Deck 10: The Psychology of Adaptation

Question 1

The author of the text notes that any theory of evolution needs at least two components. One of which is?

A) preserving changes
B) an engine of change
C) both of these
D) none of these

Answer 1

C

Question 2

In Lamarck's Romantic theory of evolution, the engine of change was proposed to be:

A) a living species innate drive to perfect itself.
B) God's desire to avoid mistakes.
C) DNA's ability to correct itself when the double helix divides.
D) none of these.

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Darwin knew the cause of selection must reside outside the organism but where? He got his answer in 1838 by ______.

A) taking a second and more detailed look at Lamarck's theory of evolution.
B) re-reading and thinking about the King James version of the Bible
C) reading Thomas Malthus's Essay on the Principles of Population.
D) reading Freud's work on Civilization and its Discontents.

Answer 3

C

Question 4

After reading Thomas Malthus's Essay on the Principles of Population Darwin got the idea that:

A) every species strives for perfection.
B) it was the struggle for survival that caused natural selection.
C) if an individual gains a skill or knowledge it will be handed down directly to their offspring.
D) none of these.

Question 5

Both Lamarck and Darwin proposed theories of evolution. The most important difference between them was that:

A) Darwin knew about Mendelian genetics; Lamarck did not.
B) Lamarck believed in inheritance of acquired characteristics; Darwin did not.
C) Darwin believed in descent with modification; Lamarck did not.
D) Darwin believed in variation and natural selection; Lamarck did not.

Question 6

T. H. Huxley played a key role in 19^th century science by:

A) making evolution the basis for scientific psychology
B) linking evolution to Mendelian genetics
C) popularizing Darwin's theory of evolution
D) showing how phrenology was inconsistent with evolution

Question 7

According to Herbert Spencer, the evolutionary function of consciousness is:

A) representing the world internally
B) choosing adaptive behaviors
C) creation of science and technology
D) all of these

Question 8

Which of the following contemporary research programs best exemplifies the individual question asked by the psychology of adaptation?

A) Wrangham's work on "demonic males," the similarities between the behaviors of male chimpanzees and human beings.
B) Wilson's work on similarities between the social organizations of ants, termites, and bees and human social organizations.
C) Skinner's work on the shaping of behavior by positive and negative reinforcers.
D) Cheney and Seyfarth's work on the distinctive world view of monkeys.

Question 9

One question raised by any theory of evolution involves the question of when a creature grows up, how it can be seen as adapting psychologically to the environment in a way analogous to organic evolution. This question leads to the study of learning. This question is known as the ___.

A) species question
B) vitalism question
C) pragmatic question
D) none of these

Question 10

Which of the following ideas is not contained in or implied by Herbert Spencer's evolutionary psychology?

A) Races differ in innate intelligence.
B) Species may be ranked on a single dimension of associative power.
C) The bigger one's brain, the greater one's intelligence.
D) Different species possess different kinds of minds.

Question 11

Joe believes that the government should do nothing to help the poor, weak and helpless and that natural selection should be allowed to take its course with the human species. Joe's belief best matches the ideas of:

A) Darwinism
B) Embodied Cognition
C) Social Darwinism
D) The Metaphysical Club

Question 12

Asking how different species have acquired different mentalities as a result of evolution is asking the __________ question.

A) species
B) individual
C) Darwinian
D) adaptation

Question 13

The idea that government should not do anything to ameliorate the condition of the poor, because doing so would interfere with evolution is called:

A) Eugenics
B) Social Darwinism
C) Laissez-faire
D) Embodied Cognition

Question 14

Positive eugenics refers to:

A) attempts to prevent the "unfit" from having children
B) refusing to interfere with natural selection
C) genetic engineering to improve human DNA
D) trying to get the most "fit" to have more children

Question 15

Francis Galton was deeply worried that:

A) mental traits might not be inheritable
B) the lazy upper classes were reproducing faster than the industrious working classes
C) the average intelligence of Britons was declining
D) none of the these

Question 16

Galton coined the term eugenics to refer to:

A) the evolution of morality
B) how societies evolve
C) units of hereditary transmission
D) selective breeding of human beings

Question 17

E. G. Boring once remarked that although American psychologists got their brass instruments and degrees from Wundt, they got their inspiration from:

A) Hume
B) Spencer
C) Galton
D) phrenology

Question 18

The author of the texts states that Wundt wanted to understand only the normal adult mind. Galton wanted _______.

A) to also study normal adult minds.
B) to study the normal minds of both adults and children.
C) to only study abnormal minds.
D) to study any human mind.

Question 19

Which of the following is an example of positive eugenics?

A) giving prizes for high IQ people who marry
B) sterilization of low IQ people
C) isolating low IQ people in institutions
D) all of the above

Question 20

The early method used by the first animal psychologists to study animal behavior (e.g. Romanes) was the ________ method, which many American psychologists like Thorndike would later reject.

A) objective
B) neurophysiological
C) statistical
D) anecdotal

Question 21

In Animal Intelligence (1883) George Romanes carried on work in comparative psychology by surveying the mental abilities of animals. Yet C. Lloyd Morgan objected to Romanes ________.

A) being overly objective in his observations and underestimating animal intelligence.
B) attributing both a soul and the ability of some animals to learn language.
C) overestimated animal intelligence from analogy of his own thinking.
D) none of these.

Question 22

Morgan's Canon is the rule that in attributing mental processes to animals we should:

A) avoid reference to emotion
B) not make analogies to our own consciousness
C) infer the simplest mental process possible
D) none of the above

Question 23

The rule that in inferring an animal's mental processes from behavior one should infer the simplest level of mind needed to explain the behavior is called:

A) Romanes' rifle
B) Morgan's canon
C) Thorndike's razor
D) Spencer's scalpel

Question 24

I observe a cat return to a place where it caught a mouse yesterday, where it waits, preparing to pounce again. I infer that the cat must possess memory. According to Morgan, this is an example of a(n) _________ inference from behavior to mind.

A) subjective
B) objective
C) verbal
D) behavioral

Question 25

You observe a cat come running when the can opener is used. Which of the following inferences would Morgan reject as outside the scope of science?

A) The cat recognizes the sound of the can opener
B) The cat remembers where its food dish is
C) The cat is happy because it expects food

Question 26

One reason the psychology of adaptation found such fertile ground and grew in the young United States was:

A) Americans valued theory over common sense and practical ideas.
B) Americans valued business, and useful knowledge.
C) Americans believed that innate traits defined people and these people would be more successful than others no matter the environment.
D) Americans had a long tradition of a feudal hierarchy, established churchs and ancient universities which all accepted the new theory of adaptation.

Question 27

Which of the following was not an important influence on American thought?

A) The Scottish Enlightenment (Reid's commonsense philosophy)
B) The business of America was business
C) Evangelical Christianity
D) French naturalism

Question 28

Which of the following is the uniquely American element in the intellectual life of the new world?

A) French naturalism
B) Business and commonsense
C) Enlightenment philosophy
D) A love of theory and pure research

Question 29

A hiker walking in the woods ignores the sound of a twig snapping while a solider during combat pays attention to the twig snap. Both structuralism and early functionalism would argue it was the Will or Transcendental Ego that controlled perception. In contrast the reflex arc paper by __________ disagreed with this explanation.

A) James
B) Spencer
C) Pavlov
D) Dewey

Question 30

The single greatest difference between early American and German psychology was that:

A) American psychology emphasized basic and pure research on consciousness
B) American psychology emphasized practical applications
C) American psychologists never defined psychology as the Science of Mental Life
D) American psychologists embraced psychoanalysis in the 1870s

Question 31

The development of scientific psychology in the United States was foreshadowed by the earlier _________ movement.

A) Progressive
B) Socialist
C) phrenological
D) pragmatist

Question 32

Phrenology was changed by the Americans who popularized it, in ways that anticipate how psychology would be changed as it Americanized. Which of the following changes did not occur?

A) Phrenology became more theoretical.
B) Phrenology became more practical.
C) Phrenology was used as a self-help technique.
D) Phrenology was used for social reform.

Question 33

The first formulation of pragmatism was written by ____________, who, in contrast to James, emphasized objective cognitive processes rather than emotional ones.

A) Charles S. Peirce
B) Alexander Bain
C) Chauncy Wright
D) John Dewey

Question 34

According to pragmatism, one should accept an idea as true if it:

A) is logically provable
B) corresponds to facts
C) is useful in the conduct of life
D) accords with Biblical teaching

Question 35

James rejected the automaton theory of the mind, which held that consciousness:

A) has no evolutionary value
B) evolved to create motives for survival
C) is independent of the brain
D) is a stream, not made of atomic parts

Question 36

Which of the following was the evolutionary function of consciousness according to James?

A) representing the world internally
B) choosing adaptive behaviors
C) creation of science and technology
D) philosophical self-awareness

Question 37

According to James' theory of emotion (the James-Lange theory), emotions are:

A) the registration in consciousness of the motor responses and visceral changes in our bodies in response to certain stimuli
B) states of arousal given different emotional labels depending on the social context in which the arousal occurred
C) simply names for the behaviors caused by certain threatening or attractive stimuli
D) none of the above

Question 38

The main organizer of the American Psychological Association (and coiner of the term "adolescence") was:

A) G. Stanley Hall
B) Ralph Waldo Emerson
C) James McKeen Cattell
D) Jonathan Edwards

Question 39

According to William James, consciousness should be understood:

A) as a collection of permanent sensations that regularly repeat themselves
B) as merely reflecting and recording all the sensations it is exposed to
C) as an ever changing stream that chooses its material
D) as an evolutionarily useless possession

Question 40

Principles of Psychology contains a deep contradiction, revealing that James was torn between believing in:

A) nativism vs. empiricism
B) determinism vs. free will
C) evolution vs. creationism
D) rationalism vs. empiricism

Question 41

Chauncy Wright took __________ as a model by which to understand how we come to accept some beliefs as true and others as false.

A) Gall's phrenology
B) Lamarckian evolution
C) Darwinian evolution
D) positivism

Question 42

Analyzing beliefs as useful habits is the essence of the American philosophy of:

A) Transcendentalism
B) psychologism
C) rationalism
D) pragmatism

Question 43

Which of the following is the correct series of events according to William James' theory of emotion?

A) see bear --- run away --- feel scared
B) see bear --- feel scared --- run away
C) feel scared --- see bear --- run away
D) run away --- see bear --- feel scared

Question 44

Adherents of the Old Psychology of the Scots resisted the New psychology of laboratory experiment primarily because the New Psychologists:

A) were committed to faculty psychology
B) viewed psychology as a value-free natural science
C) were not committed to reducing mental processes to brain processes
D) all of the above

Question 45

According to pragmatism, beliefs are:

A) not forever true or false
B) habits
C) that upon which we are prepared to act
D) all of these

Question 46

According to pragmatism, one should accept an idea as true if it:

A) is logically provable
B) corresponds to facts
C) is useful in the conduct of life
D) accords with Biblical teaching

Question 47

American evangelical Christianity and behaviorism were alike in that both:

A) believed in the existence of the soul
B) viewed church-going as an important social duty
C) aimed at improving people
D) expected people to have conversion experiences

Question 48

According to James, the most important biological function of consciousness is:

A) choice
B) self-awareness
C) memory
D) repression

Question 49

According to the Spencerian paradigm:

A) animals could be lined up on a unilineal scale of intelligence
B) men were smarter than women
C) the adaptive value of mind was to mirror the world
D) all the above

Question 50

James' Principles of Psychology was published in:

A) 1879
B) 1900
C) 1890
D) 1904

Question 51

Functional psychology was "functional" in three senses. One of which was ______?

A) mind was viewed as a biological function
B) the theoretical bases of functional psychology supported the research data
C) it functioned to give psychologists more employment opportunities than structural psychology did.
D) all of these

Question 52

Functional psychology was "functional" in three senses. One of which was ______?

A) mind was viewed as a function of God's will, thus it supported Christianity.
B) it functioned to give psychologists more employment opportunities than structural psychology did
C) it viewed mind in Darwinian terms with the mind adapting an organism to novel circumstances .
D) all of these

Question 53

According to Titchener's "Postulates of Structural Psychology," functional psychology was analogous to the field of ________ within biology.

A) physiology
B) embryology
C) anatomy
D) genetics

Question 54

Titchener's paper "Postulates of Structural Psychology," distinguished several kinds of psychology but his paper also marks the beginning of __________.

A) the struggle between biology and philosophy to control psychology in America.
B) the debate between religion and pragmatism in Europe.
C) the struggle between commonsense philosophy of Reid and the world of business in the USA.
D) the struggle between structuralism and functionalism to control American psychology.

Question 55

James viewed conscious experience as being like a:

A) collection of billiard balls
B) train of thoughts linked up one by one
C) stream
D) puddle

Question 56

James's answer to his provocative paper, "Does Consciousness Exist", was?

A) No, not in any form.
B) Yes, it is a distinct thing and very different from experience (i.e. tones, taste, smell etc.)
C) No, not as a distinct separate thing but it does as experience (tones, taste, smell etc.)
D) No, not as conscious awareness or experience, but there is an unconscious.

Question 57

The Neorealist philosopher Perry argued that introspection was special in only trivial ways. Perry argued that the Mind and behavior are ______________.

A) functionally the same.
B) very different from one another.
C) similar but the mind can never be studied looking at behavior because mind processes are hidden from everyone.
D) none of these.

Question 58

Neorealists such as Perry and Holt believe which of the following?

A) that the study of consciousness and the study of behavior are very different.
B) that the study of consciousness and the study of behavior are essentially the same.
C) that psychology should keep introspection and reject behaviorism.
D) none of these

Question 59

James asked us if we could still love our "Automatic sweetheart" once we discovered she was really a machine. James answered the question by stating:

A) Yes because true love is based on the behaviors of love, (e.g., glances, caresses, sighs) and not consciousness.
B) No, because behind love is not behavior but a subjective mental state called love.
C) Yes because the belief in other minds does not pass the pragmatic test.
D) James never tried to answer his own question, but he did stimulate debate.

Question 60

Singer disagreed with James's answer to the automatic sweetheart question. Singer argued that the concept of mind was an example of the fallacy of reification, what Ryle called a "category mistake". Which of the following is an example?

A) a rock plus heat equals a hot rock.
B) a body plus life equals a living person.
C) a human body plus a soul equals a living person.
D) all of these.

Question 61

In the USA, the "Old Psychology" referred to:

A) psychoanalysis
B) functionalism
C) physiological psychology
D) Scottish commonsense psychology

Question 62

Contrast Jean-Baptiste Lamarck's romantic theory of evolution with Darwin's theory of evolution. How do they compare in terms of the engine of change and preserving change.

Question 63

Discuss the influence that Thomas Malthus's Essay on the Principles of Population had on formulating Darwin's theory of evolution.

Question 64

What is social Darwinism? What are negative and positive eugenics?

Question 65

How did Herbert Spencer's Principles of Psychology lead to neglect of the species question?

Question 66

Describe Romanes' approach to comparative psychology. Include a discussion of the anecdotal method? What problem did this method have and how did Morgan attempt to minimize the problem?

Question 67

Why did the psychology of adaptation find fertile ground in the United States? How did the influence of Reid's common sense philosophy, Evangelical Christianity, radical environmentalism and valuing business contribute to the psychology of adaptation growth in the USA?

Question 68

Describe the Motor theory of Consciousness and discuss how it helped lead psychology to be increasingly concerned with behavior rather than experience.

Question 69

Functional psychology began replacing structural psychology and eventually moved psychology toward behaviorism. Give three reasons why functional psychology was "functional".

Question 70

Neo-realists such as Perry and Holt rejected the alleged privacy of mind. Describe their argument that studying consciousness and the study of behavior are essentially the same.

Question 71

Describe William James's "Automatic Sweetheart" question and his answer to it. Summarize Singer's argument against James's answer. Why is James's automatic sweetheart question important today?

Question 72

What is the New Psychology and how is it different from the Old Psychology?