EXAM #1                                                                   Name _______________

Psy 301 (Introduction to Psychology)

Fall 2004                                                                      FORM A

 

 

1.  Which of the following is an example of an applied psychologist ?

a)      Cognitive psychologist

b)      Biological psychologist

c)      Industrial/organizational psychologist

d)      Social psychologist

 

2.  Dr. Gosling’s demonstration where he guessed the most common student answers to

     categories such as “fruit,”  “color,” and “tree” showed that psychology is all about:

a)      Judging people’s personality from brief encounters

b)      Determining people’s intelligence

c)      Common sense

d)      Predicting behavior

 

3.  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

 

4.  According to the textbook, which of the following must take place before a research

     study can begin?

a)      Reliability

b)      Informed consent

c)      Data analysis

d)      Random assignment

 

5.  The physical characteristics of an individual can be called its ________.

a)      Phenotype

b)      Genotype

c)      Attractiveness

d)      Polygenic traits

 

6.  According to the textbook, who originated the theory that the mind and body were

     separate while still being intertwined?

a)      Descartes

b)      DaVinci

c)      The ancient Greeks

d)      Charles Darwin

 

7.  In psychoanalytic theory, Freud called a person’s basic urges the:

a)      Superego

b)      Ego

c)      Id

d)      Reality principle

 

8.  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)      Selective retention of data

b)      A small sample size

c)      A biased experimenter

d)      All of the above

 

9.  All of the following are associated with the central nervous system EXCEPT:

a)      The brain

b)      The nerve cells of the body

c)      The blood-brain barrier

d)      The spinal cord

 

10.  A testable prediction of what will happen under certain conditions is a (an) ________.

a)      Theory

b)      Hypothesis

c)      Variable

d)      Outcome

 

11.  According to the textbook, which of the following is NOT a theme of psychology?

a)      The principles of psychology are cumulative.

b)      A biological revolution is underway in psychology.

c)      Psychology is only concerned with human behavior.

d)      The mind has been shaped by evolution.

 

12.  Which of the following types of neurons communicate exclusively with other

        neurons?

a)      Sensory neurons

b)      Motor neurons

c)      Interneurons

d)      All of the above

 

13.  According to the textbook, development has _______ periods; times in which

       particular experiences must occur for normal development to occur.

a)      Refractory

b)      Open

c)      Growth

d)      Critical

 


14.  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.

 

15.  According to lecture, which of the psychological approaches does the following

       statement illustrate?  I hit that man because he looked at my wife in that certain way.

a)      Behaviorist

b)      Psychodynamic

c)      Evolutionary

d)      Cognitive

 

16.  In the forebrain, the ______ is responsible for complex processing, while the _____  

       functions to regulate emotions and memory.

a)      Cerebrum; pons

b)      Cerebrum; limbic system

c)      Cerebellum; pons

d)      Cerebellum; limbic system

 

17.  The idea of dualism believes that:

a)      Psychology and biology are two separate disciplines.

b)      Genes and environment play two roles in development.

c)      Phenotypes and genotypes cannot coexist.

d)      The soul and brain are two separate entities.

 

18.  The extent to which a particular measure is error-free is:

a)      Validity

b)      Stability

c)      Reliability

d)      Accuracy

 

19.  In split-brain patients, what part of the brain is severed?

a)      Thalamus

b)      Somatosensory cortex

c)      Corpus callosum

d)      Amygdala

 


20.  The statement, “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts,” best describes which

   school of psychology?

a)      Structuralism

b)      Functionalism

c)      Gestalt psychology

d)      Cognitive psychology

 

21.  According to lecture, which of the following regions of the brain is responsible for

       the inability to perceive half of the environment (i.e. “neglect”)?

a)      Temporal

b)      Frontal

c)      Parietal

d)      Occipital

 

22.  Which of the following are techniques used to study the brain?

a)      Remove part of it and see how it affects behavior

b)      Examine humans who have suffered brain damage

c)      Record brain activity

d)      All of the above

 

23.  One criticism of the psychodynamic approach is:

a)      Its theories are difficult to test.

b)      It ignores the mental processes behind behavior.

c)      It uses the scientific method.

d)      It focuses on the chemistry of the brain.

 

24.  Which of the following men is associated with research that suggests 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

 

25.  According to lecture, the number of correct logic problems answered in 30 seconds

       could be an operational definition for which construct listed below?

a)      Hunger

b)      Anxiety

c)      Love

d)      Intelligence

 

26.  If your nucleus accumbens was damaged, which of the following would be most

   affected?

a)      Your sense of smell

b)      Your language abilities

c)      Your basic survival skills such as breathing

d)      Your perception of pleasure.

27.  According to the textbook, the following statement best represents which level of

   analysis?  One possible cause of  Parkinson’s disease is a drop in the concentration of

   dopamine in certain areas of the brain.

a)      Genetic

b)      Neurochemical

c)      Brain systems

d)      Perceptual and cognitive

 

28.  In an experimental study, the _____ is what is measured and the _____ is what is

   manipulated?

a)      Dependent variable; independent variable

b)      Independent variable; dependent variable

c)      Dependent variable; construct

d)      Independent variable; construct

 

29.  This example relates to the evolutionary perspective as discussed in class.  Compared

   with women, men in a long-term relationship should be more upset with their partner

   for doing which of the following?

a)      Having a brief sexual encounter with another person

b)      Having a meaningful, romantic relationship with another person

c)      Dating a monozygotic twin

d)      Dating a dizygotic twin

 

30.  Which of the following is the space into which neurotransmitters are released?

a)      Synaptic cleft

b)      Nodes of Ranvier

c)      Myelin sheath

d)      Axon

 

31.  According to the video shown in class, what is the crucial function of the frontal lobe?

a)      Regulating sleep cycles

b)      Complex visual processing, especially face recognition

c)      Activation of the emotions, especially anger and rage

d)      Planning of behavior

 

32.  Which of the following is a characteristic of the behaviorist approach to

        psychology?

a)      The tripartite model of the mind

b)      A focus on predicting and controlling behavior

c)      The use of observed behavior to make inferences about the mind

d)      Explaining behavior in terms of past adaptive value

 


33.  Which of the following is a characteristic of the myelin sheath?

a)      It is the site of chemical communication in the brain.

b)      It contains the DNA for the neuron.

c)      It is responsible for the reuptake of neurotransmitters.

d)      It allows for the fast propogation of action potentials.

 

34.  Someone working in applied psychology would most likely

a)      Attempt to develop theoretical models of behavior

b)      Spend much of the time observing non-human species in their natural environments.

c)      Use theoretical models to improve race relations in the community

d)      Study visual pathways in the brain in order to understand the neural mechanisms behind visual illusions

 

35.  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 is widely applicable

 

36.  According to the textbook, which of the following is NOT a significant concern in

       observational studies?

a)      Reactivity

b)      Experimenter expectancy effect

c)      Observer bias

d)      Random assignment

 

37.  The limbic system:

a)      Is responsible for complex tasks such as language.

b)      Is involved in emotional reactions and memory.

c)      Gives people their ability to be physically flexible, or limber.

d)      All of the above

 

38.  If there is a positive 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)      Both a and c

 

39.  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.

40.  Which brain structure is responsible for regulating functions such as blood pressure

   and body temperature?

a)      Hypothalamus

b)      Pituitary gland

c)      Cerebellum

d)      Tectum

 

41.  The ability to decide whether there are differences between two sets of data is a key

   characteristic of:

a)      Variability

b)      Inferential statistics

c)      Correlations

d)      Standard deviation

 

42.  A correlation:

a)      Does not allow us to determine cause and effect relationships

b)      Can range from between –10.0 and 10.0

c)      Can only be negative

d)      Can only be positive

 

43.  According to the textbook, twin studies are most often used by which of the

       following types of psychologists?

a)      Cognitive psychologists

b)      Behavioral geneticists

c)      Neuroscientists

d)      Psychoanalysts

 

44.  The video in class showing a cat with electrodes in its brain provided an example that:

a)      Functions of the brain are localized to certain areas.

b)      The brain is not responsible for human emotion.

c)      Brain stimulation research is unreliable.

d)      Visual domains of the brain are highly complex.

 

45.  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

 

1

c

2

d

3

b

4

b

5

a

6

a

7

c

8

d

9

b

10

b

11

c

12

c

13

d

14

b

15

c

16

b

17

d

18

d

19

c

20

c

21

c

22

d

23

a

24

d

25

d

26

d

27

b

28

a

29

a

30

a

31

d

32

b

33

d

34

c

35

a

36

d

37

b

38

a

39

c

40

a

41

b

42

a

43

b

44

a

45

d