Chapters 8-15 – Flashcards

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Which branch of psychology is most directly concerned with the study of how people think about, influence, and relate to one another?
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social psychology
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Attribution theory was designed to account for:
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how people explain others' behavior.
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The fundamental attribution error refers to our tendency to underestimate the impact of ________ and to overestimate the impact of ________ in explaining the behavior of others.
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situational influences; personal dispositions
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Poverty and unemployment are likely to be explained in terms of personal dispositions by ________ and in terms of situational influences by ________.
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political conservatives; political liberals
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Attitudes are ________ that guide behavior.
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belief-based feelings
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The impact of our actions on our attitudes is best illustrated by the:
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foot-in-the-door phenomenon.
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The foot-in-the-door phenomenon refers to the tendency to:
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comply with a large request if one has previously complied with a small request.
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Philip Zimbardo devised a simulated prison and randomly assigned college students to serve as prisoners or guards. This experiment best illustrated the impact of:
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role-playing on attitudes.
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Which theory best explains why our actions can lead us to modify our attitudes?
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cognitive dissonance theory
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Normative social influence results from peoples' desire to:
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gain social approval.
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After hearing respected medical authorities lecture about the value of regular exercise, Raul, who has rarely exercised, begins to jog regularly. The change in Raul's behavior best illustrates the impact of:
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informational social influence.
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Most people are likely to be surprised by the results of Milgram's initial obedience experiment because:
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the "teachers" were more obedient than most people would have predicted.
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According to Milgram, the most fundamental lesson to be learned from his study of obedience is that:
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even ordinary people, who are not usually hostile, can become agents of destruction.
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Social facilitation refers to the tendency to:
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perform well-learned tasks more effectively in the presence of others.
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The presence of others ________ a person's performance on well-learned tasks and ________ a person's performance on unmastered tasks.
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improves; hinders
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Deindividuation refers to:
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a loss of self-awareness and self-restraint in group situations that foster arousal and anonymity.
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A terrorist mentality that becomes increasingly extreme among people who interact without outside moderating influences best illustrates:
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group polarization.
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Prejudice is best defined as:
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an unjustifiable attitude toward a group and its members.
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At a conscious level, Aaron doesn't think he's prejudiced. Yet he automatically feels uncomfortable in situations where he has to interact with people of different races from his own. Aaron's experience best illustrates the distinction between:
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explicit and implicit attitudes.
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People tend to perceive the members of an outgroup as ________ each other and the members of an ingroup as ________ each other.
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similar to; different from
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According to the text, aggression always involves:
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the intent to hurt.
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Aggressive behavior is most likely to be ________ by injections of testosterone and ________ by consumption of alcohol.
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increased; increased
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In contrast to watching violence on television, participating in violent video games involves:
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role-playing aggression.
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vetlana, a 20-year-old college sophomore, is beautiful. Research suggests that she is likely to ________ than less attractive college women.
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be perceived as more socially skilled
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The bystander effect refers to the tendency for an observer of an emergency to withhold aid if the:
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emergency is being observed by a number of other people.
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Psychological disorders that researchers believe are learned, such as phobias, are most likely to be treated with:
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psychotherapy.
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Mental health therapies that involve prescribed drugs or other procedures that act directly on a patient's nervous system are:
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biomedical therapies.
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A therapist who takes an eclectic approach is one who:
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uses a variety of psychological theories and therapeutic approaches.
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Helping people gain insight into the unconscious origins of their disorder is a central aim of:
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psychoanalysis
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Unlike psychoanalytic therapists, humanistic therapists tend to focus on the ________ more than the ________.
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present; past
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Humanistic therapists are likely to teach clients to:
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take more responsibility for their own feelings and actions.
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Psychological research on the principles of learning has most directly influenced the development of:
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behavior therapy.
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In treating alcoholism, therapists have clients consume alcohol that contains a nausea-producing drug. This technique is known as:
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aversive conditioning
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In order to encourage Mrs. Coleman, a withdrawn schizophrenia patient, to be more socially active, institutional staff members give her small plastic cards whenever she talks to someone. She is allowed to exchange these cards for candy and cigarettes. Staff members are making use of:
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a token economy.
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Which therapeutic approach emphasizes that people are often disturbed because of their negative interpretations of events?
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cognitive therapy
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In the 1950s, Hans Eysenck challenged the effectiveness of psychotherapy because it appeared to be
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no more beneficial than no treatment at all.
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A National Institute of Mental Health study compared three depression treatments: cognitive therapy, interpersonal therapy, and a standard drug therapy. Patients in ________ improved more than those in a control group.
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the cognitive therapy group, the interpersonal therapy group, the standard drug therapy group. ALL OF THE ABOVE GROUPS.
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Thirty-nine studies compared treatment offered by professional therapists with treatment offered by paraprofessionals. A statistical analysis of these studies indicated that paraprofessionals were typically:
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equally effective as professionals even when dealing with disturbed adults.
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Dr. Genscher believes that most psychological disorders result from chemical abnormalities. In her work as a therapist, Dr. Genscher is most likely to make use of:
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drug therapies
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Melissa suffers from auditory hallucinations and falsely believes that her former high school teachers are trying to kill her. Melissa's symptoms are most likely to be relieved by ________ drugs.
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antipsychotic
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Selective-serotonin-reuptake-inhibitors are frequently prescribed for the treatment of:
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depression.
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Lithium is often an effective ________ drug.
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mood-stabilizing
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Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation shows greatest promise for the treatment of:
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depression.
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Psychosurgery involves:
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removing or destroying brain tissue.
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Preventive mental health attempts to reduce the incidence of psychological disorders by:
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establishing programs to alleviate poverty and other demoralizing situations.
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Psychiatrists and psychologists label behavior as disordered when it is:
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deviant, distressful, and dysfunctional.
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Although Adderall is a ________ drug, it is commonly used in the treatment of ________.
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stimulant; ADHD
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In one study, rats were given prolonged exposure to Ritalin early in life. When the drug was withdrawn later in life, the rats were more likely to show symptoms of ________ than were their control-group counterparts.
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depression
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According to the medical model, psychological disorders are:
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sicknesses that need to be diagnosed and cured.
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Professor McIntosh emphasizes that depression often involves the interactive influences of self-focused rumination, rejection from others, and low serotonin levels. The professor's emphasis best illustrates:
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a biopsychosocial approach.
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The DSM-IV does not:
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explain the causes of the various psychological disorders.
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After George learned that Mrs. Min suffered from schizophrenia, he mistakenly concluded that her tendencies to laugh easily and smile frequently were symptoms of her disorder. This best illustrates the
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biasing power of diagnostic labels.
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Rishi, a college student, complains that he feels apprehensive and fearful most of the time but doesn't know why. Without warning, his heart begins to pound, his hands get icy, and he breaks out in a cold sweat. Rishi most likely suffers from:
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generalized anxiety disorder
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Kaylee is so afraid of spiders and insects that she avoids most outdoor activities and even refuses to go to the basement of her own house alone. Kaylee appears to suffer from:
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a phobia.
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Cecil is preoccupied with thoughts of jumping out the window of his tenthfloor apartment. In order to reduce his anxiety, he frequently counts his heartbeats aloud. Cecil would most likely be diagnosed as experiencing:
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obsessive-compulsive disorder.
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Repeatedly washing your hands is to ________ as repeatedly thinking about your own death is to ________.
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compulsion; obsession
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The experience of multiple personalities is most likely to be characterized by:
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a massive dissociation of self from ordinary consciousness.
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The antisocial personality disorder is most likely to be characterized by:
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a lack of guilt feelings.
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The prominent feature of mood disorders is the experience of:
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emotional extremes.
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A disorder in which an individual is overexcited, hyperactive, and wildly optimistic is known as:
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mania.
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The risk of suicide is greatest when people:
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begin to rebound from their depression.
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People who suffer chronic depression are at high risk for experiencing:
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social rejection
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Positive symptoms of schizophrenia are the ________ of inappropriate behaviors, and negative symptoms are the ________ of appropriate behaviors.
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presence; absence
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Jabar, a 25-year-old auto mechanic, thinks he is Napoleon. He further believes he is being imprisoned against his will in the psychiatric hospital where his relatives have brought him for treatment. Jabar is most likely suffering from:
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schizophrenia.
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Schizophrenia is associated with an excess of receptors for
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dopamine.
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Research on the causes of schizophrenia strongly suggests that:
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there is a genetic predisposition to schizophrenia.
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The concept of personality most clearly embodies the notion of:
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behavioral consistency.
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Freud became interested in unconscious personality dynamics when he noticed that certain patients' symptoms:
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made no neurological sense.
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According to Freud, the unconscious is:
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the thoughts, wishes, feelings, and memories, of which we are largely unaware.
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Ego is to id as ________ is to ________.
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reality principle; pleasure principle
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According to Freud, defense mechanisms are used by the:
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ego to prevent threatening impulses from being consciously recognized
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Neo-Freudian personality theorists were most likely to disagree with Freud about the importance of:
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childhood sexual instincts.
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The famous test introduced by Hermann Rorschach asks test-takers to respond to:
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meaningless inkblots.
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The humanistic perspective emphasized the importance of:
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self-determination.
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Carl Rogers suggested that the ________ is a central feature of personality.
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self-concept
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Trait theorists are more concerned with ________ personality than with ________ it.
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describing; explaining
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The MyersBriggs Type Indicator classifies people according to personality types identified by:
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Carl Jung.
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Which of the following tests was empirically derived?
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MMPI
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Assessing an individual's standing on the Big Five today has the advantage of providing a(n) ________ personality description.
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comprehensive
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The stability of personality traits is best illustrated by the consistency of:
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expressive styles.
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Frida was informed by a professional palm reader: "You generally communicate openly with others, but you have certain dark secrets that even your closest friends could never guess." The fact that Frida was impressed by the palm reader's insight into her personality best illustrates:
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the Barnum effect.
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Because Mr. Maloney trusts his employees, he treats them very kindly. His kindness leads them to work diligently on his behalf, which in turn increases his trust in them. This pattern of trust, kindness, diligence, and increasing trust illustrates what is meant by:
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reciprocal determinism.
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Emma believes that she will succeed in business if she works hard and carefully manages her time. Her belief most clearly illustrates:
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an internal locus of control.
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Dogs strapped into a harness and given repeated and unavoidable shocks developed:
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learned helplessness.
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The best indicator of a person's level of optimism is his or her:
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attributional style.
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The social-cognitive perspective suggests that the best way to predict a political candidate's performance effectiveness after election is to assess that individual's:
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past performance in situations involving similar responsibilities.
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Contemporary psychologists are most likely to consider ________ to be of pivotal importance to personality.
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the sense of self
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Athletes often attribute their losses to bad officiating. This best illustrates
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self-serving bias.
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Which of the following is most likely to be associated with high self-esteem?
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self-serving bias
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Motivation is defined by psychologists as
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a need or desire that energizes and directs behavior toward a goal.
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Mr. Porter believes that aggression is an unlearned behavior characteristic of all children. He obviously believes that aggression is a(n):
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instinct
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A need refers to:
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a physiological state that usually triggers motivational arousal.
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Food deprivation is to ________ as hunger is to ________.
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need; drive
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Homeostasis, which is the goal of drive reduction, is defined as:
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the body's tendency to maintain a constant internal state.
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On some college football teams, players are rewarded for outstanding performance with a gold star on their helmets. This practice best illustrates the use of:
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incentives.
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Which theory would be most helpful for explaining why people are motivated to watch horror movies?
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arousal theory
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Research on the physiological basis of hunger has indicated that:
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hunger continues in humans whose cancerous stomachs have been removed.
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The set point is:
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the specific body weight maintained automatically by most adults over long periods of time.
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About eight months ago, 14-year-old Shelley went on a drastic weight-loss diet that caused her to drop from 110 to 80 pounds. Although she is now dangerously underweight and under-nourished, she continues to think she looks fat. Her frustrated father recently forced her to eat a peanut butter sandwich, but Shelley immediately went to the bathroom and threw it all up. Shelley most clearly suffers from:
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anorexia nervosa.
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Twenty-two-year-old Tawana is slightly overweight and loves to eat, particularly snack foods and rich desserts. Fearful of becoming overweight, she frequently takes a laxative following episodes of binge eating. Tawana most clearly suffers from:
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bulimia nervosa.
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The relative risk of death among healthy nonsmokers is highest for:
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overweight men.
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Evidence that obesity is influenced by factors in addition to genetics includes the fact that:
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obesity is more common today than it was 40 years ago.
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The descriptions of orgasm written by men and women are ________, and the subcortical brain regions active in men and women during orgasm are ________:
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similar; similar
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Research on sex hormones and human sexual behavior indicates that:
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women's sexual interests are only loosely linked to the phases of their menstrual cycles.
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Teens who use alcohol prior to sexual intercourse experience:
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reduced self-awareness and are less likely to use condoms.
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A homosexual orientation is:
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very persistent and difficult to change.
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A biological component of homosexuality is most clearly indicated by evidence of:
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sexual interactions between same-sex organisms in several hundred different animal species.
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Jeff, who is 14, engages in rigorous tennis drills or competitive play at least four hours every day because he wants to master the sport and play on one of the best college teams in the country. His goal and behavior best illustrate the concept of:
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achievement motivation.
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People who are high in achievement motivation prefer ________ tasks; people who are low in achievement motivation prefer ________ tasks.
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moderately difficult; very easy or very difficult
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The basic components of emotion are:
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expressive behaviors, physiological arousal, and conscious experience.
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The James-Lange theory of emotion states that:
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to experience emotion is to be aware of one's physiological responses to an emotion-arousing event.
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According to the James-Lange theory, we experience emotion ________ we notice our physiological arousal. According to the Cannon-Bard theory we experience emotion ________ we become physiologically aroused.
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after; at the same time as
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Research has shown that neck-level spinal cord injuries reduce the intensity of certain emotional experiences. This finding supports the:
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James-Lange theory.
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The two-factor theory of emotion places more emphasis on the importance of ________ than does the James-Lange theory.
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cognitive activity
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According to the two-factor theory, the two basic components of emotions are ________ and ________.
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a cognitive label; physical arousal
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Noticing that his heart was pounding and that his palms were sweaty while he was taking a difficult test, Harley concluded that he was "anxious." Noticing that his heart was pounding and that his palms were sweaty when an attractive lady asked him to dance, Harley concluded that he was "falling in love." The differing emotions experienced by Harley can best be explained by the:
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two-factor theory.
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As her professor distributed the mathematics test to the class, Blair's heart started to pound and her palms began to sweat. These physiological reactions were activated by her ________ nervous system.
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sympathetic
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Test performance is typically ________ when physiological arousal is ________.
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best; moderate
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A polygraph examination of a suspected murderer included an assessment of his reaction to a detailed description of the victim's clothing and death wounds-details that would be known only to a person at the scene of the crime. The investigators were using the:
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guilty knowledge test.
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Rapid fear reactions to sensory input in the absence of conscious thought are possible because certain neural pathways bypass the:
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prefrontal cortex.
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In terms of ability to recognize others' facial expressions of emotion:
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introverts do better than extraverts and women do better than men.
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Research on nonverbal communication indicates that
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blind children who have never observed others demonstrate normal facial expressions of emotion.
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A friend's misdeed is especially likely to trigger feelings of anger if the misdeed is perceived as:
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willful.
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The term catharsis refers to emotional:
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release.
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Jed wants his roommate Dante to help him study for a physics test. Dante is most likely to want to help after he has:
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received an "A" on his psychology test.
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Subjective well-being among university and college students is ________ with the extent to which love is valued and ________ with the extent to which money is valued.
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positively correlated; negatively correlated
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The text defines stress as:
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the process by which we appraise and cope with environmental threats and challenges.
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The general adaptation syndrome describes stages in the:
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body's response to prolonged stress.
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In their classic nine-year study, Friedman and Rosenman reported that, compared to Type A men, Type B men were:
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less susceptible to heart attacks.
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Stress is most likely to speed the progression from HIV to AIDS by:
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inhibiting the production of lymphocytes.
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Attempting to alleviate stress directly by changing the stressor is known as:
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problem-focused coping.
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Aerobic exercise has been most closely linked to a decrease in:
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depression.
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Whether a health care treatment is mainstream medicine or an alternative medicine depends on whether the treatment has been:
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scientifically validated as effective.
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Which term refers to all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering and communicating?
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cognition
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When we use the word "automobile" to refer to a category of transport vehicles, we are using this word as a(n):
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concept.
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A prototype is a:
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best example of a particular category
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An algorithm is a:
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methodical step-by-step procedure for solving problems.
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The use of heuristics rather than algorithms is most likely to:
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save time in arriving at solutions to problems.
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The confirmation bias refers to the tendency to:
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search for information that is consistent with our preconceptions.
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The inability to take a new perspective on a problem is called a:
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fixation.
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The representativeness heuristic refers to our tendency to:
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judge the likelihood of category membership by how closely an object or event resembles a particular prototype.
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Dean overestimates the proportion of family chores for which he takes sole responsibility because it's easier for him to recall what he has done than to recall what other family members have done. This best illustrates the impact of:
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the availability heuristic.
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The indelible memories of the 9/11 terrorist tragedy unduly inflated many people's estimates of the risks associated with air travel. This best illustrates the importance of:
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the availability heuristic.
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College students routinely underestimate how much time it will take them to complete assigned course projects. This best illustrates the impact of:
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overconfidence.
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The value of generating positive first impressions in your initial interactions with a new employer is best underscored by the research on:
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belief perseverance.
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With respect to the debate over the process of language development, nature is to nurture as ________ is to ________.
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Chomsky; Skinner
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It is difficult to explain language acquisition solely in terms of imitation and reinforcement because children:
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generate all sorts of sentences they have never heard before.
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Chomsky suggested that as a child first begins hearing language, appropriate settings or standards regarding the rules of that language are activated in the child's:
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language acquisition device
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Beatrice and Allen Gardner taught the chimpanzee Washoe to communicate by means of:
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sign language.
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Spearman's g factor refers to:
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a general intelligence that underlies successful performance on a wide variety of tasks.
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The characteristics of savant syndrome most directly suggest that intelligence is:
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a diverse set of distinct abilities.
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Although Nicole scored well above average on an academic aptitude test, she frequently loses her temper and needlessly antagonizes even her best friends. Her behavior best illustrates a low level of:
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emotional intelligence.
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Binet and Simon designed a test of intellectual abilities in order to:
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identify children likely to have difficulty learning in regular school classes.
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or the original version of the Stanford-Binet, IQ was defined as:
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mental age divided by chronological age and multiplied by 100.
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Aptitude tests are to ________ as achievement tests are to ________.
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future performance; current competence
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If a test yields consistent results every time it is used, it has a high degree of:
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reliability.
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A measure of intelligence based on head size is likely to have a ________ level of reliability and a ________ level of validity
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high; low
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On average, the intelligence test scores of the Dingbats are much higher than those of the Dodos. The difference in the average test scores of the two groups might be a product of:
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genetic differences between two groups with similar environments, environmental differences between two groups with similar genetics,genetic and environmental differences between the two groups, (ANY OF THE ABOVE)
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The persistence of learning over time most clearly depends on:
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Memory
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Storage is to encoding as ________ is to ________
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Retention; Acquisition
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The process of getting information out of memory is called:
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retrieval.
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Automatic processing and effortful processing involve two types of
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encoding.
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The effortful processing of information:
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can become automatic through practice.
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Priming is to retrieval as rehearsal is to:
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encoding.
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Semantic encoding refers to the processing of:
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meanings.
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Children can better remember an ancient Latin verse if the definition of each unfamiliar Latin word is carefully explained to them. This best illustrates the value of:
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semantic encoding.
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Chunking refers to:
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the organization of information into meaningful units.
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A momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli is called ________ memory.
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iconic
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Peterson and Peterson demonstrated that unrehearsed short-term memories for three consonants almost completely decay in as short a time as:
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12 seconds.
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Long-term potentiation is a(n):
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neural basis for learning and memory.
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A flashbulb memory would typically be stored in ________ memory.
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long-term.
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The hippocampus plays a critical role in ________ memory.
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explicit
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Cerebellum is to ________ memory as hippocampus is to ________ memory.
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implicit; explicit
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When an eyewitness to an auto accident is asked to describe what happened, which test of memory is being used?
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recall
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While in a context similar to one you've been in before, you see a stranger who looks and walks like one of your friends. These circumstances are likely to trigger the experience of:
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déjà vu.
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After his last drinking spree, Fakim hid a half-empty liquor bottle. He couldn't remember where he hid it until he started drinking again. Fakim's pattern of recall best illustrates
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state-dependent memory.
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After learning the combination for his new locker at school, Milton is unable to remember the combination for his year-old bicycle lock. Milton is experiencing the effects of:
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retroactive interference.
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A type of motivated forgetting in which anxiety-arousing memories are blocked from conscious awareness is known as:
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repression.
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Among contemporary memory researchers, increasing numbers think that ______ rarely, if ever, occurs.
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repression
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The misinformation effect best illustrates the dynamics of:
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memory construction.
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Which of the following techniques used by professional therapists are highly likely to promote the construction of false memories?
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hypnosis, drug-induced recall, imagination-enhancing exercises, (ALL OF THE ABOVE)
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Memory experts who express skepticism regarding reports of repressed and recovered memories are most likely to emphasize that:
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extremely stressful life experiences are especially likely to be well remembered.
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Forming many associations between new course material and what you already know is an effective way to build a network of:
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retrieval cues.
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