amygdala is an important neural structure in which long term potentiation plays a role in learning. Since the amygdala is part of the limbic system, which of the following is most likely mediated by LTP-related learning in the amygdala?
	a.	Fear learning resulting in freezing behavior
	b.	Orienting response resulting in fight or flight behavior
	c.	Anger initiation resulting in an adrenaline release
	d.	Defensive reaction resulting in an opiate release
	e.	Falling in love resulting in a dopaminergic release

17.	Which of the following biological factors may be involved with observational learning?
	a.	Acquisition neurons
	b.	The pineal gland
	c.	The limbic cortex
	d.	Mirror neurons
	e.	Bobo dolls

18.	Pitch is determined by the _____ of the wave, whereas the loudness is determined by the _____ of the wave.
	a.	Amplitude; frequency
	b.	Basilar membrane; cochlea
	c.	Frequency; amplitude
	d.	Cochlea; basilar membrane
	e.	Vibrations; pressure

19.	Getting $1 for every correct answer on this test would be a form of
	a.	Positive punishment.
	b.	Negative reinforcement.
	c.	Positive reinforcement.
	d.	Negative punishment.
	e.	Dreaming.

20.	In comparison to your cheek, how many neurons are devoted to your back in the somatosensory cortex?
	a.	Many more in the back because backs are physically larger than cheeks
	b.	Many less in your back because the cheek needs to be more precise in locating stimuli
	c.	The exact same because the somatosensory cortex supports equal representation of body parts
	d.	Twice as many in your back, because we need to be able to perceive danger from behind
	e.	The exact same, because the cheek and the back are equally important

21.	Tonya remembers exactly where she was and how she felt when she first found out that the World Trade Center had been destroyed. Tonya has an imprinted _____ memory for this account.
	a.	Implicit
	b.	Semantic
	c.	Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
	d.	Flashbulb
	e.	Elaborative

22.	Latisha and Manuel are in a relationship. Sometimes Latisha feels suffocated by Manuel and often volunteers to go on business trips at work to get away from being in a committed relationship.  At other times, even while on business trips, Latisha has warm and fuzzy feelings when she thinks about the companionship and good loving that Manuel provides. According to Attachment Theory, what kind of attachment style would characterize Latisha?
	a.	Avoidant
	b.	Detached
	c.	Preoccupied
	d.	Anxious
	e.	Ambivalent

23.	Large cross-cultural studies by people in evolutionary psychology on mate choice find that
	a.	The characteristics preferred in mates show no common trends across cultures
	b.	Although there are differences between wealthy and poor cultures, women tend to marry older men
	c.	In Western cultures women place attractiveness ahead of the financial resources of a mate while just the reverse is the case in Asian cultures
	d.	Men play a larger role in mate choice than do women
	e.	The more a culture uses Internet dating sites, the fewer the errors in mate choice, since the computer can compute your perfect mate

24.	Imagine that there were two sets of identical twins in your graduating class from high school, one female set and one male set. You later discover that one member of each set is homosexual. In which pair is the other sibling more likely to also be homosexual?
	a.	In both since the genetic component for sexual orientation is coded on the X chromosome, which both females and males possess.
	b.	In neither since there is no genetic basis for sexual orientation.
	c.	In the male set because the genetic component of homosexuality appears to be stronger in males than in females.
	d.	No prediction is possible without knowing the sexual orientation of the parents.
	e.	In the female set since females are more influenced by the sexual orientation of their siblings.

25.	Eyewitness testimony is
	a.	Only a dramatized technique used on television
	b.	Not a good method for accurate identification of crime suspects
	c.	Found to be the most accurate form of identification
	d.	Not used any more; judges use circumstantial evidence only
	e.	A very powerful and often correct method of conviction

26.	People have false memories because
	a.	Everyone has memory loss and will eventually develop Alzheimer’s.
	b.	People have dreams that are so vivid that they feel real
	c.	The memory is not really false; a person just changes the memory so he or she will look like a better person.
	d.	People like to lie to make themselves look better.
	e.	They have memory biases and tend to reconstruct events to coincide with their beliefs.

27.	Which of the following is NOT considered to be evidence for the biological basis of homosexuality?
	a.	Male fetuses of mothers who experience a massive amount of stress during pregnancy are more likely to be homosexual than are male fetuses who are exposed to a mother who does not experience such stress during pregnancy.
	b.	The anterior commisure of homosexual males is typically larger than that of heterosexual males.
	c.	The likelihood of a male being homosexual increases with the number of older brothers a male has, due to the increase in exposure to prenatal androgens (such as testosterone).
	d.	The hypothalamus of homosexual males is typically smaller than that of heterosexual males.
	e.	Homosexual men have more fragile immune systems making them more likely to contract minor and major immune-related illnesses.

28.	If you study for a test while you are high on marijuana and then take the test when high, according to state-dependent memory how will you do on the test compared to non-high students?
	a.	Terribly; no one can remember anything when high on marijuana
	b.	The same as other students because marijuana has not been shown to affect memory.
	c.	Better than the other students because your altered state when taking the test is the same as when you studied
	d.	Worse than other students, but better than if you took the test sober
	e.	You will find the test a lot more amusing than the other students

29.	The wicked witch of the East flies down and curses you with anterograde amnesia. What are you new characteristics?
	a.	You can no longer form new memories.
	b.	You can no longer remember the past, only the events following the witch accident.
	c.	You are cursed and will only have memory for unfortunate events.
	d.	You slowly lose your memory for everything, but it takes many years.
	e.	You are exactly the same.

30.	According to Parental Investment Theory, women:
	a.	Incur a greater cost for having children than do males
	b.	Can provide resources to raise the child as a single mother
	c.	Primarily look for attractive, physically fit males to be the father of their children
	d.	Are naturally more likely to invest money in longterm opportunities (such as houses, mutual funds) than are men
	e.	Will be much older than their spouses

31.	You meet a person at a busy and loud bar. The person asks for your phone number and you tell it as quickly as possible hoping the person will not be able to remember it. Judging from what you know about memory, how long does the individual have to write down the number before they forget it?
	a.	7 minutes plus or minus 2 seconds
	b.	0 seconds if they’ve had at least 1 beer
	c.	if his sensory store is functioning smoothly, he should be able to remember it for several days
	d.	1 minute
	e.	20 seconds

32.	The work of Kinsey and his colleagues on the sexual behavior of men and women was groundbreaking in that it
	a.	Documented that self-reports are an unreliable source of data in regard to taboo subjects
	b.	Demonstrated that individual variation in sexual practices is the exception rather than the rule
	c.	Pointed out how little influence culture has on a biological motive like sex
	d.	Found that men and women aren’t very different in regard to their attitudes and behaviors related to sex
	e.	Proved that the true number of women that men have slept with is actually only one third of the number that men report to their friends

33.	During a heated game of trivial pursuit, one player seems to know every answer. However, after the game the group goes on a bike ride, and the same know-it-all player keeps tipping over because she hasn’t ridden a bike in a while. She must have good _____ memory but poor _____ memory.
	a.	Semantic; implicit
	b.	Episodic; procedural
	c.	Implicit; explicit
	d.	Semantic; procedural
	e.	Implicit; procedural

34.	You have parked your car in the same area on campus every day for the past 2 weeks. Today you parked in a different area to go to a meeting but you walked back to the area you usually parked in by accident. Why didn’t you go to where your car was really parked?
	a.	Retroactive interference
	b.	An encoding error
	c.	Proactive interference
	d.	Chunking
	e.	Procedural memory

35.	All of the following statements represent good evidence for the role of oxytocin in attachment, EXCEPT:
	a.	Drugs that block oxytocin given to female sheep prevent strong bonds forming between them and their lambs.
	b.	Oxytocin is released during orgasm.
	c.	Oxytocin is released during breastfeeding.
	d.	Oxytocin is higher in people who are falling in love than people who are not in love.
	e.	Drugs that block oxytocin given to virgin voles causes them to be promiscuous.

36.	Sometimes people wake up after a night of heavy beer drinking, unable to recall anything that they did for certain periods of the previous night. These lapses in memory are called blackouts. Which brain area is most closely associated with these blackouts?
	a.	The hippocampus, since this area is associated with short-term memory.
	b.	The temporal lobe, since this area is associated with out of body experiences.
	c.	The rods, since this area is associated with night vision.
	d.	The hypothalamus, since this area is associated with long-term memory.
	e.	The corpus callosum, since this area is associated with working memory.

37.	Which of the following is true:
	a.	Long-term potentiation helps the muscles to store energy for quick action in the case of a fight or flight response
	b.	Chunking is the best strategy to help people reduce the weight of a load that they are carrying. That is, they “chunk” out heavy objects that they no longer need
	c.	The hippocampus is part of the visual system. Hippocampal rods help to process the visual cues of light-dark and left-right orientation.
	d.	A schema helps us to make sense of, organize, and use the information we have stored in memory
	e.	Repetition is the same thing as novelty

38.	According to Parental Investment Theory, the average husband is likely to be most upset if his wife:
	a.	Is in love with another man
	b.	Is in love with another woman
	c.	Is having sex with another man
	d.	Is having sex with another woman
	e.	Is emotionally invested in their children

39.	All of the following statements are true about Bowlby’s Attachment Theory, EXCEPT:
	a.	The bond is influenced by both the parent as well as the child
	b.	Parents change attachment styles depending on their environment
	c.	Ambivalent attachment is associated with feelings of anxiety due to a desire and fear of being close to others
	d.	Avoidant attachment allows people to be comfortable in fairly detached relationships
	e.	Preoccupied attachment allows people to be secure in their relationships with others

40.	An important difference between males and females in the sexual response cycle is that
	a.	Males typically have a longer refractory period after having a single orgasm compared with women
	b.	Males are capable of multiple sequential orgasms whereas females are not
	c.	Orgasm is usually less pleasurable for females than for males
	d.	The plateau phase is missing in females
	e.	There is no difference between males and females in the sexual response cycle

41.	Which of the following statements is most true about life stories?
	a.	People’s life stories are remarkably similar with the same basic themes and understanding of events
	b.	The events people mention in their life stories are important to their sense of self, regardless if they are objectively true or not
	c.	A person’s sense of self is based only on personal events that happened directly to them, and not on collective events that are objectively real
	d.	People’s life stories are socially constructed and therefore are completely unrelated to reality
	e.	When people look back at their lives and write a life story, the story cannot begin before age 3 since they didn’t develop language until that point.

42.	In the 2-3 days after a major national disaster, most people tend to do all of the following EXCEPT:
	a.	Seek isolation in order to better understand who they are
	b.	Think a lot about the disaster
	c.	Use more first person plural pronouns (e.g. our, us, we)
	d.	Tell stories to others about their personal experience with the disaster
	e.	Try to make sense of the events surrounding the disaster

43.	Which of the following is TRUE about memory:
	a.	Most long-lasting cultural memories are formed between 13-25 years of age
	b.	Most distortions in memory are produced between 13-25 years of age
	c.	Most history textbooks are written by people between 13-25 years of age
	d.	Most historical monuments are designed by people between 13-25 years of age
	e.	Most people are likely to make history when they are between 13-25 years of age

44.	According to the gate-control theory, rubbing a painful area of the skin can help ease the pain because it
	a.	Damages the nerve cells so you can’t feel the pain
	b.	Stops all sensory neurons from firing
	c.	Overwhelms the signals from the pain receptors
	d.	Activates the fight or flight system.
	e.	Activates perceptions of sexual pleasure

45.	Imagine that a hundred people were interviewed in Kansas City and another hundred were interviewed in Newark, New Jersey two months after September 11, 2001. According to the looking-down-the-barrel-of-a-gun hypothesis, how would the people in the two cities differ:
	a.	Kansas City residents would be less concerned about 9/11 since it happened so far away and would tend to blame people living in the Northeast for their problems; People in New Jersey would deny that there was any danger of attacks happening to them because of denial.
	b.	People in both cities would react in the same ways: It was something that happened in another city that could happen anywhere. Both groups would make moves to make their cities more secure.
	c.	People in Kansas City would be more likely to purchase guns for protection because of perceived outside threats.
	d.	People in Newark would be more likely to purchase guns for protection because of preceived outside threats.
	e.	Kansas City residents would more likely remark how the 9/11 attacks brought people together and made our country stronger; Newark residents would be more anxious and less optimistic because of fears of a future attack.

ANSWERS

1. b

2. d

3. b

4. a

5. b

6. e

7. c

8. e

9. c

10. c

11. d

12. c

13. b

14. d

15. e

16. a

17. d

18. c

19. c

20. b

21. d

22. e

23. b

24. c

25. b

26. e

27. e

28. d

29. a

30. a

31. e

32. d

33. d

34. c

35. e

36. a

37. d

38. c

39. e

40. a

41. b

42. a

43. a

44. c

45. e