Psychology Practice Test – Flashcards

Perception is BEST defined as the interpretation of a. memory b. sensory input c. language d. an abstract idea

A wave of sound proceeds through the auditory canal to the inner ear where receptor neurons on the basilar membrane are stimulated. The neurons send a message to the brain. When the brain receives the message, the result is a person thinking, "That sounds like my mom calling me for dinner." What has taken place? a. sensation and perception b. sensation but not perception c. perception but not sensation d. neither sensation nor perception

When looking at faces, infants between age one- and two-months shift from a. looking at the top of the face to looking at the bottom of the face b. looking at the bottom of the face to looking at the top of the face c. looking at the outer contour of the face to looking at the interiors of the face d. looking at the interiors of the face to looking at the outer contour of the face

Which is the most advanced substage of the sensorimotor stage? a. beginning of thought b. secondary circular reaction c. coordination of secondary schemes d. tertiary circular reaction

As two-year-old Newton considers how to get to a cookie that is on a counter that is too high for him to reach, he draws a picture of the counter and then draws a chair next to the counter. He then goes into the next room, grabs a chair, pushes it up to the counter, and grabs a cookie. These actions BEST illustrate the concept of a. class inclusion b. symbolic capacity c. reversibility d. horizontal décalage

Four-year-old Lenny has invented an imaginary companion. This imaginary companion is an invisible octopus named Squiggy. How would a Piagetian MOST LIKELY react to Lenny's behavior? a. They might suspect that Lenny is cognitively and socially advanced. b. They would see it as a sign of possible mental illness. c. They would suggest that Lenny cannot decenter from an object. d. They would state that it is impossible for a child that young to create any imaginary companions.

Becky can quickly and accurately arrange sticks from shortest to longest, and crayons from lightest to darkest. This demonstrates a capacity for a. animism b. centration c. seriation d. transitional thinking

Piaget has been criticized on all of the following grounds EXCEPT that he a. underestimated the minds of infants and young children b. portrayed changes in cognitive skills as being more abrupt and absolute than they really are c. placed too great an emphasis on the ways in which language shapes thought d. paid too little attention to the influence of social interactions on the shaping of children's minds

The main distinction between short-term memory and working memory is that working memory is a. larger b. unconscious c. actively processed d. sensory based

As you are reading this exam question, what would BEST represent information in your long-term memory? a. the light waves as they excite the cells in your visual system b. the words from the question as you read them c. the words from the possible answers as you repeat them in your head d. the information you access about the concept of long-term memory that you encoded during the previous night's study session

At which age do people do better on recall tasks than on recognition tasks? a. Adolescence b. Middle age c. Old age d. No age group does better on recall tasks

Which BEST describes the impact of genetics and the environment on a child's IQ? a. At age two, maternal IQ best predicts the IQ of a child; by age four, the impact of the quality of the home environment becomes as good a predictor as maternal IQ. b. At age two, the quality of the home environment best predicts the IQ of a child; by age four, maternal IQ becomes as good a predictor as the quality of the home environment. c. At age two, paternal IQ best predicts the IQ of a child; by age four, the impact of the quality of the home environment becomes as good a predictor as paternal IQ. d. At age two, of the quality of the home environment best predicts the IQ of a child; by age four, paternal IQ becomes as good a predictor as the quality of the home environment.

Which is the typical order of linguistic attainment (from earliest to latest)? a. coo, then babble, then word, then holophrase b. babble, then coo, then word, then holophrase c. coo, then babble, then holophrase, then word d. babble, then coo, then holophrase, then word

Sarah tries to wipe up the juice that she spilled all over the living room floor so that her dad doesn't see that she disobeyed him by taking juice out of the kitchen. This suggests that Sarah a. has an understanding based on desire psychology b. has developed a morality based on rules and authority c. can engage in deceitful behavior, a sign of a theory of mind d. cannot be trusted to make appropriate moral decisions

According to the psychometric approach to intelligence, intelligence a. aids in adaptation to the environment b. is made up of traits that vary and can be measured c. is fixed at conception by genetic factors d. is organized by stages or levels

Charles Spearman argued that intelligence was highly influenced by a factor he simply designated as "g." What did "g" stand for? a. global self-worth b. genetic inheritance c. goodness-of-fit d. general mental ability

Which pair is BEST associated with concepts of fluid intelligence? a. Cattell and Horn b. Atkinson and Shiffrin c. Fechner and Weber d. Spearman and Thurstone

According to Howard Gardner, intelligence consists of at least eight distinct abilities. Which of the following is NOT among Gardner's distinct types of intelligence? a. musical b. intrapersonal c. creative d. logical-mathematical

Macy really wants the cool new jacket she has just seen in the store, but she does not have enough money to buy the jacket. For a second she thinks about stealing the jacket but decides that while stealing is not wrong, she might get punished if she is caught. Macy's moral reasoning appears to be at Kohlberg's ____ level. a. preconventional b. conventional c. postconventional d. unconventional

Which of the following would Kohlberg consider the LEAST sophisticated stage of moral thinking? a. authority and social order-maintaining morality b. morality of contract, individual rights, and democratically accepted law c. morality of individual principles of conscience d. instrumental hedonism

The fact that Meg exhibits great responsibility toward her mother, Lois, and brother Stewie indicates that she is exhibiting what Gillian referred to as a morality of a. truth b. justice c. care d. nurturance

Research on gender differences in moral thinking has shown that a. females and males clearly think differently about moral dilemmas b. men and women both use care- and justice-based reasoning c. there is clear evidence that boys and girls are socialized differently in the area of morality d. males are significantly better at resisting temptation to do wrong

The basic units of sound in a given language are called a. phonemes b. pragmatics c. semantics d. morphemes

A "coo" is best defined as a ____ sound. a. vowel-like b. consonant-plus-vowel c. meaningful d. crying

Six-week-old Beck is lying in his crib and making a melodic sound that might be described as an "ooooh." Beck is BEST thought of as currently a. babbling b. using pragmatics c. cooing d. holophrasing

When someone says, "that's a matter of semantics," they are referring to word a. spelling b. pronunciation c. order. d. meaning

The rules for how to combine sounds into words are the rules of a. semantics b. pragmatics c. syntax d. morphology

Dumbo and his Dad are at the zoo. "Look at those huge foots!" exclaims Dumbo, as they watch an elephant in its cage. Dumbo's error in speech BEST demonstrates a. overregularization b. telegraphic speech c. overextension d. holophrasing

The typical first-grader would begin school with a vocabulary of around ____ words. a. 500 b. 1000 c. 5,000 d. 10,000

Which of the following terms refers to the set of rules that govern the appropriate use of language in different social contexts? a. phonology b. pragmatics c. semantics d. syntax

According to the rules of Sternberg componential subtheory, ____ specify how to solve a problem and ____ carry out the actions of this component. a. interpersonal components; intrapersonal components b. intrapersonal components; metacomponents c. metacomponents; performance components d. performance components; interpersonal components

Which is NOT one of Sternberg's subtheories of intelligence? a. contextual b. componential c. experiential d. referential

In a police line-up, a witness is shown a group of potential perpetrators that includes the actual perpetrator. He/she is then asked to point to the individual who committed the crime. The basic premise of this method involves assessing ____ memory. a. recall b. cued-recall c. implicit d. recognition

On a recall memory task a. no memory cues/aids are presented b. a few hints are presented c. a correct answer is presented along with a few distracters d. a correct answer is presented by itself

While sitting in her psychology class and daydreaming as her instructor drones on about memory, Wendy suddenly recalls a great hamburger she ate at a fast-food restaurant a month age. Wendy's unintentional recall for this event provides a great example of ____ memory. a. explicit b. fuzzy-trace c. scripted d. implicit