Deck 1: Cognitive Psychology: An Introduction

Question 1

In response to a difficult question, the participant is likely to answer more slowly than if an easy question was asked. With a sufficiently powerful experiment, it is likely that a statistical analysis would reveal:

A) Response times would be lower for difficult questions than for easy questions
B) Response times would be higher for difficult questions than for easy questions
C) Response times would not differ for easy and difficult questions
D) Not enough information has been provided

Answer 1

Response times would be higher for difficult questions than for easy questions

Question 2

Introspection is:

A) The method in which observers are carefully trained to report on inner sensations and experiences
B) The building blocks underlying the structure of the brain
C) The branch of experimental psychology that deals with human subjects as they learn verbal materials, such as items or stimuli composed of letters and/or words
D) Attempting to understand a complex event by breaking the event down into its components

Answer 2

The method in which observers are carefully trained to report on inner sensations and experiences

Question 3

If we hear a complaint that our research lacks ecological validity. The person is complaining that:

A) It is not representative of real-world situations
B) Our research lacks sufficient precision
C) Our research lacks an appropriate comparison group
D) We are attempting to understand complex phenomena by breaking them down into their components

Answer 3

It is not representative of real-world situations

Question 4

Which is true of behaviourism?

A) The scientific study of behaviour
B) Focus on both observable and unobservable behaviour
C) They linked the mind with behaviour
D) They were interested in the structure of the mind

Question 5

Ebbinghaus:

A) Used many first year students as subjects
B) Used a "saving score" to measure memory
C) Used meaningful verbal materials
D) Used a "saving score" to study reaction time

Question 6

Which of the following stimuli were used by Ebbinghaus in his memory experiment?

A) Meaningful words
B) Three-letter nonsense words
C) Words of different lengths presented on a sheet of paper
D) Different coloured words presented on a computer screen

Question 7

Donald Hebb is associated with:

A) The Misbehavior of Organisms
B) A History of Experimental Psychology
C) The Behavior of Organisms
D) The Organization of Behavior: A Neuropsychological Theory

Question 8

Which of the following was a challenge to the behaviourist approach?

A) Conditioning
B) Skinner
C) Instinctive behaviour
D) Stimulus-Response learning

Question 9

An empirical approach to human cognition is one that:

A) Relies on observation, experimentation, or measurement
B) Characterizes an entire set of research data
C) Observes phenomenon in a field setting outside the laboratory
D) Compares subjects of different ages at a given moment in time

Question 10

Mental processes:

A) Can occur automatically and rapidly
B) Can occur automatically but are usually slow
C) Never occur automatically
D) Always occur with full conscious awareness

Question 11

The cognitive revolution:

A) Occured when Wundt opened the first psychology laboratory
B) Was a reaction to the information-processing approach
C) Was a gradual process that occurred over a few decades.
D) Occurred rapidly as a reaction to behaviourism

Question 12

Which of the following methods was used in structuralism?

A) Introspection
B) Measuring reaction time
C) Conditioning
D) Stimuls-response learning

Question 13

The field of ________ studies the mind using research carried out b y researchers in many different disciplines.

A) Information processing
B) Philosophical psychology
C) Cognitive psychology
D) Cognitive science

Question 14

Although pigs can be trained to pick up wooden coins and deposit them in a piggy bank in return for a food reward, they will often start "rutting" or "rooting"
By pushing the wooden token with their nose. This was a problem for

A) Behaviourism
B) Functionalism
C) Cognitive psychology
D) Gestalt psychology

Question 15

Chomsky's review of Skinner's book:

A) Illustrated the shortcomings of the behaviourist account of language
B) Praised Skinner for including mental processes in his account of language
C) Agreed that behaviourism provided a likely explanation for language aquisition
D) Stated that behaviourism explained most human behaviour, but not language

Question 16

Edward Titchner believed:

A) That nothing worthwhile would come of studying mental processes
B) That mental illness, educational applications, and social psychology were "impure" because they could not be studied with introspective methods
C) That the appropriate goal for psychology was the objective assessment of association formation
D) That the functions of consciousness, rather than its structure, were of interest

Question 17

William James believed:

A) That nothing worthwhile would come of studying mental processes
B) That mental illness, educational applications, and social psychology were "impure" because they could not be studied with introspective methods
C) That the appropriate goal for psychology was the objective assessment of association formation
D) That the functions of consciousness, rather than its structure, were of interest

Question 18

Neisser's criticism of cognitive psychology includes:

A) That it is too focused on vision and hearing rather than the other modalities
B) That the experimental techniques are not sterile enough
C) That it is too focused on ecological validity
D) That it does not include introspection

Question 19

Which of the following is NOT a fundamental assumption of cognitive psychology?

A) People are active information processors
B) Introspective methods allow useful cognitive insights
C) Mental processes can be studied scientifically
D) Mental processes exist

Question 20

Which is NOT a fundamental assumption of cognitive psychology?

A) Humans are active information processors
B) Mental processes can be studied scientifically
C) Mental processes exist
D) Tabula rasa

Question 21

Which of the following is true?

A) Titchner established the first psychological laboratory
B) Wundt's student Titchner advocated the approach known as Structuralism
C) Wundt believed strongly that the proper topic for psychology was observable behaviour in real world experiences
D) Wundt advocated the approach known as Functionalism

Question 22

Which of the following is true?

A) Behaviourism did not explain some of the soldier's problems observed during the Second World War
B) Cognitive psychology rejected behaviourism's controlled experimental approach
C) The primary modalities studied within cognitive psychology are touch and smell
D) The debate about "imageless thought" helped to bring about the cognitive revolution

Question 23

Historical reports suggest that ________ read ________'s book and set out to figure out how to scientifically study the mind using objective methods.

A) Ebbinghaus, Wundt
B) Wundt, Titchner
C) James, Wundt
D) Titchner, Watson

Question 24

________ refer(s) to the belief that all knowledge is gained through experience, beginning at birth when our minds are a blank slate.

A) Implicit factors
B) Tabula rasa
C) Innate factors
D) Analytic approach

Question 25

Judge Jane Smith will not allow circumstantial evidence to be presented in her court. Instead, Judge Smith allows only evidence that she can see, or observe, to be used in a prosecution. Judge Smith could be referred to as a(n):

A) Empiricist
B) Rationalist
C) Philosopher
D) Reductionist

Question 26

Michael, an aeronautical engineer, believes that aeronautical research should emphasize how the various parts function, and how they can adapt to new circumstances. If Michael had chosen psychology as a career, he might have been in favour of:

A) Structuralism
B) Behaviourism
C) Functionalism
D) Gestaltism

Question 27

The best description of Informavore is:

A) Beings that actively obtain and process information
B) Fundamental unit of the structuralist account
C) An instrumental contribution to the cognitive revolution
D) Fundamental unit of S-R behaviorism

Question 28

This notion deals with what factors contribute to and influence who we are. To what extent is it inborn factors or environmental experiences:

A) Nature vs. nurture
B) Structure vs. processes
C) Rationalism vs. empiricism
D) Structuralism vs. behaviourism

Question 29

Which of the following were, in general, most involved in theory building rather than pure atheoretic data collection?

A) B.F. Skinner
B) Verbal learning theorists
C) Hull
D) Ebbinghaus

Question 30

"Cognitive Maps in Mice and Men" is associated with ________.

A) Hull
B) Watson
C) Skinner
D) Tolman

Question 31

The area of verbal learning gave cognitive psychology:

A) Little that was positive
B) Evidence for the importance of "tabula rasa"
C) An objective and reliable method to study mental processes
D) Problems explaining the existence of mental processes

Question 32

Which of the following had the "narrowest" view of topics acceptable to the field of psychology?

A) Wundt
B) James
C) Titchner
D) Warren

Question 33

The essence of Chomsky's review of Skinner's "verbal behavior" book was that Skinner:

A) Failed to supply an adequate computer model of verbal learning
B) Relied too heavily on animal models
C) Failed to consider the role of attention
D) Was a mere terminological revision, in which terms borrowed from the laboratory were used in the full vagueness of their ordinary usage

Question 34

"The Organization of Behaviour" is associated with:

A) Skinner
B) Hebb
C) Watson
D) James

Question 35

Donald Hebb explained human and animal behaviour and thought in terms of:

A) The brain
B) Stimulus and response learning
C) Nature vs. nurture
D) The structure of the mind

Question 36

Donald Hebb criticized reigning theories of learning and perception as:

A) Placing too much emphasis on animal behaviour
B) Placing too much emphasis on neural processes
C) Being too concerned with vision and audition
D) Being unable to handle thought adequately

Question 37

Animals trained to deposit coins in a piggy bank are unlikely to revert to their instinctive behaviour as long as the training involved stimulus-response methods.

Question 38

The goal of structuralism was to understand how the mind worked and how it adapted to new circumstances.

Question 39

William James had a personal distaste of experimentation.

Question 40

Signal detection theory developed from the work of World War II psychologists.

Question 41

Early philosophers did not consider the nature of thought and memory.

Question 42

Before studying language, Chomsky was an influential behaviourist.

Question 43

Donald Hebb was influential in advancing the area of cognitive neuroscience.

Question 44

Articles referred to as the behaviourist manifesto and the cognitive manifesto were written by ________ and ________ respectively.

Question 45

________ is a new term designating the study of cognition from multiple standpoints of psychology, such as linguistics, computer science, and neuroscience.

Question 46

Ideas that have a ________ status in cognitive psychology are above and beyond any particular theory, and are so central to the discipline that they are assumed to be true.

Question 47

The investigation of the learning and retention of language-based material is called ________.

Question 48

The attempt to understand complex events by breaking them down into their components is called the ________.

Question 49

Discuss two of the four interlocking themes used to understand Donald Hebb's contribution to the
field of cognitive psychology.

Question 50

Briefly summarize structuralism, functualism, and behaviourism. For each paradigm, identify the founder and describe the main beliefs.

Question 51

Explain how Ebbinghaus' idea of "savings" could be adapted to help you learn course material.

Question 52

What did Ebbinghaus (1980) mean when he made the comment that "Psychology has a long past but only a short history"?

Question 53

It is broadly accepted that behaviourist accounts of language are seriously flawed. Why? (Note: Be sure to evaluate more than just Chomsky's response to Skinner.)

Question 54

What are the four major assumptions of cognitive psychology? Explain why each is considered important.