Question 1

Which goal of psychology is illustrated by a psychologist seeking to discover why sociopaths tend to repeat their destructive behavior?

Accepted Answer

A) understanding 
B) prediction 
C) description 
D) control

Question 2

To assess your personality, a phrenologist would want to

Accepted Answer

A) study your handwriting. 
B) study the lines on your palm. 
C) examine the shape of your skull. 
D) record your brain waves with an EEG.

Question 3

The _____ view sees behavior as being shaped and controlled by one's environment.

Accepted Answer

A) cognitive 
B) humanistic 
C) biopsychological 
D) behavioristic

Question 4

A Gestalt psychologist might

Accepted Answer

A) recommend rewarding yourself with a movie instead of a candy bar. 
B) suggest that you explore patterns in your behavior as a whole rather than analyzing each individual action. 
C) examine each individual element of your behavior. 
D) recommend all of these.

Question 5

Your best friend passes you in the school hallway and glares at you without speaking.You think, "Now, why did she do that?" One possible explanation could be that she saw you flirting with her boyfriend.Within the framework of the scientific method, that possible explanation for your friend's behavior would be considered a(n)_____, which will remain tentative until it has been tested.

Accepted Answer

A) theory 
B) operational definition 
C) hypothesis 
D) relative certainty

Question 6

According to John B. Watson, psychology is the study of

Accepted Answer

A) the mind. 
B) conscious experience. 
C) mental states. 
D) behavior.

Question 7

John's poor performance in reading was found to be due to visual discrimination problems.This determination of the cause for his poor reading performance illustrates which goal of psychology?

Accepted Answer

A) description 
B) prediction 
C) understanding 
D) control

Question 8

According to John B. Watson, introspection was

Accepted Answer

A) a valid method of research. 
B) unscientific. 
C) the cornerstone of behaviorism. 
D) the study of the mind in use.

Question 9

The more general the prediction a fortune teller or palmist makes, the more believable are the results.This fact has been called the

Accepted Answer

A) Guilford effect. 
B) phenologist's fallacy. 
C) the Barnum effect. 
D) the Gall fallacy.

Question 10

_____ emphasizes the study of thinking, learning, and perception in whole units, not by analysis into parts.

Accepted Answer

A) Behaviorism 
B) Comparative psychology 
C) Structuralism 
D) Gestalt psychology

Question 11

According to your textbook, astrology

Accepted Answer

A) has repeatedly been shown to have no scientific validity. 
B) has scientific validity if you correct for planetary drift. 
C) is a useful guide for making personal decisions. 
D) is only valid in very specific and unusual situations.

Question 12

Which question below relates most directly to the goal of controlling behavior?

Accepted Answer

A) Do men and women differ in intellectual abilities? 
B) How can test anxiety be prevented? 
C) Why does a blow to the head cause memory loss? 
D) Does depth perception occur when an individual has only one eye?

Question 13

Psychological research found which of the following common-sense beliefs to be FALSE?

Accepted Answer

A) Most humans use only 10 percent of their potential brainpower. 
B) To change people's behavior toward members of ethnic minority groups, we must first change their attitudes. 
C) Psychotherapy has its greatest success in the treatment of psychotic patients who have lost touch with reality. 
D) All of these common-sense beliefs were found to be FALSE.

Question 14

You see a psychologist and tell her that you are feeling depressed.She talks to you about the goals you have for yourself, about your image of yourself, and about the choices that you can make in your life so that you can realize your potential.This psychologist would probably belong to the _____ school of psychology.

Accepted Answer

A) humanistic 
B) psychodynamic 
C) behavioristic 
D) Gestalt

Question 15

Psychoanalysis

Accepted Answer

A) was the first talking therapy. 
B) explores unconscious conflicts and emotional problems. 
C) was created by Sigmund Freud. 
D) is characterized by all of these.

Question 16

The first psychological laboratory was set up in order to

Accepted Answer

A) break down conscious experiences, such as sensations. 
B) study how the use of reinforcement and punishment alter behaviors. 
C) understand the unconscious conflicts individuals experience. 
D) understand how language and intelligence develop.

Question 17

Who said, "Give me a dozen healthy infants...and I'll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select..."?

Accepted Answer

A) William James 
B) Ivan Pavlov 
C) Sigmund Freud 
D) John Watson

Question 18

In their attempts to analyze consciousness into its elements, the structuralists used a method called

Accepted Answer

A) conditioning. 
B) Gestalt synthesis. 
C) natural selection. 
D) introspection.

Question 19

Common sense is a poor source of psychological information because it is

Accepted Answer

A) always in error. 
B) a barrier to seeking better information. 
C) too empirical. 
D) not based on any form of observation.

Question 20

On an old science fiction series, TV viewers were always able to tell which crew member would be the most likely to die when the crew was exploring a new planet.It was the crew member wearing the yellow suit, although one never knew the reason for this occurrence.The ability to forecast the demise of the yellow-suited crew member illustrates the ability to

Accepted Answer

A) describe behavior. 
B) predict behavior. 
C) understand behavior. 
D) influence or control behavior.

Exam 1: Extension A: Introduction to Psychology and Research Methods