Psychology Prologue, Chapter 1, Chapter 2 – Flashcards

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What early philosopher believed that the mind is a blank slate before environmental experiences write their story?
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John Locke
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Dualism is the belief that:
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The mind and body are two separate entities
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Which pioneer demonstrated through research that our mental processes could be studied with the same scientific methods used in other areas of science?
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Hermann von Helmholtz
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Which view of psychology emphasized the study of mental processes alone?
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Structuralism
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1. Which philosopher most clearly rejected the idea that the mind is separable from the body?
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Aristotle
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Professor Schroeder argues that children have an innate concept of justice that enables them to make distinctions between fair and unfair rules. This argument is most consistent with the views of:
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Socrates
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In the context of debates over the origins of knowledge, nature is to nurture as ________ is to ________.
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Descartes; Locke
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Edward Titchener was concerned primarily with the study of:
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Sensory experiences
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The early school of psychology that employed the method of introspection was known as:
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Structuralism
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Who was the functionalist who authored a textbook for the emerging discipline of psychology?
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James
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Ivan Pavlov pioneered the study of:
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Learning
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Compared with the structuralists, early behaviorists were much less likely to focus on the study of:
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Thinking
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Debates as to whether alcohol abuse is biologically determined or culturally influenced are most relevant to the issue of:
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Nature vs nurture
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A unified understanding of the explanations provided by the neuroscience, cognitive, social-cultural, and other perspectives in psychology is most clearly provided by:
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a biopsychosocial approach.
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Understanding why the fear of darkness may have contributed to the survival of our human ancestors is most relevant to the ________ perspective.
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evolutionary
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Inherited traits are to learned habits as the ________ perspective is to the ________ perspective.
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evolutionary; behavioral
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Which perspective would be most relevant to understanding the role of spaced practice on long-term memory of information.
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Cognitive
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Basic research on persistent human traits like optimism and pessimism is most characteristic of the specialty known as ________ psychology.
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personality
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Professor Thurstone conducts basic research to investigate whether a teacher's negative perceptions of some students can affect the students' subsequent academic performance. Professor Thurstone is most likely a ________ psychologist.
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social
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The suggestion that psychology is less a set of facts than a method of evaluating ideas best highlights the ________ character of psychology.
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Scientific
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In debating the origins of knowledge, Plato and Aristotle disagreed about the relative importance of:
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Nature vs nurture
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Professor Boyd suggests that children in every culture can distinguish between costs and benefits because humans have an inborn understanding of economics. The professor's suggestion is most consistent with the views of:
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Plato
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Who emphasized that mental processes could exist independently of physical states?
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Decartes
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Edward Titchener used the research method known as:
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Introspection
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Which research method was introduced by structuralists to identify basic elements of sensory experience?
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Introspection
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Which school of psychology was most clearly concerned with the adaptive value of complex mental processes?
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Functionalism
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Wilhelm Wundt was both a:
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physiologist and philosopher.
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The growth potential of healthy people was emphasized by:
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Structuralism
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The importance of inherited behavioral traits was most clearly highlighted by:
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Darwin
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Which perspective is most relevant to understanding the linkages between hormone levels and sexual motivation?
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neuroscience
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Focusing on the extent to which personality is influenced by motives outside one's own awareness is most relevant to the ________ perspective.
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psychodynamic
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A focus on the different marriage rituals practiced by members of different ethnic groups is of most relevance to the _______ perspective.
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social-cultural
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Professor Helms conducts basic research on the progressive changes in infants' perceptual skills during the first year of life. Professor Helms is most likely a ________ psychologist.
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developmental
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Dr. Stevens provides psychotherapy to people who suffer from excessive anxiety. Dr. Stevens is most likely a ________ psychologist.
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Clinical
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After the horror of 9/11, many people said the CIA and FBI should obviously have foreseen the likelihood of this form of terrorism. This perception most clearly illustrates:
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The hindsight bias
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When Leanne heard about experimental evidence that orange juice consumption triggers hyperactivity in children, she questioned whether the tested children had been randomly assigned to experimental conditions. Leanne's reaction best illustrates:
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Critical thinking
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Stacey suggests that because children are more impulsive than adults, they will have more difficulty controlling their anger. Stacey's prediction regarding anger management exemplifies:
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A hypothesis
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Which research technique is most directly useful for avoiding the thinking error known as the false consensus effect?
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Random sampling
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Professor Carter observes and records the behavior of grocery shoppers as they select items to purchase. Which type of research is Professor Carter employing?
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naturalistic observation
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A negative correlation between people's physical health and their marital happiness would indicate that:
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higher levels of marital happiness are associated with lower levels of physical health.
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Mr. Brown has gathered evidence that the self-esteem of students is negatively correlated with their typical levels of anxiety. Before he uses this evidence to conclude that self-esteem reduces anxiety, Mr. Brown should first be reminded that:
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correlation does not prove causation.
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Which method offers the most reliable way of assessing whether athletic performance is boosted by caffeine consumption?
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the experiment
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In drug-treatment studies, double-blind procedures minimize outcome differences between experimental and control conditions that could be attributed to:
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placebo effects.
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In an experimental study of the extent to which mental alertness is inhibited by sleep deprivation, alertness would be the:
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dependent variable.
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In order to assess whether sense of humor is affected by sexual stimulation, researchers exposed married couples to either sexually stimulating or to sexually nonstimulating movie scenes prior to watching a comedy skit. In this research, the independent variable consisted of:
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level of sexual stimulation.
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One person in a ten-person group is ten times older than any of the other members. With respect to age, it is most likely that the majority of group members are younger than the group's:
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mean.
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The ________ is a measure of ________.
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median; central tendency
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Janet has five brothers who are 4, 6, 6, 9, and 15 years of age. The mean age of Janet's brothers is:
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8
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Random samples provide ________ estimates of population averages if the samples have small ________.
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good; standard deviations
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Jamie and Lynn were sure that they had answered most of the multiple-choice questions correctly because "the questions required only common sense." However, they each scored less than 60% on the exam. This best illustrates:
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Overconfidence
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Psychological theories:
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organize scientific observations, explain observed facts, generate hypotheses.
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Which research method runs the greatest risk of collecting evidence that may be unrepresentative of what is generally true?
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The case study
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Every twenty-fifth person who ordered a subscription to a weekly news magazine was contacted by market researchers to complete a survey of opinions regarding the magazine's contents. The researchers were most clearly employing a technique known as:
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Random sampling
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Surveys are most likely to indicate that reckless behavior and self-control are:
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Negatively correlated
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A correlation of +0.70 between children's physical height and their popularity among their peers indicates that:
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higher levels of popularity among one's peers is associated with greater physical height in children.
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A tendency to notice and remember instances in which our premonitions of disaster are subsequently followed by harmful events is most likely to contribute to:
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illusory correlations.
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In order to test the potential effect of hunger on taste sensitivity, groups of research participants are deprived of food for differing lengths of time before they engage in a taste-sensitivity test. This research is an example of:
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An experiment
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Researchers control factors that might influence a dependent variable by means of:
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Random assignment
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In a study of factors that might affect memory, research participants were assigned to drink either an alcoholic or a nonalcoholic beverage prior to completing a memory test. Those who drank the nonalcoholic beverage participated in the ________ condition.
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Control
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In an experimental study of the effects of dieting on weight loss, dieting would be the:
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Independent variable
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The ________ can be a particularly misleading indication of what is average for a ________ distribution of scores.
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mean; skewed
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The ________ is a measure of ________.
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standard deviation; variation
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Ahmed has five sisters who are 3, 3, 5, 9, and 10 years of age. The number "5" represents the ________ of the sisters' ages.
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Median
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Differences between two samples are least likely to be statistically significant if:
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the samples are small and the standard deviations of the samples are large.
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