Deck 1: The Science of Psychology

Question 1

Psychological science is the study of:

A) the mind
B) the brain
C) behavior
D) all of the above

Answer 1

D

Question 2

What types of skills are acquired as an undergraduate student of psychology?

A) communication skills
B) critical thinking skills
C) data analysis
D) all of the above

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Your text states that "for many years,psychologists focused on behavior rather than mental states." Why did psychologists tend to neglect the mind during this period?

A) Mental states are unrelated to behavior.
B) Psychology does not include the study of the mind.
C) Mental states are inherently subjective.
D) The technology necessary to study the mind objectively has become available only recently.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Trying to understand the connection between the actions of neurons and a thought illustrates the underlying goal of psychological science in establishing the:

A) connection between brain and mind
B) connection between nature and nurture
C) connection between genes and thought
D) connections between various components of the nervous system

Question 5

Which of the following statements best describes psychological science?

A) Psychological science is really just common sense.
B) Psychological science is applying common sense.
C) Psychological science principles are highly applicable to everyday life.
D) Psychological principles are too scientific to apply to everyday life.

Question 6

Allanah has declared psychology as her major.Which of the following alternatives best identifies what Allanah will study?

A) the structure and function of the brain
B) mental disorders and their treatment
C) feelings and other subjective states
D) mind, brain, and behavior

Question 7

Based on your textbook's definition of psychology,which statement best reflects the relationship between the mind and the brain?

A) The brain is the same thing as the mind.
B) The brain influences the mind.
C) The brain is unrelated to the mind.
D) The brain reflects the mind.

Question 8

Barry states that psychology is the study of the mind.Candace remarks that psychology is the science of behavior.How might you evaluate these two statements?

A) Barry's definition is correct; Candace's definition is incorrect.
B) Both statements are too broad.
C) Both statements are partially correct.
D) Barry's definition is too broad; Candace's definition is correct.

Question 9

Which of the following actions is the best example of a behavior?

A) jumping up and down
B) trying to remember a phone number
C) discussing plans for the day
D) none of the above

Question 10

Which of the following statements is true?

A) Most psychological research is conducted in colleges and universities.
B) The best reason for studying psychology is its personal relevance.
C) The majority of psychological research is conducted on patients with psychological disorders.
D) In general, the results of psychological research apply only to Western cultures.

Question 11

When psychologists say that knowledge or a memory is "primed," they mean that the knowledge or memory is:

A) transformed
B) retrieved
C) activated
D) used

Question 12

Which type(s)of job(s)would use the skills learned in an undergraduate program in psychology?

A) store manager
B) police officer
C) research assistant
D) all of the above

Question 13

By 2018,opportunities for psychology graduates are expected to:

A) decline slightly
B) remain constant
C) grow by 10 percent to 15 percent
D) increase by nearly 50 percent

Question 14

Your text describes a study by Dijksterhuis and van Knippenberg (1998)in which participants rated a confederate of the experimenter as warmer when they held a cup of hot coffee than when they held a cup of iced coffee.How does your text interpret this result?

A) This finding supports the role of unconscious determinants of thought and behavior.
B) This finding refutes the role of unconscious determinants of thought and behavior.
C) This finding supports a dualistic position on the mind/body problem.
D) This finding affirms the importance of "nature" in thought and behavior.

Question 15

Which of the following is the best definition of psychological science?

A) the study of the brain and its inner function
B) the study of the mind and how it processes thoughts, social interactions, and emotions
C) the study of the mind, brain, and behavior
D) the study of the mind, the psyche, and behavior

Question 16

Dr.Prescott is a physician treating an elderly patient showing early symptoms of dementia.Ms.Ellis is a teacher working with children with autism.Finally,Mr.Washington is a lawyer selecting individuals to serve on a jury.Which of these individuals is likely to use psychological science in his or her professional activities?

A) Dr. Prescott only
B) both Dr. Prescott and Ms. Ellis
C) Ms. Ellis only
D) all three: Dr. Prescott, Ms. Ellis, and Mr. Washington

Question 17

Your text describes a study by Dijksterhuis and van Knippenberg (1998)in which participants earned higher scores in a trivia game when they thought about professors than when they thought about soccer hooligans.Your text attributes this result to the activation of knowledge.With respect to the definition of psychology,your text's explanation of the finding emphasizes:

A) behavior
B) the mind
C) the brain
D) either the brain or the mind; the brain and the mind are the same thing

Question 18

Most psychological research takes place in _____.The participants in psychological research are most often _____.

A) colleges and universities; healthy, working adults
B) colleges and universities; students
C) clinics and hospitals; patients with psychological disorders
D) clinics and hospitals; healthy, working adults

Question 19

Why is psychology one of the most popular majors at many colleges and universities?

A) Psychology helps us to be happier.
B) We are fascinated with understanding ourselves.
C) We want to help others.
D) All of the above are correct.

Question 20

Recall the definition of psychological science offered in your text.Your text suggests that for much of its history,psychologists focused mostly on:

A) the brain
B) disorders
C) behaviors
D) the mind

Question 21

Which of the following is an example of using critical thinking and scientific reasoning?

A) believing that sugar causes ADHD because you feel hyper after eating a candy bar
B) concluding that listening to Mozart improves cognition in children after reading an article about this topic in a popular magazine
C) using a personal example to show how a psychological principle must be wrong
D) conducting research to investigate the effectiveness of left brain/right brain games in improving memory

Question 22

The idea that the mind and body are separate but intertwined describes the viewpoint of:

A) dualism
B) structuralism
C) introspection
D) none of the above

Question 23

Which of the following characteristics is a hallmark of a good scientist?

A) open to new ideas
B) weighs the facts
C) wary of scientific findings
D) all of the above

Question 24

Which of the following statements is the best conclusion regarding the Mozart effect?

A) There is no data to suggest that listening to classical music improves cognition in any manner.
B) There is strong evidence to show that listening to classical music makes children more intelligent.
C) Listening to classical music makes children, but not college students, smarter.
D) Listening to Mozart appears to enhance only certain types of motor skills in college students.

Question 25

According to your text,"amiable skepticism" is an important element in a type of reasoning called:

A) scholarly inquiry
B) nay-sayerism
C) analytic argumentation
D) critical thinking

Question 26

Over history,at different times and in different places,people have viewed the mind as being located in each of the following parts of the body EXCEPT the:

A) brain
B) liver
C) heart
D) sexual organs

Question 27

Critical thinking is best defined as thinking that:

A) is systematic and reasonable
B) is open-minded and creative
C) criticizes others' opinions
D) uses inferences but does not solve problems

Question 28

According to the nature/nurture debate,nature states that individual psychological characteristics are a result of:

A) education
B) biological influences
C) experiences
D) culture

Question 29

Yuko remarks that she is interested in child development and educational psychology.Based on your text's discussion,Yuko's interests echo the:

A) emphases of Confucius
B) writings of da Vinci
C) thoughts of Greek scholars
D) writings of early Muslim thinkers

Question 30

The difference between using critical thinking explanations and everyday explanations for psychological phenomena is that:

A) critical thinking relies on evidence and scientific support for making conclusions
B) everyday explanations rely on evidence and scientific support for making conclusions
C) critical thinking relies on personal examples more than scientific evidence for making conclusions
D) everyday explanations rely on personal examples and scientific evidence for making conclusions

Question 31

Which of the following is an important goal of your psychology textbook?

A) to teach you how to be a therapist by using methods of psychology
B) to provide you with an education about the methods of psychological science
C) to help you define normal versus abnormal behavior so you can accurately identify mental illness
D) to help you predict how people will interact in novel situations

Question 32

Your text traces the nature/nurture debate back to:

A) the Chinese philosopher Confucius
B) the ancient Egyptians
C) Greek philosophers, such as Plato and Aristotle
D) the Renaissance philosopher Descartes

Question 33

Many soldiers returning from the war in Iraq have suffered from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).However,your friend from high school who has returned from a protracted active deployment seems to be coping well even though he had some truly horrible experiences.How might you explain this difference with regard to the biological and environmental contributions to behavior?

A) Your friend may not have a genetic susceptibility for PTSD.
B) Environment is not an important factor in determining behavior.
C) Your friend inherited a genetic predisposition to PTSD.
D) Soldiers' experiences in Iraq really are not as bad as people say.

Question 34

According to your text,the ancient Chinese philosopher Confucius emphasized each of the following psychological topics EXCEPT:

A) human development
B) interpersonal relations
C) intelligence
D) education

Question 35

Which of the following philosophers is most noted for promoting dualism as an explanation of the mind/body problem?

A) René Descartes
B) Leonardo da Vinci
C) Hippocrates
D) Sigmund Freud

Question 36

The nature in the nature/nurture debate refers to:

A) biological factors affecting the brain, the mind, and behavior
B) environmental factors affecting the brain, the mind, and behavior
C) either biological or environmental factors affecting the brain, the mind, and behavior
D) behaviors learned in the natural environment but not learned in a formal setting

Question 37

Psychology developed into a discipline in:

A) ancient China
B) nineteenth-century Europe
C) classical Greece
D) colonial America, in the eighteenth century

Question 38

Dualism is the idea that:

A) the mind and the brain are separate entities
B) the mind and the brain are the same entity
C) the mind and the brain are opposing forces
D) there is no mind, just the brain

Question 39

With respect to the nature/nurture debate,psychological scientists now believe that:

A) nature is the most important factor in understanding the mind, the brain, and behavior
B) the mind, the brain, and behavior are largely a matter of nurture
C) both nature and nurture are important in understanding the mind, the brain, and behavior
D) the issue is largely irrelevant to understanding the mind, the brain, and behavior

Question 40

Why is critical thinking important in evaluating psychological research?

A) Researchers deliberately lie about their findings.
B) There might be significant limitations to the findings.
C) Biology is the most important factor in behavior, and knowing all the elements of the biological causes for behaviors is impossible.
D) There is always only one clear explanation and the researchers may not have found it.

Question 41

Which of the following psychologists is most closely associated with the school of structuralism?

A) Sigmund Freud
B) B. F. Skinner
C) Edward Titchener
D) William James

Question 42

Who first proposed that psychology should be a science of observation and experimentation in order to discover the laws of the mind?

A) René Descartes
B) John Locke
C) John Stuart Mill
D) Hermann von Helmholtz

Question 43

Which of the following changes did John Stuart Mill advocate for the field of psychology?

A) to move from the study of the mind to the study of the body
B) to move from the study of the body to the study of the mind
C) to move from speculation to observation and experimentation
D) to move from experimentation and observation to speculation

Question 44

Dr.Leleux asserts that psychologists should attempt to isolate the fundamental attributes of mental experience.Dr.Leleux appears most sympathetic to the _____ school of thought in psychology.

A) structuralist
B) behaviorist
C) functionalist
D) Gestalt

Question 45

Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species had its strongest influence on the _____ school of thought in psychology.

A) functionalist
B) humanistic
C) structuralist
D) psychoanalytic

Question 46

The early school of structuralism was introduced by:

A) Edward Titchener
B) William James
C) Wilhelm Wundt
D) Mary Whiton Calkins

Question 47

A procedure in which an observer describes the simple elements of a mental experience in as much detail as possible is called:

A) introspection
B) inner perception
C) introjection
D) introversion

Question 48

With respect to the mind/body problem,which of the following alternatives best captures the view of dualism held by contemporary psychological scientists?

A) Most psychological scientists reject dualism.
B) Most psychological scientists accept dualism.
C) While many psychological scientists reject dualism, a growing minority promote a return to dualism.
D) While many psychological scientists accept dualism, a growing minority reject the view.

Question 49

Which of the following psychologists is most closely associated with the school of functionalism?

A) Sigmund Freud
B) B. F. Skinner
C) Wilhelm Wundt
D) William James

Question 50

In which real-life context did John Dewey apply the principles of functionalism?

A) hospital
B) home
C) factory
D) classroom

Question 51

Functionalism has been criticized because it:

A) did not include elements of the nature/nurture debate
B) sometimes lacked scientific rigor
C) focused on narrow parts of problems rather than on the whole
D) did not take into account the way children process information

Question 52

In which city did Wilhelm Wundt open the first psychological laboratory?

A) Vienna, Austria
B) Leipzig, Germany
C) Oxford, England
D) Krakow, Poland

Question 53

For most of human history,Western scholars believed that the mind and body were separate and that humans were unique among the animals because humans:

A) possessed a soul
B) controlled other animals
C) were mortal
D) had a mind and body that interacted for a divine purpose

Question 54

This early school of psychology used introspection to study subjective mental experiences:

A) functionalism
B) behavioral
C) cognitive
D) structuralism

Question 55

Functionalism has influenced each of the following pursuits EXCEPT:

A) determining the function of religion
B) developing better ways of applying divergent thinking and creativity in the classroom
C) determining teaching methods based on how children's minds process information
D) developing reward and punishment programs and token economies

Question 56

If you were asked to list all the thoughts and experiences you have while answering a test question,the technique used would be:

A) inspection
B) conscription
C) abstraction
D) introspection

Question 57

According to the structuralists,the goal of psychology is to:

A) uncover the unconscious determinants of behavior
B) focus on observable behavior itself
C) identify the elements of conscious experience
D) identify the purposes of our behavior and mental processes

Question 58

The fact that a variety of thoughts come to mind even as you are engaged in the activity of taking this exam exemplifies psychologist William James's concept of:

A) sea of ideas
B) ports of call
C) river of thoughts
D) stream of consciousness

Question 59

With respect to the psychology of emotion,William James would be most interested in:

A) the contribution of unconscious memories to one's emotional experience
B) the basic nature of an emotional feeling or experience
C) how emotions aid one's adaptation to the environment
D) one's subjective interpretation of one's emotions

Question 60

Lassandra takes a sip of cola."Sweet ...cold,wet,tingly ...slightly bitter," she reports.Lassandra is:

A) interviewing
B) suffering a stroke
C) taking an intelligence test
D) introspecting

Question 61

Which of the following is NOT one of the questions behaviorism has attempted to answer?

A) Which is more important, nature or nurture?
B) Does environment influence behavior?
C) How can rewards and punishments influence behavior?
D) How can the unconscious be described by neuroscience?

Question 62

The psychological approach that emphasizes the role of the environment in influencing behavior is:

A) behaviorism
B) humanism
C) psychoanalytic
D) none of the above

Question 63

Which of the following types of evidence provided the foundation for Freudian theory?

A) survey responses of large samples of adults
B) observations of adults in everyday contexts
C) case studies of patients in therapy
D) laboratory studies of animal behavior

Question 64

The first woman officially granted a Ph.D.in psychology was:

A) Mary Whiton Calkins
B) Margaret Floy Washburn
C) Shelley Taylor
D) Eleanor Maccoby

Question 65

The unconscious mind influences human behavior,according to:

A) structuralism
B) psychoanalysis
C) functionalism
D) behaviorism

Question 66

The idea that the mind came into existence over the course of human evolution is the viewpoint of:

A) structuralism
B) functionalism
C) behaviorism
D) none of the above

Question 67

Which of the following statements best reflects the contributions of women to early psychological science?

A) Women were not strong contributors to psychological science research until recently.
B) Women were most likely to contribute as secondary researchers, but not primary researchers, until the twentieth century.
C) Women's contributions to early psychological science have typically been underappreciated.
D) Women's contributions to early psychological science were, in contrast to the other sciences, always highly appreciated.

Question 68

Stimulus is to response as _____ is to _____.

A) environment; behavior
B) behavior; environment
C) behavior; mind
D) unconscious; conscious

Question 69

"I think therefore I behave"-a version of Descartes' statement "I think therefore I am"-indicates the importance of _____ on behavior and would not be agreed with by a behaviorist.

A) reflexes
B) mental functions
C) environment
D) the unconscious

Question 70

Four early psychologists suddenly appear in the psychology department of an American university.Which psychologist would be most dismayed by the emphasis on mental processes in today's psychology?

A) Sigmund Freud
B) Wilhelm Wundt
C) Edward Titchener
D) John Watson

Question 71

According to the concept of "survival of the fittest":

A) random mutations are always adaptive
B) only the biggest animals will survive
C) organisms that are most adaptive to their environment are most likely to survive
D) organisms that can spontaneously mutate their genes in response to the environment are most likely to survive

Question 72

Noreen asserts that our behavior often reflects unconscious motives and conflicts.This viewpoint is most consistent with the _____ approach in psychology.

A) Freudian
B) structuralist
C) Gestalt
D) behaviorist

Question 73

Which of the following psychologists is most closely associated with the concept of the unconscious?

A) Sigmund Freud
B) B. F. Skinner
C) Wilhelm Wundt
D) William James

Question 74

Who would be most likely to agree with the statement,"Psychologists should study that which is observable"?

A) cognitive psychologist
B) behavioral psychologist
C) developmental psychologist
D) industrial/organizational psychologist

Question 75

Gestalt psychology is LEAST relevant to our understanding of which of the following topics?

A) subjective experience
B) human personality
C) visual perception
D) cellular neuroscience

Question 76

Gestalt psychology is best seen as a reaction against the _____ approach.

A) functionalist
B) humanistic
C) psychoanalytic
D) structuralist

Question 77

Psychoanalysis is a type of psychological treatment developed by _____,a Viennese neurologist.

A) Wilhelm Wundt
B) Sigmund Freud
C) Wolfgang Köhler
D) Edward Titchener

Question 78

Which of the following psychologists is most closely associated with the Gestalt school of thought?

A) Sigmund Freud
B) B. F. Skinner
C) Wolfgang Köhler
D) William James

Question 79

The school of Gestalt:

A) is based on the idea that the whole is different than the sum of its parts
B) includes the role of environment on behavior
C) examines how social situations influence behavior
D) is based on scientifically researched forms of therapy

Question 80

The theories of Sigmund Freud and his followers:

A) are based on the idea that much of human behavior is determined by mental processes operating below the level of conscious awareness
B) emphasize the functions served by the mind
C) emphasize the concept that the whole is different than the sum of its parts
D) state that behavior can be altered by the application of reinforcement and punishment