question

What is the process of encoding?

answer

Getting information into the memory system (your brain).

question

What is the process of retrieval?

answer

Getting information back out of the brain.

question

What does 'automatic processing' occur without?

answer

Conscious thought

question

The difference between automatic and effortful processing best illustrates what?

answer

The two-track mind

question

In an effort to remember how to spell "rhinoceros," Saeko spells the word aloud 30 times. She is using a technique known as...

answer

Rehearsal

question

Which type of memory has an essentially unlimited capacity?

answer

Long-term memory

question

What is Long-term potentiation?

answer

An increase in a synapses firing potential. A neural basis for learning and memory.

question

Remembering how to solve a jigsaw puzzle without any conscious awareness of having this skill best illustrates ________ memory.

answer

Implicit

question

The hippocampus plays a critical role in what type of memory?

answer

Explicit

question

How are memories primed?

answer

Using a retrieval cue

question

Mood-congruent memory refers to the effect of emotional states on the process of...

answer

Retrieval

question

What is the misinformation effect?

answer

A memory that has been corrupted by misleading information.

question

What has research on young children's eyewitness recall shown?

answer

Before the age of 3, it is unreliable because asking leading questions can plant a false memory.

question

What techniques are used by professional therapists to promote false memories in patients?

answer

Hypnosis, drug-induced recall, and imagination-enhancing exercises.

question

To help resolve the controversy over reports of repressed memories of sexual abuse, what do the major psychological and psychiatric association's suggest?

answer

A neutral person asks non-leading questions in words that can be understood.

question

You should study before sleeping in order to minimize..

answer

Retroactive interference

question

Loftus and Palmer asked two groups of people how fast two cars had been going in a filmed traffic accident. What did the group who heard the vividly descriptive word "smashed" in relation to the accident later recall?

answer

Seeing glass fragments

question

What is motivation?

answer

A need or desire that energizes and directs behavior

question

A motivated state is often triggered by what physiological need?

answer

Drive

question

The lowest-level need in Maslow's hierarchy of needs includes what?

answer

Physiological needs; ex. Hunger and thirst.

question

According to Maslow, our need for ________ must be met before we are preoccupied with satisfying our need for ________.

answer

Adequate clothing, self-esteem

question

What is set point?

answer

The point when an individuals "weight thermostat" is set.

question

Breaking diet restrictions and gorging on forbidden foods may serve as a trigger for what disorder?

answer

Bulimia

question

How can the level of serotonin in the brain be changed?

answer

Increased by a diet high in carbohydrates

question

Most humans are genetically predisposed to do what?

answer

Form close enduring relationships with fellow humans

question

What are the basic components of emotion?

answer

Physiological arousal, expressive behaviors, and conscious experience.

question

According to the two-factor theory, the two basic components of emotions are...

answer

Physical arousal and cognitive appraisal.

question

What does research on the lie detector suggest?

answer

They are more likely to declare the innocent guilty than to declare the guilty innocent.

question

Chiana and her husband both want to feel and express greater warmth and affection for each other. They would be advised to spend time looking intently at each other's what?

answer

Eyes

question

What are the facial expressions associated with particular emotions?

answer

The same throughout the world

question

Baring the teeth are universally associated with the expression of anger because this ability to convey threats has helped humans to survive. This suggestion best illustrates of what?

answer

Evolutionary perspective

question

What is catharsis?

answer

Emotional release through aggressive action or fantasy

question

Employees who have just been laid off are asked questions that released angry feelings toward their employer. Researchers found that this opportunity to express anger did what?

answer

Increased their hostility

question

Relative deprivation refers to the tendency for our personal happiness to be heavily influenced by what?

answer

Others' attainments

question

One way to improve your subjective well-being is to do what?

answer

Participate in regular aerobic exercise

question

The adaptation-level phenomenon refers to what?

answer

Our tendency to judge events in comparison to our past experiences.

question

Psychologists define stress as what?

answer

The process of appraising and responding to a threatening or challenging event.

question

In the 1920s, Walter Cannon discovered that emotion-arousing incidents trigger an outpouring of ________ from the adrenal glands.

answer

Epinephrine and norepinephrine (stress hormones).

question

In a stressful situation, feelings of pain are dulled by what?

answer

The sympathetic nervous system

question

Walter Cannon observed that a variety of stressors trigger what?

answer

A fight-or-flight reaction

question

What does general adaptation syndrome describe?

answer

The body's adaptive response to stress in three stages; alarm, resistance, and exhaustion.

question

Resistance to stress is greatest during the ________ of the general adaptation syndrome.

answer

Resistance

question

The third phase of the general adaptation syndrome is characterized by what?

answer

Exhaustion

question

What causes AIDS?

answer

HIV

question

How would you describe a Type A personality?

answer

Competitive, hard-driving, impatient, verbally aggressive, and anger-prone people.

question

How would you describe a Type B personality?

answer

Easy-going, relaxed people.

question

Anger is the toxic core of what?

answer

A Type A personality.

question

To alleviate the stress he feels after failing a college course, Jeremy seeks social support from his friends and family. Jeremy's behavior best illustrates what?

answer

Emotion-focused coping.

question

As a prisoner in a Nazi concentration camp, Mr. Sternberg experienced inescapable brutalities. He stopped eating and gave up all efforts to physically survive the ordeal. Mr. Sternberg's reaction most clearly illustrates what?

answer

Learned helplessness

question

Laura and Tom don't think using a condom will have any impact on whether Laura gets pregnant. Their lack of perceptiveness best illustrates the dangers of what?

answer

Internal locus of control

question

The ability to delay gratification of our impulses best illustrates what?

answer

Self-control.

question

What is biofeedback?

answer

A system of recording, amplifying, and feeding back information about subtle bodily responses.

question

What is the faith factor?

answer

Religiously active people tend to live longer than those who are not religiously active.

question

Which part of the brain plays a key role in forming and storing the implicit memories created by classical conditioning?

answer

Cerebellum

question

Basal metabolic rate is the body's resting rate of

answer

Energy expenditure

question

In surveys taken in the three weeks after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, two-thirds of Americans reported...

answer

sleeping difficulties.

question

In response to stress, the adrenal gland releases what?

answer

Stress hormones.

question

The three phases of the general adaptation syndrome are what?

answer

Alarm reaction, resistance, and exhaustion.

question

What are Lymphocytes?

answer

white blood cells that are part of the body's immune system.

question

Friedman and Rosenman referred to competitive, hard-driving, impatient, and easily angered individuals as ________ personalities.

answer

Type A

question

Attempting to alleviate stress directly by changing the stressor is known as what?

answer

problem-focused coping.

question

The perception that our fate is determined by luck reflects what?

answer

an external locus of control

question

People who typically anticipate that their outcomes in life will be negative best illustrate what?

answer

Pessimism

question

Aerobic exercise has been most closely linked to a decrease in what?

answer

Depression.

question

The relaxation response associated with meditation is most likely to

answer

decrease oxygen consumption and decrease blood pressure.

question

The concept of personality most clearly embodies the notion of

answer

Behavioral constistency

question

According to Freud, the unconscious is

answer

the thoughts, wishes, feelings, and memories, of which we are largely unaware.

question

One night after he heard his parents arguing, 4-year-old Wei had a vivid dream in which he saved his mother from being bitten by a large snake. A psychoanalyst would most likely suspect that Wei's dream reflects a(n)

answer

Oedipus complex

question

Gene frequently brags about his many sexual exploits. Freud would have suggested that Gene is fixated at the ________ stage.

answer

phallic

question

Maslow's description of self-actualized individuals was said to reflect his own personal values because he

answer

selectively studied people with qualities he admired.

question

According to the social-cognitive perspective, behavior is influenced by the interaction between persons and

answer

their environment.

question

Rolf frequently cheats on classroom tests. He justifies his behavior by mistakenly thinking that most other students cheat even more than he does. His incorrect belief best illustrates

answer

self-serving bias.

question

The importance of romance in marriage relationships is most strongly emphasized in cultures that value

answer

Individualism

question

A generalized anxiety disorder is characterized by

answer

excessive anxiety and worry serious enough to cause disruption to one's life

question

Obsessions are

answer

repeated, intrusive, uncontrollable thoughts or images that cause great anxiety or distress

question

Compulsive acts typically exaggerate behaviors that had survival value. This idea best illustrates the ________ perspective.

answer

neuroscience

question

Some murderers show no interest in controlling their impulses. This lack of self control is most closely related to reduced brain activity in their ________ lobes

answer

Frontal

question

In large amounts, alcohol is a ________; in small amounts, it is a ________.

answer

Depressant; depressant

question

By triggering a release of epinephrine and norepinephrine, ________ boosts alertness and diminishes appetite

answer

Nicotine

question

Which of the following is a psychedelic drug?

answer

Lsd

question

Research regarding depression indicates that

answer

with each new generation, depression is increasing in its prevalence

question

The social-cognitive perspective emphasizes that depression is perpetuated by

answer

Conscious role-playing

question

Depressed people explain their failures in terms that are internal, stable, and global. Their explanations tend to be self-focused and

answer

Pessimistic

question

One of the negative symptoms of schizophrenia is

answer

flat affect, lack of initiative

question

Schizophrenia that develops rapidly, seemingly as a reaction to stress, is called ________ schizophrenia.

answer

Acute

question

Schizophrenia is associated with an excess number of receptors for

answer

dopamine

question

People born in ________ during the month of ________ are at increased risk for schizophrenia.

answer

North America; February

question

Research on the causes of schizophrenia strongly suggests that

answer

There is a genetic predisposition to schizophrenia.

question

Psychological disorders that researchers believe are learned, such as phobias, are most likely to be treated with

answer

Psychotherapy

question

A therapist who takes an eclectic approach is one who

answer

Uses a variety of psychological theories and therapeutic approaches

question

Which of the following therapists would most likely try to understand an adult's psychological disorder by exploring that person's childhood experiences?

answer

A psychoanalyst

question

According to psychoanalysts, resistance refers to the

answer

Blocking from consciousness of anxiety-laden material during therapy

question

Psychoanalysts are most likely to view patient transference as

answer

a potential aid to the patient developing insight

question

Which therapeutic approach relies most heavily on people discovering their own ways of effectively dealing with their difficulties?

answer

client-centered therapy

question

An important feature of client-centered therapy is

answer

Empathy

question

Systematic desensitization involves

answer

A type of counterconditioning that associates a pleasant relaxed state with gradually increasing anxiety-triggering stimuli

question

Therapists practice ________ by using positive reinforcers to reward closer and closer approximations

answer

behavior modification

question

Cognitive therapists would be most likely to encourage depressed clients to

answer

emphasize the importance of clients interpretation of life events

question

Research has shown that clients' level of satisfaction with psychotherapy

answer

shows that psychoanalysis is more effective than cognitive therapy

question

Dr. Miller prescribes drugs for the treatment of depression, and she encourages rest and relaxation training for clients suffering from excessive anxiety. It is most likely that Dr. Miller is a

answer

psychiatrist

question

Double-blind studies enable researchers to assess whether the success of drug therapy in treating disorders is due to the drugs or to

answer

the placebo effect.

question

Xanax would most likely be prescribed in order to help

answer

overcome feelings of nervous apprehension and an inability to relax.

question

Lithium is often an effective ________ drug.

answer

mood - stabilizing

question

Electroconvulsive therapy has proven to be effective in the treatment of

answer

Depression

question

Psychosurgery involves

answer

Removing or destroying brain tissue

question

Which branch of psychology is most directly concerned with the study of how people think about, influence, and relate to one another?

answer

Social psychology

question

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

answer

situational influences; personal dispositions

question

Compared to people from East Asian cultures, those from individualistic Western countries are more likely to demonstrate

answer

the fundamental attribution error

question

Attitudes are ________ that guide behavior.

answer

Belief based feelings

question

The foot-in-the-door phenomenon refers to the tendency to

answer

comply with a large request if one has previously complied with a small request.

question

The discomfort we feel when two of our thoughts clash is called

answer

cognitive dissonance

question

Social facilitation refers to the tendency to

answer

improve performance of simple tasks in the presence of others

question

The tendency for people to exert less effort when they are pooling their efforts toward a common goal is known as

answer

Social loafing

question

Prejudice is most likely to develop as a way of justifying

answer

social inequalities

question

According to the scapegoat theory, one source of prejudice is

answer

frustration

question

Social rejection has been observed to intensify

answer

aggression.

question

Culturally modeled guides for how to act in various situations are called

answer

Social script

question

Following the 9/11 terrorist attack on New York, people across the country donated their time and money to assist the devastated community. This behavior best illustrates

answer

altruism

question

To a social psychologist, a perceived incompatibility of goals indicates

answer

conflict.

question

Noncompetitive contact between members of two different ethnic groups is likely to reduce prejudice when the contact is between individuals with

answer

equal status

question

Wilhelm Wundt performed experiments to study what?

answer

"Atoms of the mind"

question

Who was Sigmund Freud?

answer

Founding father of psychoanalysis; believes personality is influenced by childhood experiences.

question

Who was the first female president of the American Psychological Association?

answer

Mary Whiton Calkins

question

What did Psychology focus on in it's early years?

answer

The "science of mental life".

question

American psychologists emphasized the study of what between 1920 and 1960?

answer

The "scientific study of observable behavior".

question

Which major force in psychology emphasized unconscious sexual conflicts?

answer

Freudian psychology

question

Humanistic psychologists focused attention on the importance of people's what?

answer

Potential for healthy growth

question

Cognitive neuroscience studies relationships between what 2 processes?

answer

Thought processes and brain functions.

question

Contemporary psychology is best defined as ..

answer

Behavior and mental processes.

question

Which perspective would suggest that the facial expressions associated with the emotions of lust and rage are inherited?

answer

Evolutionary.

question

Several weeks after a political election, voters often think they could have predicted the election outcome. This best illustrates what?

answer

The hindsight bias.

question

Three key attitudes of scientific inquiry are .......

answer

Curiosity, skepticism, and humility.

question

What is a hypothesis?

answer

A testable prediction, often implied by a theory.

question

What is an operational definition?

answer

A statement of the operations used to define research variables.

question

What is a case study?

answer

An observation technique in which one person is studied in depth in the hope of revealing universal principles.

question

Professor Rodriguez notes that people are attracted to those who are good-looking. Handsome men will therefore be more successful than average-looking men in getting a job. The professor's prediction regarding employment success is an example of what?

answer

A hypothesis

question

What type of research uses a representative random sample?

answer

A small group that accurately reflects a larger population.

question

Midori wants to find out how students reacted to a proposed tuition hike at her school. She sends a questionnaire to every fifteenth person in the school's alphabetical listing of all currently enrolled students. Midori used the technique of called...

answer

Random sampling

question

What is naturalistic observation?

answer

Observing and recording behavior in naturally occurring situations without trying to manipulate and control the situation.

question

What is correlation?

answer

A measure of the extent in which two factors vary together, and thus of how well either factor predicts the other.

question

What is a placebo?

answer

An inert substance or condition that is assumed to be an active agent.

question

What is a double blind procedure?

answer

Participants and research staff are ignorant about who has received the treatment or a placebo.

question

What is an independent variable?

answer

The experimental factor that is manipulated, the variable whose effect is being studied.

question

What is a dependent variable?

answer

The outcome factor, the variable that may change in response to manipulations of the independent variable.

question

The SQ3R study method emphasizes the importance of what?

answer

Survey, question, read, rehearse, review.

question

In answering multiple-choice questions what do smart test takers do?

answer

Try to answer the questions as if they were fill-in-the-blank.

question

What is observation?

answer

process of gathering information, organizing and giving meaning to sensory information.

question

What is replication and how does it work?

answer

Repeating the essence of a research study, usually with different participants in different situations, to see whether the basic finding extends to other participants and circumstances.

question

What is an action potential?

answer

Rapid change in the membrane potential of an excitable cell

question

What is the all or none response?

answer

Either a muscle fiber contracts completely when exposed to a threshold stimulus, or not at all.

question

What are endorphins?

answer

Natural opiates released in response to pain and exercise.

question

Name the major divisions of the nervous system.

answer

Central Nervous System and Peripheral Nervous System (with Somatic and Autonomic systems).

question

What does the central nervous system consist of?

answer

Brain (thinking, feeling, and acting) and spinal cord.

question

What are the hormones that are chemical messengers called?

answer

Endocrine system glands.

question

What is an EEG?

answer

A test used to detect abnormalities related to electrical activity of the brain.

question

What is a PET scan?

answer

Shows how organs and tissues are working.

question

What is a fMRI?

answer

Functional, technique for measuring brain activity.

question

The "little brain" attached to the rear of the brain stem is called ...

answer

cerebellum

question

The capacity of a brain area to reorganize in response to damage is known as

answer

Plasticity

question

What does the corpus callosum do?

answer

Connects the two brain hemispheres.

question

What is cognitive psychology?

answer

Study of mental processes such as attention, memory, and language.

question

What is consciousness?

answer

our awareness of ourselves and our environment

question

What is a Circadian rhythm?

answer

Biological clock; regular bodily rhythms that occur on a 24-hour cycle.

question

How long is the human sleep cycle?

answer

90 minutes.

question

Why is REM sleep called paradoxical sleep?

answer

REM sleep is outward paralysis with internal arousal.

question

What could chronic sleep debt contribute to?

answer

Physical and mental fatigue.

question

Traffic accident rates have been found to ________ after the spring change to daylight saving time and to ________ after the fall change back to standard time.

answer

Increase, decrease.

question

What is sleep apnea?

answer

The stopping of breathing with asleep.

question

What is narcolepsy?

answer

Sudden uncontrollable sleepiness or lapsing into REM sleep.

question

According to Freud, the latent content of a dream refers to what?

answer

It's underlying but censored meaning.

question

What is the activation-synthesis theory?

answer

Dreams are the brain's attempt to make sense of random electrical activation coming from the brain stem.

question

What do Developmental psychologists study?

answer

Nature and nurture. Continuity and stages. Stability and change.

question

The genome is the complete of what?

answer

Complete instructions for making an organism

question

What are the biochemical units of heredity that make up the chromosomes are called?

answer

genes.

question

The unique temperaments of children evoke predictable responses from their caregivers. This best illustrates the ________ of nature and nurture.

answer

interaction

question

The placenta develops from the outer cells of what?

answer

Zygote

question

What is gender schema theory?

answer

The idea that children learn about what it means to be male and female from the culture they grow up in.

question

What is a teratogen?

answer

Agents, such as chemicals and viruses, the can reach the embryo/fetus during prenatal development and cause harm.

question

What are the symptoms of fetal alcohol syndrome?

answer

Birth defects and mental retardation.

question

Compared to girls living in father-absent families, girls with fathers present are less likely to experience what?

answer

Teen pregnancy.

question

Erikson would have suggested that adolescents try out various occupational and social roles to help them develop what?

answer

A sense of identity.

question

Gender differences in verbal fluency are consistent with evidence that there is what kind of a difference between man and women lobes?

answer

the frontal lobes are thicker in women than in men.

question

Is homosexual orientation a choice?

answer

no

question

Professor Assad suggested that women are more cautious about selecting a sexual partner. This attitude has proven to be a reproductive advantage to women because the birth process is especially time-consuming for women, illustrating the logic of what theory?

answer

evolutionary

question

What influence on homosexuality is most clearly seen from evidence of animal species?

answer

sexual interactions between same-sex organisms in several hundred different animal species.

question

Compared with women, men are more likely to do what when it comes to sex activity?

answer

initiate sexual activity, masturbate, and think about sex.

question

If pregnant sheep are injected with ________, during a critical period of fetal development, their female offspring will show homosexual behavior.

answer

testosterone

question

What does gender identity refer to?

answer

the sense of being male or female

question

Describe the refractory period?

answer

period of time after the first stimulus when response to a second stimulus is not possible

question

In most nonhuman mammals, females become sexually receptive when...

answer

estrogen levels are highest.

question

A problem that consistently interferes with a person's ability to complete the sexual response cycle is called what?

answer

sexual disorder

question

Compared with men, women experience a greater risk of what disorder?

answer

Eating disorder

question

In everyday behavior, men are LESS likely than women to do what to others?

answer

smile at others

question

A human egg contains ________ chromosome and a human sperm contains ________ chromosome.

answer

X, Y

question

Twin and adoption studies have been most helpful for teasing apart the influences of what interaction?

answer

environmental (nurture).

question

How is Culture defined?

answer

shared beliefs, values and behaviors across a group of people

question

Adolescence extends from what and extends to what?

answer

the beginning of sexual maturity to independent adulthood

question

Puberty is most closely related to the onset of what?

answer

menarche

question

Kids choose peers who share their own attitudes and interests as their friends. What is this called?

answer

a selection effect

question

Piaget was convinced of what regarding a child's mental development?

answer

it develops through a series of stages.

question

What is contact comfort?

answer

stimulation and reassurance derived from the physical touch of a caregiver

question

What is Cognition?

answer

The processes associated with perceiving, making sense of, and using information.

question

Describe the sensorimotor stage.

answer

Infants/toddlers use their senses and motor skills to explore the world. It occurs from birth to two years old.

question

What are schemas?

answer

knowledge, procedures and relationships that we use to understand and function in the world - in response to the need for equilibrium

question

To identify which of Lucy's brain areas was most active when she talked, neuroscientists gave her a temporarily radioactive form of glucose and a(n)

answer

PET scan

question

In considering gender differences, you should remember that..

answer

gender similarities are much greater than gender differences

question

Sensory adaptation refers to

answer

the loss of responsiveness in receptor cells due to constant stimulation.

question

In classical conditioning, the conditioned stimulus signals the impending occurrence of...

answer

the unconditioned stimulus

question

A response is learned most rapidly and is most resistant to extinction if it is acquired under conditions of

answer

continuous reinforcement followed by partial reinforcement.

question

In Pavlov's experiments on the salivary conditioning of dogs, the US was

answer

the presentation of food in the dog's mouth.

question

What is perception?

answer

The process of organizing and interpreting sensory information, which enables us to recognize meaningful objects and events.

question

What is sensation?

answer

The process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment.

question

The process by which our sensory systems transform stimulus energies into neural impulses is called

answer

Transduction

question

Who emphasized that perceptual understanding comes from our inborn ways of organizing sensory experiences?

answer

Immanuel Kant

question

What is Kinesthesis?

answer

perception of body position and movement; feedback system for motor system (muscles)

question

What is a gestalt?

answer

a form of existential therapy

question

What is the visual cliff is a laboratory device used for?

answer

testing depth perception in infants and young animals.

question

What is retinal disparity?

answer

a binocular cue for perceiving depth; by comparing images form the two eyeballs, the brain computes distance- the greater the disparity (difference) between the two images, the closer the object

question

If two objects are assumed to be the same size, what could be said retinal image?

answer

retinal size

question

What is perceptual set?

answer

the predisposition or 'readiness' to perceive something in accordance with what we expect it to be. Our expectations of what an object or event will be make us more likely to interpret the object or event in the predetermined way.

question

What are context effects?

answer

The tendency to recover info more easily when the retrieval occurs in the same setting as the original learning of the same info

question

What is perceptual constancy?

answer

Our tendency to see objects as unchanging while the stimuli from them change in size, shape, and lightness.

question

What can be said about Psychics who have worked with police departments in an effort to solve difficult crimes?

answer

they have reported visions that are no more accurate than guesses

question

What is psychokinesis?

answer

the supposed ability to move objects by mental effort alone.

question

Objects are brought into focus on the retina by changes in what?

answer

lens

question

Where is the blind spot located?

answer

the point at which the optic nerve leaves the eye creating a "blind" spot because no receptor cells are located there

question

The feature detectors identified by Hubel and Weisel consist of what?

answer

nerve cells in the brain.

question

Simultaneously processing different aspects of a problem or scene is known as what?

answer

parallel processing

question

Anything that, when presented after a response, strengthens the response is a called what?

answer

positive reinforcement

question

A dog will most rapidly learn to roll over on command if the dog's trainer uses what reinforcer?

answer

Immediate reinforcers rather than delayed reinforcers

question

Resistance to extinction is strongest with ________ reinforcement.

answer

partial intermittent reinforcement

question

Studies of latent learning highlight the importance of what?

answer

cognitive processes

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